This is a devotional with my thoughts added to verses from the Bible. I highly encourage you to dig into the word with your own thoughts. The Daily Devotion series is one way to do this. However, I know that sometimes we want to read other people’s ideas about Bible passages, so I am starting the Everyday series. I hope and pray that these posts will draw you nearer to Jesus.
DAY 1–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 14:43-50 Swords and Clubs
Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came—and with him a multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. Now he who betrayed him had given them a sign, saying, “Whomever I will kiss, that is he. Seize him, and lead him away safely.” When he had come, immediately he came to him, and said, “Rabbi! Rabbi!” and kissed him. They laid their hands on him, and seized him. But a certain one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. Jesus answered them, “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to seize me? I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you didn’t arrest me. But this is so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.” They all left him, and fled.
Mark tells us that Judas came while Jesus was speaking. This means that the disciples were still dazed and confused from waking up to Jesus informing them that the betrayer had arrived. 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 had woken out of sleep to armed men trying to capture 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 aiming for.
Mark does not provide us with enough information to understand everything that was happening that night. He gets some events out of order and misses details. Many commentators believe that Mark was the young man who fled naked from the scene in verses 51-52. If so, the seeming discrepancies in Mark’s account make a lot of sense. If he was spying on Jesus and His disciples, Mark 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. In addition, the crowd might have blocked his view of the healing. During this time, he could have been creeping steadily forward to see more clearly, so it would have only been at the end that he was close enough to hear what was being said. This is speculation, but it is plausible.
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 responded by telling them to take Him and let the others go. (Here again Jesus displayed 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.
Jesus said that the religious leaders had not seized Him publicly in the temple because of the scriptures. In other words, God had given prophecies in the Bible about the manner in which the Messiah would be treated, and the Jewish leaders and the soldiers were fulfilling those prophecies. Jesus knew the scriptures well and knew what was about to happen to Him. He was not taken by surprise. We also can be informed about future, as well as present, events. God has not just sprinkled, but inundated, the scriptures with messages for us, and we need to study them to know who we are and what we should do as prophecies unfold around us. Jesus was our example in this. We humans have forgotten our true identities as God’s creation, but the scriptures tell us. We have forgotten our purpose and the authentic principles 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 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.
DAY 2–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 14:50-54 Around the fire
They all left him, and fled. A certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth thrown around himself over his naked body. The young men grabbed him, but he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked. They led Jesus away to the high priest. All the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes came together with him. Peter had followed him from a distance, until he came into the court of the high priest. He was sitting with the officers, and warming himself in the light of the fire.
The soldiers took Jesus into custody while the disciples fled when the soldiers tried to capture them also. By leaving most of the disciples far away from Him that night and through His request that the soldiers let the others go, as well as through His healing of Malchus’ ear, Jesus ensured that all of His disciples escaped. Even here when it looked like Satan was in control of the situation, Jesus was protecting those He loved from harm.
Peter ran away when Jesus refused to let him fight because he was confused. He only knew two possibilities–fight or flight, but fighting had been the wrong choice according to His Master and fleeing was wrong to his own way of thinking. What should he do now? There was only one thing Peter was sure of, and that was that it was always right to follow his Master, so he trailed behind the soldiers at a distance worrying about what to do next. John was following also. When they got to the house of Ananias, the soldiers took Jesus inside and closed the gate before Peter could enter. John, as usual, had moved much faster than Peter, so he was able to slip in with the soldiers before the gate closed. Peter was waiting outside trying to figure out how to get in when the gate opened again, and John gestured for him to come inside. 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 with the crowd and still see what was happening to his Master.
Where did the other disciples go? Where was their safe haven? And who was the young man fleeing naked and why is he mentioned here? There are so many relationships and stories that the Bible does not provide details for, but someday we will know the countless hidden tales of the battle between good and evil. However, most of these questions have no answer in the present time. Some of our other questions may have tentative answers, but we must be careful not to speculate too far if the Bible does not provide us with the information. Such is the case of the young man fleeing from the soldiers. According to commentators, this is most likely Mark himself as a young man. He may have lived in the house where the Last Supper took place and followed Jesus to Gethsemane. All of this is logical and there are reasons to believe that it is true, but in the end, this is speculation, and the information must be treated as unproven. Be careful not to hold speculation on the same level as Biblical truths.
