What's the plan?

 

His body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God.  You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.  --Deuteronomy 21:23

It was Preparation Day, the day of preparing for the Sabbath--and not just any Sabbath, but also the beginning of Passover.  Any self respecting Jewish woman would be home cleaning her house and preparing food for the Seder.  There was a ton of work to do.  Yet four women stood at the foot of the cross, waiting to see what would happen to Jesus.  Why the Sanhedrin would have chosen this day, of all days, to deliver Jesus up to the Romans to be crucified, no one knew.  They must have been out of their minds.

From noon until three Jesus hung on the cross, in apparent agony.  Shortly thereafter, He breathed His last.  The women made a plan.  Since sundown was the official end of the day and the beginning of the Sabbath, they had to work fast.  They apparently divided up into two groups: Mary Magdelene and Mary the mother of Joses and James the Younger would stay there and see what became of the body.  Mary the mother of Jesus and Salome would go and buy spices to prepare the body for burial.

Who would get the body down from the cross for them?  How would they carry Jesus, and where would they lay Him?  The Biblical command was that the burial take place as soon as possible after passing, and it was strictly forbidden to leave the deceased unburied overnight unless it was for his honor  (that is, to perform a proper washing and purification, obtain shrouds, arrange for a burial plot, etc.)  Maybe John, the disciple to whom Jesus had given charge of His mother, might be able to help--the other disciples were scattered to the wind.  Their plan was not complete, but at least they had the beginning of one. 

Then something unexpected happened, as we read in Mark 15:42-47:

And when evening had come, since it was the Day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  Pilate was surprised to hear that He should have already died.  And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether He was already dead.  And when he learned from the centurion that He was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph.  And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking Him down, wrapped Him in the linen shroud and laid Him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock.  And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.  Mary Magdelene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where He was laid.

According to Jewish law, a Jew is to be buried as he was born--complete with all his limbs and organs.  The human body is considered as sacred in death as it was in life as it contained a Godly soul.  Moreover, many Jews believe in a bodily resurrection, and their feeling is that the body must be complete in preparation for the new life in heaven.

John's gospel says that when Pilate was asked to ensure that the men crucified that day would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, he sent soldiers to break their legs to hasten their death.  Crucifixions generally took 36-48 hours, but some held on for up to a week.  The soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves on either side of Jesus, so that they could not push themselves up with their feet to get a good breath.  With broken legs, they would suffocate.

When they came to Jesus, He was already dead.  To be sure, they stuck a spear in His side, the tip of which was the breadth of a man's hand--this would be a fatal wound by itself.  When they determined He was already dead, they did not break His legs.  To the faithful, this coincides with the Jewish command about the preparation of the Passover Lamb.  Numbers 9:12 commands, "They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones.  According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it."  The same care was taken with Jesus' body that was taken with the Passover lamb.

So the centurion reported to Pilate that Jesus had already expired, and Pilate granted the corpse to Joseph.  The Greek verb translated here"granted" is only used one other time in the New Testament.   2 Peter 1:3-4 says, "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire."  Pilate did not require a bribe or a monetary gift of any kind from Joseph, but rather granted him the body of Christ freely. In the same way, God freely gives us all that we need to live the Christian life.

A traditional Jewish burial includes three things: a Tahara, or a washing and purification of the body; a Shomer, which is a Jewish person to stay with the body until burial; and Tachrichem, which are traditional shrouds along with a Chevra kaddisha, the act of ensuring that the body is prepared for burial and is protected from desecration, willful or not.  It would appear that Joseph and Nicodemus (who according to John's gospel brought spices to prepare the body, along with the fine linen shroud that Joseph had purchased) took care of all that, at great cost to themselves.  Not only did they buy these things with their own money, but by coming in contact with a dead body, they knew they were going to be ceremonially unclean for 7 days.  Therefore they could not take part in the Passover celebration.

Apparently when Mary Magdelene and Mary the mother of Joses saw that these men had taken Jesus' body to a tomb, they left before observing the ritual cleansing and the preparations for burial that Joseph and Nicodemus had done.  They met Mary the mother of Jesus and Salome, and reported what they had seen.  These women planned to observe the Sabbath and then take care of the washing and purification on Sunday, the first day of the week.  We will read about their plans being foiled next time.

If these men and these women, who apparently did not know each other because their efforts were not combined and their plans conflicted--if they took such pains to prepare the body of Jesus during the Day of Preparation, we must ask ourselves: what preparations do we take to meet Jesus face-to-face?  What do we do to prepare for a time of worship?  What's the plan?

The great breach

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.  Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.  --Isaiah 53:11-12

The word of the day is breach.  As a noun, it can mean an act of breaking or failing to observe a law, agreement, or code of conduct, as in "a breach of contract."  It can also mean a break in relations, as "a sudden breach between father and son."  It also means a gap in a wall, barrier, or defense, especially one made by an attacking army, as in "a breach in the castle wall."

