19 April 2012
He stood in the garden, the garden of gethsemane, knowing what was to come. It was dark, and sorrow had filled his heart. His friends were with him, they could feel some sort of tension in the air. They could tell that something was up, their was a seriousness in their masters eyes that they'd never seen before. They didn't really know what to say to him.
The sound of marching and loud voices suddenly started to swell in their ears, flickering orange light started to glow over the brow of the hill where the sounds were coming from.
Suddenly they were in view, a large group of roman soldiers and priests led by one man holding a burning torch in his hand. They were marching towards Jesus, strong in their stride.
As they got nearer, Jesus spoke up,
"Who are you looking for?"
The leader of the group answered "Jesus of Nazareth".
Jesus friends were feeling really frightened now, what on earth did these people want with their master? The soldiers had weapons on them, swords, clubs and spears.
In response to the leader, Jesus said,
"I am He."
When he said that, all of the soldiers, priests and their leader drew back and fell to the ground, at the sound and declaration of Jesus voice, they could not stand. Truly this was the Son of God speaking.
When they got up, they walked right up to Jesus, although scared because of what just happened, they stubbornly continued towards him.
The leader, who Jesus saw was Judas Iscariot who was once his friend and follower, put his arms around Jesus and kissed him on the cheek, all in mockery.
He said, "Hail! Jesus"
Judas had previously said to the soldiers that whoever he kisses would be the one for them to seize.
Jesus said to him,
"Judas, are you betraying me, the Son of man with a kiss?"
Jesus eyes were filled with love and sadness all at once.
Judas did not respond and turned away, ordering the soldiers to seize him.
The men surrounded Jesus and closed in, taking him violently, hitting him and binding him up.
One of Jesus friends jumped in to try and protect Jesus, he drew his sword and sliced off one of the soldiers ears. Their was a scream of agony and a huge uproar.
Jesus rebuked his friend who lashed and said,
"Put back your sword! Those who live by the sword will die by the sword! My Father has placed twelve legions of angels at my disposal, so that if I really wanted to be delivered, all I need to do is say the word. But I'm not going to, because I must go through with this to fulfil the scriptures. Let them take me."
At this, his friends all ran off, deserting Jesus.
So the soldiers dragged Jesus off, spitting on him and mocking him.
They were headed to the city to have Jesus stand before the high priest for judgement.
Betrayed • Opuss № I