Gospel of Mark Study #49

“Sealed with a Kiss”

Mark 14:43-52

Study #49 in Mark Series

INTRODUCTION:

Some of you can still remember back to your good old days as hormone-bedeviled teenagers when you used to send and receive “love letters.” So, do you remember what S.W.A.K. stood for? “Sealed with a Kiss.” I can remember getting a few of those letters. I can remember sniffing the paper and running my finger over the handwritten letters. Guys in the service would often get perfumed letters from their sweethearts and at the bottom it would have a set of red lip prints with those letters, SWAK. That would nearly set a buck private’s heart throbbing right out of his chest.

Then, of course, there was the famous Bobby Vinton song entitled “Sealed with a Kiss.” The words went like this… 

Though we’ve got to say goodbye for the summer,
Darling, I promise you this:
I’ll send you all my love every day in a letter,
Sealed with a kiss. 

CHORUS:
Yes, it’s gonna be a cold, lonely summer
But I’ll fill the emptiness;
I’ll send you all my dreams every day in a letter,
Sealed with a kiss.

TRANSITION:

In our passage for today we are going to see that song title come to mean something quite different. Today we see Jesus after His last meal with the apostles, after they left the Upper Room and went out to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. Last week we looked at the verses describing His conversations with the Father, asking that, if it might be possible to let that hour, that cup pass from Him. We also saw that as He was wrestling in prayer with what lay ahead of Him the disciples were sacked out on the grass, sound asleep. They failed Him miserably in His greatest time of need. They offered Him no support or encouragement whatsoever.

As we read this passage, we become aware of the high drama that was taking place there in the Garden. But who were the players? Let’s look at them one by one. First, we will see Judas, the betrayer, the traitor. Secondly, we will look at the mob that accompanied Judas. Thirdly, we will take a hard look at the disciples, this band of brothers that had vowed to stand with Jesus, come what may. And fourth, we will look at an unidentified young man who arrived at the scene wearing little and left wearing less. And, of course, amid this emotional, violent storm we see Jesus, the only calm person in the bunch, ready to face the crowd, ready to face the cross, ready to die for you and for me.

NOTES on the Text:

Verse 43: Immediately while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs, who were from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

• Mark says that while Jesus was still speaking, Judas and the lynch mob showed up. What was Jesus saying? You must look back to the preceding verse, verse 42. He said to Peter, James, and John: “Arise, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!” Talk about timing! Just as Jesus was saying these words, Judas stepped out of the bushes.
• Who were the men with Judas? The text says that they were “from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.” Those were the three groups that comprised the Sanhedrin, the high court of the Jews. In other words, this was an official delegation of thugs, sent by the Sanhedrin to capture Jesus. They are described as having “swords and clubs.” John’s account tells us in 18:3 that along with the Temple police officers, there were also Roman soldiers present. These would have probably been members of the Roman cohort stationed in Jerusalem’s Castle of Antonia, at the northern edge of the temple area.

Verse 44: Now he who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him and lead Him away under guard.”

• Here you see the careful planning on the part of Judas. Not wanting to run the risk of them arresting the wrong man in the dim torchlight of the garden, Judas came up with a practical plan—he would go up to Jesus and give Him a kiss. That way there would be no mistake.

Verses 45-46: After coming, Judas immediately went to Him, saying, “Rabbi!” and kissed Him.  ⁴⁶ They laid hands on Him and seized Him.

• This is so painful to contemplate. Judas walked up and greeted Jesus in the most respectful way possible. He did two things that showed the respect of a disciple for his teacher: (1) First, Judas addressed Jesus as “Master.” He called Jesus, “Rabbi.” That was a term of love and respect. But coming out of Judas’ lying mouth there was no respect intended. (2) Second, Judas greeted Jesus with a kiss, which was also part of the traditional greeting of a student for his master. But notice the hypocrisy of Judas. In verse 44 the word he used for “kiss” is philein (φιλειν), which is simply the Greek verb meaning “to kiss.” It was usually just a peck on each cheek. However, in verse 45 where Mark records the way that Judas kissed Jesus, he uses the intensive form of the verb, kataphilein (καταφιλειν), which is a passionate lover’s kiss. Judas hammered the nails into his own coffin with his false words and his false kiss. It is amazing to me that Judas could live so close to Christ for three years, and yet could harden his heart against the Savior. It is beyond my comprehension! 

Verse 47: But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear.

• This is truly a fascinating part of the story. Who was this overzealous swordsman? Mark does not reveal which of the disciples pulled the sword. Neither does Matthew’s Gospel or Luke’s. Only the Gospel of John points the finger at Peter. Luke, on the other hand, is the only one who tells the story of Jesus restoring the servant’s ear, a quiet miracle, often overlooked.
• Why did Peter have a sword in the first place? To answer that question, you need to turn back to the discussion Jesus had with His disciples just prior to going out to the Mount of Olives as recorded in Luke 22:35-38. There Jesus said this: “When I sent you without purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered.  ³⁶ He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you do not have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. ³⁷ It is written: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in Me. Yes, what is written about Me is reaching its fulfilment.”  ³⁸ The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.” “That is enough,” He replied. From this passage I conclude that Jesus was making sure that every jot and tittle of the prophecies concerning His death were fulfilled, to the letter. The passage He referred to was Isaiah 53:12, which says, “Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.” Jesus clearly did not intend for the swords to be used that night to defend Him from His accusers, but merely to fulfil the Scriptures. Apparently, Peter misunderstood, yet again.
• Remember too, Peter was a fisherman, not a soldier, and probably had little experience in wielding a sword. He may have been going for the head of the first guy who laid a hand on Jesus. It was a brave attempt, but his aim was off. He only managed to whack off the guy’s right ear.