Each disciple was chosen by God for a purpose and was led by the Holy Spirit, yet we are told little about them. It makes us dismiss them as if they were cardboard cutouts rather than important people with important tasks to accomplish and a close relationship with Jesus. Because they are not written about, they have become invisible to modern society, but they were there. The same is true of God’s working throughout history. Just because we do not see His actions, 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 subtly working with people behind the scenes to draw them close to Him. We might not have the vision to see, but no one is hidden from God’s sight, and no one is unimportant to God.
One lesson to take away from the mysteries in this passage is that there is always more going on than we know about. God has more people that He is working with and more events that are happening than we can see. We should never assume that just because we do not observe something that it is not there. We must trust that God is working even when we do not perceive His actions. We need to know that even when it is dark and lonely and difficult to find any light, God is there, not only for us, but for many other people. We are often arrogant and assume that we know what is going on when we really do not. We must let God open our minds to the possibilities that He is bringing about and teach us to humbly listen for His voice in the confusion of life.
DAY 3–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 14:55-62 Coming in the Clouds of Heaven
Now the chief priests and the whole council sought witnesses against Jesus to put him to death, and found none. For many gave false testimony against him, and their testimony didn’t agree with each other. Some stood up, and gave false testimony against him, saying, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’” Even so, their testimony didn’t agree. The high priest stood up in the middle, and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is it which these testify against you?” But he stayed quiet, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus said, “I am. You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of the sky.”
The council brought their witnesses out to testify. However, these witnesses did not agree on anything that the council could charge Jesus with. The best the witnesses could do was to say that Jesus had claimed that He Himself would destroy the temple and rebuild it. That was not enough to claim blasphemy, insanity yes, but not blasphemy. Also, they were misstating Jesus’ words because Jesus never said that He Himself would destroy the temple. Were they lying? Or were they simply remembering incorrectly? Possibly, both.
When Jesus was asked if He had a response to the accusations of the witnesses, He refused to answer. What was there to say? He could point out the inaccuracy of the witnesses, but it would do no good. He could try to defend Himself, but that would only give legitimacy to the council when they had no right to judge Him. Silence was the best answer. However, when the chief priest directly asked Jesus if He were the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One, Jesus could no longer keep quiet. This was a question that must be answered with a strong affirmative. Jesus would never deny who His Father was, and it was no longer time to equivocate about who He was. However, Jesus did not only answer with a simple yes to the question but added more. He said that the high priest would see Him sitting at the right hand of Power and coming in the clouds of heaven. No one would ever be able to say that Jesus had not warned the high priest that there would be a time when their roles were reversed. There will come a day when Jesus will be in the seat of judgment and those who condemned Him that day will know that not only were they wrong, but that they had pronounced a guilty verdict on themselves when they issued a death sentence for an innocent man.
We should follow Jesus’ example when it comes to answering criticism and accusations. There is no need to respond to fluff–people’s own lies to themselves that have no bearing on the truly important; even if people repeat those lies, we do not need to correct them when they are not seeking truth. On the other hand, we must never deny or hide who we are or where our allegiance is. Most of all, we must never deny God. It is also important to remember that what appears to be reality in the world is not the whole truth. It appeared that Jesus was at the mercy of the council’s judgment. They appeared to be powerful men making life and death decisions that would affect whoever they targeted. However, the reality was that they were puppets in a drama that held meaning far beyond anything that they could conceive. The reality was that they were powerless in the hands of their master Satan. The truth was that Jesus was the only one in that courtyard who was truly free. The irony was that He was choosing to be condemned to death so that those very men could have life. The pity was that those men never chose life. The wonder is that you and I can receive life because Jesus chose to let those men have their way and condemn Him when they truly had no power over Him.