32 They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, 鈥楽it here while I pray.鈥櫶�33He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated.听34And he said to them, 鈥業 am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.鈥櫶�35And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.听36He said, 鈥楢bba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.鈥櫶�37He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, 鈥楽imon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour?听38Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.鈥櫶�39And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.听40And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him.听41He came a third time and said to them, 鈥楢re you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.听42Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.鈥�
43 Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; and with him there was a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.听44Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, 鈥楾he one I will kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.鈥櫶�45So when he came, he went up to him at once and said, 鈥楻abbi!鈥� and kissed him.听46Then they laid hands on him and arrested him.听47But one of those who stood near drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.听48Then Jesus said to them, 鈥楬ave you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit?听49Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled.鈥櫶�50All of them deserted him and fled.
51 A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him,听52but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.
听"New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
Transcript
In the Gospel of Mark, once Jesus and his disciples arrive in the garden, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John aside with him to pray. Three times Jesus prays that the cup of suffering will pass him by. But he commits himself to do the Father鈥檚 will. Each of those three times Jesus returns to find the three disciples asleep They are unable to stay awake and pray with him.
Then Judas appears with a party to arrest Jesus. Judas identifies Jesus by kissing him. After a brief skirmish, all of the disciples abandon Jesus and flee. In a passage unique to the Gospel of Mark, we read of the improbable incident of a young man fleeing from the scene of Jesus鈥� arrest wearing nothing but a linen cloth and eventually running off naked. The episode seems to correspond to a scene from the beginning of Mark鈥檚 Gospel.
In chapter one of Mark鈥檚 Gospel, Peter and Andrew, James and John dropped their nets and left everything in order to follow Jesus. Now at the end of the Gospel they drop everything because they cannot get away from Jesus quickly enough. Mark seems intent on showing that the disciples鈥� faith is superficial.