English: “The Judas Kiss”, (Mark 14:45) by Gustave Doré. Judas kisses Jesus in order to betray him to the guards. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As Jesus was still speaking in the Garden of Gethsemane, a crowd was approaching, with Judas leading them. As Luke reminded us earlier, it was His custom to come here, and Judas knew where He went to pray. It must have been quite a scene. Judas kissed his teacher as was customary. Jesus did not let him off easy for that, reminding him that he had just betrayed “the Son of Man with a kiss.”

When they realized what was happening, some of the apostles asked Jesus if they should “strike with the sword.” Peter, of course, did not wait for answer, but cut the ear off of one of them. It is only John who tells us that it was Peter who did this (John 18:10), and that the victim’s name was Malchus. Jesus stopped them from continuing in violence and healed the man’s ear. Then He chastised the chief priests who had come with the crowd, pointing out that they had not laid a hand on Him while He was with them everyday ion the Temple, yet now they come after him like He was a robber.

They took Him to the house of the chief priest, with Peter following at a distance. He settled in with a crowd who had made a fire in the courtyard. It was there that Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. Luke tells us that a rooster crowed immediately, and that Jesus turned and looked at Peter. What a horrible feeling of guilt must have come over Peter at that moment. Despite all of his bravado, he had taken the cowardly way out in fear for his own safety. Now he must live with that knowledge, and Luke tells us that he did indeed go out and “wept bitterly.”

The kiss of Judas and Peter cutting off the ear of Malchus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Verses 63-65 tell us how the men that were holding Jesus mocked and blasphemed against Him. They also had Him blindfolded, beating Him, and they would tell Him to “prophesy” by saying which one of them had struck Him. Then at daybreak, He was led to the Sanhedrin, where they questioned Him about whether He was the Christ – the Son of God. Jesus’ answer “you say that I am” is a Greek expression that turns it back on the questioner, but the answer was clear. And that was enough for His accusers. They would deliver Him to Pilate, since they were forbidden by Roman law to execute Him themselves.

(This year’s reading plan for Luke, Acts, and 1 and 2 Chronicles averages just 15 verses per day – 5 days per week!)
Schedule for this week
Read or listen to audio of today’s selection from Luke here
Read or listen to audio of today’s selection from 2 Chronicles here

/Bob’s boy

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some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

Please note: I did not design the reading plan that I am following in my blog.  All of my comments in this blog, however, are solely my responsibility.  When reading ANY commentary, you should ALWAYS refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word. Reading schedules, as well as a link to the site where you can get the reading plan that I’m currently following for yourself can be found on the “Bible Reading Schedules” page of my website at http://graceofourlord.com.