The Betrayal Part II
The Final Week • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Here we are again. Welcome back to our study of the Gospel of Mark, and we have made it to the final week of the Lord’s life. In fact, we are now studying the events that occurred the night before the Lord’s crucifixion. Last week we studied the Passover meal, which is often referred to as the last supper. And as we learned, it is at this final meal with His disciples that the Lord reveals that one of the twelve was going to betray Him. And once He reveals this, it says the disciples began to be sorrowful and one by one they all began to ask “Is it I”? Let take another look at these verses for the sake of review. Picking up at verse 19.
19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, “Is it I?” And another said, “Is it I?” 20 He answered and said to them, “It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish.
The Lord says, “it is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish”. The picture here is one in which the betrayer is holding the Lord’s hand as they dip the bread into the herbs together. Not only were they eating together; they were eating from the same bowl. Now, we learned last week that they would be dipping this bread in a mixture that contains bitter herbs. And the bitter taste was meant to remind them of the bitter circumstances of their ancestors when they were in slavery in Egypt. And how appropriate that they were eating a mixture of bitter herbs. What a bitter pill for the Lord to swallow as He and Judas dip their bread into the same dish.
And then the Lord says,
21 The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.”
Now, Mark’s Gospel does not tell us when Judas leaves, but it happened sometime in between verse 21 and 22. We know this because Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper in verse 22 and Judas was not present for that. To get the details of Judas leaving the last supper we have to turn to John’s Gospel. And from John’s account we know John is resting against Jesus as they reclined at the meal, and he asks Jesus, “Lord, who is it?” Let’s read a couple of these verses
26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.” And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. 27 Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” 28 But no one at the table knew for what reason He said this to him.
Then in verse 30 John records,
30 Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. And it was night.
And as we already know, when Judas leaves the last supper, he is going to get the mob that would arrest Jesus. In other words, Judas is going to the religious leaders to give away Jesus’ location. Remember, “the powers that be” are looking for a way to arrest Jesus quietly. They knew Jesus was popular with the people. And they were afraid if they arrested Him in public that it might cause a major uproar and draw unwanted attention from Rome. So, arresting Jesus during a private Passover meal at night would have been the perfect opportunity.
Then after Judas leaves, Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper. And then after that they leave the house and head toward the Mount of Olives.
Lets read a few of these verses. And pay attention as we read this passage because they verses are going to tie directly into the text we are going to focus on this morning. As we say all the time. Context. Context. Context. So picking up at verse 26 as Jesus and the disciples leave the upper room.
26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 27 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered.’
So, Jesus says, “guys, you are going to stumble tonight because of Me.” In other words, Jesus is saying men you are going to fail your mission. You are going to abandon me because of what coming”. But listen to how they respond to what Jesus tells them.
29 Peter said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be.” 30 Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.”
And listen to verse 31.
31 But he spoke more vehemently, “If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all said likewise.
Man. Peter claims that he would never forsake the Lord. He says, even “if I have to die with You”. And look at what the end of the verse says, “And they all said likewise”. Now, there is an extremely important point that I want to make here. You see, the disciples have fallen into a deadly trap here. What is the trap? Pride. Pride. They think they are going to fulfill their mission by bravado and strength. They think they are going to be able to do what God requires of them by good old fashioned bravery and will power. But boy are they wrong. And before this night is over, every single one of them was going to betray the Lord. Obviously Judas betrays the Lord, but so did the other 11. When all the chips were on the table, when they’ve backs were against the wall, and the going got tough, they abandoned their Lord.
And so the question is how did they fail so miserably? What did they do wrong? Well that is what we are going to study this morning and try and figure out. But here is what we can be sure of. We will not remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ is we depend on our own strength. We will not persevere in our Christian walk if we depend the power of our flesh and our own will power. This is what the disciples are getting ready to learn and this is what each person in this room will learn, if they haven’t already.
And this is what we all must learn as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pride makes promises that the flesh can’t keep.
Pride makes promises that the flesh can’t keep.
