And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the 12, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, the one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard. And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, Rabbi, and he kissed him. And they laid hands on him and seized him. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cut off his ear. And Jesus said to them, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me, but let the scriptures be fulfilled. And they all left him and fled. 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. as far we read from God's word. So far in Mark chapter 14, we've been studying the Passover. You could call it the fated Passover or the one Passover this year that had a lot of significance to it or changes. And up until now, in our study of chapter 14, the focus was on the group of the disciples. For example, their attitudes towards Jesus was exposed in this chapter. What Jesus was planning to do for them has been talked about in chapter 14. Their vulnerability to not be able to do what they said that they would do, to stand by Jesus. And again, their unpreparedness for what is to come. All these things were talked about in chapter 14. But in our passage tonight, all that changed. Jesus had been in the garden of Gethsemane with three disciples. They're listed if you look back in verse 33, Peter and James and John. Jesus had been in the garden with them and had gone ahead from them to pray repeatedly. But now in our passage tonight, verse 43, when Judas arrived to Gethsemane, the focus of this passage is no longer on the disciples. We've been studying the disciples all chapter, but now the disciples sort of fade out. Before the end of our passage tonight, the disciples will even geographically be separated from Jesus for the rest of the story. From now on, Jesus will increasingly be not in the presence of his supporters, not in the presence of his disciples, but rather, in the presence of his arresters, in the presence of his enemies. Also, from now on, rather than Jesus continuing to take the initiative and seeming to direct things, Jesus becomes what we call passive, the passive victim, the one who will be shackled, the one who will be arrested and led away. Also, what we'll notice in the coming verse is that Jesus will speak less often with fewer words. Still profound and important words, begins to speak less, and as he said in verse 41, the hour had come for Jesus to be delivered into the hands of sinners. Basically, the activity of our passage tonight could be summarized in three words. Jesus was abandoned. Jesus was abandoned. Why? Well, that question leads us to the main point of our sermon, and even back to the gospel message itself. As I summarize in your bulletin handout, our King Jesus is the righteous one, and yet he endured betrayal and loneliness for the sake of us sinners. First, we'll see the deceitfulness of the kiss, the worldwide famous kiss, verses 43 to 45. Secondly, the forcefulness of the arrest, verses 46, and it should be verse 47. And then the completeness of the defection from verse 48 to the end. Actually, continuing into verses 51 to 52, a rather unique couple of verses. So first, I want you to notice, as we go from verse 42 to verse 43, that there's no narrative break. In fact, there's a strong connection, as I tried to show you before I read. There's a strong literary connection, and the connection is here in verse 43, while Jesus was still speaking. And so we're supposed to think about what it was that Jesus was speaking and then it was coming into being while he was speaking. And what was he saying? The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners, verse 41. Verse 42, my betrayer is at hand. While he's saying my betrayer is at hand, the betrayer actually does show up. And so we're supposed to see the connection between what Jesus is speaking and what's coming into being. The first thing to notice here, obviously, is that Jesus knew. So two things, one is Jesus was abandoned and now Jesus knew. Jesus was fully aware of and prepared for what was coming in the actions of Judas showing up there in the garden with a posse to arrest him. Consider again the words of Jesus. I'll read now all of verses 41 to 42. When Jesus came a third time to the sleeping disciples, he said, are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough. The hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See my betrayers at hand. Jesus knew. Which means that Jesus was ready. Psychologically, emotionally, even positionally, he was ready. He allowed the kiss to happen, for example. Rather than pushing him off, how dare you, or any of that sort of thing, he allowed the kiss to happen. Jesus didn't merely teach love your enemies, but Jesus had lived that out with love right in this instance. And a lesson there for us right away. If we feel betrayed, we may feel entitled to start hating others, but we're called to do the same thing our Savior did here. We must not hate our enemies, but rather love them. How is that? What does that look like? Well, the lesson of Jesus here is that we strengthen ourselves with prayer, and we commit ourselves to submission to God's will. And then we reach out to those who have betrayed or deceived us. And Jesus knew that he would be abandoned. He knew. He knew that he would be betrayed and be abandoned. He knew that he would be arrested. He knew that he would be killed, which is next. Jesus knew that he would rise