PrintToday's "Moment with Mark" (102)
3 March, 2013
And immediately, as he said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a mob that was armed with swords and clubs..... Judas had given them a prearranged signal: "You will know which one to arrest when I go over and give him the kiss of greeting. Then you can take him away under guard." Mark 14:43-44
Ah, there you are! "It's Judas!" Did a mummer like that go through the crowd. I wonder if the other disciples had realised before this moment just who it was that Jesus meant when He had said to them at the Passover meal, "One of you will betray me". Was this arrest in the Garden the first time that the betrayer exposed his hand?
As I read back over the last few chapters, it seems to me that there is nothing to indicate that any of the others had a clue about the identity of the betrayer. The three who were closest to the action were sound asleep when the arresting mob arrived. It's a reasonable assumption that the same was true for the other eight.
I can imagine someone saying, "I thought it might be Judas!" Others would struggle because they had accepted Judas as one who championed the cause of the poor.
A more pressing question for me is, "How long had Jesus known that Judas was His betrayer?" I think most of us would believe that Jesus knew from the very beginning of their relationship, from the day Jesus called him to join the apostolic team. We are not told in Scripture anything about the background of Judas, how Jesus called him or what were the circumstances of and rationale for such a choice.
But please don't tell me that he is betraying Jesus for high and noble purposes: for example, that he is tired of waiting and is now forcing Jesus' hand so that Jesus will have no other choice than to usher in the Kingdom.
Those 30 pieces of silver suggest otherwise.
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