Betrayed and Abandoned
Mark 14:43-52
Introduction: Jesus had predicted, based on
Scripture, how history would unfold… Many of those predictions had to have seemed
unimaginable to the disciples, like the Temple being razed and Jerusalem over
run by armies (Mk 13). But at a personal level, they had to be hit hard when
Jesus made two shocking predic-tions: 1) One of them, the twelve who ate with
Him at the Passover table, would betray Him; and 2) That they would all
desert Him. Not only did He make these predictions, but he quoted Scripture to
show that these developments were part of God’s plan and had been revealed in
Scripture. Peter was even told that He would deny Jesus three times that very
night, before the rooster crowed twice!
We can miss how stunned
the disciples must have been in hearing these predictions. Since we have the
whole story, we can put together why Jesus did not expose the would be betrayer
(Judas), nor avoid the mob who came to arrest Him. This was the plan of God,
devised in the counsel of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit, in eternity
passed. Back in Mark 8, after the disciples had made a strong confession of Jesus
as the Messiah, we see a little conflict revealing their lack of understanding
of the messianic mission. We read in Mark 8:31-33…
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be
killed, and after three days rise again.
32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and
began to rebuke him. 33
But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get
behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but
on the things of man..."
He came to be our substitute, to satisfy the justice of Holy
God, so that we could be rescued from the wrath that we deserved. And so, that
brings us to…
The Maine* Idea: Life can be hard but we don’t need
to panic, Jesus came to rescue us; He is Lord and His Word will be fulfilled.
I. Determination: The Resolute Obedience of Jesus
(41-43). He knew what was coming, but made no effort to evade the mob coming to
arrest Him, but submitted to the divine plan. Let’s start the reading in 14:41,
to set the context…
41 And he came the
third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?
It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of
sinners. 42 Rise, let us be
going; see, my betrayer is at hand."
43 And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the
twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and
the scribes and the elders.
Let’s start in 14:41
to set the context. Jesus is praying, seeking the Father’s help as His hour is
at hand. He had taken three of the disciples with Him, a little further into
the garden, Peter, James, and John. As He prays in the face of what was coming,
becoming our sin-bearer, being accursed for us, taking the judgement that we
deserved, He is strengthened to drink the cup that was coming. We see His
humanity, and the importance of prayer. The disciples, in the meantime, fall
asleep—three times. Jesus had warned them to “watch and pray lest they fall
into temptation,” because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Did He know they
would fail? It seems He did, in fact He predicted betrayal (by Judas), denial
(three times, by Peter), and desertion, by all. But even as He steels himself
for the awful task ahead, He is still teaching the disciples—after the Resurrection
they would have their minds opened and begin to understand. Finally, the story
is about to move toward its climax, “Enough! Let’s go, the hour has come!” As
we saw last week, that is by no means a call to retreat, but rather to move
ahead with determination to the task ahead.
Jesus could have avoided the confrontation and
left the garden. Luke gives us the observation that we have seen unfolding
in Mark as well, that “When the days drew
near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke
9:51). The language used there has the sense of determined action, “His face set like a flint” toward Jerusalem.
Clearly, He was not only looking at a geographical location, but anticipating
all that He knew had to happen there during this Passover. He had a mission to
carry out. He had then looked resolutely toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), now, more
specifically, He looks resolutely toward Calvary, and the cup He must drink.
He could
have passed through the crowd, but chose not to. Earlier, He had done
exactly that on different occasions. Look at two texts from other gospels…
Luke 4:28-30 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with
wrath. 29 And they rose up
and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which
their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their
midst, he went away.
John 8:58-59 58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham
was, I am." 59 So they
picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the
temple.
You see, on those occasions, His hour had not yet come, and
they could not touch Him unless He allowed it, so He passed right through their
midst.
He had repeatedly predicted this moment
(8:31; 9:31; 10:32 f). Since the disciples professed faith in Him as the
Messiah, He began to inform and correct their understanding of the messianic
mission. He would be hand over, suffer, be killed, and on the third day be
resurrected. He came to reconcile sinful human to Holy God, by becoming our
substitute and sacrifice.
