It begins.
The decision to kill Jesus is set and the course of history and prophecy is now in motion. Jesus, God’s Son, sees everything that is about to unfold from a heavenly perspective. And those who think they win have indeed lost. And those who think they have lost, have indeed won.
Consider, the woman who anoints Jesus does so in love and service to Him, and yet Jesus sees it as a preparation for what He knows is about to come. Everyone else is blissfully unaware of the significance of what this woman is doing; and as Jesus ordained, we’re still speaking of her act of service 2000 years later.
During this brief insight Mark gives us into the last supper, we see Jesus prophesy about events that will scatter the 12. One would betray the Son into the hands of sinful men but all would betray Him. We focus on Peter because Scripture gives us details of his betrayal, but the other ten also left Jesus in His time of need just like Peter. None were faithful during this hour of need.
Yet they all were ready when the time came. Peter drew blood with his sword when soldiers arrested his Master. It is evident that if Jesus gave the order, all were ready to strike out for Him. But the Savior orders them to put the sword away. This submission to arrest confused and terrified the disciples. If they couldn’t fight for Jesus, then they were at the mercy of sinners with bloodlust in their eyes. So they fled.
The die is cast during the meeting with the High Priest. Jesus looked at this His high priest, the one He ordained for that position, and with firm resolve told the man, I AM. Of all men, this one who was chosen to intercede for the people, should have dropped to his knees, seeing he was face to face with the One to whom he made intercession. Yet his heart was hardened. Instead of embracing the Son of God as Messiah, he played his part into delivering the holy Christ as the Lamb who would be slain to take away the sins of the world.
Jesus, the Man, did not want to endure what was before Him; but Jesus, the Son of God, saw a sea of lost souls in whom He was their only hope. He would endure this alone, only with the Father to walk with Him through the coming few hours. He would endure because He loved us, and the Father would permit it, having loved the world so much that He was giving His only begotten Son for this hour.
The crucifixion of the Lord. Perhaps one of the most gut-wrenching things for us to read. In the account Mark leaves for us, we see the humility and unbelievable strength of Jesus under control. Consider…
Jesus, the Creator of all, is about to have nails made of iron ore He placed deep into the earth driven into His body; He was about to be nailed to a cross of wood from the tree He created and whose seed He made and planted for this purpose; He was delivered to be crucified by a people He chose as His special people, and He was sentenced by Romans whom He ordained and placed in power by His sovereignty.
Yet, our Savior stood silent when reviled. These men thought they had the power and that they were exercising authority. But they did not know they were sentencing the one Who made all things, the one Who could do all things, and the one Who could end all of this if it had been His will.
So they give our God the worst they could offer. They nail Him to a tree and revile Him while He is suffering. The Romans mock Him, the Jewish leaders laugh at Him, yet by His power, Jesus stays on the cross until His work is done and His spirit leaves the body, awaiting to conquer death for each one of us.
Wealthy Joseph gives Him the respect and honor in His death that people denied Jesus while He was on the cross. As prophesied, Satan bruised His heel.
But in three days, the death blow to Satan is coming…
This is where everything that Jesus taught pointed. Even though Satan bruised His heel, a minor injury through the crucifixion, when He arose from the grave, Jesus delivered a death blow to Satan’s head that would prove fatal (Genesis 3:15). That which was prophesied at the beginning of time was fulfilled in Mark 16.
Jesus had told the disciples on many occasions He would die and would rise again. They should have been awaiting this with assurance and anticipation, but instead, they followed the natural progression of grief when we lose a loved one. They were in shock and denial. Even when people who saw the risen savior told them He lived, the apostles would not believe.
This led Jesus to rebuke them for their unbelief. Not just in the testimony of the ones who were witnessing about the risen savior, but because of their unbelief of Him and His word. Yet we see in other accounts their denial and unbelief quickly turn to joy and faith.
Perhaps, there is a lesson here for us as well. We know Jesus loves us and has promised never to leave or forsake us. He has promised to walk with us through every trial and hardship. He has promised that we will be able to endure anything He allows us to face. Yet, how many times do we feel abandoned and in despair? How many times does our belief waver toward unbelief?
Satan has lost. He knows it. There is no path for victory available to him. So if he is going down, he is intent to take as many with him as possible. In our moments of despair and grief, when it looks like we are all alone, let us remember that the Lord conquered what only God could conquer. Because of that, we are more than conquerors. We bring ourselves into faith in Him, allowing ourselves to be wrapped up in His grace.
Mark shows that Jesus is victorious. Let us not allow Satan to snatch away our blessed assurance from the victory our Lord has already won for us. Let us remain true to His desire that we share this blessed assurance and Gospel with everyone we meet, so they can have the victory in Christ He made possible on the cross through His resurrection.
When you want to know the absolute truth of anything, you go to the source.
