- 26 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. 27 And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. 28 But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.
- 29 But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. 30 And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. 31 But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.
- Compare: Matthew 26:30-35; Luke 22:31-34; John 13:36-38
Jesus & Peter
Bracketing the important scenes of the Last Supper are two passages where Jesus foretells of his disciples betraying him. The first involves the “worse” of the disciples: Judas, who would betray Jesus for his execution. The above passage, the second, involves the rest of the disciples, including Peter, who would deny his connection to Jesus out of shame or embarrassment and despite the profound meal of union which they had just shared.
Jesus offers precise details about Peter’s coming betrayal, all of which would have been treated by Mark’s audience as further proof that Jesus was a “true” prophet and that his other predictions would also come true (even though some didn’t, which should have demonstrated that he was a false prophet).
Some have read the disciples’ denial of Jesus, and especially Peter’s triple denial, as another example of their failure to fully understand who Jesus was and what his mission was supposed to be. It seems unlikely that such ignorance would persist at this point, especially in the entire group, but the ignorance of the disciples serves a narrative goal for Mark: keeping Jesus’ identity a secret is necessary to explain why so many Jews, including those who should have known him, still persisted in clinging to traditional Judaism rather than following Jesus as Mark’s audience did.
Jesus’ detailed foreknowledge also helps to underscore the degree to which everything that is going on has been predetermined by God — thus, in a sense, Peter’s betrayal is willed by God rather than by Peter himself. If God has determined that it is necessary that Jesus be denied by his disciples, how can it be said that they have any free will in the matter — and how can anyone condemn or even criticize them for what they do?
Remember, the ideology of apocalyptic determinism insists that God doesn’t merely happen to know how people will behave; instead, it holds that God has planned how people will behave. All the suffering, evil and disasters that befall the world are part of God’s plan — it’s what God wants to happen.
In the middle of this passage is a citation of Zechariah 13:7 (“I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered”) and another prediction (“I will be risen and will go before you into Gaililee”). Scholars believe that the Zechariah citation was popular among early Christians in order to “prove” that Jesus’ death and the dispersal of Christians was in accordance with scripture. The prophecy would have served to further underscore Jesus’ power as a prophet.
It is widely thought that both of these were inserted into the text of an earlier tradition because Peter’s response in verse 29 follows more naturally after the first half of verse 27 than it does after verse 28. Such an insertion could easily have come from Mark himself as the ideas communicated here would have served his apologetical purposes.
