When

When When we take time to examine the events that led up to the crucifixion of Christ,

it's easy for us to be shocked by the responses of those who lived with him and learned from him for three years.

Today, on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg

cautions us not to be too quick to judge Jesus' disciples. We may be more like them than we

think. We're looking at Chapter 14 of Mark's Gospel. Alistair begins today in verse 43.

Now let the camera settle on these disciples.

Judas is a character here.

Jesus is a character here.

The crowd is a character here.

And here we have the credits running now for the disciple band.

They're about to collapse like a pack of

cards. Peter is about to go down like a broken deck chair. It's tragic, isn't it? Luke records

the fact that they asked this question almost in unison, shall we strike with the sword?

And before Jesus apparently has a chance to answer, Peter decides the answer is yes, and so he takes his sword and he lops off the ear of Malchus, who is the servant of the high priest.

And there they go, under cover of darkness, their sorry departure recorded for us.

In a phrase, verse 50, and they all left him

and fled. Actually, again, John tells us that Jesus said to his captors, it's me you've come for. Let them go. Which made me think again of Moses,

who stepped forward to say, let my people go. And he, who is the great prophet, who out profits all the prophets, steps forward

in the garden, and he says, let my people go. He has come to deliver, to succor, to save.

Now let me just mention the young man here in 51 and 52, because this

little section can derail most home Bible studies. It's the kind of thing that when the teacher

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