In Mark 15:33-41, we see how the death of Jesus, the Son of God, caused a breach in the natural order, the spiritual order, and the levitical order.

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"  And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "Behold, He is calling Elijah."  And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to Him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down."  And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed His last.  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  And when the centurion, who stood facing Him, saw that in this way He breathed His last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"  There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.  When He was in Galilee, they followed Him and ministered to Him, and there were also many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.

We often look at the Passion narrative and see Jesus as a passive participant, allowing Himself to be mocked and spat upon, and submitting Himself to death.  That's all well and good, but there was a lot going on there that we don't often think about.  As the Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges says, "A veil hides from us the incidents of these three hours, and all the details of what our Lord, shrouded in the supernatural gloom, underwent for us men and for our salvation.”

A breach in the physical universe

It was midday, from noon to three, when the sun is known to be at its brightest.  Yet darkness was upon the whole land.  According to the Pulpit Commentary:

An account of it is given by Phlegon of Tralles, a freedman of the Emperor Adrian. Eusebius, in his records of the year A.D. , quotes at length from Phlegon, who says that, in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, there was a great and remarkable eclipse of the sun, above any that had happened before. At the sixth hour the day was turned into the darkness of night, so that stars were seen in the heaven; and there was a great earthquake in Bithynia, which overthrew many houses in the city of Nicaea. Phlegon attributes the darkness which he describes to an eclipse, which was natural enough for him to do. The knowledge of astronomy was then very imperfect. Phlegon also mentions an earthquake. This brings his account into very close correspondence with the sacred narrative.

It could not have been a lunar eclipse, because the Jewish feast of Passover is always held during a full moon.  When the moon is full, it cannot intervene between the sun and the earth.  The darkness was doubtless caused by the immediate interference of God.  The God of creation, who had spoken light into existence, could not allow light in this context, where as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

A breach in the spiritual realm

During this period of darkness, Jesus cried out, saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  God literally turned His back on His Son, as the sin of the whole world was laid upon Him, because God cannot countenance sin.  Again, from the Pulpit Commentary:

We are not informed precisely how far the darkness extended. Dionysius says that he saw this phenomenon at Heliopolis, in Egypt, and he is reported to have exclaimed, "Either the God of nature, the Creator, is suffering, or the universe dissolving." St. Cyprian says, "The sun was constrained to withdraw his rays, and close his eyes, that he might not be compelled to look upon this crime of the Jews." To the same purpose St. Chrysostom, "The creature could net bear the wrong done to its Creator. Therefore the sun withdrew his rays, that he might not behold the deeds of the wicked."

Jesus quoted the first verse of Psalm 22, which hit agonizingly close to home.  "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning?"  The answer is that God could not look upon sin, yet Jesus became sin for us so that we could become righteous before God.  He took our sin and clothed us with His righteousness.  God punished Him so that we might be rewarded in heaven.  This is what I thought of when I saw the definition of breach to include a breach between a father and son.

A breach in the Levitical Law

Mark says that the veil in the temple, a curtain of thick material separating the priests from the Holy of Holies, was torn in two from top to bottom.  It was as though God had torn up the first covenant, the Old Testament if you will.  The Law could not be kept, so God mercifully breached that contract and replaced it with a New Covenant.  This New Covenant is one based on grace.

One of my favorite passages in Scripture is Zechariah 3:1-5.  The name Joshua means "God is deliverance."  Also, I believe that when the Old Testament speaks of the "Angel of the Lord", it is a reference to the pre-incarnate Christ.  With this in mind, look at the narrative here:

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.  And the Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan!  The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!  Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?"  Now Joshua was standing before the Angel, clothed with filthy garments.  And the Angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him.'  And to him He said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments."  And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments.  And the Angel of the Lord was standing by.

The prophet Zechariah was painting a beautiful picture of the New Covenant, where a sinful man stands before God, clothed in nothing but his own sin.  Satan comes to accuse him, to brand him as condemned, abandoned, forsaken by God.  Yet Jesus stands in as defense attorney, and removes the man's guilt and shame, and clothes him in His righteousness.  This is the Gospel  This is good news!

Mark's narrative goes on to list the witnesses to this new contract, the New Covenant that replaced the Old Testament Law.  The centurion declared that this man was the Son of God.  The women who had attended to Jesus during His earthly ministry were witnesses to the new contract sealed by the blood of Jesus.  One of the women was Mary Magdelene, who had been a prostitute.  She was now clothed in His righteousness, not identified with her past failings.  We, also, can put aside our old sinful nature and stand before God in Christ's righteousness. 

