Reading the Gospels Together The garden/Gethsemane – Part 1 As the meal comes to an end all four gospel writers tell their readers that Jesus and his disciples leave the city of Jerusalem and go to the foot of the Mount of Olives apparently to spend the night. While there Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested. In this section we will need to consider Mark 14:22-52; Matthew 26:31-56; Luke 22:31-34, 39-53; and John 12:27-36, 13:36-38, and 18:1-11. As Jesus and his disciples leave the supper and arrive at the Mount of Olives, Mark tells his readers that once again Jesus speaks ominous words telling his disciples that they will all become deserters. Jesus backs up his prediction by reminding them of the words from Zechariah 13:7, “I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.” Earlier Jesus had warned them that one of them would betray him. Now all are implicated. Peter protests and receives the sign that will indicate his failure – before the cock crows twice Peter will deny Jesus three times. Readers of Mark’s gospel know that this tragic prediction will happen – everything Jesus has said will happen does. So when Jesus tells his disciples that after he has been raised up he will go before them to Galilee we can be sure that this too will happen – even though Mark will never tell us that it did! Mark’s technique of telling his readers that Jesus first predicts something and then whatever Jesus has predicted happens will be especially useful as Mark’s gospel comes to an end which is so open-ended that readers feel compelled either to hypothesize that Mark must have written more or Mark’s ending has the effect he likely intended – it drives his readers back to the beginning of his gospel and finally out into the world to tell the story the women are afraid to tell. That Jesus will and did appear to his disciples in Galilee certainly happens even though Mark has not included it in his storyline! That is the function of all these “prophecies” of Jesus which come true. Mark has been craftily setting up his brilliant ending!