The True Witness... and Blind Injustice - Mark 14:53-65

The True Witness… and Blind Injustice

 Mark 14:53-65

Introduction: In his commentary on Mark, R.C. Sproul said, “It is unthinkable that the Messiah, the Ruler and Sustainer of the universe, should be subjected to a trial by mere men…” (Mark, p. 382). Of course, Jesus spoke only truth, He never sinned, He was guilty of nothing. The injustice of this procedure is evident at every point, His accusers are guilty, Jesus is without sin, innocent, righteous, holy… The Law required honest testimony, and fair trials. We read in Leviticus 19:15-16,   

¹⁵ "You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.  ¹⁶ You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.

Do you remember how this chapter started? We read in 14:1,

It was now two days before the Passover... And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him…

Their minds were made up. There would be no fair investigation of the truth. They were determined not only to arrest Him, but they were determined to kill Him. Until now Jesus has kept full disclosure of His identity low key, revealed only to a few. Now it will come front and center. This is why He came…

The Maine* Idea: Jesus, Messiah, Son of Man, and Son of God, willingly endured injustice at the hands of men, so that we could be justified before God.

I. The Illegal convening of the Sanhedrin: At night, in darkness (53-54).

⁵³ And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together.  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. 

      The moment the leaders of the Jews had long been planning and maneuvering to bring about was at hand.  The brought Jesus under the cover of darkness to the home of the High Priest, Caiaphas. We know from comparing the other Gospels that there was an initial stop at the home of the “High Priest Emeritus,” Annas, but Mark doesn’t give us that detail.  So, rather than taking Jesus to the Chamber of Hewn Stone where the Sanhedrin traditionally met, they brought Him to the home of the High Priest, Caiaphas, and “all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together.” This is described as “the whole council” in v.55, and so it seems to me that this is a meeting of the Sanhedrin. It doesn’t necessarily mean every last one was there, but at least enough of them to constitute a quorum.  The Sanhedrin was not supposed to meet during the feast, nor were they to come together at night. But here they were. The timing of their actions also seem symbolic, they are acting in the darkness, and spiritually speaking, they are in the darkness.

       Peter warms himself by the fire with the guards… (Mark will return to Peter after this scene). I mentioned in our Wednesday night study that for me this is a convicting scene. Think about it, this is Peter, the Rock, the one who said “though they all desert you, I will never leave you, I will die with you…” Now he is there, blending in with the guards and others present in the High Priest’s courtyard… sitting by the fire and warming himself. Peter had boasted that he would die rather than deny Him, and now Jesus is being spit on and beaten and mocked, and Peter is sitting quietly by, in between a guard and a servant girl!  Perhaps close enough to see and hear what is happening, but unwilling to stand up and be identified with Christ. Before we judge Peter, we should ask ourselves, are we content to “blend in” with the world? Are we comfortable going through life without making too many waves? Without drawing too much attention? Enjoying the warmth of the fire, rather than risking being “exposed” as a Christ-follower? R.C. Sproul similarly asked,

Are you following Jesus from a distance? Do the people with whom you interact each day know that you are a Christian? I am not asking whether you wear your Christianity on your sleeve and make a pest of yourself to your friends and coworkers. I am simply asking whether they know where your allegiance lies. If they do not, perhaps you are keeping a safe distance from your Savior” (Mark p. 382).

Remember His call in chapter 8, “If anyone would be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me…” That leaves no room for “easy believism.” It is a radical call to discipleship, a call to count the cost of being a Christ-follower. It means loving Him more than the world, more than life! He showed us His love, He endured injustice at the hands of men so that we could be justified before God.

II. The Injustice of false-witnesses (55-61a). They had pre-determined the outcome they desired, and clearly felt the end justified the means. Their intentions expressed in 14:1 are now in the process of being carried out.

⁵⁵ Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none.  ⁵⁶ For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree.  ⁵⁷ And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying,  ⁵⁸ "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.'"  ⁵⁹ Yet even about this their testimony did not agree.  ⁶⁰ And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, "Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?"  ⁶¹ But he remained silent and made no answer.

       Mark tells us that the chief priests and the “whole Council” were seeking testimony to justify putting Jesus to death. This was no fair trial, no objective inquiry. They were not investigating the facts or seeking truth. They had made up their minds long ago that Jesus had to go. And they were not going to miss this opportunity. They were not seeking truthful witnesses, they were seeking testimony to put Him to death… Our minds are made up, let’s invent a narrative to get it done!

       False witnesses were bought forth, but they contradicted each other. They needed corroborating witnesses but they all apparently had differing stories! Some of them said that Jesus had spoken against the Temple. What had Jesus said about the Temple? In the previous chapter (13) He had predicted its destruction, and back in John 2, at the outset of His public ministry, He had used the figure of the Temple metaphorically, to speak of His coming death and resurrection. Let’s read a few of those verses…

Mark 13:1-2  And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!"  ² And Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."

He was clearly prophesying the future destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, which would be razed by the Romans in AD 70. In this discourse on the Mount of Olives He didn’t say that HE would destroy the Temple, only that it would be leveled. And, by the way, that is exactly what happened. Now back in John 2 there was a different exchange. After cleansing the Temple for the first time, near the outset of His public ministry, the Jewish leaders challenged His authority for doing such a thing…

Jn 2:18-21  So the Jews said to him, "What sign do you show us for doing these things?"  ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  ²⁰ The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?"  ²¹ But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

Here it seems Jesus is intentionally veiling a prophesy of His death and resurrection.  In the context John tells us that only after the resurrection would the disciples “remember” that He had said these things. In John 2:21, as the narrator of the Fourth Gospel, he lets the reader have a little more information, i.e., He was speaking not about the physical building, but about His body.

       It seems that these false witnesses are blending together and distorting these two different prophecies which had two different referents. And in neither case did Jesus say He would be the one to destroy the temple!  V.61 tells us that Jesus did not respond to these convoluted, false charges. He remained silent, which evokes the description of the Servant in Isaiah 53:7…

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”  (Isa 53:7).

That beautiful chapter describes the righteous, suffering, servant. He was willing to be the lamb led to the slaughter. The testimony of these so-called witnesses collapsed on itself, one contradicted the other. Without corroboration in a capital case there could be no conviction. Jesus, like a lamb being led to slaughter, remained silent. He endured injustice at the hands of men so that we could be justified before God.

