Jesus’ Arrest

The Bible tells us that our righteousness, our absolute best, is, well, like filthy rags. The only way any one of us can ever stand in the sight of God is to be stripped of those rags and then clothed afresh in the garments of the righteousness of Christ. That's the gospel. And that's good news, but it also means we must be stripped of our old self, our old ways, our old habits. We'll hear a pointed object lesson about that today on Renewing Your Mind as we continue Dr. R.C. Sproul's exposition of the Gospel of Mark.

Let's join R.C. now. I'll be reading from chapter 14 from verse 43 through verse 52, Mark 14, 43 to 52, and I'll ask the congregation to stand for the reading of the Word of God. And immediately while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude, with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now his betrayer had given them a signal, saying, Whomever I kiss, he is the one.

Seize him and lead him away safely. As soon as he had come, immediately he went up to him and said to him, Rabbi, Rabbi, and kissed him. Then they laid their hands on him and took him. And one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus answered and said to them, Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to take me?

I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me, but the Scriptures must be fulfilled. Then they all forsook him and fled. Now a certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth around his naked body. And the young man laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked." This is the divinely inspired record of the treason of Judas and his betrayal of our Savior, and we ought to take to our hearts the grave significance of what is recorded here, not only for our information but for our admonition and for our edification.

Please be seated. And this past Maundy Thursday evening, I looked at this incident with many of you of the betrayal of Jesus by the treacherous kiss of Judas, which is known in history known in history as the kiss of death. Mark's record here tells us that while Jesus was saying that His betrayer was at hand, Judas with a great multitude, that is of soldiers, and we assume here that the soldiers who were present with swords and clubs were a mixture of those who were members of the temple guard belonging to the Sanhedrin as well as members of the cohorts of the Roman garrison stationed there in Jerusalem, and they came to this designated place where the arrest of Jesus would not be made in a public arena, where it would not take place under the light of day, but rather in a secluded spot so that His arrest would be covered by the cloak of darkness. Every aspect of this incident that we see here indicates an action that took place among the children of darkness. It was one of the most wicked acts of all of history, and it was appropriate that it took place not in the light of the sun but in the darkness of the night. And so we read that Judas had given them a signal saying, Whomever I kiss, He's the one.

Seize Him and lead Him away safely. Now this was not an expression of Judas for the concern of Jesus' safety. Obviously, that was not foremost in his mind, but his expression to the arresting officers that Jesus be led away safely meant simply that this action can be undertaken in such a manner as that we are not at risk, those of us who are involved in His arrest and seizure. And as soon as He had come, immediately He went up to him and said to him, Rabbi, Rabbi, and kissed him. Again on Maundy Thursday evening, I spent most of the time talking about the significance of the kiss of betrayal, the incredible paradox here that a gesture of profound honor and affection which customarily was given by disciples to their rabbi was the method used by Judas for a most evil and wicked mission. And we also note in the text that the language here describes the kiss of Judas as not a simple brief peck on the cheek, but rather the Greek indicates a kiss that was lavishly bestowed upon Jesus, signifying an especially deep sense of affection and honor.

And so the kiss itself was not only an action of contradiction, but it was a contradiction with a vengeance. But the other element that is found in Mark's account of this is the way by which Judas spoke to Jesus. On one occasion I preached on Matthew chapter 7 on the end of the Sermon on the Mount, which I introduced as being the scariest sermon I've ever heard, where Jesus at the end of the Sermon on the Mount described a situation that would come to pass in the last day when He said, Many will come to Me and say to Me, Lord, Lord, did we not do this in Your name? Did we not do that in Your name? And Jesus on that occasion said, I will say to these people, Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity.

I never knew you. Now when I looked at that sermon, I called attention to an extremely unusual, but at the same time significant cultural form of expression that was contained in Jesus' warning. He didn't say, Many will come to Me in that day and say, Lord, did we not do this in Your name?

But Jesus portrays those who will come professing to be affectionate toward Him, and they will say to Him, Lord, Lord, Lord repeated. And some of you remember that on that occasion I called attention to this unusual, but significant Hebraic gesture that we find only about fifteen times in the world, fifteen times in all of sacred Scripture, and that is the custom of addressing somebody by the repetition of their name. We saw it in the Old Testament when Jacob feared to go with his family into the land of Goshen, and God came and spoke to him saying, Jacob, Jacob, don't be afraid.

