How He Loved at His Arrest

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| His Final Hours series |

• How He Loved at His Arrest
• How He Loved When He Was Accused
• His Unstoppable Love
• How to Love Like Jesus Did

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The Suffering He Faced

In His final hours, Jesus experienced incredible hardship. Throughout His life, He faced plenty of persecution. But in the days leading up to His crucifixion, He faced so much more than I can imagine. The one aspect of Jesus’ suffering we are perhaps most familiar with is the physical suffering He endured in His death on the cross. There are many books, commentaries, and even movies that depict the physical suffering Jesus endured in His final hours. However, the suffering He endured was not just physical. He also felt such emotional sorrow while He was enduring these things physically. In this series, I want to call to attention the emotional suffering He endured, and how He carried Himself throughout His suffering.

Betrayed by Judas

Consider, first, how Jesus was arrested. Jesus had many followers, but the closest to Him were the twelve disciples He had chosen. One of these twelve was a man named Judas Iscariot. Judas had agreed to betray Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders for 30 silver coins. After eating the Passover with Jesus, Judas left and brought back a mob to arrest Him. Judas had arranged a sign with the mob to signal which one was Jesus by kissing Him on the cheek (a common greeting for a close friend or family).

And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.”

Matthew 26:49-50

Notice how Jesus calls him “friend”. Jesus knew Judas was going to betray Him. But, when he did so by kissing Him on the cheek, I can almost hear a bit of surprise in Jesus’ voice: “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:48) Almost as if Jesus had prepared himself for one of his closest friend’s betrayal, but He couldn’t help but feel the weight of that betrayal when Judas did so with the very symbol of their friendship.

Washing Judas’ Feet

But how did Jesus carry Himself leading up to this betrayal, leading up to His arrest? Let’s back up to earlier that night. He was arrested during the Passover; this tradition began with the Passover meal. Between the dirty, dusty streets and the fact that they all wore sandals, the disciples needed to wash their feet before dinner. Because it was such a dirty job, it was reserved for one of the servants of the house. However, before sitting down to eat this meal, Jesus was the one to wash His disciples’ feet. It was an incredible demonstration of love and service that Jesus set as an example for His disciples.

For me, one of the most amazing things in this was that among the feet that He washed were Judas’. We just discussed the depth of Judas’ betrayal. While Jesus knew Judas was going to betray Him, that betrayal nevertheless hurt Jesus deeply. Still, knowing that Judas was just hours away from betraying Him, Jesus “got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist … poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ [Judas’] feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.” (John 13:4-5)

Encouraging the Disciples

After eating the meal, throughout John 14-16, Jesus encouraged His disciples that even though hardship was coming, they wouldn’t have to face it alone. Because He had told them that He was going to die, they were sorrowful. But Jesus was also greatly distressed and sorrowful, this should have been a moment where the disciples encouraged Him. Nevertheless, He sought to encourage them, saying:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”

John 14:1, emphasis added

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.”

John 14:16, emphasis added

“You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.”

John 16:20

Jesus goes on to pray for the disciples in John 17, asking that the Father would keep them safe and give them joy. In the moment where He needed His friends to pray for Him, someone to encourage Him, He did not hesitate to do this for them.

Praying at the Garden

After this, Jesus took the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane where He drew alone to pray for strength to endure what was coming. He told the three who were closest to Him about the turmoil He was in, “My soul is very sorrow, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” (Matthew 26:38) He was asking His friends to pray with Him. When He came back, He found them sleeping (because they were also sorrowful). Jesus woke them up and encouraged them to keep praying. Was this the first moment where we see Jesus’ concern for Himself coming out? They were tired; why was Jesus asking them to stay awake and pray? Was it for His own benefit? What did He say for why they ought to keep praying?

“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Matthew 26:41, emphasis added

In asking them to stay awake and pray, Jesus was not asking for His own benefit. Jesus was looking to the Father for strength, not the disciples – that was why He drew alone to pray. However, He knew that they were about to face the temptation to deny Him and to fall away. He didn’t want them to succumb to this temptation. He had already served them, encouraged them, and prayed for them, but He knew they needed more; He knew they needed to pray for strength. In going back to the disciples, He was taking a break from what He needed (to be strengthened by the Father), to tell the disciples that they also needed to pray for strength from the Father because of what was coming.

His Trial

Even during the agony He felt leading up to His betrayal and arrest, His love for the disciples showed through. He selflessly loved them and took time to help them even in His darkest hours. But what happened after His arrest? How did He carry Himself when He was accused by the religious leaders and abandoned by the disciples? Next time we’ll explore what happened during His trial and how He responded.