Epaggelia

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?

DAVID’S SON & LORD: THE MESSIAH/CHRIST, v35-37

The Lord said to my lord. Psalm 110:1, With David being the Psalmist, this shows his respect for his descendant (referred to as my Lord). Jesus was arguing that the passage is about the Lord’s anointed. The passage looks at an enthronement of his descendant and a declaration of honor for him as he takes his place at the side of God. In Jerusalem, the king’s palace was located to the right of the temple to indicate this kind of relationship. Jesus was pressing the language here to get his opponents to reflect on how great the Messiah is. It was a common belief in Judaism that the Messiah would be David’s son coming from the lineage of David. On this point the Pharisees agreed and were correct. But their understanding was shallow, since for the Messiah to be David’s Lord, he had to be God! With this statement Jesus was affirming that, as the Messiah, he is both Lord God and man. Revelation 21:22.

THE DAMNATION OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS, v38-40

Notice the things they like, have nothing to do with what makes them who they are; The Law. Long robes, public greetings, best seats in worship, honorable positions in feasts, property & lengthy prayers. Does the Law say anything about the length of a prayer?  Nehemiah 9:5-38 contains the longest prayer in all of Scripture, and it can be read aloud with expression in less than seven minutes. The longest recorded prayer of Jesus is in John 17, and can be read in about 3 ½ minutes. However he repeatedly asked his disciples to spend an hour in prayer, and it’s recorded more than once that he spent the entire night in prayer. So what was so bad about the lengthy prayers of Scribes? See Luke 18:10-14, and remember why The Spirit preserved James 3:1 for us today.

A CONTRAST IN GIVING, v41-44The offering box refers to the receptacles in the temple forecourt by the Court of Women used to collect freewill offerings. These are mentioned by Josephus, J. W. 5.5.2 (5.200); 6.5.2 (6.282); Ant. 19.6.1 (19.294). In the Mishnah, Shekalim 6, 5 (the only written evidence of the Jewish oral Law) it says there were 13 of these receptacles in the form of trumpets. The poor widow was certainly poor, because the two small copper coins were lepta (plural) or lepton (singular) the smallest and least valuable coins in circulation in Palestine, worth 1/128 of a denarius, or about six minutes of an average daily wage. This was next to nothing in monetary value. Whereas the rich people were throwing lots of money into the ‘trumpets’ and looked liberal in their free-will offerings. In appearance it was very valuable, but being “rich”, they obviously had money to spare. The contrast between this passage v41-44 and what was just written before in 11:15-18 is remarkable. The woman is set in stark contrast to the religious leaders. She was a poor widow, they were rich. She was uneducated in the law, they were well educated in the law. She was a woman, they were men. But they were not showing faith and actually stole money from God and men, 11:17, she evidenced great faith and gave out of her extreme poverty everything she had. The disciples accepted that Jesus knew the widow was giving everything she had to live on. They didn’t question a hidden investment she may have had because the contrast before their very eyes was enough to convince them that her faith was genuine and the rich people’s faith was at best shallow, and at worst absent. This teaches us that Jesus is not interested in the percentage of our giving, he is most interested in the faith of our giving!

BAITING THE TRAP, 12:13-17

If you preface an accusation with a positive compliment, then afterwards when the accusation comes, it’s better tasting and they are more likely to understand their need for repentance. They believed Jesus, as a Jew, would surely side against paying the Roman taxes, afterall, he was applauded by the Jewish majority for helping them understand the Law and speaking the truth like no one had heard before, (Jn. 7:46). The hypocrites joining forces with each other, (Mk. 3:6) approached Jesus with praise, in the hope that he would give an either/or answer, but Jesus gave a both/and answer, so slipping out of the trap. An honest inquirer on the issue, would surely seek to learn “what is God’s”, in order to give him what is his. But their hypocrisy left them in astonishment. Why would his critics put the issue of paying taxes to Jesus with both Herodians and Pharisees present?

On a more personal note: Have you ever resented paying taxes, which are so expensive you are tempted to worry about how you will pay other debts? If this happens, we should question our faith in the Sovereignty of God, who tells us to pay them anyway. Even in the face of a Government that will take those expensive taxes and execute ungodly goals, we are expected to give to God what is his, and give to the Government what is theirs. This should make us feel like a trusting servant of both God and Government, so why would any Christian have a conflicted conscience?

THE ERROR OF THE SADDUCEES, 12:18-27

The levirate law is in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. The brother of a man who died without a son had an obligation to marry his brother’s widow. This served several purposes: It provided for the widow in a society where a widow with no children to care for her would be reduced to begging, and it preserved the name of the deceased, who would be regarded as the legal father of the first son produced from that marriage. All the reasons for practicing levirate marriage in a family were merely physical. The resurrection and resurrected bodies had nothing that could possibly pertain to this physical life. So the Sadducees were trying to make spiritual implications upon a totally physical scenario, which was almost ridiculous. Therefore Jesus takes the subject of the resurrection and puts it in a different context: Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. Demanding that they accept God’s promise of life-everlasting. If they don’t, their logical conclusion is that their “god” is dead. 

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT, 12:28-34

When I get to heaven, I want to learn who this “Expert in the Law” (Mk. 1:22) is. Jesus said he was close to the Kingdom of Heaven. He had the audacity while within eye-sight and ear-shot of his fellow peers to sincerely praise Jesus, as well as agree with him. What strength of courage, what depth of love for God’s cause. Do we have this? A faith that takes a public stand for the priorities of Jesus is very beneficial for everyone. Otherwise, his critics are shut down! Matthew 22:46, Mark 12:34 & Luke 20:40 all record this event. From here forward his critics have no more words to deceive, they only have actions to destroy. If we practice the greatest commandment as well as the second likened unto it, we will feel friction, God loves this and Satan hates it. Love in v30 is in the future tense, but in v31, it is in the present tense. Why is that?