[0:00] Now as we continue our progress through this section of Mark's account of the Gospel, we saw last Lord's Day evening the events of the Last Supper, and how with the departure from the upper room, and going over to the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane, Jesus was not only knowing that he was going to die and going to be arrested, but he was, as it were, beginning to act out the reality of it.
[0:26] And we made reference last Lord's Day evening to the fact that the Passover night in Exodus 12, where the original Passover is instituted, and the lamb that was slain and the doors that were marked with the blood, and Moses specified, or the Lord specified through Moses, that when that was done, Exodus 12 verse 22, none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning, for the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when he seeeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two-side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.
[1:05] So by going out from the house, it is as though the Lord Jesus, if we can say it reverently, was inviting that death should come out. He had gone out, as it were, even from the symbolic presence of staying in the home, as was commanded at the Passover, and now he goes forth into the night, knowing that death eventually awaits.
[1:26] So we read that they came to a place which was named Gethsemane. This is at the foot of the Mount of Olives, and the name means the olive press. And because, of course, there would be olive trees scattered up and down, the mount itself, and then, no doubt, that the garden, which wouldn't be an ornamental garden, we would understand it, a garden in those days of culture would be an enclosed area, probably got a dry wall, round about an area with the wine press in it, and the olive trees, no doubt, in a larger enclosed area.
[2:00] It would belong to somebody, and no doubt the person to whom it belonged allowed Jesus to make use of it as a place to which he could resort with his disciples, because he obviously went there often, because we read in the other Gospel accounts that Judas knew the place where he would be going.
[2:19] He wouldn't necessarily know that he was there right that moment, as we'll come to, but he would have known the place well and truly. So they came to Gethsemane, and he saved his disciples, sit ye here while I shall pray.
[2:32] Now, when he says to his disciples, it means he says to the remaining eight, we know that by this time, Judas has departed from them. John's account of the Gospel makes that clear.
[2:44] If we go back to chapter 13, in John's account of the Gospel, where after Jesus has washed his disciples' feet and distributed the supper to them, we read that when he passed the sop to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, after the sop, Satan entered into him.
[3:00] Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake with the son to him, for some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we are going against the priest, or that he should give something to the poor.
[3:17] But he then, having received the sop, went immediately out, and it was night. Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
[3:30] That section of the temptation, that section of the difficulty, had at least been now accomplished. The traitor had gone out, although the other disciples did not appear to realize at this stage that he is the traitor, but we know that Judas has gone.
[3:46] This means that there are now eleven disciples remaining, eight of them, Jesus says, to stay here and sit while he goes and prays. And then we read, He taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy.
[4:01] This would imply that he didn't allow the other eight to see the depth of his own sorrow, and perhaps hesitate to say fear, but certainly the sore amazement, which is translated in English, it makes an overwhelming sense, this crushing sorrow, and anxiety is the right word, perhaps you don't know, but certainly feels it pressing in upon him, and he needs company.
[4:29] My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here and watch. Now they don't have to do anything. The other disciples said, sit here while I go and pray.
[4:40] He just says, stay in, watch, stay awake, stay alert. He doesn't require them to have wise words of comfort, or to surround him with physical protection, with swords, whatever.
[4:52] He just wants them to be there. Sometimes we in our humanity, and Jesus is in his humanity here, have need of human company, just to be there.
[5:04] Not to do anything, not to say anything, or come out with any special, clever words, but just to be there. It's one reason why, for example, I take a worldly example, if you like, when a politician is making an announcement often, you'll find that the leader stands there, the microphone, and is flanked by all the cabinet members.
[5:25] They're all just standing there on the steps. They're not saying anything, they're not doing anything, but they are there. As they would say, we agree with what he or she is saying. We are there with them. If somebody is perhaps accused of something, and they're having to give a press conference, or whatever, to defend themselves, then you'll sometimes find the accused is, surrounded or flanked by the members of their family.
