00:00:00:28 – 00:00:29:24
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for being with us. As we continue through the Gospel of Luke, the Holy Week story. Today we look at the text of Jesus arrests and the betrayal. We know that that’s been in the works. We saw that not too long ago with the arrangements made with Judas. And today that comes to a head as Jesus is in the garden, has been praying with the disciples and now entered this with get up and pray that you may not come into time of trial.

00:00:29:29 – 00:00:51:56
Clint Loveall
As his own time comes. So I’ll read Luke’s account for you, and then we’ll come back and discuss it while Jesus was still speaking. Suddenly a crowd came and the one called Judas, one of the one who was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, Judas, is it with the kiss that you betray the son of man?

00:00:52:01 – 00:01:23:03
Clint Loveall
When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, Lord, should we strike with the sword? Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, No more of this, and he touched the ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and the officers of the temple police and the elders who had come for him, have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit when I was with you day after day in the temple, You did not lay hands on me.

00:01:23:07 – 00:01:55:28
Clint Loveall
But this is your hour and the power of darkness. So this is the Thursday text Maundy Thursday as we move to Good Friday during Holy Week. This is the first of many heavy texts as the reality of arrest. The the reality of charges and the assault on Jesus begin. And that will unfold for us over the next couple of days of these texts.

00:01:55:33 – 00:02:35:31
Clint Loveall
Here we have the intersection of a couple of themes that we’ve seen, specifically the idea of betrayal. Now there is in church history a legend that one of the disciples looked significantly like Jesus and that Judas is task was to identify which one was actually Jesus so that they in the dark did not arrest the wrong person. I don’t know if that holds any water, but here it is that Judas, for whatever reason, has agreed to make it clear which one they are to arrest.

00:02:35:36 – 00:03:09:23
Clint Loveall
And here in this telling of the Gospel, he attempts to do that with a kiss, which is, I think, the Gospels way of highlighting the betrayal, the intimacy of a friendship and relationship that is being pointed against Jesus and the the tragedy and the terribleness of that. I think maybe in some way, Michael, that’s in designed to help us engage with the sense of that Judas is not an outsider.

00:03:09:23 – 00:03:19:57
Clint Loveall
He’s not he’s not the bad guy who snuck up on Jesus. He’s he’s inside the circle and snuck up on Jesus, which in some ways makes it worse.

00:03:20:02 – 00:03:50:37
Michael Gewecke
Yeah. This text is much like Clint. I think the some of the birth story of Jesus, our Christmas season story. This is short and yet a lot happens in it. The brevity of words is is a real thing. But I don’t think that we should take a few short sentences and we should read into that. A lack of emotional weight or depth.

00:03:50:38 – 00:04:35:38
Michael Gewecke
I think that we would rightly slow down here. We would come to the words of Judas, one of the 12 who’s leading this crowd, and that is a kiss that becomes the symbol of betrayal. That is intention as we come to see it personal. It’s close, it’s intimate, it’s relational. And Judas, this one who has been with Jesus, uses all of these things, all of these connections as a tool to become the one who gives up Jesus to those who would kill him.

00:04:35:38 – 00:05:06:45
Michael Gewecke
And it’s an affront. I mentioned this in our study yesterday, so if you missed the study yesterday, you know, maybe go back and step forward towards the end. If you want that part. But look here includes in verse 47, a really abrupt transition. Not only is abrupt in terms of the relational split that Judas is effecting here, it’s abrupt because Luke says while Jesus is still speaking and let’s look back, he’s still speaking to the other disciples.

00:05:06:45 – 00:05:32:15
Michael Gewecke
So while Jesus is still speaking to them, suddenly the crowd comes up with Judas leading them. We have this just sort of amazing speed now picking up in the story that while Jesus is praying this prayer, this heart rending request to God, you know, I would prefer for this not to be. But in the end, your will be done.

00:05:32:20 – 00:05:59:09
Michael Gewecke
Now, suddenly this crowd comes up. Judas kicks off the action and we can with our minds. I imagine how quickly it moves from Judas kissing Jesus to now the disciples who asked Jesus this question Should we strike with the sword? But then don’t wait for the answer. They just immediately one of them strikes the slave. The high priest cuts off his ear.

00:05:59:22 – 00:06:33:56
Michael Gewecke
And no, this. We’re not given any names. You’re just suddenly one of them does it. And Luke is by doing this, showing us, I think, some of the the speed of how this is unfolding, some of the chaos of what’s happening, though we don’t have a lot of those kinds of emotional markers built into the text. Clint I think that the brevity of the writing, the way that this comes upon us, it Luke, is making clear that this is all happening really, really quickly and allows us to enter into the chaos of the text.

