INTRODUCTION

Dreams are strange things. But they are not, as the materialists would insist, just the chemical and electrical boings and bongs of the grey matter. You’ve certainly had pleasant dreams that you don’t want to awake from. On the other hand, you’ve probably had the unpleasant experience of a night terrors that you greatly desire to wake up from, but can’t seem to. Then there are dreams that in retrospect gave you a glimpse into the future. Long lay the world in slumber. Jesus came to wake man up.

 

THE TEXT

And immediately, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely. And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him. And they laid their hands on him, and took him. And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. […] Mark 14:43-72

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

All the pieces were set by God’s redemptive providence. Immediately after Jesus’ declaration that the betrayer was at hand, Judas indeed appears with an armed mob. In order to mark Jesus, Judas had told them that he would kiss the one they were to seize, and straightway Judas greets Jesus with, “Rabbi, Rabbi” and then the betraying kiss (vv43-45). Then a flurry of action. The mob seizes Jesus (v46). A disciple draws a sword and cuts off a servant’s ear (v47). Jesus rebukes the mob for their cowardly midnight arrest (vv48-49). The flock scatters (v50). A young man tries to follow the mob, but when they try to apprehend him he slips out of his linen garment and flees naked out of the garden (vv51-52).

Now the most shameful trial of all history is held. The assembly of chief priests gather at the High Priest’s home. Peter follows from afar, and joins the servants at the fire (vv53-54). At the trial, the chief priests face a pesky issue: insufficient and contradictory witness (vv55-59). So the High Priest tries to get Jesus to answer direct questions, and at first gets no reply. Then he asks Jesus, “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” This is the question. To which the Word made flesh responds with the answer: “I am.” And then Jesus adds more fuel to the fire by applying Daniel’s divine title “Son of Man” to Himself, informing that judicial body that He would soon come to judge them (vv60-62). The High Priest, in folly, rends his garments (Cf. Lev. 21:10), ignores the need for 2-3 witnesses, and calls for the verdict of whether Jesus blasphemed; the assembly’s verdict condemned Jesus as guilty (vv63-64). Then, as was foretold, Christ’s cruel sufferings began (v65).

Mark then takes us back over to the scene of Peter by the fire. Jesus has just been denied by the chief priests, will Peter hold steadfast in temptation? Will anyone stand with Jesus? Mark’s retelling is highly dramatic. A young maiden confronts Peter, and he falters; then, just as Jesus had foretold, a warning crow of a rooster sounds (vv66-68). The maid persists, and this time accuses Peter in front of a small crowd of being one of Jesus’ disciples. He again denies it. For the third time, the whole crowd joins in, pressuring Peter to admit that he was with Jesus, his Galilean accent gave it away (vv69-70). With curses, Peter denied even knowing of Jesus (v71). And then a second rooster crow echoes through the courtyard, and it comes to Peter that he’d done as Jesus said he would do, and which he claimed he would never do; then grief and shame engulfs Peter (v72).

 

THE SON OF JONAH

We need to go back to an earlier scene. In Mark 8 when Jesus had asked who the disciples thought he was, it was Peter who discerned and testified on behalf of the twelve that Jesus was the Christ. Jesus told them to keep His identity secret, and explained that sufferings, rejection by Israel’s elders, death and resurrection awaited Him. Peter rebuked Jesus for thinking that as the Christ this was His destiny. Yet Jesus insisted it was so. He summoned them to follow Him, and that to follow Him meant following Him to the cross.

Now, Peter, the son of Jonah, stands at a courtyard fire timid before a maiden who asks him whether he was a follower of Jesus. Mark puts Peter close to Jesus in order to paint a vibrant contrast. Peter was a good and godly Israelite. He discerned that in Jesus was the messianic fulfillment of God’s ancient promises of restoration for Israel. Yet, even the best of Israel falters and falls away at the last. Peter falls not only to fear, but to outright denial; and outright denial after a warning. Mark brings us to see a splendid scene: Jesus stands alone.

 

THE SON OF MAN

Framing Jesus’ trial with the denial of Peter brings glorious relief to the scene which Mark has arranged. Jesus of Nazareth stands alone before Israel’s elders; he’s accused by confused witnesses who can’t seem to get their testimony to line up. They know Jesus has somehow threatened the temple. He’d compared Himself to David, and asserting authority to preside over the holy things (Mk. 2:25-26). He had made a ruckus in the temple just a few days earlier, and stated that the temple was being misused (Mk. 11:15-17). In His battle of wits with the elders He had claimed to be the chief cornerstone that they were rejecting (Mk. 12:10-11). Perhaps Judas had related Jesus’ prediction about not one temple stone being left on another (Mk. 13:1-2).

