The Good Book Club Wednesday, 10 Feb 2021, Mark 14:43-65. perfidy
The Betrayal of Jesus
(Matthew 26:47–56; Luke 22:47–53; John 18:1–14)
43 While Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, accompanied by a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, scribes, and elders.
44 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The One I kiss is the man; arrest Him and lead Him away securely.” 45 Going directly to Jesus, he said, “Rabbi!” and kissed Him.
46 Then the men seized Jesus and arrested Him. 47 And one of the bystanders drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
48 Jesus asked the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would an outlaw? 49 Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, j and you did not arrest Me. But this has happened that the Scriptures would be fulfilled.”
50 Then everyone deserted Him and fled. 51 One young man who had been following Jesus was wearing a linen cloth around his body. They caught hold of him, 52 but he pulled free of the linen cloth and ran away naked.
Jesus before the Sanhedrin
(Matthew 26:57–68; Luke 22:66–71; John 18:19–24)
53 They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders, and scribes assembled. 54 Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the officers and warmed himself by the fire.
55 Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin k were seeking testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but they did not find any. 56 For many bore false witness against Jesus, but their testimony was inconsistent.
57 Then some men stood up and testified falsely against Him: 58 “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this man-made temple, and in three days I will build another that is made without hands.’ ” 59 But even their testimony was inconsistent.
60 So the high priest stood up before them and questioned Jesus, “Have You no answer? What are these men testifying against You?”
61 But Jesus remained silent and made no reply.
Again the high priest questioned Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”
62 “I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power l and coming with the clouds of heaven.” m
63 At this, the high priest tore his clothes and declared, “Why do we need any more witnesses? 64 You have heard the blasphemy. What is your verdict?”
And they all condemned Him as deserving of death.
65 Then some of them began to spit on Him. They blindfolded Him, struck Him with their fists, and said to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers received Him with slaps in His face.
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Everyone knows the story of Jesus' arrest in Gethsemane, betrayed by Judas Iscariot, who leads Jesus' enemies to him. Again, we don't know Judas' reasons, motives. We can say money, greed, selfishness, disillusionment, some festering resentment like what, in C S Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia story The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, moved the cynical Edmund to betray his siblings to the evil witch. Edmund resented his older brother Peter's scorn, then that cold, wintry day the witch fed Ed enchanted Turkish Delight candy and hot cocoa and promised to make him a Duke, her heir, to succeed her as king of Narnia one day. But with Judas we don't know, my term earlier was "unfathomable". And you have to read someone else's story to see whether Judas might have been redeemable eternally because of his own repentance or because of God's mercy,
or maybe because Judas was drafted and cast inescapably as the designated bad guy in a nightmare stage play. "Well done, Judas. Good Old Judas" intones a chorus in Jesus Christ Superstar. Was Judas simply in an essential supporting role? May we consider whether once his scenes were played, Judas wiped off his greasepaint, changed into his street clothes, took a cab home, popped an IPA, enjoyed a warm supper, and settled down to watch the Lions play the Christians on ESPN?
Whether Judas is real, or a character in a story, or the villain in a theatre production, does he teach us anything beyond how not to be or the price of dishonor or that a bad reputation, once earned, is impossible to shake?
Jesus' statement, "this has happened that the Scriptures would be fulfilled” sounds more like Matthew than Mark. Is Jesus likely to have calmly spoken such an observation during the fracas? Or at all? In our Sunday School class we might wonder whether a justifying Mark or early church might have put the words on Jesus' lips.
Verses 51 & 52, the young man who broke loose and ran away naked? What's his part in the play? Did he just walk by, or is he part of Jesus' company? Did you see him at supper? I think I did, but that was way over and years later, in the Fourth Gospel. He's only Mark's character, the other synoptics drop him like a hot potato. And so, as with naming the Gospel according to Matthew after Matthew the toll-keeper who in the other gospels is called Levi, tradition calls this young man John Mark, who traveled with Paul &c and says he's Mark who wrote the anonymous Euangélion katà Mârkon. I relate this fellow to the young man whom, in Secret Mark, Jesus raised from the dead; and also to Lazarus who, in my mind, was "the beloved disciple" whom tradition holds wrote the Gospel according to John (the tradition that it was one named John has no basis but rumor, it was Lazarus, the young man Jesus loved). This will come up again at the very end of Mark's story, when the otherwise unknown Salome, mother of the young man in Secret Mark, shows up at the tomb.
Verse 63, why does the High Priest suddenly go into a rage and demand death? Because verse 62, Jesus who has already infuriated everyone by desecrating the Temple in their eyes, and by making fools of Temple authorities in front of delighted crowds, has now related himself personally to the God of Israel (whose Name is not to be uttered aloud) by claiming of himself, "I AM", the sacred name that God himself proclaimed to Moses at the Burning Bush. I AM is a double entendre word. I AM, in Mark's NT Greek and in the Septuagint Bible, is "ego eimi" and in the Hebrew Bible EHEYEH or y'hVAH, and in Aramaic (which they were speaking, as they did in The Passion of the Christ) is "ENA NA"*. To pronounce God's name was forbidden (only said by the chief priest who, once a year, went into the Temple holy of holies and voiced it), a capital offense of blasphemy; and hearing it, the chief priest stirred all the outrage he needed among the Sanhedrin for them to condemn Jesus to death (Leviticus 24:16).
* (https://theholyaramaicscriptures.weebly.com/mar-14.html)
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art Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1515, oil on panel - San Diego Museum of Art
bottom one, scene from The Passion of the Christ
middle one, couldn't ID, but here's the whole picture
