What happened on the night Jesus was arrested?

On the night before Jesus was crucified, and after he shared bread and wine with his disciples during their last supper, they, with the exception of Judas, left the upper room in the house that had been built on a small hill in the southern most part of the old city of Jerusalem called Mount Zion. All the other Jews in the city and elsewhere had a similar meal as it was the time of the Passover which commemorated the time when the Israelites in Egypt painted the blood of lambs on their door frames so that their children would not be struck down by God that night. Only the eldest of the Egyptian children perished.

Some of the disciples carried lit torches in their hands as it was night time. They walked along the narrow streets of the city and passed through the Zion Gate which was at the southeastern wall of the city and then down a path leading to a stream in the narrow Kidron valley below them and then they crossed over a small bridge and then walked partway up the western slope of a hill called the Mount of Olives. The hill was called that because there were olive trees on the hill. In the Bible, the words hill and mountain are used interchangeably. The walk was quite a long walk from the upper room to the olive grove. It was approximately twelve to thirteen kilometers in length because they had to walk through part of the city then along the valley and finally part way up the hill where the olive grove was situated. I imagined they probably arrived there close to midnight.

Jesus had previously been in that particular grove and he was pleased with it and had decided to visit it again that night with his disciples in tow.

In the Book of Mathew, it says;

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane. unquote

The word, Gethsemane means, ‘oil press’ because in that location where Jesus prayed, there was an olive oil press amidst a grove of olive trees. The grove is located about two kilometers directly east of the great temple of Jerusalem that was within the city walls. While tradition locates Gethsemane on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives, the exact spot remains unknown. Luke associates it with the Mount of Olives and John notes that it was on the other side of the Kidron brook in the centre of the valley, the brook that flows from the north along the east side of the city of Jerusalem.

Most religious authorities believe however that the place where Jesus took his disciples is next to the site of the Church of All Nations on the western slope of the Mount of Olives. It is referred to as the Garden of Gethsemane but it was never was a garden. It was then and still is one of the olive groves on the western slope of the hill east of Jerusalem. Nevertheless, it was the focal site for early Christian pilgrims and it still is for millions of Christians who have visited it over the centuries.

When my wife and I visited that olive grove in 1995, there were eight olive trees in this grove that may very well have been 3,000 years old and they still bear fruit. If they are not the actual trees in the immediate area where Jesus prayed, the olive trees could be shoots from those older trees.

When Jesus and his disciples arrived at the entrance to the grove, it was guarded by one or several men who were hired by the owner of the grove to keep an eye on the oil press lest it be stolen in the middle of the night.

Jesus wanted to bring all of his disciples (other than Judas of course) into the grove but the guards wouldn’t permit it. He was permitted however to bring three of his disciples with him. The proof of that can be found in Mathew in which it says, and I quote;

And he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." And he took with him, Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. unquote

Zebedee was a Hebrew fisherman, and the father of James and John, two of the disciples of Jesus. So into the grove went Jesus, followed by Peter, James and John.

Now you may ask yourself, why did Jesus choose to go through the narrow streets of Jerusalem after dark and then down that narrow path and then across the valley and part way up the slopes of the hill east of the city, especially when it was already dark, when he could have prayed in the upper room where he and his disciples had their last supper together?

We can pray anywhere we want and God will hear our prayers. Thousands of soldiers in both the first and second world wars and subsequent wars prayed to God in fox holes and I am confident that he listen to their prayers as intensely as he listen to the prayers of people in cathedrals.

I think Jesus chose the olive grove to pray in for three reasons. I am inclined to think that they would have had the windows open in the upper room where he and his disciples had their last supper, to let in fresh air as the room would be quite stuffy if it wasn’t cooled by fresh air. This is because the sun had shone on the walls of the house they were in and the heat from the walls of the small house would by convection, radiate into the room where they were eating their last meal. Of course, once the windows were open, the noise of the city would be loud enough to be quite a distraction for someone who wants to pray to God. I know this to be a fact because when my wife and I wandered about in the narrow streets on Mount Zion in the old city of Jerusalem in the evening, it was quite noisy with people yelling to one another and singing.

Having been in the olive grove previously, Jesus knew that they only things he would hear while in the grove would be the wind as it blew around the leaves of the trees and perhaps some birds. Any noises in the city would be blocked by the high eastern wall as no houses were higher than the wall and whatever noises of the city might have gone beyond the walls would be lessened because of the distance of the grove from the city. The grove would be an ideal place to pray to God surrounded by the trees with nothing but the sound of the cool wind and the rustling of the leaves and the occasional chirping of birds.

