MPC, 8th April 2001.Mark 14 - Discipleship Disaster
Phil Campbell MPC, 8th April 2001.
Let me take you back to the time when I'm in the first few months of my job as a graduate engineer. Fresh out of University. Keen to make a good impression. Coffee Break in the office, and somehow the conversation turns to the WORST POSSIBLE TOPIC.
Christians. Now I'm new here. Nobody KNOWS ME. And they're talking about ONE OF THE OTHER GUYS in the office who's a BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN.
And they're having a GREAT OLD TIME laughing about it. In his absence. I'm there, standing in the circle, saying ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Desperately hoping that NOBODY'S GOING TO NOTICE that I'm not joining in the sledging.
But it doesn't quite work. And somebody turns to me. And says, "You're not ANOTHER ONE are you." Not another one of those BORN AGAIN CHRISTIANS?
Can I say I wish I could finish that story with an ending that makes me look like a HERO OF THE FAITH. But I can't. And maybe you know exactly what it's like yourself. To be a disciple of an unpopular messiah. A follower of an UNFASHIONABLE KING.
Jesus sets the scene for his disciples in chapter 13 - we saw it last week. He says, BE READY. Because it's going to get TOUGH. I mean, up til now it's been fun. They've been the guys saying "We're with Him," while he's done all the powerful stuff you see in Mark 1 to 9. Healing people. Driving demons out. But this is different.
And he says to them, KEEP WATCH. Be on guard. Don't be afraid when you're persecuted and put on trial FOR MY SAKE.
And straight away at the start of chapter 14, here are the chief priests and teachers of the law looking for a way to kill Jesus. The POWER BROKERS of Israel. Verse 1. Now the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread were only TWO DAYS away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. "But not during the feast, " they say, "or the people will riot."
Popular with the crowds. But on the DEATH LIST. Two days. Two days to do their dirty work. The feast is two days off, and they can't do it then or there'll be a riot. So it's now or never. The clock's ticking. And Jesus knows it. So how are the disciples going to go when the going gets TOUGH?
Let's start with JUDAS. See, in a sense we've always seen him as the BAD GUY, haven't we. If we've heard the story over and over again, he's the one in the BLACK HAT. But I wonder if he's just the first one to FALL. When the going gets tough?
They're at dinner in verse 3; and a strange thing happens; a woman comes up to the table and breaks a bottle of nard perfume, and he pours it all over him.
Now guys, if you haven't been shopping for perfume in a while, you should check the prices sometime. Nothing's changed. This is obviously a woman of means. This is a bottle of the good stuff. Worth an average year's wages.
And people are saying WHAT A WASTE! I mean, if you didn't want it, SELL IT TO SOMEONE WHO DOES, and give the money to the poor.
But for Jesus, it's VERY APPROPRIATE. Because he knows what's up ahead. Verse 8. "She did what she could," says Jesus - "she poured perfume on my body to prepare for my BURIAL." He's not even dead yet. But Jesus knows he's about to be betrayed. And be put to death. It's just around the corner.
And whether it's the fact that Jesus keeps WARNING ABOUT THE DARK TIMES, whether it's the fact that Judas can see the writing on the wall, whether he just wants to jump ship before it's too late... Judas has had enough. All this talk about GLORY COMING THROUGH SERVING, all this talk about the temple being destroyed; it's not the sort of Kingdom Judas is looking for.
And so he goes to the Chief Priests, and he says, LET'S MAKE A DEAL. And sets it up so they can come and grab Jesus somewhere quiet. Away from the crowds. When nobody expects it. And from then on, you've got Judas in the background, watching and waiting. Waiting for a chance to catch Jesus and the rest of the disciples off guard.
Judas is not convinced that JESUS IS GOING TO BE ON THE WINNING SIDE. I wonder where YOU STAND on that?
PASSOVER...
Well, from this point the clock's ticking. And when you come to verse 12, it's the first day of the Feast of Unleavened bread; the lead-up to the Passover celebrations. It's EVENING, which for them is when the new day starts.
Jesus and the disciples are having dinner together. It starts off as a normal Passover meal, just like every other year. But then Jesus starts to speak. One of those awkward conversations, if you'd been there. They're reclining round the table, passing round the unleavened bread and the meat and the wine; and Jesus drops a bombshell. And again, every step of the way, he knows exactly what's unfolding.
Verse 17, "he says, "I tell you the truth, ONE OF YOU WILL BETRAY ME - one who is eating with me."
He's been anointed for his death already. And now he's blunt. One of you in the inner circle... is going to hand me over. And then He breaks a piece of bread, it says in verse 22; and he says "Look, this is what's going to happen to my body. " And he passes them the wine. And he says, "Here's my blood - poured out - for many."
We do it at the Lord Supper. Maybe so much that it's over familiar. Imagine you're there at the table. It's an EERIE thing he's saying. Frightening. The hair would stand up on the back of your neck.
This is NOT FUN. To hear the one who you've pledged yourself to as your King talking this way about his BROKEN BODY. And his shed blood. And as they finish their meal and they head out into the darkness to the Mount of Olives, Judas sees the chance to slip away to the temple to betray him. And make it all happen.
And do you notice in the conversation on their way to the mount of Olives, Jesus points out that it's not just JUDAS who lets him down. They all will. As they see their shepherd struck. Exactly as the prophet Zechariah said they would.
Pick it up in verse 26. "When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 27 "You will all fall away," Jesus told them, "for it is written: "'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'
When things are easy they'll come along for the ride. But when the shepherd hits hard times, they'll dissolve into the night.