[5:47] The members of the family aren't there to say anything, or do anything. They're there to show, they are with their family member. They're just there. Their very presence makes a statement, whose they are, and who they belong to.
[6:02] This is what Jesus is seeking just now. Stay here and watch with me. Just be with me just now, because a different kind of temptation is now beginning.
[6:13] The traitor is gone, so the train of events is being set in motion already. He is going to the chief priests. He is going to get his band of soldiers. He is coming for Jesus that night, and Jesus knows it.
[6:26] But that which has still to be done, he still has to be spiritually, psychologically. If I say prepared, that implies that he wasn't prepared before, but shall we say that the fine-tuning, the final polish, the final preparation, the final peace that he seeks between his father and himself, now at this last time of temptation, that still carries an opportunity of escape.
[6:54] I'm quite sure the devil was still tempting Jesus right to the last minute while he was actually hanging on the cross, to come down from the cross, just as people said to him, but by then he was physically crucified.
[7:06] At this stage, it will be the easiest thing in the world just to disappear into the night and let the moment pass, and Judas isn't able to betray him, and the Passover comes, and then they don't bear to do it.
[7:19] It had to be that night that Jesus knows it is coming, but he needs that human companionship. My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death.
[7:31] Tarry ye here and watch. And he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee.
[7:45] Take away this cup from thee. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt. Now, this tells us something right away here. It tells us that, humanly speaking, and we'll have to say all these things with a certain reverence and recognizing the human and the divine nature, humanly speaking, Jesus did not want to die.
[8:08] And that is perfectly understandable and right, because nobody would relish not only such a, I can say, premature death, but particularly the manner of death which he knew was coming.
[8:22] That is his humanity which recoils from the revolting thoughts of physical crucifixion. And if it were not so, then it would not be the sacrifice that it is.
[8:36] He is facing this horror of darkness with the courage which only his Father and the Holy Spirit can give him because it is that which must be entered into to achieve the highest deliverance, the highest price that has ever been paid in heaven or in earth for anything at all.
[8:59] And he is the one that must pay it. And it is a steep price. And divinely, he knows it must be paid. And divinely, his divine nature will be perfectly, logically attuned to the fact this must be done and he is resigning to this.
[9:16] But at the same time, the human nature is recoiling from what has to be faced. Humanly speaking, and we say it in all realms, he doesn't want to die.
[9:31] Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt. A couple of little things to notice in here.
[9:43] First of all, this term, Abba, Father, we tend to say it a bit almost like the music group, but it's not, it's almost like the A is just barely pronounced at all.
[9:53] It's Abba, as if the R is barely pronounced at all. It's in the Syriac or Aramaic language rather than Greek or Hebrew. And it translates into an informal expression for Father, almost like Daddy, perhaps not quite as informal as that, but certainly that's what's implied.
[10:13] Because we think of the term Abba, Father, as being something that occurs quite a bit throughout Scripture, it doesn't hit us initially that this is quite unusual, this description.
[10:25] Mark is sprinkled with these little eyewitness accounts, these little translations of Aramaic or Syriac, they're dropped into his gospel account, and this is such an instance.
[10:37] It means that whoever is listening or hearing listens to the actual words that he's saying, and we'll come to that also in just a moment. But it's a phrase which is actually only used three times in Scripture or translated for us this week, three times in Scripture.
[10:54] It's here in Mark, Mark's account of the gospel. The other gospel accounts don't have it. It's also in Romans, Paul takes it up, Romans 8, verse 15. We have not received the spirit of bondage against the fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
[11:11] In other words, we use the same terms that Jesus used because we've been adopted. And of course, as you know, the child is adopted, formally adopted, and all the processes are going through, and all the documents are signed and sealed and delivered, and they have exactly the same status in the eyes of the law as a biologically born child of the same parents.
