57. Mark 14:43-51: Betrayal
A group of armed men arrive to take Jesus in tow. They are likely authorized by the Sanhedrin to arrest and detain the awaiting trial before it (Boring, Mark : 10935-10937). Jesus protests that he is no brigand requiring armed capture. The betrayer, Judas, appears and scene to do the foul deed. A bystander wields his sword in Jesus’ defense and cuts of the ear of the chief priest’s slave. And all Jesus’ friends desert him. Except one. A mysterious young man wearing a linen cloth remains present. “They,” presumably the crowd arresting Jesus, grab to him to detain him as well as one of Jesus’ cohorts. But who is he? Mark himself? So many have guessed. Opinions run the gamut. N. T. Wright takes this a symbol of the final and total disgrace of the deserting disciples. “Finally, we have the young man who, like Joseph in Genesis 39.12, escapes by leaving his garment behind. It’s often been suggested that this was Mark himself (the other gospels don’t mention the ...