Epaggelia

A Custom, A Crowd & A Sentence, v6-14,  The feast of unleavened bread and passover was a solemn memorial of salvation for the Hebrew nation, because of God’s life-giving gift to spare the firstborn of every family that had their door marked with blood. This emphasis of salvation was marked by an agreement between the Jewish Sanhedrin and the Roman Governor, Pilate. But in this case, the Chief Priests wanted nothing to do with salvation, releasing the guilty Barabbas in turn for condemning the innocent Jesus for crucifixion. This great irony of Pilate letting a murderous insurrectionist go free, while he sentences an innocent man falsely for insurrection is proof Pilate is trapped as the sovereign will of God is executed. The Minor Prophet Zechariah and the Messianic Psalm spelt out prophetically the specifics of a crucifixion, Psa. 22:15-18 & Zech. 12:10. The Roman historian Cicero called crucifixion “a cruel and disgusting penalty” (Against Verres 2.5.63-66 §§163-70); Josephus (J. W. 7.6.4 [7.203]) called it the worst of deaths reserved for treason committed by Roman citizens and/or murder by ‘foreigners’.

A Scourge, A Crown & A Violent Taunting, 15-20, A Roman flogging was a torturous punishment. The victim was stripped of his clothes and bound to a post with his hands fastened above him or sometimes he was thrown to the ground while guards stood on his hands on either side of the victim being incessantly beat with a whip (flagellum) made out of leather with pieces of lead and bone inserted into its ends. While the Jews only allowed 39 lashes, the Romans had no such limit; many people who received such a scourge died as a result. But Jesus survived and was taken to stand before Pilate with his “cohort” of soldiers, this would be appx. 500 soldiers. Imagine the strength it would take to do that and then take a crown of thorns. THEN have blows taken while wearing it. The mocking included being given “splendid clothing” v17. This most likely came from Herod’s prior hearing when Jesus was mocked as a king with a purple robe (Luke 23:11) Even while suffering such a loss of blood, he found the strength to endure the pain while “again and again” many soldiers would strike him. No wonder Pilate wanted to wash his hands of this atrocity. Isaiah 53:3-10 prophetically uses precisely the right words, “crushed” & “slaughtered” to describe the punishment God’s Messiah/Christ would bear for us in order to perform the perfect sacrifice for sin.

A Tortured March to the Cross, v21-23 “Forcing” Simon to carry the cross (“patibulum”) when Jesus falls under it’s weight is indicative of how they “led” Jesus to Golgotha. It is truly amazing that Jesus carried the crossbar of the cross part of the way, (John 19:17). The soldiers were leading Jesus in a forced pace that he couldn’t keep, a burdened march that was meant to hurt with every step. After Jesus completes the journey and just before they crucify him, they offer him wine laced with myrrh, v23 but he refuses it. Myrrh was a type of mild analgesic and would act as a preservative in small amounts, but if too much was used, Myrrh would make wine impossible to drink, which when offered to someone dehydrated would be a form of torture. However, Jesus refused it as an analgesic and took the pain of the cross in full strength to bear the full consequences of sin as it had been determined by His Father. As Jesus was dying on the cross, he took soured wine, because he was so dehydrated he couldn’t speak without some moisture. His last words “It is finished” spoken as an achievement in completing the Father’s will as the perfect sacrifice for all our sins, John 19:28-30. The refusal to take the mingled wine with myrrh was a statement of determination to express his own will in suffering for our sins, Paul said suffering is part of entering into the Kingdom, Acts 14:22 and Peter taught that we are called to suffer, 1st Pet. 3:14-18.

Different Parties Opposed to Christ:  “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?”  (Romans 5:10)

Bystanders in Curiosity, v66-70, “looking”, and again said, “you are one of them”. The desire to label and learn about Jesus, is not for wisdom or admiration, but to incriminate the followers of a fraudster in Jesus. Once everyone is labeled, they will take the sentence ordered from the Council and apply it to each follower. This kind of guilt by association work can backfire, and it was the reason the Council decided to work at night as quickly as possible. For they were afraid of the crowds, Mt. 14:5, 21:46, Luke 22:2 & 20:19.

Peter in Denial, v68-72, Peter failed to show any integrity because he had not prayed for strength in the garden and his Savior had already warned him of his impending denial. Peter is most likely lingering in the background to learn how the unexplainable will unfold, and as he does, he cowers in shame, going “out into the gateway”, v68. The cursing Peter does is probably out of hate for his own guilt ridden shame as he tries to lie his way out of the questioning. This is the nature of deceit, it complicates our conscience into self-hate for falling deeper and deeper into sin and guilt.

