Luke 22:39-71 “The
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at verses 1-38 of chapter 22 of the gospel of Luke.
1.1.1. We were at Good Friday, and there Jesus had His last supper with His
disciples as He told them what the elements of the Passover Meal symbolized
(His body broken and His blood shed) and then instituted the rite of the Lord’s
Supper as He told them to do these things in remembrance of Him.
1.1.2. Being Easter Sunday in our last study, we discussed the fact that
without the events of Good Friday, namely Jesus’ betrayal, humiliation, torture,
and crucifixion for us, His resurrection wouldn’t really mean anything to
us. It was Jesus, the holy and sinless
Lamb of God, who willingly laid down His life as a sacrifice for our sins that
created the possibility of His being raised from the dead.
1.1.3. We discussed the importance of dying to self and of the resurrection
life being worked out practically in our lives.
1.2.
In our study today, we are
going to look at verses 38-71 of chapter 22 of the book of Luke.
1.2.1. Jesus will take His disciples to the
1.2.2. Jesus will be in agony in the garden.
1.2.3. Jesus will be betrayed by Judas and arrested by soldiers.
1.2.4. Each of the gospels gives a little bit different account of Jesus’
trials, as one would expect at the hands of independent writers, and thus it is
not an easy task to come up with a definite timeline of all that took place at
this time. However, I believe that if we
look at all of the gospel accounts we will see that Jesus faced six different
trials, three before the Jewish leadership (covered in our study today)
followed by three before the Roman leadership, in this order:
1.2.4.1. Before Annas, the former high priest who was still looked up to in
1.2.4.2. Before Caiaphas, having been sent by Annas his father-in-law (Matt.
26:57).
1.2.4.3. Before the Sanhedrin just after daybreak (Luke 22:66-71).
1.2.4.4. Before Pilate (Luke 23:1-4).
1.2.4.5. Before Herod, having been sent by Pilate (Luke 23:6-12).
1.2.4.6. Before Pilate, having been sent by Herod (Luke 23:13-25).
1.2.5. We will see that just as Jesus predicted it would happen that Peter
will deny Jesus three times before the cock crows signaling the end of this
evening.
2. VS 22:39-40 - “39
And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the
2.1.
Luke tells us that it was
Jesus’ ‘custom’ to take His disciples to this place. Evidently, all during this week of the
Passover as Jesus and His disciples were in
2.2.
John 18:1 tells us that
Jesus took His disciples at this time to a garden. Matthew 26:36 tells us that the name of this
garden where Jesus now took His disciples was “
2.3.
John 18:1 also tells us that
Jesus crossed the Kidron Brook to get to this garden. This is significant because this is the same
brook that King David crossed when he was fleeing from Absalom his son and was
also God’s king rejected by God’s own people.
2.4.
It is not by accident that
the name “Kidron” means “dark and murky” and that the name “
2.5.
Isn’t it interesting that
mankind’s history as well as the fall of man occurred in a garden and that now
the scene for the unfolding of mankind’s redemption is again a garden.
2.6.
Jesus tells His disciples to
pray for themselves because He knew that this would be the night that He would
be betrayed and that when He was betrayed that His disciples would face great
temptations and scatter from Him in every direction. He knew that their faith in Him would be
tested in the greatest possible way on this night. The disciples still didn’t understand that
Jesus had to be crucified for the sins of the world in order to become the
Messiah who could save all men from their sins.
2.6.1. Have you learned to pray for yourself, especially when you find
yourself in trials and difficulties, and in times of temptation? Praying for ourselves is such an important
thing for us as Christians to learn how to do.
2.6.2. The scripture tells us to pray for ourselves when we are in
difficulties, for instance:
2.6.2.1. Psalm
50::15, “15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue
you, and you will honor Me.””
2.6.2.2. James 5:13,
“13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray.”
3. VS 22:41-42 - “41
And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began
to pray, 42 saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup
from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”” - Jesus withdrew from the disciples and prayed to
the Father that if it was possible that the cup might be taken away from Him.
3.1.
Matthew and Mark in their
gospel accounts, Matt. 26:37 and Mark 14:33, tell us that Jesus took with Him
Peter, James, and John to be with Him as He went to pray. On two other occasions this trio of disciples
alone were invited by Jesus to be with Him:
the raising of Jairus’ daughter and His Transfiguration. It is interesting that on two of those occasions
that the three fell asleep and missed most of what they were supposed to
witness.
