1When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered. 2Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3Judas then, having taken a detachment of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. 4Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were happening to him, went out and said to them, “Who are you looking for?”
5They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus said to them, “I am he.”
Judas also, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6When therefore he said to them, “I am he,” they went backward and fell to the ground.
7Again therefore he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”
They said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
8Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way,” 9that the word might be fulfilled which he spoke, “Of those whom you have given me, I have lost none.”
10Simon Peter therefore, having a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. 11Jesus therefore said to Peter, “Put the sword into its sheath. The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not surely drink it?”
12So the detachment, the commanding officer, and the officers of the Jews seized Jesus and bound him, 13and led him to Annas first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should perish for the people.
15Simon Peter followed Jesus, as did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest; 16but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought in Peter. 17Then the maid who kept the door said to Peter, “Are you also one of this man’s disciples?”
He said, “I am not.”
18Now the servants and the officers were standing there, having made a fire of coals, for it was cold. They were warming themselves. Peter was with them, standing and warming himself.
19The high priest therefore asked Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.
20Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet. I said nothing in secret. 21Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. Behold, they know the things which I said.”
22When he had said this, one of the officers standing by slapped Jesus with his hand, saying, “Do you answer the high priest like that?”
23Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, testify of the evil; but if well, why do you beat me?”
24Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.
25Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him, “You aren’t also one of his disciples, are you?”
He denied it and said, “I am not.”
26One of the servants of the high priest, being a relative of him whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?”
27Peter therefore denied it again, and immediately the rooster crowed.
28They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. 29Pilate therefore went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
30They answered him, “If this man weren’t an evildoer, we wouldn’t have delivered him up to you.”
31Pilate therefore said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.”
Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is illegal for us to put anyone to death,” 32that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he should die.
33Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
34Jesus answered him, “Do you say this by yourself, or did others tell you about me?”
35Pilate answered, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?”
36Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.”
37Pilate therefore said to him, “Are you a king then?”
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
38Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no basis for a charge against him. 39But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Therefore, do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
40Then they all shouted again, saying, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
The hometown of Jesus was Nazareth in Galilee (Matt.2:23, Mark 1:9, Luke 2:39). Nazareth lies on the north slope of the Jezreel Valley (or Plain of Esdraelon), across to the north-east from Megiddo and Mount Carmel. At 1,150 feet, it overlooks the valley about 950 feet below.
The relative size and importance of the village of Nazareth at the time of Jesus is seen by the almost total lack of mention of it in period sources. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament. Josephus, in his catalogue of forty-five towns in Galilee does not list Nazareth. The Talmud refers to sixty-three villages in Galilee, but also does not mention it.[1] It was not on any major trade route, but it was on the road from the regional administrative center of Sepphoris. Because of this, Unger has argued that “while Nazareth was not a bustling emporium, it was far from isolated from the busy Galilean cities and the stirring events of the time.”[2] Archaeology has also given evidence of how small Nazareth was during Jesus’ time. It is estimated to have been approximately sixty acres and had a population of less than five hundred.[3]
This lack of historical textual evidence has caused some fringe skeptics to claim the town never existed.[4] However, archaeological evidence has been found that shows Nazareth was inhabited well before, during, and after the time of Jesus.
In 1963 burial caves were found containing pottery from the first part of the Middle Bronze Age (2100-2000 B.C.), lending evidence that Nazareth had been settled from a very early date.[5] Archeological excavations done by Bagatti in 1955 under the Church of the Annunciation yielded grottoes, grail silos, oil and water cisterns, raisin and olive presses, millstones, and a large amount of pottery.[6] The pottery is of special interest because it ranges from Iron II (900-600 B.C.) all the way through the Byzantine period. The finds show that Nazareth was a village for many centuries organized around agriculture. Unger speculates that Jesus’ repetitive use of agricultural illustrations is due to His having been raised in that environment.[7] Also of interest is that some of the grottos discovered had been modified to be used as dwellings and other buildings. This gives credence to the traditional location of the Church of St. Joseph, said to have been build over the grotto where Joseph had his house and workshop, and where Jesus grew up.
Very recently excavations in Nazareth led by Yardenna Alexandre have revealed a first-century house. The Roman period house was found next to the Church of the Annunciation, and according to Alexandre, “The building that we found is small and modest and it is most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth in that period.”[8] The house consisted of two rooms with a courtyard, typical of the time (see Houses in First Century Israel)[RD1]. Roman era pottery was found, along with chalk containers, unique to Jewish sites (due to the fact that chalk vessels were not susceptible to become ritually impure, unlike normal clay pottery). In addition, a camouflaged pit was discovered, which also contained potsherds. Alexandre theorizes the pit was constructed and stocked in preparation for the Jewish revolt of A.D. 67.
[1]Finegan, Archaeology, 43.
[2]Merrill F. Unger, Archaeology and the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1962) 119.
[3] James F. Strange, “Nazareth” Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, Vol. 4, ed. Eric M. Myers (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)113-114; Vassilios Tzaferis and Bellarmino Bagatti, “Nazareth” New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, Vol. 3, ed. Ephraim Stern (Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society and Carta, 1993)1103-1106.
[4]See Rene Salm, The Myth of Nazareth, Parsippany NJ: American Atheist Press, 2008.
[5]Finegan, Archeology, 44.
[6] Bellarmino Bagatti, Excavations at Nazareth (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1969) 77-218.
[7]Merrill F. Unger, Archaeology and the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1962) 120.
[8] Quoted in Israel Antiquities Authority, “For the Very First Time: A Residential Building from the Time of Jesus was Exposed in the Heart of Nazareth,” Dec. 21, 2009. Online: http://www.antiquities.org.il/article_Item_eng.asp?sec_id=25&subj_id=240&id=1638&module_id=#as (accessed February 13, 2009).
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