Chief Priests, Elders, Scribes & Sanhedrin Council in Scheming Judgment, 15:1. The Roman authorities would not have prosecuted Jesus as a blasphemer. So the Sanhedrin, evidently now at full strength, decided to charge Jesus with treason against the Roman government. This verse does not explain that decision, but Pilate’s examination of Jesus that follows shows that was the charge the Sanhedrin had made against Him. Binding Jesus and leading him to be delivered was a formal and determined effort to impress upon Pilate that Jesus was guilty and a threat. Have you ever wondered why the Sanhedrin didn’t order a stoning to kill Jesus for blasphemy? Roman policy was to let local courts and customs deal with most civil and criminal matters, except those that threatened Roman interests. But in 6 AD the right to execute capital punishment had been withdrawn from the Jews and given to the governor exclusively – except for punishment of pagans who entered into the Temple. Nevertheless, mob actions, such as the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58) sometimes occurred. And so the true reason they have brought him to Pilate comes out; they want nothing less than the death penalty, and can’t inflict it without Pilate’s cooperation! The Jews want Jesus crucified so that he will be humiliated, accursed & killed according to the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).

Pilate in a Trap, 5:2-5, Jesus stated the truth according to Pilate’s question about kingship, with an enigmatic agreement. Jesus didn’t try to offer a defense against the accusation of kingship, instead, he welcomed their charge of insurrection. In John’s gospel, 18:36-38 Jesus attempts an explanation of the nature of his Kingship, but Pilate doesn’t care to differentiate and see the spiritual nature, instead he apathetically replies, “what is truth.” The rest of Pilate’s attempt to free an innocent man leaves Pilate astounded at the reality of Jesus giving all his enemies an opportunity to do their worst. Even after flogging Jesus, Pilate is stuck in between quelling a riot and/or losing his job. If he stands up for Christ’s innocence and denies them a crucifixion, then he’s caused a riot & lost his job, but if he authorizes the death sentence, he quiets the streets of Jerusalem and keeps his job. So he washes his hands of it and keeps the peace and his job for now. Sadly, Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiae ii: 7) quotes some early apocryphal accounts which tell us Pilate fell under misfortunes in the reign of Caligula (37–41AD), was exiled to Gaul, and eventually committed suicide there.

v43, the prophecy fulfilled in Judas and the Temple guards was made by David in Psalm 41:9 & 55:12-15. The gospel narratives never before recorded weapons being used against Jesus, yet when they are prepared, it’s too late! Christ has already surrendered. The kiss of Judas, a simple greeting wasn’t used to get close enough so as to identify in the darkness and grasp him for a beating and stabbing, no, it was simply fulfillment of prophecy, proving God’s sovereignty. Some of the Temple guards may have known what Jesus actually looked like but even with their lanterns, they weren’t taking any chances in identifying quickly the right man, they weren’t taking any chances, it was meant to be a swift under the cover of night arrest, previous attempts in broad daylight were useless. Lk. 4:16-30 by people who knew him in Nazareth, Mk. 2:23-3:6, Jn. 5:1-18 & 8:48-59, 10:31-39, 11:45-57,three times by pharisees, Lk. 19:45-48 by the Temple leaders after Christ’s cleansing of the Temple, Lk. 20:9-19 by Jewish experts in the law. Now the enemies and betrayer are playing into the hands of Satan himself, v49. 

All the disciples left Christ and fled, v50. There are times when every faithful Christian feels like giving up, but this verse proves that even our failures as a child of God, are known by God, before they are committed. Yet He still loves us. We have given God a million reasons to give up on us, but none of them are good enough to stop him from loving us. The only people God does give up on, are people in the world who have never trusted & obeyed in the first place and repeatedly reject his love to the point of turning the Creator into the created in their own minds, see Romans 1:19-28. 

v51-54, these verses show a connection between Peter and an unknown young man, which may indeed be the author Mark, noting that just because Peter tries to follow, he was really just like the chickens that fled naked, he would eventually betray Christ too with his lying denial. We are all the same, weak humans in need of the Savior’s love and God’s powerful righteous Spirit to do what is really right. Christ knew that after his resurrection, His Spirit’s presence would help them do “greater works”, Jn.14:12.

v55-62, the silence of Christ here while being falsely accused under arrest is known by Peter, as he from a distance is fully aware of how hard every leader in Jerusalem is trying to prove Christ a fraud. This vain attempt of legal wrangling is seen as futile by Peter in reflection as he writes 1st Peter 3:16-18. Christ’s silence was held long enough, so as to let their lies lead his enemies into using their hatred to face the truth they rejected. Was Jesus really the Son of the Blessed One? Jesus couldn’t resist quoting Daniel 7:13.

