Okay, we are next to last. It's interesting how Mark puts the dynamics of his story together. Verse 11 chapters covers almost the entire ministry of Jesus. Chapter 11 to 16 covers the last several days. But it moves fast and furious. Once Jesus commits himself by condemning the temple, and once the authorities decide that that's going to be the end, the collision course certainly continues on. And then Mark inserts his parable of the vineyard for the paradigm as to how to judge the rest of the story. We're not going to spend any time on chapter 13, but that's the one that lots of commentators look at, trying to figure out.

[01:04]

They spend most of their time trying to recover the historical, critical background to it, where it came from, because it's such strange language and almost out of place, and is highly apocalyptic, and looks, if you read chapter 12, skip chapter 13, went to chapter 14, you wouldn't feel you missed a beat. So, they spent a lot of time with that. If you take the gospel as it's been handed down to us, You can see that it's quite prevalent that Mark easily inserted this chapter because it also serves as an interpretive paradigm for Mark's theory about the parousia. and the fact that the current world as he knows it is going to be destroyed, but another one is coming, and that those who have been the good ground will be part of that.

[02:12]

The necessity for watchfulness, all the things the disciples aren't, Chapter 13 says, those who will make it through this terrible destruction, this is what they should be. And the disciples do not qualify. Especially in chapter 13, verse 35. I'll go back up earlier, 32. But about that day or hour, speaking of the final end, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father. And here's what we're supposed to do. Beware, keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake. It's going to be important in just another chapter.

[03:14]

Keep awake. For you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrow or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep." That's another key word. First key word, keep awake. Second, asleep. When he comes suddenly. And what I say to you, I say to all, keep awake. So Mark wants us to have that implanted in our mind bone. The notion of keeping awake. And then with chapter 14, the passion narrative proper starts. Scholars are pretty much in agreement that the passion narrative, as in Mark's Gospel, is the oldest continuous narrative piece of the New Testament.

[04:15]

of this kind of literature that we have. Many think that it was already in a form very similar to what we now have in front of us when Mark got a hold of it. And so, it goes way back. And remember, the Gospels were written backwards to the way we read them. The most important part, passion, suffering, death, resurrection was written, put into writing, put into teaching first because that was the core of the Christian message. The last part written was the infancy narrative because that only came about later on when people were beginning to ask questions about Jesus, his divinity, where he came from, and so forth. So, it's kind of like Mark, the first is last, the last is first. Mark starts the passion narrative with another one of those anonymous little people who represents good ground.

[05:17]

Remember, blind Bartimaeus had a name. That's the way he closed that one section. Chapter 14, the anointing at Bethany is a wonderful story. The woman has no name, although because you've read other Gospels, you're going to give her a name. You're going to say it's Mary. But here, there is no name. So Mark does not give her a name. While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard. You get nard from India. A lot of money in nard. And she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, Why was the ointment wasted this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than 300 denarii and the money given to the poor.

[06:23]

Now mind you, those some who said that are those disciples. See, they haven't caught on at all yet. And they scolded her. But Jesus said, let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. Remember what authentic discipleship is? And to become a servant. She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for its burial." Now, they didn't seem to catch on to what this was, why she was doing this. And now here is her reward.

[07:25]

Truly, I tell you, Wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her." And then we're going to get to the betrayal. Judas. Judas is considered one of the great types in the New Testament. Another personage that's a great type is Mary Magdalene. A type meaning there might have been a historical character certainly, but as they are portrayed in the Gospels, they're bigger than life. Judas is meant to represent all aspects of betrayal. Now, if you study it carefully, we are so conditioned to hate Judas, but if you sometime lay it out on a piece of paper, betrayal Judas, Peter, Peter comes out far more in terms of a betrayer than Judas does.

[08:31]

Why does Peter not end up being understood forever as the great betrayer? We can't tell from Mark because Mark doesn't rehabilitate Peter, but we know that historically Peter ended up being not the betrayer, but the preeminent apostle. Obviously, at some point, he did understand, come to believe. But Judas obviously never does. Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. When they heard it, they were greatly pleased and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray Him. Then they're going to move through the Passover, the final meal Jesus celebrates with His disciples. And there it's almost comical, although it's also tragic.

[09:36]

But while he's there at supper, even though for Mark, it's important that Mark wants to show us that there's where the words, the traditional words of institution that we associate with the Eucharist come in, one of the oldest sets of those words that we have, the other being in 1 Corinthians 15, where Jesus talks about His body and His blood. But also in that context, He lets them know that one of them is going to betray Him, And right away, they kind of come alive. Oh, you don't think it's me, do you? Oh, it couldn't be me. You think it's you? It's me. I mean, they pass the hat around. Oh, really? Who could possibly do that? Looking like mad as you watch and read this literary, looking for some clue as to which one of us are really going to do this. They're very nervous. It's a wonderful scene. And of course, we know, because Mark has told us, And then we're told about Peter and his denial.

