Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels:
(Mark 14:32) And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane, and He said to His disciples, "Sit here while I pray."
In the last post, Jesus and His disciples had just finished their Passover meal which was thenceforth to be done in remembrance of Jesus Christ, His body and His blood. They had gone to the Mount of Olives and now came to a place called Gethsemane, the name literally meaning "oil press." It was a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Jesus asked His disciples to sit while He went to pray.
(33) And He took with Him Peter, James, and John, and He began to be greatly distressed and very heavily troubled.
As He went away to pray, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him. He began to be greatly distressed and troubled. The word that was translated as "distressed" in most all versions of the Bible actually means something much stronger. It denotes shock and terror. Jesus was struck with sudden terror at the thought of what was about to happen to Him, not His crucifixion and death, but His separation from God as He took on every filthy sin of the world, a black storm of wickedness and ugliness descending on the perfect sinless Jesus. God, who could not be in the presence of sin, took on the body of a human so that He could, but that did not mean that the soul of Jesus did so without great terror and anguish.
(34) And said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful to death; wait here and watch."
Jesus told the three disciples that He had brought with Him that His soul was so exceedingly sorrowful, pressing in on Him so hard that He might die from it. He asked those disciples to wait there with Him and watch. Were they to watch for the enemy that Jesus knew was coming, or was it more likely to watch Him, to be privy to and to understand the terror that Jesus was feeling because of the enormous weight of sin and death that was descending upon Him. Imagine the sorrow He must have felt for all the lost lives whose sins were pressing in on Him, how sorrowful He would be that those sins were directed at the perfect God, a God so loving He would take all that shame and horror upon Himself to save us! Why couldn't God just poof! "Away with your sins!"? It was important for us to see just what filthy wickedness and death sin really was, to see how much it itself anguished the perfect Jesus to the point of death. And God always gives us a choice. He doesn't force salvation on us. He wants communion with His children who choose to be with Him, but He also wanted us to see just what our sins do to Him and to ourselves, and to understand just how great the loving sacrifice that He did to save us from ourselves.
(35) And He went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed, that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.
Jesus then went a little bit away from His three disciples and fell on the ground in prayer. He prayed that if it were possible, that what was to come pass away from Him. This was Jesus the man feeling such anguish that He thought He might not be able to bear it, asking if salvation could be made by some other means.
(36) And He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible to You; take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."
Jesus prayed to God the Father addressing Him as Abba, meaning Father. He acknowledged that all things were possible to God, that God could find another way and take that cup away from Him. He knew that He could, but it was not in His will to do so. I already discussed some of the reason why He wouldn't want to do it any other way. God is always about salvation and life. Many more souls would be genuinely saved by knowing the great sacrifice of our Lord Jesus than would if God merely poofed away all sins. Jesus the man acknowledged that it was not His will, but Father God's perfect will that must be done, and that was surely a lesson the disciples supposedly watching and us reading this prayer of Jesus needed to learn.
(37) And He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour?"
Jesus went back to His three disciples and found them all sleeping. He spoke to Peter and asked if he was sleeping and if he could not watch with His Lord for just one hour. He called Peter, Simon, his original name before Jesus gave Him the name of Peter, the rock. This was probably to bring to Peter's attention that he was not the rock he had so confidently and vehemently suggested he was just a short time before.
(38) "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak."
Jesus told Peter again to watch adding that he should pray to avoid temptation. He acknowledged that his spirit was ready and willing, but his flesh was weak. That is why Jesus told him to pray, and demonstrates to all of us how we need to be in constant communion with God through prayer to give us the strength to overcome the wiles of Satan.
(39) And again He went away and prayed and spoke the same words.
Once again, Jesus went a little way away from Peter and the other two disciples. Again He prayed the same prayer as before, asking as all things were possible to His Father God, if He could let His current plan pass, and find another way. However, He prayed that God's will be done, not His own currently fleshy will.
(40) And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy, neither did they know what to answer Him.
When Jesus came back to the three disciples, He found them sleeping again. Their eyes were so heavy, they could not keep them open, and they just didn't know how to respond to Jesus who had said His soul was sorrowful to death. I'm sure they were extremely sorry for what their Lord was going through, but also emotionally exhausted and sleepy.
(41) And He came the third time and said to them, "You sleep on now and take rest. It is enough, the hour has come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."
Jesus came back to His disciples after praying a third time and again found them sleeping. He spoke to them, and I think His point was that they could sleep on and rest while they could, but now it was enough. The time for His betrayal had come.