00:06:34:01 – 00:06:57:15
Clint Loveall
Yeah, and I think Luke does that, particularly with the idea that, yes, we all, we all know the story and we know there’s going to be violence done against Jesus. But here the disciples themselves respond with violence. You know, you have to be careful reading into things, but it says when they struck him and cut off his ear, well, your ear is on your head.

00:06:57:19 – 00:07:23:21
Clint Loveall
That’s swinging a sword at his head, I think is a likely implication of this. And Jesus calls that to stop. No more of this. And I think we didn’t jump ahead when we got there. But a while ago, a couple of texts back, we read the piece about Jesus being in the room with the disciples and they sit here are swords.

00:07:23:25 – 00:07:50:33
Clint Loveall
I think any sense in which Jesus is they’re calling Christians to attack and, you know, to be violent and to put things down. And I think those questions are answered with this text. We don’t understand that sword conversation very well, but we know that it doesn’t mean attack those who disagree with you or attack those who stand against you.

00:07:50:33 – 00:08:21:40
Clint Loveall
Jesus calls them to stop. And then there is this this very I think this is unique to Luke. I don’t I could be wrong about that. And please correct me if so, but I think this is unique to Luke Jesus actually in the midst of his being betrayed, being arrested with the horrible things that await him, commits an act of healing.

00:08:21:45 – 00:08:54:45
Clint Loveall
He touches the slaves ear and heals him. And that is a remarkable addition to the story that as the recipient of violence, Jesus not only puts an end to violence, but takes it upon himself to restore the damage that’s been done by one of his own onto a slave, one of the people there to arrest him. And that’s an incredible detail in the story.

00:08:54:45 – 00:09:19:01
Clint Loveall
And then it goes on and Jesus does have a word for the roosters as well. I was with you. You’re doing this at night. I’ve been around in the daytime. In other words, the things I do, I do in the open, the things you do, you sneak around and do at night with betrayal and paying people off. I mean that that’s all behind the scenes.

00:09:19:06 – 00:09:38:51
Clint Loveall
That’s all Jesus’s way of saying you’re not who you’re claiming to be. And and you know that the truth doesn’t have to sneak around doing these things in the garden at night. And you know that that’s written. I think that’s written pretty clearly on to all of those stories of the garden and each of the gospels.

00:09:38:58 – 00:10:16:52
Michael Gewecke
I actually think there’s another detail in that section that’s relevant to your previous point, the very end here. But this is your hour and the power of darkness and you know, those who might read the previous statement about turning to violence or putting down the powers of evil with with violence, I think that a text like this makes it clear that Jesus, as the son of God, the one who possesses all of the power of creation unto himself, that he recognize rises, that even with the injustice of them coming at night, he’s going to submit to that darkness for just an hour.

00:10:16:53 – 00:10:51:32
Michael Gewecke
This is this is the hour or the moment or the the short period in which even God himself is going to submit to those who do work in the darkness. And yet we know that as the day goes on and the night goes on, that it’s going to get darker and darker and darker still until you make it to the other side of the resurrection story, which as Christians in the modern era, we may be apt by nature of our familiarity with that story and its outcome to add too much light too quickly into the story, the reality.

00:10:51:32 – 00:11:13:12
Michael Gewecke
It’s been constructed carefully so that we know that God himself was willing to walked into the darkness, was willing to, even for an hour, abide within the darkest of the dark and those who would use it to their own ends. That’s the extent by which God is willing to go to save those who need saving from that darkness.

00:11:13:22 – 00:11:38:51
Michael Gewecke
And that, Clint, I think, is a scandalous kind of thing to include in a text like this. It becomes even more scandalous once Jesus starts speaking to the crowd from the cross notes of forgiveness in some of the gospel accounts. I think this is an incredible kind of look at what it looks like when God comes into contact with the evil of the world.

00:11:39:05 – 00:11:45:11
Michael Gewecke
And it does subvert our expectation. If we are able to see that in the text.

00:11:45:16 – 00:12:12:10
Clint Loveall
I think there’s also a kind of there’s a detail that’s not in the text that may raise questions if we stopped and thought about it. And that is that the gospel is exclusively interested in Jesus story, and it would seem to be mirrored in the fact that those who are there to arrest him but don’t appear to be particularly interested in the disciples.

00:12:12:12 – 00:12:37:41
Clint Loveall
You might think that they would try to to get all of them. And here, you know, they come with what appears to be a significant crowd of people, and yet the disciples aren’t arrested. They they take Jesus off specifically. And that may seem strange to us. I don’t know if that’s common in the modern world or not. You would think that maybe these other men would have been included.