III. One Isolated Witness Spoke Truthfully: Jesus responds to the direct question of the High Priest (61b-62). Who do you claim to be?

Again, the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"  ⁶² And Jesus said, "I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." 

        …I AM… Messiah and “Son of God” rightly defined… The High Priest was clearly frustrated by the inability of their false-witnesses to get their stories together. And so, he switches to another tactic, to seek to get Jesus to say something that they could use against Him, to catch Him in His own words. And he gets right to the point: “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” These titles are used side-by-side, in parallel, appositionally. “Christ,” as we have seen, is the Greek translation of the word “Messiah,” the “Anointed One.” The High Priest further asks, “Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed?” What the High Priest meant by that second title was “Son of God.” This was an example to the Jewish practice of avoiding saying the name of God. They would use phrases like “Kingdom of Heaven” rather than saying “Kingdom of God,” or, as here, “Son of the Blessed,” in place of “Son of God.” The question was clear. Who do you claim to be? Are you, or are you not, the Messiah, the Promised One of Israel?”

       Until now, as Mark has been telling the story of Jesus, he is showing us that when people came to understand who Jesus was, almost always He told them to keep it to themselves. In the light of the full context of the Gospel we can see that He was saying, “Keep it to yourself for now.” That is, until the right time. This so-called “messianic secret” was part of Him controlling the unfolding of His story. His teaching and the miracles that He did bore witness to who He is. Yet He guarded the flow of information. Even back in chapter 8, when Peter, speaking for the twelve said “You are the Christ,” Jesus’ immediately warned them not to tell anyone about Him (Mk 8:29,30). Why? Revealing His identity too soon would precipitate more opposition and even violence at the hands of the leaders. It wasn’t time yet for them to be His witnesses. But the hour had now come, and He, the True Witness, speaks.

               Are You the Son of the Blessed? Who are you, Jesus? Mark here includes for us Jesus direct answer to that question in His response to the High Priest. The answer He gives was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. His answer has at least three components indicating the full and correct understanding of the person of the Messiah. Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? Jesus answer is affirmative, but I think He is saying more, essentially challenging the High Priest’s understanding of the person and nature of the Messiah…

       1)  “I AM…” Remember the historical context, Jesus had just revealed His authority as the great I AM when the contingent appeared to arrest Him (Jn 18:5,6). Against that background, He says the same thing here: “I AM.” The God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush stood before the ruler of the people, incarnate, the Promised One and the Hope of Israel, and was not recognized by him! It seems to me that Jesus is saying more than “yes” in answering the High Priest with these words.

       2) You will see… the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power… (He alludes there to Psalm 110:1; “The LORD said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make the nations a footstool for your feet…” ). The Son seated at the right hand of God, called “Lord” by David, and so clearly greater than him… Who’s Son is He? The Son of God!

       3) Jesus also makes reference to Dan 7:13,14 when he describes the Son of Man… coming on the clouds of heaven... We read in Daniel 7,

Daniel 7:13-14   ¹³ I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.  ¹⁴ And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away...

Jesus refers to this vision of Daniel, and this messianic figure coming on the clouds of heaven and being given an eternal kingdom. He is speaking to the religious leader of the Jews, essentially saying yes, I am the Messiah, but do you understand what that really means? The great I AM, the Son of God, the Son of Man!  He knew how the religious leaders would respond to this straight forward declaration! He gave a true witness, even though He knew their minds were made up. It is why He came. To endure injustice at the hands of men so that we could be justified before God.

IV. The Illegitimate Judge: The High Priest Disqualified Himself in tearing his robe and unjustly condemning Jesus for blasphemy (63-65).

⁶³ And the high priest tore his garments and said, "What further witnesses do we need?  ⁶⁴ You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?" And they all condemned him as deserving death.  ⁶⁵ And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, "Prophesy!" And the guards received him with blows.

The irony here is overwhelming. A human “judge” charging the Creator of the Universe, God the Son, the One who knows the hearts of will judge the souls of every human, with blasphemy!? That is the highest form of blasphemy imaginable!

      “…tore his garments… (See Lev. 21:10). This action by the High Priest was intended to indicate His righteous indignation at what he considered the blasphemous answer of Jesus. The Law actually prohibited the tearing of the High Priest’s garments (Lev 21:10). [It occurs to me that the soldiers would later cast lots for Jesus’ garment, it would not be torn!]. The Mishnah, the written collection of the traditions of the Rabbis, permitted it only in the case of blasphemy.  That is the claim here, not that claiming to be the messiah would be blasphemous in itself. Seemingly the High Priest discerns that Jesus is claiming more than that… His claim to be the Son of God is to be understood as a claim to deity. Did he hear the expression “I AM” in its fullest sense? Did He understand what Jesus was implying by calling Himself God’s Son? If so, he was right about Jesus’ claim, but totally wrong in rejecting Him. Jesus was the one, truthful witness who testified that day! The only blasphemy that day was the leaders rejecting Him, beating and mocking Him, sentencing Him to death. By the way, the Law required that blasphemers by stoned (Lev 24:15,16). But the Romans did not authorize the Jews to carry out capital punishment. So, the High Priest had to manipulate the situation so that the Roman authorities would carry out his bidding. A thousand years earlier God had inspired David to write out a psalm, Psalm 22, that perfectly described a crucifixion!

      See Mark 8:31; 10:34, as he had prophesied… Jesus had predicted, specifically that the leaders would reject Him, mock Him, even spit on Him (cf. Isa 50:6). And yes, He would be tortured and put to death. But that wasn’t the end of the story. He would rise on the third day!

What is God saying to me in this passage? Jesus endured injustice at the hands of men so that we could be justified before God.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Let’s start with Peter warming himself by the fire, next to the guard. Do we sometimes stay silent, and fail to be a voice for righteousness, failing to hold forth the Gospel? Lord forgive us! Consider what He willingly endured for us. The Just suffering for the unjust, so that we could be forgiven, reconciled to God. He saved us on purpose, for a purpose. Will you embrace that truth, and follow Him? 