[11:32] Once they have been adopted, as opposed to foster or just looked after, they have exactly the same legal status as every other child in that family. Likewise, Galatians chapter 4, verse 6, we read, Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
[11:54] the spirit of Christ, the spirit of his son, the same spirit that cries here in Gethsemane, but that's the only time that's used. It's used in Mark, it's used in Romans, it's used in Galatians.
[12:05] It's not all throughout the New Testament, just these three times. The two of them, Paul, once seen in Mark's account of the gospel. Whoever is listening, whoever has recorded this, is an eyewitness, and he is recognizing what Jesus said.
[12:23] Now, at this point, we have to say, just as we mentioned in the past, that Mark's account is thought to be often the recollections of Peter. But not in every case.
[12:34] It cannot be the case here because Jesus goes back to Peter, James, and John and they're asleep. So, who heard Jesus making this prayer? Who heard and used the term Abba, Father?
[12:46] This is where I would suggest that we jump on to verses 51 and 52. And this slightly curious young man who appears only in Mark's account of the gospel.
[12:58] And he is there following at a certain distance having a linen cloth cast over his naked body. And the young men lay holding him and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. A young man.
[13:10] We don't know his exact age. It's a term that's used for a youth. It's the same term in the Greek, which if you remember later on in the Acts of the Apostles when Paul's nephew, or sister's son, hears of the plot of the Jews to kill him and he goes to the chief captain and he tells him don't listen to the plot and he goes and takes him to the commander and we read of how he says it takes him by the hand.
[13:37] That's something you do to a fool grown man. He took him by the hand and he went with him aside and he asked him to tell him. It's almost like something you do to not a little child but somebody who's still a boy, somebody who's still not yet a man, a youth perhaps, a young man, it's a term that obviously covers that uncertain term between boyhood and manhood.
[13:59] A youth, a young man perhaps because the chief captain, the Roman officer takes him by the hand and leads him aside and then gets him to speak to him. That's the term that is used of Paul's nephew further on in the Acts of the Apostles.
[14:13] Same term here. So whoever this is is young. Now, who can it be? Well, obviously, I'm going to suggest to you that it is Mark himself and this is the likelihood because he's not in any of the other gospel accounts.
[14:27] It's mentioned only in Mark's account because it's only of interest, clearly, to Mark in his narrative. Why does it matter? I would suggest to you it matters because this is perhaps the first link in a chain that indicates the anchoring, perhaps, we might use that term, the anchoring of the early Jerusalem church.
[14:49] If we go back a little, a page to where earlier in the chapter when Jesus sent forth two of his disciples, verse 30, he said, go into the city, there shall meet you a man getting a kitchen of water, follow him, and wheresoever he shall go and say to the good man of the house, the master said, where is the guest chamber where shall eat the Passover with my disciples?
[15:11] Now, we said last week that this indicates that it is not a place they have ever been to before. If it was a place they had been to before, then Jesus would have said, go to so-and-so's house, knock on the door and say, Jesus is saying, can we use your room now please?
[15:26] But they don't know where the house is. They have to wait till they meet this man bearing a pitcher of water, doing a woman's job that sticks out like a sore thumb and follow him through the crowds till he goes to the particular house and then say to the master of the house, the master says, where is the guest chamber where I have to eat?
[15:43] He will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared. There make ready for us. Now, we don't know whose house it is at this stage, but here's this strange young man who appears.
[15:57] Let's go on. When we find the disciples meeting after the resurrection, we find in due course that in Acts chapter 12 when Peter is released from prison, having been about to be executed, we read in Acts 12 verse 12, he, when he had considered the thing, miraculously got out of prison by the angel, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.
[16:26] And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, the damsel came to hearken and Roda to you, Peter's voice, she didn't open the gate, she ran in and told the rest and he said, oh, it's his angel and then he opened the gate and then he comes in and tells them all about his deliverance and then he goes away and disappears for safety.
[16:40] But this is clearly a big house with a courtyard, with a gate, with a girl who mans the gate and opens and closes it. They are gathered there, the disciples are gathered at that house together praying.