[10:41]

He's going to deny Jesus three times. That'll be interesting. Now, one of the most significant events takes place when finally Jesus ends up going to the Garden of Gethsemane. Now, remember back in 13, the big warning, stay awake, watch. That was what we're supposed to do. They went to a place called Gethsemane and he said to his disciples, sit here while I pray. This is one of the few references really to prayer that Mark makes. Mark makes a few others. It's Luke, the Gospel of Luke, that has a good bit about prayer. But even Mark, when Jesus has to do something significant, oftentimes he needs to go away and to pray. And then one of the Main references to prayer will come at the key moment in the Gospel a little bit later.

[11:42]

He took with him Peter, James, and John, the big three. Ones that have been with him every place, seen everything. And he began to be distressed and agitated. And here Mark is going to show us some of the psychological elements of Jesus that the other gospel writers don't want us to see. So they'll clean this up a bit. But Mark doesn't. Mark lets us see Jesus in his full-fledged consternation, having to come to terms right here with the fact that his disciples have never caught on. He's been rejected by family, by hometown. He's trying to figure out where this call that he knows he has, where that's going to lead. His inkling certainly is at this time it's going to lead to disaster. And previous, Mark has had him tell that three times. It's going to lead to death. But notice the humanity that comes in here, that he is, you know, he doesn't just sort of suck it up and say, well, you know, I'm God, I'll move right through this, and here's a good example of how you're supposed to enter these traumatic times of your life, just suck it up and put on a smile, and oh, siree.

[13:05]

He does it like you and I would probably do it, you know, full of distress, deeply grieved, even to death. I am deeply grieved even to death. Remain here, He tells the disciples, and keep awake. That's all they have to do. They don't have to say anything. They don't have to perform any act. Just kind of sit up, take nourishment. Keep awake. Keep your eyeballs open. And going a little further, He threw Himself on the ground and prayed that. If it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. That's significant. If there's another way we can do this, now's the time. Let's figure it out. Let's talk about this. He said, Abba, Father, for You all things are possible.

[14:12]

Remove this cup from Me. Yet, and this yet is the deciding point, not what I want, but what you want. So when he goes into this meeting squarely with his fate, he does want out. Because he is a human and he knows what that's going to imply, but Unlike most humans, he has that yet clause in there. Yet not what I want, but what you want. And as you and I know, the what you want is not to get out of this. The term Abba gets played up a lot by commentators because in its Aramaic form, many people say it bespeaks a kind of intimacy

[15:16]

that's one of the few places where Jesus discloses his own sense of relationship with his father, because haba was a word that a young child used with a father, similar to daddy. That theory had been proposed a long time ago by a great scholar named Joachim Jeremias. Recently it has been looked at again, and it's not held in as high esteem as it was, but nonetheless, you run across that explanation. that here he's talking about relationship, and he's not talking about God in the abstract, you know, he's talking about his father. This is intimate knowledge, intimate understanding, and he wants out, he wants another way. He came and found them sleeping. Most important moment in his life. The only thing he asked his disciples, stay awake.

[16:19]

Their response, no. Why did they say no? Because they don't have a clue what he's doing. They don't know this is the most important moment. He just wanted to go pray a little bit. He said, we'll just take a little snooze over here. And he said to Peter, notice he doesn't call him Peter anymore. Simon. Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? The answer, no. Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found him sleeping. Their eyes were very heavy. And they did not know what to say to Him. Interesting. They did not know what to say to Him.

[17:20]

He came a third time and said to them, Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough. That's an important word. It's over now. No more disciples. He's not going to spend any more time with them. Enough. The hour has come, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going, see my betrayer is at hand." From this moment on, Jesus has a firm sense of what he's going to do. He keeps his mouth shut, basically, and just calmly goes to it. The three Keep awake, keep awake, keep awake, sleep, sleep, sleep, of course, are in relationship to the three passion predictions. The series of three becomes a typical interpretive key for Mark. He gets arrested immediately, you know. Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived, and with him there was a crowd with swords, clubs from the chief priests, scribes, the elders.

