Sermon on the Mark

The Lamb who was slain. What does the Gospel mean to you? Does Jesus dying on the cross bring you joy because He is your passover Lamb? Does the practice of sin feel like slavery and what does it mean to now walk in freedom?

Introduction

We are going to be going over chapter 14 of Mark (specifically vv12-25). And as we come to the end of the book we are drawing closer to the passion of Christ. Where Christ does something truly breathtaking for us, by being tried, put to death, and raised on the third day. But why does that matter? Why should we care what Christ did? Why are people here myself included so amazed that we can’t help but preach Christ crucified.

Body

Brief talk about the chapter before getting into the passage itself.

The whole setting of this chapter takes place in the passover celebration. The chief priests and scribes were plotting to kill Jesus because of the things He was proclaiming. That He is the long awaited Messiah, He is the Son of God, and they were a bunch of prideful jerks that are going to be judged by their actions. Judas one of Jesus disciples/followers wanted to help them out in seizing Jesus and get Him killed for money (which Jesus already knows this). Jesus was then anointed at Bethany with a wonderful story that I encourage you to read on your own time.

And now we are here in this passage. Where as I mentioned before takes place at the passover and the disciples along with Jesus are preparing to celebrate the passover meal.

Mark 14:12–16 ESV

And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

What is the passover?

Show of hands, does anyone know about the celebration of the passover? To this day the Jews still celebrate it.

A brief backstory the people of Israel (God’s chosen people) were living in Egypt, and as they were growing in number the Pharaoh got intimidated, if they keep growing like this they might destroy us. So he attempted to take all of the young men’s lives. And if that weren’t bad enough he began enslaved them all, taking away their freedoms and were forced to labor for him. Being whipped, beaten, and oppressed for 40 plus years.

Would any of you want to be slaves? No it’s terrible

But God had a plan, he sent Moses to go and tell Pharaoh to let His people go, and plague after plague Pharoah kept saying no. So God on the tenth plague sent a deadly judgement on every firstborn offspring. This did have Pharoah release Israel but you might wonder what about the rest of the offspring, the nation of Israel’s kids are they going to die from God’s judgement?

The thought of being judged and put to death is awful

The answer would be yes, unless they did a sacrifice. When sacrificing a spotless lamb and putting the blood at the door the angel of death will look at the covering of the blood shed from the lamb and will not destroy the firstborn in the house.

So the people of Israel still celebrate this passover to this day. For they remember two things: that God freed His people from terrible slavery, and that God spared their kids because of the sacrifice He provided for them.

Okay so we know a little bit about the passover. Why does that matter?

Let’s read Mark 14:22-26

Mark 14:22–26 ESV

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus mentions crazy things we need to talk about here.

First Christ by mentioning His the broken bread and cup of wine is a symbolism for His death. Jesus is going to be tried and His body will be broken, and His blood will be shed.

Second, Jesus doing this at the passover meal is pointing that His death is a Sacrificial death. Christ is our sacrificial Lamb

1 Corinthians 5:7–8 (ESV)

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

How many of you guys watch trailers for upcoming movies? We don’t watch trailers because they are great in themselves but because they are pointing to the main movie which we cannot wait to watch. The story of Israel’s Exodus and celebration of the passover is like a trailer. They carry these big themes such as how terrible slavery is, the big judgement from the angel of death, and the spotless/perfect lamb who was slain for their offspring to be saved. This, all of this, points to God’s ultimate desire to free humanity from slavery and judgement.

Let’s go back to a question I asked earlier: would any of us want to be slaves? Slavery is terrible because it takes away freedom and puts us in bondage. A lot of us can feel enslaved in times of our lives. I know for me school can feel like that. There is a sense “I am being held back from what I am supposed to do and it isn’t right.” Slavery is terrible.

John 8:31–36 ESV

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

One of the big reasons why I hate sin is not just because it will bring judgement on us. Which it does and we’ll talk more about that later. But the reason I hate sin so much in my life as much as in yours is because of slavery. Just as the people of Israel were once awful slaves in Egypt, we too who practice sin are slaves to sin. Doing evil things as small as they can look does bring us to bondage because it was never what we were designed to do. We were originally designed to worship God and enjoy Him forever, yet some of us chose to zone out during the times worship and prayer. We were originally design to love our neighbor as ourselves, and yet I am sure that we all feel short of that sometime this week. Lying, crude jokes, neglectful, or maybe hostile/rude toward others. We have all sinned and its not freeing.

We have all sinned and deserve to be judged. Just like the angel of death is going through to kill every firstborn so also God’s righteous wrath is on us. God’s light and holy love cannot tolerate darkness and wickedness. We should love God for being One who is Good and hates everything that is not… but what does that mean for us?

That’s why this chapter matters so much. Here Jesus is with His disciples. Preparing this passover remembering God’s amazing works in bringing delieverance to His people. And here it is again. God saying another sacrifice is coming up. The breaking of the Son’s body, and the shedding of His blood. So whoever believes in Jesus and what He did for us wretched sinners, means God doesn’t judge us because of the cover of His blood on our lives, and He passes over this judgement. Not only that but He redeems us preparing good works for us to follow. No longer sinners enslaved to sin but saints who belong to God through His works.

The end of the chapter and the passages to come will draws more into the passion of Christ. As we see Jesus himself is crying out to the Father “Lord take this cup from me He knows what is going to come. He knows the cross is on its way. He knows the soldiers while He's praying their feet are marching from Jerusalem to that place and He tells his disciples stay with me. Pray with me. Only to find them sleeping. Yet amid all of that He pulls an opposite Adam, “If you could take this cup but not as I will but as you will.”And then sure enough Judas points Jesus out and the mob comes. Jesus is abandoned by His disciples and is tried for stating the truth that He is the Son of God.

Conclusion:

Beloved what does the gospel mean to you? Does Jesus speaking of His broken body and poured out blood mean anything? Does the practice of sin feel like slavery yet? What does it mean to walk in freedom? Do you know you have to hold an account before a Holy Almighty God? Does the Jesus dying on the cross bring joy inside because He is your passover Lamb?

Outline:

vv12-16 Preparation of the passover. Jesus and His disciples get ready to eat the passover meal. Good thing Jesus prepared a room for them.

vv17-21 Jesus discussion on His betrayal by one of them. He judges the person but also says it is as it is written.

vv22- 25 The institution of the Lord’s supper. Jesus discusses that such a passover points to Him. Him sacrificing His body and shedding His blood on our behalf.

vv26-31 Jesus continues to talk that they will all leave Him.

vv32-42 Jesus here is in the garden of Gethsemane where is in pain and distressed because He doesn’t want to die.

vv43-52 Jesus gets betrayed as a mob of people came to seize and take Jesus away.

vv53-72 Jesus gets tried