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LUKE 22:47 – 23:25: JESUS' ARREST AND TRIALS

© Rosemary Bardsley 2025

In looking at Luke’s reports of the arrest and various ‘trials’, our focus will be on the various participants and what they did and said, and how these actions and words, while utterly inappropriate to be used against Jesus, the holy Son of God, fulfilled even in minute detail the prophetic words of the Old Testament.

A. THE ARREST – 22:47 – 54

Read Luke 22:47 – 53. Answer these questions:
Who led the crowd that came to arrest Jesus?

What groups of people were in the crowd?

How did Jesus point out the inappropriateness of the way they went about the arrest?

 

How does Luke let us know that the disciples really didn’t know what they were supposed to do?

 

Read Matthew 26:52 – 54 for Jesus’ response to the disciples’ reaction. Why did he choose not to resist the arrest?

 

 

From Luke 22:54 and John 18:12, how did they arrest Jesus?

Explain Jesus’ words ‘but this is your hour – when darkness reigns.’ (Read John 14:30-31)

 

B. AT THE HIGH PRIEST’S HOUSE – 22:54 – 71

B.1 Peter and Jesus – 22:54 – 62
At first Luke focuses on Peter and his three vehement denials of knowing Jesus (54 – 62).

In 22:33 Peter had affirmed his readiness to go with Jesus to prison and to death. John tells us that the disciple who used his sword in defence of Jesus, trying to prevent his arrest, was Peter (John 18:10). Now we read in verse 54 ‘Peter followed at a distance.’ Up to this point, Peter remains true to his stated commitment. Accompanied by another disciple, most probably John, Peter followed the crowd that had arrested Jesus, and through John’s influence was brought into the high priest’s courtyard (John 18:15, 16).

There he denied knowing Jesus.

There he denied being one of Jesus’ disciples.

There he denied any knowledge of what they were talking about.

There, the Lord Jesus, even in the midst of his own circumstances, turned and looked at Peter. And Peter went out, not out of fear of the enemy, but overwhelmed by his own weakness, by his own failure.

B.2 The guards and Jesus – 22:64 – 65
Answer these questions:
What five things did the guards do to Jesus?

What did they do that indicates that they had heard reports about Jesus?

 

What could Jesus have done to these men?

 

Why did he not react to their mistreatment?

 

B.3 The council of the elders and Jesus – 22:66 – 71
Who met together to question Jesus?

What was their first question?

What did that question mean?

How did Jesus answer that question?

What title did Jesus use in identifying himself?

 

Read Daniel 7:13 – 14. What do these verses teach about ‘the Son of Man’?

 

In response to this, what other title did his accusers use?

 

How are these two titles a reference to the same divine identity of Jesus Christ?

 

How did Jesus affirm who he was?

 

The question ‘Are you the Christ?’ was a pivotal question:

Are you the One foretold by the prophets?
Are you the Anointed One?
Are you the great Liberator?
Are you the Son of God?

Jesus’ answer would either set him free or seal his death.

But even at this critical moment he turns the question back on the questioners:

If I tell you, you will not believe me.
If I asked you, you would not answer.

He knows the hardness of their hearts. He knows their stubborn unbelief. But their unbelief does not affect the truth: from now on – from this point to which they are ruthlessly moving, this crucifixion, from this point on, when he puts aside his temporary limitations of time and space and human flesh – from this point on he, ‘the Son of Man’, that glorious, divine, authoritative, eternal being of Daniel’s vision, will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.

Yes. He is the Son of God.

With this answer he sealed his death.

But let us turn the question again, so that it confronts us, so that it challenges us, so that it forces us to face its pivotal and ultimate significance:

If Jesus tells us who he is … would we listen? If he asked us who we believed him to be … would we answer?

Our answer … our response … either seals our death, or sets us free.

To those who believe in him, to those who acknowledge and receive him as the Christ, the Son of God, he affirms: you have eternal life; you will never be condemned; you have already crossed over from death to life (John 5:24).

But from the perspective of these religious leaders, Jesus’ identification of himself as ‘the Son of Man’ who will be ‘seated at the right hand of the mighty God’ was a claim to deity. It was a claim to be the ‘the Son of God’ even though it does not sound like it. From their perspective as the custodians of the religion of the Jews, this claim was blasphemous. From their religious perspective, they needed no further proof that Jesus ought to be executed. For them it validated their rejection of Jesus and their desire to kill him, but it would not be sufficient to convince the Romans that Jesus ought to be executed. For that they would need a different accusation.

C. BEFORE PILATE AND HEROD – 23:1 – 25

C.1 Jesus’ first appearance before Pilate – 23:1 – 5
To secure Jesus’ execution the leaders of the Jews had to convince Pilate, the Roman governor, that Jesus was guilty of instigating rebellion against Rome. Leaving aside Jesus’ affirmation that he was the Son of Man/Son of God, the Jewish leaders accused Jesus of political aspirations undermining the authority of Rome. Instead of focusing on the question that was most important to them – ‘Are you the Son of God?’ – they focused on the question they considered significant to Pilate – ‘Is Jesus the King of the Jews?’ Initially Pilate did not believe them, and even though Jesus affirmed that he was indeed ‘the king of the Jews’, Pilate stated that he found no basis for a charge against Jesus – verses 3, 4.

This acquittal by Pilate, who as the Roman governor was the legal authority, is important. By it Jesus is, by the legal authority of the land, declared innocent, and legal innocence was, from God’s perspective, a critical aspect of his substitutionary, sin-bearing death. Jesus could bear the sin and guilt of others only if he had none of his own to be punished for. See verses 13 – 16 and 22 for two further affirmations of innocence.

What do these verses say about the legal innocence/perfection of Jesus Christ?
Exodus 12:5:

Leviticus 1:3:

John 8:46:

2Corinthians 5:21:

1Peter 1:19:

1Peter 3:18:

C.2 Before Herod – 23:5 – 12
Luke makes it clear that Herod simply wanted to be entertained by Jesus, but Jesus did not co-operate with that. From seeking entertainment from Jesus, Herod turned to ridicule.

From these verses, describe the words and actions of the various people involved:
Herod (initially):

Jesus:

The chief priests and teachers of the law:

Herod and the soldiers:

Pilate:

C.3 Before Pilate again – 23:13 – 25
Pilate again affirmed that Jesus was innocent of the crimes against Rome that the Jewish leaders accused him of, and this time even more strongly than earlier.

Read verses 13 – 25. Answer these questions:
What did Pilate say about Jesus?
Verse 14:

Verse 15:

Verse22:

What did Pilate want to do with Jesus? (verses 16, 20, 22)

 

What did the Jewish leaders want Pilate to do with Jesus?

 

Think about the release of Barabbas. In what way does his freedom as a result of Jesus’ death provide a picture of our spiritual redemption through that death?

 

Why did Pilate give in to their demands?

 

Whose will did Pilate think he was handing Jesus over to? (read verse 25)

 

In the big picture, over and above the will of Pilate and the leaders of the Jews, whose will was actually being accomplished? Explain your answer.

 

How do the events in Luke 22:47 to 23:25 fulfil what Jesus said in Luke 18:31, 32?