And so, after
addressing the disciples, “immediately,
while He was still speaking,” Judas arrives with the mob to carry out their
plan. By the way, that word “immediately”
has been used about 40 times in Mark, and we’ll see it three or four more times
before we’re done, once more in this scene. Mark wants us to understand that Jesus
came with a mission, and that He stayed “on task,” always moving ahead,
carrying out the Father’s plan. This is why He came, this is what He came to
do. And so, even though, in this fallen world, life can be hard, we don’t need
to panic. Jesus came to rescue us; He is
Lord and His Word will be fulfilled.
II. Duplicity: Judas exposes His own unbelief
with a traitorous kiss, as he greets Jesus still pretending to be a disciple
(44-49; cf. John 18:4-8).
44 Now the betrayer had given them a
sign, saying, "The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away
under guard." 45 And
when he came, he went up to him at once and said, "Rabbi!" And he
kissed him. 46 And they laid
hands on him and seized him. 47
But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high
priest and cut off his ear. 48
And Jesus said to them, "Have you come out as against a robber, with
swords and clubs to capture me? 49
Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But
let the Scriptures be fulfilled."
This famous scene is well known to us,
and it is one scene where each of the Gospels includes details, sometimes
significant ones, that don’t appear in the others. A kiss, a sword, scattering,
and arrest are the common themes, and that is what Mark emphasizes in this
account. As the story continues here, it is, by now, dark. There are no
flashlights or photos, how would they be sure they got the right man? Judas… In
that culture, at that time, the typical way for a follower to greet His beloved
rabbi, would be a kiss. Mark reports it simply, in v.45, “he immediately went to Him, saying ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed Him.” The
title and the action that should have signaled respect and devotion, instead is
a sign of betrayal, a signal to the arrestors, betrayed by a kiss. Jesus was
not surprised, He knew what was coming and who the betrayer was. But right up
to the last minute, to this scene, Judas is still pretending… he calls Him “rabbi,” teacher, and greets him as
though he was a devoted follower. As far as I could find, all Judas ever called
Jesus was “rabbi.” Never “Lord.” He did not believe. He did not
understand who Jesus is. Ironically, Judas thought he was pointing out Jesus to
the mob. He was. But he was also exposing his unbelief to the others. I wonder
if they gasped as they saw him lead the crowd into the garden and walk right up
to Jesus and identify Him?
One of those standing by (we know from
other accounts it is Peter), draws a sword and swings it at the servant of the
high priest, cutting off his ear. I don’t think Peter was swinging for the ear!
Mark doesn’t tell us what happened next: Jesus immediately healed the ear! One
writer speculates that Peter was emboldened by what happened just before, after
Judas had gone up to Jesus. Only John tells that part of the story… We read in
John 18:4-8…
4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would
happen to him, came forward and said to them, "Whom do you
seek?" 5 They answered
him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am he."
Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, "I
am he," they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again,
"Whom do you seek?" And they said, "Jesus of
Nazareth." 8 Jesus
answered, "I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men
go."
You may remember from our study in John a few years back that
the English translations obscure a little some of what is happening here. Jesus
has been identifying himself in the Fourth Gospel with the phrase “I AM,” sometimes
with an expressed predicate, “I am the bread of life,” or “I am
the Good Shepherd,” and a few times with an absolute expression, for example as
He came to the disciples walking on the water, “Do not be afraid, I AM
[it is me!],” or at the end of John 8, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” As
you read through the gospel you can’t miss that He is that phrase to allude to
the self-revelation of God to Moses in the burning bush, He is the great I AM!
Well, here in the Garden, as He is being arrested, He asks the crowd, “Who do
you seek?” They reply, and He says, “I AM!” And they all fall back on the
ground! He is in control, they cannot touch Him unless He allows it. OK, now
returning to Mark’s account, we don’t have that whole part of the scene told to
us, but something emboldened Peter in that moment to attack! He jumps
into action! But, just like he had thought he needed to intervene back in
Chapter 8, when Jesus first told the 12 about His coming death and resurrection,
Jesus, again, has to redirect him. This is the way it has to be—put away your
sword Peter. You don’t understand now, but I’ve got this!
We can trust Him,
always. Life can be hard but we don’t need to panic, Jesus came to rescue us;
He is Lord and His Word will be fulfilled.
