#59 The Beginning of Sorrows!
Series: Mark
Chuck Sligh
January 30, 2022
TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Mark 14:43.
INTRODUCTION
Over the last two years, we’ve been studying the Gospel of Mark.
We have seen…
Jesus’ deity,
His perfect humanity,
His incredible power,
His miracles,
His authority over demons and His power to heal,
His holiness,
His unparalleled teaching,
His bountiful compassion and mercy,
and also His justice and righteous wrath.
It’s hard to find an opening illustration that is appropriate today’s sermon. Often, to pique your interest, I’ll begin a sermon with a joke or a humorous story that illuminates in some way the content of the sermon. But our text today is so sad and serious that it wouldn’t feel right to start with such an introduction.
In last week’s sermon we were with Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus looked at the bitter cup of suffering that was ahead of Him, and in His humanity, He prayed, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what you will.”
This was the first great battle for our souls. The second great battle would be on the cross itself when God the Father would judge God the Son for our sins—something incomprehensible…yet it happened, as we’ll see in greater detail when we get to the crucifixion in Mark’s gospel.
But between Gethsemane and Golgotha are some tragic events that give us insight into the depths of utter wickedness to which corrupt and evil people can stoop, how fickle and unreliable followers of Christ can be, and the magnitude of Jesus’ glorious resolve to carry out the plan of redemption. One of those stories between Gethsemane and Golgotha is in today’s text in Mark 14:43-52.
I. IN VERSES 43-45, WE SEE JESUS BETRAYED – “And immediately, while he was speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44 And he who betrayed him had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I shall kiss, he is the one; take him, and lead him away safely.” 45 And as soon as he came, he immediately went to him, and said, ‘Master, master’; and kissed him.”
While Jesus was speaking with the eleven other disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, there was A SUDDEN DISRUPTION in His discourse. A mob of people from the chief priests, the scribes and the elders—the three groups that made up the Sanhedrin—came with swords and clubs. This action was approved by the Sanhedrin, but John’s gospel also speaks of a detachment of soldiers and a commander accompanying them, and since the Jews had no military, this must have meant the Romans were also involved in this plot. If so, for once the Jewish and Roman leaders were united on something: the capture and destruction of Jesus Christ.
Mark said “a great crowd” came for Him. Why were they so heavily armed and so many involved in the manhunt? We saw several chapters back that the Jewish religious leaders had determined to kill Jesus. What kept them from acting was His popularity. They were seeking a way to capture Him when there was not a crowd of followers around that might cause a disruption or riot if they arrested Him in a public place. Perhaps they also feared that the apostles, who always accompanied Jesus, might put up resistance. So when they got an opportunity to seize Jesus without these incumbrances, they came “loaded for bear,” as we say down South.
When Judas knew Jesus and the other eleven apostles would be at the Garden of Gethsemane, he alerted the Sanhedrin, and once everyone was well-armed and ready to act, he led them to where Jesus was.
He had prearranged a signal so that in the dark they would capture the right man…a kiss. A light kiss on the cheek was the customary greeting for a friend or someone you highly respected and still is in some Middle Eastern lands. No one would have thought it unusual, but Judas and Jesus knew that this was not a kiss of AFFECTION, but a kiss of BETRAYAL. Mark tells us there was no hesitation on Judas’s part. He went immediately to Jesus and kissed Him so that the mob could quickly apprehend Him before any resistance could be mustered.
II. IN VERSES 46-48 WE SEE JESUS CAPTURED – “And they laid their hands on him and took him. 47 And one of them who stood by drew a sword, and struck a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. 48 And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have you come out as against a thief, with swords and with clubs to take me? 49 I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you did not take me: but the scriptures must be fulfilled.’”
