Feet first Simon Peter on saying too much

We didn’t stay long in Jerusalem, an hour or so I would guess, and then left in the same way we entered thanks to our guide. I never discovered his name but I never forgot his help. Without him, that final supper might never have happened.

We had little idea what was to happen next

Our return in the evening occurred only when the sun had set and we could move about with less chance of being observed. Jesus had a look of focused determination on his face. I’d known how much he’d wanted to celebrate this Passover in Jerusalem and I assumed that was what the look meant. Even then, we had little idea what was to happen next.

Once we were safely together in that upper room, Jesus went downstairs briefly to speak with our host family. It gave us a chance for the sort of discussion that often broke out when we had some time to spare.

On this occasion, the subject was which of us might turn out to be the greatest – the sort of silly argument that we should all have grown out of… but hadn’t.

Of course, Jesus wasn’t in the room as the discussion gathered pace and began to sound like an argument. When he returned, we immediately calmed down. Strangely, he didn’t say a word, just went to the end of the room.

There, he took off his outer clothing, wrapped a towel around his waist and poured water into a basin. For once, I could see exactly what was going to happen and I was appalled. He actually started washing our feet and drying them with the towel wrapped around his waist. The other disciples were astonished and speechless.

When he got to me, I had to say something. ‘What are you doing washing my feet?’ I asked him. ‘It may not make sense now,’ he told me, ‘but one day it will.’

I tried to stop him. ‘Never!’ I declared. ‘You should never have to wash my feet.’ ‘But I must,’ he told me. ‘Unless I do this, you cannot be a part of the work I am doing.’

A bit of a jump from never but I’m afraid that’s me

‘Then all of me,’ I replied, ‘hands and head as well,’ which was a bit of a jump from never but I’m afraid that’s me.

He explained how it wasn’t necessary and I get that now. You see, it was like a parable taking place, with us as a part of it. We saw ourselves as his servants but, at sometime in the future, liked the idea of being very important in our own right. He wanted us to know it wouldn’t be like that. Each one of us had been put here for others, not just for ourselves.

Not only did he stop us in our tracks, we never went back to arguing which one of us would be the biggest and the best. After that night, whenever I began to get ideas too grand for my head to fit through a doorway, I’d close my eyes and see Jesus kneeling at my feet. Then I’d think to myself: he loved me enough to serve me and to wash my feet. If he could do something like that, then so could I.

Where to find this story in your Bible?

Luke 22:24
John 13:1–20

Time and place: Caiaphas gets his chance

Judas informs Caiaphas

I’d given up on the idea of making an arrest before the main part of the festival began when the knock came on the door.
It was him: the one we’d gambled thirty pieces of silver on. He said he had a time and a place for us. Outside the city and not far from Bethany – an olive grove called Gethsemane. Out of the way, private, secluded: it was what we had asked for.

The problem though was the time. Judas estimated that we needed to be there sometime in the hour before midnight, certainly not much earlier.

‘Are you sure of the timing?’ I demanded.

He nodded.

It gave us a dilemma. If we were to make an arrest, then we would need to try and arrest our prisoner before the morning broke. Only in that way would we have a chance of finishing the business before the Sabbath began. We certainly didn’t want a martyr’s body on display for the holiest day of them all.

I stood there calculating my chances. Pilate would need to be briefed immediately if there were to be a Roman execution. He usually trusted my judgement in these matters so that seemed manageable. Then there was the tricky issue of getting the council’s agreement to a trial at night. It was almost certain that there would be some Pharisees who wouldn’t like the letter of the law stretched in that sort of way. Joseph of Arimathea would be one of them.

It’s most improper, he’d be thinking. Only trials for money may be heard after sunset. Trials for someone’s life must proceed by day. That would be the complaint. But Joseph was quiet by nature and I was confident I could manage someone like him.

Besides, we are allowed to consider cases of fraud at any time, day or night. Well, this Jesus was a fraud. Whether we convicted him in the dark watches of the night or the middle of the afternoon made no real difference. If he was guilty at one hour, he’d still be guilty at another. Time is irrelevant both to the innocent and the guilty.

Rehearsed in my head like that, I felt I might carry the members of the council with me. It seemed worth the risk, especially if I’d got some form of prior assent from Pontius Pilate, the governor.