Verses 48-49: And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me, as you would against a robber?  ⁴⁹ Every day I was with you in the Temple teaching, and you did not seize Me; but this has taken place to fulfil the Scriptures.”

• This rebuke must have really stung these religious leaders. They knew that what they were doing was wrong. They knew that it was illegal. But this is how lynch mobs and secret police have always operated in every part of the world. The Nazi Gestapo agents would almost always make their raids at night. Why? Two reasons: first, they would catch their victims totally by surprise and unable to defend themselves; and secondly, the neighbors would generally be so confused that they would not react to the injustice of the arrests.
• “…But this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures.” Once again, Jesus was concerned that the Scriptures be fulfilled to the letter. But what does Jesus mean by this? To which scripture is He referring? Luke, in his Gospel account is more specific. He records Jesus as quoting once again from Isaiah 53:12, a Messianic passage that pointed right straight at Jesus.

Verse 50: And they all left Him and fled.

• Who are the “they”? The 11 disciples, obviously. Realizing that the same fate might possibly befall them, they all left Jesus standing there with Judas and the soldiers and hightailed it out of there headed who knows where. Most of them did not show their faces again until after the burial when they reassembled in the upper room.

Verses 51-52: A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they seized him.  ⁵² But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.

• Here we meet the last character in this drama. This is, without a doubt, one of the most bizarre passages in the Bible. Mark is the only one of the four Gospel writers that includes this incident, and he only tells us just enough to make us curious for more information.
• Who was this “young man”? Why was he following Jesus? Why was he only half dressed? Where did he go after streaking off through the woods in nothing but his sandals?
• Some have postulated that this young man was Mark himself, which might explain why he leaves out the details of the story. If I were the person in question, I would have left my name out of it too.
• We know that John Mark was a young man, probably a teenager when this event occurred. We also know that later the Christians in Jerusalem met at the home of Mark’s mother, Mary. In fact, some Bible scholars believe that the upper room very possibly belonged to Mark’s family. In that case, it is not difficult to see how young Mark, out of sheer curiosity, might have gotten up from his bed and followed Jesus and the disciples out to the Garden of Gethsemane, just wanting to see what they were up to. I can just see him, wrapped in his night sheet, peering out from the bushes as the soldiers showed up. Whatever the case, whoever the young man was, he nearly got himself arrested along with Jesus. When somebody suddenly grabbed his sheet and yelled, “Hey you!” he let go of the sheet and hotfooted it out of the Garden in nothing but what his momma gave him.
• If it was indeed Mark himself, we can see why only he included the story, and why he did not identify himself as the scantily clad culprit. We will have to wait until Heaven to get the “rest of the story,” as Paul Harvey always used to say.

CONCLUSION:

So, what are we to do with this text? What are we to conclude from it? How can we benefit from it and become better followers of Jesus by applying it to our lives?

One truth that stands out to me has to do with Peter and his attempt at swordsmanship; namely, that spiritual battles can never be fought with worldly weapons. While I truly admire Peter for his willingness to at least try to do something to save Jesus from the mob, we quickly see that his method was ineffective to say the least. There are times when we must rely solely on the Lord and “stand in the power of His might.”           

My second observation concerns Judas. Let’s think about this for a just a moment… what did Judas really do that was so evil?

Ø  In the first place, he betrayed Jesus with false words, by saying things about Him that he did not believe in his heart. In other words, he lied, pure and simple. Specifically, he addressed Jesus as “Master,” when he had no intention of making Jesus the master of his life. BUT… how is that different from what we do when we constantly refer to Him and even pray to Him, calling Him LORD Jesus Christ, knowing full well that He is not crowned as Lord and Master or our life. An example would be a song by Matt Redman entitled “The Way of the Cross.” Check out these lyrics: 

Show me the way of the cross once again,

Denying myself for the love that I’ve gained.

Everything’s You now, everything’s changed.

It’s time you had my whole life; You can have it all.

Yes, I resolve to give it all.

Some things must die; some things must live.

Not, “what can I gain,” but “what can I give?”

If much is required when much is received,

Then You can have my whole life; Jesus have it all. 

Ø  Secondly, Judas betrayed Jesus with a false symbol of love and affection. He kissed Jesus, a sign of love and respect, but Judas felt neither toward Jesus. BUT… how is that so different from what we do when we offer broken down, lame, second-hand sacrifices to Him out of the leftovers of our life. Isn’t that sort of like a false kiss? It pretends to be one thing but is really something else. 

Ø  Thirdly, Judas traded Jesus for material wealth, thinking that money would make him happier. He sold the Savior for 30 pieces of silver. BUT… how is that different from what we do when we chase after everything the world has to offer us, putting material possessions, and worldly fame, power, and the applause of men ahead of God, putting our personal comfort and pleasures ahead of the Kingdom of God, giving Him lip-service but nothing more?