Whomever I kiss, He is the One

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 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 thrown around his naked body.  And the young men laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.

- Mark 14:43-52

Yesterday we read that, at the Last Supper, Jesus said to the disciples, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:  'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'  But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee."  Peter said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be."  Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times."  But he spoke more vehemently, "If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!"  And they all said likewise.  Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, "Sit here while I pray."  And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed.  Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.  Stay here and watch."  He went a little farther, 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 for You.  Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."  Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "Simon, are you sleeping?  Could you not watch one hour?  Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."  Again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words.  And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.  Then He came the third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting?  It is enough!  The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going.  See, My betrayer is at hand."

 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.   Mark underscores the depth of betrayal by Judas, describing him as one of the twelve.  But my study bible points out something else:  that this great multitude accompanying Judas needs a kiss to signal who Christ is.  It's a commentary on just who comprised this mob of people.   The Jewish leaders and the most common people would have recognized Christ; He's been daily teaching in the temple and is known to all the leadership.  We've been told that the common people heard Him gladly (see this reading).  At the culmination of a three year ministry in which He's preached in Jewish communities all around Israel, and after which He's been welcomed into Jerusalem as Messiah, it's  a safe bet that these soldiers are hired mercenaries, who were sent by the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.  According to John's Gospel, this group included Romans (in John 18:3, the word in Greek translated as soldiers means "cohort," a division of a Roman legion).  Indeed, John's Gospel also tells us that their own officers sent by the leadership to arrest Jesus in the temple simply could not do so ("No man ever spoke like this Man!" -- see John 7:45-46).  As faithful, we pray for the strength not to kiss Jesus in betrayal as does Judas here.

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 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.  John's Gospel identifies Peter (John 18:10) as the one with the sword, and Matthew records Jesus' rebuke (Matthew 26:52-53), emphasizing Jesus' willing acceptance of this time and His mission, which Peter still fails to grasp (see Matthew 16:21-23).   Jesus' pronouncement that the Scriptures must be fulfilled is yet another signal to the disciples that He accepts willingly what is happening, but -- as with Judas' betrayal -- Jesus signals that the fulfillment of prophesy does not diminish the responsibility and free choice of those who seek His death and participate in the injustice to come.   As He quoted from Zechariah's prophecy in yesterday's reading, above, His sheep are scattered.

Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body.  And the young men laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.  To flee naked, my study bible says, is a great shame and humiliation (Ezekiel 16:39, Amos 2:16).  There have been those who teach that this young man was James, brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:19), and other say it was the apostle John, who was the youngest of the twelve.  But most believe that this young man was Mark, the author of the Gospel.  It was a common literary device for a writer not to give his own name (as in the examples of Luke 24:13 and John 21:24).  The other evangelists do not report this incident.  My study bible says that they would not have been inclined to humiliate Mark, but Mark himself would have been more likely to relate such an event concerning himself.  It is a telling detail about the arrest and the conduct of the authorities, coming as it does in the middle of the night while these men are sleeping, even outside the normal procedures of the Law (see John 7:51).

When systems of law and authority break down, what do we have left?  Jesus' arrest is a telling incident, a warning against injustice and violation of civilized norms of law.  It tells us about our capacity for suspending our own most cherished notions of development when power is threatened, when we decide our own infallibility or righteousness is something we can take for granted -- or when we decide that a particular victim isn't deserving of the usual protections offered to all.  Prejudice works that way, but our blindest prejudices are against those who seem to threaten our places somehow -- against the ones who have upset our plans in one way and another.  Christ's humiliation and arrest -- accompanied by the detail of the naked young man who fled the scene -- is foretold.  He has warned the disciples many times by now of what was to happen.  But none of that, not the fulfillment of Scriptures and not prophecy, excuses the injustice that is about to happen, nor does it somehow take away the responsibility of those who violate their own procedures to do so.  What this evil moment does teach us, and should always remind us of, is how easily even good systems with well thought-out and intentioned laws can break down in the face of our own sense of loss and authority.  The leaders of the people fail to truly lead here.  Instead, they need to protect their places which they do not want disturbed by Jesus.  In Mark's next chapter we will read that Pilate understands the envy and bitterness of these leaders who have Jesus arrested, and their motivations in handing Him over ("he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy" - see Mark 15:9-10).  Manipulation allows these men the claim that it is through violation of Roman Law that Jesus is executed, allowing them to hide their crime behind charges of treason against Caesar.  But all of this is something that illustrates each of our capacities for blindness to our own sins, and the need for faith to guide us in our choices.  When our own places become more sacred than holiness or following the teachings we know to be true, then we are in a depth of trouble.  It takes something greater than ourselves to guide our actions where we are blind to our flaws, where we feel threatened by circumstances, where our emotional lives can lead us astray.  And it takes a leader like Christ to teach us how we must be guided in times of uncertainty and persecution, as He guides His disciples.  In yesterday's reading, He told them to "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation."   For the disciples who are now fleeing and scattered, and for the religious leadership who seeks Jesus' death, this is important and appropriate advice, the best sort of guide to deal with the times of upheaval and uncertainty.  Each of us needs to take this advice to heart, and to understand that the best of us can stumble, the best-laid plans can fail miserably and terribly, the greatest systems of thought and the most well-intentioned procedures -- even those given through the word of God -- can fail us when we fail to understand our own need for guidance.  To be able to give up all, as does Jesus, to the will of God is the one way we can find righteousness, because it is the one way we can rise above ourselves and our limitations of sight and understanding.  Where we fail to rely on God, we fail to grow beyond what we already think we know.  Christ's death on the Cross will shatter the assumptions of so many and in so many ways.  But it is the one way we are led forward into something better.  It is the way of holiness, and the way in which Christ teaches us what true acceptance of faith is and means.  Can we live as He has taught us?  We love Christ for what He has done for us.  How do we live that love without betrayal?