(42) "Rise up, let us go; lo, he who betrays Me is at hand."
Jesus told His disciples to rise up for His betrayer was at hand.
(43) And immediately, while He yet spoke, came Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
While Jesus was yet speaking those words, indeed Judas came with a multitude of people from the chief priests and scribes and elders, all carrying swords and clubs.
(44) And he who betrayed Him had given them a sign, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the One; take Him and lead Him away safely."
Judas had previously discussed a signal with Jesus's captors, that whomever He kissed was the man they wanted. He asked that they take Him away safely, that is carefully, that He not escape from them.
(45) And as soon as He had come, he went straight away to Him, and said, "Master, Master!" and kissed Him.
As soon as Judas reached Jesus, he went straight to Him and greeted Him with "Master, Master," and kissed Him.
(46) And they laid their hands on Him and took Him.
Having seen their signal, the multitude grabbed Jesus and took Him.
(47) And one of those who stood by drew a sword and struck a servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.
The account in John said that it was Peter who drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant. Additionally, the account in Luke said that Jesus healed the man's ear, and back to the account in Matthew, Jesus told Peter that they who took the sword would die by the sword, perhaps meaning he would have started an all-out war between the two sides, and that certainly wasn't God's plan. It took all four Gospels to get a complete picture on the one incident in verse 47; that is why I love a chronological Bible study where I get the complete picture of each event in the order that it happened. However, I was challenged to read only what Jesus said in the four gospel accounts to see if it changed my perspective on current trends in our culture. So far, it hasn't, of course, but I have learned a lot, so I don't regret this interlude at all.
(48) And Jesus answered and said to them, "Have you come out as against a thief with swords and 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 spoke to His captors, asking why they found the need to come after Him with swords and clubs when He had always been easily accessible to them while He was daily teaching in the temple, and they hadn't taken Him. However, Jesus acknowledged that the scriptures must be fulfilled; He submitted to what had been prophesied in scripture about Him.
(50) And they all forsook Him and fled.
All of Jesus's disciples then fled from the scene, forsaking Him, as He had said they would in verse 27.
(51) And there followed Him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body, and the young men laid hold of him, (52) And he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.
However, one young man followed Jesus. He had only a linen cloth wrapped around his body as if he had been awakened in his sleep by what was occurring and just threw the cloth around him, or perhaps that is what he slept in. Whatever the case, he was not fully clothed. The young men among the captors seized him as they undoubtedly thought he was one of Jesus's disciples and followers. However, he slipped out of the linen wrap and ran away naked. This is an interesting detail not told by any of the other Gospel authors. While it is quite reasonable to deduce that this was a caretaker of the garden or some such near neighbor who was awakened by the noise, it has caused some commentators to suggest this young man might be Mark himself, the author of this retelling of this event. Mark, as Peter's scribe, did not identify the one who cut off the ear of the servant as Peter himself, but took the time to write about the young man who followed after Jesus after all His disciples had fled. That does make it plausible to assume it might be Mark, but of course, we can't know for certain. It might just have been recorded to show a bit of contrast to all the disciples who fled, by this one young man who stayed and followed Jesus until he was seized.
(53) And they led Jesus away to the high priest, and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.
Jesus's captors led Him away to the high priest, Caiaphas, as we were told in the account in Matthew. All the chief priests and elders and scribes were assembled together with Caiaphas. That would seem to be the whole Sanhedrin, the supreme council over the Jews.
(54) And Peter followed Him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest; and he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.
Having at first fled (v. 50), Peter then followed Jesus from afar, following Him and His captors into the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest. There he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. The account in John said that another disciple had followed Jesus, as well, and that it was actually that disciple who had gone into the palace, and then spoke to the maidservant at the door and let Peter in. I suppose it was at that point that Peter went in to sit with the servants and warm himself by their fire.
(55) And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death and found none. (56) For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree.
The chief priest and all the members of the council looked for testimony against Jesus that was worthy of death and could not find any. Jesus was so perfect and innocent that even false witnesses could not come together with a crime that at least two of them agreed upon (which was necessary to convict) and was worthy of death.
(57) And certain men arose and bore false witness against Him, saying, (58) "We heard Him say, 'I will destroy this temple that is made with hands and within three days I will build another made without hands.'"
