We Ran, He Stands
Mar 14:26-52, Remsen Bible Fellowship, 06/08/2025
Introduction
How confident are you in your ability to follow Jesus? To stay with him? To stay true in the face of trials, temptations, and the troubles of life?
How confident should you be? Those are the sort of questions which confront us as we approach our passage this morning.
We’re taking a longer section of text, verses 26-52, and so I want to examine it in four scenes.
Who has the right to be confident?
Scene one: Verses 26-31,
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.
If you recall from a couple of weeks ago, Jesus and the disciples are celebrating the Passover meal, but as they take the bread and pass it around, Jesus shifts the focus. No longer are they to look at the unleavened loaf and think of the haste with which Israel left Egypt, but rather they should take this bread and consider the body of Jesus, broken in their place. No longer is the cup of blessing to look back simply on the history of God’s preservation of his people, but it is now to remind Jesus’ disciples of his blood shed in their place. His blood which seals the New Covenant of redemption.
When the meal ended, they sang a hymn—probably one of the Psalms from Psalm 114-118. As I read those Psalms, and then this narrative, I really wonder if it was Psalm 116 or Psalm 118, both of which are especially appropriate.
Then, after singing this hymn, they head out for the Mount of Olives. And on their journey, Jesus makes what must have been a startling announcement: “you will all fall away.” Imagine we were cleaning up one Sunday and I said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “you’re all going to give up on the faith for a while.” I think most of you would be surprised by such a presumptuous statement, and I’m guessing a number of you would be (rightly) offended.
But I’m a fallible human being, and it would be presumptuous of me to say such a thing, Jesus is the perfect Son of God, the omniscient Lord of the disciples. He’s not blowing smoke, and he’s not simply trying to shock them. He is, in fact, making an accurate prediction which was intended, at least in part, to prepare his disciples for the hours and days to come. We see that in what he says next: “But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”
The disciples don’t buy it, though. They were confident in themselves. Peter (of course Peter!) speaks up—even if they all fall, I won’t, Jesus! For Peter’s extra measure of boldness Jesus gives an extra dose of reality: before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. How jarring! This is the same Peter who refused to leave, though the crowds abandoned Jesus, because he knew Jesus had the words of eternal life. The same Peter who walked on water. The same Peter who confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus looks him square in the eye and says, “you’re going to deny you even know me: three times tonight.” You might understand Peter’s reply—“even if I must die with you, I won’t deny you!”
And the rest of the disciples felt the same way. They had been loyal these three years. It certainly had cost them in terms of time, career, and relationships. They were all in on Jesus. How could he say they would deny him?
The disciples were confident in their capacity to stick with Jesus, and why wouldn’t they be? They had done it, for crying out loud! But Jesus doesn’t have that same confidence. As John 2:24-25 states, “Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”
Have you ever had a moment when you failed Jesus? Did you know he knew that would happen in advance? Your failures do not surprise God. Both Moses and Joshua, when they affirm the covenant with the people of Israel tell them that they will fail. They will fall short. And the people of Israel cry out, “no, we will obey!” Who is correct, the predictors of shortfall, or those self-assured in their capacity for obedience?
Jesus knew how weak his disciples were. And he accounted for it. Jesus also knows how weak you are—and has accounted for that, too.
Which takes us to the second scene.
Why are you still sleeping?
Verses 32-42,
And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” And going a little farther, he 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. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”
The Lord Jesus himself, in this scene, is shown to be familiar with weakness. The book of Hebrews tells us, in the fourth chapter, that we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. That double negative might not be great English, but it does refute a common thought—no one understands what I’m going through. In other words, we think Jesus is unable to sympathize. And the writer of Hebrews says: wrong! Jesus is able. And I think this scene must have been top of mind when he wrote those words.