[18:29]

Now, the betrayer had given them a sign, this is irony, this is Mark at his best, saying, the one I will kiss is the man. The betraying sign is the sign of intimacy, isn't it? Isn't that interesting? It's not the one that I point out, spit on, throw a rock at, or any other kind of way. No, the one I kiss. And if you have a concordance sometime, go through it and look up the word kiss and see how many times it's used as a sign of betrayal. You'll be rather surprised. It's interesting. So, but for Mark, it's irony, you know. This great sign of intimacy is really a great sign of betrayal, which is what the disciples have been living out shortly after they got out of the boat. arrest him, lead him away under guard. So when he came, he went up to him at once and said, Rabbi, and kissed him.

[19:35]

Then they laid hands on him and arrested him. But one of those who stood near drew his sword, struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear." Luke doesn't like this passage. So Luke has This guy put the year back on. Paste it right back on. He doesn't think that it should be cut off. But Mark, he lets it all just be like it is. Then Jesus said to them, Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as though I were abandoned? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching and you did not arrest Me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled. All of them deserted Him and fled. Remember that verse. All of them deserted him and fled. Chapter 14, verse 50. That's the end of the disciples. It's over. Exit stage left. Their discipleship. All we're going to do now is going to watch Peter from a distance, and it's not going to be a pretty picture.

[20:41]

He's going to deny Jesus three times, and so the camera's just going to kind of say, you want to see how it ends up? He's out of the picture, but watch what he does, and we get to watch him try to finagle his way out, and he gets nailed because he has a Galilean accent, and he's down in Jerusalem, and everybody knows those country bumpkins from up in Galilee, and so this woman can really spot him and pins him. But this is the end of the disciples. Scholars write books on this next verse. Certain young man was following him wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked. Nobody has a clue what that's about. The word young man, neanios, is the same word you're going to run into when you peer into the empty tomb and see a young man sitting there in a white garment. I don't know if they're any relationship, but it's one man and he's got his garment back, and it's the same word used.

[21:49]

I think what this is is Mark's just trying to show us the consternation. Everybody's trying to run away now. Everybody's going to flee from Jesus. And they'll go at any cost. If it costs them their clothes, take the clothes. I'm out of here. I don't care what happens. And so this is one example. There are books written about how this really is Mark and baptismal imagery. I've read those books, I don't understand a word of that. But if you can grab that, okay. But I think it's just one more of that, the kind of consternation. And notice, notice who all is. Who's the only calm person in this story? Jesus. He's the calm one. He's the one who has come to terms with this. Everybody else, disciples, onlookers, man, they're all scattering. The crowds come like he's a thug. So it's quite a scene. Well, we get to watch Peter, and there are some trial scenes, and the trial scenes are very confusing historically to try.

[23:03]

Nobody really knows the legal system at that time. Many people think that the Jewish Sanhedrin did not have any legitimate authority to issue a death penalty. They in turn had to figure out a way therefore to get Jesus into a civil court so that the civil officials could level the death penalty. No one quite is sure about when the Sanhedrin met, how that worked. Here it's all kind of mumbo-jumbo. You ever get interested in that Raymond Brown's analysis in the Death of the Messiah has as thorough an analysis of that as you'll find. But you get to see that it's historically pretty fuzzy what all went on. But for Mark's story, it's not fuzzy. Mark's story is, he's going to be led to the slaughter like a lamb. Because Mark now in his background has some ideas about Isaiah 52 and 53, the suffering servant.

[24:07]

Jesus is not going to defend himself really, he's just going to be led quietly and whatever happens, happens. Pilate of course is somewhat open to Jesus and it's in the conversation with Pilate that furthermore that secret of who Jesus is starts to come out and finally Finally he admits that he is the king of the Jews But he doesn't make a big to-do about that. He just says that He gets mocked we know how all that goes but now Mark is trying to lead all this up to a grand crescendo because for Mark this crucifixion scene is really important. They ultimately decide to crucify him. Pilate gives in, although Pilate and Mark is not so convinced he's done anything wrong.

[25:12]

But nonetheless, he lets him go. That's why some people think Pilate could be one of those guys in Thorny Ground, like the guy in chapter 10. They compelled a passerby, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross. It was Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rupus. He brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of a skull. And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. Most people think that was kind of like a narcotic to kill the pain, but he didn't take it. And they crucified him. and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take." Of course, all this is to fulfill what some of the Old Testament scriptures had talked about. It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him.

[26:16]

The inscription of the charge against him read, The King of the Jews. And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Remember, that's the places James and John were trying to get. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, Aha, you who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross. The same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking Him among themselves and saying, He saved others, He cannot save Himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe. Those who were crucified with Him also taunted Him. Now, remember what this is. This is Markan irony. I mean, people are saying this out of disrespect and hassling and derision and all of that.

