I don't Know Yet

There is a lot of distrust in our society today. People that assume of that everyone else has bad motives. We see it politics, families, and even in the church. Most of us know of people that have been divorced. Some of those reasons

Big Question: Who is Jesus in the midst of betrayal, absence, and suffering?

Recap:

Jesus has instituted the Lord’s Supper. We talked about that last week. In that, we looked at Jesus offering himself to his people in the meal. That it is a visible picture of Jesus Christ. That he offers himself to his people and we are nourished by him. They have finished their Passover meal and they had just finished singing a hymn and they enter into the mount of Olives. Also known as the Garden of Gethsemane. And Jesus predicts something that would be troubling to his disciples. Recall that Jesus said one of his disciples would betray him. We all know who that was. Judas. Right?!

Verses 26-31

So this has to be in the disciples minds. Among one of us is the betrayer. But now Jesus says to them, you will all fall away. In other words, you are going to scatter. Jesus is quoting Zechariah 13:7 ““Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones.”

In Zechariah, God is showing how a shepherd would be sent and the people would reject the shepherd and would strike them down. But this act is for the ultimate good of the people.

What Jesus is doing is identifying with the messiah shepherd. God's sovereignty, even their failure would result in God's saving plans. One thing to note here, is that the disciples will not ultimately fall away. The Word here means to sin, or stumble. So Jesus is predicating that all his followers will stumble. They will sin against him by deserting him. Their fear will take over. But this does not mean that they are renouncing their faith. That they were once followers of Christ and now they are no longer believe.

Do you remember as a teenager when your parents would do something or say something they would totally embarrass you. My parents aren’t here, but they’re probably watching it so I won’t share any of the many ways they would do this. But this is common. The parents say something or do something that humiliates their child. Often unintentionally. Now take this to a much greater degree and you understand what the disciples will be facing. The person they sacrificed three years with is going to be killed. And they are worried about their own safety.

But they are not falling away completely.

As I mentioned earlier today is reformation Sunday and one of the pillars of the reformation is Perserverance or preservation of the saints. What this simply means is that those who are true believers will never ultimately fall way.

Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

Romans 8:29-30 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

John 10:28 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

The disciples do not completely fall away from Christ. But they do sin. For to deny Christ at any point for a Christ follower is a sin.

But we have to love he brovado of Peter don’t we. Peter says, these guys over here. Yeah…they’ll fall away. But not I Lord. I am the one who got out of the boat with you. I am the one who acknowledged first that you are the Christ. I am the one who saw you transfigure. I am brave. I won’t cower. I won’t give in. Not me.

And Jesus says, it won’t be long. In fact, even tonight you are going to deny me not oncae, or twice, but three times you are going to deny me. You are going to pretend you have no idea who I am. That you are not one of my disciples. Now Peter is going to challenge that and he says, Jesus…even if I have to die with you, I will never ever deny you.

And the others begin to chime in to. Yeah, Jesus we’re with Peter, we aren’t going to deny you. Never ever.

Application: What are your thoughts on Peter…do we say “What a coward? Or how arrogant? Why would he give in to the pressure? After all we he had seen? That’s my initial response to Peter. But then when I reflect in my own life, how often have I not shared with my friends, neighbors, and or co-workers who Jesus is. Because I was afraid. Because I didn’t want to be thought of as weird. I am more like Peter in all the wrong ways than I want to admit. But we haven’t looked at verse 28 yet.

Right smack in the middle of Jesus predicting the failure of his closest followers and friends. He says…Though the disciples will fail, God's plans do not fail. I will be raised up. Jesus will continue to lead them as he goes before them. That is what it means to lead. To go before. Jesus is planting in their hearts and minds a seed of forgiveness and restoration. You are going to fail. But I will meet you up in Galilee. These are words of grace and mercy. There will be restoration. Grace and mercy will be offered. I will go before you and see you in Galilee.

JESUS STAYS WITH US IN SPITE OF OUR FAILURES

That is the key point. In spite of our failures, Jesus stays with us.

Illustration: Shunning…story of shunning. Jesus does not shun his people He leads them and stays with them.

Verse 32-42

After Jesus reveals what is going to take place he takes opportunity to pray. This is amazing to me. How difficult it is to spend time with the Lord when we are busy. Can you imagine when you are distressed and troubled?

Jesus is experiencing anguish. He is fully human and he is experiencing sinless, but real human emotions.

This brings to mind the Psalms of lament.