Jesus brings the disciples into this walled garden on the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane—or, oil press. And here Jesus was going to be pressed emotionally, spiritually, and even physically to the brink—all before he was arrested. In this time of anguish, what he describes as a time of being “very sorrowful, even to death” (v35), Jesus asks his friends to be with him. Jesus’ state resembles that of the Psalmist in Psalm 55:5, “Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.
Jesus words to the disciples, “Remain here and watch” are not an invitation to become voyeurs, someone observing his pain and anguish and prayer from the outside. Rather, it was an invitation to “be watchful in prayer” as Colossians 4:2 commands. Jesus was preparing to face the hell of God’s wrath, but what he walked through first was the intense struggle of bringing his human nature into submission to the Divine Will—his Divine Will, eternally united among the Father, Son, and Spirit—so that he might faithfully undertake the course necessary for our redemption. As he prayed, Jesus wanted his friends to labor with him in prayer. There is a very real sense in which, in his humanity, Jesus needed his friends by his side.
But they failed him. When he returns to their side, what v35 had just called a “little” ways distant—Luke tells us it was about a “stone’s throw, maybe 15-20 yards?—in what state does Jesus find his disciples? Are they too, diligently laboring in prayer, holding up the arms of Jesus spiritually the way Aaron and Hur held up the arms of Moses in battle? Were they pleading, asking the Heavenly Father to give strength and resolution to his Son? Not quite. Jesus found his closest associates, James, John, and Peter, all sleeping.
Jesus addressed those most self-assured of them: “Simon [Peter’s given name], are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?” The rebuke is subtle but clear: you say you’ll go with me to death, but can I count on you to stay awake?
But Jesus does not merely give words of rebuke. His words of instruction are also clear, along with an obvious note of understanding: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation”— perhaps the temptation to violence, certainly the temptation to despair—“The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” The disciples were willing to help Jesus. They really wanted to be good friends and followers. What they had said on the road out to the garden was genuine in the sense that they were truly expressing how they felt. They never wanted to walk away from Jesus or abandon him. But they were weak. So. Terribly. Weak.
I am often reminded of Psalm 103:13-14, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers we are dust.” Jesus knows your frame. His Father in heaven—our Father in heaven—knows your frame. He knows you are dust. And he has compassion.
Importantly, though, compassion does not equal excuse making. Jesus gives them another opportunity, and is clearly disappointed when they fail him again. Their failures do not thwart the divine plan, they do not derail what Jesus is going to do. But they remain evidences not only of human weakness, but human failure. And those failures get worse.
As Jesus had predicted three times, he would now be betrayed into the hands of sinners. And his disciples would fail in this scene, too.
Varieties of failures
Scene three: Verses 43-50,
And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.” And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, “Rabbi!” and he kissed him. And they laid hands on him and seized him. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.” And they all left him and fled.
In this third scene, the disciples fail in various ways—the first and most glaring is, of course, Judas. He had gone out from the supper with the intention of betraying Jesus into the hands of the chief priests. Now that plan comes to full fruition. It culminates in what we might call the kiss of death. In the dark of the Garden, the mob might have misidentified Jesus and been worried he would give them the slip, but Judas says, no worries. I’ll identify him for you. Moreover, he seems to either be so in the bag for the chief priests, or so up in his own head, that he thinks that seizing Jesus and leading away under guard is both necessary and possible. He had literally watched Jesus raise the dead and calm the seas, and he thought this armed mob meant something. As if Jesus couldn’t simply call down legions of angels. Judas has lost all perspective, and as his failure grew to the point of betrayal, he seems to at least temporarily lose his grip on reality.
Another disciple—unnamed by Mark, but Luke informs us it was Peter—chops of the ear of the High Priest’s servant. Also a failure to understand the gravity of the situation. Maybe rather than praying, Peter had been dreaming of taking up arms for Jesus, so when confronted with an armed mob, his first reaction is to grab his sword. Admirable for the bravery, but not for reading the situation rightly.
