What does Mark 14:50 mean?

Mere hours before, Jesus tells the disciples that they will soon abandon Him. He quotes Zechariah 13:7: "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered." The disciples vehemently deny that they would do such a thing (Mark 14:31). To Jesus, who knows what will happen, it's already a certainty. His prophecy isn't to shame the disciples, but to tell them that after they scatter, they are to meet up again in Galilee (Mark 14:28).

It's common for us to fear our sin. We may do something ambiguous and worry whether it's against God's will. Or we may make a vow that we will not commit a specific sin and despair when we inevitably fail. Or we, try to justify what we want to do to settle in our own minds that it is not sin. There are many ways in which we try to convince ourselves that what we do isn't sin. But those machinations are filled with pride and selfishness. We will sin. Every believer sins. We don't stop sinning when we become Christians. Jesus told the disciples they would scatter, and they do. It doesn't surprise God when we sin. The whole point of Jesus' coming is to cover those sins.

We do need to avoid sin (1 Corinthians 10:31). We do need to consider whether the action we're considering is in God's will. But it's also sin to concentrate on sin so much we lose focus on God. Instead of dwelling on whether something was a sin or if the thing we want to do is a sin, we need to remember that after it all, Jesus promises to forgive and restore us. We sin far more than we imagine, and if we accept Him, He forgives every sin. When we learn to rest in that forgiveness, obeying becomes a lot easier. And, ironically, we're less likely to sin in the first place.