v63-65, the violence that breaks out against Jesus by respected Jewish leaders is both appalling and demonic, in that they give the guards opportunity to use the clubs in beating Christ, yet he lives to willingly take further punishment for our sins all the way to the cross. They could have killed him right there, but God is sovereign, it had to be on a tree, Dt.21:22-23 & Galatians 3:13. Jesus never shrank from taking on the physical punishment for our sins, what he wavered at in prayer at Gethsemane is the horror of becoming a curse in his Father’s eyes. The emotional and spiritual pain of being under the curse of sin, crushed Jesus in prayer to the point of shrinking away from the Father’s will, but it was not to be. The enemy’s spitting disgust would lead to getting the Romans in on his death by torturous crucifixion. See Isaiah 50:6 & 52:14

v25, In the future, Christ acknowledges that there will be a new event to be experienced in God’s Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Father. Do we understand what the difference is between the Kingdom of the Son of His Love, and the Kingdom of the Father God? See Colossians 1:13. If you should put this verse in the context of 1st Corinthians 15:24-28, you will see that Christ anticipates delivering us from His Kingdom into the Father’s Kingdom, where after this event takes place, we will have complete unity in Heaven. However, right here, right now in fellowship with the Spirit of Christ, he communes with us in the Lord’s Supper in Spirit. He doesn’t participate in it physically of course, like we do, but he does commune with us spiritually, and this means that he never meant for his disciples to remember the paschal lamb from Egypt, or in their Temple sacrifices, but now they are to remember him as the Lamb of God when they share this cup in His Spirit. This memorial will be turned into a glorious reunion and our communion there will be in one eternal day. 

v26, Why would Christ want to sing a hymn while prophesying and promising his betrayal during the same time? It is well known amongst historical rabbinical writings that the song which all Jews sang during this meal would be Psalm 118. It is not a coincidence that God planned this Psalm to be at the center of their thoughts. Psa. 118:21-24 shows the very reason why Christ must sing at this time. Do we sing because of any law mandating we should sing? Perhaps not a specific Biblical verse, but indeed we do sing because of the principle or law of faith. Gratitude and grace prompts our hearts to sing praise to Christ. But if we had no faith in His goodness and salvation, there would be no defining force, law or principle giving our praise endurance to persevere in praise while undergoing any kind of pain, tribulation or temptation. We should be able to praise God in Christ through any circumstance. See Psalm 34:1, for even though God may seem to hide Himself from us, we can still praise him in a blessed, living hope, see Psalm 10:1. Christ & his apostles practiced this flawlessly, Acts 16:22-25. Have we experienced any occasion of praising God in Christ while under duress for our faith in Him?

v27-31, Jesus uses Zechariah 13:7 to reveal to his disciples what was about to happen in the face of their disbelief. Their hearts were in the right place but the maturity of their faith and strength of character were sorely lacking to live up to their heart’s intention. Herein is the fourth occasion Mark records Jesus promising his resurrection, v28, 8:31, 9:31 & 10:34. From the first incident in 8:31, it was Peter that refused to accept Christ’s suffering & death, and even to the last day before it happened, Peter refuses to learn to set his mind on God’s interests, 8:33. This example of patience Jesus shows Peter is why Peter writes 2nd Peter 3:14-18.

v32-42, what must it feel like to make prophecies and promises for over 3 years, only for when the time comes for fulfillment, your friends can’t stay awake and keeps falling asleep? This must be the worst kind of disappointment for Christ to feel like no one cares about how much He loves them! Afterall, the real reason He asks them to pray is for them not to fall into temptation, not for his own sake or strength, but for theirs! “Being grieved to the point of death” v34, is beyond many of us to comprehend but Christ did have the huge consequences of the entirety of humanity’s sins overwhelming him. He took on the sins of the world in Gethsemane and carried them all the way to Golgotha. Causing Him great anguish and experiencing hematidrosis (sweating blood) Lk.22:39-46. The cup Christ wanted taken away alludes to the wrath of God that Jesus would experience in the form of suffering and death for us. Psa. 11:6, 75:8-9, Isaiah 51:17-22.

v12, Why did his disciples need to ask about where the Passover meal would be held? How did Jesus make arrangements without their knowledge? The Passover meal was one of the most important laws to observe and they’ve been following him for over 2 years, why wouldn’t they be prepared? To find a man carrying a jar of water, wouldn’t be hard, because usually it was women who carried jars of water. Luke 22:8 tells us which disciples are sent by Jesus to find this man, it was Peter & John. When they find the man, he leads them to the owner of the house, and they ask “The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ The words “MY GUEST ROOM” are amazing. This has been planned beforehand with serious intent! It doesn’t sound like a last minute afterthought being miraculously snapped into action. 

