Mark 14: The Passion (I)

28 February 2015: The Cost of Love

Opening prayer: Dear God, thank You for the scarce opportunity to enjoy Bible Study. Take us deep into Your Word and show us Your heart. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 14:1–9

Analysis: The chapter opens up with the context of the events, that the Pharisees were devising many ways to kill Jesus without provoking the majority of the crowd. They would not kill Him during the Passover, so they had to find a way…and quick. This account we know occurred on Wednesday, and Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples one day earlier, on Thursday. Friday was the Passover…so they had only a few more days to get the job done.

Before Jesus would give up His life, though, He has unfinished business to attend to. He had a meal, and during the meal, a woman broke an expensive alabaster jar and poured the perfume over His head. Immediately one would think, as with the disciples, why the woman would want to do that? Surely there seems no pragmatic purpose of doing so, going to show that Christianity was never meant to be primarily of pragmatic value, because a genuine relationship is never based on cost-benefit analysis but as an expression of God’s love for one another.

Remember, contextually, Jesus was on the road to His death. This is essentially the second-last dinner Jesus would have with His disciples before He went to the cross. And when a person dies, people honour him by anointing him, perhaps in just a little more primitive way than us embalming our loved ones today. One would ask, though, why did the woman want to honour Jesus?

By referring to historical context, we know that this woman was likely to be Mary, the sister of Martha and brother of Lazarus, the one who Jesus had previously raised from the dead. Mary was the one who sat at the feet of Jesus while Martha was busily serving Jesus, yet corrected for forsaking the priority of Jesus’ presence: to sit at His feet. He called this the better choice that Mary made (Luke 10:42).

Mary had previously anointed Jesus before; it occurred at a Pharisee’s house (Luke 7) and Jesus’ explanation for her action simply was this: she was forgiven much and therefore, she loved much. Jesus told the parable, comparing two people who owed the king some money. One of them owed $50, while the other $5,000,000. In both cases, the king cancelled their debts. Who then would love, be indebted to, be incredibly grateful to the king more? The latter.

This parable will explain why we see some Christians more passionate for God than others. In fact, we all have been forgiven much, but only to the degree we realise how much we are forgiven will we see the degree of our love for Him. The more forgiven we realise that we are, the more we will love Him as a response. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

This time, in her expression of gratitude and thanksgiving to God’s grace through Jesus, she anointed Him in advance. Love will cost greatly a lover, and yet it will be all worthwhile. Mary’s expression of love for Jesus would be a small picture of God’s expression of love to us, where the love of God would pay ransom to the justice of God to convict our sins in His body once and for all. It wasn’t about the numerical value of the perfume; it was about an expression of love, and Jesu corrected His disciples to see that in monetary terms, they have much capacity to help the poor, but Jesus only had 2 more days before He would bear the cross.

Maybe, just maybe, this precious example of love compelled Jesus to exalt her action, that “wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Mark 14:9). And this story will be the picture of the degree of God’s love for us, that given a choice to save Jesus and sacrifice us or save us and sacrifice Jesus, He would choose the latter, esteeming us of, reverently, greater value than even His Son.

We can only humbly receive His love. In no way can we boast of our deservedness of His love, but in every way we will proclaim that He loves us. Oh, how He loves us!

Closing prayer: Lord, we love You only because You first loved us. And we pour out our worship, praise and adoration unto You. Lord, love does cost us, and to the degree we realise Your grace, we will give. Thank You Lord. Open our hearts to give not just to You but to let Your love overflow us, until we cannot help it but give to others as well. We lift up our lives into Your hands, for You deserve all the praise, glory and honour. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

1 March 2015: Broken Body, Poured-Out Blood

Opening prayer: Thank You God for time. Thank You for free time that is incredibly rare in a world that continuously accelerates. Ordain our actions to embrace the precious rest that You provide. We choose to rest. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 14:10–25

Analysis: To conclude the matter of perfume and money, Judas decided to betray Jesus. This portion complements verses 1 to 2; demand is presented in Mark 14:1–2 and the supply is provided here in Mark 14:10–11. Judas was accredited to the treasurer in Jesus’ club of 12, and the scriptures imply a love for money that led Him to betray God. It is impossible for one to serve both God and money simultaneously (Matthew 6:24). Judas was offered the silver, and sought an opportune time to catch Jesus, preferably away from the crowd, which was what the Pharisees did not want (Mark 14:1–2).