3.2.
These last chapters in the
gospel of Luke cause us to reflect upon the nature of Jesus’ person. Jesus was a unique being whose nature
consisted of being 100% God and 100% man.
3.2.1. In the gospels we often see Jesus’ deity being expressed as He knew all
men, always knew what was going to happen before it happened, was in control of
every situation no matter who or what threatened Him, and as He performed
mighty and wonderful miracles too numerous to count (John 21:25).
3.2.2. These last chapters in the gospels dealing with Jesus’ betrayal, trial,
torture, and murder upon the cross reveal Jesus in His humanity more than any
other portions of the scripture. These
stories reveal that Jesus suffered real and great physical and emotional pain
and that the heavenly Father did not spare His Son from experiencing every
aspect of the frailty of humanity by the intensity of the things that He
suffered in these last hours of His life.
3.3.
Mankind had sinned and thus
were due the penalty of death (the wages of sin is death,
3.4.
Hebrews 12:2 tells us that
it was for the joy set before Him that Jesus’ endured Calvary’s cross, “2 fixing
our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus was thinking about the joy of you and
me coming to be saved and thus He was able to endure His suffering!
3.5.
Jesus’ humanity is revealed
so clearly here as He asks if it is the Lord’s will that the Lord might remove
the horrible cup of suffering that He is about to undergo from Him.
3.6.
Jesus is really asking the
Father if there is another way for mankind to be saved. He didn’t know if the Father might be willing
to relent from the punishment due mankind.
Sometimes we see in the Old Testament that when men had sinned and God
pronounced judgment that when men repented that God reversed the judgment that
He had pronounced. However, at other
times when men had gone too far and then come to repentance the Lord would not
relent His judgment. He would forgive
their sin but they still would suffer the judgment pronounced as the
consequence of their sin, and a few scriptural instances reveal this, such as:
3.6.1. Moses couldn’t enter the
3.6.2. The son born to David as a result of his sin of adultery with Bathsheba
died as judgment from God because of David’s sin even though David repented and
begged the Lord to spare the baby’s life.
3.7.
Jesus’ prayer reveals His
submission to the Father’s will in all things as He tells the Lord, ‘yet not
My will, but Yours be done.’ Jesus was willing to lay everything in His life
down before the Father and do the Father’s will, even if it meant experiencing
the horrors of betrayal, mocking, scourging, beating, and death by crucifixion.
3.7.1. Jesus is to be our example to follow of submission to God. When we pray we are to pray for His will to
be accomplished in our lives and not demand our own way and we are to leave all
things to the Father to work out His will in our life.
4. VS 22:43-44 - “43
Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. 44 And
being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops
of blood, falling down upon the ground.” - Jesus is in such agony that His sweat became
like drops of blood falling to the ground
4.1.
The Lord would not relent
from sending His only begotten Son to the cross, yet in His mercy He did
dispatch an angel to strengthen Jesus so that He could bear up and endure the
suffering and agony that He was now beginning to experience.
4.2.
The Lord always gives His
people the grace that they need to go through the things that they have to go
through in life as they serve Him. We
truly can “do all things through Him that strengthens” us, but we must
remember that you do not receive the grace that you need to endure a trial or
temptation until that moment of your need.
4.3.
I ask you to consider “why”
Jesus was in “agony” at this moment?
Consider the fact that both the Acts as well as the history of the
church tells us that when the saints have experienced great suffering and
martyrdom that instead of suffering “agony” as did Jesus that instead
they experience peace and boldness to testify for the Lord. Yet, here Jesus in this trial in the
4.3.1. The answer is that Jesus is now beginning to have the sins of the world
laid upon Him. This causes the ‘agony’
He now experiences. The scripture tells
us about the fact that Jesus would have the world’s sin upon Him in His going
to
4.3.1.1. Isaiah 53:6,
“6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned
to his own way; But the Lord has
caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”
4.3.1.2. 2
Corinthians 5:21, “21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin
on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
4.3.1.3. Galatians
3:13, “13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having
become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed
is everyone who hangs on a tree.””
4.4.
Some have said that far greater than the
physical pain and agony of the cross was that of being made what Jesus detested
so greatly, sin.
4.5.
J.C. Ryle describes the
source of Jesus’ agony when He was being made sin as “the sense of the
world’s guilt pressing Him down…The cause of Christ’s agony was man’s
sin.”
