‘No,’ said Jesus. ‘I don’t want any fighting.’
And he walked down the path towards the other disciples, and told Peter to put his sword away.
As they came up the path in the torchlight Christ said to the captain of the guards, ‘I’ll embrace him, and you’ll know who it is.’
When they came close to Jesus and the other three, Christ went up to his brother and kissed him.
‘You?’ said Jesus.
Christ wanted to speak, but he was shoved aside as the guards moved past him. He was soon lost among the crowd of curious onlookers who had heard rumours of what was going to happen, and come along to watch.
Seeing Jesus under arrest, the people thought that he’d betrayed their trust in him; that he was just another religious deceiver, like so many others, and that everything he’d told them had been false. They began to shout and jeer, and they might even have attacked and lynched him there and then, if the guards had not held them off; Peter tried to draw his sword again, but Jesus saw him and shook his head.
Peter said, ‘Master! We’re with you! We won’t leave you! Wherever they take you, I’ll come too!’
The guards marched Jesus off down the path, and Peter hastened after them. They took him through the city gate and along to the house of the high priest. Peter had to wait in the courtyard outside, where he joined the servants and the guards around the brazier they’d lit to keep themselves warm, for it was a cold night.
Jesus before the Council
Inside the house, Caiaphas had called together an emergency council of the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. This was unusual, because Jewish law normally prohibited courts from sitting at night, but the circumstances were urgent; if they were going to deal with Jesus the priests would have to do it before the festival began.
Jesus was brought before this council, and they began to question him. Some of the priests who had lost to him in argument were eager for a reason to hand him over to the Romans, and they had summoned witnesses in the hope of convicting him. However, they hadn’t coached the witnesses well enough, and several of them contradicted one another; for example, one said, ‘I heard him say he could destroy the temple, and build another in three days.’
‘No! That wasn’t him!’ said another. ‘That was one of his followers.’
‘But Jesus didn’t deny it!’
‘It was him. I heard him say it myself.’
Not all the priests were sure that was reason enough to condemn him.
Finally Caiaphas said, ‘Well, Jesus, what have you got to say? What’s your answer to these charges?’
Jesus said nothing.
‘And what about this other charge of blasphemy? That you claim to be the son of God? The Messiah?’
‘That’s what you say,’ said Jesus.
‘Well, it’s what your followers say,’ said Caiaphas. ‘Don’t you bear any responsibility for that?’
‘I have asked them not to. But even if I had said that, it would not be blasphemy, as you well know.’
Jesus was right, and Caiaphas and the priests knew it. Strictly speaking, blasphemy consisted of cursing the name of God, and Jesus had never done that. ‘ Then what about this claim to be king of the Jews? We see it everywhere daubed on the walls. What have you to say to that?’
Jesus said nothing.
‘Silence is no answer,’ said Caiaphas.
Jesus smiled.
‘Jesus, we’re trying very hard to be fair to you,’ the high priest went on. ‘It seems to us that you’ve gone out of your way to provoke trouble, not only with us, but with the Romans. And these are difficult times. We have to protect our people. Can’t you see that? Don’t you understand the danger you’re putting everyone in?’
Jesus still said nothing.
Caiaphas turned to the priests and scribes, saying, ‘I’m sorry to say that we have very little choice. We shall have to take this man to the governor in the morning. Of course, we shall pray that he is merciful.’
Peter
While this was happening inside the high priest’s house, the courtyard was crowded with people clustering around the brazier for warmth, and talking with anxious excitement about the arrest of Jesus, and what was likely to happen next. Peter was there among them, and at one point a servant girl looked at him and said, ‘You were with that Jesus, weren’t you? I saw you with him yesterday.’
‘No,’ said Peter. ‘He’s nothing to do with me.’
A little later someone else said to his companions, ‘This man was one of Jesus’s followers. He was in the temple with him when he upset the money-changers’ tables.’
‘Not me,’ said Peter. ‘You must be mistaken.’
And just before dawn a third person, hearing Peter make some remark, said, ‘You’re one of them, aren’t you? I can tell by your accent. You’re a Galilean, like him.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ said Peter.
Just then a cock crew. Until that moment the world had seemed to be holding its breath, as if time itself were suspended during the hours of darkness; but soon the daylight would come, and with it the full desolation would break in. Peter felt that, and he went outside and wept bitterly.
Jesus and Pilate
After Christ had betrayed his brother to the soldiers, he went by himself to pray. He hoped that the angel would come back to him, because he felt he had to talk about what he’d done and what might happen next; and he badly wanted to explain about the money.
He prayed, but he couldn’t sleep, so at first light he went to the high priest’s house, where he heard about the Galilean who had denied being one of Jesus’s followers, and who had wept at the cock-crow. Even in the middle of his tension and distress, Christ made a note of that.
But he was restless and agitated still, and joined the crowd that had gathered to see what the verdict on Jesus would be.
Presently a rumour began to spread: they were taking Jesus to the Roman governor. And soon afterwards the doors of the high priest’s house opened, and a troop of temple guards came out, bringing Jesus with them, his hands bound behind him. The guards had to protect him from the people, who only a few days ago had welcomed him with cheers and shouts of joy; now they were yelling at him, shaking their fists, and spitting.
Christ followed as they made their way to the governor’s palace. The governor at the time was Pontius Pilate, a brutal man much given to handing out cruel punishments. There was another prisoner awaiting sentence, a political terrorist and murderer called Barabbas, and it was almost certain that he was going to be crucified.
Christ remembered the ram caught in the thicket.
When the guards reached the governor’s palace, they dragged Jesus inside and flung him down at Pilate’s feet. Caiaphas had come to press the charges against Jesus, and Pilate listened while he spoke.
‘You will have seen, sir, the daubings on the walls – “King Jesus”. This is the man responsible. He has caused chaos in the temple, he has excited the mob, and we are conscious of the danger of civil disorder, so-’
‘You hear that?’ said Pilate to Jesus. ‘I’ve seen those filthy daubings. So that was you, was it? You claim to be the king of the Jews?’
‘You say that,’ said Jesus.
‘Did he speak to you in this insolent way?’ Pilate asked Caiaphas.
‘Constantly, sir.’
Pilate told the guards to set Jesus on his feet.
‘I’ll ask you again,’ he said, ‘and I expect some politeness this time. Do you claim to be the king of the Jews?’
Jesus said nothing.
Pilate knocked him down, and said, ‘You hear all these charges they lay against you? You think we’re going to put up with this kind of thing? You think we’re stupid, to allow agitators to go around causing trouble and urging the people to riot, or worse? We’re responsible for keeping the peace here, if you hadn’t noticed. And I will not put up with political disturbance from any direction. I’ll stamp that out at once, make no mistake. Well? What have you got to say, King Jesus?’