In that hour Jesus said to the crowds, Are ye come out as against a robber with swords and sticks to take me? I sat daily [with you] teaching in the temple, and ye did not seize me.
An armed crowd comes by night to arrest Jesus. Before they lead Him away He puts one question to them, and it exposes both the arrest and the men behind it.
The word translated "robber" is not a general word for a criminal. It means a violent bandit, and it turns up at other points in the Gospels.
(ληστής) 'robber, bandit.' Used by the Lord about those who bought and sold in the temple. Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46. In the parable of the Good Samaritan the traveller fell among robbers. Luke 10:30, 36. When they arrested the Lord, He asked whether they had come out as against a robber. Matt. 26:55; Mark 14:48; Luke 22:52. The two criminals crucified with the Lord were also men of this character. Matt. 27:38, 44.
The mismatch is the point. They brought a whole armed company against a man known for being gentle.
The Lord knows it all. Does it not seem remarkable? Here is the One so gentle and so lowly — "His Voice not heard in the street" and the like. Yet they come out against Him as against a thug, with a great armed crowd.
His question searches their consciences. It also shows why they waited for the dark.
In verse 55 He speaks a searching word to the consciences of the crowd. He had taught publicly in the temple, in front of them, every day, and they did not arrest Him. Now they come to search for Him in the dark of night, as though He had been a thief trying to evade the law. In this way He exposes the unrighteousness of their cause, which they were afraid to carry out in the light of day.
Writing on Mark's account of the same scene, Hamilton Smith sets their cowardice beside their blindness.
They could have taken the Lord any day in the temple, out in the open, for He had taught openly and publicly. But their cowardly fear of the people, and their lack of all principle, led them to act as if they were dealing with a thief. They understood a thief, and they knew how to deal with a thief. But the infinite perfections of Christ were beyond their understanding.
Their weapons did not match the man they had watched in the temple. Luke's account of the moment names whose hour this is.
They had come with worldly weapons. But His daily contact with them in the temple had shown that He never used such weapons. The incongruity of their coming in this way only exposed their evil motives. "But," He added, "this is your hour and the power of darkness" (Luke 22:53). They were to be allowed their brief hour, to express their hatred in full against Him and against God, as the willing tools of satanic power.
They had held back before, and fear was the reason. Judas handed them what looked like their moment, but the arrest turned on something outside their control.
Why had they not taken Him, while daily in the temple He had been teaching publicly among them? They had feared the people, as we know. Judas's treachery alone gave them what they thought was their opportunity. But neither power nor cunning could have succeeded against Him. Only the will of God made it possible, the will that Scripture witnessed to. It bound them so little, but Him so completely; and yet they too were fulfilling it.
He does not resist the arrest. He also does not let the manner of it stand as a verdict on Him.
He was perfectly submissive to the authority of those led by the traitor. Even so, we catch a glimpse of our Lord's conscious kingly authority. To those sent to seize Him He would not agree, even by silence, to any thought of guilt on His part. He reminds them that He had sat daily with them, teaching in the temple. It was the fulfilment of Scripture that He alone acknowledged.
- Robber. The word means a violent bandit — the same class of man later crucified on either side of Him.
- Daylight. He had taught openly in the temple every day; His whole record could bear examination in the light.
- Darkness. They came by night with swords and clubs because their cause could not stand daylight.
- Powerless. Fear of the people had held them back before. Neither force nor cunning could touch Him apart from the will of God — the will they were fulfilling without knowing it.
- Submissive. He yields to their hands without yielding an inch on His innocence — bound by Scripture, not by them.
But all this is come to pass that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him and fled.
The arrest takes only a moment, yet the verse tells us how to read it. What looks like a mob getting its way is really the prophets' words coming true — and the men who had promised they would never deny Him run away.
The crowd came armed, as though force were deciding the outcome. One writer asks why they had not arrested Him earlier, and answers that only the will of God gave them their hour.
Why had they not taken Him earlier, while He was teaching openly in the temple every day? They were afraid of the people, as we know, and only Judas's betrayal gave them what they thought was their chance. But neither their power nor their cunning could have succeeded against Him. It happened only because of that will of God which Scripture testified to. That will held them so lightly, but held Him completely; and yet even they were carrying it out.
The verse says "Scriptures", not "Scripture". One writer treats that single letter as deliberate.
Sometimes the written word says, "that the scripture might be fulfilled." But in Gethsemane our Lord spoke of how He could ask His Father, if He wished, for twelve legions of angels. Then He added, "But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled?" And again, "that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." Why Scriptures and not Scripture? Because every prophetic writing about His humiliation, rejection, sufferings, pain and forsaking had to be accomplished in His death, as a sacrifice and offering to God on the cross.
The disciples' flight was itself one of those fulfilments. Jesus had spoken that prophecy over them earlier the same night.
The word He had spoken was now fulfilled. He had said, "You will all fall away because of Me this night; for it is written, 'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'" Now the Shepherd stands alone.
Their running away was weakness. Yet no one could have stood beside Him in the work ahead.
Now the sheep of the flock scatter, as the prophet had testified. As they fled they were protected, as John shows us, by their struck Shepherd. In fact they could not follow Him now, as He had said to Peter. Nothing could be allowed to blur the truth of the lonely, unique place He was now to take: not with His people, but for them... So He was alone, and He had to stay alone. Only when His work was perfectly finished would He come out in the morning of resurrection, with the night gone for ever.
While they panicked, He did not. His quietness came from a decision already made in prayer.
The Lord submits in perfect calm. He had already weighed it all in His Father's presence... But no one could follow Him into the valley of death, or stand up against the enemy's power, except the faithful Saviour Himself.
Three years with Him, and promises of loyalty, were not enough when the danger became real.
They thought their lives were in danger. They had said boldly that they would never deny Him, yet they failed miserably. A lesson for us: when the test comes, we will break down too, unless we are in communion with Christ.
Before we judge them, another writer turns the question around on the reader.
We may be tempted to throw stones at them and call them cowards. So let us ask ourselves this instead: have we ever sought our own things at the cost of His company, His reproach and His interests?
The men who ran are the same men He later provided for from heaven.
The Father would send the Spirit at the Son's asking. Once on high, the Lord's first thought would be for the disciples He had left on earth. This would show real love on His part — love to the very men who deserted Him and ran away when He was arrested in the garden.
- Written first. The arrest happened because prophecy had already said it would. Human cunning supplied only the moment, not the cause.
- Written fully. The plural "Scriptures" covers every prophetic word about His rejection, suffering and forsaking. All of it came true at the cross.
- Written over them too. The disciples' flight was not a gap in the plan. It fulfilled His own word: strike the Shepherd, and the sheep scatter.
- Written for us. He had to be alone. He stood not with His people but for them, until the work was done and resurrection morning came.
- Written after. The love they deserted in the garden is the love that, from heaven, asked the Father to send the Spirit to the men who ran.