27 Jesus told them, "You're all going to feel that your world is falling apart and that it's my fault. There's a Scripture that says, I will strike the shepherd; The sheep will go helter-skelter. 28 "But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you, leading the way to Galilee." 29 Peter blurted out, "Even if everyone else is ashamed of you when things fall to pieces, I won't be." 30 Jesus said, "Don't be so sure. Today, this very night in fact, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times." 31 He blustered in protest, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you." All the others said the same thing.
32 They came to an area called Gethsemane. Jesus told his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." 33 He took Peter, James, and John with him. He plunged into a sinkhole of dreadful agony. 34 He told them, "I feel bad enough right now to die. Stay here and keep vigil with me." 35 Going a little ahead, he fell to the ground and prayed for a way out: 36 "Papa, Father, you can - can't you? - get me out of this. Take this cup away from me. But please, not what I want - what do you want?" 37 He came back and found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, "Simon, you went to sleep on me? Can't you stick it out with me a single hour? 38 Stay alert, be in prayer, so you don't enter the danger zone without even knowing it. Don't be naive. Part of you is eager, ready for anything in God; but another part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire." 39 He then went back and prayed the same prayer. 40 Returning, he again found them sound asleep. They simply couldn't keep their eyes open, and they didn't have a plausible excuse. 41 He came back a third time and said, "Are you going to sleep all night? No - you've slept long enough. Time's up. The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up. Let's get going. My betrayer has arrived."
43 No sooner were the words out of his mouth when Judas, the one out of the Twelve, showed up, and with him a gang of ruffians, sent by the high priests, religion scholars, and leaders, brandishing swords and clubs. 44 The betrayer had worked out a signal with them: "The one I kiss, that's the one - seize him. Make sure he doesn't get away." 45 He went straight to Jesus and said, "Rabbi!" and kissed him. 46 The others then grabbed him and roughed him up. 47 One of the men standing there unsheathed his sword, swung, and came down on the Chief Priest's servant, lopping off the man's ear. 48 Jesus said to them, "What is this, coming after me with swords and clubs as if I were a dangerous criminal? 49 Day after day I've been sitting in the Temple teaching, and you never so much as lifted a hand against me. What you in fact have done is confirm the prophetic writings." 50 All the disciples cut and ran.
51 A young man was following along. All he had on was a bedsheet. Some of the men grabbed him 52 but he got away, running off naked, leaving them holding the sheet.
53 They led Jesus to the Chief Priest, where the high priests, religious leaders, and scholars had gathered together.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Mark 14:27-53
Commentary on Mark 14:22-31
(Read Mark 14:22-31)
The Lord's supper is food for the soul, therefore a very little of that which is for the body, as much as will serve for a sign, is enough. It was instituted by the example and the practice of our Master, to remain in force till his second coming. It was instituted with blessing and giving of thanks, to be a memorial of Christ's death. Frequent mention is made of his precious blood, as the price of our redemption. How comfortable is this to poor repenting sinners, that the blood of Christ is shed for many! If for many, why not for me? It was a sign of the conveyance of the benefits purchased for us by his death. Apply the doctrine of Christ crucified to yourselves; let it be meat and drink to your souls, strengthening and refreshing your spiritual life. It was to be an earnest and foretaste of the happiness of heaven, and thereby to put us out of taste for the pleasures and delights of sense. Every one that has tasted spiritual delights, straightway desires eternal ones. Though the great Shepherd passed through his sufferings without one false step, yet his followers often have been scattered by the small measure of sufferings allotted to them. How very apt we are to think well of ourselves, and to trust our own hearts! It was ill done of Peter thus to answer his Master, and not with fear and trembling. Lord, give me grace to keep me from denying thee.
Commentary on Mark 14:32-42
(Read Mark 14:32-42)
Christ's sufferings began with the sorest of all, those in his soul. He began to be sorely amazed; words not used in St. Matthew, but very full of meaning. The terrors of God set themselves in array against him, and he allowed him to contemplate them. Never was sorrow like unto his at this time. Now he was made a curse for us; the curses of the law were laid upon him as our Surety. He now tasted death, in all the bitterness of it. This was that fear of which the apostle speaks, the natural fear of pain and death, at which human nature startles. Can we ever entertain favourable, or even slight thoughts of sin, when we see the painful sufferings which sin, though but reckoned to him, brought on the Lord Jesus? Shall that sit light upon our souls, which sat so heavy upon his? Was Christ in such agony for our sins, and shall we never be in agony about them? How should we look upon Him whom we have pierced, and mourn! It becomes us to be exceedingly sorrowful for sin, because He was so, and never to mock at it. Christ, as Man, pleaded, that, if it were possible, his sufferings might pass from him. As Mediator, he submitted to the will of God, saying, Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt; I bid it welcome. See how the sinful weakness of Christ's disciples returns, and overpowers them. What heavy clogs these bodies of ours are to our souls! But when we see trouble at the door, we should get ready for it. Alas, even believers often look at the Redeemer's sufferings in a drowsy manner, and instead of being ready to die with Christ, they are not even prepared to watch with him one hour.
Commentary on Mark 14:43-52
(Read Mark 14:43-52)
Because Christ appeared not as a temporal prince, but preached repentance, reformation, and a holy life, and directed men's thoughts, and affections, and aims to another world, therefore the Jewish rulers sought to destroy him. Peter wounded one of the band. It is easier to fight for Christ than to die for him. But there is a great difference between faulty disciples and hypocrites. The latter rashly and without thought call Christ Master, and express great affection for him, yet betray him to his enemies. Thus they hasten their own destruction.
Commentary on Mark 14:53-65
(Read Mark 14:53-65)
We have here Christ's condemnation before the great council of the Jews. Peter followed; but the high priest's fire-side was no proper place, nor his servants proper company, for Peter: it was an entrance into temptation. Great diligence was used to procure false witnesses against Jesus, yet their testimony was not equal to the charge of a capital crime, by the utmost stretch of their law. He was asked, Art thou the Son of the Blessed? that is, the Son of God. For the proof of his being the Son of God, he refers to his second coming. In these outrages we have proofs of man's enmity to God, and of God's free and unspeakable love to man.