29 Dec 2015
Matthew 26:47
Matthew 26:47: “And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.”
You can see they were taking no chances! The priests wanted one of His own to identify Him so they didn’t get the wrong man. (This tells me that although they hated Him passionately, they actually didn’t even know Him well enough to be able to pick Him out of a crowd.) They also came with a large force, hinting that they were greatly afraid of this man called Jesus and were not at all sure what would happen when they arrested Him. Jesus had already said that He would go quietly, but they were still clearly quite worried.
They may have also been worried about the people, afraid that someone would find out what they were doing and an angry mob would form and try to free Jesus. It was, after all, just a few days ago that Palm Sunday occurred. The priests were always afraid that the people would take Jesus’ side and revolt against them.