Mocking and ridiculing Jesus, then and now

Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!  Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.  --Luke 6:22-23 

Human nature is cruel.  From our childhood we crave acceptance from our peers, yet we learn early on to tease one another and mock each other, trying to make ourselves feel superior to others.  This universal human trait of verbal abuse is honed and sharpened through adolescence into early adulthood, when it is used as a weapon of choice for separating ourselves from someone strange and different, for ostracizing the out group while seeking approval from the in group.

In our passage today, Jesus is vilified and disparaged by three different groups of people.  We will take a look at those people, and see what Jesus went through in the hours leading up to His crucifixion.

And the soldiers led Him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion.  And they clothed Him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on Him.  And they began to salute Him, "Hail, king of the Jews!"  And they were striking His head with a reed and spitting on Him and kneeling down in homage to Him.  And when they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the purple cloak and put His own clothes on Him.  And they led Him out to crucify Him.  And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry His cross.  And they brought Him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull).  And they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He did not take it.  And they crucified Him and divided His garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take.  And it was the third hour when they crucified Him.  And the inscription of the charge against Him read, "The King of the Jews."  --Mark 15:16-26

The first group of people we see mocking and deriding Jesus are the soldiers.  Now most professional soldiers are supposed to keep their thoughts to themselves.  They are supposed to follow orders without inserting their own ideas or words into the scene.  These Roman soldiers, however, had a heyday with persecuting Jesus.  Perhaps some of them had been assigned to crowd control whenever Jesus came through the streets with throngs of followers behind Him.  Maybe they had tried to keep order when Jesus had taught in the local synagogues or from someone's home.  

The followers of Jesus did not respect order--remember when Jesus was teaching and the crowds were so large that a group of four men climbed up on the roof and tore it open so they could lower their paralyzed friend down to where Jesus stood?  Hoodlums.  Vandals.  Heathens.  These were the types of people who followed this lunatic called Jesus.

And now the soldiers were given a the order to crucify Him for crimes against Rome, and the placard they were supposed to post above His cross said, "The King of the Jews."  It was all too much.  They thought they might have a bit of fun at His expense.  They stripped Jesus, and put a purple robe on Him.  "You think You are a king?  I'll show You what a king looks like."  They fashioned some thorns into a crown and placed it on His head.  They picked up a reed and shoved it toward Him.  "Here's your scepter, your Majesty," I can hear them smirking.  When He did not take the reed, they beat Him with it.

When all the fun was over, they led Him out to be crucified.  When He fell under the weight of the cross, the soldiers grabbed a random man out of the crowd, an out-of-towner and father of two, to carry His cross.  The procession went down out of Jerusalem (which was built on a hill called Mount Zion) and up another hill called Golgotha.  They nailed Jesus to the cross, along with the inscription, then continued to mock Him.  "Wine, my liege?"  Jesus turned away from the noxious blend they offered Him.

And with Him they crucified two robbers, one on His right and one on His left.  And those who passed by derided Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Aha!  You who would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross."  So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked Him to one another, saying, "He saved others; He cannot save Himself.  Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe." --Mark 15:27-32a

The second group of people to mock Jesus that day were the religious leaders.  They were the ones who passed by in front of the cross, hurling insults up at Him.  They had heard Him teaching and had seen His miracles.  They thought that His comments about the Temple were nothing but heresy, so they tried to throw His own words back in His face.  These were the religious leaders who saw Jesus healing the sick and raising the dead, and then demanding more signs from Him whenever they confronted Him.  Nothing was ever enough for them, and even now they demanded another sign, another miracle.  "Show off Your divine power," they were saying, "and rescue Yourself.  Escape the nails holding Your hands and feet, and heal Your own wounds, if You're so high and mighty."

Those who were crucified with Him also reviled Him.  --Mark 15:32b

The third group of people to mock Jesus were the thieves who had been convicted to die with Him there that day.  Now we know from other gospel accounts that one of the condemned repented, and sought mercy from Jesus.  Mark doesn't mention him, but this account may indicate that there were perhaps more than three crosses on that hill that day.  We don't know for sure, but we do know that at least one of the robbers ridiculed Him.  In his human condition, the robber saw Jesus as no better than himself--a mere human, condemned to die, outcast from society and convicted of a crime.  After all, why else would He have been there hanging from his hands and feet, slowly bleeding out and dying of exposure?

These three groups of people represent lost people even today.  There are those who believe Jesus to be merely human, no better than themselves.  They seek to elevate their own humanity above Jesus' divinity, and ridicule any attempt to humble themselves or to elevate the Christ.  There are also those who were raised in the religious community who are always seeking signs and wonders.  They elevate Jesus to celebrity status as long as He entertains them, feeds them or meets their physical needs.  When Jesus is silent, however, they seek out other false teachers who uphold their own orthodoxy and meet their emotional needs in other ways.  Finally there are those who absolutely abhor all that Jesus stands for.  They kick Him and spit on Him whenever they can.  They hurl verbal abuse at Jesus and all who follow Him, trying to make themselves feel superior.