Where you go, I will go with you. Even earlier in the Old Testament record was that poignant moment on Mount Moriah when Abraham laid his son Isaac on the altar, and at the last second God interrupted him and called to him saying, Abram, Abram, lay not your hand upon your son, for now I know that you trust Me. Later on in the Midianite wilderness when God called Moses to the task of leading the people of Israel in the Exodus, He spoke to him out of the burning bush saying, Moses, Moses. And throughout the Old Testament in the midnight summons to Samuel, Samuel, Samuel, to which the lad replied, Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth. When Elijah was taken up to heaven in the chariots of fire, Lycia stood there looking, and he said, My father, my father. Or David's cry of lament at the news of the death of his son when he screamed, Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom, my son.

Come to the New Testament. Jesus speaks so tenderly to Martha when she objects to the attention that Jesus is showing to Mary at Lazarus' home. And He speaks to her, and He says, Martha, Martha, it's okay.

And so on. Saul on the road to Damascus, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? Simon Peter when Jesus warns of his impending denial, when he said he would never deny Him, Jesus said, Simon, Simon, Simon, Satan would have you and sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you. And of course, the most dramatic use of the repetition came from the cross itself when Jesus cried out, Eloi, Eloi, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Or in His lament over the city Jerusalem. Jerusalem, how often I would have taken you to Myself as a hen gathers her chicks, but you would not. Do you see what's going on here?

Every time the personal form address is used by way of repetition, it communicates an intense and profound sense of personal affection. And Jesus was saying that at the last day people would come to Him whom He did not know who did not belong to Him, who would pretend that they belonged to Him and would not only name His name, but they would repeat it as if they were on intimate terms with Him. Lord, Lord, didn't I preach? Didn't I teach?

Didn't I give my money? And Jesus said, in this scariest warning of all, I will say to them, please leave. I don't know who you are. I don't know your name.

Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. You see why that's so scary, that Jesus would ever say that? You know, we have jargon in the Christian world where people will say, Are you saved? Or another way they will say, Do you know Jesus?

That's not the issue. The issue is not, Do you know Jesus? The issue is, Does Jesus know you?

Are we known of Him in that singular redemptive manner that He knows those who are His? You see, Jesus didn't have to wait till the last day to see His prediction fulfilled that some would come calling Him, Lord, Lord, because here in the very moment of His betrayal, Judas comes and publicly kisses Jesus and addresses Him, Rabbi, Rabbi, Rabbi the One I love, Rabbi the One I esteem, Rabbi the One I serve, Rabbi, Rabbi, let me kiss you with the kiss of death. Then they laid their hands on Him, and they took Him. One of those who stood by drew His sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cut off his ear. He goes nameless in Mark's account, and tradition tells us that Mark was the secretary of the Apostle Peter, and it was Peter's apostleship that stood behind the gospel of Mark. John names the nameless one in his gospel, and he identifies him as Peter, the impetuous and impulsive disciple. So Peter drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cut off his ear.

We don't get the detail here that Jesus rebuked him for it and picked up the ear and put it back, and this man whose ear had just been cut off has it restored by the very one whom He is arresting for execution. Jesus said to them, Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs in order to take Me? Every day I was with you in the temple teaching.

There I was. You didn't have to sneak out in the bushes to take rest of Me. You could have taken Me there easily, but you didn't seize Me there in order that the Scriptures may be fulfilled. Then we read, Then they all, meaning all of the disciples, forsook Him and fled. You see, it wasn't just Judas. It wasn't just Peter. It was every last one of them, the ones who fell asleep while Jesus was in agony and prayer just a little while earlier in Gethsemane. Now at the moment of His arrests, these heroes of the faith turned tail and fled into the darkness.

Then to this Mark appends in extremely unusual detail. In verse 51, Now there was a certain young man that followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young man laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.

And what's up with this? Well, there are some things that we can discern from the text about this strange incident of the young man who was following, presumably at a safe distance, who was not one of the twelve. And he obviously was a man of means because only the wealthy wore linen coverings under their tunics. And so this man had to be a man of some substance, this young man.