[27:23]

But see, for believers, we know it's all true. He is the King. He is the King of the Jews. He is the Messiah. Even though the unbelievers don't know it, He is. We know it. When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o'clock, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Interesting passage, opening line, Psalm 22. Many people who don't like this, the way he dies here, crying out in abandonment, say, well, if you read that Psalm long enough, it gets better. It does, if you read it long enough, it's a long psalm, as you know, and it does turn around into a confession of faith. But I think Mark wants just this first line here, because it's all part of Mark's strategy and his depiction of Jesus.

[28:28]

You see, when Mark has Jesus crucified, he is abandoned totally. His disciples are gone, his intimates are gone, The only person left might be God, and in the experience of Jesus, God is gone. There is absolutely no one left. He is absolutely alone. But if you read this carefully, you have to understand the words are also prayer, aren't they? My God, even though he is abandoned, he feels abandoned anyway, and even feels that God has left him, who does he turn to? He turns to God. He has faith, even in his most severest moment of total abandonment, he doesn't abandon God. And for Mark, that's the key, that's the catch.

[29:32]

That's the good news. That's the saving event. Because remember, Mark is portraying Jesus for us to follow. He is not so far above us in the gospel that we can't follow Him. And so, this is His preeminent display of faith when everything's out and He still turns to God. And, of course, we know the outcome of that turning to God is He doesn't stay dead. I mean, that's the key. He doesn't fail. The disciples who put up with far less, they have failed over and over again. Jesus, who has been abandoned from almost the beginning of the ministry all the way through until the final part hanging on the cross, abandoned by God, still He doesn't fail. His faith carries him right through.

[30:39]

That's very, very significant. When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, listen, he's calling for Elijah. Someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, gave it to him to drink, saying, wait, let's see whether Elijah will come, take him down. And Jesus would cry and breathe his last. The temple is ripped open and the presence of God, at one time thought to be held there, is now open for all nations as Jesus, when he criticized the temple, said it should be. And now, there is a new reality. Jesus. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, Truly this man was God's Son."

[31:51]

Of course, here is the irony of ironies. Who is the person fully recognizes who Jesus is? a paid Gentile soldier. Not a disciple, not a believer as such from the regular group that followed around Jesus, but an outsider, a total outsider. The absolute wrong person has the absolute right answer. Truly, this man was the Son of God. So that's very stark, the way Mark has that. All the people that could have helped did not help, and now they can't. Mark doesn't leave us just hanging there.

[32:54]

He kind of dangles one more little ray of hope out there. There's still a little group of people left. There were also some women looking on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James the Younger and of Joses and Salome. These used to follow him. and provided for him when he was in Galilee. And there were many other women who had came up with him to Jerusalem. So, we don't know what they're going to do, but they're on the scene now. They're the only ones on the scene. They do know who he is. They have followed him. And of course, we have to see what's going to happen. They know where he's buried. Luckily, this guy, Joseph of Arimathea, who oddly enough is a member of the Sanhedrin, so he had to be involved in the meeting that condemned Jesus, he's the one now who comes back and provides the tomb for Jesus.

[34:03]

Traditionally, crucified people didn't have tombs. They all had a common grave. They just dumped them in a common grave. But Jesus got saved from that because of Joseph of Arimathea. And then they roll a big stone over the tomb. And these women know where it is. A question that emerges here, that a lot of people don't ask so much, I guess, has to do with the suffering that Jesus endured. Crucifixion was an interesting way to die. You died by suffocation, of course, your arms would be strapped on a cross beam and then you would be hoisted up a little bit and you'd be hoisted on the vertical pillar so that had a little peg on it you could kind of sit on but your legs would be always bent and your arms would be out like this see and so the uncomfortableness of this around your chest area you'd always try to push up with your legs and to push up with your legs to get the pressure off your lungs

[35:18]

And they provided this little sharp peg you could sit on. But you never could get high enough to get the pressure off, and then you couldn't hold yourself up like this for cramps. And then you'd sink down. As soon as you sunk down, the lungs would start to collapse again. And so the way you died from crucifixion was by slow suffocation. The data says people could hang up there five to seven days. Now, Jesus was only up there six hours. for five to seven days. There's some interesting archaeological discoveries that show that some people crucified did have nails driven through their hand, but nobody died of that. The purpose of the nails through the hands and the feet was to irritate you. Because if you're up there trying to hold on, you know, every time you shake your hand, you're going to rip that skin. And every time you push up with your feet, you're going to rip the bottom of your feet without those nails driven through you. So just another irritant like that. and the flogging and all of that.

