Mark 14:32-52. Today’s reading continues the story from yesterday. Jesus and his followers had just celebrated the Passover, the Jewish festival remember how God had saved them out of Egypt. An Important part of this festival is the killing of a lamb. That lamb, in the original story, took the place of the first born of each family. Although Mark does not spell out the connection John tells us that “Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”. At the previous Passover meal though Jesus did tell his followers that his body and blood was going to be sacrificed for many.
We left Jesus and his disciples (students) on the Mount of Olives, a hill outside of Jerusalem. Today we find them still on the hill at a place called Gethsemane. That word means “oil press” and was probably at the foot of the hill near the river bed through the valley. Olives are an important source of oil. The olives are crushed and pressed and the oil is separated from the liquid. Jesus took three of his closest followers and went away from the rest to pray. The three were Peter, James, and John. If you remember from yesterday’s story Peter told Jesus that he would die with him. Jesus on the other hand told Peter that actually he would run away with the rest after denying Jesus three times that very night. Some Bible experts like to remind us that James and John were the two brothers that wanted to be honored by Jesus and told him that they were willing to experience what ever he was going to experience (Mark 10:35-40). Jesus left the three to keep watch while he prayed.
Jesus prayer is interesting. Remember that Jesus is living according to a plan, God the Father’s plan to provide a way for disobedient people (all of us) to have a new relationship with him. That plan was for Jesus to suffer the separation from God the Father that we all deserve (Spiritual death) as well as the physical death (separation of our soul from our body) which was also a part of the consequences for disobedience and rebellion (sin). As the infinite God-man Jesus could pay for all of us for all eternity by being separated from God the Father for just a short amount of time, but first the physical death needed to come. Of course this was not at all a pleasant prospect for Jesus. Not only was he going to die physically, but it would be on a Roman cross, considered by many to be the worst way ever invented to die. Our word “excruciating”, meaning the worst kind of pain, comes from the Latin words “produced by” and “cross”. Jesus asked God the Father if there was some other way, which of course there was not. Jesus uses the Aramaic (a language related to Hebrew and used extensively in the Middle-east) word “Abba”. The word was used mostly by little children and is like our word “daddy”, Although Jesus was asking his daddy if their was a way out he was willing to do whatever it took to get the job done; he was willing to submit to the decision of God the Father. Although Jesus and God the Father are equally God (along with the Holy Spirit) there seems to be some sort of voluntary subordination or rank between the three (or one, see “Three or One?”).
After raying Jesus went back to the three followers and found them all asleep. He specifically asked Peter (the one who said he would never leave nor deny Jesus) if he couldn’t even have his back for one hour. He then told them to pray and ask God to help them overcome whatever temptations might come their way. The statement about the spirit and flesh may be hinting at Psalm 51:11-12. I think it is cool that in Psalm 51:10-13 the writer wants to be pure and faithful so he can help others know about God and turn to him. That is the very job Jesus had for the disciples after he was crucified. Three times Jesus went and prayed and three times he returned and found them asleep. Maybe this was a little poke to remind Peter that he denied that he would ever deny Jesus let alone the three times that Jesus predicted. The final time he woke them up and told them that they needed to be going because his betrayer was near by. If you think he was thinking about running think again, Greek experst tell us that the word for “let us be going” cannot mean “flee” in this context but means “let us go meet the guy”. Wow, I guess Jesus did mean “you will be done”!
Judas betrayed Jesus with a prearranged sign, he kissed Jesus on the cheek. At that Jesus was seized by a “crowd” who had come out with swords and clubs. We are told that the “crowd” was sent by the religious leaders. From Luke and John we know that the people arresting Jesus were Temple guards or police along with some Roman soldiers (Luke 22:52, John 18:3). Mark probably uses the term “crowd” as a caricature (those funny exaggerated drawings that you can get at Disneyland or Knott’s Berry Farm) of the police and soldiers and also as a way of hinting at the way the rest of the people in Jerusalem would now turn on Jesus. Mark tells us that one of the people standing by was to going to let it go down without a fight and whacked off the ear of the High Priests servant with a sword. John tells us that it was Peter who did the deed, little wonder, he was fairly impulsive and had just been chastised for sleeping. Luke and John both tell us that Jeus put a stop to the violence and Luke tells us that he actually healed the ear of the servant. In Mark 14:48-49 Jesus confronts those who came to arrest him about the weapons and the timing, he had taught frequently in the Temple, why didn’t they arrest him then instead of the middle of the night? Of course the answer was because the leaders were playing politics, they wanted to do it in a way which would not stir up the people against them. So they snuck out at night to arrest him while the people were sleeping. Jesus had a different answer though, yes they had their motives, but what was happening was happening because God had planned it that way and the proof was in the Old Testament which predicted what would happen to the Messiah. Jesus may have been referring to Isaiah 52-53 or Zechariah 13 but probably was referring to a lot of the Old Testament in general.
Two final parts of today’s story. First, Jesus’ followers all ran away, just like Jesus said and just like the Old Testament predicted (Mark 14:27, Zechariah 13:7). And finally there is the little story of the guy who ran away naked. This story is only found in the book of Mark and some scholars think it is a reference to Mark himself. In Acts 12:12 we find the early group of believers meeting a house belonging to a woman named Mary. She is identified as the mother of John also called Mark. Some believe that the upper room where Jesus and the disciples had that final Passover meal was the same house. If that is the case Mark may have been there and followed the group out to the Mount of Olives wrapped in a blanket. When the arrest happened someone tried to grab him too and he left without his blanket. In this way mark may have been hinting at his own “denial” of Jesus as a young man. Of course this is all speculation, but a good possibility. The fact that the early church doesn’t really try to identify the guy can be explained by the high level of shame associated with public nakedness. We tend to glorify people running around with various body parts exposed or nearly exposed but in the ancient world it was quite shameful. The early church may have known who the person was, whether Mark or someone else, but was respectful of that person; not wanting to shame them more and more.
Over all I think this part of the story would have meant a lot to the early believer in Rome. They were running and hiding too. They may have even been denying Jesus to some extent too. It would have been comforting to see that the original twelve, and especially the inner three, all ran from Jesus in his darkest hour. That they couldn’t even stay awake and pray for him for a few hours. Why would their failure have been a comfort? Because the existence of a church in Rome and the existence of churches through out the Roman empire were a witness to the fact that those early followers didn’t stay hidden, they eventually stepped out and told many about Jesus. For those early believers in Rome and for us today we need to realize that our failures are not final. We admit our failure (like Mark if he was the guy), accept the forgiveness of Jesus, and move forward. A good message in the darkest part of the story for them and for us too.
God thank you that my failure is not the end of the story. Thank you that Jesus came to die because I am a failure. You are not surprised when we run away. It is shameful, but you are not surprised. And if Mark was the guy he even ran away again, but then he became valuable to Paul and to you. You even let him write one of the histories of you, one specifically for a group filled with doubt and in hiding. Wow, you are a forgiving God. You love us and help us in spite of ourselves. Help me not live a life of shame though, help me be a light to those around me. Help me help the world appreciate the sacrifice Jesus made for all of us.