Peter's good at talking tough. Always is. Bold words. And he says, even if I have to die with you, I'LL NEVER DISOWN YOU." And all the others said the same. Brave talk. But Jesus looks at him and says this. Verse 30. "Today - yes TONIGHT - before the rooster crows twice, you yourself will disown me three times." TONIGHT BEFORE the end of the third watch, tonight before the rooster crows, you won't be talking quite so tough.
And so they go to the Garden, a place called Gethsemane, a grove of olive trees. And Jesus tells the disciples to wait while he goes to pray. He takes Peter and James and John and they go a bit further. And Jesus, it says, is deeply distressed and troubled. You can see it in verse 34.
"My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, " he says to them. Stay here and KEEP WATCH."
Same words we saw him say to these same disciples back in chapter 13; Dark times are coming. So BE READY. KEEP WATCH.
And he's saying exactly the same thing here. You know, we might like to minimise what Jesus went through; we might like to think, we'll it came out alright in the end. And because I think most of us have got a very high view of Jesus, we sort of tend to think, well, he could cope. He knows what's going to happen. BUT THE FACT IS, Jesus is in DEEP DISTRESS. Which for him felt exactly what it feels like for you when YOU'RE IN DEEP DISTRESS. Full of the terror of what lies ahead. Not so much because of the pain. But because of what it meant. And he doesn't want to do it.
And he falls to the ground and prays. Prays that if possible, the HOUR MIGHT PASS FROM HIM.
The HOUR that's coming. The hour he warned the disciples about in chapter 13 that we saw last week. The hour where he faces the CUP OF GOD'S ANGER. Where he takes the punishment due to ISRAEL for their rebellion. Soaks up the punishment for the sins of the world.
But the answer to his prayer is THERE'S NO WAY the hour can pass from you. And it's about to arrive.
Peter and James and John are left on watch. And he's praying. Three times he goes back to them - and three times they're asleep.
And then the hour finally arrives.
Verse 41.Here's the climax. "Are you still sleeping and resting? ENOUGH! The HOUR HAS COME! Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, RISE, let's go - here comes my betrayer."
And it's finally happened. The wheels are in motion. And we're about to see the great abomination Jesus talked about in chapter 13. Jesus arrested. Taken before the Sanhedrin, the council of Jewish elders. Jesus in front of the high priest.
And as he's being cross questioned, as the High Priest asks him a question in verse 61, as he says " ARE YOU the Christ, the Son of the Blessed one?", there's Peter outside in the shadows.
And as Jesus unflinchingly says "I AM. And YOU WILL SEE the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven," Peter's being asked ANOTHER QUESTION.
And as the High Priest tears his clothes and screams THIS IS BLASPHEMY, and as they blindfold him and start spitting on him and hitting him with sticks, and as they say "Prophesy. See how smart you are now. Who's hitting you this time?" - there's Peter in the courtyard saying to a servant girl, I NEVER KNEW HIM.
She says it again, verse 69, "you're ONE OF THEM." And he denies it again. And verse 70, people standing near him say, "Surely you are one of them; we can tell by the accent; you're a Galilean." And Peter begins to call down curses on himself, and he swears to them, "I don't know this man you're talking about."
And as soon as the words are out of his mouth the ROOSTER CROWS. And Peter remembers. Remembers what Jesus said. Just as Jesus is being condemned by the Sanhedrin. And mocked as a false prophet.
And we're watching. And when we get to the start of chapter 15, it's first thing in the morning. DAWN breaks. And they bind Jesus and lead him away and turn him over to Pilate, the Roman governor. The only one who has the power to sentence Jesus to death.
And Jesus is handed over to the soldiers and taken away to the Praetorium. The PALACE. And they crown him with thorns. Crown him as King. And the events of Good Friday are about to unfold. Which we'll hear about THIS GOOD FRIDAY.
And the issue is for Judas, and the issue is for Peter, and the issue is for you and me, is THIS THE SORT OF KINGDOM you want to be part of?
Or one you'd just rather walk away from? Because the COST IS VERY HIGH, isn't it. I mean, if this is the way they're going to treat our KING, what makes you think it's going to get any easier for you and me?
And if the way to BE GLORIOUS really is to make yourself a servant, do you really want to be GLORIOUS THAT WAY?
I mean, what's it going to cost YOU to identify with Jesus? Much easier NOT to, isn't it. Much easier to take the easy road and maybe not quite deny him. But NOT OWN HIM when you know you should have. And maybe you've done that so many times where you work or with your friends that the biggest problem you've got is there have been SO MANY TIMES when you should have shown your loyalty to Jesus... that you think it's almost too late. Or that your lifestyle and your words and your attitudes have BETRAYED JESUS so many times already that you think if you OWNED UP to being a Christian now, people would just think it was some sort of joke.
Folks, if you're at school; if you're at Uni; if you're at work; where-ever - the decision you've got to make is the same. And that is, will you own Jesus... or not. In a way I reckon that's the point where REAL DISCIPLESHIP actually starts.
And if you will, maybe you need to start praying for an opportunity to DO THAT CLEARLY. At work; at school. With your non-Christian friends. Not in an artificial way. Or a contrived way. But a way that makes sense for your situation.
For me, it took quite a while in my office; to get from the point of being the new guy who kept his mouth shut, to the point of having something to say. I guess whatever point you're up to, there's one nice little thing buried in this chapter. Because Jesus knew his suffering and death wasn't going to be the end of the story. And he knew that his disciples weren't going to take the heat. But for Jesus, there was plenty of room for putting things right. Even for Peter. And if you look back at verse 27 and 28, you'll see it. Jesus says, "You will all fall away, for it is written: "'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.' 28 But after I have risen - verse 28 - but AFTER I HAVE RISEN, I will go ahead of you into Galilee." Where they'll be united. And start again. Failures forgiven. Which for weak disciples like us is very good news.