Mark 14:50-54 Around the fire
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 19, 2018, Mark 14:50-54
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 they all left him and fled. And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.
(Revelation of God) The soldiers grabbed Jesus and the disciples ran away from the soldiers who may have been trying to grab them. Thus, Jesus through leaving most of the disciples far away from Him that night and through His request that the soldiers let the others go and through His healing of Malchus’ ear made sure that all of His disciples got away. Even here when it looked like Satan had control of Him, He was protecting those He loved from Satan.
(Understanding the Text) Where did the other disciples go? Where was their safe haven? There are so many relationships and stories that the Bible does not inform us of, but someday we will know the countless hidden stories of the battle between good and evil. I wonder if many of the disciples really were functionally illiterate and that is why we do not have their writings. Each one had to have had a purpose and was led by the Holy Spirit, yet we are not told much about them. It makes us dismiss them as if they were cardboard cutouts rather than important people with important jobs to do and important relationships to Jesus. Because they are not written about, they have become invisible, but they were there. The same is true of God’s working throughout history. Just because we do not see it, we assume that He is not there. However, the truth is that every time that Satan has seemed to be in control, God was always there subtly working with people to draw them close to Him. We might not see, but no one is hidden from God’s eyes, and no one is unimportant to God.
Mark inserts his own little experience with Jesus that night to let us know that he witnessed some of what he wrote about. It says that he was a young man. In Jewish society, that would mean twelve and older. Let’s say that he was about 13-15 years old. He had been sleeping with nothing on in the home of his mother when he heard a large group of men leaving the house. It is hard to be silent when there are twelve men moving around. He knew that it was Jesus and His disciples leaving. He had been excited all day about the preparations that were taking place for the Messiah and His followers. Mark had been under strict orders not to bother them, so he could not enter into the meal, but he could not resist secretly following. He knew where they were going. There was a garden that belonged to his mom. That actually made it his garden too. He must have reasoned that he had just as much right to be in his own garden as these strangers did. He did not have time to get dressed as they were already far ahead of him, so he wrapped the linen cloth that he was using as a blanket around himself like many people did. I wonder if he did it sarong style or if there was another style of affixing cloth around themselves back then? Anyway, he quickly followed at a distance keeping to the shadows. He would not have had to worry too much about noise as the twelve men in front of him would have made enough noise to cover any small sound that he made. He knew the garden well, so it was easy to find places to stay undercover there. He was disappointed when all they did was sit around pray and then sleep. His own eyes became heavy too since there was no excitement in watching sleeping men, and Jesus was laying on the ground difficult to see and too far away to hear. Mark slept also only to be woken by the sound of another group of men. His heart started beating quickly. These were Roman soldiers, and they were arresting the Messiah! He tried to get nearer to see and hear what was going on. He saw the soldiers grab Jesus while Peter, James, and John ran away. Some of the soldiers chased after them, but most of the soldiers jerked Jesus around and began walking back toward Jerusalem. Mark followed behind to see what would happen, but before too long, a couple of the returning soldiers came up behind him and grabbed him. Mark panicked and began struggling and squirming to get away as only a young teenage boy can do. It was difficult for the soldiers to keep hold of his bare arms so they naturally grabbed for his clothes. The cloth had become less secure as Mark slept, so when it became loose enough in the struggle, Mark slipped out of it and the soldiers’ grasp and ran away as fast as he could. The soldiers did not follow because by then, they had realized that they had not captured one of the disciples, but some kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They rejoined the group keeping the cloth. Maybe they would sell it for a little profit. Mark’s mother had money, so I assume it was good quality cloth.
Peter had run away when Jesus would not let him fight and the guards started to try to capture him. He was confused. He only knew two possibilities–fight or flight, but neither had been the right direction to go according to His Master and His own way of thinking. What should He do now? There was only one thing Peter knew and that was to follow his Master, so he followed at a distance worrying about what he would do next. John was following also. When they got to the house of Ananias, the group entered and closed the gate before Peter could get there. John, as usual, had been up ahead of Peter, so he was able to slip in with the soldiers before the gate closed. Peter waited outside trying to figure out how to get in when the gate opened again and John gestured for him to enter. As Peter entered, he was unsure about where to go, but he saw a group warming themselves by the fire. He thought maybe he could blend in there and still see what was happening to his Master.
It always strikes me how people overlooked John but never Peter. Peter must have been a big and maybe handsome man. One of those people that drew the eye. I picture John as a young man, maybe 17-19 years old. He was old enough to be considered a man, but young enough that no one took him seriously. John was in the courtyard, but no one gave him hassles; however, it was a different story for Peter.
Where was James? That is the mystery. The other disciples were so far away that they would not have known what was going on. We know what happened to Peter, John, and Mark, but where was James? Was the soldier chasing him more persistent? Did he go to the other disciples to warn them and flee with them? Did he follow also, and John just does not mention anything about his brother being there?
So often we think we know everything there is to know about an old story, but the truth is that there are so many details that we do not know. It is important not to assume simply because something is not mentioned that it is not there. Just because the Bible does not tell us that James followed, it does not mean that he kept running. It simply means that we don’t know, and he might have been in that courtyard also.
(Application) My application for myself is that there is always more going on than I see. God has more people that He is working with and more events that are happening than I know. I should never assume that just because I do not see it, it is not there. I need to trust that God is working even when I don’t see it. I need to know that even when it’s dark and lonely and hard to see, God is there not only for me but for many other people. It’s not only about me even though it is about me too.
(Prayer) I am often arrogant and assume that I know what is going on when I don’t. Open my mind to the possibilities that You are bringing about and teach me to humbly listen for Your voice in the confusion of life.