Arrest, Trials, Denials: Triplets of Betrayal

As we continue our study of triplets in Scripture, echoing God’s Triune nature, we find the same pattern repeated in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. All of Christian doctrine, and our blessed hope of eternal life and of His glorious reappearing (Titus 2:13; 1 Peter 1:3), hinges on the sacred triplet of His death, burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

The road to Calvary where Jesus was crucified was paved with betrayal by His chosen disciples, by the leaders and commoners of the Jewish people He was sent to deliver, and by the Roman rulers that occupied His birth nation of Israel. His betrayals by these three groups resulted in His arrest and trials and in denials of His divinity.

Events of the crucifixion were set in motion when Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 27:3), which was the going rate for a bondservant. How fitting, in light of God the Son taking on human flesh and coming to earth the first time not as King, but as a humble servant. Not only did He come to teach us how to serve, but to offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice to redeem us from our sins.

At the Lord’s Supper on the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus performed three sacred acts with the bread that symbolized His body:.He blessed it, and brake it, and gave to them (Mark 14: 22). The blessing was an act of worship thanking the Father not only for His provision of physical sustenance, but for giving Him the opportunity to save the souls of all who trust in Him.

Breaking the bread symbolized how His precious body would be battered beyond recognition, as He paid in full the punishment every one of us owes for all our sins, past, present and future. Giving the bread to the disciples signifies how He gives eternal life to all who trust in His death, burial and resurrection as the only way to Heaven.

After supper, Jesus and His disciples went to the garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32), where He prayed a threefold prayer. He asked that God’s will be done as He prepared Himself for the unimaginable spiritual as well as physical ordeal He would face. He prayed for those disciples who were present, and He prayed for every believer who trusts Him as Savior (John 17).

As Jesus removed Himself further into the garden, He took with Him His inner circle, Peter, James, and John (Mark 14:33). Three times He begged them to stay awake with Him and pray, but all three times they fell asleep (Mark 14:41).

As Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss that let His captors know His identity, Jesus was surrounded by a hostile crowd of chief priests, scribes and elders (Mark 14:43) armed with lanterns, torches and weapons (John 18:3). He was then subjected to three mock trials by Caiaphas (Matthew 26:57-67), Pilate (Matthew. 27:2; Mark 15:1-15) and Herod: (Luke 23:7-11).

At the trial led by the high priest Caiaphas, the chief priests, elders, and all the council looked for false witness against Jesus so that He would be sentenced to death (Matthew 26:59; Mark 14:53). Having accomplished their heinous objective, they spit in His face, beat Him, and struck Him with the palms of their hands (Matthew 26 67).

Then they stripped Him naked, kneeled before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! They adorned Him with three mock symbols of a king: a scarlet robe, a crown of thorns, and a reed in his right hand (Matthew.27:28-29).

Not only was Jesus scorned by His captors, He was denied three times by Peter, who had pridefully boasted that he would follow His Master to the death Matthew 26:75; Mark 14:30

Despite this humiliating and painful ordeal, the Scripture here records three titles of Jesus revealing His true nature as Messiah, fully divine yet fully man: the Christ, the,Son of the Blessed, and the Son of man (Mark 14:61-62).

After Pilate determined that he could find no fault in Jesus, the people cried out three times that Jesus be put to death:

Matthew 27: 22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.

23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.

24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.

25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

Throughout history, there has always been a small remnant of those who remain true to God even though the multitudes reject Him.

As Christ took the final steps down Calvary’s road where His suffering and death would culminate in our redemption and eternal life, even His closest friends and followers scattered in the face of what seemed to be sure defeat. Far from being thankful that their Messiah was delivering them, the Jews and their religious leaders failed to recognize who He was and clamored for His death.

Yet to the faithful Old Testament saints (Hebrews 11), such as Abraham and Noah, can be added the faithful remnant of those who did not desert Christ as He died for us. Among His closest circle these were His mother Mary, His beloved disciple John, and Mary Magdalene (John 19:25-26). Also in the faithful remnant were the occasional Jew such as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea: (John 19:38-39) and even the Roman centurion who glorified God as realized Jesus was righteous (Luke 23:47). ‘

May each of us be numbered with the faithful remnant honoring God and loving Christ even when the world dishonors and rejects Him.

© 2012 Laurie Collett