Mark: The King who stood alone [Mark 14:27-52]

Mark: The King who stood alone []

We pick up where we left off last week and that was at the Lord’s supper. Jesus and His disciples had come to a place to celebrate the Passover. During that meal, Jesus leaves the normal script of Passover and institutes something new…the Lord’s supper, which would be the celebratory meal the church would continue to partake in until Jesus returns again. After that they went to the Mount of Olives and Jesus drops another bomb on the disciples…let’s pick up in verse 27.

Stand for the reading of the word of God []

Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath that we might drink of the cup of salvation. Jesus submitted Himself in the garden of Gethsemane that He might save sinners on the cross. Jesus is the king who stood alone and suffered alone for His people. While this is good news for those who believe, the section of scripture we read today has a very dark cloud over it doesn’t it?

Jesus will be turned over to His enemies by one of His closest friends, Jesus will agonize alone over the weight of God’s wrath upon the sin of the world which He would bear, Jesus is abandoned by all of His followers and stands alone before His enemy…and He did this all for you and me. Let’s not forget in this most terrible event is the greatest news the world has every heard, that the king of kings would give His life for us. Amazing love how can it be that you my king would die for me. To the amazement of the angels and wonder of sinners saved by grace the bible tells us in , “the Lord was please to crush Him severely.” It was the will of the Father to kill His beloved Son so that He would not have to kill you and me.

Our text today highlights three aspects of the solitary suffering of our Lord Jesus…His warning and promise, His prayer and agony, and His betrayal and arrest.

Jesus warning and promise []

Jesus warning and promise took place on the Mount of Olives. Jesus first warned the disciples what would happen to Him and how they would respond, then He gave them a promise of His resurrection and what would follow. In this we see...

Jesus power on display by predicting the future. This is prominent in this passage Jesus told that He would be abandoned by His disciples, He told He would die and rise again, and then be with His disciples again after His resurrection. He got specific with Peter about his denial of Jesus…all these predictions came true precisely as told by Jesus. It’s reassuring to know that when we don’t know what the future holds we can have confidence in Jesus as He knows all and can guide us through the uncertainty of this life.

The first part of Jesus warning was that all of them would be ‘offended’ because of Jesus. The Greek is [skandalizomai] means to cause to stumble, not physically but spiritually and emotionally, they would experience a lapse in their faith to Jesus. Jesus quoted from , that the shepherd would be killed and the sheep scattered…and that’s exactly what happened. As disappointing as this sounds, Jesus would not leave them scattered...

Jesus promised to rise again and go before them. Jesus would not leave them stumbling and scattered but would rise again, gather them together, and go before them like a good shepherd. Even with this wonderful promise, the disciples missed it completely. We first see...

Peter’s pride on display. , says “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Peter is the poster-boy for this proverb. Verse 29 Peter says, “Even if all are made to stumble, I will not.” In usual fashion Peter responds with a new jerk reaction…he says, “they all might…but not me!” If that wasn’t prideful enough when Jesus says no Peter you will deny me three times, in verse 30…how does Peter respond? Verse 31, he spoke more vehemently…even if I have to die Jesus I won’t deny you. i.e. Jesus you’re wrong! When we don’t take Christ at His word we, in essence, say you are wrong Jesus. And all the other disciples take Peter’s lead…you’re wrong about this Jesus.

All the disciples overestimate their strength. They’re all like, yeah what he said. There are many lessons from this brief interaction.

One, take Christ at His word…we should live our lives in relationship to the bible. To many people listen to the talking heads on TV or internet when we should be living our lives according to the word of God.

Two, be gracious to others. Peter was a little harsh towards the other disciples…what if you fall into sin? Don’t be so condemning of others when they stumble and fall…be gracious and show concern…how can I help you, should be our motto as believers.

Three, you influence others by your actions. Just as Peter influenced the other disciples, we influence those we’re around…be careful how you act! Even if we think it’s acting in a good way be careful it’s God’s will.

Four, Do not overestimate your own strength. We are much weaker and more frail then we know. says our hearts are desperately wicked. We are much weaker than we realize. Today the world says, “be strong and confident, trust in yourself…but the bible says…don’t do that…trust in Christ…not yourself.

Five, failure is not final. The disciples missed this, but they would get it eventually. They would fail, but it was not final failure. Peter had three strikes but he wasn’t out, he would be restored by Jesus and go on to change the world in the power of Jesus. Our failure isn’t final, Jesus wants to restore us. This is a great little section…but we’ve got to get through some not so great stuff as well.