[16:52] Many were gathered together praying at the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, implies Mary, John, Mark's mother is a widow, otherwise it would say the person's house, the master's house, what have you.
[17:06] But this is the house where they gather. It's the first time the house is explicitly mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. But I would suggest to you it's probably not the first time it has been used.
[17:19] If we go back to Acts chapter 2 verse 1, we're not told where the disciples meet, we're just told when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
[17:29] When suddenly there comes the rushing mighty women and so on, well where are they meeting? Well we don't know, we're not told explicitly, not explicitly, but if we go back to the previous chapter, we're told in Acts chapter 1 from verse 12 on, which they return, then return, they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey.
[17:49] This is after the ascension of Jesus. And when they were coming, they went into an upper room, a nameless, anonymous upper room where abode with Peter, James, John, and so on and so forth.
[18:00] These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and mainly the mother of Jesus and with his brethren. And in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, the number of the names together were about 120.
[18:12] 120. 120 people in one place. That's a big upper room. And what were we told about the upper room where Jesus had arranged to meet the last, to meet for the last second, was a large upper room furnished and made ready.
[18:31] By Acts chapter 12, you've got the house of John Mark where lots of people are gathered praying. Could be that it's one of many houses where disciples gather and pray and so on, maybe.
[18:43] Or maybe the disciples having met in one place which is particular to them, special to them because of the, you know, the last supper where they had it, they return again and again to this place where the family are well disposed toward Jesus and his followers where they hadn't been before the last supper but perhaps where they return again and again.
[19:08] It is a large upper room capable of taking 120 people and leased. And so, this is where the disciples are meeting. We're not told explicitly what it is.
[19:20] In Luke 24, when the two disciples from the road to Emmaus come back to find the disciples, we read them, gather, they're gathered together there and together and it's one place again where they gather.
[19:37] They, coming back, they rose up the same hour, returned to Jerusalem, found the eleven gathered together and them that were with them. They're all in one place. We don't know where that place is but they're all together in one place just as they are at the Acts of the Apostles, just as they are when Peter is released from prison.
[19:56] We know where he goes then, we don't know explicitly where they go before but the likelihood is it's the same upper room. The likelihood is it's the same large upper room where the disciples and those who attach themselves to them continue to meet because although it is a secret to the disciples on the night of the Last Supper and one reason for that probably was security.
[20:25] If Judas had known the location beforehand, he could have ordered the place to be raided whilst they were having the Last Supper but he doesn't know where that Last Supper is going to be held but then he goes out and when he goes out he now knows where they are.
[20:42] So the likelihood is that this is one reason why Jesus and his disciples have to quit that room and that house before too long. We have the speeches that Jesus gives in John's account chapter 14, chapter 15, chapter 16 and 17 and then he goes across the root Kidron, across into the Mount of Olives there.
[21:05] But remember of course that it takes us a while to read those chapters in the Bible but it doesn't take long to speak words that you then subsequently may read in a chapter.
[21:16] So it wouldn't take them too long. They'd have some time for Judas to disappear but then they've got to go because he is probably coming back to that same upper room.
[21:26] Probably he goes there with the soldiers before he goes to Gethsemane because he doesn't know for a fact that Jesus is heading out to Gethsemane there and then. He probably thinks he's going to stay the night there as the Passover commands but he probably goes there first.
[21:45] Speculation but likely. If he comes back to that house with the soldiers if that is the place where John Mark's family are then the soldiers come there they're panelling on the door saying we want Jesus of Nazareth this is going to wake up the whole house.
[22:06] Now why is a young man all but naked wrapped only in a linen sheet? Now it's not because he's forgotten his clothes it's most likely he was in bed.
[22:17] It's most likely he was in bed at the time when for some reason he was disturbed. If you weren't in a hurry you'd stop and you'd put your clothes on. It also implies he was in a comparatively well to do house.