Peter and John were commissioned to prepare the Passover meal. This process seemed similar to the time Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey: go to a random location, use My name, do what needs to be done. Whether Jesus had previously made a reservation or not, Peter and John had to trust that Jesus knew what He was saying, and when they found everything that Jesus said, they probably were pleasantly astonished. It wasn’t just one person to go; it was two, and many a time the Bible affirms duplicate witness rather than individual. Ministry took place in twos and threes. Do ministry with your brothers and sisters! And when God speaks and moves, be sure that what He wills indeed will be done.

Mark’s account of the Last Supper includes two main portions: Jesus being betrayed and the significance of the bread and the wine. “One of you will betray me,” Jesus commented, “and it is he whom I give this bread to.” The Passover setup would have been a Triclinium; the ‘head’ of the table would sit at the leftmost end while the ‘tail’ of the table at the rightmost. John’s gospel tell us that John was leaning onto Jesus’ bosom, and hence John would reside near Jesus near the head of the Triclinium. During the Passover, when the Jews go through the rituals that involve feeding their neighbours, they had to feed on the left. However, for Jesus to be able to hand the bread over to His perpetrator, He needed to be in close proximity to him. Thus, Judas can be derived to sit beside Jesus.

Triclinium Seats: (most honoured) John — Jesus — Judas — 8 Disciples — Peter (least honoured)

To think that Jesus would honour his betrayer this way. He would soon turn Jesus over to the religious leaders to receive trial upon trial and ultimately capital punishment! In His divinity, He declared it to be the work of God that He be given up for arrest. However, Jesu being 100% God and 100% Man, He cried, “How pitiful it is for the one whom Satan is using to give me up!” Jesus, as divine as His godly nature is, chose to be bound under to limitations of man, that today we can indulge in the freedom of His godliness, enjoying our relationship with Him. He knows our feelings. And He cares (1 Peter 5:7).

Judas was taken over by Satan’s reign. This act of betraying Jesus, however, is not the deal-breaker that would stop Judas from receiving salvation. Peter would soon betray Jesus, along with the other 10 disciples! Yet, when Jesus dies and rises again, all who place their faith in Him will be forgiven of all their sins regardless of their track record. That’s the power of amazing grace! The only hindrance to amazing grace is self effort, where one tries to earn His righteousness before God. This sets him up for a great fall.

A good reference in this story would be to Matthew 26:22,25. The 11 disciples asked, “Lord, is it not I?” (original Greek) but Judas asked “Rabbi, is it not I?” Judas didn’t see Jesus as Lord but as a teacher. When one’s relationship with God turns into a dos-and-don’ts religion where the focus is on one instead of Him, one will quickly fall short of God’s glory.

The Passover was to show the disciples about Jesus. Jesus now provides a fresh interpretation to the bread and the wine. The bread, to the disciples, now symbolised the body of Jesus. His body was broken that our bodies would be put together (Isaiah 53:5). In some sense, the broken physical body of Christ made a way for the united spiritual body of Christ—the Church. The bread Jesus used was unleavened bread, which meant that it was free from sin. Jesus came not as sinful flesh but in the likeness of sinful flesh, having no sin so that the innocent may die for the guilty. That is grace.

The wine represented the blood of the covenant. This is the new covenant of grace established by God that we partake not by our best efforts but only by believing. Just a little simple faith is required. And it was bought by the blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22). Jesus prophetically showed His disciples the Sacrifice that all the other sacrifices were pictures of. The One True Sacrifice would take away the sin of the world, and those who believe Him accede to Jesus bearing the punishment of their sins and them receiving freely the favour of God’s righteousness.