Jesus prayer and agony in Gethsemane []

Jesus and His disciples come to Gethsemane, which is on the Mount of Olives and is an olive vineyard, it was a place used often by Jesus to pray.

Jesus appeal to His disciples. Is to abide here and be watching. This is not watching out for enemies coming against Him but it’s an appeal to the warning Jesus has already given them…be careful lest you fall. Jesus is beginning to feel the pressure and agony of the coming passion. It says He began to be greatly troubled and distressed. Jesus says “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.”

Jesus is beginning to be overwhelmed by the impending wrath of God upon sin He will take upon Himself on the cross. We cannot fully fathom this pressure, the curse of sin placed upon Him and the wrath of God poured out upon Him for that curse is far more than our finite brains can imagine. Yet, in that His concern is on the disciples being prepared. Isn’t it reassuring that our Lord, even when faced with the passion before Him, is concerned with His own. Jesus knows all about our struggles.

Jesus prayer. Jesus goes on a little farther than the other disciples by Himself to pray. Jesus posture is prostrate on the ground, i.e. He fell to the ground, there is a painful plea pictured in this prayer. Jesus addresses the Father as “Abba, Father” Aramaic for “my Father”, it originated as a child’s term, the idea was it was an intimate address between the Son and the Father.

Mark gives us very little of Jesus prayer in verse 35-36. In the gospel of John chapter 17 we’re given much more detail to Jesus prayer. I urge you to read , it’s a great prayer, Jesus prays for Himself, He prays for His disciples, and He prays for you and me…all those who will believe in the gospel. In the midst of atoning for our sin Christ had you and me on His mind. Isn’t that a comfort? Notice what Mark notes from this prayer.

First in verse 35, Jesus prayed for the hour to pass, i.e. Jesus prays for He would not have to endure the cross. Verse 36, Jesus prays for the cup to pass, the cup of human sin and its just punishment under the wrath of God. WE don’t have to tiptoe around this thinking Jesus showed weakness... in both prayers Jesus submitted to the will of the Father. Jesus understood it was not an issue of God’s ability, God could have taken them away in an instant, the issue was God’s will, was it God’s will to take it. The Father had appointed this for the Son and the Son submitted to the Fathers will.

There’s a lesson, all be it a tough lesson, for us. When facing hardships, it’s not about God’s ability to remove the obstacle or hardship, it’s about God’s will to remove it. God may not take away the difficulty in our lives but He will go with us through the difficulty in our lives. Sometimes it’s the fire we go through that refines us into the person God wants us to be. This is difficult to understand but we should find reassurance that the Father didn’t spare His own Son for us.

As one commentator put it, “Even as deity, Jesus would shrink from being identified with the sins of the world, and from bearing the wrath of the Father whose intimacy He had shared forever. As a perfectly innocent human being, he would shrink from bearing this injustice. But the desire of that temptation if it was that, did not prevail; without hesitation He expressed the full submission to God that always characterized Him.” , though he were a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which he suffered.

Jesus’ struggle, and it was that, sets an example for all of us. Doing the will of God is not always easy, but it is always the right choice!

An appeal to the failing disciples. there were three rounds of prayer on Jesus part with similar appeals to the disciples, watch and pray. Jesus returns to find them sleeping, He asks, “could you not watch for one hour” Jesus appeal was to the disciples who were failing and who would fail Him. Jesus says watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. both imperatives ‘watch and pray’ suggest a persistent activity of constant watching and constant praying.

Temptation in the Greek either means a trial or a test as to enticement to sin. The two ideas are often intertwined: a trial offers temptation and temptation is a testing. The disciples would be faced with both and they needed to be armed with spiritual vigilance and prayerfulness. Jesus added something [v.38] we need to take note of, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

We may

We do well to remember this… we are much weaker than we know. This is opposite what the world tells us. We may have all kinds of desire to be faithful to God, but in our flesh [human nature] we are very very weak. This is why we need to be connected to the true vine Jesus [] is a good read for this. If we’re not connected to the power source we are powerless. {that keyboard makes some beautiful music as long as it’s plugged into the power source…unplug it and it doesn’t do much but take up space.}

Peter’s a great example of this, His heart is in the right place, he loves Jesus and wants to serve Jesus, but his flesh is very weak. And so we see...