[36:22]

Now, from probably the early Middle Ages on, all of the focus on the suffering of Jesus has been on the physical suffering. We take that for granted, you know, that he suffered, and it's shocking to us, I think, more from the respect we have for who Jesus is than for the physical suffering itself. Because when you think about it carefully, Not to say it didn't hurt or it wasn't a lot, but it wasn't more than many other people have done. I mean, it wasn't in terms of the suffering of the day and the kinds of pain that had been inflicted on various people. It wasn't way beyond what was normal. And we also know many other people, followers of Jesus later on, who suffered far greater physical pain than flogging, or then even crucifixion. And even for him, the crucifixion wasn't a prolonged agony.

[37:27]

Mind you, which is not to say, oh, that didn't matter, didn't hurt or anything. I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying when you think about that, the physical aspect of it, which we, and I think from the imagery of the Middle Ages and all of that, that has been the focal point, which I think causes us some difficulty when spiritually we try to talk about how do we align ourselves with the suffering of Christ? Well, the early Christians, you know, wanted to get martyred, or a few of them did. I don't think that was as big as we tend to think it was, because that was understood of your only guaranteed entry into heaven. But, you know, chances of us being crucified and so forth are not that great. If you read Mark's Gospel, I think Mark gives us a different perspective on the suffering of Jesus. I think for Mark, the greatest suffering for Jesus was abandonment.

[38:35]

I mean, if you want to say what caused him the most pain, what got right down to the depth of his soul was the fact that everyone who should have been with him, everyone who should have supported him, everyone upon whom he relied, left him. especially His disciples, they left Him. Chapter 14, verse 50, they left Him. And that's bad enough, but then He's on the cross feeling that even God has left Him. I think for Mark, Mark wants us to know there is no greater suffering than that. People can endure great physical pain, and we all know people, probably have lived with people who have undergone long, prolonged pain.

[39:38]

And we sometimes wonder how they do it. Obviously, many times, at least they tell us it's their faith, that there is more to it than just that pain. But when people feel absolutely and totally abandoned, that's something else. I also think spiritually when we are talking about the sufferings of Christ and how we can in some way enter into that suffering, I think this is the avenue that's open. Because we too, I think, feel no greater suffering than abandonment, than rejection. We can put up with the physical stuff and we do. We all do. As we get older, it comes more and more. You know, we kind of joke a little bit about it. But it hurts. It's painful. But we make it through.

[40:39]

And if our faith is strong and the faith of those around us is strong, well, we sometimes are even heroic. We can watch lots of people who you say, I don't know how that person keeps going. But they do. And they can be very, very edifying. Nothing worse than having to deal with a person who feels totally rejected, totally abandoned. Or if you've ever been in that place, you've ever suffered from really depression, acute depression, where you see nothing but blackness. Now that, that is suffering. And we all have bouts with that. And we all worry. about being abandoned. And we all worry about, will those who we hope and pray stay with us? Will they really stay with us? And you see, no one can guarantee it, can they?

[41:44]

The only thing that gets us through that is trust and faith. Now, because Jesus is God, I think His faith is heroic. And I think He is no more royally God than when He's hanging on that cross feeling abandoned and He won't let go. He will not abandon His Father. And for Mark, that's the high point. It doesn't get any nobler than this. If you want to see the incarnation start to well up and the divinity start to swell up. For Mark, this is it. So tremendous is this event that the old temple just goes by the wayside. The curtain's ripped in two. There is no more Holy of Holies. You don't need it because there is a new king of the Jews, a new temple.

[42:50]

It's a tremendous scene. You should go through it, read it again. And as you do, Think about your own suffering. I think we are more aligned with the sufferings of Christ than we want to think about. And analyze it sometime. Think about it in terms of that. In terms of that, what does that call us to do? What kind of trust does that call us to have? What kind of faith does that call us to have? And how much energy we will put forth to avoid that kind of suffering. We don't always try to put forth effort to avoid physical suffering. We just sometimes move into it head on. It has to be. We do it. But the kind of suffering Jesus had to go, we want to avoid that at all costs. There's nothing more terrifying than the thought of dying alone. We don't like it.

[43:56]

We don't do it. Any of our people die, we know. We surround them. That's part of our custom. We don't want anyone to die alone. That's the kind of suffering Mark is talking about here. That's what Jesus put up with. That's where he was the most heroic when he felt he was the most abandoned. In the morning, Not very early, as the text says, but nonetheless still early. We'll see how Mark finishes this story. It's quite intriguing. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

[44:43]

@Transcribed_v004
@Text_v004
@Score_JJ