       Peter reflected on this scene when he wrote,  

²² He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.  ²³ When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.  ²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.  ²⁵ For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls… (I Pet 2:22-25).

Be encouraged that Jesus is in control. The leaders thought they had the upper hand, but they could only do what God allowed, for His purpose. Jesus willingly endured injustice before men, so that we could be justified, declared righteous, before God. Do you ever feel life isn’t fair? Have you ever asked, “What did I do to deserve this?” When people ask me that, my usual answer is, “You were born into a fallen world.” Remember what Jesus endured for us! There will not always be justice in this life – but know this: Jesus came to undo the Fall! And He has revealed to us the end of the story: Spoiler alert: Jesus wins! And so do we, if we are His. AMEN.

Betrayed and Abandoned! - Mark 14:43-52

Betrayed and Abandoned

Mark 14:43-52

Introduction: Jesus had predicted, based on Scripture, how history would unfold… Many of those predictions had to have seemed unimaginable to the disciples, like the Temple being razed and Jerusalem over run by armies (Mk 13). But at a personal level, they had to be hit hard when Jesus made two shocking predic-tions: 1) One of them, the twelve who ate with Him at the Passover table, would betray Him; and 2) That they would all desert Him. Not only did He make these predictions, but he quoted Scripture to show that these developments were part of God’s plan and had been revealed in Scripture. Peter was even told that He would deny Jesus three times that very night, before the rooster crowed twice!

       We can miss how stunned the disciples must have been in hearing these predictions. Since we have the whole story, we can put together why Jesus did not expose the would be betrayer (Judas), nor avoid the mob who came to arrest Him. This was the plan of God, devised in the counsel of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit, in eternity passed. Back in Mark 8, after the disciples had made a strong confession of Jesus as the Messiah, we see a little conflict revealing their lack of understanding of the messianic mission. We read in Mark 8:31-33…

³¹ And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.  ³² And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  ³³ But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man..."

He came to be our substitute, to satisfy the justice of Holy God, so that we could be rescued from the wrath that we deserved. And so, that brings us to…

The Maine* Idea: Life can be hard but we don’t need to panic, Jesus came to rescue us; He is Lord and His Word will be fulfilled.

I. Determination: The Resolute Obedience of Jesus (41-43). He knew what was coming, but made no effort to evade the mob coming to arrest Him, but submitted to the divine plan. Let’s start the reading in 14:41, to set the context…

⁴¹ And he came the third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  ⁴² Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."  ⁴³ And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 

       Let’s start in 14:41 to set the context. Jesus is praying, seeking the Father’s help as His hour is at hand. He had taken three of the disciples with Him, a little further into the garden, Peter, James, and John. As He prays in the face of what was coming, becoming our sin-bearer, being accursed for us, taking the judgement that we deserved, He is strengthened to drink the cup that was coming. We see His humanity, and the importance of prayer. The disciples, in the meantime, fall asleep—three times. Jesus had warned them to “watch and pray lest they fall into temptation,” because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

       Did He know they would fail? It seems He did, in fact He predicted betrayal (by Judas), denial (three times, by Peter), and desertion, by all. But even as He steels himself for the awful task ahead, He is still teaching the disciples—after the Resurrection they would have their minds opened and begin to understand. Finally, the story is about to move toward its climax, “Enough! Let’s go, the hour has come!” As we saw last week, that is by no means a call to retreat, but rather to move ahead with determination to the task ahead.

       Jesus could have avoided the confrontation and left the garden. Luke gives us the observation that we have seen unfolding in Mark as well, that “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). The language used there has the sense of determined action, “His face set like a flint” toward Jerusalem. Clearly, He was not only looking at a geographical location, but anticipating all that He knew had to happen there during this Passover. He had a mission to carry out. He had then looked resolutely toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), now, more specifically, He looks resolutely toward Calvary, and the cup He must drink.

       He could have passed through the crowd, but chose not to. Earlier, He had done exactly that on different occasions. Look at two texts from other gospels…

Luke 4:28-30   ²⁸ When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.  ²⁹ And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.  ³⁰ But passing through their midst, he went away.

John 8:58-59   ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."  ⁵⁹ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

You see, on those occasions, His hour had not yet come, and they could not touch Him unless He allowed it, so He passed right through their midst.

       He had repeatedly predicted this moment (8:31; 9:31; 10:32 f). Since the disciples professed faith in Him as the Messiah, He began to inform and correct their understanding of the messianic mission. He would be hand over, suffer, be killed, and on the third day be resurrected. He came to reconcile sinful human to Holy God, by becoming our substitute and sacrifice.

       And so, after addressing the disciples, “immediately, while He was still speaking,” Judas arrives with the mob to carry out their plan. By the way, that word “immediately” has been used about 40 times in Mark, and we’ll see it three or four more times before we’re done, once more in this scene. Mark wants us to understand that Jesus came with a mission, and that He stayed “on task,” always moving ahead, carrying out the Father’s plan. This is why He came, this is what He came to do. And so, even though, in this fallen world, life can be hard, we don’t need to panic.  Jesus came to rescue us; He is Lord and His Word will be fulfilled.

II. Duplicity: Judas exposes His own unbelief with a traitorous kiss, as he greets Jesus still pretending to be a disciple (44-49; cf. John 18:4-8).

⁴⁴ Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard."  ⁴⁵ And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, "Rabbi!" And he kissed him.  ⁴⁶ And they laid hands on him and seized him.  ⁴⁷ But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.  ⁴⁸ And Jesus said to them, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me?  ⁴⁹ Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled." 

       This famous scene is well known to us, and it is one scene where each of the Gospels includes details, sometimes significant ones, that don’t appear in the others. A kiss, a sword, scattering, and arrest are the common themes, and that is what Mark emphasizes in this account. As the story continues here, it is, by now, dark. There are no flashlights or photos, how would they be sure they got the right man? Judas… In that culture, at that time, the typical way for a follower to greet His beloved rabbi, would be a kiss. Mark reports it simply, in v.45, “he immediately went to Him, saying ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed Him.” The title and the action that should have signaled respect and devotion, instead is a sign of betrayal, a signal to the arrestors, betrayed by a kiss. Jesus was not surprised, He knew what was coming and who the betrayer was. But right up to the last minute, to this scene, Judas is still pretending… he calls Him “rabbi,” teacher, and greets him as though he was a devoted follower. As far as I could find, all Judas ever called Jesus was “rabbi.” Never “Lord.” He did not believe. He did not understand who Jesus is. Ironically, Judas thought he was pointing out Jesus to the mob. He was. But he was also exposing his unbelief to the others. I wonder if they gasped as they saw him lead the crowd into the garden and walk right up to Jesus and identify Him?

