Mark 14 - The Day Before Good Friday!

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Jesus Anointed at Bethany

The Passover feast was two days away, and the religious leaders' plot to kill Jesus was in the incubation stage. They wanted to arrest Jesus, but because his following had grown so big, they didn’t want to incite a riot when so many people would be there for the Festival. 

Meanwhile Jesus was at the home of Simon the Leper, who Jesus had healed. A woman brought a very expensive jar of perfume called “nard”. She broke the jar and poured it over his head. To anoint someone with oil was a ritual dating all the way back to when David was anointed as Israel's first King of Israel. The word "Messiah" also meant "Anointed One". 

But this anointing was for a different kind of king. The woman, who we learn is Mary Magdalene, was anointing Jesus for his death and burial. Later after Jesus died, women would wrap Jesus in linen cloths and spices. Joseph of Arimathea would buy a tomb for Jesus to be laid to rest. 

The disciples complained about her purchase of nard being a waste of money, but little did they know she was anointing the Son of God, the Messiah. 

Jesus rebuked them saying that they would always have the poor among them, but his time was limited. Obviously Jesus is not against helping the poor, but he was for this woman’s extravagant act of worship. 

Why did Jesus praise this woman's act of worship? 

1. It was a huge risk for a woman to approach Jesus in this culture. 

2. The cost of the perfume was likely very costly to her.  

3 To pour the perfume over his head could have been seen as highly presumptuous and maybe a little appropriate for a woman follower to do for a rabbi. 

Worship, which is pleasing to Jesus, is costly, risky and may even seem a little crazy to others but to Jesus is a matter of the heart.  Jesus does not desire our sacrifices, but a broken and contrite heart he will never despise. Isaiah 61:1 

Does your worship look anything like this woman’s? Worship is always in response to what God has done for us. Jesus’ act of worship on the cross cost him everything. 

The Last Supper

Jesus probably enjoyed thousands of meals with his disciples over their three years together. But this would be a special one. It is no accident Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples coincided with the Passover meal, where the blood of the innocent Lamb provided deliverance from death for the Israelites

Jesus makes special preparations to share this last meal with his disciples. He gave new meaning to it when he passed the bread and said, “This is my body given for you”. And when he passed the cup he said, “This cup is the blood of the new covenant given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins”. 

Jesus then said that they would not drink of the fruit of this vine until they celebrated this meal with with Jesus in heaven. It was a foretaste of the feast to come. In another passage Jesus told his disciples whenever we gather we should remember him by sharing this meal with these words.  

There is not enough time here to explain all of the different ways churches have tried to explain how Jesus is present in the bread broken and wine poured out. Some people believe when they receive the bread and wine it is literally the real and physical body and blood of Christ. Others believe it merely symbolic and the purpose of the meal is just to remind us to remember what Jesus did for us. 

In my tradition (Lutheran) we believe Jesus is “truly present”. Or, we talk about Jesus’ “real presence”. We don’t try to explain it.  It is a mystery which can only be apprehended through faith. 

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

Though all of Jesus’ disciples would deny Jesus, Peter’s denial is the most famous. Why?  Because Peter dramatically announced he would never deny Jesus, after seeing Judas’ betrayal for a mere thirty silver coins. 

But Jesus knew Peter would deny him not once, not twice, but three times.  For Peter this was unthinkable and he maintained it would never happen. A verse that is often missed says, “The other disciples did the same”

Peter gets a bad rap perhaps because he impulsively opens his mouth ana inserts his foot.  What he lacks in judgment and self control, he makes up in boldness. One day Peter indeed would not deny Jesus even with life on the line?

In what ways do you deny Jesus?  Maybe not by what we do, but by what we don’t do. Sometimes we are complicit in our silence. 

Gethsemane

For me this is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. In it we see Jesus’ humanness, humility, and vulnerability. Jesus knows what is ahead of him in the next 24 hours, so he goes to his favorite spot to pray, the “Garden of Gethsemane”

First, we see Jesus’ humanity, as he asks his disciples to keep the watch and pray for him. There were certain hours in the night in a prayer watch. We often call it today a prayer vigil. 

He took Peter, James, and John, as he soon became desolate and desperate before the Father asking Him to let this cup pass from him. If we had any doubt if Jesus knew what was going to happen on the cross, we only need to observe him in the Garden 

At one moment he cries “ABBA Father”. The word “ABBA” meant daddy. It was an intimate term between a child and his parent. If you have kids and have experienced your child crying out to you in pain, you have a glimpse of what it was like for God the Father to hear his son crying out to him in the Garden. The Father knew what was going to happen to His Son, but also knew this was why He sent him to earth.  

After praying three times for His Father to take this cup of suffering from him, Jesus said decidedly, “Yet not my will but yours be done.”  Having completely surrendered his will to the Father, Jesus said confidently, “Arise my betrayer is at hand!”  Jesus’ had now set his face toward the cross 

Jesus Arrested

Jesus has submitted to the Father's will, therefore he had no reason to resist his arrest at the hands of his betrayer, Judas Iscariot”. It is almost comical the clubs and weapons the mob brings expecting violent opposition from Jesus and/or his followers. However Jesus’ followers are gone, and he willingly turns himself over to those who came to arrest him. 

Jesus Before the Sanhedrin

The Sanhedrin is the group of 70 Jewish elders who managed and ran the temple. They also were the final authority on all important decisions. As Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin, Peter was lurking in the background concerned about Jesus but fearful of the consequences of being connected to Him. 

The Sanhedrin needed some kind of credible evidence to convict Jesus of a crime punishable by death. Many people brought various charges but the were all kinds of inconsistencies so none of their charges stuck.  So the high priest finally get right to the heart of the matter when he asks Jesus, 

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One? “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy."  Blasphemy was punishable by death so they had what they needed now.

Peter Disowns Jesus 

Meanwhile Peter is warming himself by the fire hoping not to be noticed knowing that his friend Jesus is now condemned to death. Peter is recognized three times by servant girls for different reasons and finally he screams out, "I don't know the man!" Peter then remembered the words of Jesus when he said, "Before the rooster crows twice you will have denied me three times."  

Peter, devastated by the reality of Jesus' prediction can only weep!