Mark 14:53-72 - The Truth of Christ among false witnesses

My grandmother loved crime shows.

Law&Order, NCIS, Judge Judy.

We all have a desire to see justice served.

We all have this bend that people should get what’s coming to them if they break the law.

We love movies/shows that elevate that

You can’t handle the truth!

My sister-in-law goes to sleep listening to Crime podcasts.

Why would you do that? Stinking nightmares.

We all have this sense of fairness and truth. We know right/wrong.

Mark is going to show us a trial setting today that really goes against justice.

Big Idea: The Truth of Christ among false witnesses

Context:

After the Passover meal, everyone is shaken up and Jesus knows He’s going to be betrayed by Judas.

He tells His disciples “All of you are going to fall away.”

They’re all going to run and hide.

Audacious Peter stands up and says, “Nope! Not me!”

No, especially you, Peter. Before the rooster crows twice, you’ll deny you even know me three times.

Mark 14:31 “31 But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.”

From there, Jesus goes to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Judas brings a band of people with weapons.

Mark 14:50 “50 And they all left him and fled.”

Within two hours of declaring their devotion, all of His disciples left Him.

Now, Jesus is put on an unjust trial before the high priest, where they’re still trying to find a reason to kill Him.

Stand to read

Mark 14:53–56 ESV

53 And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. 54 And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. 55 Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. 56 For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree.

Leader: This is God’s Word

Everyone: Thanks be to God.

Mark sets the scene where Jesus and Peter aren’t far apart, but Jesus goes into the house of the high priest and Peter stops in the courtyard.

Jesus is put on “trial,” which is meant to serve justice, but this was actually a mockery of justice.

Jesus is facing this trial alone, against a lot of opponents.

No one comes to Jesus’s defense.

No one speaks up.

So many people are screaming these accusations, but no one’s story is matching up.

They couldn’t find evidence—they couldn’t even make it up!

So the chief priest puts Jesus on the stand as a witness!

“What do you have to say?!”

Jesus made no answers, to fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah 53:7 “7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth;”

The the high priest doubled down and urged Jesus to be His own accuser.

Mark 14:61–62 ESV

61 But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

Jesus couldn’t make this claim clearer.

This was a bomb.

Jesus just laid out His full identity

Jesus is the Son of Man that was prophesied in the book of Daniel and the Suffering Servant from Isaiah!

More than that, He points to the second coming!

“Today, I’m standing before you, but there will come a day when you stand before Me!”

I was working patrol with VPD

Call to Tourism for Theft

Man - Bald- no shirt-tattoo

He committed a crime, then came and told on himself.

Jesus is on trial for being the Son of God.

His very own testimony assured His death!

It wasn’t their testimony that condemned Him—It was His!

Notice, Jesus is the ONLY ONE to tell the truth here!

He’s in control of the narrative!

Jesus’s whole life has led to this point.

Jesus declared that everything the Old Testament said about Him had to be fulfilled!

He has told His disciples everything that must happen!

The high priest tears his garment out of outrage and accuses Jesus of blasphemy.

Do you see the irony here?

The high priest just commited the blasphemy.

The eternal God is right in front of Him, claiming to be who He is, and they deny that it’s Him.

They reject that this the eternal Son of God.

Jesus, God the Judge, was judged by humanity.

Our sin still puts Jesus on trial.

People look at Jesus and pronounce judgement on Him.

We try to act as the judge of Jesus and declare who we think He is and tell Him who He can’t be.

I went to a church where I heard a few ladies frequently and irreverently say, “When I die, God’s going to have some explaining to do”

How arrogant and foolish are we?

Who are we to believe that we can determine who Jesus is and deny who He says He is?

We functionally put Jesus on trial again when we disregard Jesus’s commands for our lives.

When we refuse to take the Next Step in our lives, we are declaring that God doesn’t have what’s best for us in mind!

We accuse Jesus of not being God because we functionally want to be god of our own lives!

This is exactly what’s happening in this picture.

The high priests and the council want all religious authority over the people.

So they claim that He’s a liar, although He’s the only one that tells the truth, and they condemned Jesus to death (v. 64)

While Jesus is put on trial before the council, Peter is put on trial in the courtyard by the high priest’s servant girl.

