Why did the disciples abandon the Lord Jesus and run away?

[tdh86]

So...I've got a question for you all.

When we're told that the disciples saw the Lord Jesus get arrested and 'they all abandoned Him and fled', what was the reason behind it? Was it just simply that they were scared of being arrested too and potentially facing the same fate? I guess there has to be some element of that but was that the main reason?

Or given that, in Luke's Gospel, six days prior to the transfiguration, Peter had to be rebuked by the Lord for denying that He was going to suffer and die, was the thought of a suffering Messiah still too much for their minds to grasp?

The Lord tells them they were all going to caused to stumble because of Him and Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians that 'we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling-block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks'. Would it not be fair to say that the thought that Messiah was not, at that point, riding in on a charger for war but had come to suffer and die was still alien to the Jewish mind? The Lord even tells them that the Holy Spirit would later remind them of the things that He had said when He was with them and says that He was telling them things before they happened so when they had happened they could believe. The implication being that, at that stage, they hadn't fully grasped what the Saviour was about.

So when the Lord tells the disciples that Satan had demanded to have them so that he could sift them, it was a testing of their faith that was in view rather than a test of their courage or loyalty. Because the Lord tells Peter that He had prayed for him so that his faith did not fail. And when they saw what they must have thought was the Lord being put on the back foot when He was arrested, they surely started to doubt whether He could really be the Messiah at all? And, if that was in doubt in their minds, who would risk their lives for a cause that they were no longer sure of?

So...am I reading correctly or am I way off??

 

[SolaScriptura]

I don't think they put that much thought in it. They were caught off guard and in their fear they ran away. Are they really any different than we, who in a crisis moment temporarily panic and behave embarrassingly?

 

[Cymro]

Our Lord had previously and prophetically told and warned them what they would do, for he knew the heart of man. So John16:31,"ye shall be scattered, and shall leave me alone." And in Math26:31,
"All ye shall be offended because of me this night; for it is written ,I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.." The Word offended can mean forsake, to stumble, scandalise or apostatise. Then Mark14:27-31 repeats Math 26, but continues to include Peter's avowal, "Allthough all shall be offended, yet will not I." Which is followed by Peter's bravado, "yet will I not deny thee in any wise. Likewise said they all." Peter when confronted with being an associate of Christ lied three times through fear. Likewise did they all.

 

[earl40]

Looking from one direction we see, as Pastor Ben said, it was because of the sinful proclivity of men. From the perspective of God it was for their benefit that they sin for their sanctification when Jesus restores them.

 

[MW]

Another angle (prominent in the Gospel of John) indicates that our Lord presented Himself to the cohort in order that the disciples might go their own way and be preserved from perishing. They were also forewarned in the upper room discourse that they would be left without comfort for a little while and that they would leave Him alone. Circumstantially it seems that Peter's denial was only possible because he did not flee.

 

[Ed Walsh]

we're told that the disciples saw the Lord Jesus get arrested and 'they all abandoned Him and fled'

There was one disciple that stayed with Jesus. We are never told what finally happened, but I like to think that there was one disciple (The disciple whom Jesus loved) that did not run away. Yes, I know about the prophesy, but still, I wonder...

John 18:15-17
15 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple:
that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest.
16 But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple,
which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter.
17 Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter,
Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not.

We only know the rest of the story about Peter. But what about John?