Jesus doesn’t stop at the death: He looks forward to His rising. The work is complete at the cross and confirmed to have been completed by Jesus’ resurrection. He will rise from the dead and commune with His disciples once again, but this time is the last time before He goes to the cross. Jesus loves communion. He loves relationship. Our part is to enjoy with Him in this relationship.

Closing prayer: Lord, we love You because You first loved us. Thank You for Your finished work on the cross, that we may be healed and be justified not by our effort but by Your effort. And Lord, we praise You for resurrecting, that we can confidently carry Your name on this earth, knowing that death is but a gateway to everlasting life. Thank You for Your amazing grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

3 March 2015: Restoration from Scattering

Opening prayer: Lord, we bless this session of Bible Study, in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Scripture: Mark 14:26–31

Analysis: The disciples have just finished the Passover meal, and they are headed with Jesus to Gethsemane to pray. Jesus was on His way up, foreseeing Himself being whipped and tortured like what He had previously observed in the past 33 years, only worse. As time drew near, Jesus was not at ease. He knew that this was the will of the Father, but in and of Himself He wouldn’t want to do it. Yet, He would because He loved the church. Nonetheless, He did express concern regarding His death.

“You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Jesus predicted that His entire entourage would fall away, not just Judas. Even the frontrunners of faith like Peter and John would be scattered. With the shepherd inflicted, to whom can the sheep follow? The sheep would panic and flee in many directions. To this, Peter reacted, “Even if they all fall away from You, I won’t!” Peter probably forgot that Jesus did not end at the death of shepherd but prophesies also His resurrection, His victory over death, and the hope of salvation in God.

The quote was taken from Zechariah 13:7. It it we see that once the shepherd is struck, the sheep are scattered and times of testings fall on the world. Everyone would be hit by the testings. A child of God, however, will make it through. God will strengthen him through the testings and sustain him until the end, just like how silver and gold are purified through the fire. The disciples did indeed fall away, but they also repented later on, and became used by God in mighty ways. They may have experienced intense hardships, but these hardships strengthened them and increased their stewardship of God’s grace. Those who seem to have given up the faith would eventually return if they are saved. God will restore them.

In response to Peter’s bold statement, Jesus replied, “This very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me thrice.” In light of this, Peter responded even more emphatically that he would go all the way for Jesus, even die for him. When we are proud, we assume heavy responsibilities on our own effort, and thus when we fail, we realise how weak self effort is. Peter boasted his love for Jesus but ended up betraying Jesus, even. Later on, God proves His far greater love than Peter’s and shows us that it’s about His abundant love for us, and no matter what we do we will not beat Him. We can only respond in adoration and humility.

Even when we abandon God, He would never abandon us. That is how much greater His love is than ours.

Only when life proves us wrong on many accounts do we choose to trust in Jesus. Why not trust Jesus right from the beginning? This way, during times of storms, we can walk on the waters by looking at Jesus. The death of Jesus was not the end as Peter thought. Jesus would rise again. God’s plan is always far greater than what we can comprehend. The best we can do is to rest in Him, trust Him and let Him work in us. Let Him love us. We rest in Him.

Closing prayer: Thank You Lord for showing us that in and of ourselves we fail, but You alone will succeed. Your love is greater than our, and all we want to do is to boast in Your love for us, not boasting in ourselves for our limited love in you. Thank You God for not abandoning us even when we abandon You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

6 March 2015: Praying in God’s Will

Opening prayer: Lord, teach us to seize the time and use every bit of free time to spend time with You and being engaged in Your work. We rest in You, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 14:32–42

Analysis: Jesus is a man of prayer. He often talks to His Father in heaven and prays very often. Here, we see, before the Passion begins, one more a time Jesus prayed. He needed strength and endurance. It was not going to be an easy road to the cross. In fact, even the word “difficult” is a grave understatement of this trial.

