Passion of the Christ

Using a prearranged signal, Judas kissed Jesus to let his compatriots know which person they needed to arrest. As the officials reached for Jesus, Peter (one of the disciples) drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the men. Chiding Peter, Jesus told his followers to put away their swords as He healed the wounded ear.

Addressing the men who had come for him, Jesus asked why they had waited for darkness to arrest him.

Am I leading a rebellion that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour - when darkness reigns.

Earlier that week, Jesus was in the temple courts where he had encountered a scene which enraged him. Soon after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he saw people buying and selling merchandise at the temple. Money changers had set up tables to aid in the commerce. Outraged, Jesus drove out those who sold and those who bought, chastising them for denigrating the house of God:

It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves.

Although they did not lay a hand on him then, the religious leaders grew increasingly concerned. They feared Jesus because the people were astonished at his teaching. So when Judas Iscariot offered to betray his friend, under cover of darkness, the soldiers found Jesus and arrested him without resistance.

It was just the beginning of his agony.