arrestatie 4

I had not seen Jesus take anything to drink... 

in the vehement thirst that consumed Him after His awful agony in the Garden of Olives. 

But when pushed into the Cedron, I saw Him drinking with difficulty and, at the same time, I heard Him mur­muring that thereby was fulfilled a prophetic verse from the Psalms, which bore reference to 'drinking from the torrent by the way' [Ps.110:7].

Meanwhile, the executioners relaxed not their hold on the long ropes that bound Jesus. And since it would have been difficult for them to draw Him up again, and a wall on the opposite shore rendered it impossible for them to allow Him to wade across, they dragged Him by means of the ropes back through the Cedron. 

Then they went down themselves and hauled Him up backwards over the high bank. And now, amid mocking and cursing, kicking and strik­ing, those miserable wretches dragged poor Jesus forward with the ropes, a second time over the long bridge. 

His long, woolen garment, heavy with water, clung so closely around His limbs that He could scarcely walk. And when He reached the opposite end of the bridge, He sank once more to the earth. 

They pulled Him up again, striking Him with the cords and, with shameful and ironical words, tucked up His wet garment into the girdle. They said, for exam­ple, something about His girding Himself for the eat­ing of the Paschal lamb, and similar mockery.

It was not yet midnight... 

when I saw the four execu­tioners dragging Jesus over a rugged, narrow road, along which ran only an uneven footpath. They dragged Him over sharp stones and fragments of rocks, through thorns and thistles, inhumanly hur­rying Him on with curses and blows. 

The six bru­tal Pharisees were, wherever the road permitted it, always in His vicinity. Each carried in his hand a different kind of torturing stick, with which he tor­mented Him, thrusting Him, goading Him on, or beating Him with it.

While the executioners were dragging Jesus, His naked feet bleeding, over sharp stones, thorns, and thistles, the scornful satirical speeches of the six Pharisees were piercing His loving Heart. 

It was at these moments they made use of such mockery as: "His precursor, the Baptist, did not prepare a good way for Him here!" or: "Why does He not raise John from the dead, that he may prepare the way for Him?" 

Such were the taunts uttered by these igno­minious [schandelijk] creatures and received with rude shouts of laughter. They were caught up in turn by the exe­cutioners, who were incited thus to load poor Jesus with fresh ill-usage.

After the soldiers had driven the Lord forward for some time, they noticed several persons lurking around here and there in the distance. They were disciples who, upon the report of Jesus' arrest, had come from Bethphage and other hiding places, to spy around and see how it was faring with their Master. 

At sight of them, Jesus' enemies became anxious, lest they should make a sudden attack and rescue Him. Therefore, they signaled by a call to Ophel, a little place in the environs of Jerusalem, to send a reinforcement, as had been agreed upon.

details

The procession was still distant some minutes from the entrance... 

which, to the south of the Temple, led through Ophel to Mount Sion... 

upon which Annas and Caiaphas dwelt... 

when I saw a band of fifty sol­diers issuing from the gate... 

in order to reinforce their companions. 

They came forward in three groups: 

the first was ten strong, the last fifteen, for I counted them... 

and the middle group, five and twenty. 

They bore several torches. 

They were bold and wanton [baldadig] in their bearing... 

and they shouted and hurrahed as they came along... 

as if to announce themselves to the approaching band... 

and to congratulate them on their success. 

Their coming was a noisy one. 

At the moment in which the foremost band joined Jesus' escort, a slight confusion arose, and I saw Malchus and several others drop out of the rear, and slip off in the direction of the Mount of Olives.

When this shouting band hurried from Ophel by torchlight to meet the approaching procession, the disciples lurking around dispersed in all directions. 

James Tissot

I saw that the Blessed Virgin... 

in er trouble and anguish... 

with Martha, Magdalen, Mary Cleophas, Mary Salome, Mary Marcus, Susanna, Johanna Chusa, Veronica, and Salome, again directed her steps to the Valley of Josaphat. 

They were to the south of Gethsemani, opposite that part of Mount Olivet where was another grotto in which Jesus had for­merly been accustomed to pray. 

-

I saw Lazarus, John Mark, Veronica's son, and Simeon's son with them. 

The last-named, along with Nathanael, had been in Gethsemani with the eight Apostles, and had fled across when the tumult began. They brought news to the Blessed Virgin. 

Meanwhile they heard the cries and saw the torches of the two bands as they met. 

-

The Blessed Virgin was in uninterrupted contempla­tion... 

of Jesus' torments and sympathetic suffering with her Divine Son. 

She allowed the holy women to lead her back part of the way... 

so that, when the tumultuous procession should have passed... 

she might again return to the house of Mary Marcus.

[emmerich]