Fight Or Love? (What Happened In Gethsemane)

Fight or Love?

Mark 14:43-52

Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

43 Immediately while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs, who were from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44 Now he who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him and lead Him away under guard.” 45 After coming, Judas immediately went to Him, saying, “Rabbi!” and kissed Him. 46 They laid hands on Him and seized Him. 47 But one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and 1cut off his ear. 48 And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me, as you would against a robber? 49 “Every day I was with you ain the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me; but this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures.” 50 And they all left Him and fled. 51 A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they seized him. 52 But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.

How many times have you contemplated striking someone? When you are driving and another car cuts you off, do you feel like getting even? It is challenging to be wronged and not want some kind of restitution, especially when the person who did the act will not apologize. The call to violence seems to be a part of our nature. In the wild, animals survive by their fight or flee instinct. Humans still have this instinct. So when provoked, a person either fights or flees. Jesus showed a third option. That option was to go along with the will of the people who came to get him. He did not react to the situation. The next time you have a fight or flee the situation, contemplate what would happen if you did nothing.

The disciple who pulled out his knife wanted to protect His Rabbi. The eleven disciples in the Garden with Jesus knew what was happening. Judas led the guards in order to point out Jesus. Messianic tradition says that the Messiah is not supposed to die in the way that Jesus did. The group that was approaching them was interested in grabbing Jesus so that he could be killed. The reaction of pulling out the knife makes perfect sense. Jesus must have surprised them when he said that an insurrection was not going to happen. It should have shocked the guards that grabbed Jesus. The supposed insurrection leader told his disciples that an armed revolution was not going to occur. However, the guards were under orders and obeyed them to bring Jesus in.

Peter and company had to be confused. The messianic tradition said that the Messiah would return to free Israel from the oppression it was suffering and place a descendant of King David on the throne. That did not happen. They spent all that time with Jesus, but they still missed the boat about the mission and vision. They needed a shock to their understanding to get them to think differently. What a shock that was in Gethsemane.

From their point of view, it was all over at that moment. Their leader was in custody, and they still did not have a full grasp of matters. No wonder one of them lashed out in violence. Perhaps we can say that when a person resorts to violence, it is a reaction to an event or a build-up of events. I am separating mentally disturbed people from this picture. Jesus’ disciples were in control of themselves. They did become passionate about Jesus and the work they were doing.

The arrest events through the ascension were the final teachings that Jesus offered. The followers of Jesus did evolve their thinking about His message. The Zealots continued to use violence to achieve their goals. So, let us ask the question of what happened to the Zealots. They are gone because violence begets violence, and it eventually destroys everything. The Zealot revolt of 66 CE and the second one in 135 CE left the Temple destroyed, Jerusalem destroyed, and a lot of dead people.

The Jesus movement, which is now called Christianity, survived. Jesus’ message of love and peace has survived through the centuries because it is based on love and peace. The movement continued after the first Pentecost through love and peace. Even Peter, the hot-headed leader, became a man of love and peace. He accomplished several incredible things for Jesus when he shed his violent thoughts for love and peace.

OK, we got the message, right? Violence is out; love is in. For some Christians, this is true. Unfortunately, many Christians still have those violent tendencies and use them. These Christians are easy to find because they are ready to make a fist and punch out anyone that they feel they need to. I started a men’s group years ago at a church I was appointed. In the first session, I had a guest attend whom I worked with at the Conference level (I was a United Methodist Church pastor). I knew my guest for a couple of years and worked with him with other men’s groups.