The second reason why he chose the grove to pray in was more ominous. Judas had become quite disillusioned about the kind of leader Jesus had become. The Messiah was what the Jews wanted. The expected Messiah was to throw the Romans out of the Holy Land with an army of angels. Judas didn’t see Jesus assuming that role. And for this reason, he decided to abandon Jesus and betray him and at the same time, get thirty pieces of silver for his betrayal. Quite frankly, I suspect he got more than thirty pieces of silver because he was the disciple who looked after much of the money for Jesus and his disciples and there is no mention in the Bible of him turning the money over to Jesus or one of the disciples before he left the room to betray Jesus. How much money he had in his possession will never be known. However, the disciples also carried money with them so fortunately, Judas didn’t get it all.

Before the last supper was over, Jesus turned to Judas and said loud enough for the others to hear, and I quote from the Book of Luke.

But look. The one who betrays me is here at the table with me. unquote

Of course, this caused great concern and confusion amongst the remaining eleven disciples. They wanted to know who it was. He told them that he would dip a piece of bread into a bowl and hand it to the one who would betray him. This he did and as Jesus handed the bread to Judas, he said to him:

Hurry and do what you must. unquote

Judas immediately got up from the table and left the room. Now here comes one of the most difficult questions to answer. How did Jesus know that he was going to be betrayed specifically by Judas? Nowhere in the Bible can we learn the answer to that question.

What we can surmise is however that before Judas left the room, Jesus must have told his disciples that he was going to take them to the Mount of Olives and more specifically to the grove known as Gethesemane. Based on that premise, Judas would know where to bring the soldiers to arrest Jesus. Otherwise, how would Judas know that Jesus would be at that grove that night?

What is amazing is that Peter who was Jesus’ second in command, if you will, had a sword with him. Why he didn’t strike Judas with the sword at that moment will never be known. He certainly had no qualms about using it as you will see a little further on.

The third reason why Jesus chose the grove to pray in is quite obvious as you read the text of the Book of Mark.

When Jesus was in the grove, he wanted to pray to God because he was very distressed. He knew that Judas was betraying him and that he would die the next day and Jesus being a human being, knew that he would suffer terrible pain as a result of what was going to happen to him. He knew that he would suffer the fate of all criminals, that is being severely whipped and crucified.

Jesus didn’t want to be disturbed while he was praying to God alone. He didn’t want anyone, including his disciples to hear his prayer so he asked the three disciples that were with him in the grove to keep watch so he could pray in peace. Further, he didn’t want them listening to his prayers to God. He then walked a stone’s throw from them and out of earshot so that they wouldn’t hear his prayer.

In his prayer to God, Jesus begged God to spare him from the agony that he would suffer from if he was sentenced to death. Let me quote from Mark:

He went a little farther on, threw himself on the ground and prayed that if possible, he might not have to go through that time of suffering. unquote

That prayer was a reasonable one considering just how long and painful such a death would be. Remember that Jesus was a human being and like all human beings, he was afraid of suffering from terrible and agonizing pain. Jesus didn’t want his disciples to hear him asking God to spare him from the agony of the whipping and the crucifixion that was given to people they thought were criminals.

When you consider that all of his disciples with the exception of Mark met their deaths as martyrs and they willingly met their painful deaths without complaint, so it follows that Jesus didn’t want his faithful followers hearing him begging God to spare him from an agonizing death and as such, subsequently think less of him.
When he finished his prayer, he walked to the three disciples and found them asleep. Naturally he was disappointed since he had previously asked them to keep a watchful eye out for him lest he be disturbed during his prayer. No one wants to be disturbed during their prayers.

I remember when I was in Milan, Italy in September 1985 giving a speech at a United Nations crime conference and the minister of justice from Iran asked me if I could meet with him after lunch at his office. I arrived at his office early and instead of knocking on the door, I merely opened it. There kneeling on the floor facing east was this Muslim Iranian leader praying to Allah. I was so embarrassed. Fortunately, he was facing away from me so he never knew who the fool was that was about to interrupt him during his prayers. I gently and quietly closed the door and tip toed down the hallway and out of sight.

When I was walking in the streets of Casablanca in Morocco in 1974, at certain times of the day, I saw many Muslims suddenly stop where they where, get on their knees and with their foreheads touching the surface of the hot sidewalks; pray to Allah. Non Muslims respectfully and without fuss, stepped around them and continued walking down the street.

