As a resource for this Resurrection Season we wanted to make a Harmonized Reading Guide for the final days of Christ. Use this in addition to your daily reading or as a resource for study leading up to the celebration of Resurrection Sunday. Each day comes with a summary of the texts included. 

You can download the PDF of Part 3 here or continue to read it below. 

Harmony of the Last Days of Christ

Part 3 The Garden of Gethsemane & Jesus’ Trial Before the Sanhedrin

Compiled from Matthew 26:47-75, Mark 14:43-72, Luke 22:47-65, John 18:1-27

 When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples. And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples.

When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray… And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He *said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”

 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. 

And He *came to the disciples and *found them sleeping, and *said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. Then He *came to the disciples and *said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!” 

While He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people.

Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, *came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and *said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He *said to them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. Therefore He again asked them, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,”  to fulfill the word which He spoke, “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.” . Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him.” Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, “Hail, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. And Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you have come for.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him.

Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus. But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus *said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?” So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”

At that time Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a robber? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not seize Me… but this hour and the power of darkness are yours. But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets.” Then all the disciples left Him and fled. A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they *seized him. But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.

So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him, and led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.  Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people.

Simon Peter was following Jesus at a distance, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest,  but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in. Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves; and Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.

As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest *came, And seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.” Then the slave-girl who kept the door *said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He *said, “I am not. I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.”  And he went out onto the porch. The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, “This is one of them!”

The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.” When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, “Is that the way You answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?”

 Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, and they were not finding any. For many were giving false testimony against Him, but their testimony was not consistent. Some stood up and began to give false testimony against Him, saying, “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’”  Not even in this respect was their testimony consistent. The high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus, saying, “Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?” But He kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, “And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God? Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” And Jesus said, “I am; You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, [g]hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.”  Tearing his clothes, the high priest *said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?” They answered, “He deserves death!” And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.

Some began to spit at Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists, and to say to Him, “Prophesy! Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?” And they were saying many other things against Him, blaspheming. So Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, “Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.”  One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, *said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” But Peter began to curse and swear, and said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.”   Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.