14:43–52 The act of betrayal begun in 14:10–11 is carried through. Led by Judas, a group from the chief priests comes to seize Jesus by force, and from this point on the ordeal of Jesus’ sufferings begins in earnest. Although Mark describes the arresting group as a crowd (v. 43), we should probably think in terms of a small force of perhaps a dozen or a little more, for the object was to make the arrest without creating a great commotion, in a place where Jesus would be alone with only his closest followers—the Twelve. Judas aided the priest’s plans with information about Jesus’ movements and when he would he easiest to capture. If the priest lacked this kind of information, the arrest would have been much more difficult, since Jesus characteristically entered the city only with the pilgri…