Arrest Him                                        Mark 14:43-51

As you can see we’re back in Gethsemane. Today is the arrest of Jesus, and as we look at these verses we can discern a few of the attributes of Jesus enemies. I want to look at some of these because I think they give us some things to look out for in our world. Jesus enemies literally wanted to kill him. We may not face death but these verses can show us some of the ways Christianity’s enemies use to attack us.

Verse 43, “Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the twelve appeared.” Judas was one of Jesus inner circle and he is the one who betrays him. Why? Luke 22:3, “Then Satan entered Judas, called Escariot, one of the twelve.” Satan has been trying to interfere with Jesus since his birth and here is his last-ditch effort. Satan found a foothold in Judas.

As we know Judas went to the Sanhedrin and offered to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. If we go to John 12 verses 4-6 it says “But one of the disciples, Judas…objected. Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he helped himself to what was in it.” Judas had some character flaws including greed and entitlement. Satan whispered in Judas ear and exploited these flaws.

We all have character flaws, I know I do and I’ve been working on them, but Satan will try to ill-use our flaws as a way to interfere with Jesus in our lives. As believers Satan cannot stop our salvation, he cannot snatch us out of God’s hand; however, he can use our failings against us, he can cause us a good deal of trouble in this life.

We need to be self-aware. We need to see our flaws and admit to them. Many years ago I was going to Al-Anon. My sponsor told me I was an angry young man. My reaction? If there weren’t so many people irritating me, I wouldn’t be angry. I saw my flaw, knew he was right about my anger, but by not admitting it was me and not caused by others I allowed Satan to work that anger for years causing me grief and hindering God in my life.

Judas being one of the twelve also shows us that Satan can use those close to us to interfere in our relationship with God. I have a friend, she was broken, hurting, and lost. In time she came to see Jesus as her salvation and she accepted him as her savior. Things didn’t change overnight but in time her life did change. Now she’s married with a beautiful baby. I remember we would talk and in the beginning her family and friends would put her down, criticize her and tell her she was foolish to think Jesus was going to help. She became questioning, she became discouraged, she didn’t know who was right. I told her to stay the course of her faith, associate herself with other believers and limit the time she spent with naysayers and she would see the fruits of her faith.

Some scholars say Judas expected Jesus to lead a rebellion against Israel’s Roman occupation. When this didn’t happen Judas became disillusioned with Jesus and ultimately betrayed him. We all can be disillusioned with things in our life and when we accept Jesus we may think things will happen and change overnight. It’s unfortunate that many times those who are trying to get us to accept Jesus tell us it will. More likely than not the disease will remain, the addiction will continue, our life’s circumstances such as a bad relationship will persist. It is then that we can become disheartened and this gives Satan a window to push us in a direction away from God. We must remember God is not in the reward business, “Eat your vegetables and you can have ice cream.” Protect yourself from Satan’s urgings by knowing God sees you in the picture of eternity.

Our scene also shows us that the enemies of Jesus can be violent. Verse 46, “The men seized Jesus and arrested him.” Matthew 26:47 described this scene this way, “While he was still speaking, Judas…arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs,” They came after Jesus, a man of peace, armed for a battle.

I’ve said before that we may not be able to fully appreciate the depth that people go through fore Jesus because we live in a place of relative safety as to worship. The odds are we are not going to get attacked as we leave just because we worship Jesus, but we need to understand the fact that this very thing happens all across the globe. In fact, 91 Christians died last week, killed only because they worship Jesus and sadly many more hide their faith out of fear. We are blessed to live in this country where we can worship Christ openly.

Verse 47, “Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.” John 18:10 gives us a little more information, “Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear.”

Peter was an excitable man, he had notions of protecting Jesus. At this time of high passion Satan pushed him to violence, leading him to believe it was in Jesus best interest. Look at our country. We have Christians calling for civil war, to kill and drag bodies into the streets, all over politics. We all have our patriotic beliefs, desires to protect our country, questions about a changing society that seems to push the faithful aside more each year. Satan uses these feelings to elevate our emotions, to exaggerate our fear and to make us start to believe we need to be violent to protect our lifestyle, that the enemy is anyone who doesn’t think like we do.

How do we stop the deceiver? By remembering Jesus tells us to love our neighbors. By remembering Leviticus 19:34, “The foreigner among you must be treated well. Love them as yourself for you were once foreigners.” We stop Satan by remembering violence never comes from God. If violence is advocated, it is Satan fanning those flames. Do not give in but turn to your faith for truth.

And now our readings last verse; “A young man wearing nothing but a linen garment was following Jesus. When they seized him he fled naked, leaving the garment behind.” I did a lot of reading on this verse and found a lot of different opinions over who this man is and this verses significance in general. I ask you to bear with me as I work through this.

I have read the diaries of several ministers from our colonial period and many of them wrote how their parishioners would come to service “naked and bare foot.” Now they weren’t really naked, they came to church in what they were wearing on the farm and not in what was considered “proper and civilized” outer clothing. With this in mind I saw this man in night cloths grabbing a linen cloak as he left his home in order to make himself more presentable.

Now see how this is another character without a name, another representative of us all. And notice how this man ran away leaving behind his cloak when things in Gethsemane went bad.

I put all this together and came to see this man’s outer garment as a representation of faith in Jesus, a faith he abandons when Jesus is seemingly about to fail in his ministry. With this his night clothes can be seen as the thing he needs to be accepted by others in society.

Putting all this together this man can represent those who have a measure of faith but abandon their dedication to Christ when things go wrong, when it looks like God isn’t doing what they want, when others criticize or persecute them because of their faith. This man abandons his faith and relies on what makes others look at him as acceptable, even if it’s in the least of ways.

Like most things in the Bible this account by Mark of Jesus arrest has several layers for us to work through and understand.

First, it tells us we need to know ourselves. We need to be aware of and admit our flaws. And knowing them we must guard against Satan using them to hinder Christ in our life.

These verses tell us that as believers, we need to associate ourselves with other believers. By trying to go it alone it’s easier for Satan to send people into our lives that actively try to sway us away from Christ.

Our reading teaches us to stay the course of faith, and though things might, they probably won’t change drastically overnight.

I pray Christians across our country and across the world will see the truth in these verses that the promotion of violence against each other never comes from God.

And last, our scripture asks us all; when things go wrong, when it seems God isn’t working in our lives, when others criticize and belittle us for believing, do we revert back to the ways that this fallen world accepts, do we leave our faith behind us and forgotten?

May you always know and feel God’s love,

Amen.