Mark 14:43-50 Swords and Clubs
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: April 18, 2018, Mark 14:43-50
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
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. 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.” And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, “Rabbi!” And he kissed him. And they laid hands on him and seized him. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.” And they all left him and fled.
(Understanding the Text) Mark tells us that Judas came while Jesus was still speaking. This means that the disciples were still dazed and confused from waking up to Jesus telling them that the betrayer was here. Thus, Peter’s instinctive reaction of fighting is understandable. He had the sword and had earlier proclaimed his allegiance and willingness to die for Jesus, so it was already in his mindset that there might be a fight. He was woken out of sleep to armed men trying to take His Master, so Peter started swinging at the nearest one. Of course the armed group was expecting trouble and the high priest’s servant ducked, so Peter only cut off an ear, not the neck stroke that he was trying for.
Mark does not give us enough details to understand everything that was happening here. I wonder if he was giving his own eyewitness account from a juvenile perspective. Maybe Peter never talked a lot about what happened that night, so Mark only told what he personally saw. However, what he saw was not complete. He gets the events out of order and misses details. John was also an eyewitness that night. He gives many more details like the fact that the group had lanterns and torches and weapons. In John’s account, Jesus confronted the group and asked who they were looking for. When they said Jesus, He told them “I am he” and they fell to the ground stunned. Then, Jesus asked them again who they wanted, and they replied Jesus. Jesus then told them to take Him and let the others go. (Here again Jesus displays His protectiveness of His disciples.) John tells us that it was Peter who cut off the servant’s ear and that the servant’s name was Malchus. Then Jesus ordered Peter to put away His sword. Luke tells us that Jesus healed the servant.
Mark’s account makes a lot of sense if he was the young man who fled and is telling about what he saw. He probably slept when the disciples slept, and may have woken up right before Judas’ kiss. From a distance and in the dark, he may not have seen who wielded the sword (or he may have been protecting Peter). The crowd may have blocked his view of the healing. During this time, he may have been creeping steadily forward to get a better view. Thus, by the end, he may have been close enough to hear what was said, or conversely, the words may have been repeated from Peter who loved to speak of His Master, but not of himself. Maybe Mark knew the words but not where they fit into the night that he remembered witnessing as a boy/teenager.
(Revelation of God) Jesus’ comment shows how He knew a lot of what He knew. He had studied the scriptures again and again to know His mission. He was no longer omniscient. The Holy Spirit led Him to knowledge, but Jesus’ comments throughout the New Testament demonstrate that the way that He gained knowledge of who He was and what was to happen was through the scriptures. He tells his disciples and the men that He is following the script provided by inspiration. I come to this idea again and again that before His incarnation, Jesus had been sprinkling messages for Himself throughout the scriptures so that when He became a human being without superpowers, He would know what to do.
(Application) Jesus has also not just sprinkled, but inundated, the scriptures with messages for me, and I need to study them to know who I am and what I am to do. Jesus was my example in this also. We humans have forgotten who we are and where we come from, but the scriptures tell us. We have forgotten our purpose and principle of life, but the scriptures tell us. We have forgotten that there is another way of living and another universe without horror, but the scriptures tell us. We have forgotten hope, but the scriptures are permeated with the hope that one day we will be transformed and our world will be transformed into the sinless state that was once ours and will be again. The scriptures tell us all of this and more if we only grasp hold of the chance to read and understand.
(Prayer) Jesus, You are my example. Show me the messages that You have prepared for me and enlighten my mind so that I can understand and appreciate those messages. Remind me of who I can be within Your kingdom. Come quickly so that I can stay with You in a place where love is the way that every creature, including me, relates to every other creature.