Jesus Himself offered no resistance, so He was quickly and easily apprehended and arrested. Mark records only one attempt at armed resistance. He doesn’t name who it was who cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear, but John 18:10 tells us it was Peter, and that the servant of the high priest was named Malchus. Peter undoubtedly meant to split his skull, but being a simple fisherman, not a soldier, he only succeeded in cutting off Malchus’s ear. Mark, noted for his economy of words, tells us no details of what happened to Malchus, but Luke 22:51 says that Jesus instantly healed the servant’s ear.
Although Jesus doesn’t resist in the least, He objects to the way they came to arrest Him. They came heavily armed, in the middle of the night, in an isolated place. They could have captured him at any time while He was teaching in the Temple. But they arrested Him like a common criminal, revealing their cowardice. Yet there was an ultimate divine purpose in it—Jesus said in verse 49 it was so that the scriptures would be fulfilled.
III. IN VERSES 50-52 WE SEE JESUS FORSAKEN. – “And they all forsook him and fled. 51 And a certain young man there followed him, having nothing but a linen cloth about his body; and the young men seized him: 52 And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.”
When it became clear to the disciples that Jesus would offer no resistance, they all scattered like a nest of surprised quail!
Mark mysteriously describes a man who followed along after the mob as they took Jesus away. He was clothed only in a linen cloth. Noticing this man following, some in the arresting mob laid hold on him and he slipped out of his linen cloth and fled from them naked. Can you imagine what must have gone through their minds as this man escaped naked into the night? I’m sure they must have been both surprised and befuddled.
Well, who was this mysterious streaker? Mark tells us he was a young man—a man in the prime of his life. The fact that he wore linen tells us that he was wealthy because linen was expensive. Most Bible scholars believe this young man was Mark himself. The Bible Knowledge Commentary suggests the following possible scenario:
If [it was Mark], and if he was the son of the house owner…that night’s events may have occurred as follows. After Jesus and His disciples left Mark’s father’s house after the Passover, Mark removed his outer cloak…and went to bed wrapped in a linen sleeping garment (lit., “cloth”). Shortly afterward a servant may have aroused him with the news about Judas’ treachery since Judas and the arresting force had come there looking for Jesus. Without stopping to dress Mark rushed to Gethsemane perhaps to warn Jesus, who had already been arrested when Mark arrived. After all the disciples fled, Mark was following Jesus and His captors into the city when some of them seized Mark, perhaps as a potential witness, but he fled from them naked, leaving his linen sleeping garment in someone’s hands.
Two phrases in verses 50-52 stand out to me. Verse 50 says, “They all forsook him and FLED.” Speaking of the young man whom we’re confident was Mark, it says in verse 52, “And he left the linen cloth, and FLED from him naked.”
“Fled”—They ALL fled. The location of the word “all” in verse 50 in the Greek is known as the emphatic, indicating that Mark was emphasizing the word all, in the same way we would emphasize a word by putting in all caps. ALL forsook Him.
He was all alone now to face His sufferings. During His early life he had the nurture of a family with His mother, His stepfather Joseph, and His siblings. He had developed deep and abiding relationships with the Twelve, but not just with them, but also many other disciples, both male and female. Almost everywhere he went, He had followers and supporters and people in His life. But now He is all forsaken and alone to do what He alone could do—suffer and die for our sins.
CONCLUSION
As I prepared this sermon, two applicable thoughts came to me and I’d like to share them with you.
First, just as Jesus was betrayed, so will you and I, and how we respond to that betrayal is important.
We’ve all experienced the sting of a Judas in our lives. It may have been that someone who claimed they were your friend said bad things about you behind your back. Or maybe someone stabbed you in the back at work for personal gain. The worst betrayal of all on a personal level is when a spouse is unfaithful.
The question is not IF you will be betrayed at some point, but how you will respond to it. You basically have three options to betrayal in your life
1. One, you can become BITTER.
Betrayal is extremely hurtful because it always involves someone in your inner circle of life. It leaves you with deep emotional turmoil and a sense of injustice. But bitterness is never the answer; bitterness only hurts YOU, not your betrayer.