4.6.
We don’t know if it is meant
that in this agony which He was experiencing that Jesus’ sweat was falling such
that it looked like drops of blood falling or whether Jesus’ sweat was mixed
with blood and that blood was actually escaping through the pores of His skin. There is a medical condition called “hematidrosis”
which occurs as a result of great emotional stress, and in this condition blood
escapes the pores of a person’s skin.
Drug addicts going through withdrawls, otherwise known as “cold
turkey,” sometimes experience this.
4.7.
If you ever doubt Christ’s
love for you consider for a moment the agony that He went through in His last
hours, an agony that He was willing to experience only because of how much He
loves you.
5. VS 22:45-46 - “45
When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them
sleeping from sorrow, 46 and said to them, “Why are you sleeping?
Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”” - Jesus comes to His disciples
and finds them sleeping instead of praying for themselves
5.1.
It is such an important
thing for us as people to not fall asleep during those times when we really
need to be praying. Oh, how much
needless sorrow and pain we bear because we don’t carry everything to the Lord
in prayer.
5.2.
The disciples had finally
realized that bad things were going to happen to Jesus for it says here that
because of ‘sorrow’ they were sleeping.
This knowledge had weighed heavily upon them causing them to go into a
deep sleep.
6. VS 22:47-48 - “47
While He was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one
called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached Jesus to
kiss Him. 48 But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the
Son of Man with a kiss?”” - Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss
6.1.
Here we see the ultimate of
betrayal, betrayal with a kiss. Such
hypocrisy. Judas approaches Jesus and in
the tradition of how a disciple greeted his master, Judas gives Jesus a
kiss. Judas had told the soldiers to
arrest the man he kissed.
6.2.
Also, thinking of Jesus’
actions here consider what horrible atrocities have been committed by mankind
that have been attributed to love for Jesus.
Misdirected zeal for God has taken many innocent lives throughout
history, whether its Crusades, Spanish Inquisitions, the revolt of the Martin
Luther’s followers in Germany who killed tens of thousands of priests and
peasants and set on fire the churches, etc.
6.3.
If ever you are betrayed by
one whom you have loved, you can take solace in the fact that Jesus knows what
it is like to be betrayed and that He can sympathize with you and the pain and
grief you experience at that time.
7. VS 22:49-51 - “49
When those who were around Him saw what was going to happen, they said,
“Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” 50 And one of them struck
the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus
answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed
him.” -
Peter strikes the slave of the high priest and cuts off his ear, but
Jesus stops the violence and then heals the slave’s ear.
7.1.
Earlier in the evening Jesus
had told His disciples that at this time they should get for themselves a money
belt, bag, sandals, and a sword. Times
were changing and now they needed to be prepared to make longer plans for their
lives and would need these things.
However, the disciples mistakenly thought at this moment that Jesus
meant that they were to now use that sword to fight for Him. They ask Jesus if they should strike the solders
with the sword, yet before He can answer a disciple strikes the high priest’s
slave’s ear and cuts it off.
7.2.
The apostle John tells us in
John 18:10 that it was Peter who cut off this servant’s ear.
7.3.
This servant’s name was
Malchus according to John 18:10.
7.4.
There are several very
amazing things that occur here as it says that Jesus’ healed this slave’s ear
after Peter cut it off:
7.4.1. It is amazing that Jesus is so calm in the midst of all that is
happening and that He takes the time to rebuke His disciple for this action,
stop any further violence, and then heal the slave’s ear.
7.4.2. It is amazing that Jesus cared for this unnamed man who was nothing
more than another man’s slave.
7.4.3. It is amazing that this last of Jesus’ miracles occurs in such a low
key and hardly noticeable way.
7.4.4. It is amazing that the healing was unasked for, performed against an
enemy of His, performed without faith by the person receiving it, and performed
without any thanks returned.
7.4.5. It is amazing that those arresting Jesus at this time appear to be
completely unmoved by seeing this incredible miracle right in front of their
eyes. How could they be arresting a man
who is doing such incredible and wonderful miracles of healing? Matthew Henry once wrote, “There are none
so blind as those that will not see.”
7.4.6. It is amazing how often that the Lord goes behind covering up the
foolishness of His disciples, cleaning up the messes that they make. The grace of Jesus revealed to His disciples
is amazing.
7.5.
