Year 5, Day 161: Mark 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Grace

• Grace: Grace comes to us when we make mistakes and have a failing of character.  Grace comes to us when we have a typical D₂ moment.  Grace comes to us when we need space to recognize a mistake, repent of it, and allow God to redeem it while calling us back into His will.  Grace is partnered by Time and Vision.

Do you know what I love about the crucifixion story?  In the whole of the story, we don’t see a single good light shed upon the disciples.  Think about it for a second.  Look at the examples in Mark 14 in which the disciples are included.  Then tell me whether you agree or not.

• In this chapter we see the disciples grumble because a woman anoints Jesus.  They grumble because they think that they could do something better with the money.  They miss the important things.
• Judas agrees to hand Jesus over to the religious leaders.  Clearly he missed what Jesus is all about.
• Peter swears that he will not abandon Jesus.  When Jesus tells Him that he will deny Jesus three times, Peter argues with Jesus.  He tells the Son of God something contrary to the truth.  Peter stops being humble when things are said about him that he can’t believe to be true.  He misses what Jesus is all about.
• The disciples follow Jesus out to pray.  They fall asleep in Jesus’ moment of need.  Clearly the miss the boat in what is important at this time in Jesus’ life.
• One of Jesus’ disciples even grabs a sword and tries to defend Jesus!  Certainly this disciple means well, but he misses what Jesus is all about at this point in his life.
• The disciples scatter when Jesus is arrested.  When the buck stops at Jesus, all of the people around Jesus make themselves scarce.  They miss what God’s hand at work.

We don’t see the disciples at their high moments in life during the time of the crucifixion.  We see them being human.  We see them failing – even if they do mean well.  We see them thinking about themselves in Jesus’ need.  We see them in the pit of despair.

What’s cool is that Jesus still loved them.  He still gave them grace.  He still died for them – and for us.  Even when we abandon Jesus when He calls us to stand with Him, He gives us grace rather than condemnation.

We need to be more like Jesus.  It is easy to abandon those who fail us.  It is easy to abandon those who abandon us.  But the example of Jesus is grace.  He gives the disciples love and the time they need to truly see what God is doing.  Jesus welcomes them eternally even though they were completely human at times.

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