[22:30] John Mark's family are in a well to do house. Nice big courtyard a gate that's kept by a girl at the door they've got a big upper room capable of taking 120 people plus that's a guest room.
[22:42] What must the rest of the house be like? So he and his family are comparatively well to do. It would probably only be the well to do that slept in a bed without their clothes and could wrap themselves in a linen sheet when they quickly went out.
[22:58] The poor bundled together. The poor slept in their clothes. The poor all hunched together for warmth. Remember the illustration the parable that Jesus tells you know the man that comes to his friend in the middle of the night friend lend me three robes because somebody is coming a journey of nothing to get out.
[23:15] All my children are all with me in bed. I cannot rise and give to thee. That's what you do. All the family would hunch together they lie side by side in one place to sleep for warmth.
[23:28] The poor slept in their clothes. The fact that he's got a bed sheet the fact that he is otherwise naked implies he's probably just come from his bed and he's well to do.
[23:39] He can't be following Jesus and the disciples. He's probably asleep at the time. He doesn't appear to the soldiers or they he probably having been disturbed by the soldiers and Judas looking for Jesus has followed them at a distance and is hiding now in the shadows in the dark.
[24:01] He is watching. He is listening. Perhaps of course he followed Jesus' disciples before that because if he's there ahead of them maybe he knew where Jesus would be going because clearly he's ahead of the soldiers if he can hear Jesus pray.
[24:18] Somebody is an eyewitness and it cannot be the disciples because they are asleep. The likelihood is again you could say it's all speculation but it's not uninformed speculation is that this is Mark himself as a young man probably in whose house the disciples met for the first time that night probably to whose house the disciples returned again and again and again because remember that in John's account in chapter 20 when Jesus appears miraculously in their midst we read that the doors were shut for fear of the Jews.
[24:55] In other words by then the Jews knew where to find them. By then they knew which house they were likely to be in. If they were in a secret location just somewhere in the city they wouldn't have to lock the doors because nobody knew where they were.
[25:10] Judas was dead by then but they knew that by then people knew where to find them and the doors were shut for fear of the Jews. All the little pieces of the jigsaw we haven't put them all together to make a definite picture but it implies they met at John Mark's house.
[25:28] He followed the disciples at a distance. He was wakened up by their going out perhaps or by the threatened coming of the soldiers waking him up the house he went out in his bed sheet wrapped only in that he was spotted in the shadows at the last minute and he fled leaving his linen sheet behind.
[25:47] Nobody else mentions him just his own account just himself. Somebody is an eyewitness somebody knew all these details and probably it is Mark.
[26:00] So we return again then. We dealt with these verses 51 and 52 and so we return again to Jesus and his crying out to his father. Jesus does not want to die.
[26:13] Humanly speaking he doesn't want to die. Spiritually divinely speaking he knows he must but there is this wrestling going on because naturally he recoils from the prospect of what is about to happen.
[26:26] He comes and finds them sleeping and says to me Peter who had made all these protestations if anybody else is offended by you I will not be offended.