       One of those standing by (we know from other accounts it is Peter), draws a sword and swings it at the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. I don’t think Peter was swinging for the ear! Mark doesn’t tell us what happened next: Jesus immediately healed the ear! One writer speculates that Peter was emboldened by what happened just before, after Judas had gone up to Jesus. Only John tells that part of the story… We read in John 18:4-8…

⁴ Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, "Whom do you seek?"  ⁵ They answered him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am he." Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.  ⁶ When Jesus said to them, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground.  ⁷ So he asked them again, "Whom do you seek?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."  ⁸ Jesus answered, "I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go."

You may remember from our study in John a few years back that the English translations obscure a little some of what is happening here. Jesus has been identifying himself in the Fourth Gospel with the phrase “I AM,” sometimes with an expressed predicate, “I am the bread of life,” or “I am the Good Shepherd,” and a few times with an absolute expression, for example as He came to the disciples walking on the water, “Do not be afraid, I AM [it is me!],” or at the end of John 8, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” As you read through the gospel you can’t miss that He is that phrase to allude to the self-revelation of God to Moses in the burning bush, He is the great I AM! Well, here in the Garden, as He is being arrested, He asks the crowd, “Who do you seek?” They reply, and He says, “I AM!” And they all fall back on the ground! He is in control, they cannot touch Him unless He allows it. OK, now returning to Mark’s account, we don’t have that whole part of the scene told to us, but something emboldened Peter in that moment to attack! He jumps into action! But, just like he had thought he needed to intervene back in Chapter 8, when Jesus first told the 12 about His coming death and resurrection, Jesus, again, has to redirect him. This is the way it has to be—put away your sword Peter. You don’t understand now, but I’ve got this!

     We can trust Him, always. Life can be hard but we don’t need to panic, Jesus came to rescue us; He is Lord and His Word will be fulfilled.

III. Desertion: His friends abandon Him, fulfilling Scripture (50-52).

⁵⁰ And they all left him and fled.  ⁵¹ And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him,  ⁵² but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.

       They all left Him and fled.  As they left the upper room earlier in this chapter and headed toward the Mount of Olives, Jesus had predicted that He would be deserted by His followers, and that is exactly what unfolds here. Back up a few verses to Mark 14:27-31…

²⁷ 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.'  ²⁸ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee."  ²⁹ Peter said to him, "Even though they all fall away, I will not."  ³⁰ And Jesus said to him, "Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times."  ³¹ But he said emphatically, "If I must die with you, I will not deny you." And they all said the same.

Really Peter? Again? Jesus not only said what would happen, but He pointed to Scripture, to prophecy, to show it had been predicted long ago. But none of them could imagine failing Jesus so blatantly! Rather than focusing on the promise of restoration and resurrection, they essentially say, no, it will never happen!

       Only Mark gives us the detail in 51-52 of the young follower running away naked. Many commentators speculate that this might have been John-Mark, the writer of this gospel. Whether it is or not it is an embarrassing detail that shows the authenticity of the account—who would make up such a story! Not only does he run, but he is literally “naked and afraid”!  Naked. Since the context has led us to think about another Garden, the first garden, Eden, it is hard not to imagine a connection. Only after the Fall did the man and the woman “know they were naked” and tried to cover themselves and hide from God. And in the context of judging their sin, He also gave them skins for a covering, pointing forward I think to the provision that would finally come in the sacrifice of the Son. He would be beaten, and stripped, and nailed to a cross, bearing our sin and our shame, so that we could be clothed in His righteousness.  Jesus said, “I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly!” That doesn’t mean life in this fallen world will be easy. But our life has purpose, and in Him we can have joy, and peace that goes beyond our circumstances. We are here on a mission.

What is God saying to me in this passage? Life can be hard but we don’t need to panic, Jesus came to rescue us; He is Lord and His Word will be fulfilled.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? I don’t know all that you might be going through right now. Pressures, temptations, struggles, sickness, pain, all of these are consequences of living in a fallen world, and sometimes, it can seem like too much to bear. Remember Isaiah 53:4, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…” and 53:7, “…the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” With the trial, He promises a way of escape… (I Cor 10:31). If you know Him, there is no need to panic, no matter what! If God is for us, who can stand against us? We can trust Jesus, He came to rescue us, and He is Lord! His ^chesed, His “steadfast love,” endures forever. His Word will be fulfilled!

       We can’t leave this passage without acknowledging that there are warnings here for us to consider as well. For one thing, being outwardly identified with the church doesn’t necessarily mean that a person has been born again. Jesus was betrayed by one of the twelve men who were closest to Him. We are saved by grace, through faith, not by having our name on the roll of a local church! Do you find yourself content and complacent in your Christian life? Or do you have a hunger for the Word? Do you pray? From the perspective of the First Letter of John: do you love other believers? Read chapters 3-5 of that little letter. He says in 1 John 5:13, “These things I have written that you might know that you have eternal life.” In those three chapters the “fruit” that is most repeated as evidence of authentic faith is love for the brethren! Jesus had said the same thing in John 13:34,35, “By this, men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another…” I recall someone years ago asking, “if you were arrested for being a Christ, would there be enough evidence for a conviction?” It is between you and God, and this is too important to neglect, make sure of your salvation! Judas certainly fooled the other disciples. He may have been fooling himself for a long time. But He didn’t fool Jesus.

       Also, let’s be reminded that we should never say, “not me, I could never deny Him!” Therefore, let Him who thinks He stands take heed, lest He fall!  Let’s not think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Recognize we are vulnerable, and so endeavor to walk in the Spirit, asking God to convict us, and to empower us, and to guide us, to live a life that brings Him glory. AMEN.