Psalm 55:4–5 (ESV): My heart is in anguish within me;

the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

5  Fear and trembling come upon me,

and horror overwhelms me.

Psalm 31:11 “Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.”

Jesus is real and truly human. And in doing so, we see some remarkable things.

First we see that he was not a stoic or detached human. Jesus does not have a stiff upper lip, but he feels deeply and truly what is about to happen.

A cycle of three Failures

Jesus asks his whole inner circle to watch and to pray. To stand on guard and to join him in this time of heartfelt prayer.

Three times Jesus asks them to pray with him and for him and three times he finds them asleep. It is a late at night. The disciples probably had a hard day. Naturally they are tired. It makes sense that they would be tired.

But really this account highlights that Jesus is indeed alone. His disciples will not be there to support him, to elevate him, to encourage him. Jesus will have to face this completely on their own.

How we see in the disciple the weaknesses of their flesh? Of their human nature. Not only are they falling asleep when they need to be praying, but they really show their spiritual dullness. Things are really heating up, for them, for Jesus, and they are taking a snooze. How humbling would it be to commit to Jesus and say, I’m hear for you, only to be asleep? Again we need fight against the self-righteous temptation that, I would stay awake for Jesus. I would wouldn’t fail like the disciples. The disciples so often depict who we are. That we too would fail in that circumstance. Because our flesh too is weak.

1 Peter 2:11 “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”

But the amazing thing about Jesus Christ and the good news is that he is willing endure for a people who are sleepy and can’t even pray for him in their time of need. And he not only did it for his disciples, but for all people who will believe in him. And I can’t help but think of all the ways I have sinned against God in some pretty devastating ways and he still endured not only the desertion of his disciples but look at what Jesus says in Mark 14:36 “And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.””

He says remove this cup from me. The cup that JEsus is referring to is the cup of wrath. That Jesus Christ is going to identify himself with the sin of His followers in such a way that he is going to endure not only death…but separation from God. Jesus is beginning to sense the absence of God’s presence. HE is beginning to know what it means to be forsaken by God. He is doing this in our place. This is is why he is having not only distress, but he has a bodily response too. The feeling was so intense and his response is so intense that he says, “remove the cup” There has to be another way.

And this communicates two things.

Jesus was a real flesh and blood human being. Sinless Yes. And unlike us, he had no sin nature. His desire was to be in perfect unbroken fellowship with the Father and knowing that he would have endure the pain and agony of death as well as God forsakenness caused him to petition his Father to see if there was another way.

Jesus ends his prayer where all our prayers should end. Yet not what I will, but thy will be done. Don’t be afraid to pour out your heart to God in prayer. This is a good a thing. We need to be willing to cry out to God with our desires and ask God to work in our lives. We need to trust that God does answer prayer. But look at where Jesus lands. Not my will, but your will be done. Do your prayers land there? Or is it my will be done Lord. It takes faith to land where Jesus lands. It takes tremendous faith to say, not my will but your will be done.

The biggest take away from this section of sriputure though is that

JESUS STAYS WITH THE FATHER’s WILL AND REVERSES THE WHOLE HISTORY OF HUMAN REBELLION. MARY HEALEY

You see, the history of humanity since the creation of the world has been shaped and dictated by people who chose to go their own way. Who said, my will be done, not your will be done. Adam and Eve were given everything, yet they chose to go their own way. And here, Jesus Christ, is about to endure the cup chooses to follow God’s will.

This is one of the things that makes the gospel so amazing. Jesus knows what is going to happen and he does it anyway. This is how great his love is for his people. In the movie Indiana Jones and the last Crusade there are many cups aligned and a person must choose which cup to drink from. Choose wisely and you receive eternal life, choose poorly and its over. Jesus chooses the cup that ends his life, but gives us eternal life. His decision to follow the will of his Father, is our cup of eternal life. Meaning restored and renewed relationship with God.

The good news of what Jesus has done is that he has stood in our place. Jesus who obeyed in the flesh. Has reversed our rebellion so we can now be in right standing and relation with God. Your will be done!!!

As we transition into the rest of this passage we see that Jesus is about to be taken into custody.

It is enough means it is settled, the decision has been made, it go time. Human level Jesus is handed over by God, but in the divine plan, this was the God had ordained it. Jesus willingly goes. Eph 5:2 “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Vv. 43-52

Here we begin to see what is referred to as Jesus and his passive obedience. Passive simply means acted upon. In other words, Jesus is acted upon. He allows himself to endure the arrest, betrayal trials, and death.

