What does Mark 14:48 mean?
Jesus has been in the area of Jerusalem for about a week. During the day, He has been on the Temple Mount, teaching and debating against the Jewish religious and civil leaders. At night, He and the disciples slept on the Mount of Olives (Luke 21:37–38). During His time at the temple, He humiliated the Jewish leadership. He condemned how they made the temple a marketplace (Mark 11:15–19). He exposed their hypocrisy regarding John the Baptist (Mark 11:27–33). He made a thinly-veiled threat against their authority (Mark 12:1–12). And He put their trivial denominational squabbles into perspective (Mark 12:13–27). Jesus then went on an extended condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees, the lawyers and teachers who claimed to be experts in the law but only used that knowledge to subjugate the people and raise their own prominence (Matthew 23:1–36).If the chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and elders had truly believed their theology was correct and Jesus was blaspheming God, they should have had the courage to make a public display of Him, arrest Him while He taught at the temple, and show the people how He was wrong. Instead, they fear the people, thinking that if they arrest Jesus in daylight, surrounded by the crowds, the people will rebel and expose their primary fear: that the Romans will attack Jerusalem and destroy Israel as a people. As their Israelite forefathers did, they value peace and prosperity more than they value the God who promises them peace and prosperity if only they obey.
Even awash in chaos, Jesus makes His point. They treat Him like a robber, and they will crucify Him as they would a robber. As Jesus hangs on the cross, He will be flanked by two robbers (Mark 15:27). Despite all appearances, Jesus is in complete control.