again. How did Jesus know all of these things ahead of time? You could just cheat and say, well, he's the son of God, he knows all things, but that's not how this works. Jesus knew things as a man. How did he know? From the scriptures. Jesus knew the scriptures. Consider, if you look back to verse 27, Jesus said to them, and he quotes scripture, you will all fall away, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. This is where Jesus told the disciples what would happen. You will all fall away. See it right there in verse 27? How did Jesus know that would happen? Because he quoted the prophet Zechariah, chapter 13, verse seven. I will strike the shepherd, the sheep will be scattered. So Jesus knew. Moving on then, what else do we see in this passage? Well, it all started with Judas. Judas is key. Judas is essential. Without Judas, Being one of the 12, and yet doing this action, there was not a way that the leaders could arrest Jesus during the feast. If you go back to verse two of our chapter, verse two, actually verse one and the second half, the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him, for they said, quote, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people. They were looking for a way to arrest Jesus without an uproar, but they couldn't. They had no way of doing it. They said, let's wait till after the feast, remember? There was no way for them to do it. What a gift to them that Judas came and offered to turn Jesus over to them. So there was no way they could arrest Jesus during the feast if it weren't for Judas, without the resulting uproar from the people, which is what they wanted to avoid. Judas was needed as a connection between the group around Jesus and the Jewish authorities. Perhaps worst of all the layers of Jesus being abandoned, we're focused on Jesus was abandoned. It's a three-word summary of our passage. The worst of all the abandonment of Jesus was this deceptive method by which Judas betrayed Jesus. The method which has become famous around the world. You've heard of it, right? The kiss of death. The kiss of Judas, when you look at this and think this through, it was a horror. Why didn't he just say, I'll come up and slug the man, I will push him over, I will stand and point to him? Why the kiss? It was a calculated degradation of a pure sign of respect that ought to be between student and teacher, between disciple and rabbi. Judas was with a kiss, killing Jesus. He was turning Jesus over to those who wanted to kill him. He was killing God, in a sense, the God-man. Judas was even killing himself, which, as you know, he would literally do in a short amount of time. Think of it. Why didn't Judas use some other method? Point to Jesus. There he is. Wouldn't that be sufficient to do the task? It was the sign of devotion that Judas used to betray Jesus. That has to be understood as especially dark and dishonest of Judas. That's why my first point is the deceitfulness or the deception of the kiss. Why did Mark write in verse 43, for example, that Judas was one of the 12? We've been told that already. We know that already. We as readers already know that Judas is one of the 12. Well, it's not written here, again, merely for information and identification. Remember, Mark is the shortest gospel. He's always writing immediately. It's action, action, action. He's not going to repeat something just for information. It was for the emphasis of the darkness of the deed, not just any old guy. He's one of the inner 12. Only 12 people got to be followers of Jesus in this way, and on top of that, he was the treasurer. The darkness of the deed is even darker because it was one of the few trusted close companions of Jesus who turned on him. The list in verse 43 then shows this was not some random group of people coming to arrest Jesus, that somehow they found each other and they agreed that they should try to arrest this fellow Jesus. No, no, no. No, this was an officially sanctioned arresting posse. You know how we know that? Listen to how Mark wrote it, verse 43, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. And so Judas came along with a crowd that had been sent by the three constituent groups of the Sanhedrin, all the official things that were needed. The chief priests, the scribes of the law and the elders had to sign off on this. If you imagine during the night, all the people that had to be checked in with in order for this posse to get together and be sent, see this group was Jewish temple authorities sending Jewish temple security. It was not secular Roman authorities here. So far, there's no reason for the Romans to be involved yet. Temple security were a substantial force, mind you, organized, weaponized in military fashion, complete with officers known under military titles such as, if you want to flip over to Acts 4.1, we see the title Captain of the Temple. The captain of the temple is the guy who's in charge of security forces, and they would have as many officers and soldiers as needed to keep the temple safe. The detachment of these guards had been ordered to go with Judas in the night to make the arrest of Jesus wherever Judas finds him, and to bring Jesus back to the temple, of course, upon his arrest. So here came Judas, and we read in verse 43, with him, with Judas, a crowd with swords and clubs. These would be metal swords and wooden clubs. And then the kiss. Actually, the kiss was a typical greeting for students to their rabbi. Don't be so American that you can't handle a man