Warren Wiersbe writes the
following pithy comments about Peter attacking Malchus with his sword, ”Peter
made a number of serious mistakes when he attacked Malchus with his sword. To begin with, Peter was fighting the wrong
enemy with the wrong weapon. Our enemies
are not flesh and blood, and they cannot be defeated with ordinary weapons
(Eph. 6:10-18; 2 Cor. 10:3-6). In His
wilderness temptations, Jesus defeated Satan with the Word of God (Matt.
4:1-11), and that is the weapon we must use (Heb. 4:12; Eph. 6:17). Peter also revealed the wrong attitude and
trusted the wrong energy. While Jesus
was surrendering, Peter was busy declaring war!
And he was depending on “ the arm of the flesh.” His whole approach to the situation was not
at all Christlike (John 18:36) and stands as a good warning to us today.”
7.6.
In Matt. 26:52-54, we read
about Jesus’ rebuke of Peter at this time and about how that Jesus tries to
explain to Peter that this arrest was no accident but was meant to happen at
this time, “52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your
sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by
the sword. 53 “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father,
and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54
“How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must
happen this way?”" Jesus was willingly laying down His life but
the disciples do not yet understand Jesus’ mission and why these things must
happen.
8. VS 22:52-53 - “52
Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and
elders who had come against Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as
you would against a robber? 53 “While I was with you daily in the
temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness
are yours.”” - Jesus confronts those arresting Him by asking
them why they are coming with swords and clubs to arrest Him when He had daily
been with them in the temple and they had not laid a hand on Him there.
8.1.
Evil deeds are often
performed at night. This arrest of Jesus
was done against the Law of Moses. The
Jews were not to hold a capital trial in the middle of the night, plus a period
of time was to be granted before a capital sentence was executed in case a
mistake had been made.
8.2.
These verses reveal the
hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders in arresting Jesus covertly so that a capital
sentence could be carried out against Him before the masses even knew what had
happened.
8.3.
Jesus says here that ‘this
hour’ belonged to the Devil and ‘the power of darkness’ was allowed
to momentarily triumph. The Lord only
allows evil to occur for precise periods of time and activity, and as according
to His will. The Devil had to gain
permission from the Lord to afflict Job, and here he is given a period of time
in which he is allowed to have the Son of God put to death. Little does the Devil know that when Jesus is
put to death that Jesus will at the same time conquer and overthrow his power
and authority he has had since his fall.
9. VS 22:54-62 - “54
Having arrested Him, they led Him away and brought Him to the
house of the high priest; but Peter was following at a distance. 55 After
they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down
together, Peter was sitting among them. 56 And a servant-girl,
seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This
man was with Him too.” 57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I
do not know Him.” 58 A little later, another saw him and said, “You
are one of them too!” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” 59 After
about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying,
“Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.” 60 But
Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while
he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and
looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told
him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” 62 And
he went out and wept bitterly.” - Peter denies Jesus three times before the
cock crows.
9.1.
The disciples flee in every
direction after Jesus is arrested. However,
Peter eventually begins to follow behind Jesus yet from a distance so that he
will not be arrested himself.
9.2.
The denial of Peter was
prophesied to occur by Jesus in our previous study, and at that time we
discussed how that Jesus was preparing Peter for his fall telling him that he
would be restored afterwards and that after he was restored he would likewise
strengthen his brethren (they had also lost their faith at this time and needed
restoration to the Lord).
9.3.
The denials of Peter, the
man who always spoke for the disciples and was their natural leader, reveals
the weakness of the best of men and how that any person can fall away from the
Lord if he is not careful.
9.4.
Note that though Peter had
boasted to Jesus earlier about how he would go to prison or even die for Jesus,
and how that Peter had even used his sword to fight for Jesus when Jesus was
initially arrested, that now it is a mere young slave girl whom he cowers to
and to whom he denies knowing Jesus. How
fickle every person can be at times.
9.5.
Peter’s denials of Jesus
should come as no surprise to us for we see in the gospel stories how that
Peter had made several mistakes leading up this denial:
9.5.1. He didn’t take Jesus’ warning to him about his denial very seriously.
9.5.2. He was talking when he should have been listening.
9.5.3. He was boasting in his own flesh when he should have been fearing his
own weaknesses.
9.5.4. He was sleeping when he should have been praying.
9.5.5. He was cutting off a slave’s ear when he should have been waiting upon
Jesus to tell him whether he was to take up the sword or not.