Mark 14:66–67 ESV

66 And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.”

This is where Peter’s loyalty to Jesus is put on trial.

Loyalty in a friendship is a bedrock gift.

The phrase “I’ve got your back” is such a comfort to hear, but an even deeper comfort to know.

David Wolf and I work together, and each training we go to/scene we’re on together, I know he’s not going to let anything happen to me.

My friendship with David is the epitome of “I’ve got your back.”

Peter told Jesus, “I’ve got your back. Though everyone they all fall away, I will not. I’m with you to the end of the line.”

How does Peter answer to being identified with Jesus?

Mark 14:68 ESV

68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed.

Peter blatantly rejected her accusation: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

But this girl didn’t take this. She was persistent.

She started to tell bystanders, that he’s one of them!

Again Peter denied it! “I don’t belong to Him” (v. 70)

Finally, the bystanders agree with her

“You most certainly are!

Peter rejects this notion a third time:

Mark 14:71 ESV

71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.”

Peter puts a curse on himself!

“Let me be cursed if I’m lying!” “I don’t even know Him.”

Peter is a model unfaithful witness.

We can all identify with Peter.

Some say, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Some say, “I don’t belong to Him.”

Some say, “I don’t even know Him.”

Everyone of us is born with an inner denial of the gospel.

Who Jesus is impedes on who we think we are.

We want to be the gods of our lives

We want the ultimate say.

So when Jesus comes in and declares Himself to be the Lord of our lives, in our flesh, we respond like the priests and Peter did.

Gospel Presentation

But God has been so patient with us.

The fact that God sent His Son is an amazing reality of compassion toward us.

We were so blinded by our sin, we would have never chosen Him.

Jesus came to save us, not after we get our act together, but when we’re actively sinning against Him.

When we’re judging Him and denying Him.

We stand guilty before God with a debt—And justice must be paid.

Jesus doesn’t leave us in our sin.

Jesus was unjustly tried and condemned instead of you.

The sentence of justice was served on Jesus so that you and I can receive mercy from God!

He took the condemnation we were supposed to face onto Himself!

He willingly stood alone to bear our sin and shame!

He was willingly condemned and denied so that you wouldn’t be!

What does this lead us to?

Repent of our sins.

Look at the moment that Peter recognized what he did.

Mark 14:72 ESV

72 And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

Luke 22:61—Jesus and Peter make eye contact.

This broke him.

He realized his cowardly betrayal.

Think about the look in Jesus’s eyes.

It wasn’t a look of anger or condemnation.

It was a look of compassion.

Peter looked into the eyes of Jesus, the friend of sinners.

We can do the same.

Church,

Jesus will not deny us when we come to Him for forgiveness.

He will not leave us in the dark.

With compassion, Jesus draws us near to Him and we can identify with Him in His sufferings.

Through faith in Him, we can be fully forgiven of our sins.

No one who has ever come to Jesus for forgiveness has been denied.

How do we know this?

When the Lord was risen from the dead, He appeared to His disciples for forty days.

During that time, John records this interaction with Peter

John 21:15–17 ESV

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

Jesus recreates the scene of Peter’s denial, to remind him that his life can’t be built on his own morality, but on God’s divine mercy.

Notice how Jesus drew Peter in.

Not Peter’s ability to provide a sacrifice for himself

Jesus drew near to peter.

Jesus atoned for Peter’s failure.

Peter didn’t do anything but deny Jesus then receive mercy.

If you’re not a Christian, your Next Step is to receive mercy.

You have put Jesus on trial with your thoughts of who He is and you’ve denied Him in your sin.

But Jesus is drawing near to you now.

Jesus gave Himself up to die for your sins, so that you can live through faith in Him.

Repent of your sins, trust in Jesus, and receive His mercy just like Peter did.

If you’re a Christian, notice that Jesus didn’t only restore Peter, but commissioned Him.

Every time Peter confesses His love for Jesus, He gives Him something to do.

Feed my lambs - Tend to my sheep - Feed my sheep.

Peter’s new role is to tend to Jesus’s people.

Jesus calls us to move toward people with His Word.

We share the hope of Jesus to our friends, family, neighbors.

We take this grace that we have been given and share it with the world.

“Though I have denied Jesus, He never denied me.”