After Jesus found his three disciples asleep, he woke them up and said to Peter;

"So, you men could not keep watch with me for one hour?” unquote

Obviously, Jesus was quite upset that his most trusted follower, Peter had actually fallen asleep when he should have been wide awake watching for anyone slipping into the grove to pester or annoy Jesus while he was praying. It was at this moment that Jesus said something that has probably been quoted millions of times since the New Testament was first published in the sixteenth century. He said to Peter:

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. unquote

I suppose that would apply to alcoholics and drug addicts and even those addicted to nicotine also.

When I was in the Canadian Navy during the Korean War in the early 1950s, I fell asleep while on watch on the bridge of a warship as a lookout. The officer that caught me chastised me severely and then asked, “What do you have to say for yourself.” I asked, “Is it OK if I quote someone?” He said, “Quote from whomever you want.” I replied, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” He replied, “If you fall asleep again while you’re on duty, you will be making your next quote in the brig.” Lucky for me that I wasn’t sleeping on watch during the American civil war. A young soldier about my age had fallen asleep while on watch and was sentenced to death. It was only after his mother had pleaded with Mary Lincoln, the wife of President Abraham Lincoln, and after she spoke to the president that the young man’s life was spared.

I guess I better take you back to the olive grove again.

Jesus went back to where he was praying and a little while later, he returned to where his three disciples were and again, he found them asleep. Well this time, it’s off to the brig. Oh, I’m sorry. Wrong story. Wrong century too.

He went back to his prayers a third time and when he returned to his three disciples, they were asleep again. Now he was really upset. He yelled, ENOUGH!

I can understand why the disciples fell asleep. They had just walked 13 kilometres to get to the grove and part of that was climbing up the hill and further, it was late at night.

By now, he and all his disciples could see a long line of torches winding its way up the hill towards the grove they were in. Jesus knew that his arrest was imminent. He also knew that Judas was leading the pack for Judas knew exactly where Jesus and his disciples would be at that time.

The soldiers following Judas were not Roman soldiers but were in fact the soldiers of the high priest of Jerusalem. The high priest preferred to have the Roman soldiers arrest Jesus but Pontius Pilate who was the Roman governor of Judea, didn’t want to get dragged into this matter since he felt that it was the priests, the Pharisees who were unhappy with Jesus, not the Romans.

I suppose this is what we call nowadays as ‘passing the buck’. The governor already had problems with his superior, the Legate who was in Syria so he preferred to keep himself and the Romans out of the personal squabbles of the Jews.

The priests and their soldiers may have seen Jesus in the past but it being night time and since all Jewish men were bearded in those days, it would have been difficult for them to pick Jesus out of the eleven disciples, not to mention the few guards guarding the olive grove, especially since it was dark and the light from the torches were not enough to differentiate the faces of one from the other. I should add however that according to the painting of Leonardo Da Vinci's ‘Last Supper’, two of the disciples were clean shaven so that left nine bearded men, including Jesus to choose from.

That’s where Judas’ role became important. I can just see it now. The head priest asking Judas, “Do you see the man you saw commit the crime, in the court room?” There I go, hopping back into our modern era.

Judas had previously told the priests as to how he would identify Jesus. He would walk straight to him and plant a kiss on his cheek. That’s what Jesus got and that’s all the priests needed for the identification of Jesus. I should point out that it was the custom in those days that all men when greeting one another would kiss each other on the cheek. Some still continue with that practice. They didn’t shake hands so the kiss was a perfect way to identify Jesus to those who were searching for him.

As the soldiers moved forward to arrest Jesus, Peter pulled out his sword and literally cut off one of the ears of a servant of one of the priests.

You know, I find it rather strange that not only did Peter have a sword but so did one of the other disciples. I suppose times were tough in those days and perhaps even then, innocent people could be swarmed and robbed during the darkness of night.

In any case, Jesus being one who advocated peace, immediately told Peter to back off and then he picked up the servant’s ear from the ground and put it back onto the head of the servant. Now I know they didn’t have crazy glue in those days so don’t ask me how he pulled that one off.

The soldiers bound Jesus’ arms and hands and marched him back to Jerusalem.

It’s ironic when you think of it. If his arrest had taken place in modern times, the police would have grabbed the whole lot of them, especially Peter since he attacked a servant of the priest with a sword. But obviously, they were only interested in Jesus.

It is very fortunate indeed that they didn’t arrest the others as they might have suffered the same fate as Jesus did the following day. But as fate would have it, they had no idea at that moment in their lives that they would found a new religion, Christianity that eventually would become world-wide, and with the exception of Mark, the youngest, they would, to a man, die hideous deaths as martyrs for the man they loved and revered.