MARK 14 (PART 3)
Read Mark 14:43-72
We now come to the arrest of Jesus. Once again, Mark just gives us the bare bones of the story. He tells us what happens and nothing more. Why did Judas betray Jesus? We don’t know, because Mark is only telling us that he did. The other gospels flesh things out a bit. John, for example suggests that Judas betrayed Jesus for the money he got (John 12:6). Another suggestion is that Judas was trying to force Jesus’ hand to overthrow the Roman rule (meaning he still did not understand Jesus’ mission – a recurring theme in Mark), but there is no evidence for this view in the text. Mark notes that one of the disciples reacted with violence. Again, there is no detail from Mark, but John tells us that it was Peter (John 18:10). This does seem to fit in with the character of Peter as we have observed it in Mark’s gospel: Peter the hothead, reacting without considering the consequences of his actions. Jesus on the other hand, while condemning the actions of those arresting him went quietly because he could see the bigger picture and that this was a necessary part of scripture being fulfilled.
One strange little note at the end of the section sees Mark telling us about ’a young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment’ who was following Jesus and who was seized and then ‘fled naked, leaving his garment behind’ (vv31-32). Given that Mark’s narrative is very spare and he doesn’t include any unnecessary detail, why does he tell us this, it doesn’t seem to add anything to the story. The tradition is that this young man was none other than Mark himself and he has included this little aside to demonstrate that this is a true story and Mark knows because he was an eyewitness.
So, the mob took Jesus to the Jewish authorities, but they struggled to get any charges against Jesus to stick. The various (false) testimonies conflicted with each other. They even brought up the accusation that Jesus spoke against the temple, the very heart of Jewish religious life, but even then, the testimonies conflicted. It was only when the high priest himself challenged Jesus as to who he is that they got the ammunition to charge him. “Are you the Christ?” he asked. Jesus answered, “I am”, and that was enough for them to accuse Jesus of blasphemy and to give a guilty verdict against him.
When Jesus was taken to the authorities Mark slipped in another little aside, ‘Peter followed at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest’ (v54). This was the scene of Peter disowning Jesus (vv66-72) fulfilling what Jesus said to him back at the Mount of Olives, ‘you will disown, me three times’ (v30). Peter, true to character, reacted by hotly denying that he would ever do such a thing. And yet, when push came to shove, that is exactly what he did. Peter may have had every intention of supporting Jesus in these days but he succumbed to the saying, ‘the spirit is willing but the flesh is week’, a failing that many of can be subject to when under pressure from those who deny that Jesus is Lord.