Mark 14:26-52
The disciple, Judas, who had secretly agreed to betray Jesus to the men who hated Him, left the house after the passover supper, (John 13:26,30). It was later in the evening that Jesus and the other disciples went out of the city to a place on The side of Mount Olives.
The disciples slept on the ground while Jesus went a little way from them to pray. He was “exceeding sorrowful”; He knew the time had come to give Himself into the power of the men who were planning His death, and to suffer from them, and, far more than that, to suffer from God for the sin of the whole world. That was why the Lord Jesus prayed,
“Take away this cup from Me.”
He did not mean a cup He could see; but to take the punishment of God against sin, was called “taking a cup.” Yet He said, “Not My will, but Thine be done.”
Jesus spoke in the language the disciples knew, and His first word, “Abba” has been kept for us now to know. “Abba” meant Father, and to think of the very word He used, will always remind His people of His perfect obedience to God, His Father.
Before long, Judas came with a band of soldiers and many men sent by the priests, for he knew the place on the hillside where. Jesus often went. The soldiers did not know Jesus, but Judas had told them that the man he would kiss (as was a custom for friends), would be the one to take captive.
Judas at once came to Jesus, calling Him, “Master, Master!” and kissed Him. This was most wicked and deceitful. When the soldiers took hold of Jesus, one disciple, who had a sword, started to fight against them. Jesus could have prevented them taking Him, but He did not resist. He said, “The scriptures must be fulfilled.”
Earlier in the night, Jesus told the disciples this scripture,
“I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be, scattered.” Zechariah 13:7.
Jesus was the “Shepherd” that God would “smite”; and the disciples were as “sheep”: they fulfilled those words, for it says,
“They all forsook Him and fled.”
That was a very sad night for those men, who loved Jesus; He had told them other words which would have comforted them, if they remembered them, telling them where to meet Him after He would arise from death (Mark 14:28).
There was a young man who started to follow after Jesus, but he was not one of the disciples. He seems to have been roused that night from sleep, and hurriedly wrapped a cloth or sheet about himself, to come to the place. His name and his reason for coming are not told, but when the men tried to take him he left his wrap in their hands and escaped.
The soldiers led Jesus back into the city to the chief priests.
What is was the name of the place where Jesus prayed? (Mark 14:32).
Why did Judas betray the Lord? (Mark 14:10,11).
What did the soldiers carry? (John 18:3).
ML 07/30/1944