9.5.6. Its always dangerous to warm yourself at the enemy’s fires.
9.6.
We see here that Jesus
looked at Peter at this point after Peter’s third denial and by looking at
Peter Jesus reveals to Peter that He knows what Peter has done, but also
reaffirms to Peter that He loves him and that He desires to restore Peter to
fellowship with Himself.
10.
VS 22:63-65 - “63 Now the men who
were holding Jesus in custody were mocking Him and beating Him, 64 and
they blindfolded Him and were asking Him, saying, “Prophesy, who is the one who
hit You?” 65 And they were saying many other things against Him,
blaspheming.” - The men holding Jesus began mocking Him and
beating Him and blaspheming
10.1.
The mocking and beating of
Jesus is hard for us to contemplate. It
is hard to fathom such cruelty by men against One who was supremely holy and
filled with love. However, these men
simply portray the hardness of heart that men in this world have towards God.
10.2.
These men are mocking Jesus’
gift of prophesy in being able to foretell the future by blindfolding Him and
hitting Him and then asking Him to prophesy and say who it was that hit Him.
11.
VS 22:66-71 - “66 When it was day,
the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes,
and they led Him away to their council chamber, saying, 67 “If
You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not
believe; 68 and if I ask a question, you will not answer. 69 “But
from now on the Son of Man will be seated
at the right hand of the power of
God.” 70 And they all said, “Are You the Son of God, then?”
And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” 71 Then they said, “What further
need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”” - When asked by the elders,
chief priests and scribes if He is the Christ, He tells them that He is, giving
them the ammunition that they need to have Him put to death.
11.1.
We see in the gospel
accounts of Jesus’ trial and condemnation that He was willingly surrendering
Himself and that He never once tries to defend Himself, fight back, or scheme
to get Himself out of His trouble.
11.2.
The Talmud forbid the
Sanhedrin meeting during the evening or condemning anyone to death during the
evening, therefore as soon as it was day the Sanhedrin met in order to quickly
get a vote to attempt to get
11.3.
Assembled in this group of
the Sanhedrin, the supreme ruling religious body of the nation of
11.4.
The group of the Sanhedrin
ask Jesus point blank here if He is the ‘Christ’ (Messiah), and Jesus
tells them honestly, ‘Yes, I am.’
This was all of the evidence that the Sanhedrin knew that they needed in
order to get the Romans to allow them to execute Jesus. Though their understanding was darkened by the
“prince of this world,” these Jewish leaders truly believed in their
hearts that Jesus had blasphemied by saying that He was the ‘Christ.’
11.5.
Note here that Jesus first
tells them that if He tells them that He is the Messiah that they will not
believe that He is the Messiah and that if He asks them one of His probing
questions that they will not answer Him.
Jesus is acknowledging here that there is no point trying to witness to
someone about the Lord if they do not want to listen.
11.6.
Notice here that Jesus
references a Messianic Psalm, Psalm 110, as He states that in the future that
He will be seated ‘at the right hand of the power of God.’ Jesus’ seating at the ‘right hand’ of
God is a persistent theme in the New Testament and speaks of His honor,
authority, and being the ultimate judge.
Jesus is telling these men of the Sanhedrin in effect that though they
are judging Him now that it is they whom He will judge in the future.
12.
CONCLUSIONS:
12.1.
As we consider this story
and how it applies to our life, we think about Jesus in the Garden of
Gethsemane and the agony that He is going through as He is being made sin and
feeling the weight of the guilt of the sins of the world on Himself. How we ought to learn from this to trust in
Jesus’ love for us, a love that was willing to go to such an extent for us.
12.2.
We also need to remember to
pray in all of our trials, difficulties, and temptations, and not sleep. How we need to learn to pray for ourselves.
12.3.
As we consider Peter’s
denial, we need to realize that when we fail that Jesus is always there to pick
us up, clean us off, and restore us to fellowship to Himself if we are willing
to repent. He knows that we are weak and
He is prepared to restore us in grace whenever and as often as we come to Him
in brokenness in our times of need.
12.4.
Lets learn from Peter where
the source of our strength out to be, in the Lord not in our own strength. Don’t just stay and wallow in the mire of
your own wounds and defeats, in every difficulty and failure come to the Lord
and let Him forgive and restore you and give you the strength to endure and
have victory in your trials and temptations.