A few years after Jesus was crucified, we hear about a man named Paul.  He himself was a religious leader, a Pharisee who would have ridiculed this man who called Himself the Christ.  Not only that,  Paul had been a zealot, physically persecuting and putting to death any and all who followed Jesus.  After Paul's miraculous conversion to Christianity, however, Paul preached Jesus to all three of these groups.  He preached to religious leaders, to commoners, to prisoners, and even to Roman prison guards.  You see, no matter which group you fall into, you are not beyond forgiveness.

Maybe you are an adult who has made fun of other people to make yourself feel better.  Maybe you have made fun of Christians for their beliefs, for their blind faith.  Perhaps you have physically persecuted someone for his or her religious beliefs, or perhaps you think of Jesus as just a man, no more than a myth or a legend.  I pray you would consider the evidence, and humble yourself.  I pray you would come to Jesus and learn from Him.  When you hear His voice, I pray you would respond positively to His calling.  It could change your life.

A glorious plot twist

Every story ever told can be broken down into three parts:  The beginning; the middle; and the plot twist.  --RL Stine

According to the literary site ReedsyBlog (blog.reedsy.com), "A plot twist is a story development that readers do not expect in which either something shocking happens or something shocking is revealed.  Generally, the storyteller will set up expectations and then 'twist' those expectations by revealing new information through subsequent plot points.  The criteria for a plot twist tends to be made up of the following:  It must be narratively sound, it must be unexpected, and it might be foreshadowed.  To no one's surprise, plot twists are particularly prevalent in mysteries, thrillers, and suspense fiction.  However, the twist takes no prisoners and has reared its head in almost every genre out there." 

At certain points in history, we see those "plot twists" in the historical narrative that might give you whiplash if you lived through it, but that in hindsight we know to be true.  In the same way, the Gospel story as told in Mark 15 takes on a few plot twists of its own.  Here is the beginning of the story.

And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council.  And they bound Jesus and led Him away and delivered Him over to Pilate.  And Pilate asked Him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"  And He answered him, "You have said so."  And the chief priests accused Him of many things.  And Pilate again asked Him, "Have you no answer to make?  See how many charges they bring against you."  But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.  (Mark 15:1-5)

Think of a Venn Diagram with two overlapping circles.  The first circle represents the Jews, with their religious beliefs, their ethical laws, and their expectations.  The second circle represents Pilate and the Romans, with their pagan beliefs, their Law and Order, and their own expectations.  In this narrative, Jesus is in the space where these two circles intersect.

The Jews, especially the Jewish leaders, arrested Jesus and accused Him of claiming to be God.  They did not have legal authority under Roman rule to execute anyone, so they brought Him to Pilate for sentencing.  At the consultation with Pilate, they changed the charge from blasphemy (claiming to be God) to treason (claiming to be King of the Jews), knowing that Pilate would not care about their religious laws but would be bound to prosecute a purveyor of a political uprising.

Pilate was no friend of the Jews.  He was bound to look at the accusations from a group of Jewish zealots with some suspicion.  History tells us that Pilate simply didn't like the Jews, and that he believed they were a stubborn and rebellious people.  For this reason, whenever they brought him a prisoner for execution he immediately expected that there was a hidden agenda at work.  Nevertheless, he was bound to give Jesus a hearing, and to make it appear fair and reasonable.  He heard the accusations of the Jewish leaders, and then asked Jesus to make a defense. "Are you the King of the Jews?"  Jesus' answer was passive yet positive.  "You have said it."  Pilate expected the prisoner to beg for his life, and was amazed that there was not a more passionate or vigorous defense.

Let's now look at the middle of our narrative.

Now at the feast he (Pilate) used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked.  And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.  And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them.  And he answered them, saying, "Do you want for me to release for you the King of the Jews?"  For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered Him up.  --Mark 15:5-10

The Jewish leaders, the chief priests, Scribes and Pharisees, did indeed see Jesus as a threat to their authority in things both spiritual and political, insofar as their sphere of influence was in jeopardy.  They had put their best case forward to Pilate, making a convincing case that Jesus should be executed.

Pilate, on the other hand, saw that they were jealous of Jesus.  He decided to put them to the test.  It was the season of clemency, and Pilate found a true insurrectionist in the Roman prison, one called Barabbas.  Perhaps to gauge the support that Jesus had among the Jewish people, that is to see how many of them might follow Jesus as their king, he offered to set Jesus free.  If they truly though of Him as their King, then there may be something to the charges brought against Him by the Jews, and Rome would release Him and then keep an eye on Him.  The other choice Pilate gave them was a true criminal, a murderer and insurrectionist who would most certainly be arrested again if set free.  Ironically, the man was called Barabbas, meaning "Son of his father".  Jesus had called Himself the Son of the Father (God).

