After the Passover meal with
his disciples, probably about 9 pm, Jesus went to a garden to pray (John 18:1-2). He was later arrested by Jewish religious leaders, his identity confirmed to soldiers by a kiss from Judas (Luke 22:47-48). Religious leaders convicted him that night of blasphemy for claiming to be the Hebrew Messiah, a divinely appointed savior-king foretold in Hebrew prophetic literature. This was considered a capital offense to Jewish leaders (Matt 26:63-66).
As Israel
was a client kingdom of the Roman Empire, death sentences had to be pronounced by Roman appointed civil authorities. At daybreak, after a beating at the home of the Jewish high priest, Jesus was
taken to Pontius Pilate, the local Roman prefect (Matt 27:1-2). Perceiving motivations of religious jealousy, Pilate had Jesus beaten rather than summarily executed for political insurrection (Luke 23:13-15). Jesus was then beaten by a group of soldiers, and after that scourged. Pilate eventually acquiesced to the crowd's wishes and sentenced Jesus to death by crucifixion (Luke 23:21-24). Jesus was suffering from exhaustion by the time he was taken to the execution site. He had walked during the night about 2.5 miles to trial and hearings, likely deprived of fluids, had severe beatings, and suffered severe anxiety due to premonition of impending crucifixion (Mark 14:32-36). |  |