kissing a man. It's just the way it was done in the Middle East in those days. Obviously, it would be on side of the neck or side of the cheek, whatever the kiss is, it was typical and always the case for students to their rabbi. The deception was in the fact that the kiss, in this context, in the garden with this posse and arresting group, could not be suspected for what it really was. What it really was is turning Jesus over to be arrested and killed. And it looked like just any student kissing his rabbi. But a disciple was not permitted to take the initiative in greeting his teacher, it's always the teacher to take the initiative in greeting the student with that kiss. So the kiss of Judas was actually even more of a calculated insult against Jesus, and yet, as I said, Jesus allowed it. He knew it was coming. He could have stopped it. He could have done any other sorts of things. He allowed the kiss. Notice the concern of Judas here in his words. Verse 44, we're given the words of Judas to the group, the arresting group. He'd given them, the group, a sign. Obviously, the sign is, when I kiss, which he says, the one I kiss is the man. But notice what he says next. Seize him and lead him away under guard. This is the secureness of his arrest afterwards. Make sure you get him and take him away. I don't want a fiasco here because Judas knew Peter had a sword and maybe others had swords. Judas wanted to prevent an escape or a battle in which Jesus would be killed there instead of being taken back to the temple. How could he get paid then or keep his money? Any interference by the other disciples? At least one of whom is armed with a sword. And then next look at verse 45, when Judas arrived, he went up to Jesus at once. He didn't delay at all. There's no small talk. And as Judas approached Jesus, it was then that Judas spoke to Jesus and said, Rabbi. Judas kissed Jesus, and in that moment, our king was betrayed with a kiss. Notice there's no statement from Jesus to Judas. In a little bit, Jesus will speak to the group, the arresting group, but he has no words for Judas here. In the other gospel accounts, he does have some words, but Mark doesn't record that here. It brings us to our second point, verses 46 and 47, the forcefulness of the arrest. The temple guards, we're told in verse 46, actually did lay their hands on him. So as soon as one person lays their hands on another person, they're using force to conduct the arrest. They actually did take Jesus into custody. He did not escape. The disciples did not intervene in such a way as to preserve the freedom of Jesus from being taken that day. In verse 47, despite the plausible kiss itself would not rouse suspicion, despite the attempts to quietly arrest Jesus by stealth and by night, there's still an eruption of violence when the arrest by force actually happened. Verse 47 we read, one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. All four of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, each record this memorable event during the arrest of Jesus, of the cutting off of the ear of the servant of the high priest. But only the Gospel of John supplies the names of both the servant whose ear was cut and the disciple who cut off his ear with a sword. It was Peter, which you probably remember, and the servant's name was Malchus. Now, this fellow, Malchus, was not just any fellow, not just any servant. Verse 47 had told us that he was the servant of the high priest, and it suggests, by writing it that way, that he was a rather important person, or at least he represented the important person, the high priest. In fact, perhaps that's why Peter attacked him with the sword, because this fellow was probably in charge of this whole arresting group that night, the forcefulness of the arrest. We move to my third point, the completeness of the defection, verses 48 to 52. Jesus spoke up now about the unnecessariness of the force, the nighttime secrecy, since Jesus had always been so readily available in the daytime, in public, in the temple surroundings. And Jesus had been daily teaching in the temple area. He goes on to say, verse 49, day after day, I was with you in the temple teaching and you did not seize me. This statement of Jesus had no effect on the arresting officers. It doesn't even seem like it was meant for that, as if this were a way for him to get out from under the arrest. That was never his intention. Jesus was committed to the arrest because he's committed to dying for us, and he knew it was coming. It was not to persuade the officers that they were doing something immoral or wrong. Rather, it's a message to his disciples to know that Jesus had no intention to resist, that Jesus was ready and prepared to be arrested because he's ready and prepared to go to his death. When that message gets sent to his disciples, it was a moment for the disciples to decide. To decide what? To decide whether they will step up now and fulfill their promises of loyalty and commitment. Remember, I'll give you one, verse 31, Peter had said emphatically, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same. All of the disciples were right there with Peter, making promises of loyalty to Jesus, even unto death. Well, since that's so recent, and now there's this occasion, this is a moment for the disciples to decide. Are you going to follow through with your verbal commitment? It's the moment, disciples. But the seven words of verse 50 report all we need to know about the resolve, when it comes down to it, of the disciples, and they all left him and fled. The short, hollow words of verse 50, factual only, not accusatory, simply factual, drive home like hammer blows the failure of each and every disciple. In fact, the three closest, Peter, James, and John, without exception. And what we have in verse 50 is the complete forsakenness of Jesus, the completeness of the defection, as I say in the third point, the moment that Jesus showed the most resolve, the moment that Jesus showed the most commitment was the exact same moment when the disciples all showed the least commitment, betrayed their own promises, and all left Jesus and ran away. How can that be? How can that be? Because the scriptures must be fulfilled. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be what? Scattered, Zechariah 13, seven. There's only one shepherd. We so often think about today, elders and pastors are shepherds. Not really. There's only one shepherd and we are under shepherds at best. The disciples are not shepherds. They're sheep. And the sheep are scattered, all of them, every single one of them. This complete abandonment and utter defection. And yet, the almost humorous statement in verses 51 to 52, if it weren't so sorrowful, it's fascinating. Here's an anonymous young man presented to us. He could escape, and he did escape. What does that say to us? Well, two things. First, it says that Jesus could have escaped. If this young fellow can escape, Jesus could escape. But Jesus remains committed to allowing himself to be arrested. In fact, he already was at that point arrested. But the second thing it shows us is that this young man was described in order to add yet more to the sense of abandonment of Jesus as if we weren't already overwhelmed with it, was not only the disciples who left Jesus and fled, but even this anonymous sympathizer left Jesus and fled. Let me read it, verse 51 and 52. And a young man followed him, followed Jesus, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body, and they seized him. But he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. This young man represents Anyone else who claims to be a follower of Jesus, who's promised to be loyal to Jesus, anyone else who follows Jesus, it claims to be following Jesus and really don't follow through. This young man represents you. He represents me. If we think that we'd be more loyal than Peter, or at least more loyal than James and John, If we think we'd be more loyal than the other disciples, more loyal than this strong young man, we need to have something stripped away from us, and maybe it's our pride. This young man, faced with that situation, would rather escape naked and run home than to be arrested with Jesus that night. Everyone abandoned Jesus. You really think you would do differently? Jesus was deserted by all. He was deserted by everyone. Verse 50 again, they all left him and fled. Put yourself in that group. We are part of the all. So many people allege that they're loyal to Jesus. None of them are. You and I would have abandoned Jesus too that night. In fact, we actually have abandoned Jesus. again and again in crucial junctures of our lives. None of us have ever been loyal consistently and always in every moment to Jesus. Why are we shown these verses about a young man running away naked? That's strange. They're not in the other three Gospels. To remind us of something important about ourselves and something important about Jesus. We will run away. Jesus will not. He submitted himself to the will of his Father right there in Gethsemane in prayer. And when he stood up from the prayer, he confronted his disciples and his betrayer was upon him. The hour had come. It's a prelude to Calvary. He submitted himself in Gethsemane because he will submit himself at Calvary. He will go to the cross. He will actually be pierced and bleed out to death. He didn't run away. from what we deserve, so that we will receive mercy for running away from him. There's forgiveness for our betrayals, as Peter finds out, compared to the first garden. In the first garden, the Garden of Eden, Adam said, basically, my will not yours be done, I'm eating this. We all plunged into sin and ran away naked from God's will. In the second garden, if you will, the Garden of Gethsemane where we are in our passage tonight, Jesus said differently, your will, not mine, be done. And redemption began because he wouldn't run. Adam in Eden ran from God and God's will and brought himself death in all of us. Jesus in Gethsemane stayed on the path of God's will and began new life for us. and he suffered alone to grant us forgiveness for abandoning him. You still wondering if you're in the all group? Apostle John, carried along by the Holy Spirit, writes this, 1 John 1.8, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Yes, you have abandoned Jesus. Yes, you've let him down. Yes, you've fallen away from the will of God. Yes, you've run away. And yes, Jesus forgives. Think of it, when Jesus poured out his own Holy Spirit, he gave his Holy Spirit what we call the day of Pentecost. It was Jesus who not with a metal sword, but with the sword of his spirit caused his servant, Peter, to preach his word. Listen to it, Acts 2.36. