Luke 22:47-53 - Exposition

The arrest of the Redeemer. All the four evangelists tell the story of the last hours, in the main the same, though the language is often quite different, and fresh and important details appear in each memoir.

The general effect on the thoughtful reader is that the Crucifixion and the events leading up to it were very far from being the result of the counsels of the Jewish leaders, the outcome of their relentless enmity. The death and all the attendant circumstances took place in their solemn order, then, when the public teaching of the Redeemer was finished, because it had been determined by some higher and grander power than was possessed by Jerusalem Sanhedrin or Roman Senate.

So St. Matthew, in his account, twice ( Matthew 26:54 , Matthew 26:56 ) gives the ground for the arrest, "That the Scriptures might be fulfilled." And the Scriptures were but the echoes of that other and grander power.