Mark 14:26-28
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee."
This is the day that the Lord has made. Jesus and the rest sang these words from the psalms. Jesus was singing about himself. And he's proclaiming the promises of himself. And then he lets all the air out of that moment by telling them ALL that they will fall away from him.
Peter vehemently denied this. In fact, he argued with Jesus about it. And I bet he wasn't lying. I think he was very sincere. He just failed miserably when the flesh was pushed to its limits. He failed Jesus when he lost his sight of the promises they had just sang about. Just like when he sank beneath the waves when he took his eyes off of Jesus on the Sea of Galilee.
So, I believe him when he said...
"Even though they all fall away, I will not." (v.29)
And he wasn't alone in this emphatic statement.
"If I must die with you, I will not deny you." And they all said the same. (v.31)
So, here we are on the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane. The name of that place is derived from the Aramaic, and it means "oil press". This is where they press out the olive oil. And interestingly this is where our Lord is pressed by his circumstances to the point of sweating blood.
This was a truly vulnerable moment for Jesus. Among one of his most human moments that we are given in the gospels. In this garden our Lord surrendered his life for the grace of God. Everything alive in him was surrendered in his prayers and in his body. He struggled with that surrender while his friends were sleeping. He begged them to stay awake with him. Three times he begged them. And finally, he watched them sleep.
And I think that's our reality today. Our Lord is watching us sleep through our faith. Asleep in our prayer times. Ready to run and fall away from him as soon as things get tough. And he's probably praying for us. He who is alive that was dead, he prays for us. He's there drawing us to himself. Calling our names in a whisper on the wind.
I can see him there after three times trying to wake them. Just settling down and watching over them as his betrayer is coming up the mountain with the temple authorities. He's listening to the night sounds. He's listening as they breathe in sleepy breaths in troubled dreams. And he's listening to the footfall of the coming soldiers who are awake and ready to do what God has given them to do. They don't know what they're doing, Jesus says as much later on, but rest assured they are doing The Lord’s will by grace alone.
How long did Jesus watch them?
We don't know, we only know he was agonizing with them, and he was feeling so alone.
Think about this.
This is grace alone, literally. Jesus is alone. The source of all grace is alone. Grace is about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Grace is about to be revealed to his captors by a kiss.
Mark 14:45-46
"And when he [Judas] came, he went up to him at once and said, "Rabbi!" And he kissed him. And they laid hands on him and seized him."
I want you to notice something. Judas called him Rabbi, which means teacher. Judas is never recorded in the gospels as having called Jesus "Lord". To me that says it all. It reveals to me that Judas never held Jesus in that regard. And it's an important distinction. For we know the Word of God is Jesus. And the source of all grace is Jesus. And we know that he is Lord of Lords. And know that he is a teacher as well. And we know he taught...
Matthew 16:24
"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."
Matthew 10:32
"So, everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven"
And we know the disciples later understood that...
Romans 10:9
"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Judas never expressed this sentiment or conviction. He betrayed him with a passionate kiss. It's strange really. But Judas was strange in many ways. A very troubled person. And at any rate he also did not know what he was doing. This whole matter is a matter of grace alone.
Jesus says as much...
Mark 14:49-50
"Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled." And they [the disciples] all left him and fled.
Grace was betrayed and denied, and it had to be this way because the scriptures must be fulfilled. The prophecies must come to pass.
And then something really strange happens here in Mark's gospel.
Mark 14:51-52
"And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked."
Scholars believe that this is Mark's personal account as he was likely about twelve years old at this point and was a follower of Jesus along with the others in "the crowds".
Mark 14:54
"And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire."
As Peter warms himself and denies his Lord before the people that were also there, Jesus is condemned to death by a corrupt religious regime. Many people were brought in and bore false witness against him. And Mark makes a point of saying that these false testimonies didn't agree with each other, but that didn't seem to matter in the High Court's decision.
Jesus is taken away and beaten horribly, again according to the scriptures.
Isaiah 52:14
"His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness"
And Peter, staying far off, is warming himself at the fire of Christ's enemies.
Mark 14:67-69
"Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus." But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you mean." And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed."
Grace was terribly alone. Left alone by his friends. And it's as it should be. Because grace alone is the source of all forgiveness and mercy. Grace alone is worthy of praise and glory. Grace alone needs no friends to do the will of God. And Grace alone owes no explanation or apology for His wrath and judgment.
