6 Weeks to Resurrection: The Night of Gethsemane

There are three actions emphasized in Mark’s narrative regarding the Gethsemane event that lead into the crucifixion, that warrant further investigation. 

1. The kiss of Judas. Mark uses the normal word for kiss, which means "to love," in telling of the arrangement Judas had made with the chief priests. They were to seize the one whom he (Judas) kissed. In the actual moment, when Judas carries this deed out, Mark uses an different form of that word, that means a prolonged kiss, a lover's kiss -- a deliberate, prolonged, apparent-ly loving act, yet done with cold determination to accomplish his own purpose. We shudder at the thought and speak with disgust at those who would do such a thing. Yet, this same heart can exist within us, and at times we do the same type of thing – especially in mob mentalities. We “sacrifice” someone with “a word of kindness,” then leave them to vultures who do nothing but tear and rend.  Judas “thought” he was doing right. I wonder what he was thinking when he hung himself over what he had done after the fact.
2. Second is Peter's “defense.”  Peter is in this passage, trying to make a show of carrying out what he believed. He grabs the sword and, as the priests and soldiers move in on Jesus, he slashes away. But so poor is his aim that all he does is lop off the ear of the high priest's servant. This is such a beautiful example of the flesh at work! We may strike out in our attempts to carry out our purposes, but all we accomplish is the lopping-off of somebody's ear. Attempts to do what we think is right -- but it is not of the Lord. We have all done this. The glorious thing, Luke tells us, is that Jesus reached out and touched that servant and healed his ear. How many lopped-off ears have we been responsible for during our lifetime that Jesus has to come behind us and heal because we thought we were doing what is right.
3. Third is the sudden flight of the disciples. They all forsook him. I am sure this means that, at that moment, after three-and-a-half years, all their confidence that Jesus was indeed the Messiah suddenly forsook them. His willingness to give himself over without any resistance into the hands of his enemies and his refusal to defend himself in any way becomes, in their eyes, his renunciation of being the Messiah. Now it is every man for himself, and so they flee. In Luke's account of the resurrection - remember that as two disciples walked along the road to Emmaus, a stranger appeared, a man whom they did not recognize, and they discussed with him the events that had taken place in Jerusalem. They said to him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, "We had hoped (notice the past tense) that he was the one who would redeem Israel," (Luke 24:21). Their hope was gone, so they forsook him and fled.  And thus the smiting of the shepherd resulted in the scattering of the sheep.

Mark adds what is almost a postscript in Verse 51 “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.” (Mk 14:51-52)  Whoever this young man is, it is explaining to us how we get the account of Gethsemane. None of the disciples could have given it. One was with those who were arresting Jesus, one who betrayed him and killed himself before he could have written anything (Mt.27:5; Acts 1:17,18). Seven of them were in a part of the garden some distance from Jesus. Three of them were close to him, but they were sound asleep and could not have heard the crying and the prayers; they did not see the angel come and minister to him. But somebody was watching. A certain young man (perhaps Mark himself), was there watching the whole thing. He is the one giving us the story, that we might have hope in the hour of our Gethsemane. This account can help us, when we either feel that we do not want to do what God tells us to do, or feel confident that somehow we can work it out in our own strength. In that hour, this account to reminds us that we can “come to the throne of grace and find mercy and grace to help in time of need."

Someone may be in Gethsemane's Garden right now. So, who are we? Judas? Peter lopping off ears? The running disciples? – or maybe even the young man? There may be some who have just come through it. Will we open our eyes and hearts to understand this passage? We have Jesus, risen from the dead, who goes before us to meet us. The shepherd upon whom we can rely, to whom we can go in the hour of anguish and find the strength -  to do what we do not want to do to obey when we would rather do something else. Are you in Gethsemane?

Jim