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 servant1 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.”
Section Overview
Jesus’ arrest is recorded in all four Gospels (Matt. 26:47–56; Mark 14:43–49; John 18:3–11), with Luke being the briefest of the four. Jesus is warning about temptation and admonishing the disciples to be ready spiritually when a crowd suddenly appears. Judas is with the crowd, leading them to Jesus, and he approaches Jesus to kiss him, as if he were Jesus’ friend. Jesus, however, reproves Judas with a rhetorical question, asking if he is going to betray the Son of Man in such a hypocritical manner. Jesus’ disciples, perceiving what is happening, ask if they should strike with the sword, and one disciple—whom we learn from John’s Gospel to be Peter (John 18:10)—cuts off the right ear of the high priest’s servant with a swipe of the sword. Jesus reproves his disciple for doing so and performs his last healing. He then asks the religious authorities why they proceed against him as if he were a robber, as if they needed to detain him with physical violence. They could have, Jesus explains, taken him in the temple in broad daylight in front of the crowd, but they have resorted to arresting him in the dark because the darkness is their time, and the hour of darkness has come.
Section Outline
V. Death and Resurrection in Jerusalem (19:28–24:53) . . .
E. Arrest and Trial (22:39–23:25)
1. The Arrest (22:39–65) . . .
b. Jesus Arrested (22:47–53)
Response
The disciples demonstrate by their actions that they are not relying on God through prayer, and thus they resort to a secular answer when Jesus’ opponents arrive. When the hour of trial begins, how easy it is to rely on the arm of the flesh. We may even get mad enough at another person to hit him. We may lose our temper and personally attack another person, engaging in verbal abuse to sustain our own fragile ego. We may tell our friends about how bad other people are in order to vent our anger. When the pressure comes, we may hurl insults or even hit in response. But Jesus corrects the disciples. Venting anger is not the way to respond to temptation. He tells them to cease using their swords and then shows his compassion in his hour of suffering by healing the ear of the high priest’s servant. The love of Jesus shines through here. After all, this man is a servant of the enemy, but Jesus is full of love, manifesting it to a hurting man on the night he will experience the unimaginable pain of the cross. It is speculation, but I wonder if the love of Jesus shown to this man changed his life forever. I wonder if we will see him again in the new creation. We may have a hint of this in John 18:10, where we see that his name is Malchus, which may suggest that he was known in the church as a believer.
Jesus’ nonviolent stance does not prevent him from telling the truth. We learn from this that it is not wrong to speak the truth humbly yet boldly. It is not sinful to confront our adversaries with their evil, although we must check our hearts so that we are not full of vengeance. Still, believers are not called to silence in the face of evil. We are called to love others and to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).