Luke 22:47-53--Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

Luke 22:47-53
English Standard Version
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Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus
47 While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” 49 And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. 52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? 53 When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

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During the time that Jesus told the disciples to watch and pray because the hour was at hand was the time that Judas Iscariot and the mob of people that he had gathered with him were coming up the mountain, unnoticed, because the disciples were worn out and had fallen asleep when they were supposed to be watching and praying.  Jesus is not surprised though and knows exactly when to wake the disciples up.  When Judas approaches Jesus he walks up to Him and gives Him a kiss--something common between friends in that culture--and uses this as a signal to the guards which one of the twelve men there was Jesus that they were to arrest.

Jesus knew what Judas was doing and called him out for it asking him, "Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?"  In other gospels we see that Jesus is very willing it identify Himself to the guards.  He would ask them "Whom are you seeking?" and they would say "Jesus of Nazareth" and He answered them by saying, "I AM" (the covenant name of God translated as "the LORD" or "I AM" in the Old Testament).  He does not say "I am the one you are seeking" or "I am He," but simply "I AM" and the power of this name knocks all the guards over and they begin to tremble with fear.

Contrast that to the part where Peter asks if they should fight for Him and Peter doesn't seem to wait for an answer and lashes out in the darkness, probably going after the high priest, and strikes the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.  Jesus quickly puts a stop to the fighting by saying, "No more of this." and then shows compassion to those who had come to arrest Him by reaching out and touching the ear of the servant Peter had attacked and healed him.

Jesus then asked the mob why they came out after Him with swords and clubs in the dark of night as they would to arrest some dangerous felon like a robber that they would want to take by surprise and also by force?  What was it about Jesus that made Him seem so dangerous to them, and what good would swords and clubs do them if this is truly the one who spoke all things into existence?  He was either going to come willingly or that was a fight they were definitely going to lose no matter the number of people and the number of weapons they have.  Want proof of that?  Look at how things end when all the armies of the world who are allied with the Antichrist and his empire will march against Jerusalem and Satan and his unholy trinity will think they are going to defeat God and defeat God's people because they have "the whole world" with them and they have all the armies of the world backing them, yet as soon as they cross the Euphrates River, Jesus is going to come down as the rider on the white horse and He will open His mouth to speak and the Sword of the Sprit, which is the Word of God, will come forth from His mouth and will destroy all His enemies.  We who are saved will be with Him as witnesses, but we will not lift a finger to help in the battle, for the battle belongs to the LORD.

Jesus asks them a question He knows the answer to, but He wants them to think about it.  He was in the Temple every day for the past week teaching and preaching.  It would have been easy enough for them to send the Temple guard to have Jesus arrested any time He was there (and this is something they did try, but the guards refused to arrest Jesus because He spoke with authority and because they feared the people).  So they instead chose to get Jesus away from the people and away from the Temple and to send the Temple guard and others after Him in the dead of night.  Jesus then says they reason they feel so comfortable coming out in the darkness to capture Him is because they are children of darkness, and not children of Light.  It is the power of darkness that they have allied themselves with and Jesus sees through everything to know that Satan thinks this is chance for rebellion where he is going to kill God while He is in human form and somehow that would leave the throne of Jesus vacant and Satan could take it away by force.  Satan may be strong and beautiful, and even cunning, but he's not always smart with the schemes that he makes.  However, God was ready for all of this and none of it took Jesus by surprise--in fact, it was all going according to plan as Jesus knew the timing everything was supposed to happen and that this was the very hour (the correct moment in time) that He was to be betrayed.

It seems like He will even hurry the process along at certain points as we will go along.  They will not be able to find evidence against Him that will stick and then He will speak (He wasn't required to do so) and the chief priests will use His own words against Him, but it was all with the intent of moving the process along as Jesus had a specific day and time that He was to die on the cross so that He could fulfill the Feast of Passover.  Judas probably didn't have any idea that he was fulfilling Scripture and helping Jesus accomplish things according to the plan that He and the Father had agreed to before the beginning of time.