Grace alone is the work of Jesus Christ alone. Our standing in his righteousness is by his grace alone. And this is not limited to the forgiveness of our sins and our justification. This spans all of our sanctification as well. There are no works of our flesh that have anything to do with this grace, other than being a byproduct of that grace. It's a product of his predetermined love.
Ephesians 1:4
"Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love..."
Not according to the will of our flesh which is weak as Jesus says. This grace is from God. It's his mercy. His choice is not contingent upon our ability to make things right. Thank God for that because no one would ever be saved. Grace alone gives us faith. Grace alone sends his Spirit to bring us into remembrance. Grace alone died on his cross for the forgiveness of our sins. And Grace alone sits in authority over the living and the dead.
Just like that night in the Garden he sits in authority and watches over his friends.
Genesis 1:26-28
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them.
The first time that our Creator God said that something WASN'T good, was in the garden of Eden. There is his perfect creation he found something that wasn't good. Up until then everything was some form of what he determined WAS good.
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.
God created the earth, the waters, the dry land, and God saw that it was good.
God created all the growing things. The plants that bore seeds and fruits, and God saw that it was good.
God created the heavenly lights and bodies. He separated the dark from the light. He created the seasons and established time, and God saw that it was good.
God created the living creatures in the waters, on the dry ...
Mark 12:10-11
Have you not read this Scripture:
"‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?"
The vineyard, Jesus tells the temple leaders, is the house of Israel. God had promised the Messiah for Israel, and Israel rejected the Messiah.
Jesus said in Matthew 15:24, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
From the OT book Exodus to the NT book of Hebrews. The term "house of Israel" occurs about 150 times. The phrase refers to the nation of Israel, which was brought out of slavery in Egypt. Rachel and Leah "built the house of Israel"
Ruth 4:11
All the people who were in the court, and the elders, said, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel; and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem."
The Lord made his covenant with this bloodline. As Jesus points out...
Mark 12:1
"A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for ...
Matthew 24:6-8 "You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these events are the beginning of labor pains."
There has been thirteen years of war for every one year of peace since the time of Christ. Mankind loves war.
"Many will fall away, betray one another, and hate one another." (v.10)
Love grows cold. Lawlessness spreads faster than the gospel. But through endurance the kingdom of God will be preached. And the angels will fulfill this mission:
Revelation 14:6 "Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, 'Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.'"
And just as a side note, for all ...
Mark 15:21-22
"And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull)."
I find it interesting here in chapter fifteen all these "passerby's" having some influence on the narrative. We begin with Simon who is called the father of Alexander and Rufus. In Romans chapter sixteen there's a man named Rufus. Maybe Simon's son? We don't know. If Simon and his sons are well known among the early church communities in Rome, it's likely that Simon would be a person of interest having been so closely involved in the crucifixion of The Lord.
We know he was from what today we would call Libya, but we don't know much else. Was he a visiting traveler on business in Jerusalem or possibly a pilgrimage. Was he a resident there? We don't know. Probably visiting or pilgrimage since he was coming in from the country.
What do we know?
In Luke's gospel account we know that Simon carried the cross for Jesus from behind him, which is interesting in ...
Mark 15:12-15
And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?" And they cried out again, "Crucify him." And Pilate said to them, "Why? What evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him." So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified."
Under pressure Pilate caved into the demands of the crowd. Under Pilates authority Jesus was judged by the Jews to have committed crimes against God and his law, and against Rome. The primary charge was a crime against the Roman emperor. They said he was a tax cheat. They said he was assuming the position of king. Jesus was being treated like an insurrectionist. They scourged Jesus to get him to confess these crimes. He did not say a word. They accused him of many things, and he never said a word.
Luke 23:7
"And when he [Pilate] learned that he [Jesus] belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time."
...
Jeremiah 3:15-16
"‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, "The ark of the covenant of the Lord." It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again."
God is our Father, Abba and Adonai [Lord]. And he sees mankind, and especially those whom he has called his people. He sees them as a rebellious people who are polluting the land. They've made the land unclean in their disobedience, and disregard for the Law. They've played the harlot with many unclean lovers. Yet in his great mercy and love, he longs for them to return to him.
God's prophet describes the depths of their sin. He draws a picture of a lawless people who are acting like whores. But worse than that they are polluting the whole land with their garbage spiritualized with pagan energy. And there is no place that is not touched by their religion.
"Lift up your eyes to the...