v13-15, Once they found the room, What was the role of the disciples in preparing for the meal? There is a certain sense of secretive service going on, while observing the Passover Meal. No one knows who owns the house, not even the disciples, so Judas would be totally unaware, and unable to use this venue as time for betrayal, but Judas was there! And the words “MY GUEST ROOM” are amazing. This has been planned beforehand with serious intent! It doesn’t sound like a last minute afterthought being miraculously snapped into action. It is very beautiful when the Master feels free to put His hand on our possessions, and claim their use. Does he not ask for the guest chamber of our inner life? Is our lifestyle at His disposal? Do we have room for Jesus to call his own in our estate? A great series of verses to read in this context is: Luke 14:33, Acts 4:32, Ephesians 1:11-14.

v16-21, The conversation around the table is directed by Jesus to emphasize betrayal. Why do you think in the middle of the Passover meal, ‘betrayal’ was needed as the topic of teaching? What is being established here is our Deliverance from betraying Jesus. All of us are guilty, and this Meal turns into the Supper we commune in our salvation. Just as the Israelites were saved as God passed over the blood in Egypt, we are saved as God passes over us with the blood of Christ in communion. Jesus has known for a long time, the evil one was amongst his own closest disciples, John 6:70, yet he still eats this Supper with him. Shouldn’t this teach us to be very slow in withdrawing fellowship from sinful Christians in our fellowship? However Judas is condemned by Jesus in v21, with real finality. In the mind of Christ, Judas Iscariot had already gone too far to return and repent and Christ knew it, as the other disciples would soon learn. The audacity of Judas to ask the question (is it I? ) even after having already talked to his enemies (14:10) is proof that Jesus is right. 

v22-24, the body of Jesus being represented as unleavened bread, which is broken and shared to be eaten is an obvious message of suffering, especially in view of the fact that Jews would see this as being in or out of fellowship. Unleavened bread was mandatory in this feast but if you ate any leavened bread that week, you were cut out of Israel’s fellowship, Exodus 12:15. So Jesus was mandating inclusive participation in his suffering, and none of them actually understood it at the time. Remember Acts 14:22. Jesus would suffer in this body, then expect us to be disciples that serve to the point of sacrificial suffering, Colossians 1:24. Isn’t it a paradox, that the spiritual body of Christ on each Sunday shares in the bread that represents his suffering for us? When Jesus offered the cup as his blood establishing a new covenant, he was on the brink of fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:31-33.

v1-2, The Chief Priests and Scribes of the law cared more about how the Romans would keep their peace, than they did about how they would value human life. Their method in a stealthy arrest of Jesus was more important than the truth. This kind of deceit is a clear indication that the “father of lies”, Jn. 8:44, was using their hearts rather than the “Father of Israel”, Exodus 4:22, “This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son”, but Israel’s leaders had grown into a corrupt band of thieves, robbing God of all that was due Him. Someone had to offer a perfect sacrifice! Now it would be Jesus. They were driven to find a way to kill Christ, and later in Judas Iscariot, they would find it.

v3-5, Another occasion of anointing Jesus is during the passion week, there are at least three anointings of Christ, (Lk.7:36-50, John 12:1-8 & Mk. 14:3-11 is the same event as in Mt. 26:6-13). The only reason I’ve ever known for the Holy Spirit recording 3 different anointings is that they might be pointing to the appointment of Jesus by God as Prophet, Priest & King, but this is highly subjective, and I can’t find any scriptural context concluding for or against it. This particular anointing was very costly, it has been conservatively estimated at today’s value of $30K. In this anointing at Simon the leper’s house in Bethany, a similar criticism of the ‘wasted’ oil is made. In Jn.12:1-8, the criticism comes from Judas Iscariot in the house of Lazarus, Martha & Mary. So it seems his negative attitude is spreading and the warning Jesus gives against their criticism seems ignored. The point of purpose from the Lord’s perspective is that it signifies the holiness of Christ’s burial. Today the significance of His burial is in our baptism, by faith, herein is the venue for the Spirit’s application of a priceless atonement of his blood on our soul.  See Colossians 2:8-12. Which may be one reason, the woman should always be honorably mentioned as prophetically seeing the priceless value in his burial. The very word “Christ” means anointed. See 1st John 2:20-27 and then read 1st John 5:5-8, therein we can see the connection in thought, bringing holiness to our souls through faith in Christ’s blood during baptism. So it is no wonder that all four gospel writers take time to record anointings of Christ by people who loved Him. These anointings should encourage Christians to live holy lives avoiding sin, so that His gift of holiness to us and in us can grow the fruit of the Holy Spirit and benefit others, attracting them to His holiness, not our own.