We see that firstly, if Jesus, the perfect and sinless Son of Man, had every need to pray, how much more do we who are imperfect and horrible people redeemed by the Cross as God’s children need to pray! And pray often! Pray for strength in the trial and protection from unnecessary ones. Pray during sorrow and worry. Jesus prayed while His soul is sorrowful, in the Greek, grievously, grudgingly heavy-heartedness. Jesus was 100% God yet 100% Man. Mark loves to portray the dichotomy between Jesus’ divinity and His humanity, because Mark views Jesus as a Servant.

Jesus prayed. The Gethsemane conversation between God and His Son, however, was not recorded for our benefit. Some details were included in the other gospels, such as Jesus’ intense stress to the point He sweat blood in Luke, but that wasn't recorded here since Mark’s emphasis is on Jesus as a Servant while Luke’s is on Jesus as Man. If there is any detail for our benefit recorded, it is Jesus’ submission to the Father’s will:

“Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” [Mark 14:36]

Cross referring to the Matthew and Luke versions:

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” [Matthew 26:29b]

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” [Luke 22:42]

Notice that in Mark, Jesus declares God’s ability to do the impossible. In Matthew, as the King, He would seek permission from God, His divine King. In Luke, we see a man talking to God and thus asks according to how God would will. However, as a Servant, whose task is to complete the work assigned to Him, Jesus prayed, ‘All things are possible, therefore, Lord, spare me’. But He didn’t stop there, He ultimately submitted to God’s will. Yet, His humanity was disparaged as He repeated His prayer later on (Mark 14:39).

One of theology’s big questions is: can God use sin to get His will done? After all, God is sinless and perfect, and He don’t use sin per se but sinful people. Both are accurate. Without murder (that’s a sin) of the Son of Man, reflecting blasphemy (the most serious of the commandments). Yes, God is sovereign even over sin and can use sin to flourish good, like salvation for mankind and grace to the undeserving.

While Jesus was praying, His disciples dozed off. Out of the 11, it would be unsurprising that the 8 who were less close to Him would. He prayed quite long., long till even the inner circle, Peter, James and John, were sleeping. While not technically betraying Jesus, this showed that they would not go all the way. If they could not at least pray against temptation or strengthening of the spirit and flesh, how would they stand amidst trial when Jesus all the more would need their support?

And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” THIRD!? We know 3 is a unique number in the Bible, so when we see that here, you know it’s intense. Nonetheless, Jesus, having prayed, sweat blood and received empowerment from the Father via an angel now meets His adversary.

I believe that Jesus functioned, while on earth, as a human. He needed God’s empowerment. God’s will may not sound very airy-fairy, but it certainly serves a great purpose, and God will get the job done through us. He did it through Jesus as Man, the Servant King. As His children, and eventually as His servants, He’ll take us through the difficulties too, but at the end, we can expect an awesome reward.

Closing prayer: Thank You Lord for submitting to God’s will. Without You doing so, we wouldn’t be saved. Thank You Jesus for loving us so much. Lord, train us. We want to do Your will too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

8 March 2015: Betrayed With a Kiss

Opening prayer: Thank You Jesus for Your precious Word. Thank You for giving us the time to enjoy Your Word. Your Word says: Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all the supply for our needs will be added unto us. We look to You, Jesus. In Your precious name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 14:43–52

Analysis: To begin the analysis, we read about a young man at the end of this passage. Think about it: Mark was writing to Gentile Christians, and he, out of the blue, described this random man who did something incredibly stupid…unless he’s implicitly referring to himself! Mark was there, but not in the most admirable fashion, perhaps.