His passive obedience consisted of His willing reception of the punishment of sinners’ breaking the law. Both are imputed to sinners who trust in Christ, so that they are seen to be perfectly righteous in Christ and without any penalty for breaking the law (see Westminster Confession of Faith 11). “Passive obedience” is somewhat of a misnomer, since Christ’s enduring the penalty of sin was an active endurance.

Mary says, rather than acting, Jesus is acted on. This points to submission ot the Father's plan.

This crowd was probably not massive. It may have consisted of chief priest, temple police, scribes and elders. In other words, it was the Sanhedrin. The supreme judicial council of the Jewish people, consisting of seventy members, including elders, priests, and scribes.

The idea of a kiss would be easy to help the The pre-arranged signal. Dark, would make it easy to identify. This pre-arranged signal would make it easy for Jesus to be identified.

We have hear somewhat of a chaotic scene and we have several different contrasts to consider.

1 of the followers, ends up being worse than a deserter, he is a betrayer. Mark further identifies him as one of the 12. Making it obvious to the reader just how tragic this is.

Well armed versus Jesus coming in peace. Jesus never spoke of being a revolutionary. He was never violent and never advocated for the use of force. Yet you have here many armed individuals looking to take Jesus by force. Jesus draws attention to this fact. He says look guys. I have been teaching this how time and you didn’t do anything . You could have captured me then. But you come in the cloak of night with your weapons. You don’t get it!

Kiss and Rabbi vs. treachery. Kisses were a common greeting for a disciple and to greet Jesus with a kiss and call him Rabbi all the while it is a sign of something dark and sinister like a betrayal is a tremendous contrast. How much more of a contrast can you get? The kiss of betrayal, is pretty brutal.

Disciples attempt to defend vs. well armed police. This is more an act of futility. The disciples are most likely out manned, and certainly out armed.

Then we have this odd scene of someone fleeing naked. Naked person running away could be an allusion to Amos 2:16 “and he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day,” declares the Lord.” Nakedness is often a sign of shame and exposure.

This episode is a real-life parable illustrating the failure of the disciples. There may also be an allusion to Amos’s prophecy of the fearful judgment to fall on the day of the Lord: “the most stouthearted of warriors shall flee naked on that day, says the Lord” (Amos 2:16).

Here is the likely point. No one can bear the divine wrath that is crashing in on Jesus. He goes to his passion totally alone. Everyone of us would rather run away in fear and nakedness than face what Jesus is going to endure.

In the midst of this scene of chaos. Where we have two groups of people. The followers of Christ and the persecutors, Jesus says something remarkable.

Mark 14:48-49 “And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.””

Let the Scriptures be fulfilled. What does he mean by that? How is this fulfilling Scripture?

This is important for all of us to understand. The Old Testmament is pointing forward to Jesus. They find their fulfillment in Jesus. This wasn’t happenstance. It was part of God’s divine plan. Jesus as the perfectly obedient son submits to the will of God as revealed in Scripture. So Jesus doesn’t fight the false charges. He doesn’t battle with words or or might. Rather he submits to the will of the Father so the Scriptures must be fulfilled.

You see…Jesus is the key to the Scriptures both Old and New

Luke 24:44–47 (ESV): 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

We see in this last bit that.

JESUS STAYS WITH THE MISSION TO FULFILL THE SCRIPTURES

When I was a kid, I would love cracker jacks. They were good in and of themselves, but I loved the prizes that came with them. And every once in a while there would be a code breaking prize. There would be a hidden word in this little square. The only way to break the code would to have this little red tinted plastic. This would reveal the hidden code. I don’t mean to say that the Old Testament is a code to be cracked. But with Jesus, we can see what God was communicating. It makes more sense. It reveals the truth that was being communicated. The revelation is clearer and more poignant.

Jesus here stays with his mission to fulfill scriptures in spite of his personal betrayal. In spite of having to go at it alone. In spite of being falsely accused. In spite of being forsaken by God.

So who is Jesus…He is one who stays on mission, in spite of our sins and failures. This is good news for you and for me. It’s the deep deep love of Jesus for his father and for you, that he endured. In other words, in the words of Dane Ortlund, Jesus loves you to the end. Jesus willingly endured the punishment in our place. He stayed for us. My prayer for you is that this would give you tremendous security. That Jesus is not waiting for you to sin so he can leave you. He stays for you.

So will you go to him. With your fears, your sins, your doubts. Go to Jesus. Call out to him. Even if you think you’ve deserted him. Go to him. He won’t turn away from you. He stays!