The elders knew they were dealing with potent and cosmic claims. But because of their envy and unbelief, they couldn’t put Jesus’ actions and claims together. It was a nightmare to them, because they were asleep. Jesus alone was awake. Joseph had been hauled before Pharaoh and his courtiers to explain the dreams which afflicted him. Daniel had been summoned before Nebuchadnezzar to not only interpret the dream, but to dream it first and then interpret it. The uncertain and shadowy dreams of all the prophets and oracles were now about to be spelled out with divine certainty.

Caiaphas asks Jesus directly: Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? The question is the dream, Jesus’ answer is the interpretation. Who would the Messiah be? Jewish tradition envisioned the Messiah as a kingly figure; a davidic heir. Israel was God’s Son (Ex. 4:22-23, Hos. 11:1); Israel’s King could also be reckoned as the son of God since he was the head of the nation (2 Sam. 7:14).

How does Jesus interpret this dream? He insists that He is indeed the Christ. Then He takes it further. He is also the Son of Man. Jesus has thought on the OT Scriptures; praying through them faithfully. He had communed with the Father. He’d heard the Father’s voice. He knew that the Messiah was indeed the Son of God, but He also understood that reality should be coupled with another glory. Daniel’s visions revealed that the davidic heir would also bear the title Son of Man (Dan 7:13). This title takes us all the way back to Eden. A son of Adam. Adam was made king of the world, but by his sin ruination and the devil’s dominion began.

But if David’s son, the Messiah, God’s beloved Son had indeed come, this would be a new creation. A new Adam had come. The whole world was to be remade and recreated. The kingdom of Satan was ended. The Kingdom of Heaven was indeed come. Therefore the old world of dreams, shadows, and the nightmare of demonic rule over the nations was over and done. Man was summoned to awake.

 

JESUS ALONE

As Mark has retold the story of Jesus one of the more shocking features is that Israel was brimful with demons. This nation that was to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, was instead overrun with unclean spirits. All of history came down to this one Man. Mark has brought us to the point where we see that Jesus alone can overthrow Satan because Jesus alone is God’s Son, Adam’s son, David’s son. Scripture brings us to see all the most righteous saints falter and fail. Israel has been reduced to a singular Man of Righteousness. Here is the meaning of all the dreams: Jesus alone, Jesus ever, Jesus always.

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Introduction

In various surveys of people’s fears, public speaking is regularly atop the list. We are frightened of standing before other people. This fear is close to the bone. At our core, we often care far more than we should about how people view us, and we fear losing the esteem of others. But to follow Jesus is to be reviled by the world. As Jesus approaches the cross, Mark challenges us to consider the question: Do you know what it means to follow Jesus?

 

The Text

After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people. And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her…

Mark 14:1ff

 

Summary of the Text

Jesus has pronounced judgement on Jerusalem, and Mark now brings us into the valley of the shadow of death. The Passover was in two days, and the Jewish rulers wanted to get their dirty business taken care of before then, but without arousing the ire of the adoring crowds (vv1-2). Jesus must be killed. The only question for them was how.

While the rulers are plotting Jesus’ death, He is feasting with a restored leper in Bethany (v3). During the meal, a woman enters and anoints Jesus’ head with an entire vessel of precious spikenard ointment (v3). The woman’s lavish display incites a bit of fremdschämen in some of the diners, their objection is that this costly gift could have been better used to fund the local soup kitchen (vv4-5). Jesus rebukes the murmuring with two stark statements. First, He reproaches, “You can help the poor anytime you want to.” Secondly, He describes the woman’s actions as a burial anointing, and her act is worthy of timeless retelling (vv6-9). All this is too much for Judas, and he goes off to betray Jesus (vv10-11).

Meanwhile, Jesus gives instructions for the festal preparations. Two disciples are sent to make things ready, and everything is as Jesus instructed—like when He sent for the colt (vv12-16). That evening Jesus and the twelve gather for the feast, and at the meal Jesus declares that one of them would betray Him; one by one they sorrowfully ask, “Is it I?” Jesus doesn’t answer directly, but conveys that it is one of the twelve, close enough to dip the bread in the olive oil with Jesus. The Lord is not dismayed by this, for He knows that sufferings await the Son of Man; but He pronounces a fearful doom upon the betrayer (vv17-21).

