[:en]MARK 14:43-72 LESSON # 42
DESERTION, INJUSTICE AND BETRAYAL
I. Greetings:
II. Introduction: There are many who are angry at God, because things have not gone well or that they have been deeply mistreated, and at times it has been by Christians. Thus, the question asked is, “Where is God?” It is a good question, worth asking. He is there, but our texts today are sensitive to our anguish. They teach us that He is not only here; He has been where you are now, because He has been to the cross. The manner in which Jesus went to the cross is very similar to what some of you are experiencing today.
God has allowed human beings to have free will; therefore He has allowed the possibility of evil, great evil, in this world. As Charles Williams has reminded us, He came to His world and faced what the humans had become. He faced the results of giving us our free will, God took His own medicine. He faced a cruel, free choosing race, and we humiliated and murdered Him. God came to earth and we brutalized Him. He knows what you face! He chose to know!
III. Jesus’ Desertion and Arrest: Mark 14:43-52.
A. The Desertion of His men.
>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:43-50.
Q How did they know which one was Jesus?
An = It was by a kiss. It was late at night at a place with no lighting. Thousands of pilgrims were in the city, so it would be easy to lose Jesus. Judas used a kiss, a customary greeting to give to a rabbi. Then Judas called Him, “my master”. Judas used two actions meant to show respect and honor to betray his lord.
Note: Jesus had to face the awful gut-wrenching fact that He has been betrayed by one of His own closest associates. Watch what else Jesus had to face besides betrayal….
Q What did the disciples do?
An = They fled. They deserted Jesus. All those closest to Him abandoned Him. Being alone in the midst of hardship makes it harder.
Q Did any disciple do anything else?
An = Yes, in 14:37 one of them cut an ear off.
>>>> Have someone read John 18:10.
Note: That someone was Peter.
B. The Strange Addition.
>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:51-52.
Q Why are these two verses here?
An = This could have been Mark. It is written only in Mark’s Gospel, and perhaps because it referred to Mark himself. This passage is in no other Gospel and could be Mark’s way of saying that he was there and possibly overheard, as a young man, much of what went on in the Garden of Gethsemane. Nevertheless, he fled too. The only one left, calmly left, was Jesus. He was in control of His feelings and fear. Though He was the one arrested, He was asking the questions.
>>>> Have someone read Isaiah 53:12.
IV. Injustice: The Sanhedrin Trial: Mark 14:53-65.
A. The First Legal Maneuver.
>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:53-59.
>>>> Re-read Mark 14:54.
Note: 14:54 describes Peter’s warming himself at the fire, but this is told to us in the midst of Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin. You might wonder why the author put this notice about Peter at this place in the story.
Most scholars agree this was an attempt to let the reader know that 14:66-72 (the Sanhedrin trial) and 14:55-65 (the story of Peter’s denial) happened simultaneously (Lane, p. 532). While Jesus was being treated with gross inequity and injustice, His key disciple was out in the courtyard denying Him. However, something else should be said about Peter…
Q How many disciples ventured into the courtyard?
An = Mark records only Peter. Why did Peter, and Peter alone, risk the dangerous proximity to the trial?
Q Did Peter plan on denying Jesus?
An = No, he did not. Only Peter verbally disassociated with Jesus because only Peter cared enough to get close enough to be questioned.
Q Did Jesus get a fair trial?
An = No! Capital offense cases had to have the collaboration of at least two witnesses. They could not find two witnesses. They tried to get Him on temple desecration (a serious offense in those days). See John 2:19 and Jeremiah 26:1-9. However, their case did not stick.
Note: What is clear is that the purpose and spirit of the law was outweighed by the firm resolve to get Jesus. >> Have someone read Mark 14:1 and 14:55. How interesting it is that no witnesses were brought forth that could witness of how Jesus healed them, feed them, brought back their children from demon possession, or the dead, etc., only witnesses for the supposed temple desecration.
B. The Second Legal Maneuver.
>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:60-65.
Note: The chief priest asked a leading question trying to get the defendant to incriminate himself (Barclay, p. 369). This was not a proper procedure. Judges were not to interfere in order to get a conviction.
Q What was Jesus’ Spirit like in 14:60-61a?
An = Calm, willing to be quiet, not alarmed at the injustice. Such calmness seemed to rattle the high priest.
Q What was Jesus saying in 14:62?
An = He is the Messiah: see Psalms 110:1, Daniel 7:13 and Isaiah 52:8.
Q What did they convict Jesus of?
An = Supposed blasphemy: >>Have someone read Leviticus 24:15-16.
Q Was it fair?
An = No, Jesus was treated totally unfairly.
Q What is happening in 14:65? What did Jesus ever do to deserve this?
An = >> Have someone read Isaiah 50:6. Many of you today have suffered unjustly, and have been railroaded. If it has not happened to you yet, it easily could. If it has happened, or when it happens, remember, your Lord knows. He completely understands.
V. Betrayal: Peter’s Denial. Mark 14:66-72.
>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:66-72.
Note: There was a double interrogation going on.
>>>> Have someone re-read Mark 14:65 and 71.
Note: As Peter was acting as he did in 14:71, 14:65 was going on simultaneously.
>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:29.
Q Why did Peter not leave the courtyard in 14:68 when he was recognized?
An = He wanted to be there. He wanted to be loyal.
Q Again, why was only Peter here?
An = Only Peter cared deeply enough to be there and therefore got into trouble.
Note: Only those who really care about God can fail as Peter did. Lesser men would have never been there (Barclay, p. 370). What is strange is that some of us really love God, and yet do things that betray Him.
In our own strength we try to serve God and we, like Peter, will fail.
Q What was the source of this story?
An = The Gospel of Mark is said to be Peter’s preaching memoirs. It was from Peter himself that we have this story. There is a power in true Christianity, where the Spirit of God is truly active, that allows us to tell the truth about ourselves and yet survive!
William Barclay tells a story, “There was an evangelist called Brownlow North. He was a man of God, but in his youth he had lived a wild life. One Sunday he was to preach in Aberdeen. Before he entered the pulpit a letter was handed to him. The writer of the letter recounted a shameful incident in Brownlow North’s life before he became a Christian and stated that if Brownlow North dared to preach he would rise in the Church and publicly proclaim what once he had done. Brownlow North took the letter into the pulpit with him. He read it to the congregation. He told them that it was perfectly true. Then he told them how, through Christ, he had been forgiven, how Christ had enabled him to overcome his sin and put the past behind him, and how, through Christ, he was a new creature. He used his own shame as a magnet to draw men to Christ. That was what Peter did.” (Barclay, pp. 371-372)
That is what we could also do. Tell the truth about our failures; because in Christ, if we are truly in Him, there is hope.
Note: Let me read the last sentence of chapter 14: “And he began to weep.” No more fitting ending to this chapter can be made. When we see we are wrong, then hope and restoration have begun.[:]