Hebrews 12:15 says, “Looking diligently lest anyone fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” – This verse teaches two things:
Bitterness will trouble you and cause you to fail to access God’s grace in your situation. In every bad situation you face, God offers His grace to help in time of need. Bitterness turns off the faucet of God’s grace and causes you to stew in your own anger and resentment.
But second, this verse also says that others are defiled by bitterness. Bitter people damage not only themselves, but others as well. Often, bitter people take their frustrations out on their loved ones. It becomes a vicious cycle where actions with our loved ones caused by our bitterness can turn them against us, causing them to be bitter against us in return because of our sour attitude and actions.
Don’t let the defilement of bitterness take root in your soul and trouble you and cause you to fail to access God’s grace.
2. Another option you can take is RETALIATION.
But that’s a dead-end street too. Paul says Romans 12:19-21 – “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather leave it to the wrath of God”: for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.’ 20 Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink: for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
This doesn’t mean that it is wrong to defend yourself and give your side of the story, and if that results in an authority acting against your enemy, that’s up to them. Paul used the Roman justice system when falsely arrested and took his case all the way up to Caesar’s court, defending himself each step of the way.
But we must not try to pay someone back on our own for an act of betrayal. Leave them in God’s hands. God will take care of them, and His wrath is much worse than anything you could do to retaliate against them.
3. Your last option is to FORGIVE your betrayer.
This is the only right choice. What Judas did to Jesus is without a doubt the most hurtful and grievous betrayal in human history—yet Jesus did not retaliate against Judas. In fact, in Matthew’s version of this incident, when Judas kissed Jesus, Jesus called him “friend.” Even then, Jesus was still reaching out to Judas. Even then, Jesus still loved him.
God calls on us to respond in the same way. Ephesians 4:31-32 exhorts, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.”
Think of that last phrase, “forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.”
God has forgiven us of our own betrayals.
Every time you believe Satan over Jesus, you betray Christ!
Every time you sin, you betray your Lord!
Every time you act in unbelief and go the way you want to go—you’re betraying the Lord.
Every time you turn away from God and play the prodigal, you give Him a Judas kiss.
Of course, forgiving is sometimes a very hard thing to do, especially with betrayal. But believers are called upon to do many hard things. It may not be easy, but with God’s grace you can fully forgive someone for betrayal.
Illus. – I experienced a heartbreaking betrayal once. I was so upset and hurt that it was difficult to come to a place of forgiveness in my life for this person. For me it was a process. I would not let bitterness take root in me, and I refused to retaliate. That wasn’t so hard for me. What was hard was positive forgiveness from deep in my heart. For me, release came when I resolved to stop thinking about what he had done and to begin praying for God to bless this man in his life. It wasn’t until I could pray this prayer with true sincerity in my heart that a genuine sense of forgiveness took root in my heart. I love the man now. I HAD to forgive, because I have been forgiven for far many more betrayals against God than the number of times I have been betrayed.
My second application is this: In the hour of trial, remain faithful and cling to Jesus.
How many people have you known who professed faith in Jesus, but when they went through a great trial of affliction, they abandoned their walk with God? How many have gone through a bad experience in a church, and gave up on church altogether as a result? How many have faced opposition to their faith from the world and they folded like a house of cards?
Listen, as disciples of Christ, we will face opposition…. We will face trials and temptations…. We will face sickness and the death of loved ones and friends.
But in the face of these things, what will you do? Will you abandon Jesus, or will you remain faithful? James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” – Cling to Christ all the days of your life!
At the end of his first book to the Corinthians, Paul exhorted the Corinthians with these words, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)
May that be the testimony of each of us this morning. Let’s not flee the Lord like the disciples did. Let’s be steadfast. Let’s be as unmovable as the Rock of Gibraltar. Let’s always abound in the work of the Lord, through thick or thin; in good times or bad; when the sun shines and in the thunderstorms of life. Let us be faithful until the end.