Why did Judas betray Jesus with a kiss? To identify Jesus among the others was a challenge, and the kiss by Jesus’ own disciples uniquely revealed which person was Jesus. Furthermore, a kiss on the cheek and warm embrace, in the Jewish culture, revealed a personal and affectionate friendship*. That Judas expressed intimacy but meant to harm Jesus reflected the devilish spirit in him, the father of lies (John 8:44). Here is the first of the disciples who betrayed Jesus; the rest would betray Him later. The kiss, according to Strong’s KJV, is ‘kata–phileo’, that is, to kiss earnestly, as one would with a friend. Satan was no friend of Jesus. He lies. We need to discern with the power of the Holy Spirit truth from deception.

Jesus was arrested, and in fury, Peter (John 18:10) retaliated by striking off the soldier’s ear. John records Jesus restoring the man’s ear, but Mark focused not on restoration and instead on completing the Father’s will. Jesus did question their logic: why would you capture Me at night when you could have caught me in the day? Jesus obviously was intelligent and deemed their course of action nonsensical.

Ultimately, however, as Jesus said, let the Scriptures be fulfilled (Mark 14:49). Jesus’ humanity abhorred this fate, but as God still chose to take this despicable method that we may be saved. Above all, Jesus, being God’s servant, wanted to fulfil God’s will. And as He had earlier prophesied, all the disciples fled. The disciples, however, receiving salvation implied that Judas, too, could have received salvation, since they all betrayed Jesus. Judas did not perish by His betrayal per se but on a completely different basis, which we will soon discuss about.

To complete the will of the Father, Jesus needed to course through shame. Treachery. Loneliness. But He did it. Love goes all the way.

Closing prayer: Thank You Jesus. Sweet Jesus.We love You, Lord. We love You. By Your grace, never let us deny You. Hold us firm and secure in Your hands. We rest in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

11 March 2015: High Priestly Trial

Opening prayer: Lord, thank You for the rare opportunities to indulge in Your Word. Lord, when Project Logos is back in action, I pray that You’ll make time for us to commit and come together to indulge in Your Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 14:53–65

Context: The Passion involved many details that are found in books other than Mark, like Matthew, Luke and John. Piecing the separate accounts paints the full picture of the Passion, but these studies focus specifically on Mark’s account and how it reiterates his view of Jesus as the divine Servant.

Analysis: When they led Him away, they didn’t do it solemnly! They were mocking Him and essentially rejoicing that they’ve accomplished Step One in getting rid of a troublemaking Jesus. They probably did spit at Him too, purposefully tripped Him up literally, and as they arrested Jesus, while His disciples did indeed flee, they crept up on the policemen. They followed in the shadows. They wanted to redeem themselves from their earlier act of betrayal of fleeing.

Jesus faced, in this account, the Sanhedrin, who essentially would have been a Jewish Senior Pastor. The then-high priest would be confronting the One high priest according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5).

The many religious leaders accused Jesus of many crimes worthy of capital punishment, such as violation of the Sabbath, false prophecy, blasphemy so on, but could not find any coherent or cogent evidence for those claims. When people lie against Jesus, their arguments become devalued. The arguments were very contradictory. None of them agreed upon one another without contradiction. They also tried quoting Jesus, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’ (Mark 14:58), which ended up as a misquote. Jesus referred the temple as His own body that He would raise, not the physical precincts of the temple, thus de-validating their proposition once more.

Jesus could have justified Himself, but He was at a very safe standpoint considering it would not take much effort to debunk their arguments. Instead, however, He chose to remain silent. In the wisdom of God, He chose to speak only at the right time when appropriate. When the time was right, and people finally questioned not His actions but His identity, asking, “Are You the Christ?” He responded: I AM.

In Hebrew, ‘I AM’ would have been the name of God, Yahweh. He was calling Himself, a human being, Yahweh. In the midst of hundreds of Jewish leaders, He was unanimously charged with blasphemy, beyond any shadow of doubt. They have achieved their goal. Jesus added on, “you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven”, reinstating the prophecy of the Messiah.