Here comes the plot twist in our story.

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead.  And Pilate again said to them, "Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?" And they cried out again, "Crucify Him."  And Pilate said to them, "Why? What evil has He done?"  But they shouted all the more, "Crucify Him."  So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.  --Mark 15:10-15

The Jewish leaders had expected Jesus to be convicted and executed on the charges they brought against Him.  They did not expect for Barabbas to be a part of the bargain.  Their eyes were so blinded by evil and their hatred of Jesus that they were willing to swallow this bitter pill, the parole of an evil lawbreaker, just to make sure that Jesus was killed.

Pilate had expected the crowd to come to Jesus' aid, to have Him released rather than the convicted criminal called Barabbas.  I don't believe he woke up that morning knowing he would have to quell a near riot over this One with the reputation of peace and healing and forgiveness.

I also don't expect that the man known as Barabbas had any expectation that the One known as the Son of Man would die in his place, yet that is exactly what happened.  Pilate was not the only one amazed at this turn of events, for no one could be as surprised as Barabbas.  He was accused; he was convicted; he was forgiven, and saw Jesus take on the punishment that he himself deserved.

It is the same with you and me.  Yes, all of us, dear friends and readers, stand accused; we stand guilty; we deserve death and eternal separation from God.  But we can look up the One who knew no sin, who became Sin for us and sacrificed Himself for our sin, to be our Savior and Redeemer, the One who took our place.

That, my friend, is a glorious plot twist.

Does fence straddling glorify God?

 

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night.  --Psalm 1:1-2

American stand-up comedian Ralphie Gray (1972-2017) was credited with saying, "I've got one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel."  He may have been referencing his morbid obesity that ultimately caused his untimely death at age 45.  However, I think the phrase perfectly sums up the human condition, especially if we are prone to being as inoffensive as possible.  We don't want to rock the boat, so we spend our lives on a tightrope, not moving to the right or to the left for fear of offending one group or another.  Our perpetual fence-straddling results in us becoming bland and ineffectual.  Not only does it impede our influence in the world, but it makes us susceptible to error.  "He who stands for nothing," the saying goes, "will fall for anything."

This is the situation we find the Apostle Peter in when we read today's passage from Mark 14

And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus."  But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you mean."  And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed.  And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, "This man is one of them."  But again he denied it.  And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, "Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean."  But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, "I do not know this man of whom you speak."  And immediately the rooster crowed a second time.  And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, "Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times."  And he broke down and wept.  --Mark 14:66-72

 We all remember the scene leading up to this point.  Jesus had taken His disciples to the garden at Gethsemane to pray.  Instead of praying with Him, the disciples (including Peter) slept.  Then Judas led a group of men with authority to arrest Jesus, and Judas kissed Him.  Peter tried to stand up to the men, drawing a sword and raising it above his head, striking with a downward blow to anyone who stood near.  This resulted in his cutting off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the High Priest.  Jesus rebuked Peter, healed the man's ear, then voluntarily left with the soldiers.  Frightened and confused, Peter and the other disciples all ran away.

In our passage today, we see Peter now followed Jesus from a distance.  Staying on the fringes and in the shadows, he wanted to remain incognito while still being close enough to see what would happen.  We know he was in sight of Jesus, because in Luke's account, after the third denial, Jesus turned and looked at Peter (Luke 22:61).  Peter was close enough to see what was happening, but trying to maintain a safe distance.  Safe from what, you may ask?  He was still close enough to be tested and found wanting.  There were still consequences; maybe not harm to his physical body, but close enough to feel guilt and shame.

I want us to notice the progression of sin here.  There was a slippery slope, and although Peter may not have begun with the idea of denying Jesus outright, at each opportunity there was a greater distance between him and the Savior, and the wedge that separated the two was sin.

The first accusation came from a girl, a servant of the high priest who may herself have been on the fringes of the arresting party as they came toward Gethsemane.  She may have seen Peter in the garden with Jesus, may have witnessed him attacking Malchus.  In any case she accused Peter of being a follower of Jesus.  Peter brushed her off, saying he couldn't understand what she was saying.

My wife and I enjoy watching British television programs, especially ones with a historical story line.  In America we may poke fun at regional accents--the Southern drawl, the Midwestern twang, the clipped cadence of the Northeast--but at least we can understand one another.  Accents are more marked in Great Britain, as the Irish brogue or the Scottish allusion to Gaelic roots might make it difficult for a typical Londoner to understand.  In these TV dramas, you may often hear the phrase, "Can't you speak the King's English?"

In this way, the servant girl may have had a pronounced regional accent, and Peter, whose speech was apparently recognizable as a regional Galilean accent (as we see in verse 70) could reasonably say that he didn't understand a word she was saying.  In this way, he sidestepped her accusation and didn't give himself away.

