Year 2, Day 161: Mark 14

At Work in the Shadows

As we begin Mark 14, we have a clear sense of the underhanded deceptiveness of the religious leaders of Jerusalem.  They wanted to arrest Jesus secretly because they were afraid of the reaction of the crowds.  Evil doesn’t always work in the shadows – but personally I find the people who prefer to do evil in the shadows the most dangerous.  Leaders who cannot work their agenda in the open are usually guilty of hiding something.

Anointed and Ignored

The next story that we have is the story of Jesus’ anointing by the woman. Of course we’ve heard many times about the argument that ensues about the money.  I’m hoping to brush by that today, because what I find sad is that this story shows just how blind those around Jesus really are.  Jesus had told them how many times that He is getting ready to die?  Yet, what do His disciples focus on? 

Yesterday we saw them focused on the beauty of the temple stones.  Today we find them focused on money.  Jesus is about to be dragged off and killed – and they don’t even seem to care.  It might be denial, but I find it to be more likely that they just don’t grasp the plan of God.

I think this is why Jesus judges humanity harshly when He says, “Always (for) the poor you will have with you…”  I put the words in the actual order that they appear in the Greek for a reason.  There is emphasis being put on the word “always” since it is the word that is first and it is out of the order from where we would expect it.  We will always have the poor among us because we have an innate ability to be distracted from God’s ways.  We care about beauty and wealth when the Lord is about to die.  Even after His resurrection and ascension we still care more about beauty and wealth than taking His Gospel to the world.  We have the poor among us because we as human beings are more focused on our own agenda than His.

Judas

The next story perfectly fits with what was just said.  Judas agrees to hand Jesus over to the Pharisees.  As always, I intentionally do not use the word “betray” there.  The Greek specifically means “to hand over” rather than “betray.”  To speak of this act as betrayal is a position that forgets that ultimately this is God’s plan.  Judas still sins, but His sin is encompassed within God’s plan.  God can use our sin to His good.

Why does Judas hand Jesus over?  Judas loses focus.  Judas wants what he wants, not what Jesus wants.  This loss of focus leads Judas to go against the love of God.

The Lord’s Supper

Speaking of the plan of God, after Judas we now turn to the preparation of the Lord Supper.  Initially this story reads much like the preparation for the Triumphal Entry.  Jesus tells His disciples to go into the city and look for a specific person.  They are to ask that person for something that Jesus has already set into motion.  That’s the really neat part about focusing on God’s role rather than the human control.  When we look for God, we can see that this is all God’s plan.  Everything that happens this week is known by Jesus and under the control of the Father.  As Jesus marches through this final week of life before He is crucified, it unfolds as He knows it will.  Even the act of Judas – while certainly sinful – is not outside of God’s will.

Then we turn to the Lord’s Supper.  I have so much I could say about this, but I will have to keep my words short.  Every time I come to the passage of the Lord’s Supper I cannot help but remember the ritual of Passover as celebrated by traditional Jews.  I cannot help but remember about the Afikomen and how it is broken, hid, ransomed, and reunited with the other two loaves of bread in the Passover.  {If you don’t know about the afikomen, do some research on it.  It’s really cool theological understanding about how the Passover really pointed to Jesus as Messiah as well as how the Jews have a Trinitarian dynamic to the Passover celebration.}  I am also reminded of how it is likely that Jesus says those marvelous words “My blood, shed for you” in conjunction with the partaking of the third cup of wine – which is traditionally understood to be the cup of redemption.  {If you don’t know about this, do some research, people!}  Either way, the Lord’s Supper is filled with deeply traditional theology about Christ’s role as the Passover Lamb.  Thanks be to God that this does happen according to God’s plan.  As we go forward in this chapter and especially the next chapter, let’s not forget how deeply important these events are to our life and our salvation.

Denial All Around

From the Passover we turn to Jesus’ encounter with the disciples.  This section of text is usually referred to as Jesus foretelling Peter’s denial.  But what does verse 31 say?  All the disciples said to Jesus that they would die with Him rather than deny Him.  But what will happen?  Jesus will be alone.  They will flee.  They will not die with Him.  Again their focus will shift away from God and they will expose their weakness.

However, what’s really cool is that they will actually all die for Him.  Later in life, every single one of Jesus’ eleven remaining disciples will die for Him.  There is redemption, for Jesus is the Passover Lamb.  We make silly promises to our Lord that we either have no intention of keeping or we have no ability to be able to keep on our own.  Thanks be to God that there is redemption.

The Garden

Moving to the Garden of Gethsemane, I have two thoughts to bring for reflection.  First, notice the focus of Jesus.  Jesus is focused on the authority of God in His life.  Jesus specifically says, “Not what I will but what You will.”  Jesus’ focus is on the will of God.

In sharp contrast, look at the disciples.  This is the second great teaching of this passage.  The disciples cannot stay awake.  They cannot focus on God’s will.  When the time comes to prepare themselves for the life to come they cannot even focus for an hour!  Three times Jesus gives His disciples a chance to step up and prepare for the coming days and hours.  Three times they fail to focus on God.  Only when life comes upon them do they realize how much they should have been prepared and they weren’t.  We need to learn this lesson.  We need to be in God’s Word and prayer daily to prepare ourselves for the life to come.  Yet how many of us go on unprepared on a regular basis?

Handed Over

Next, we hear that Jesus is handed over to the Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers.  The disciples are unprepared.  We can see this because they don’t understand what is going on.  They are not ready to stand with Jesus and die with Him.  They strike out in defense, cutting off an ear.  When Jesus rebukes that act, they flee and run.  They are not prepared. 

When Christians do not prepare themselves before the fight, we are always on the defensive and typically end up running from the battlefield.  The disciples learned that lesson here in the Garden of Gethsemane.  After the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, we see the disciples taking spiritual preparation seriously.  When will we learn this lesson in life?

There is much that could be said about Jesus before the Council, and my space is already gone.  But I will focus on one thing.  Here we have Jesus’ bold pronouncement of Him being the Christ.  Prior to this, He had only spoken of this among His disciples.  When Jesus was safe, He did not feel the need to confess Himself as Christ.  When the plan of God draws near and His confession would doom Him to death, this is when Jesus chooses to confess boldly to the world who He is. 

How can Jesus put his own last nail in the coffin?  He can do it because He is focused on God’s agenda.  This would be Jesus’ last and final opportunity to escape the plan of God.  Had Jesus taken back everything He said here among the Jewish leaders, they would have no doubt embraced Him and let Him live as a public witness of just how right they were after all.  If Jesus wanted to live – if He wanted to focus on His own agenda under His own authority – He could have spared Himself even here.  But Jesus does not.  His life is not about Him.  His life is about obedience to God.  He confesses His identity and embraces His destiny: the cross.

In sharp contrast to this, we end this chapter with Peter.  Peter does not embrace His destiny.  Peter denies Christ thrice.  He knows it.  He weeps.  He has handed over His Lord to a solitary death.  No other disciple of Christ would die with Him.  Peter had promised that He would die with Christ rather than deny Him.  Yet, Peter has saved His own neck when it counted.  He weeps, because the truth about himself is now known.

Thank God that Christ’s blood is the cup of redemption!  When we hand Jesus over to the world, He forgives us.  When we seek our own agenda, He redeems.  Thanks be to God.  We really should follow Him and give all authority to God.

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