Lesson # 46 | Mark 15:42 - 16:1-8 | COURAGE, SORROW AND AMAZEMENT

I.   Greetings: 

 

II.  Introduction:

            Q  What do you think of Mark's writting style?  Is it overly religious or is it understated in its presentation of the miraculous?

               An = This is the last lesson except for a brief addendum in our study of Mark's Gospel.  Mark has not embellished his account through what we have read, and he certainly does not begin here.  In a brief and direct manner he describes the Resurrection.  Nothing fancy is said, and there is the normal absence of religious or flowery language.  Mark describes the most important morning since the dawn of civilization, and he does so by primarily focusing on the reactions of various people who first witnessed the resurrection.

 

III.  Tragedy and Need Produce Character:  Mark 15:42-47.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 15:42-47.

            Q  Whose actions are recorded for us in these moments after the death of Jesus?

               An = Joseph of Arimathea, Pilate, and the two Marys.

            Q  What do were learn of Joseph of Arimathea's emotions in his quest to obtain the body of Jesus for burial?

               An = He no doubt had fear for he had to gather up his courage.  He was a prominent man and prominent men have to worry about their image and standing in the community if they wish to remain prominent.  However, this prominent man risks associating with a convicted blasphemer and treasonous man.

            Q  What do we know about Joseph of Arimathea's belief system and hopes?

            Q  Why do you think he was willing to risk all to give Jesus a decent burial?

               An = He was not merely religious but truly looking for the coming Kingdom of God.  Perhaps another way of putting this is he was looking for the reign of God, the coming era where God would reign supreme.  Perhaps he saw in Jesus the reign of God so clearly that he could not deny it presense.

            Note:  Sometimes when there is a crisis or tragedy it propels otherwise quiet men to take bold action and risk their standing or lives to extend an act of kindness to a great man. 

The death of great men often produce greatness in others.

            Note:  The two other parties who are spoken of are Pilate and the two Mary's. 

            Q  What is Pilate's reaction?

               An = Pilate is spoken of as the one who verifies that Jesus was indeed dead. 

            Q  What were the Marys' role?

               An = Their roles were looking to see where Jesus was laid.  Lane notes that since the testimony of women had no value in that society it must of have been recorded because it was a fact (Lane, p. 581).  It also shows the Lord does not let only those of prestige and social status witness to His actions.  An example from the past is the apostle Paul was a murderer.  An example from the present is to look at those running this study!

 

IV.  Amazement and Hope:  The Resurrection.  Mark 16:1-8.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 16:1-3.

            Note:  Lane (p. 584) rightly notes that both the Crucifixion and the Resurrection have this in common;  both are presented by Mark as historical facts. 

            Q  However, does the act of a body rising from the dead does fit our conception of history?

               An = No.  It is a miracle, beyond human understanding.  Only the revelation of God can explain its presence and witness to its reality.  For those who are uncomfortable with miracles we can only say with Lane that all through the Bible there is the claim that God can break into history.  Reality is not a closed system, but one which can experience the in-breaking power of God into history when and where His sovereign will so decides.  Not to accept this is to miss what the Bible consistently says.

            Q  Who dominates the action in the opening three verses of chapter 16 and what do they do?

               An = Again it is women.  Women who seek to do the kind and pious act of washing Jesus's body and anointing it for final burial.

            Q  Did the women come expecting to see Jesus rise from the dead?

               An = No, they were not expecting a miracle.  Their stated goal was to anoint a beloved dead friend (16:1).  See Lane, p. 585.  Their concern was who would roll away the stone.  They did not come expecting to find Jesus alive but were worried that the stone would block access to the body (16:3).

            Note:  Most scholars say that the stone was no doubt circular and placed on an incline and when released would roll into place, but would be difficult to roll back up the incline which is probably what worried the women.  Most tombs hewn out of rock had an antechamber with another chamber further inside with a low doorway between the two rooms.  In the inner room was where the body was placed (Lane, p. 586).  It was inside the tomb that the women encounter the "young man" wearing a white robe.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 16:4-6.