And obviously the fact that he only had on the linen cloth without the undergarments indicated that he had dressed in haste to come and follow this situation. So in all probability, we can assume that he lived nearby, probably in Jerusalem. This is delicious morsels for speculative theologians to chew on, and many of them do and say, why is this unnamed person in this embarrassing account included in this record? If it was a young man who lived in Jerusalem and was wealthy, it could very well have been Mark himself, who was of the priestly caste, and his family was of wealth. And maybe this is Mark's way of inserting himself biographically into the account, which would indicate he was an eyewitness of the things that took place here, but a strange way to intrude into the narrative almost Hitchcockian, as Alfred used to insert himself in cameo positions in his own movies.

Maybe that's the case, but that's pure and utter speculation. What I'm interested in is not the identity of this young man, but the details of his flight into the darkness after this linen piece had been grabbed by one of the soldiers, and he spun out of the grasp of his soldier, leaving his garments as Joseph fled from Potiphar's wife when she clutched his garment, and he escaped by leaving the garment behind, which was then evidence for Potiphar's wife's lies against Joseph. But what we find here is that this moment of crisis, somebody reduced to nakedness, fleeing in the dark, calls attention to a text in the Old Testament in the book of the prophet Amos, where Amos in the second chapter goes through the list of three transgressions and four of Moab, of Judah, of Israel, and so on. And in verse 13, he says, Behold, I am weighed down by you. This is God's rebuke of His people.

As a cart full of sheaves is weighed down. Therefore, flight will perish from the swift. The strong shall not strengthen his power, nor the mighty deliver himself, and he will not stand who handle the bow, and the swift of foot will not escape. God is predicting what the conditions will be when He visits His judgment upon His people. The powerful will become impotent. The swift will become slow of foot. Even the one who rides a horse will not be able to deliver himself.

Listen to this. The most courageous men of might shall flee naked in that day, says the Lord. I wrote a book many, many years ago, first titled The Psychology of Atheism, then later retitled, If There Is a God, Why Are There Atheists? And in there I have a chapter on the nakedness motif that we find in sacred Scripture as well as in Western philosophy. And I did a word study of that word gamnos, which is the Greek word for naked.

And we go all the way back to the garden. We were told that in creation the man and the woman were naked but without shame until sin came into their life. And the very first psychological self-awareness of guilt and of shame was an uncomfortable awareness of nudity. And since that hour in the Garden of Eden, human beings have been the only animals who have adorned themselves and covered themselves with artificial garments because it's built in to our fallen humanity to equate shame and nakedness, humiliation with nakedness. And throughout the pages of Scripture when God speaks of bringing judgment against the guilty, He exposes their sin and strips them of their clothes. Look in the book of Revelation and see the judgments of God sending away the wicked in nakedness.

I wish I had time to speak much longer of that motif. But it's at the heart of our understanding of redemption, dear friends, because all of us have garments that clothe us and our righteousness is we are told like rotten, filthy rags. And the only way any one of us can ever stand in the sight of God is to be stripped of those rags and then clothed afresh in the garments of the righteousness of Christ.

That's the gospel. We heard it in the reading from Exodus of the consecration of the garments of the priests, of Aaron and the priests who were set apart and who were covered to serve in the presence of God. You and I can never stand in the presence of a holy God unless we are clothed from on high with a righteousness that is not our own. This man that night in his sin ran for his life being naked and ashamed. That is a message of such great importance for each of us. We must be clothed in the righteousness of another, or we will be ashamed on the day of judgment. Dr. R.C. Sproul is teaching through the Gospel of Mark here on the Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind, and we're glad you've joined us today.

I'm Lee Webb. As we have made our way through this gospel week by week, Dr. Sproul has helped us understand specific words and phrases, the cultural and historic context of each passage, and how each verse connects with the rest of the Bible. Our resource offer today provides you with the same kind of insight for the entire Gospel of Mark. When you contact us today with a donation of any amount, we'll send you a digital download of Dr. Sproul's commentary on Mark. You can request it online.

Our web address is renewingyourmind.org. Did you know that we're translating our resources into Spanish, German, French, Arabic, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, and several other languages? Many believers in these countries are being introduced to sound theology for the first time. That's because the Reformation really never took hold in many of these countries. So we're grateful for your support as we work to meet the needs of brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. After Jesus' arrest, He was taken before the Sanhedrin. Dr. Sproul will take us through the details of the trial next Sunday, and I hope you'll join us for Renewing Your Mind.