Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 26:55

"In that hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a robber with swords and staves to seize me? I sat daily in the temple teaching, and ye took me not." — Matthew 26:55 (ASV)

Every day for the preceding week, and presumably on earlier visits to the Holy City, Jesus had been teaching in the temple courts; yet the authorities had not arrested him. Why then do they seize him now as if he were a rebel ? The implication is that there is no need to arrest him secretly and violently, except for reasons in their own minds that reveal more about themselves than about him. And then Jesus again referred to the fulfillment of prophetic Scripture.

All the disciples then fulfill one specific prophecy (v.31) and flee. Probably at this time Jesus is bound .