Gethsemane Part 2: Watch and Pray - Mark 14:32-42

Watch and Pray: “The Spirit is Willing, but the Flesh is Weak”

Mark 14:32-42

Introduction: There was a report that during the early days of computerized language translation that someone tried to use a famous verse from this passage to test the new program, translating from English to Russian the phrase, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” The result missed the mark just a bit: “The whiskey is good, but the meat has gone bad!” Oh well, hopefully we can do better as we seek to understand what God has for us in this passage, Mark’s account of Jesus praying in Gethsemane. Last week we took a first look at this scene and focused on what this passage shows us about who Jesus is, and what He came to do. As the first Adam, through his disobedience brought death and the curse, the last Adam, Jesus, the God-Man, took the curse for us so that we could receive blessing and life. This week we return to this scene, focusing on the disciples… As we consider their failure, we should be reminded not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, to see our need to stay watchful and prayerful.

       Remember that Mark seems to be writing to believers in Rome that are suffering for their faith. The positive example is Jesus Himself. One thing that must come from this scene in the Garden and the passion that follows is that Jesus understands their suffering, we have a High Priest who can sympathize with us in our weakness, He was tested in all points like as we are, yet without sin. We also see Jesus, in His humanity, seeking support from His friends, those closest to Him, but ultimately relying on God His Father to help Him in His time of greatest need.

The Maine* Idea: As we pass through crises in life, we have the support of the church, and through prayer, because of Jesus, we have access to God who will always work for our good and His glory.

I. Bear one another’s burdens: The encouragement of the brethren is important to survival in stress filled times (32-34).

³² And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray."  ³³ And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.  ³⁴ And he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch." 

       Jesus was under unimaginable pressure… He says essentially, “The sorrow is more than I can bear, it is killing me!” Remember the location: at the base of the Mount of Olives, the Garden called Gethsemane, “the oil press.” Jesus fell on His face and prayed to His Father, Abba, [Papa] take this cup from me… Remember, He is not just talking about His impending torture and death, but…

…the “cup” that He prayed might be removed was not the physical pain He would endure on the cross. Indeed many Christian martyrs have gone to their death with… no evidence whatsoever that they wished to avoid the hour of their martyrdom. No, the cup that so distressed and troubled Him was the spiritual suffering He would endure as He would bear the sins of the world and drink to the last drop the fierce wrath of God as our substitute (Daniel Akin, Exalting Christ in Mark).

Jesus felt the weight of the sins of the world crushing Him, and with that the horror of the cup of wrath, judgement for sins—not His own, He was holy and sinless, but He bore our sins in His body on the Cross. He took the curse for us. James Edwards wrote that

“Nothing in all the Bible compares to Jesus’ agony and anguish in Gethsemane—neither the laments of the Psalms, not the broken heart of Abraham as he prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen 22:5), nor David’s grief at the death of his son Absalom (2 Sam 18:33)” (Edwards, Mark, 432).

And so, he asks the disciples to sit while He prays, and He takes Peter, James, and John a little further. He was preparing them to be His witnesses, they would be able to testify to the others about Gethsemane, and He was also teaching them, even though they would fail here, and fall asleep, they would fail when He was arrested and tortured and put to death, later, after the resurrection and after Pentecost, they would learn what it really means to take up their cross and follow him. And they would be His witnesses. Remember the exchange back in Mark 10. After Jesus told the disciples, for the third time, about His coming death and resurrection, James and John came up to Him and asked if they could be the ones to sit at side in the Kingdom. We read Jesus’ response in 10:38-41…

³⁸ Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"  ³⁹ And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."  ⁴¹ And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.

Remember that the indignation of the others was probably not that they were offended at their colleagues’ request, but that they had gone to Jesus first, they had jumped ahead in the line!  But I want to point out the reference to the coming “cup” that Jesus would drink. He said, “The cup that I drink you will drink…” Besides references to a physical cup, like giving a cup of water in his name or sharing a cup of wine at the Passover table, He only uses the word “cup” in Mark in this exchange with the disciples and again in the Garden. The disciples had no idea what was coming, but Jesus did. He would drink the cup of God’s wrath against sin for them and for us. But there is a sense in which believers share in the suffering of Christ as we live and carry out His mission in this fallen world. After all, if the world hates Him, it will hate those who will follow Him. That is why Jesus warned back in chapter 8 that those who would be His disciples must be willing to take up their cross and follow Him. As we bring the Gospel to the world, we are engaging in spiritual warfare. Jesus is engaged in a battle in Gethsemane. I think the enemy is there, just as he was in the wilderness earlier in the gospel, wanting to tempt Him to take a different, easier path. As He prayed, He had asked the disciples to watch and to wait…

       It seems to me that the disciples were invited purposefully, to give support… they were His friends and followers after all, at that time, closer to Him than his (half) brothers. But also they were there to learn, Jesus, the Master, was still teaching and preparing them… They would be His witnesses. Peter would write two letters, part of our New Testament. Sinclair Ferguson refers to one of them…

Jesus remained faithful when his heart was breaking, when the cup was bitter and when his companions were weak. In the light of this Peter’s words are all the more challenging - when we remember that he was there, with Jesus in Gethsemane: “Christ suffered for you, leaving an example, that you should follow in His steps” (I Pet 2:21).

Jesus taught by word and by example. He was teaching the disciples, and us. As we pass through crises in life, (even though the disciples failed Him) we have the support of the church, and through prayer, because of Jesus, we have access to God who will always work for our good and His glory.

II. Cry out to our Great High Priest: Prayer is the key to survival in stress filled times as we express our dependence on God and submit to His will (35-40).

³⁵ And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.  ³⁶ And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."  ³⁷ And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?  ³⁸ Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."  ³⁹ And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.  ⁴⁰ And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him.

       No one else could understand what was coming… The disciples didn’t even understand what he had told Him about his death, much less his resurrection. As Jesus anticipated the spiritual separation, the substitutionary atonement that was about to happen, He went apart, taking the “inner circle” of three part of the way, and He himself went further and cried out to the Father, honestly expressing His revulsion of what lay before Him. Even so, He prayed, submitting Himself to the Father’s will, “Not my will, but your will be done.” Why did God inspire Mark to include this in His gospel? Was it to show us how to pray? Even in the face of suffering, even when it seems more than we can bear, we can know that God is good and He does good, and so we can trust Him and pray, “…your will be done…” It is an expression of faith, as the ladies are learning in their Bible study, not only believing God is, but trusting Him, taking Him at His word.

      Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows… That is what the prophet Isaiah said in chapter 53. Let’s read verses 3-6 again,

³ He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  ⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  ⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.  ⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all…

       Prayer is a resource to keep us from stumbling… Watch and pray that you not fall into temptation… That reminds us of another garden, and an enemy that is still crouching at the door… We are called to bear each other’s burdens, and so fulfill the Law of Christ. But guess what, sooner or later, people will let you down, they won’t be there when they should have been. That is not the way it should be, but because “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” sooner or later, it will happen. But even at those moments when things seem darkest and you feel most alone, God is there, and He invites us to pray. 

       The gospels don’t give us any information about the spiritual battle that may be happening here. It is interesting that in the accounts of the temptations of Christ we are told that God sent angels to minister to Him (Mark 1:13, Mt 4:11). Only Luke tells us that here in this context of agonizing prayer, an angel came and strengthened Jesus in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43). Wait a minute, does the Son of God, God incarnate, need to be strengthened? In His humanity, even in His sinless humanity, He apparently did! Think about what that means. He understands our weakness.

       We truly have a High Priest who understands. No one else might fully understand what you are facing, but He “…has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…” And think about this: the day will come when God himself will wipe away the tears from our eyes. Our High Priest was tested and tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin!  As we pass through crises in life, we have the support of the church, and through prayer, because of Jesus, we have access to God, who is always good, and who will always work for our good and His glory.

III. Trust in the will of God: Through prayer we discover the power to bear up under the trials of life and move ahead in God’s will (41-42).

⁴¹ And he came the third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  ⁴² Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."

       He had told the twelve that one of them would betray Him. He had told Peter that he would three times deny Christ, that was still to come.  He had told all the disciples that they would all desert Him. That was about to happen. Now, for the third time, after asking them to watch and pray, He returns and finds them sleeping.  They did not seem to grasp that they were watchmen, sleeping on the job, at one of the most pivotal moments in all of redemptive history. Remember just a chapter back, perhaps at another spot but also on the Mount of Olives, Jesus had called on the disciples to stay awake. Just the last few verses of the chapter say,

³³ Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.  ³⁴ It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake.  ³⁵ Therefore stay awake- for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or in the morning-  ³⁶ lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.  ³⁷ And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake…" (Mark 13:33-37).

That generation needed to be alert for the coming judgment of Jerusalem, and every generation since has needed to live in recognition that the day is coming when Christ will return and when God will judge the world in righteousness. Until that day we are here to proclaim the message of the Gospel, and to use our gifts to build each other up so that we can more effectively carry out God’s mission in the world. We need to stay alert, recognizing we have an enemy who goes about as a roaring lion. We are engaged in a spiritual battle, and I believe that we need to be alert to our own weakness, living by faith, trusting Him in our need.

       “…it is enough, the hour has come…” — It seems like a strange phrase in this context, does it not? Enough what? The word “enough” can be used in the sense, “the bill is paid.” That would mean, perhaps, that the matter is settled. This time of testing is over.  Jesus has proved faithful, standing fast and submitting Himself to the Father’s will. It’s time for this story to move ahead, according to God’s plan.

       “…rise, let us be going…” He is not saying, “Let’s get out of here!” He is saying, let’s get to the business I came to do. The word “rise” is sometimes used with a military connotation: Charge! Move ahead! Engage the enemy! Jesus is not on the defensive. This made me think of that scene in the Temple recorded by Luke, when Jesus is left behind in Jerusalem by Mary and Joseph. They were panicked. He said, “Didn’t you know that I would be about my Father’s business?” In Jerusalem again, He is in control, about His Father’s business, guiding the story ahead to its necessary conclusion. For this purpose He came into the world. So…

What is God saying to me in this passage? As we pass through crises in life, we have the support of the church, and through prayer, because of Jesus, we have access to God who will always work for our good and His glory.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? We tend to judge the disciples harshly when we see their failures in the gospels. But consider that we have the full light of the gospel, and we have the indwelling Holy Spirit with us and in us. There came a point, after the resurrection, when Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. On Pentecost they would be baptized, sealed, and filled with the Spirit, and these same men became bold proclaimers of the gospel, and tradition tells us, one-by-one, they were martyred for their faith. Have you ever fallen asleep in church? Maybe not. But have you ever been in church, daydreaming, maybe thinking about lunch plans? Have you ever gone through the motions, singing the songs without considering the words?  Have you ever simply dozed off reading the Bible or praying? Enough! Let’s be going!

       Jesus was accomplishing the once for all redemption that He came to provide. Even so, He was also giving the disciples, and us, and example. The Garden was a prelude and preparation for Calvary. Ferguson said,

“We need to learn to ‘watch and pray’ in our current situation, or we will never be able to do so when the ‘evil day’ comes… Gethsemane was unique. We don’t go through our own Gethsemane. Jesus has done that for us. But we must learn to place our feet in the footsteps of faithfulness which he planted there, if we are to be his disciples.”

What does it mean to follow Him? Would you be His disciple? That is the call. Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, came and satisfied divine justice, He took your sin and my sin in His body on the tree… He was made a curse for us. That is how much God loves us. The Son prayed, Papa, Abba, take this cup from me… nevertheless not my will but your will be done. I believe that it is because of the last part of that prayer, Jesus willingly submitting himself to the eternal plan, choosing to take the punishment that we deserved, that God spared not the Son, but delivered Him up for us all… Do you believe He did that for you? How then, must we live? Think about it, remember Gethsemane, and Golgotha, and if you will, take up your cross, and follow Him. AMEN.

GETHSEMANE: “He was crushed for our iniquities…” Mark 14:32-36

GETHSEMANE: “He was crushed for our iniquities…”

Mark 14:32-36

Introduction: We’ve been looking at Mark for quite some time, if I stay on track, we should get to the resurrection for Easter! Remember that this Gospel has been called a “narrative of the passion with an extended introduction.” As we came to chapter 14, we moved into the climax of the story, the passion of Christ. We’ve looked at the Gospel so far through the prism of three questions, which once again come front and center in the purposes of the writer: 1) Who is Jesus? 2) Why did He come? And 3) What does it mean to follow Him?  (By the way, I hope you see those questions as a discipling tool that can guide you through this gospel, perhaps reading it with someone else, and talking together about the answers to those questions). We’ll come back to the third question next week, but today as we look at Jesus in Gethsemane, to prepare our hearts for communion, I want to focus on the first two questions. How do these verses teach us about who He is and why He came?