Now Jesus takes the Passover feast, and retells the Exodus story in a shocking way. Just as He had done with the feeding of the two multitudes in the wilderness He takes, blesses, breaks, and gives bread to His disciples. But this time He tells them that this bread and wine is not merely a memorial of Israel’s past deliverance, nor is it a hopeful token of future deliverance, but that deliverance will be seen in the very imminent breaking of His body and and the shedding of His blood (vv22-24). Furthermore, Jesus makes a vow to forego wine until He drinks it in His inaugurated Kingdom (v25). The supper ends with a song, and then off once again to Mt. Olives (v26).

On the way, Jesus foretells two things: the scattering of the disciples according to Zechariah’s prophecy (Zech. 13:7), and His rising again. Peter objects to all this, and insists that he at least wouldn’t fall away. This leads to a third prediction from Jesus: Peter’s threefold denial (vv27-31). Coming to the quiet of Gethsemane, Jesus goes off with the three for prayer; the coming battle weighs heavy upon Him, and He calls the three to watch (vv32-34, Cf. 13:37). The Lord prays unto Abba, asking that the cup might pass from Him; yet in perfect humility Jesus acquiesces to the Father’s will. Three times Jesus goes off to pray only to return to find the three asleep. The salvation of the entire world rests on Jesus’ alone (vv35-41). When Jesus returns the third time it is clear that He is ready, and that the hour had struck: the betrayer was at hand (vv41-42).

 

A New Passover

Holiday imagery hangs over this feast: a killed lamb, bread made in haste, a Red Sea crossing, a deadly tyrant defeated. Mark paints a familiar scene. The head of the home retelling the Exodus story. But as Jesus retells the Exodus story, He gives it an unexpected twist. Twelve disciples, like the twelve tribes, are informed that Jesus, the Son of Man, is going before them into the very sorrows of death. He tells them that to truly understand the old Passover story they need to see it in light of His coming act of death.

God was going to bring deliverance for His people once more. Jesus, the Son of Man, would go forth before the tribes of Israel to lead them out of Satan’s kingdom, and into the glory of God’s Kingdom. But Jesus once more insists that the way into the Kingdom comes through Him alone. Furthermore, that pathway was leading to His death. Are you sure you want to follow Him?

 

How to Honor Jesus

Mark has now given us two examples of women who truly honored the Lord. The widow who gave everything in giving her only pennies; also the woman in this text who anointed Jesus with rare and costly ointment. The crowd responds with a back of the napkin estimate about the ointment costing nearly a year’s wage.

Many Christians are content to follow Christ in a socially acceptable manner. Their obedience to God stays in between the lines of cultural expectations. They may proudly declare their identity as a Christian. But, honoring Jesus, as these two women have shown, doesn’t confine itself to what is reputable. It doesn’t obey only insofar as to be unlikely to meet with ridicule. Honoring the Lord raises the eyebrows of those who only covet worldly praise and prestige. Honoring the Lord isn’t found in mere lip-service, like we see in Peter’s boasting.

This woman discerned, however imperfectly, enough to see the worth of Jesus and what He’d come to do. Jesus interprets her act as a burial preparation. What on earth could this mean? The disciples could understand Him being anointed as a king or priest or prophet and taking up the throne, or offering up the atoning sacrifices, or defying wicked kings. But anointed for burial? They could not yet see that Jesus had come to die, and in so doing be rewarded the throne of heaven and earth. In so doing, the final sacrifice for sin would be offered. In so doing, the most wicked tyrant, Satan, would be cast down.

 

In Galilee

Jesus tells the disciples they are gonna chicken out. They are going to shame themselves. One of them was going to betray the Lord. Another would deny Him three times. They thought of themselves as sturdy stones upon which Jesus could build His new kingdom. He tells them that they too are going to be scattered like He had foretold would happen to the temple’s stones. Here is great sin. But Jesus gives a greater promise.

Despite all their coming sin of fearfully forsaking Him, He promises that after His death He would go before them and they were to meet Him. They weren’t to meet Him in some astral plane. He wasn’t casting His body aside as if it was garbage. The Resurrection was not Jesus’ desertion of this earth He had made. No…He tells the disciples, and us, that he would rise again, and they were to meet Him again in Galilee. To follow Jesus into His death, is to follow Him into the Resurrection.

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