Theological Commentary: Click Here
Today we
start the serious climb to the apex of the Gospel of Mark. Jesus is arrested; His trial begins. The true character of Jesus comes out
stronger than ever in the midst of His last few hours before the crucifixion.
What do we
learn of Jesus? First, Jesus marches on
with unwavering focus. Jesus has come to
fulfill the work of the Father. In spite
of perpetually marching towards the cross, in spite of constantly angering the
religious leaders with truth, in spite of knowing that every moment of teaching
that goes by is one less moment He’ll have with His disciples, Jesus marches on
with the plan. He follows the will of
the Lord without pause.
Second, we
can see that Jesus continues to not be bothered by the humanity of His
disciples. Peter denies Jesus. Judas takes money to lead the religious
leaders and the Roman guards to him. Several
of His disciples argue over the money that could have been gained by selling
oil used to anoint Jesus. The whole lot
of disciples are unable to focus and pray when Jesus Himself requests it. Peter refuses to be humble and accept that he
could possible do something wrong and then turns around and does exactly what
he claimed he could never do by denying his association with Christ. In the midst of this, Peter draws a sword and
inserts violence into Jesus’ arrest by cutting off an ear from a servant f the
high priest. In the moment of high
tension – when Jesus’ disciples could have proven their steadfast loyalty to
Jesus – the disciples go all to pieces instead.
But Jesus doesn’t seem to care.
In fact, Jesus continues to invite them into the story. He continues to want relationship with
them. Jesus accepts the humanity of
those around Him and welcomes them, mistakes and all.
Third, we
continue to see Jesus’ unwavering responsibility to the truth. Jesus does not try to get out of the grasp of
the religious leaders. Instead, Jesus
walks into their grasp willingly. He
does so in order to have an opportunity to proclaim truth. He does this to show the feebleness of
humanity. He does this so that He has an
opportunity to finally declare His identity to the religious leaders and bring
about His own rejection at their hands.
Jesus is loyal to God’s truth above all else. When push comes to shove, it is truth that
Jesus cares about, not His own safety or popularity.
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