       Jesus is revealed here, in powerful and dramatic terms, as the God-Man, the Son of God and Son of Man. He is the Eternal Word who was made flesh, He is the Last Adam who came to undo the Fall. And that leads us to the second question, “Why did He come?” Here we see the sinless Son of God, perfect humanity in union with undiminished deity, face-to-face with what He came to do. We’ll be reminded again that salvation is a free gift, received by grace through faith, it is free to us because Jesus paid the price that we could not pay. We get a glimpse of the cost as we see Jesus praying in the Garden.

       Let me preface our look at this passage with this: Jesus is not simply recoiling from death, or from the torturous suffering He must soon endure, as horrible as that was.  He has said multiple times and in diverse ways that it had to happen. There was no avoiding it. It was written. It was the plan established in the council of the Godhead in eternity past. What does Jesus mean when He prays, if it is possible, that this “cup” should pass from Him? What was this “cup” that Jesus was faced with drinking?  He had told the disciples about His impending betrayal, desertion, and death. As we enter the Garden of Gethsemane (literally, “The oil press”) we are on Holy Ground.  

       I’ve taught this passage before, but I don’t think I’ve ever done it justice. We see the sinless humanity of Jesus in unity with His Deity, as the Son of God comes face to face with the unimaginable task that He came to accomplish. Jesus, the God-Man, anticipated taking our sins, and He steeled himself to satisfy divine justice, by drinking the cup of the wrath of God so that we could receive the cup of blessing and life. We are going to look at this scene for two weeks. This week, as we prepare our hearts for the Lord’s Table, I want to focus on what this story teaches us about Jesus and the work He came to do. Next week we’ll return to this passage, and shift our focus to the disciples, and to us, as we consider again what it means to follow Him.

The Maine* Idea: The first Adam brought death and the curse, the last Adam, Jesus, took the curse for us, so that we could receive blessing and life.

I. Support: The Encouragement of the brethren can be a source of strength in a time of crisis. Though the disciples fail, they will be His witnesses (32-34).

³² And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray."  ³³ And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.  ³⁴ And he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch." 

       The Place: Gethsemane, “the oil press.” The disciples went from the upper room to the Mount of Olives, and then, in v.32, came to a place called Gethsemane. From the other Gospels we know this was a place frequented by Jesus and His disciples, at the base of the Mount of Olives. The name appears to derive from an Aramaic term meaning “the oil press.” The olives would be harvested and then the oil crushed from them. Its hard not to see some symbolism in that, when we consider the language of Isaiah 53:5, “…he was crushed for our iniquities…”

       The Passion: “…greatly distressed and sorrowful… my soul is very sorrowful, even unto death…” Consider the description here, both by the narrator of the Gospel (v.53) and Jesus himself (v.54). In the place of the Olive Press Jesus is being crushed by the weight of the sins of humanity, as He anticipates satisfying the justice of God on our behalf.

       The Petition: Not His prayer to the Father, but first, a request to his disciples, the inner circle, to “remain” and “watch.” There were a few other occasions in Mark where Jesus invited a small group of followers to come a little further, to see and to hear a little more. In Mark 1, in the house of Simon and Andrew, James and John joined them in the room where Simon’s mother-in-law lay desperately ill. They saw the miracle of healing that Jesus did, as he took her hand, and she immediately got up and began to serve them. In Chapter 5, Peter, James, and John went with Him to the house of Jairus, and saw Jesus raise his daughter from the dead. They also were invited to go up the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus, where they saw Him transformed before their eyes, and heard the voice of the Father, “This is my beloved Son, hear Him!”  Now as Jesus felt the weight of the mission that He alone could fulfill, begin to come down on him, in His perfect humanity, without sin, without doubt, He asks these three men, perhaps those He was closest to on earth, to “remain” and to “watch.” Did He know they would fall asleep? I think He did, just as surely as He knew they would all desert Him. But if that is true, why did He call them apart? He was still teaching them, and they would be His witnesses (more on that next week!). You remember His counsel to them as they descended the Mount of Transfiguration? We read in Mark 9:9-10,   

⁹ And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  ¹⁰ So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.

At a later time, they would be witnesses to what happened on the mountain. And likewise, at a later time, they would bear witness to this painful struggle, the hour of darkness that descended on Jesus in Gethsemane. So, now the One who was without sin, who came to undo the Fall and make it possible for sinful humans to be reconciled to Holy God, faced the moment of testing. Another man, without sin, at least at the start, faced a time of testing in a Garden. But the first Adam brought death and the curse, the last Adam, Jesus, took the curse for us, so that we could receive blessing and life.

II. Struggle: The horror of what lay before Him was such, that the sinless Son recoiled from it, asking the Father if it had to be (35-36a).

³⁵ And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.  ³⁶ And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me…

       Let’s not try to explain away what is being described here. And we dare not take lightly the struggle that is going on. This was not just a time alone, praying to the Father. You can’t miss the struggle, the passion, of what is being described here. He “fell on the ground and prayed…” Jesus, the Son, exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death, distressed and burdened, is on His face, crying out to the Father. Luke the physician, in His account, tells us that as He prayed, He sweated great drops of blood. Dr. Cain told me that under extreme duress that this has been reported, hematidrosis. We cannot imagine what He endured that for us!

       Have you been with people in moments of such intense grief and pain that they just cry out? Know that we have a high priest who really can sympathize with us in our weakness, in those most distressing and overwhelming moments of life. He understands. But what drove Jesus to such sorrow, crying out like this to the Father? Was it the prospect of death? He had told his disciples, multiple times that He would soon die. And also promised that He would be raised. As tortuous as His scourging and crucifixion would be, I think there is much more going on here. H.A. Ironside got it right when he said,

“It was in anticipation of drinking the cup of wrath which our sins had filled that He prayed in agony that if it were possible that hour, and the cup, might pass from Him. His holy soul shrank from the awfulness of being made sin upon the tree. It was not death, but the divine anger against sin, the imputation to Him of all our iniquities that filled His soul with horror. There was no conflict of wills. He was in all things submissive as He prayed, “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee; take this cup from Me: nevertheless, not what I will, but what Thou wilt.”