In the account in Matthew, we were told that there were two false witnesses who arose to testify against Jesus saying they heard Him say that He would destroy the temple that had been made with hands and would rebuild another temple with no hands. Of course, that is not exactly what Jesus had said, and it certainly was not what He meant. He had never said that He would destroy the temple, and He never spoke of how the temple had been made, with or without hands, because He had been speaking about His own body as the temple they would destroy and that He would rise up again in three days.
(59) But neither did their testimony agree together.
Even the testimonies of these two false witnesses did not agree entirely with each other, and certainly with nothing severe enough with which to accuse Jesus of a crime worthy of death.
(60) And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, "Do You answer nothing? What is it these witness against You?"
At that point, the high priest stood in the midst of the council and asked why Jesus did not answer the charges against Him. He demanded Jesus explain what it was that the two witnesses had accused Him of doing.
(61) But He held His peace and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him and said to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"
Jesus did not answer the high priest, so he again asked Him more specifically if He was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, which was one of the names for God that the Jews often used.
(62) And Jesus said, "I am, and you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven."
This time Jesus did answer, and He answered that yes, He indeed was the Christ, the Son of God. He added that they would one day see Him sitting at the right hand of God and coming in the clouds of heaven to judge the world.
(63) Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "What need do we have for any further witnesses? (64) You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?" And they all condemned Him to be guilty of death.
The high priest then accused Jesus of blasphemy and tore his clothes in outrage. He asked the others why they needed to trouble themselves with any further witnesses as they had just heard the supposed blasphemy with their own ears. The whole council condemned Him to be guilty worthy of death.
(65) Then some began to spit on Him, and to cover His face and then to buffet Him and say to Him, "Prophesy!" And the servants struck Him with the palms of their hands.
Then some of the men began to spit on Jesus which was prophesied in Isaiah 50:6b, "I did not hide My face from shame and spitting." Some of the men also covered His face as for a blindfold and began to strike Him and ask Him to prophesy which one of them had struck Him, as it stated further in the account in Matthew. Even the servants slapped Jesus.
(66) And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there came one of the maids of the high priest.
Peter had been warming himself by the fire in the servants' quarters beneath the upper room where Jesus had had His mock trial. One of the maids of the high priest came to the place where Peter was.
(67) And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "And you also were with Jesus of Nazareth."
When the maid spotted Peter, she told him she recognized him as one who had been with Jesus.
(68) But he denied it, saying, "I do not know nor understand what you are saying." And he went out to the porch, and the cock crowed.
Peter denied what the maid had said saying that he didn't know or even understand what she was talking about. He then went out onto a porch where the sound of a rooster crowing was heard, but Peter apparently didn't take notice of it.
(69) And a maid saw him again, and began to say to them who stood by, "This is one of them."
It seems another maid saw Peter out on the porch, or perhaps what is meant is that the same maid saw him there, and this time spoke to those who stood by that he was one of those who were with Jesus.
(70) And he denied it again. And after a little, those who stood by said again to Peter, "Surely you are one of them for you are a Galilean and your speech shows it."
Peter denied being with Jesus a second time. Then after a little while, those who had been standing by and heard what the maid had said, apparently had been mulling it over, and spoke to Peter again saying that it surely must be true that he was one of Jesus's group of followers because his speech gave him away as a Galilean as they supposed Jesus to be.
(71) But he began to curse and to swear, saying, "I do not know this man of whom you speak!"
This time Peter even began to curse, swearing that he did not know the man, Jesus, about whom they spoke.
(72) And the second time the rooster crowed. And Peter called to mind the word Jesus had said to him, "Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times." And when he thought on it, he wept.
The rooster then crowed a second time and Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him about him denying Him three times before the rooster crowed twice. When he realized that Jesus had been right and that he had indeed denied Him three times, something he never thought he would do, he cried. Peter's sin was indeed very great. He had denied Jesus Christ before men. Furthermore, it was at a time he should have confessed and owned up to Him and should have been a witness for Him. Jesus had told His disciples many times that they must suffer for following Him, but at the first real sign of suffering, Peter lied and cursed and swore He did not know Jesus. We must not think ourselves so high and mighty to believe we would never do the same. Mere human man's instinct is to save himself, but it can't be done by our own selves. Jesus said whoever tried to save his life would lose it, and whoever lost his life for Jesus's sake would find life (Matthew 16:25). We must reject our sinful deadly wills and realize our need for Jesus to save us and wholeheartedly accept and proclaim Him, and then and only then, will we be truly saved and have eternal life.
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