[26:40] I will always stay with you. I will always be faithful although all shall be offended verse 29 yet will not I. And likewise remember that James and John were also there with them in chapter 10 they had said no we want to sit with your right hand with your left hand when you come to the kingdom and he said well are you able to be baptized or the baptism I'll be baptized what if I have to drink drink the cup that I will drink I said oh yes we are and he said yeah well yes you will in due course but for now obviously not only can they not go through what he has to go through but they can't even stay awake they can't even watch one hour and this isn't the other eight remember this is Peter James and John these are his closest companions the ones he trusted and you see there's not a reason why we can't put our trust in apostles and saints and great men even of a reformed tradition we cannot put our trust in men these are the men who are closest to Jesus and they let him down men will always let us down
[27:46] Christ will never let us down although they fall asleep putting our trust in the Lord of whom we read in Psalm 1-2-1 verses 3-4 he will not suffer thy truth to be moved he that keepeth thee will not slumber behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep the apostles fall asleep the inner circle falls asleep the Lord does not slumber does not sleep and here Jesus says watch ye and pray lest ye enter into temptation the spirit truly is ready but the flesh is weak or as he says in Matthew's account the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak now we think okay it's just a sort of little rebuke to the disciples it's just a wee slap on the wrist because you know they can't stay awake but so much of what Jesus says comes out not only of what he observes but of his own experience what has Jesus just been doing just now he has been wrestling in prayer with his father and the spirit is ready to go to death and to the crucifixion the divine nature there's no question the human nature recoils from it the spirit is ready but the flesh does not want to be crucified the flesh is weak
[29:05] I would suggest to you again in all reverence one reason that he's able to say this to the disciples spirit is ready spirit is willing but the flesh is weak he's not just speaking to them he's speaking to himself and he is struggling with the prospect of what is about to happen to him we read in Luke's account you know first of all we've already read here in Mark's account he doesn't just kneel down and pray but rather he fell on the ground and prayed verse 35 therefore possible the hour might pass from him and Luke's account says that his sweat was as great drops of blood now this is an actual medical condition hematocrosis which is only in the most intense anxiety and fear we might say one or two people down history it has been medically recorded but they exhibited these symptoms but their situations have to be intense and Jesus likewise in Luke's account of the gospel exhibits the same thing sweating blood literally and when he returned he found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy neither wist they were to answer him they just didn't know what to say and he come up the third time we don't know how long he lapsed between all these times maybe he was away for an hour each time maybe half an hour we don't know it would have been quite late at night the depth of night when the betrayal happens and so they've been having a meal there's been warm lights in the room they've been taking the cups of wine that come at Passover and they're tired of course they're tired and it's dark and Jesus is praying and nothing to do but try and stay awake and it's not easy he come up the third time and say to him sleep on that and take your rest it is enough the hour has come behold the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners and verse 42 rise up let us go
[31:06] I've suggested in the past and I would suggest again we don't know how much time elapses with verse 41 and verse 42 otherwise in the other gospel accounts as well when we have it it does seem a bit strange saying no sleep on now and take your rest and then just like one minute later saying right up let's be going why want it to say take your rest and then say right time to get up no it would make more sense if he's just say okay sleep on now and then sits or stays with him for a while and then he hears the sound and sees the torches coming in the dark because John's account tells us that they were coming not only the swords and stays but the lights that would mean lit torches lanterns it says as well so he would see the lights coming down across the Kidron valley from the high priest's house down in the dark with a little tray little column of lights and see them coming towards Gethsemane he would have seen them long before they actually arrived in the dark you know in those days you don't have light pollution of street lights and goodness knows all what lighting up the night
[32:13] Jerusalem would have been in pitch black pretty much except for the odd light in a window here and there you see a whole bunch of torches and lights coming down the Kidron up again the other side you know what's coming he knows they're on the way and when they get close he awakens his disciples then why I would suggest you an act of kindness he knows they're going to forsake him and fled but he's giving them the chance to run otherwise they would be arrested along with him otherwise they would be taken and he knows that he is the one that after like he says in John's account if it's me you can let these others go immediately while he yet spake come of Judas one of the twelve and with them a great multitude with swords and stage and the chief priest and the scribes and the elders and he that betrayed him had given that token saying whomsoever I shall kiss the same as he take him and lead him away safely and as soon as he was coming he go straight way to him and say master master and kiss down now it wasn't uncommon for a student or a disciple when he met his rabbi who was his instructor or his teacher to give him a kiss a kiss on one cheek or both cheeks but it was a sort of formal not particularly deep or lasting kiss it would be a greeting and that's all and that is the word that is used that's the word that's used in the