If you want to know what a song writer meant, you ask him or her. Their answer settles what the meaning is.
If you want to know the proper way to use an invention, ask the inventor. Their answer settles it.
If you want to know the truth about the number of genders there are, you ask the Creator of people.
“He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,” (Matthew 19:4 ESV).
Jesus’ answer settles it.
I am in the book of Mark in my daily Bible reading. Two things hit me as I listened to what Jesus said in two different situations that speak to us today, especially to those who live in wealthy countries.
First, when Jesus calls the rich young man to follow Him, the man went away in sorrow because he had great riches. Jesus, loved him,
“And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:23 ESV).
Then, when James and John approached Him, asking to sit at His right and left hand, Jesus said it was not His to grant. He then calls His disciples to hear a lesson on authority in the kingdom:
“And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.” (Mark 10:42-44 ESV).
Living in a society that has unprecedented wealth, making even the poorest of its citizens wealthy by historic standards, we are used to getting what we want, when we want it. We have money to have other serve us whatever we want. When those who do not serve us the way we want to be served, we become indignant and feel as though we have been slighted.
The idea of seeing our possessions as belonging to God to use for His glory is a hard concept for us to grapple with. We give out of the abundance of our wealth. And to truly serve and be the slave of others is contrary to our social structure.
Perhaps we all need to reexamine our relationship with our wealth. Is it silently the thing keeping us from the Lord? Perhaps we all need to reexamine our relationship with serving others. Is that the thing keeping us from the Kingdom of Heaven?
I fear I have read these passages in Mark without really asking myself the hard questions Jesus wants me to really consider about being His disciple while living in the midst of wealthy people.
Some Gnostics regarded Judas as the greatest disciple, willingly taking on the task of denying Jesus out of his profound love for his Lord in order to fulfill the prophecy. What this shows us is that things never change. Evil people will always call evil good and good evil. It’s the same thing we see prevalent in our own society today. Perversion is presented as good and those who live righteous lives are berated and persecuted.
But Jesus calls it as He sees it.
“Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”
He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.” (John 6:70-71 ESV).
Yesterday, I listened to Bob Tabor preach about “Imploring God.” It was a great lesson worth your time to listen to. I will link to his lesson in the first comment.
His lesson sparked a thought in me that complements his message. Regarding suffering, trials, or the testing of life, Bob said, “Zooming in can cause us not to see God.”
What he meant in this context is when we start to focus on what is going on with us, it can consume our thoughts and cause us to be blind to the help we have available to us.
If, during those times, we can learn to “zoom out,” it can give us strength and a foundation to endure. In Job 1, it looked like Job was handling his sufferings. But as the book unfolded, Job lost that “zooming out” perspective and started to zoom in on what he is experiencing.
This ultimately led Job to lash out at God and demand God show Himself and defend why He was allowing Job to “unjustly” go through the tremendous suffering he was experiencing.
I like Bob’s advice. In our most challenging times, we need to learn to zoom out and fight the nature to zoom in. It is in the zooming out that we can find the comfort and healing only God can provide.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-church-of-christ-on-mcdermott-road/id1355697633?i=1000663981492
Saturday is here and the week is almost over. As we look back on this week, what are some things we have done to serve others?
As I read about the early Christians, it’s an inescapable reality that they were people who were called servants of others.
Have we given a cup of cold water to someone?
Have we shown hospitality to someone?
Have we clothed the naked, fed the hungry, visited the sick and imprisoned?
What are some things we have done to serve others?
Aristedes, a Greek Christian of the second century, writes,
“They love one another and do not overlook the widow and deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly. He who has supplies the needs of him who has not, without grudging. If they see a stranger they bring him under their roof and rejoice over him as a real brother, because they call themselves brothers not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. And whenever one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them according to his ability gives heed to him and carefully sees to his burial. And if they hear that one of their number is imprisoned or afflicted on account of the name of their Messiah, all of them anxiously minister to his needs, and if possible redeem him and set him free. And if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days to supply the needy with what they need”.
-(Apology, 15:7).
I am in Luke in my daily Bible reading. The theme Jesus teaches about giving to and sharing with others is repetitive in His lessons. Consider the lesson of the man who had an abundance of grain and decided to build bigger barns to store His grain.
He told himself he had grain stored for many years, so he would take it easy and live off his abundance. This was his retirement program. But listen to how God responded to him:
“But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:20-21 ESV).
God didn’t condemn the man for growing his assets.
God didn’t even condemn the man for building a retirement plan.
God’s condemnation centered on the man for taking his blessing for himself with no regard to God. He was being selfish with what God had given him.
How can we be rich toward God with our possessions? By using them to glorify God. We do that by sharing what we have with those in need. Perhaps, instead of building bigger barns to store our abundance, we need to use our abundance to help take care of those in need.