{"id":37459,"date":"2025-09-21T22:00:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T05:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=37459"},"modified":"2025-09-16T12:35:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:35:55","slug":"mark_14_43-52","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/mark_14_43-52\/","title":{"rendered":"It Happened in the Dark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark 14:43-52 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Mark 14:43-52.\u00a0 With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage.\u00a0 Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage?\u00a0 After you\u2019ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 14:43-46 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n43\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Just 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.
\n44\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.”
\n45\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him.
\n46\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The men seized Jesus and arrested him.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 43-46:\u00a0 Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss.\u00a0 It\u2019s ironic how something so intimate and even Biblical (Psalm 2:12) could be used to signal something so evil.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s what Satan loves to do: take good things that God always meant to unite, give life, set free and express love, and pervert them into tools that divide, destroy, oppress and hate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark 14:47 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n47\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 47:\u00a0 In John 18:10 we learn that the one who drew the sword and cut off Malchus\u2019 ear was Peter.\u00a0 So why didn\u2019t Mark specifically say it was Peter, especially if Mark mentions a number of Peter\u2019s other embarrassing moments and especially if, as many scholars believe, Mark wrote his gospel based on Peter\u2019s eyewitness testimony?\u00a0 Perhaps it was to avoid incriminating Peter and giving the authorities more opportunity (and written evidence) to put Peter on trial.<\/p>\n

Mark 14:48-49 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n48\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Am I leading a rebellion,” said Jesus, “that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?
\n49\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 48-49:\u00a0 The chief priests, teachers of the law and elders were too cowardly to try to arrest Jesus in broad daylight while he was teaching in the temple courts.\u00a0 They knew the crowds would turn against them if they did.\u00a0 So they resorted to arresting Jesus at night when crowds were not around and with the help of an armed mob.\u00a0 Jesus calls them on this, drawing attention to their cowardice and connivance.\u00a0 He submits to them only because \u201cthe Scriptures must be fulfilled.\u201d (v49)\u00a0 In other words, by letting them arrest him, Jesus was submitting to the Scriptures which prophesied about his betrayal, not so much to his arresters.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Sin loves to operate in the dark where it can\u2019t be seen.\u00a0 So even in the night, we want to live as children of light.<\/strong>\u00a0 As Ephesians 5:8-14 says:\u00a0\u201cFor you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light\u00a0(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)\u00a0and find out what pleases the Lord.\u00a0 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.\u00a0 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.\u00a0 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible,\u00a0for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:\u00a0“Wake up, O sleeper,\u00a0rise from the dead,\u00a0and Christ will shine on you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Mark 14:50 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n50\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then everyone deserted him and fled.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 50:\u00a0 Despite declaring their undying allegiance to Jesus just hours before (Mark 14:31), all of his disciples deserted him.\u00a0 Just as Jesus had predicted, the disciples all fell away (Mark 14:27).<\/p>\n

Mark 14:51-52 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n51\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him,
\n52\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 51-52:\u00a0 In the past many scholars believed that the young man described here is Mark the author of this gospel.\u00a0 They see this strange detail as Mark\u2019s indirect way of identifying himself.\u00a0 It is possible, though we don\u2019t know for sure.<\/p>\n

Holy Spirit, thank You for showing us some of the ways sin likes to operate: how sin likes to take something good and twist it into something evil, how sin loves to operate in the dark where it is less easily seen.\u00a0 No matter what time in the day, may we live as children of light.\u00a0 Jesus shine on us and through us today.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Mark 14:43-52.\u00a0 With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage.\u00a0 Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage?\u00a0 After you\u2019ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 14:43-46 (NIV)
\n43\u00a0\u00a0Just 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.
\n44\u00a0\u00a0Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.”
\n45\u00a0\u00a0Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him.
\n46\u00a0\u00a0The men seized Jesus and arrested him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verses 43-46:\u00a0 Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss.\u00a0 It\u2019s ironic how something so intimate and even Biblical (Psalm 2:12) could be used to signal something so evil.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37459"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37463,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37459\/revisions\/37463"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}