And I know that every person in this room can relate to this statement. Because we’ve all done it. We all said, “Lord, I’m gonna serve you. Lord I’m going to be in church every Sunday. I’m going to read my Bible every day. I’m going to do this and I’m going to do that.” And then life hits us right between the eyes, and all those promises we made to Him just go right out the window. Pride makes promises that the flesh can’t keep. And this is exactly what the disciples are about to learn this night. Their flesh, their pride, their strength, their bravery, was going to fail miserably in the face of what was coming. And its because they were completely dependent on themselves and not the power of God. And we are going to see this on full display by their actions leading up to the arrest of the Lord.
Ok, with all of this being said. We are ready to jump into our text for today, and we need the Lord’s help to understand His word. So let’s ask for His help.
Let’s pray.
So, as we move forward here. It is critically important that you remember the disciples vow to the Lord Jesus. Remember, verse 31.
31 But he spoke more vehemently, “If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all said likewise.
They all promised not to deny the Lord Jesus Christ, even in the face of certain death. And sometime after they make this pledge to the Lord, Jesus and His disciples come to the garden. Let read the next couple of verses.
32 Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed.
At this point, Jesus begins to suffer extreme agony and distress.
34 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.” 35 He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. 36 And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
Now, the traditional interpretation of these verses goes something like this. Father, I don’t want to go to the cross, if there is any other way than let’s do something different, but not My will, Your will be done. This interpretation has the Christ second guessing the mission at the last minute, as He wrestled with the thought of the cross. But I have to say there are some big problems with this interpretation. Number 1 three different times Jesus told His disciples on the way to the cross that He was going to suffer and die and on the third day raise again. But not only that listen to what John records in chapter 12 as the cross approaches.
27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”
Do you see what Jesus prays here. “What shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour.” Jesus clearly knows why He came. He knows He came for the cross. He can’t pray for the Father to save Him from the cross because that was the mission from before the world began. And I could give scores of OT prophecies that would fall apart if Jesus doesn’t go to the cross, starting with Genesis 3:15. Also check out Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. The cross was always the plan, always.
So that leads us to a difficult question. What then is Jesus saying in verse 36?
36 And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
What does Jesus mean when he says, “Take this cup away from Me”? Well, in the OT when the cup passes, or when the cup is taken away that was symbolic that the judgment or wrath of God was finished. In other words, after a person or nation drank that cup of God’s wrath, then God’s wrath would be complete and the cup would be taken away from them. In other words, when the cup is taken away it was symbolic that the wrath of God was finished.
In Isaiah 51 the prophet describes horrible judgment that has fallen on the nation of Israel. He says, Stand up, O Jerusalem you who have drunk at the hand of the Lord The cup of His fury; You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling And drained it out.
But after Israel drinks the cup and drained it out. After they have experienced the wrath of God, it passes. Look what verse 22 says,
22 Thus says your Lord, The Lord and your God, Who pleads the cause of His people: “See, I have taken out of your hand The cup of trembling, The dregs of the cup of My fury; You shall no longer drink it.
Right after this verse, after God tells the nation of Israel that they will no longer drink it, God those nations who afflicted them would now drink it. Do you see where I’m going with this? Jesus isn’t saying, I don’t want to drink the cup Father. No, He is saying, Father after I drink the cup, take it from me. In other words, Father, after the cross is done, let it be done. Let your wrath pass from Me. Father, don’t let you holy wrath against the sins of the world remain on me. Take the cup away from me, after I drink it.
The cross was always the plan. The cross was always the plan. Christ wasn’t saying He wouldn’t drink the cup of wrath. He was saying, “Father after I drink the cup of your wrath take it away from Me. Here is a quote from Dr. Craig Blaising, longtime professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary writes,
“In Gethsemane Jesus prays a prayer of faith, that after he drinks the cup, the Father will not abandon him forever to the desolation of wrath and judgment for sin, but as he has promised Israel in the last days, Christ is praying for the Father to remove the wrath of God from him, resurrecting and restoring him.”
In short, Jesus is praying that God’s wrath will pass after the cross and that He will be resurrected and restored.