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. For the what? For the forgiveness. of your sins. Jesus forgives even for this moment of betrayal, this moment of running away, this moment of those in the posse coming to arrest. It's possible that some of these very same people in the arresting party were later convicted by God of their sins of arresting this innocent man when they heard the preaching of Peter, the guy with the sword in the garden. on the soon later day of Pentecost in Acts 2, from which I just read. How could the members of an arresting group be forgiven? Only in the name of Jesus Christ, the very one they betrayed that day. What have we seen tonight? Our King Jesus, the righteous one, yet he endured betrayal and loneliness for the sake of us sinners. The deceitfulness of the kiss we saw. The forcefulness of the arrest, utterly unnecessary. Jesus was a teacher of words. And thirdly, the completeness of the defection. Everyone left him, including you and me. A couple concluding applications about the nature of our king and his kingdom. Number one, remember that the kingdom of our Lord Jesus is a kingdom not of this world. It's important to keep that in mind when we look at the Garden of Gethsemane as a whole and the arrest. As Jesus said over in John 18, 36, It's important for us to keep in mind as we reflect on the arrest of Jesus here. This comment from our king himself about the nature of his kingdom takes us back to the very gospel. It takes us back to even the main point of this sermon, which I've printed there for you. Our king Jesus is righteous. He's the righteous one. Yet he endured betrayal, and he endured loneliness for the sake of us sinners. The cause of truth does not need to use force, like swords, in order to maintain its cause. The cause of the gospel is not spread by force, by the sword, or by guns, or by fancier weaponry like airplanes. The cause of Jesus and the kingdom of our King moves forward in the power of the Holy Spirit, and how that Spirit influences hearts and minds of men and women, bringing them to conviction for sin. releasing them from bondage to be free in Christ Jesus and enter his kingdom. Remember that the kingdom of our King Jesus is a kingdom and out of this world. Number two, remember Jesus was wronged so he could die for the wrongs of others. Now they approached Jesus with a posse and clubs and spears and Jesus noticed it and he confronted them. Have you come out against a robber? I mean, who could be more opposite than a robber than Jesus? A robber is a taker. Jesus is a giver. He's the opposite of a robber. A robber takes what's not his to take. Jesus gives, and he gave what was his to give, his own life. He laid down his own life. He gives us grace. He gives us forgiveness. He gives us resurrection life. And on the cross, there's a robber hanging next to him. You want to see a robber? There's a robber. Jesus is not a robber. It's fascinating that he said that. Have you come out against a robber? As if he had taken what was not his to take. That robber on the other cross was there because of his own sins of robbery. Jesus was there by no wrongs of his own. He died for the wrongs of others, whether it's robbery or abandonment. Remember, Jesus was wrong so that he could die for the wrongs of others. Number three, our last tonight, application point. Remember that all things surrounding the cross of Jesus happened exactly according to God's word. I want you to point, I'll point out to you in verse 49 where Jesus ended his statement with this, but let the scriptures be fulfilled. That is significant, let it rise off the page for you. all things surrounding the cross of Jesus happened according to God's word exactly. There is no accident, there is no chance in any part of these final days of the earthly ministry of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. These steps, these moments, all these interchanges, where the sword was, where the soldiers were, what Jesus said, every little bit of it, directed by God and prophesied by Him. These steps that Jesus walked from Gethsemane and further from here to Calvary were all marked out by God hundreds of years before. Psalm 22 was literally fulfilled. If you want to stay a couple hours, we could go through Psalm 22 in all the ways. Let me just give you one quick example. Psalm 22 11. Be not far from me, says the prayer to God, says Jesus echoing the words. Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help. Isn't that the prayer of Jesus to his father when all left him? Again, Psalm 22, 16, a company of evildoers encircles me. Or Isaiah 53, which of course was literally fulfilled. I'm sure you're familiar with them. Let me give you one example, Isaiah 53, 12. He was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many. You've ever gone to an interview and somebody asks you, have you ever been arrested? Have you ever been accused of a crime? Jesus was arrested. He had that on his resume. He was numbered along the transgressors. We're called to follow this Jesus and to rest our very souls the same way Jesus rested his very soul in looking to his Father in heaven. The fact that all that happens to all of God's children is ordained by our Heavenly Father down to its minuteness and superintended always by God's almighty power and wisdom. And there's a mighty hand above all of us, moving the vast machinery of the universe and causing all little things in our lives to work out together for our good and for His glory. So that's our third and last application point. Remember that all things surrounding the cross of Jesus happen exactly according to God's word, that the very scriptures themselves were being fulfilled in these events. Be encouraged, let's pray. Father in heaven, give us eyes to see ourselves.