From the Betrayal to the Burial of Jesus

I. General View of the Period.

1. This period embraces the events of but one day in the life of Jesus. It was the day following the Passover Day, and therefore the fifteenth of the month Nisan, in the Jewish year. See Num. 28. 16.

The betrayal of Jesus took place a little after midnight, on Friday morning, and the burial about sunset on the same day; so that the transactions of the period include about eighteen hours.

2. It was, however, an eventful day in the life of Jesus. No day in all Bible story is narrated with the fullness of this day. Nearly one-twelfth of the matter in the four gospels is occupied with the account of this one day. If the whole story of Christ's life were written out with equal completeness to this one day's record it would require more than four hundred volumes as large as the New Testament.

3. It was an important day; the most important in the history of the world. Notice in the epistles how much more is said of the death of Christ than of his life. See 1 Cor. 2. 2; Gal. 6. 14; 1 John 1. 7. Because of its eventfulness and importance we should give it careful study and place in order its events as a separate period in the life of Jesus Christ.

II. The Places. All these are in or near Jerusalem; but none of them can be identified with certainty. Yet it is well to know the traditional localities and to fix them upon the map of the city. There are five places named in the story of this day.

1. The Garden of Gethsemane. Here Jesus was arrested, immediately after the agony (Mark 14. 43). See the mention of this locality in the last study.

2. The High Priest's House (Mark 14. 53, 54). The high priest at that time was Caiaphas, but his father-in-law, Annas, who had been deposed by the Romans, was still regarded by the Jews as the legitimate priest, and possessed great authority. There was no special "palace" of the high priest, and Annas and Caiaphas may have lived in the same group of buildings. The place is located by tradition on Mount Zion, near that of the supper room.

3. Pilate's Palace (Mark 15. 1-16). The Roman capital of Judea was not in Jerusalem, but at CÆsarea, where the procurator resided (Acts 23. 23, 24). But it was customary for the governor to visit Jerusalem at the time of Passover, in order to quell any disturbance at that time, when the city was thronged. Pilate may have made his headquarters in Jerusalem either in the castle of Antonia, north of the temple (referred to in Acts 21. 34, and elsewhere), or in the palace of Herod the Great on the northwest corner of Mount Zion, the place now occupied by the (so-called) Tower of David. The latter locality is accepted by the best of the recent authorities. Here Jesus was brought for his trial and sentence by Pontius Pilate.

4. Herod's Palace. At that time Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and PerÆa (Luke 3. 1), the slayer of John the Baptist, was present in Jerusalem attending the Passover, and to him Jesus was sent by Pilate (Luke 23. 7). His abiding place was probably the old Maccabean palace, about midway between the temple and Pilate's headquarters.

5. Calvary or Golgotha. See Luke 23. 33 and Mark 15. 22 for the two names, one of which is Greek, the other Hebrew, both meaning "skull-like" or "the place of skulls." All positively known about this place is that it was outside the wall, but near the city (John 19. 20). Two localities are given: the traditional one, north of Zion and west of the temple, now occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulcher; the other, recently coming into notice and accepted by many scholars, a hill on the north of the city, containing a great cave known as the "Grotto of Jeremiah." We adopt the latter place as Calvary, although the evidence is by no means certain. The place of the cross and that of the burial were in the same locality (John 19. 41, 42).

It would be well for the student to draw a rough diagram showing these places in their general relation to each other, as above.

III. We notice the Journeys of Jesus on the day of his crucifixion.

1. From Gethsemane to the High Priest's House. From the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus was taken to the high priest's house for examination before Annas and Caiaphas (Luke 22. 54.)

2. From the High Priest's House to Pilate's Palace. After examination before the high priests and the Jewish council Jesus was led to Pilate for another trial (Luke 23. 1).

3. From Pilate's Palace to Herod's Palace and return. Pilate sent Jesus to Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee; but Herod was unwilling to pass judgment upon him and sent him back (Luke 23. 7-11).