Ok, I could spend the whole sermon on this one point, but we need to keep rolling. So, Jesus is in agony in the Garden and He is praying to the Father and then He comes back to check on His disciples. Let pick up here.
37 Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Ok, there is a lot going on in this text just below the surface. Let see if we can unpack it. Now remember it is late at night. At this point, it is most likely after midnight. So naturally the disciples are tired and they have fallen asleep. And so, Jesus comes back even in His extreme distress to check on His men. And there is a beautiful point to make here. Jesus, even in the midst of anguish and suffering is concerned about His men. He knows what is coming, and He knows His disciples are about to fail, so He is trying to get them to be spiritual alert. He is trying to get them to pray so that they won’t fall into the temptation that is coming. He is trying to get them to follow His example. Jesus was praying for strength to face what was coming. The disciples should have been doing the same.
Jesus says, “watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation”. Watch here means they needed to be spiritual alert and ready. And Jesus tells them to pray so they don’t fall into the temptation that was coming. What temptation were they getting ready to face? They were going to face the temptation of abandoning the Lord to save their own skin. They were going to be tempted to betray their Lord by abandoning Him to ensure their own physical safety. And do they fall into this temptation? You bet they do. They weren’t watching, they weren’t praying, even after the Lord told them that they were going to stumble.
The disciples make two terrible errors here.
They ignore the word of God
Remember what Jesus told them earlier.
27 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered.’
You see, the disciples completely ignore the word of God. Not only was Jesus speaking the word of God to them, but He also quotes OT scripture to them. They should have listened and thought, “man we need to start praying and getting ready. We need to listen to what the word of God is saying to us”. But what did they do? No. Their attitude was like Nah, Jesus we got this. We will never betray you. We will die if we have to. They ignored the word of God. They were unteachable in this moment, and it was detrimental to their walk of faith.
2. They didn’t pray.
You see, instead of being so confident in their own strength, they should have be praying for God to give them strength, but they took a nap instead.
And here is the big take away for us this morning. We must continually be in the word of God. We must continually be spiritually alert, and we must continually be in prayer. If we do what the disciples did here. If we think to ourselves, “I’ve got this. Jesus I will never betray you”. We are headed for a fall. If we are determined to live the Christian life by our own willpower. If we bow our chest out and think to ourselves I’ve got this. If we make the Christian life about self-determination, we will fail 100 times out of 100. We must live our lives dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells inside of us. We must learn to let God’s power operate through us. If pride and will-power didn’t work for the disciples, if isn’t going to work for us. Here is a good way to think about it.
Pride says ‘I’ve got this.’ Faith says ‘God, help me.’
Pride says ‘I’ve got this.’ Faith says ‘God, help me.’
Here’s what I’ve learned the hard way in my own walk with Christ, and it’s the same lesson the disciples learned in the garden. If we’re not in the Word, if we’re not praying, and if we’re not spiritually alert before a trial or temptation hits, then we’re going to fall. Once the crisis arrives, preparation time is over. That’s exactly what Jesus was trying to impress on His disciples. He was urging them to get ready for what was coming so they wouldn’t fall into temptation — but they didn’t listen. They weren’t watching, they weren’t praying, and when the moment of testing came, they collapsed under it.
Let’s look back at verse 38 for a moment.
38 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Now, there is something else going on in these verses that a lot of people miss. You see, I think this whole scene has Satan’s fingerprints all of it. You see, I think Satan is present in the garden, and I think He is tempting Jesus in the garden. First of all, the word temptation in this verse is a rare word in Mark. And the only other time it occurs along side the word spirit in back in chapter 1, when the Spirit drives Jesus in the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Not only that, after Jesus is tempted in the wilderness Luke records that the devil ended his temptation of Jesus, “and departed from Him until an opportune time”. This is the opportune time.
Here is another clue. After Jesus is tempted in the wilderness is says that Angels came and ministered to Jesus after it was over. Listen to what Luke records in the garden.
43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Only two places in scripture record Jesus being strengthening by angels, the wilderness and the garden. And I believe they are strengthening Him in the face of a direct conflict with Satan. Jesus is in the middle of a major spiritual conflict in the garden. So much so that He is sweating blood. And this goes way beyond just fear of the cross.
