The Act Of Betrayal
THE ACT OF BETRAYAL
MARK 14:43-52
What light does the story of Gethsemane shed on your suffering?
The enormity of Judas’ act is emphasized in the description. He was “one of the twelve,” he addressed Jesus as “Master,” he gave him the kiss of affectionate greeting. The Gospels make no attempt to whitewash his character but are unanimous that he was a traitor. His motives can only be guessed; most probably he was disappointed that Jesus had not attempted a coup d’état by force because he had never been truly converted to an understanding of the divine way of redemption.
He was accompanied by a rabble horde from “the chief priests and the scribes and the elders,” ie “the government,” to whom he had given information as to where and when they might quietly arrest Jesus. The band had instructions to arrest Jesus alone, and they made no attempt to prevent the flight of his followers, even though one of them (the Greek implies “somebody whose name I could tell you”) made an attempt at armed resistance (cf. John 18:10). Jesus’ one recorded comment stresses the incongruity of treating like a brigand One who had done nothing to cause trouble but had taught quietly in the temple. The Scripture which Jesus had in mind was probably Isaiah 53, especially 53:3,12.
The only reason for the inclusion of 14:51f., which contribute nothing to the main story, must be that they refer to the person who told the story; the young man was therefore Mark or somebody well known to him. “Naked” may mean that he was wearing only a light undergarment, but quite probably it should be taken literally. In his hurry he had merely thrown a cloth around his shoulders. It has been suggested (assuming the last supper to have been held in Mark’s mother’s house) that the young man slipped out of the house when he should have been in bed, followed Jesus and the disciples to Gethsemane, and so, incidentally, overheard the prayer of our Lord’s agony while the disciples slept, and thus subsequently became an eyewitness to the betrayal and arrest.