Jesus revealed His identity that would subject Him an object of torture and humiliation reflects the Scriptures being progressively fulfilled. Jesus could have gone back to heaven, and Islam argues that ultimately He did, completely escaping death and rendering man helpless to his own works for salvation, but the Scriptures that point to His suffering, and soon after, His rising, needed to be fulfilled. Jesus, in choosing to go through an earthly hell and a literal hell out of love for man, have unknowingly fulfilled Scriptures like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.

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 14:65, boldface mine]

Notice the mockery. They spat on Him. In any culture, spitting in front of someone was bad enough. The insult compounded when one is spat on the chest. Yet, Jesus was spat in the face. (Matthew 26:67) How far would Jesus take this lying down? At this point, one could question God’s sovereignty in allowing His only Son to be tortured this way.

God allowed His Son to suffer to spare us from it. Here, Jesus was spat by a few; later on, Jesus would be spat on by all hundred-plus religious leaders. That for us would have been the pinnacle of insult to our dignity, and yet, Jesus bore this shame upon Himself on account of us. God began to crush His right hand (Isaiah 53:10), His servant, and it pleased Him that He did, because of the joy that He have by reconciling man to Himself. Jesus’ exceedingly abundant love for man compelled Him to take on the likeness of sinful flesh and serve all the way. (Philippians 2:7) This only further magnifies our realisation of His love for us.

This is the buildup of suffering that only ends at the Cross.

Closing prayer: The degree that You suffered for us reflects the degree of your love for us, and how You love us so! Your love is indescribable. We can only surrender to Your love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

12 March 2015: Peter’s Denial

Opening prayer: Thank You Lord for helping us make time to involve You in our lives. It’s a grace on its own right. We pray for a fruitful time in Your Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 14:53–65

Context: In Mark 14:30, Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Him thrice before the cock crows. Peter rejected that word emphatically. He was sure that his loyalty to Jesus would not fail.

Analysis: While the religious leaders trialled and prosecuted Jesus, Peter waited out in the backyard. He was anxiously waiting to hear Jesus vindicated. While waiting, he too was interrogated by the Jews around the campfire, but instead of following Jesus and remaining silent, he responded thrice a denial. Then, the cock crowed a second time.

Let's examine the three claims that Peter denied:

1. Being with Jesus

2. Being one of Jesus' disciples

3. Being a Galilean

They are all claims of association with Jesus. Peter had a few options: remain silent or say something. If

he did say something, he could either admit association with Jesus or lack thereof. He chose to deny association with Jesus. Wait a minute, didn’t Peter previously emphatically swore His allegiance to Jesus? This Peter denied the last claim with, as the Bible records, cursing and swearing. He cursed when talking about Jesus.

Peter did not just weep, he wailed aloud (Strong’s KJV). He was remorseful. Yet, in another account, we see that Judas too was remorseful, but Judas perished in punishing himself for his treachery whereas Peter was saved in the end. Peter relied on Jesus later on.

Here, however, we see yet another dichotomy: Peter and John. Peter boasted of his love for Jesus, while John boasted of Jesus’ love for him. Peter declared his unwavering loyalty, John leaned on Jesus’ bosom (John 13:25). After the disciples fled, Peter ended up denying Jesus thrice, while John was with Jesus at His final moments (John 19:26).

It is far more glorious to boast of His love for us than to boast of our love on Him. The former is reliance on Him, the latter reliance on ourselves. Our love is not perfect nor long-suffering, but His love is patient, kind, not jealous or boastful or proud (1 Corinthians 13). His love never fails, never ends.

Today, let’s pin our hopes on Him. Instead of declaring our love for Him, declare His love for us, that produces an effortless love for Him as a fruit. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Closing prayer: Thank You God for loving us while we were yet sinners. Even when our love grows cold, our faith wavers, Your love continues to burn and Your faith continues to remain firm and grounded. We want to boast of Your unending love for us and not our finite love for You. We love You Lord, because You first loved us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.