v10-11, tells us of the greed of Judas Iscariot. When he is not able to make sense of such an expensive sacrifice he must have felt disappointment in the critique Jesus gave towards his excuse to put the expensive oil to better use. The real reason Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus is because he could see there was no financial gain in the direction His ministry was going in towards sacrifice instead of gain. (John 12:6).The leading priests were delighted when Judas contacted them about betraying Jesus because it gave them the opportunity they had been looking for, (v1) and they could later claim that Jesus had been betrayed by one of his own disciples. But even this horrible sin and potentially disastrous problem, a so-called disciple and/or apostle is causing, could be solved by Christ! A lesson for us in the church, that no problem of our own making is truly disastrous, if we are prepared to repent, but Judas Iscariot was not prepared, he killed himself. If we are not prepared to know what to do with our own guilt, we are in trouble, but if we know to take guilt to the Savior, we are saved, Acts 3:18-20

The difficulty of this chapter lay in the fact that the first readers of the gospel had an entirely different understanding of “the son of man coming in the clouds” v26, than we do. If we could put ourselves in their place, it would help us see the twofold nature of this chapter’s interpretation. The key lay in the way they understood Daniel 7, and the fact that we live after the fall of Jerusalem in AD70. It gives us a different perspective than what they had. Therefore it can be hard to understand Mark 13 and also Matthew 24, which are almost a copy of one another, where the same phrase, “son of man coming in the clouds” occurs, Mt. 24:30. The background for what Jesus is saying here is in Daniel 7:13-18. Jews during the days of Jesus understood this passage to point to Israel’s world domination with their Messiah, the Son of Man. The apocalyptic language of Mk. 13:6-8 reminds us of the same prophetic language of Haggai 2:6-7, where global catastrophic events surround God’s government changing. The greatness of the change would be equal to the greatness of the Temple and it’s destruction. The 2nd Temple was greater than the first for 2 reasons, firstly, Jesus Christ, Immanuel visited it several times, and he is much greater than any temple. Secondly, it was indeed smaller in dimensions, but in time, Herod lavished huge amounts of decor, and precious metals to make it’s appearance grandiose and curry favor with the Jews. This made it economically more valuable than Solomon’s first temple.

The Temple during the days of Jesus was heralded by the Roman historian Tacitus, in his, “History 5.8”, calling it “immensely opulent.” The Jewish historian contemporary with the first century, Josephus, compared it to a beautiful snow capped mountain. So when Jesus said “not one stone will remain upon another”, he was prophesying destruction unimaginable to his generation. It would be a little like someone from a country village in Mississippi, living in 1971, to promise his closest friends that the Pentagon would be hit & the World Trade Center Twin Towers would be destroyed by a small group of terrorists. This claim would be total mockery in 1971, but when Jesus made the prophecy concerning Jerusalem, none of his disciples laughed but were filled with concern and questions. This reaction and historical consequences are one solid reason why everyone today should take the gospels very seriously indeed. 

The persecution prophesied would begin with Jews “councils & synagogues”, v9, but grow to include Gentiles, “kings”, and the purpose was to be a “witness”. The word in Greek is “Martoreen” meaning “evidenced testimony”, but of course it is a root word that gave life to our English word Martyr. We see a fulfillment of this prophecy throughout Acts, but nowhere in the rest of the New Testament does it mention the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem. Why?

v14 has the phrase, “the abomination of desolation”, is an allusion to Dan. 9:27. Some have seen the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in the actions of Antiochus IV in 167BC but the words of Jesus indicate that Antiochus was not the final fulfillment, but that there was (from Jesus’ perspective) still another fulfillment yet to come. It is historically true that the Roman General Titus desecrated the Temple by posting the “Roman Eagle” inside the Temple grounds to be honored as an idol. Then later destroyed it in AD70. Today the Arch of Titus is celebrating his triumph over Jerusalem. Still reminding the world of God’s fulfilled prophecy Jesus made, as he wept, Luke 19:41-44.

v32 “but”, may indeed mark the change in thought by Jesus, away from Jerusalem and Israel’s demise, and onto the world’s judgment day that we ourselves have yet to meet. The command for everyone to stay alert is reminiscent of The parable of the 10 virgins, Matthew 25:1-11, Do you have enough oil?