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Jesus, God's Servant A Survey of the Gospel of Mark CHAPTER NINE: THE SERVANT'S SACRIFICE by Massimo Lorenzini VIII. The Servant's Sacrifice (14:1-15:47) A. The Servant's Betrayal (14:1-52) 1 After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death. 2 But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people." 3 And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. 4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, "Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor." And they criticized her sharply. 6 But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7 For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8 She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her." 10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him. 12 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?" 13 And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. 14 Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" ' 15 Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us." 16 So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover. 17 In the evening He came with the twelve. 18 Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me." 19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, "Is it I?" And another said, "Is it I?" 20 He answered and said to them, "It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish. 21 The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born." 22 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." 23 Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. 25 Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." 26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 27 Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: 'I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered.' 28 "But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee." 29 Peter said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be." 30 Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times." 31 But he spoke more vehemently, "If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!" And they all said likewise. 32 Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, "Sit here while I pray." 33 And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. 34 Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch." 35 He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. 36 And He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will." 37 Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 39 Again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words. 40 And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him. 41 Then He came the third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand." 43 And immediately, while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44 Now His betrayer had given them a signal, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him and lead Him away safely." 45 As soon as He had come, immediately he went up to Him and said to Him, "Rabbi, Rabbi!" and kissed Him. 46 Then they laid their hands on Him and took Him. 47 And one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. 48 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? 49 I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled." 50 Then they all forsook Him and fled. 51 Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him, 52 and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. The events of Holy Week. Sunday - Triumphal Entry Monday - Jesus cleanses the temple Tuesday - The Sanhedrin challenge Jesus' authority, Olivet discourse, Mary anoints Jesus at Bethany, Judas agrees to betray Jesus Thursday - Jesus eats Passover with His disciples, Institutes the Memorial Supper, Prays in Gethsemane, Is betrayed by Judas, deserted by His disciples, and arrested by the authorities Friday - Jesus is tried by Jewish and Roman authorities, Jesus is crucified Sunday - Jesus is raised from the dead vv. 1-2 After two days it was the Passover - The Passover was on Thursday. The Jews do not want to try to seize Jesus during the Passover as Jerusalem (normally 60,000-120,000 people) swells by the 85,000-300,000 pilgrims. Jesus was popular and the Jewish leaders were (rightly) afraid of the people. There was sufficient concern around the time of Passover that the Procurator moved from Caesarea to Jerusalem during the season. If the people (especially that many people) rioted, the Romans would react in a severe way. v. 10 Then Judas . . . went . . . to betray Him - There may be a connection between this story of expensive perfumes with Judas' betrayal. John says that Judas was stealing from the ministry's treasury and he could do this because he was in charge of it (John 12:5-6). Judas may have been expecting to receive an important position in the Messiah's new government. But when Jesus praised Mary for pouring out the perfume (almost a year's salary), Judas finally realized that Jesus' kingdom was not physical or political, but spiritual. Judas' greedy desire for money and status could not be realized if he followed Jesus, so he betrayed Him in exchange for money and favor from the religious leaders. Judas gave the leaders who were scheming against Jesus the opportunity they did not think they were ever going to get--the ability to take Him with no crowds around. It is easy to be enraged and shocked by what Judas did, yet when we profess commitment to Christ and then deny Him with our lives we also, in a sense, betray Him. Do your words and actions match? If not, then ask for God's forgiveness and strength to truly follow Christ. vv. 16-21 The Passover - See Exodus 12. The disciples are so unclear as to what is going on, they do not know nor trust their own abilities. They ask Jesus, individually, if they are to be the one who will betray Him. The Greek here forms a question with an expected negative reply: "It's not me, is it?" He lets them know the traitor is close by, so close that he will dip his bread in the dish with Jesus. There is no clear answer here, and the mood is heightened by His statement that it would be better not to have been born at all than to betray the Son of Man. vv. 22-26 - Jesus institutes the Memorial Supper. The bread symbolizes Christ's body. The cup which is drunk at this point of the Passover meal by Jesus is referred to as the Elijah cup by the Jews. It is reserved for Elijah when he returns to tell of the coming of the Messiah. Normally each man would drink from his own cup, like when we toast someone's health. To all drink from the same cup is to form a bond or recognize an existing bond. There is no covenant, no forgiveness without the shedding of blood (Exod 24:6-8; Heb 9:22). Jesus waits until all have drunk to refer to the cup as His blood. The Jew would have been revolted by the thought of drinking blood. The Passover was not intended to be a gratifying memento of God's past deliverance of Israel. The celebration was meant to place each generation in touch with that event and make it a present reality. It celebrates what "the Lord did for me" (cf. Exodus 13:8-9 "And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, 'This is done because of what the LORD did for me when I came up from Egypt.' 