The second accusation came from some bystanders, because the servant girl went and told them.  Peter's initial response to them may have been accusatory, like "Where did you hear that?  From the servant girl over there?  She doesn't know what she's talking about."  Again, a more forceful denial but still not stating his position clearly.  If it had ended here, some might still be able to come to Peter's defense.

How often do we identify with the World rather than admit our wholehearted devotion to the Son of God?  When we hear a non-Christian mocking a televangelist, do we join in and attack the straw man, or do we take the opportunity to point them to Christ?  How often do we adopt New Age phrases like Mother Nature or Mother Earth to avoid conflict with worldly people, rather than introducing them to God the Father, maker of Heaven and Earth?  Surely these practices do not equate with denying Christ outright, at least in our own minds.  Sometimes, though, self justification is a slippery slope; see Psalm 1:1.

At the final opportunity, the bystanders have been talking amongst themselves, putting two and two together.  The servant girl, who may or may not have been an eye-witness of Peter following Jesus, confronted Peter.  Peter's accent showed him to be from Galilee, and wasn't that where Jesus was from as well?  If so, what was Peter doing in Jerusalem, in the courtyard of the High Priest on the very night that Jesus had been arrested?  The evidence was growing.  When they put it to him plainly, however, Peter swore he had never met Jesus.

Unfortunately, this was Peter's MO.  We know he repented of this particular sin, but years later there was an incident at Antioch described by the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 2.  Peter had been preaching to and fellowshipping with the Gentiles, but when the Jews of the circumcision party came, Peter withdrew from the Gentiles and sat with the Jews, following their rituals and kosher diets.  Galatians 2:11 says that Paul "opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong."  Hypocrisy can be seen at either end of the spectrum, as Peter clearly demonstrates.  Sometimes, we do too.

The only other time Peter is mentioned in the Gospel of Mark is at the resurrection, when the Angel appeared to Mary Magdalene.  The Angel proclaimed that Mary was looking for Jesus in the wrong place, that he was not here (in the tomb) but had risen from the dead.  Then the Angel gave Mary specific instructions: "But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee.  There you will see Him, just as He told you." (Mark 16:7).  Imagine Peter's reaction to being singled out in this way.  Was he not one of the disciples?  Was he excluded because he had denied Jesus?  The story is not complete without the extension of grace shown to Peter by Jesus as seen in John chapter 21.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?"  He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You."  He said to him, "Feed My lambs."  He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?"  He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You."  He said to him, "Tend my sheep."  He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?"  Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" and he said to Him, "Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You."  Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.  Truly, truly I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go."  (This He said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this He said to him, "Follow Me."  --John 21: 15-19

Peter had denied Jesus three times.  Three times Jesus asked him, "Peter, do you love me?" and Peter was given three opportunities to profess his love for the Savior.  Jesus gave him his purpose and his vocation when He said, "Feed My sheep."  Jesus showed him grace by saying that when he was younger, Peter was in charge of his life; now, he was to follow Jesus even unto death.  His life was not his own.  1 Corinthians 6:20 tells us the same thing: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?  You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.  So glorify God with your body."

Jesus gave Peter another chance, then encouraged him to glorify God the rest of his life.  He bids us do the same, for His glory.

A Kangaroo Court

Definition of kangaroo court

1 : a mock court in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted. 2 : a court characterized by irresponsible, unauthorized, or irregular status or procedures.

We all seem to love courtroom dramas, as they are one of the most successful genres on television.  The program Law & Order ran for 20 years from 1990 to 2010, with many successful spin-offs.  The original series was brought back, premiering again February 24, 2022.

Many of us who have never actually been in a courtroom base our understanding of procedures and practices from those successful movies and television series.  Most of us can spot plot holes before we can identify a holes in a legal argument, but a good writer can point them out to us.

In the Bible, we see an example of a kangaroo court, with the legal procedures thrown out the window and the witnesses all contradicting one another.  Let's read about it in Mark 14.

And they led Jesus to the high priest.  And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together.  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.  Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but they found none.  For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimony did not agree.  And some stood up and bore false witness against Him, saying, "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'."  Yet even about this their testimony did not agree.  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?"  But He remained silent and made no answer.  Again the high priest asked Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"  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."  And the high priest tore his garments and said, "What further witnesses do we need?  You have heard His blasphemy.  What is your decision?"  And they all condemned Him as deserving death.  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.  --Mark 14: 53-65

 Here's what one commentary had to say about the proceedings: "Lawyers who have studied these proceedings say the trial of our Lord was a travesty of justice and a mockery of legality. The place where Jesus was tried was illegal. The Sanhedrin was required to hold its hearings in the hall of stones in the temple, but Jesus was tried in the private residences of Annas and Caiaphas. A case could not be tried at night, yet Jesus was tried at night. A person was not to be tried on a feast day, yet Jesus was tried during Passover. The proceedings themselves were illegal as the judge was the prosecutor and the one who actually pressed the case against Jesus. The witnesses had to agree, but these witnesses did not agree. Jesus was convicted before He was tried." (Ref: https://www.family-times.net/commentary/mark-14-53/ ).

