As soon as it was daylight, the chief priests, after holding a consultation with elders and teachers of the Law – that is to say, the whole High Council – put Jesus in chains, and took him away, and gave him up to Pilate.
day-break arrives
night’s clamor lessens
falsity
is acknowledged
as not sellablein dawn’s early light
our lack of power
glistens
like it or not
we seek out what we lackour plans shattered
it is time to plot deeper
fool’s gold
needs an alchemist
to pilot our desire
Meanwhile, back at the Sanhedrin, the official condemnation of Jesus back in 14:64 has found its way to bring Jesus to death—hand him over to the Roman authorities as they had exclusive rights to execution.
At the first binding of Jesus, Peter ran away and then followed at a distance. While this binding of Jesus goes on, Peter weeps and is never again directly on stage in Mark.
As the representative of the Way of Jesus, Peter’s absence means the handing over of Jesus to the Romans leaves Jesus without visible support. Sympathetic people lining the trip to crucifixion or someone to help bear the load of the cross are stories in other gospel records, not in Mark.
Daybreak brings clarity that there is not going to be a last-minute rescue by Navy Seals or Guardian Angels. There will be no plea bargain that will release Jesus, though he will be the vehicle for the release of another father’s son.
We are no longer dealing with what Jesus has done but with who he is. This question of identity runs through Mark’s story. Whether it is a wilderness scene that would tempt one away from belovedness, the being seen by inhabiting spirits of one constraint or another, the awe and wonder of crowds as person after person is healed, an inspiriting teaching, or calming of storms—Jesus’ current binding is not related to these. Pharaoh’s religious experts could match and thus discount most of Moses’ signs intended to let his people go. Religious and occupational authorities could live with Jesus’ doings. It was his being, his identity, that threatened the identities of the authorities. Without their identity as authorities, they were nothing. Their investment in their position was everything they had, much like the questioning man who went sorrowing away, not giving to the poor.