He prayed specifically in v.36, “Abba, Father… all things are possible for you, remove this cup from me…” To what is Jesus referring?  The word “cup” is used in three general ways in the Bible. Of a literal cup, as a glass of wine on the Passover table as we saw earlier in the chapter. It is also used metaphorically as a symbol of the blessing of God, as in Psalm 23, “…my cup is over-flowing…”, and then finally, in the sense of judgement of sin, the cup of the wrath of God… Let’s look a a couple of references.

Psalm 75:8  - For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

Isaiah 51:17  - Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.

More than a dozen times the Scriptures use this picture of the cup of God’s wrath against sin (So also Jer 25:15,17,28, 49:12; etc.).  Ezekiel 23:33 refers to “…a cup of horror and desolation…” It is the wicked who are to drink this cup of wrath in judgment for their sins. This usage of the “cup” would seem to fit with Jesus’ revulsion, His recoiling from what lay before Him, His shock, and “sorrow unto death…” He was sinless! And so, He prays, “If it is possible, take this cup from me!” Jesus has been telling his disciples for some time what would happen, what had to happen, during this Passover trip to Jerusalem. It is clear this is not merely the “cup” of suffering and death. It is that, but remember why He came: to satisfy divine justice, to be our substitute, our sin-bearer. Cursed is the one who hangs on a tree! Perfection, sinlessness, and he took the curse so we could be blessed!

       I’ve been trying to get my head around this this week, and thought of that scene when Isaiah got a vision of God on the throne of heaven. In that scene in Isaiah 6 the man of God gets a glimpse of the holiness and glory of God, “woe unto me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips…” Isaiah was a sinner, and in the light God’s holiness the filth and the guilt of His sin was unbearable: “Woe unto me! I am undone!” Think about this: Jesus took Isaiah’s sin, and the sins of a billion Isaiahs, past, present and future, (regular people, sinners like you and me) in his own body… He did not sin, but the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all… and with the sin He willingly drank the cup of divine wrath… Somehow, in Gethsemane, he began to sense the horror of impending divine judgment, the wrath of God against sin. J.C. Ryle, in his revered commentary on Mark, said it well,

Let us mark, in the first place, how keenly our Lord felt the burden of a world's sin. It is written that He began to be filled with horror and deep distress. He told them, "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death," and that "he fell on the ground, and prayed, that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him." There is only one reasonable explanation of these expressions. It was no mere fear of the physical suffering of death, which drew them from our Lord's lips. It was a sense of the enormous load of human guilt, which began at that time to press upon Him in a peculiar way. It was a sense of the unutterable weight of our sins and transgressions which were then specially laid upon Him. He was being "made a curse for us." He was bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows according to the covenant He came on earth to fulfill. He was being "made sin for us who Himself knew no sin." His holy nature felt acutely the hideous burden laid upon Him. These were the reasons of His extraordinary sorrow.

       Derek Thomas preached on this passage and said that the reader needs to hold his breathe for a moment at this point in the story. Jesus, the Son, prayed, 

“Abba, Father, if it is possible, if there could be another way, take this cup from me…” Our salvation hung in the balance. Jesus spoke other words in Aramaic, but Mark wants us to hear the intimacy, the depth of this prayer: Papa, Daddy, its crushing me, is there another way…? By the way, if you are tempted to think the popular idea today that there are many roads to heaven, many names for “God” – remember Gethsemane. Do you really think there was another way, or that it doesn’t matter what we believe? Remember this prayer and the passion of Christ. There was no other way! And so, know that there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved. In Christ alone, our hope is found! The first Adam brought death and the curse, the last Adam, Jesus, took the curse for us, so that we could receive blessing and life.

III. Submission: Knowing the cost, Jesus submitted to the Father’s will, taking the curse so that we could receive blessing (36b).

“…Yet not what I will, but what you will."

       One writer said that “In every war, there is a turning point that changes the course of history. And in the battle for our hearts and souls, I believe the most important battle was fought in Gethsemane. Jesus was yet to be crucified, but I believe the real battle took place that night in Garden.” Jesus wrestled that night. Thank God for the second part of v.36… This is a crushing burden, it is killing me, Abba, Papa, is it possible to take away this cup? NEVERTHELESS, not my will, but your will be done! The first Adam, in another Garden, had a choice. He knew the Father’s will, and instead of obedience, he chose to follow Eve in rebellion. As a consequence, all creation fell under the curse. Every human born after him, was by birth and by choice a sinner. Paul said to the Ephesians “We were by nature children of wrath…” That doesn’t mean angry children. It means we were under the righteous wrath of God, destined for judgment.

       Jesus came to undo the fall, to make it possible for sinners to be reconciled with God. He was without sin. Yet, as we read in Isaiah 53, “The Lord laid on Him, the iniquity of us all…” So, He has…

“…borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him smitten of God and afflicted… But He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities, upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace…” (Isa 53:4,5).

Incredibly, 53:10 says, “…it was the will of the Lord to crush Him…” He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. And so, God spared not the Son, but delivered Him up for us all… He gave His only begotten Son…

What is God saying to me in this passage? The first Adam brought death and the curse, the last Adam, Jesus, took the curse for us, so that we could receive blessing and life.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Think of what Jesus did for us. He bore our sins in His body on the tree. He was made a curse for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. “For God so loved the world…” Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

       The price has been paid, and it was horrible, more than we can grasp. This is how God showed His love among us… The wages of sin is death… eternal separation from God… but, because of Jesus, the free gift of God is eternal life! It is received by faith, “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”

       Just a few hours before this scene Jesus shared a Passover meal with His disciples. He gave them, and us, a reminder, something they could see and taste and touch, of what He came to do for us, a visualization to invite us to remember the Gospel message. He took the bread, blessed it and broke it, and said “This is my body, given for you…” He took the cup and said “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many…”   As we share, remember Gethsemane, Jesus on His face before the Father, “…not my will, but Thy will be done.”   AMEN.