I saw something interesting in my study of this passage, with some help from Greek scholars online.  Verse 55 says they were trying to find witnesses to testify against Jesus.  The word for "witness" used here is martyria, from which we get our English word "martyr."  We all know what that means--someone who stakes his life on his testimony, and is willing to lose his life for the sake of the Truth.  In the trial of Jesus, there were people who gave false witness, and the Greek word used there is pseudomartyreo.  We all know the word "pseudo" means not genuine, or a sham.  When you put the prefix pseudo in front of the word martyr, you either get someone who is willing to give up his life for a lie, or someone pretending to stake his life to his words (but not really.)

So the trial was illegal, the witnesses were telling blatant falsehoods and contradicting each other, and the high priest asks Jesus to say something in His own defense.  Jesus remains silent.  Isaiah 53:7 says, "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."  This is why Jesus is the perfect sacrificial Lamb.

He was perfect, without blame.  The book of Leviticus sets out the rules for blood sacrifice, and each time the lamb is mentioned, it is emphasized that it must be spotless, without blemish.  Many stood to accuse Jesus, but their accusations did not stick, because they were patently false and easily contradicted with truth.  He was sinless, without blame.

His blood was sprinkled by the priests.  Leviticus states that the priest should take the blood of the lamb and sprinkle it on the altar, making atonement for the sins of the people.  In other places the priests were to lay their hands on the animal, transferring their guilt to it.  In this violent scene outlined in Mark 14, the priests were likely the first ones to draw blood, beating Jesus about the head and shoulders before handing Him off to the soldiers, who continued the beating.  If He was bleeding before this, then by slapping Him in the face they sprinkled His blood on themselves.  His blood was literally on their hands.

He was acceptable to God.  Many of the sacrifices in the Old Testament were burnt offerings, and God's acceptance was noted by the phrase, "an aroma pleasing to God."  Being from Texas, I know that a good barbeque can have a pleasing smell, and the aroma can be carried throughout the air.  I think, though, that God was speaking there not so much about burning flesh and the smell of it as the pleasant scent of obedience to His commands.  So when the high priest asked Jesus if he was the Son of the Blessed One (that it, God), Jesus answered, "I AM."  This was the name that God called Himself to Moses, and the priests all knew that.  Furthermore, Jesus prophesied that He would be seated at God's right hand, and would come down on the clouds from His exalted position to be seen and worshiped by all men one day.

It is interesting that the one argument that is recorded from the false witnesses was what Jesus had said about the Temple.  John 2:19 says, "Jesus answered them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up'."  A couple of verses later it is explained that "He was speaking about the temple of His body."  In their pseudo testimony, they used the phrase "not made with hands."  The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus became our High Priest, and continues the same metaphor.  

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.  For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. --Hebrews 9:11-14

 Because of His sacrifice and His position as High Priest, we who are chosen by Him are assured a place in heaven.  2 Corinthians 5:1 says, "For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

Jesus was condemned by a sham court and sentenced to death so that we might be covered in His blood so that we are not condemned and can attain eternal life.  Praise God for His unspeakable gift!

I am NOT Spartacus

 

When they were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them.  Now Joab was wearing a soldier's garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened on his thigh, and as he went forward it fell out.  And Joab said to Amasa, "Is it well with you, my brother?" And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.  But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab's hand.  So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died.  --2 Samuel 20:8-10a

In the 1960 film Spartacus there is a dramatic scene near the end of the movie.  An insurrection against Rome has been put down, and the title character played by Kirk Douglas has been captured along with his fellow slave/insurrectionists.  A Roman general addresses the group, asking them to identify their leader, so that he can be executed.  Kirk Douglas stands and declares, "I am Spartacus," bravely sealing his own fate and ostensibly saving the lives of his fellow soldiers.  In a grand show of unity, his friend Antonius, played by Tony Curtis, stands up and says, "I am Spartacus!"  In response, all of the prisoners stand one by one, each declaring, "I am Spartacus," each assuring the others that he is willing to die along with their leader.

Near the end of Jesus's life on earth, there was a similar scene with a very different outcome.  A group of Roman soldiers, along with chief priests, scribes and elders (all the sworn enemies of Jesus) came to the Garden where Jesus and His disciples had been praying.  If they had called out, "Who among you here is Jesus?  Send Him to us and you will live," I am sure that Jesus would have stood up and identified Himself to them.  Unlike the movie Spartacus, however, that is not what happened.