So I turned to my servant. ‘Ready the temple guard. I will need them shortly.’

‘For an arrest?’ he asked.

I knew all too well what he was thinking: arrests are made by the witnesses to a crime, not the guard. That’s how the system is supposed to work but it was of no use on this occasion.

‘Just do what you’re told,’ I hissed.

‘Certainly, sir. As you say.’

Turning around, I took a long hard look at the man who had agreed to sell his master for significantly less than I thought I would have to pay. I didn’t like it. Frankly, I didn’t like him. There was something there in front of me that I couldn’t quite figure out.

If I’d had any choice, I wouldn’t have used him. I had a feeling in my bones that he was leading me into a trap. But needs must on some occasions. It was a risk worth taking. ‘You’ll need to lead my guards to the place.’

He nodded.

‘We’ll also need a signal so we know we’re getting the right one. It’s best if it looks natural. How do you people normally greet each other?’

He looked at the floor and then up at me again. ‘With the normal Jewish greeting… a kiss.’

‘Excellent! Then a kiss it will be.’

Where to find this story in your Bible?

John 13:30

The kiss: Simon the Zealot watches and wonders

Although I should have been praying in Gethsemane, I found myself wondering whether we were going to get back to Bethany without any mishap. I tried to calculate in my head exactly how long it was going to take us. So, while it may have looked as if I was deep in prayer, it would be truer to say I was worrying. Sometimes those two activities look more similar than they should.

I heard something before I saw anything. When you’ve been on the edge of what the authorities allow or beyond, you learn to be alert and it never leaves you.

A make shift snatch squad

‘Here it comes,’ I thought, although even I was surprised by the number of temple guards and others who’d been bundled together for this makeshift snatch squad. They were carrying torches, lanterns, swords and clubs. It was as if they’d simply grabbed anything they could.

And, right in the centre of the pack, was Judas.

I was horrified and puzzled at the same time, although not as surprised as some because those with a mind for revolution do strange things.

‘Rabbi,’ he said as he greeted Jesus, ‘shalom.’ And he kissed him on both cheeks.

A despicable way to betray a friend

As the guards stepped forward, my first thought was what a despicable way to betray a friend. My second was to wonder what on earth he was doing and thinking. Was there some kind of plot within a plot?

The arrest faltered as quickly as it had started because Jesus stepped towards the motley crew sent to arrest him.

‘So, who is it you want?’ he asked.

‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied.

I am Jesus of Nazareth

‘Well, that’s me,’ he told them. ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth.’ And they stepped back. Some fell to the ground.

It didn’t make sense for a moment, but then I realised. They were terrified. A man who could heal people miraculously and even raise them from the dead might also use such powers in other ways. They were not safe. At least that must have been how it felt.

I looked closely at Judas. Was this what he expected? He seemed to be uncomfortable but he also seemed to be watching intently.

‘If you are looking for me, then I am here.’ Jesus continued, ‘Let the others go.’

That was his red line: our safety rather than his.

But, as the guards stepped forward to arrest him, Simon Peter drew his sword and struck one of the High Priest’s servants on the ear. In almost any other circumstance, that would surely have been the signal to unleash bloodshed on a major scale and my hand went to my knife.

Jesus stopped the mayhem before it began. ‘No more of this!’ he said firmly and healed the servant. Judas Iscariot’s mouth dropped open when he saw that as if he didn’t know what to think or say or do.

Then Jesus turned to the arresting party, ‘Am I leading a rebellion?’ he asked. ‘Is that why you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courtyards and you did absolutely nothing.’

In the blink of an eye he was arrested and the rest of us didn’t wait around to see if we were next. As we fled, I was almost certain I saw young John Mark in the shadows on the far side of the olive grove.

Amidst the chaos and the panic, I found myself thinking we were going to be in such trouble with his mother if the boy got arrested. It was only later I found out how close that came to happening.

Where to find this story in your Bible?

Matthew 26:47–56
Mark 14:43–52
Luke 22:47–53
John 18:1–11

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David Kitchen is an award-winning writer, broadcaster, teacher and storyteller who has been making the Bible come alive for longer than he cares to remember. In Bible in Ten he combines his down-to-earth writing skills with almost 50 years’ experience in church leadership and worship. His hobbies include music, poetry and playing crawling-up-stairs games with his grandson.