After Jesus confronts the mob for their hypocrisy—he’d been in the temple courts daily, and they couldn’t arrest him then?—he points out that Scripture will continue to be fulfilled. Remember that Jesus is in complete control of this situation, just like every situation he faced—and just like every circumstance in your life. Did the disciples take comfort and courage from this fact, and stand by their Lord in his hour of trial and need? No, they turned tail and ran. They fell away. “They all left him and fled” (v50).
Let he who stands take heed, lest he turn tail and run
Fourth and final scene: Verses 51-52,
And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.
This is an unidentified young man. Who is he, and why is this story in the text? We don’t have a definitive answer. There is a common, and what one commentator calls “attractive” guess, that this young man is Mark himself. Is this simply a personal detail that Mark throws in to let the reader know he saw it all first hand, and tell us of his own close brush with the Roman authorities? Maybe. But I think there is instruction for us here as well.
I’ve mentioned before that one of the great temptations we face as Bible readers is to read the text of Scripture and think, “what silly people they were” or “wow, what was wrong with them” or “man, they really blew it.” We certainly could read these scenes and think such things of the disciples. The problem with these thoughts is not that they are inaccurate. There’s all kinds of problems with the biblical characters, including the disciples in gospel narratives. There really is only one Jesus.
But reading in such a manner can give us a sense of emotional distance. And that felt distance is not justified. We are more like the disciples than we care to think. We are more susceptible to temptation than we want to realize. And that’s what this final scene in Garden shows us. Here is a curious young man—maybe, if it is Mark, he is even following Jesus and the disciples from his own house where they ate the supper, or maybe he heard the crowd which Judas led and wanted to know where they are going—in any case, a young man who is following the action. He is an outside observer, much like us. Presumably attached to the Jesus community. But when grasped he doesn’t try to give an answer, he doesn’t stand up for his abandoned Lord. He slips out of his loose-fitting clothes, and flees naked. And friends, we would, too. In the disciples' shoes, or Mark’s shoes, left to our own resources, we would run away from duty, away from the call of courage—away from Jesus.
We are not alone
So what do we do? Simply accept sin and failure as part of our lives and say, hey, Jesus can forgive me too, so it’s no big deal? Hardly. Jesus desired obedience from the disciples. He desired for them to labor in prayer. He told them in the upper room that to be his disciple meant to obey him. So, if Jesus desires obedience and faithfulness to him—even under duress—but our natural drive is one of self-preservation and the path of least resistance, how can we stand up, stand up for Jesus?
We can’t do it on our own power. But the good news is that for believers in Jesus Christ we are not alone. We are not left to our own power, our own devices. We live this side of Pentecost. 50 days after the resurrection, and 10 days after his ascension back to heaven, the Lord Jesus poured out his Holy Spirit on the disciples in the upper room. And his pattern since that point has been to—at the moment of belief—baptize believers with his Holy Spirit, at the very same time they come to him by faith. If you have trusted in Jesus as your personal savior, then you have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ, and he lives with you and in you.
The Spirit’s presence with us means that we have an ability to resist and even put to death sinful temptations which goes beyond what the disciples were capable of. In Mark chapter 13, probably just a few days before the betrayal and arrest of Jesus, he had told his disciples not to worry when they were arrested and dragged before councils, because the Spirit would speak through them (13:11). How did this group of fleeing and fearful disciples become the same group who would, indeed, boldly stand before councils and kings and suffer even unto death for the sake of Jesus? He had poured his Spirit out into their lives.
What we need to see in these scenes from the garden is that we should have no confidence in our own power to follow Jesus. We are very much like the disciples, which should teach us humility. It is not hard to think of a time when you have failed in following Jesus. But at the same time, we should take heart. He knows our frame. He knows our sin. He knows our failures. And Jesus has everything under control, even our failures. And what’s more, the same Holy Spirit upon whom Jesus relied in his earthly life is now dwelling within each and every follower of Jesus, enabling us to be far more faithful and true than we could be on our own.
Let us rejoice and exult with the words of Jesus’ brother, Jude:
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, by glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24-25)