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.  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."  And when he came, he went up to Him at once and said, "Rabbi!"  And he kissed Him.  And they laid hands on Him and seized Him.  But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.  And Jesus said to them, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me?  Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me.  But let the Scriptures be fulfilled."  So they all left Him and fled.  And a young man followed Him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body.  And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.  --Mark 14:43-52

None of the disciples were willing to stand up and say, "I have dedicated my life to this Man--if you take Him, you must arrest me also."  Instead, they all fled.  Of the twelve that Jesus had hand-picked to follow Him, one betrayed Him to the authorities who would arrest Him and eventually kill Him, and the others all ran for their lives.

In the melee, one tried to stand up and fight.  He drew a sword and took a swipe at somebody in the arresting party, cutting off his ear.  Mark doesn't tell us who this is, but John 18:10 says it was Peter.  Luke 22:51 says that Jesus healed the man's ear.  Again in John 18:10 we learn that the man's name was Malchus, and that he was the servant of the high priest.  This might mean that Jesus healed the very one that was leading the raid to arrest Him.  What a merciful act of compassion.  

Malchus may have led the posse sent to arrest him, but Malchus was not in charge.  Judas may have led the group to where Jesus was, but Judas was not in charge, either.  Luke 22:3 says, "Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the Twelve."  Judas was working the in spirit of the antichrist, influenced by Satan himself.  Yet ultimately, Satan was not in charge, either.  

Jesus said in John 6:38, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me."  God is ultimately in charge.  He had decreed it from old that Jesus would come and live among us and die for us, becoming the ultimate sacrifice for us.  Jesus acknowledged this when He said, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me?  Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me.  But let the Scriptures be fulfilled."  Jesus may have been thinking about Psalm 88:8, "You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them." (NIV)

Judas had been close enough to Jesus to come and greet Him with a friendly kiss.  The kiss as an act of betrayal and even death has become known as "the kiss of death" or "the Judas kiss."  As we see in 2 Samuel, this was not the only time in the Bible that a kiss was a prelude to a murder, as we saw David's trusted general Joab approach Amasa, an officer who had allied himself with a pretender to the throne.  Joab kissed Amasa and then ran him through with a sword.  Judas called Jesus "master" or "teacher", then kissed Him and turned Him over to be arrested.

Satan, who had entered Judas and controlled his actions, was acting like a Sioux warrior.  In American history, Sioux warriors gained their status by being brave in battle.  One way this was done was called "counting coup."  What these warriors tried to do was to get close enough to the enemy to touch them without getting injured or killed.  It was one of the traditional ways of showing bravery in the face of an enemy and involved intimidating him and, it was hoped, persuading him to admit defeat without having to kill him.  Jesus knew that Satan had entered Judas.  In getting close enough to kiss Him, Satan may have been trying one last time to tempt Jesus into avoiding the cross.

What might have happened if Jesus had lashed out against the betrayer?  He certainly would have been justified in killing Judas right there.  Then it would have been more than just the disciples battling against the priests and scribes and elders.  Surely God would have sent a host of angels to do battle against Satan and his army of demons.  The end of the world as we know it might have happened right then and there, but then God's redemptive plan would have been thwarted, and the sacred prophecies left unfulfilled.  That's why it is important to recognize that Jesus "humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:8).

So they all left Him and fled, even Peter who had said, "I will die for you" dropped his sword and ran.  There is an unnamed man in in verse 51 that showed up in his pajamas.  He was wearing only a linen garment, which may have been used for sleeping.  Some commentators say this may have been the owner of the garden, who was awakened from sleep by the sound of the fracas going on between the soldiers and the disciples.  Most Bible scholars, however, agree with Church tradition that this was actually Mark, the one who is named as the author of this particular Gospel.  Like Spike Lee making a cameo appearance in the movies based on Marvel superheros, they say Mark inserted these two verses to affirm "I was here."

Acts 12:12 says that the disciples used to meet at the home of Mark's mother, so it is not too much of a stretch to imagine that the Last Supper occurred at Mark's home.  It may be that Judas first led the arresting party to Mark's home since that was the last place Judas had seen them.  Mark, then, could have gone out in his bedclothes to try to warn Jesus.  As he approached, the soldiers may have thought him to be one of the close followers of Jesus and tried to detain him.  Like the others, he fled, leaving his linen cloth covering in the hands of the soldier.

When we stand before God on the day of judgment, we will stand naked before Him.  If we are not covered by the blood of Jesus, we will be held in shame and dishonor, and be cast out into utter darkness.  All our pretenses will be stripped away, with nowhere to hide.  Thankfully, Jesus did humble Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross.  He bore our shame, and if we believe in Him and trust wholly in His work and Word, we will be covered by His righteousness.  We will be unable to speak on Judgment Day, unable to say, "I am a Christian."  Thankfully Jesus will be there at the right hand of God, and will say, "This one is Mine."  Better to hear those words than, "Depart from me, I never knew you."