Also, there were three temptations in the wilderness. The Gospels record three separate prayers in the Garden. And here is another clue. Adam fall in the garden of Eden, while being tempted in the garden. The Bible refers to Jesus as the “last Adam”. Jesus, the last Adam, will overcome Satan’s temptation in the garden. And I could keep going and going, but I don’t have the time.
So, here in the million dollar question.
What was Satan’s temptation?
What was Satan’s temptation?
What was the enemy whispering in Jesus’ ear in the garden that was causing Him so much agony?
Well, we don’t know for certain, but based on Jesus prayers. I believe Satan was whispering in Jesus ear, “Jesus if you do this. Then the Father’s wrath will remain on you.” I think Satan is tempting Jesus with the lie that if God’s wrath against sin gets poured out on Him, that He might experience that wrath forever. Or He is trying to convince Jesus that God’s wrath might remain on Him for some extended amount of time. And this is what prompted Jesus repeated prayers. Abba, Father take the cup away from Me. Father, don’t let your wrath remain on Me. Take it Father after I drink, and that is not only My Will, but it is Your will too.” This is what is going on in the garden on this night.
But here is the beautiful thing about this hour of darkness in the garden. In the midst of everything Christ is experiencing, in the midst of the temptation, in the midst of the agony and sweating drops of blood, Jesus concern is for HIs disciples. Even in this horrible moment. Jesus is worrying about His men. Let’s get back to Mark’s account and try and finish up.
38 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Now, verse 38 makes mean so much more. Jesus knows the enemy is in the garden, and He knows His men are getting ready to fail, so He is earnestly trying to get them ready because He knows they need to be praying for strength. He says, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. In other words, He is saying men your good intentions aren’t enough to get through this temptation. Your have good desires, you want to do what is right, but that isn’t nearly enough. Your flesh in too weak. Pray men, pray, so that you don’t enter into the temptation of the evil one.
Moving on to verse 39.
39 Again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words. 40 And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.
Again, the disciples didn’t listen. They needed to be spiritually awake. They needed to be watching and praying in light of Jesus’ warnings, but they are sleeping.
41 Then He came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”
And so, the hour of the disciples testing comes, and they are woefully unprepared. Listen to Jesus words, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough the hour has come”. And so, as we know Judas shows up with arresting party. Let’s read on.
43 And immediately, while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
44 Now His betrayer had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him and lead Him away safely.” 45 As soon as he had come, immediately he went up to Him and said to Him, “Rabbi, Rabbi!” and kissed Him.
This is arguably the most tragic betrayal in the history of man. But it wasn’t only Judas that betrayed Him. After Jesus is arrested all of His disciples who pledged never to stumble even if it meant death abandon Him. Shortly after HIs arrest, Mark records.
50 Then they all forsook Him and fled.
Ok, let me start to wrap this all up. Yes, the disciples fail miserably here, and they show us exactly what not to do. But these men eventually get it right. These men go one to lay the foundation of the church, and all excluding John do give their lives for Christ. But they do this after they learn to depend upon God’s power and not their own. So here is what we must latch on to this morning.
Our good intentions, our will power, and our self-determination are not going to see us through the mission. Only the power of God inside of us can enable us to persevere. Remember what we said at the beginning.
Pride makes promises that the flesh can’t keep.
Pride makes promises that the flesh can’t keep.
The disciples’ intentions were good. They all had a willing spirit, but when the threat of death stared them in the face, they folded. Their pride wrote a check that they flesh wasn’t willing to cash. That’s why we need the Spirit of God to empower our flesh. And for that to happen, we must be continually preparing — staying in the Word, staying alert, and staying prayerful — so that when temptation and trial come, we’re already spiritually minded. You can’t sleep through your preparation and then expect to pass the test.
Final thought and we’re done.
The battle is won before the temptation — in the Word, in prayer, and on your knees.
The battle is won before the temptation — in the Word, in prayer, and on your knees.
Let’s pray.