9 "It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD's law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt.). In the same way, the Lord's Supper is not a memorial of something past and gone but reminds us of what the Lord has done for us and makes His death and His presence a living reality. See 1 Corinthians 11:23-29. v. 26 they sang a hymn - probably a portion of the Great Hallel (Ps 113-118). Cf. Ps 114. In verses 27-31, Jesus predicted the confusion to come at the disciples' loss of their teacher. (Zechariah 13:7, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My Companion," says the LORD of hosts. "Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand against the little ones."). v. 27 will be made to stumble - "fall away" (NIV) is skandalizo; to put a snare (in the way), hence to cause to stumble, fall away, give offense, lead into sin, to scandalize. What happens when there is a scandal in government? The people lose faith. What happens when there is a scandal in the church, where everything is faith? The people fall away. To scandalize is to cause to stumble and to cause to fall away. For the fifth time (8:31, 9:9, 9:31, 10:34, 14:28) Jesus tried to give His disciples hope by telling them that He will be with them again after He is raised, but they didn't get it. Peter did one of those macho, guy-thing boasts. Almost reluctantly, Jesus told him of his impending betrayal. We think of Judas as the eternal bad guy, the devil incarnate. But to one degree or another everyone betrayed Jesus. No one stood by Him. And they all denied that they would desert or betray Him. The Jews expected the nations (Gentiles) to be put to route by the Messiah's strike, instead the disciples were put to route by the striking down of the Messiah. vv. 32-36 - The Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus separated Peter, John and James from the other disciples. A pattern should be seen here by now. Jesus taught the multitudes, even those who were not committed to Him. There was a group which went about with Him, they received teaching and were committed to follow Jesus. Jesus chose some out of that group for special duty as His core group of twelve disciples. They received much more teaching and were more committed to Him. From that small group, a smaller group was chosen to be with Jesus in even more intimate circumstances. There is teaching to whomever will receive; there is ongoing teaching to those who have made a commitment to follow, there will be specialized teaching to those who have been chosen from those who follow; then there will be those who are selected to be with a teacher on a more intimate level. Jesus told the three that He was greatly troubled. He was about to be betrayed but they still didn't know by whom. Shouldn't this have made them even more alert? Jesus had told them that He was soon to be killed. Shouldn't this have heightened their awareness for the moment? Their master for the last three years said He was "exceedingly sorrowful, even to death". Shouldn't this have caused them to be anxious, to be on absolute "pins and needles"? What is the result? We'll see in a moment. vv. 35-36 - Jesus understood the suffering He was about to endure which included bearing the sin of all the world and being temporarily abandoned by His Father while on the cross. Yet, in spite of this great pain, Jesus prayed, "I want Your will, not Mine." Application. What does your commitment to God cost you? Anything worth having costs something. Be willing to pay the price to have something worthwhile in the end. vv. 37-42 - Jesus came out and found the disciples asleep. The tension of the moment took its toll on the disciples and they were exhausted. The stress wore them out. They did not have the wherewithal to stay awake. If they would've had a more spiritually-minded, God could have empowered them, but they did not. Application. In times of great stress we are vulnerable to temptation, even if we have a willing spirit. Jesus gave us an example of what to do to resist: (1) pray to God (v. 35); (2) seek the support of Christian friends (vv. 33, 37, 40, 41); (3) focus on the purpose God has given us (v. 36). v. 40 - Waking the three for the second time, Mark noted that "their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him." Literally, they may be physically exhausted, spiritually they have had a case of bad eyes, along with hardened hearts. Jesus had already accused them of having eyes which do not see (8:18). They did not know how to respond at that moment as they did not know how at the Transfiguration. They did not know how to respond to His glory and they did not know how to respond to His agony. Their lack of understanding about Jesus is complete. On the other hand, Jesus went into His Passion with eyes wide open and seeing. And then it was time. Jesus roused the three disciples for the third and last time, because His betrayal was about to happen. The hour had come. If nothing else can do so, this episode should point out to us how inappropriate the flesh is for spiritual things; ". . . the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." v. 49 The Scriptures must be fulfilled - which prophesied He would be betrayed (Ps 41:9), arrested (Isa 53:7), manhandled (Ps 22:12), and forsaken (Zech 13:7). vv. 51-52 fled from them naked - Probably Mark who lived in Jerusalem and it may have been at his house that the Last Supper was held. The linen clothe was not a regular garment, but probably a sheet or towel that he picked up quickly to follow Jesus and his disciples that night. "Probably this picturesque incident is added to show how completely Jesus was forsaken in the hours of his peril and pain. He surely knew what it was to suffer alone" (Erdman). What sacrificial love Jesus shows for us! See John 10:7-18. Next lesson, Chapter Ten: The Servant's Sacrifice, continued

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