Chapter IV
In the meantime it had been a busy day in the city of Jerusalem. The scribes and Pharisees had heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. This would be the chance they had been waiting for to arrest Jesus. They had watched and listened to Him these last three years and they were convinced that He was trying to destroy the Law of Moses and to set Himself up as king of Israel on David’s throne. If He succeeded, they were sure He would abolish the Priesthood and their jobs would be in jeopardy. Somehow they, along with the Sanhedrin Council, knew He must be stopped at any cost.
Many times they had sent their best and brightest scribes, those who knew the Law the best, to try to trip Him up in His words but they had been unsuccessful. More and more people were being persuaded by His teachings and soon they would force Him to be king of Israel. They could not allow this is happen. If only they could have arranged for Saul of Tarsus to debate Him on the Law, he may have been able to find a flaw in His teachings and to open the people’s eyes to what He was trying to do.
Saul was the strictest of the Pharisees and had attended the Pharisaic Rabbinical school in Jerusalem and been taught the Law by the great teacher, Gamaliel, himself. If anyone could outwit Him and make the people see that Jesus’ teachings were contrary to the Law, they felt Saul was the one that could do it. But time was running out and something must be done immediately. Just last week He had ridden on a donkey into Jerusalem and the people threw palm branches in His path and were shouting, ‘Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!’ Soon, all of Israel would be convinced that He was the Messiah.
That same day He had taken a whip and run the money changers out of the temple shouting, ‘It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.’ He had gone so far as to upset the tables where they were doing business. Even the children were crying out in the temple, and saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ This displeased the rulers of the temple and when they confronted Jesus on what the children were saying He replied, ‘Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?’ The rulers had no answer for Him and this irritated them even more. It was bad enough that the people flocked to Him on the streets of Jerusalem and shouted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” But to do it in the sanctity of their temple! This was an outrage! They could no longer tolerate this behavior!
All the things Jesus had done these last three years of His ministry were coming to a climax. The chief priest and rulers had been dealing with one of His disciples named Judas, and they had persuaded him to betray Jesus. Their spies had told them that Judas always carried the money bag where Jesus’ disciples kept all their money for food and other necessities they might need. They figured if Judas could be tempted to betray his Master, it would be by offering him money. They were right and Judas had bargained with them for thirty pieces of silver.
Whether Judas wanted the money for himself or for the ministry of Jesus made little difference to them. As long as he led them to Him and identified Him was all that mattered; they would do the rest. Maybe Judas thought that if Jesus was arrested and put on trial, it would force Him to reveal to the Sanhedrin council that He was really the Messiah and they would make Him King of Israel. Maybe Judas thought this would usher in the Kingdom of God that Jesus had talked about so often. And again, it might have been the greed for money, but whatever the reason, Judas had agreed to betray Him and the deal had been sealed with the money they gave him.
Judas had confirmed to the chief priests last week that Jesus was indeed coming to Jerusalem to observe the Passover. Judas told the chief priests one of Jesus’ favorite places around Jerusalem was the Garden of Gethsemane and, in all likelihood, He would go there after the Passover Supper to pray. He told them he would point Jesus out to them by kissing Him on the cheek.
The members of the Sanhedrin council had been planning for months how they might apprehend Jesus. They knew many people were always around Him and they didn’t want to try to arrest Him in broad daylight. They were afraid of what the people might do. They wanted to have Him arrested under the cover of darkness and the Garden of Gethsemane would be the perfect place because it was a secluded spot. The scribes and the Pharisees had been plotting how they might convince the Romans that Jesus was a threat to the Roman government. They knew they didn’t have the power or authority to arrest Jesus themselves so they had to persuade the Roman authorities to do it.
They also knew that nothing short of death would stop this man from Galilee from teaching a new interpretation of the Law. Somehow, they must convince the people that He was worthy of death. Sinister plans were being made behind closed doors on how to accomplish the destruction of Jesus. They knew He had not done anything against Rome. He didn’t advocate overthrowing the Roman Empire so they had to figure out another way to convince, not only Rome, but also the Jewish people that He must die.
Haman did not realize any of this was going on. He only visited Jerusalem once a year and that was for the Passover. He had complete confidence in the rulers of Israel and would have never believed they were capable of murder. The Ten Commandments he lived by said, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ But while he slept, plans were being made to break that commandment by the rulers of Israel themselves. Under the cover of darkness, the Jewish council was holding a special session to lay the final plans on how to commit this evil deed.
Several of the scribes and Pharisees told the council that Jesus said He was the Son of God. Was He not making Himself equal with God and was He not committing blasphemy? Did not their Law say that the God they served declared He was one God and there was no other? While the council was in intense debate there were a few on the council who were opposed to causing Jesus any harm. One of those was Nicodemus who had come to Jesus at night.
Nicodemus revealed to the council the conversation he had had with Jesus that night.
“I told Jesus, ‘Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
“Jesus came right to the point and said, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except, a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’
“I was baffled by His answer and I asked, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?’
“I will never forget His answer because He said, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.’
“I then asked Him, ‘How can these things be?’
“He then asked me a question that got me to thinking. He asked, ‘Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?’ After hearing Him speak, I just don’t believe He has done anything worthy of death; I believe He might be our long awaited Messiah!” Nicodemus told the council.
While they were in much heated debate, one of them recalled what Caiaphas, the high priest that year had said: “Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.” This ended the debate and the council decided to call for a vote. Those wishing to do away with this Jesus of Nazareth outnumbered those who didn’t so the council began making plans on how to arrest Jesus and bring Him to trial in a Roman court of law. They knew their hatred of Jesus and the Jewish council’s decision would be of no concern to the Romans. They had to convince Rome that Jesus was a threat to Caesar. While they were discussing how they might accomplish this, one of the scribes spoke up and said, “I have heard Him tell His disciples about how His kingdom will one day rule the world. Would not this be a threat to Rome?” he asked the council.
Another spoke up and said, “If we can show Pilot and King Herod how many people are starting to follow Him and listen to His teachings, we might be able to persuade them He is a threat and they might fear the people will revolt against the Roman Empire and against King Herod himself. If they believe their positions are in jeopardy, we might be able to convince them to at least have Him arrested.”
The plan was agreed upon and they would convince the Roman authorities to summon the Roman soldiers to follow Judas and arrest Jesus of Nazareth. Unknown to the council or even to Caiaphas, the high priest, who had spoken the words of prophecy earlier, they could not have done otherwise because prophecy could not be broken and this night was prophesied long ago.
During the day Judas had managed to slip away from the other disciples and go meet with rulers of the temple. He had informed them that Jesus was indeed on His way to Jerusalem to observe the Passover with His disciples. He told them that during the Passover Supper, he would leave during the supper and meet with them again. He would lead the Roman soldiers to Jesus and fulfill the bargain he had made with them.
