“And they all left Him and fled.”
– Mark 14:50
Wow. This short verse says, so much as Jesus is betrayed and abandoned, first by Judas and then by all of His disciples.
Mark 14:50 Recounts Jesus’ Abandonment
The context right before this is Judas coming to Jesus, kissing Him, the soldiers laying hands on Jesus and seizing Him. And after Jesus says, “Have you come out against a robber, with swords in clubs to capture me? When I’ve been in the temple teaching, you didn’t seize me then.” Then He says, “Let the scriptures be fulfilled.,” And that’s when we read Mark 14:50, and they all left Him and fled. This picture of Jesus totally alone, betrayed, abandoned, and then in the verses that come, falsely accused, beaten, mocked, denied by Peter, by those closest to Him. And surely we would all like to think that if we were in the story, it would be different from us.
But I think our hearts tell a different story. We have all done these same things in our relationship with God. Run from Him, denied Him, rebelled against Him, turned away from Him. And yet the beauty of Jesus that I just want to remind you of in this moment and let this reality lead us to prayer, is that Jesus will never betray you. And Jesus will never betray me.
He will never betray those who trust in Him. The Lord will never abandon you or me. He will never falsely accuse you or me. Jesus will never mock us. And as we trust in Him, He will never deny us. Jesus will always be faithful to those who trust in Him. Perfectly, completely faithful. Is this not a rock for you and I stand on and live in today? That the one who made it all, the creator of the cosmos, will never betray, abandon, mock, or turn away from us.
Mark 14:50 Is a Sharp contrast between our Sinful Nature and our Lord’s Character
He will be with us. He will be with us to the end. Save us to the full. Oh, Jesus. We praise you. You are totally unlike us in the sense that you are completely, perfectly faithful. Infinitely faithful. There is no end to your faithfulness, no end to your love, no end to your mercy. No end to your goodness toward us. We praise you and we say that you are our rock. You are our strong foundation.
And so we pray. Jesus, help us not to deny you. Help us not turn from you. Today help us to follow you faithfully as you are faithful to us. We pray to you to help us to be loyal to you in every way, to do all that you call us to do. God, we pray. And God, we pray for the spread of this good news of your grace, of your faithfulness, of your loyalty, of your love.
Praying for the Adyghe People
Through our lives today, help us to share the good news of your faithfulness with somebody else today in the gospel. God, help us to share the good news of the gospel with somebody else today. God, help us to share the good news of your faithfulness in Jesus with somebody else today. And we pray for the spread of this good news around the world, God. For the Adyghe people of Egypt, hardly any known followers of Jesus, that they would know that there is one who will never let them down. We pray for the spread of the gospel to the Adyghe people, even as we praise you for your love, loyalty, faithfulness to us today. We praise you that you will never leave us alone. In your name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