The pattern repeated. This is a pattern of Jesus warning and the disciples failing. We shouldn’t be to quick to pass judgment on these disciples, how often do we fall into a pattern of sin in our own lives. What Jesus says to the disciples here we can apply directly to our own lives. We must pray, because we need God’s strength and help. We must recognize that though we are eager in spirit we are weak in the flesh, and that this is the very reason we need to be vigilant, watching, and praying. Jesus wants us to be successful in resisting temptation, if not He wouldn’t have warned us to watch out for it…thankfully we can trust in His strength to help us resist.

Jesus betrayal and arrest []

Judas betrayal. While the disciples are wiping sleep from their eyes, Judas comes with a large number of soldiers to arrest Jesus. Mark notes that immediately they arrived, while Jesus was still speaking this multitude shows up with swords and clubs to get Jesus. Judas had prearranged a sign so the soldiers would know who to arrest that he would kiss Jesus. A kiss was a customary greeting at that time, but he also paid homage to Jesus by referring to Him as rabbi, rabbi. We can see the wickedness in this act of betrayal. While kissing Jesus on the cheek, Judas stabbing the knife, so to speak, in Jesus’ back. There’s a lesson about being two-faced there, saying one thing and doing the opposite. Even today that phrase Judas’ kiss is used with the idea of extreme betrayal. As they took hold of Jesus to take Him there was...

A futile resistance. One of the disciples swings a sword and cuts off one of the guards ears. John tells us it was Peter who lead this revolt, Luke tells us it was Malchus who lost the ear and Jesus healed Malchus’ ear. I still remember the first time I heard a sermon on this text the preacher said something that still makes me laugh, “Peter was either really good with a sword or really bad with the sword.” He was either good enough to just take an ear off or bad enough to miss a head. At any rate, Jesus put a stop to it at once. And tells them to put away the sword.

I’ve heard all kinds of bad ideas surrounded around texts like these. Sometimes it’s the real familiar texts like the events surrounding Jesus death and resurrection that people tend to try to get fancy with and come up with something new.

I heard someone use Jesus telling Peter to put away the sword as a primer for a message about gun control…I’m not kidding, people do all kinds of crazy stuff with God’s word. But you’ve got to keep it in context! Any rationally thinking person can see that gun control probably not on Jesus’ radar here. But what is... is the will of God. The resistance is futile because it’s the Father’s will that Jesus be crushed.

Remember Jesus is not some innocent man who just fell prey to the jealousy and wickedness of others, this is God’s plan…not man’s plan. Jesus is in control of everything going on here, we will see this as we get farther into Jesus’ passion…He’s in control of the situation nothing happened that God didn’t ordain to happen! Don’t forget that part. Don’t get too familiar with certain passages that you miss the most important part…God’s in charge.

Jesus’ words to His captors. He’s in control. Jesus says, why do you come out here like this with all these weapons and great numbers of soldiers, am I a criminal? He’s like, I’ve been openly present everywhere and you didn’t do anything then but now you act as if I’m dangerous. In this Jesus is exposing their fear which lead them to come at Him like He was a violent bandit. The only thing Jesus was guilty of was quiet teaching and compassionate healing. But Jesus points out…this is to fulfill the scriptures. i.e. more evidence of who is in control of this scene. God is.

The disciples flight. Verse 50 fulfills what Jesus had told them earlier…they ALL forsook Him and fled. In typical Markan fashion he gives only basic details about the abandonment of the disciples sparing them greater embarrassment.

However Mark does provide for us one detail that no other gospel writer provides and that is this unidentified young man who flees naked in verse 51-52. Many interpreters suggest that this is Mark himself, I would not argue that at all, I believe it is. Instead of pointing out the other disciples failure to follow, Mark may have decided to insert his own failure to point out that mass exodus of the followers of Jesus.

At any rate, this does serve to illustrate for us the disciples failure, that they fled stripped of all their pretensions to courage and commitments as they had so previously boast about. Which also serves to teach us a valuable lesson. We may be tempted to flee from God, we may want to give into the temptation to not trust God, but if we can learn from the lessons the scriptures teach us maybe we can avoid them.

We must learn not to trust ourselves

not to depend on the weak arm of our flesh,

we must learn not to strike out on our own to take matters in our own hands,

we must resist the temptation to interpret the Lord’s ways in light of human wisdom and understanding.

We must learn, instead, to depend on Him, to seek His understanding, and to follow where He leads, even when He goes to the cross.