[33:39] Greek but when he actually comes to kiss him the word that is used it's a slightly different word and it implies more than just a greeting kiss it's the language of a kiss that would be used almost of a lover it's a lingering kiss it's an intensity of kiss now clearly Judas is not kissing Jesus that way because he fancies him but it's almost like is this a last goodbye sort of thing it's an intensity of kiss there's more than just in English we've just got it he agreed to kiss him and he kissed her but the actual Greek between the arrangement the warning he's made the arrangement he'll betray him with a kiss and then he comes and kissed him the word in verse 45 it's more than that in the Greek it's an intensity of kiss it's a lingering kiss almost the kiss of the traitor Proverbs tells us in chapter 27 you're faithful are the wounds of a friend but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful and they laid their hands on him and took him in Mark's account of the gospel that's the last time you see
[34:52] Judas at all obviously Matthew tells us about his throwing back the money and going out and hanging himself the answer the apostles tells us slightly differing account of his death but that he did die Mark he never appears again this is it the last kiss and he disappears from the stage of time disappears into a lost eternity and that's it as soon as he was come they laid their hands at him and took him one of them that stood by drew a sword and smote a servant of the high priest and cut off his ear John's account tells us it was Peter and nobody contradicts that he also tells us the name of the servant of the high priest it was Marcus Luke tells us it was his right ear and he also tells us that Jesus healed the man's ear there and then all these little details we have with the different gospel accounts but whilst of course
[35:53] Peter is not right to take up his sword or think he can defend Jesus that way it's as one commentator has put it it's almost reassuring that somebody amongst Jesus crowd amongst Jesus disciples thought to take up a sword and strike at least one blow in their master's defence he tried he tried he maybe didn't try too hard or very well but he at least struck one blow the servant was Marcus John tells us and the disciple lifting the sword was Peter they smote off his ear Jesus answered and said of them you come out as against their feet with swords and with staves to take me I was dealing with you in the temple teaching and you took me not and of course they didn't take a measure they didn't want to make a fuss they didn't want to riot they didn't want people to think this is the Messiah and they're arresting him and turn against the chief priest that's why it has to be in the dark that's why it has to be out of the way let's see what he says here the scriptures must be fulfilled everything that is happening regarding Jesus has already been foretold all the
[36:57] Old Testament scriptures are coming to fruition in one night in one man all that the Lord has prophesied and prepared from the garden of Eden and the seed of the woman not the man but of the woman who would bruise the serpent's head and it would bruise his heel all the way through from the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world all the way through the sacrifice of Abel that was accepted because it was offered with faith all the way through the worship of the tabernacle the temple the sacrifices the priesthood the prophets all of it is coming to fruition in one night in one man in one saviour but the scriptures must be fulfilled and they are fulfilled in one word Jesus and they all forsaken and fled when it comes to our salvation nobody saves but him when it comes to our deliverance nobody stands fast but him when it comes to being prepared to face down the devil nobody is able to do it but him all the apostles whom some would seek to venerate or to worship or whatever they all forsook him and glad there is no strength or power in anything only in
[38:20] Jesus and how like apostles we are and what true disciples we are because we too have denied him and betrayed him and forsaken him and fled and even if we seek to watch from a distance we are compelled to choose at the last are we going to be brought and arrested with them or are we going to run away with no clothes on like Mark probably Mark ends up the day we flee we forsake him we run thank God that he did not do so that when the traitor's kiss has landed the traitor disappears that when Christ comes to be arrested the apostles disappear that when the nameless crowd come to arrest him yes they have their hour of victory this is your hour and the power of darkness but not only that the scriptures are fulfilled because God is always in charge
[39:31] Christ is ready to lay down his life he lays it down nobody makes him take it and he takes it up again just as he says in John's account of the gospel there God is in charge God has prophesied God will fulfill and God will deliver which she does through his son of Jesus Christ who divinely knew what must be done and faced it and humanly recoiled from the prospect and there must have been the temptation to flee off into the darkness there must have been the temptation to escape but he faced it all done fully human and fully divine one savior one mediator between God and man one deliverer who stands at the last completely alone the man Christ Jesus who is