The Promise (Passion play)
Jesus and His disciples meet in an upper room to celebrate the Passover, and he gives them some of his final teachings, assuring them that His spirit and His peace will always be with them ("Shalom"). Judas leaves the table to betray Jesus to the priests and Pharisees. Jesus predicts that all his disciples will fall away, but Peter insists that he will never leave Jesus. Jesus warns him that before the rooster crows, he will deny Jesus three times. Jesus and the rest of His disciples go into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray ("He Is Jehovah" (reprise)). The disciples fall asleep. Jesus begs God to take away the suffering he will endure, but then asks that God's will be done so that God may be glorified ("Glorify Your Son"§). The disciples awaken as Judas returns with some Roman soldiers. Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss, and the soldiers arrest him and lead him away.
Jesus
The Gospels say that Jesus was betrayed to the authorities by a disciple, and many scholars consider this report to be highly reliable. He was executed on the orders of Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judaea. Pilate most likely saw Jesus' reference to the Kingdom of God as a threat to Roman authority and worked with the Temple elites to have Jesus executed. The Sadducean high-priestly leaders of the Temple more plausibly had Jesus executed for political reasons than for his teaching. They may have regarded him as a threat to stability, especially after he caused a disturbance at the Second Temple. Other factors, such as Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, may have contributed to this decision. Most scholars consider Jesus' crucifixion to be factual, because early Christians would not have invented the painful death of their leader.