November 15, 2025

Jesus is arrested

Mark 14:43-52

This section is one of those that makes Judas out to be the real villain of the story, even betraying Jesus with a kiss.  While I think that Judas may have had different motives than Jesus did, that is Judas may have been hoping to force Jesus’ hand into fighting, first against these people and then against the Romans, Jesus by comparison saw the value of non-violent resistance and wouldn’t have gone in the direction that Judas hoped he would.  Nevertheless, Judas had spent three years with Jesus, when he could have left after he got the idea that Jesus wasn’t a violent revolutionary.  But he stayed.  Jesus obviously had some effect on Judas.  And I think that had Judas known where his actions would lead, to Jesus’ death rather than Jesus starting the revolt, then he would have approached things quite differently.  We of course only get the Gospel writers’ perspectives and not that of Judas, so it is impossible to know.

As Jesus is arrested, and as one of the disciples draws a sword, Jesus responds in a negative way.  He challenges those who have come to arrest him with swords and clubs, and in other Gospels we read other details.  In John, it is Peter who draws the sword.  And the slave who loses an ear is named.  And Jesus tells Peter to put the sword away.  In Matthew, Jesus says to put the sword away, “for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”  (26:52 NRSV)  And finally, in Luke, Jesus heals the ear of the slave who was attacked.  Jesus was obviously not interested in a violent revolt, as Judas likely was.

The disciples all flee, fearing for their own lives no doubt.  And then we get a curious detail that we find in no other Gospel.  A young man, wearing nothing but a linen cloth (that in itself is interesting), also flees from the people arresting Jesus, and since they have grabbed the cloth, he runs away naked.  Since this little detail has no direct impact on the events being related, and since the other disciples are not there to witness it, scholars speculate that this is an autobiographical note by the author of the Gospel, put into the text to indicate that he was there and to add credence to his account overall.  It seems to me to be a reasonable assumption.

November 7, 2025

In the Garden

Mark 14:26-42

This portion begins with mention of singing a hymn.  Traditionally, this would have been the last of six psalms sung as part of the Passover observance.  Psalms 113-114 would have been sung before the Passover meal, and Psalms 115-118 would have been sung afterwards. 

The night then takes Jesus and the disciples to the Mount of Olives.  It is here that Jesus tells the disciples that they will all desert him that night.  Peter is the most vocal in denying that he would do such a thing.  And no doubt Peter believed what he was saying.  As indeed surely the others did too, for they all said the same thing as Peter.

Jesus leads them to Gethsemane, and tells them to wait at a certain spot while he goes to pray.  Jesus first takes his inner circle of Peter, James and John with him, and leaves the other eight to wait by themselves.  Remember, Judas is not with them at this point.  Then Jesus leaves even those three, and goes off by himself, telling them to keep awake.  Staying awake likely served two purposes, the first being that Jesus wouldn’t feel so alone, and the second being that they could watch out for any trouble, which Jesus likely expected that night.

Jesus prays an anguished prayer.  One could ask how we know what he said, considering that he was alone.  My guess is that after the Resurrection, when he spent many days with the disciples, that he shared with them some of the intimate details such as the content of his prayer.

When Jesus returns to the three, he finds them sleeping, encourages them to stay awake, and then repeats this whole sequence twice more, praying the same words, finding them sleeping each time.

And then, perhaps seeing the inevitable, prepares them to meet the crowd that has come to arrest him.