III. Desertion: His friends abandon Him, fulfilling
Scripture (50-52).
50 And they all left him and fled. 51
And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body.
And they seized him, 52 but
he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.
They all left Him and fled. As they left the upper room earlier in this
chapter and headed toward the Mount of Olives, Jesus had predicted that He
would be deserted by His followers, and that is exactly what unfolds here. Back
up a few verses to Mark 14:27-31…
27 And Jesus said to them, "You
will all fall away, for it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd, and the
sheep will be scattered.' 28
But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee." 29 Peter said to him, "Even
though they all fall away, I will not."
30 And Jesus said to him, "Truly, I tell you, this very
night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times." 31 But he said emphatically,
"If I must die with you, I will not deny you." And they all said the
same.
Really Peter? Again? Jesus not only said what would happen,
but He pointed to Scripture, to prophecy, to show it had been predicted long
ago. But none of them could imagine failing Jesus so blatantly! Rather than
focusing on the promise of restoration and resurrection, they essentially say,
no, it will never happen!
Only Mark gives
us the detail in 51-52 of the young follower running away naked. Many
commentators speculate that this might have been John-Mark, the writer of this
gospel. Whether it is or not it is an embarrassing detail that shows the
authenticity of the account—who would make up such a story! Not only does he
run, but he is literally “naked and afraid”! Naked. Since the context has led us to think
about another Garden, the first garden, Eden, it is hard not to imagine a connection.
Only after the Fall did the man and the woman “know they were naked” and tried to cover
themselves and hide from God. And in the context of judging their sin, He also
gave them skins for a covering, pointing forward I think to the provision that
would finally come in the sacrifice of the Son. He would be beaten, and
stripped, and nailed to a cross, bearing our sin and our shame, so that we
could be clothed in His righteousness.
Jesus said, “I am come that you might have life, and that you might have
it more abundantly!” That doesn’t mean life in this fallen world will be easy.
But our life has purpose, and in Him we can have joy, and peace that goes
beyond our circumstances. We are here on a mission.
What is God saying to me
in this passage? Life
can be hard but we don’t need to panic, Jesus came to rescue us; He is Lord and
His Word will be fulfilled.
What would God have me
to do in response to this passage? I don’t know all that you might be going through
right now. Pressures, temptations, struggles, sickness, pain, all of these are
consequences of living in a fallen world, and sometimes, it can seem like too
much to bear. Remember Isaiah 53:4,
“Surely he has borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows…” and 53:7, “…the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” With the trial,
He promises a way of escape… (I Cor 10:31). If you know Him, there is no need
to panic, no matter what! If God is for
us, who can stand against us? We can trust Jesus, He came to rescue us, and
He is Lord! His chesed,
His “steadfast love,” endures forever. His Word will be fulfilled!
We can’t leave
this passage without acknowledging that there are warnings here for us to
consider as well. For one thing, being outwardly identified with the church
doesn’t necessarily mean that a person has been born again. Jesus was betrayed
by one of the twelve men who were closest to Him. We are saved by grace,
through faith, not by having our name on the roll of a local church! Do you
find yourself content and complacent in your Christian life? Or do you have a
hunger for the Word? Do you pray? From the perspective of the First Letter of John:
do you love other believers? Read chapters 3-5 of that little letter. He
says in 1 John 5:13, “These things I have
written that you might know that you have eternal life.” In those
three chapters the “fruit” that is most repeated as evidence of authentic faith
is love for the brethren! Jesus had said the same thing in John 13:34,35, “By this, men will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another…” I recall someone years ago asking, “if
you were arrested for being a Christ, would there be enough evidence for a
conviction?” It is between you and God, and this is too important to neglect,
make sure of your salvation! Judas certainly fooled the other disciples. He may
have been fooling himself for a long time. But He didn’t fool Jesus.
Also, let’s be
reminded that we should never say, “not me, I could never deny Him!” Therefore, let Him who thinks He stands take
heed, lest He fall! Let’s not think
more highly of ourselves than we ought. Recognize we are vulnerable, and so
endeavor to walk in the Spirit, asking God to convict us, and to empower us,
and to guide us, to live a life that brings Him glory. AMEN.
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