Mark 14:43-52

Mark 14:43-52  Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared.  With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders.  Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.”  Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him.  The men seized Jesus and arrested him.  Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.  “Am I leading a rebellion,” said Jesus, “that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?  Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me.  But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”  Then everyone deserted him and fled.  A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus.  When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.

This passage reveals clearly how the Lord Jesus turned the world upside down.  Man views power and authority through weapons and warfare; Jesus views power and authority through love and devotion.  Man establishes kingdoms through violence; Jesus established his kingdom through unremitting love.  In the above verses, we see the crowd coming with swords and clubs to take Jesus away with them.  They had the weaponry to have their way with Jesus.  The mob would implant their will on Jesus either through the threat of violence or violence itself.  Jesus asked them, “Am I leading a rebellion that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?"  In other words, have you seen me marshal up a military force to unseat your authority, your earthly kingdom of power?  Of course the answer was no.  However, Jesus' kingdom was a threat to the kingdom of darkness and death, but his kingdom would not be established through brutality.  

Peter mistakenly thought that Jesus' might need physical strength to protect and to establish his kingdom here on Earth, so he tried to defend Jesus with the sword.  I suspect Peter at this time would have gone down swinging if he would have been allowed to by Jesus.  But Jesus said, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword."  (Matthew 26:52)  How confusing those words must have been to Peter, for he well understood that earthly kingdoms rise and fall by the sword.  This is man's way.  He knew that only through violence could he defend his Lord, and probably only through brute force would the Jewish elite and the Roman legions release their hold on the Jewish nation of Israel.  How confusing this had to be to Peter when Jesus told him to put his sword back in its place.  How then could the Kingdom of the Lord materialize?  Peter knew at this time, the Jewish people greatly favored Jesus.  Now Jesus and the disciples could marshal the general public behind them and put great pressure on Rome to release them from the oppressive hand of Caesar.  But without violence, or without the threat of violence, how could the Messiah take his rightful place on the throne of David?  But Peter's thinking was a 180 degrees different from his Lord.  

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?"  (Matthew 26:53)  Jesus wanted all of them to know that He had the definitive power to defend himself and to put all things right, but that was not the kingdom of peace and reconciliation that He represented and was ushering in.  Jesus was bringing in a godly kingdom that would last forever.  Jesus said that all who gain position or authority through hostility will die violently.  Jesus' kingdom is not one gained by cruelty and force, but by commitment and love.  Our allegiance to him is because of his love for us.  He is the Lamb of God who was slain for the hopeless sinners of this world--for the lost, the desperate, the sick, and the poor.  He came to restore man's allegiance to God, not to bring a slavish obedience to God through the threat of judgment or violence.  Jesus could have commanded legions of angels to defend him and to place him forcefully on the throne of David, but He didn't.  Through his obedience to the cross and through his subsequent resurrection, Christ brought the kingdom of God to men--a place of peace and eternal rest in God Almighty.  Today we can choose to love the One who loved us above all else.