00:12:37:46 – 00:13:09:16
Clint Loveall
But this is the this is the Gospels way, I think, of shaping the story so that Jesus is facing these trials alone. This story is really not about the disciples. We’re going to see a story about Peter tomorrow, but it’s not really about Peter. Even that story is reflective of of what Jesus is going through. And so if you think it’s odd that they let all the disciples go, maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.

00:13:09:21 – 00:13:22:12
Clint Loveall
But the gospel writers just aren’t particularly interested in that. They they are exclusive. Lee focused on what is happening to Jesus, to the Christ from here on out.

00:13:22:17 – 00:13:47:37
Michael Gewecke
Let’s not rush to the end of the text either. Let’s just make sure that we’ve said, you know, verse 52 here, look at the people who are coming, the chief priests, officers of the temple police and the elders like Clint. This is clearly pointing us towards the highest levels of the Jewish religious order. These are the people with the highest seats and the greatest power and ability.

00:13:47:42 – 00:14:15:34
Michael Gewecke
Luke has carefully constructed the texts up to this point so that we understand how we got here. How did we get here? Jesus has been having conversations with these folks in the temple. He’s made some parables and he’s had some teachings that Luke has led us into in the text Jesus has gotten after these men. He He has been clear that they have been enriching themselves and using their power for their own gain.

00:14:15:48 – 00:14:40:08
Michael Gewecke
So we shouldn’t be surprised then when Luke specifically names, it’s those people who are the ones coming for him. And once again, let’s note who’s not present in this mix right now. They have not gone and pulled the Romans into this. They’ve not looked externally yet. They know that there’s going to be more steps to come as we see the text play out.

00:14:40:08 – 00:15:06:06
Michael Gewecke
But for now, this is them exhausting. The length, the farthest length of the authority that they could muster. This is them working internally within the Jewish community. And then leveraging that power. And we’re going to see how that plays out into the future. But but note there’s not listed here a Roman military officer, though there are plenty of them in Jerusalem at this moment.

00:15:06:10 – 00:15:10:04
Michael Gewecke
They’re not coming. This this is Jesus’s own people coming for him.

00:15:10:13 – 00:15:45:49
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And just to make sure that you understand the significance of that, the Romans are the authority legally and militarily. And so the Jews have some latitude to enforce their own justice. But some of this is very much out on the edge of what they can legally do. In fact, you could argue that they overstep their bounds in the coming passages, but the the they’re in there certainly in gray area as they abuse Jesus, as they but they will need the Romans in order to seek the death penalty.

00:15:45:54 – 00:15:55:00
Clint Loveall
And the Romans as of yet are not involved. And I do think that matters. We’ll talk about it more as we get down the road to Pilot and Herod and some of those characters.

00:15:55:04 – 00:16:29:24
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, And maybe just a final note here, Clint. Yes. The disciples have swords. Yes, they appear to swing for the head, but let’s not miss. They come to Jesus with swords and clubs. I mean, it’s very clear that this crowd set out with a particular purpose and and that purpose is is to seek after Jesus’s life. And maybe it is the fact that they only take Jesus that helps us to see how severely he had gotten under their skin, that that he had found the last straw and he had taken it.

00:16:29:24 – 00:16:54:14
Michael Gewecke
And now, as Jesus walks forward into this story, it’s really not a question of ten. His disciples save him ever. Now it is. How will Jesus respond to these people who seek his life? And and interestingly, the note that Jesus begins with on this Thursday night, as we have it in our calendar, it’s going to be the same response over and over again throughout.

00:16:54:14 – 00:17:01:31
Michael Gewecke
We’re not going to see a different Jesus than the Jesus we see tonight. We’re just going to see it carry forward the different movements of the story.

00:17:01:40 – 00:17:19:12
Clint Loveall
Yeah, And I think one of those movements is that the crowd, not the not so much the Romans, but the Jewish crowd gets more and more mob like it is a mob that comes to get Jesus. And that will that that will only sort of spiral as we get through the rest of these stories.

00:17:19:17 – 00:17:38:31
Michael Gewecke
So a lot of themes here. We’ll try to keep track of them as we go. We’re glad that you joined us for this conversation. Hope there’s been something in it that is interesting and generative for you and we would love for you to join us as we continue along this study. So subscribe for more videos like this and certainly liked this video to help others find it.

00:17:38:43 – 00:17:41:56
Michael Gewecke
And till then we until tomorrow. Hope your last.

00:17:42:03 – 00:17:42:45
Clint Loveall
Thanks everybody.