4. From Pilate's Palace to Calvary. At this second appearance before Pilate Jesus was condemned to death, and was taken to Calvary, outside the wall. Here he was crucified and after his death was buried (John 19. 16, 17, 41).

Let the student draw on the diagram a line representing each of these journeys and recall the events associated with them.

In Jerusalem, at the present time, there is a street known as Via Dolorosa, "the Sorrowful Way," over which Jesus is believed to have carried his cross from Pilate's judgment hall to Calvary. But in our view both Pilate's judgment hall and Calvary are wrongly located by tradition, and therefore this path cannot be the true "way of the cross."

IV. The Events. We may group all the transactions of this momentous day around eleven leading events:

1. The Betrayal (Mark 14. 43-50). This was in the Garden of Gethsemane, a little after midnight, and, therefore, on Friday, the 15th of Nisan. See the more detailed account in John 18. 1-11.

2. Jesus before Annas (John 18. 12, 13). This was a preliminary examination, and not official in its character.

3. Jesus before Caiaphas (John 18. 24). Read the account of the event in Mark 14. 53-72. By comparing the four accounts we find that there was first an examination before the high priest and such of the council as could be gathered (Mark 14. 55), and then later a trial before the entire Sanhedrin, or body of the elders (Luke 22. 66), at which Jesus was condemned to death. Peter's denial took place in the house of the high priest (John 18. 24, 25).

4. Jesus before Pilate. The Jews had no power to sentence to death, and hence were compelled to bring Jesus before Pilate (John 18. 28-32). Notice that the Jews condemned Jesus on one ground, but accused him before Pilate on another (Matt. 26. 65, 66; Luke 23. 2). The dialogue of Pilate with Jesus is given in John 18. 29-37. Pilate declared Christ's innocence and proposed that he should be released, but the people still demanded that he should be put to death.

5. Jesus before Herod. Pilate was unwilling to take the responsibility either of putting to death an innocent man or of offending the Jews by releasing him. He therefore sent him to Herod. But Herod also refused to judge the case and after mocking Jesus sent him back to Pilate (Luke 23. 6-11).

6. Jesus Condemned to Death. After Jesus was brought back Pilate still endeavored to save his life. But instead of setting him free at once as an innocent man he proposed to release him as an act of good feeling at the Passover festival. The Jews chose Barabbas and rejected Jesus; and at last Pilate gave unwilling sentence that Jesus should be crucified. He was then delivered to the soldiers to be mocked and tortured (Luke 23. 13-25).

7. Jesus Bearing his Cross. On the way from Pilate's palace to Calvary Jesus was compelled to carry one of the beams of his own cross (John 19. 17). A part of the way his cross was carried by a man named Simon, of Cyrene, in Africa (Mark 15. 21).

8. Jesus on the Cross. At Calvary Jesus was fastened to the cross by nails through his hands and feet (Luke 23. 33; John 20. 25). He was crucified at nine o'clock in the morning and lived until three o'clock in the afternoon (Mark 15. 25-34). The stupefying potion offered to him before he was crucified (Mark 15. 23). Note the four versions of the superscription (Matt. 27. 37; Mark 15. 26; Luke 23. 38; John 19. 19). The witnesses (John 19. 25).

9. The Seven Words from the Cross. The first word (Luke 23. 34). The second word (John 19. 26, 27). The third word (Luke 23. 43). The fourth word (Matt. 27. 46). The fifth word (John 19. 28). The sixth word (John 19. 30). The seventh word (Luke 23. 46).

10. The Death on the Cross. The fact (Mark 15. 37). A remarkable testimony (Mark 15. 39). A remarkable event (Matt. 27. 51-53). An evidence of his death (John 19. 32-35).

11. The Burial. Why the body was taken away (John 19. 31). How it was obtained (John 19. 38). The preparation (John 19. 39, 40). The place of burial (Matt. 27. 59, 60). The witnesses (Matt. 27. 61). The sealing of the tomb (Matt. 27. 62-66).