Apechei (Mark 14:41) as Hermeneutic Clue in/to Gethsemane

Abstract Attempts to explain the meaning of apechei in Mark 14:41 have failed to achieve a consensus among scholars perhaps because they dwell on events and characters in the story. In contrast, this article seeks to understand the use of apechei in the text of the author. The translation with the strongest evidence relates to a financial transaction that has been completed. The article argues that apechei refers to the final prayer of Jesus and sleep of the disciples and asks what it is about that pair that makes them a final payment. It examines the three prayer–sleep iterations in Gethsemane and shows that they comprise a comic scene. Apechei thus refers to the sufficiency of the three iterations to attest to comedy. The article then demonstrates that the betrayal, ear-cutting, and naked young man narratives are all comedy. Apechei is thus an important hermeneutic clue to comedy in Gethsemane.