            Q  What is the command of this young man?

               An = "Do not be amazed".  This seems to set the tone of the reaction to the Resurrection.  These were not people pumped up to expect the supernatural but normal women.  In 16:5 they were amazed, and then they are commanded not to be so. 

            Q What is the reason the young man gave for their not being amazed?

               An = Conceivably the rest of the 16:6 and 16:7 is the justification for his command, but 16:6 starts with the verification that they were in Jesus' tomb, the crucified one.  One can never separate the Resurrection from the Crucifixion.  Jesus only rose from the dead because He died for our sins.  The young man, in a matter of fact manner, announces that Jesus was risen, not there and invited the women to see for themselves.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 16:7.

            Q  What is the second command?

               An = Go and tell.  >>> Have someone read Mark 14:28.

            Q  Does this confirm that Jesus knew all along that He would rise from the dead?

               An = Mark clearly shows that the Crucifixion and the Resurrection did not happen to Jesus, but were in the forethought of God.  Here the angel confirms Jesus did anticipate His Resurrection (not only in 14:28, but also in 8:31, 9:9, 9:31, and 10:34).  It is in these four other texts, plus 10:45 that Jesus clearly predicted His death and suffering as a "ransom for many" as well.

            Q  There is one other amazing part to the young man's speech, he not only sent word to the disciples at large but to whom by name?

               An =  Peter, the one who betrayed Him, was given a special invitation. 

            Q  Do you think Peter would have shown up without a personal invitation?  Why?

               An = There is good reason to believe Peter would not have come without such a summons.  His guilt, no doubt, would have destroyed any hopes Peter had of reconciliation with Jesus.  Notice it was Jesus who took the initiative for reconciliation.  Jesus wants us back!  He sends special summons for those who have specially sinned. 

            In the crowning glory of Easter morning, in the most important day on the earth, Jesus has time to specially invite a sinful man to a reunion.  We do not merely celebrate Jesus rising from the dead, but raising us from our sin and guilt.  He did not die to amaze us, but to reconcile the world unto Himself. 

>>>> Have someone read Mark 16:8.

            Q  How does Mark end the story?

               An = It ends with amazement, fleeing and fear.  This is significant because this fits with all of the other gospels which speak of the doubt the disciples themselves had of Jesus' Resurrection (Matthew 28:17, Mark 16:9-14, Luke 24:38, John 20:25).  These men did not make this event up, but rather were confronted with it.  It was new to them, an amazement, and one that caused doubt.  They were healthy men, not weird religious fanatics.  They had reason to expect Jesus to rise from the dead had they taken Jesus' predictions seriously, but they were much like us who read the Bible all the time and seldom really believe what we read.

    [1]. Note:  Only use this if time allows or you believe it is helpful, otherwise skip it.  You might need to make another lesson of it.

Scholars end the book here and not at 16:20.  The earliest and best manuscripts do not have these verses.  Eusebius (4th century) mentions that the best manuscripts end at verse 8, as does Jerome.  Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Cyprian and Cyril of Jerusalem seem to be unaware of the last 12 verses as well.  Matthew and Luke seem to follow Mark until 16:8 and then diverge completely (Lane, p. 601). 

The logical flow or connection between 1-8 and 9-20 also seems to indicate that they were not originally together.  This is seen in that what follows in 16:9 ff interrupts the command to meet Jesus in Galilee (16:7) and there is an abrupt change of subjects of the verbs between 16:8 (women) and 16:9 (Jesus).  Also, Mary Magdalene is reintroduced (see 16:1) and these verses contain 17 non-Marcan words or words used in a non-Marcan sense and Mark's characteristic style appears to be missing (Lane, p. 604).

It is really not a crucial issue whether these verses are authentic.  Reading these verses will not lead us astray.  By and large the content of these verses is found in other gospels, especially 16:9-14.  There are a few new wrinkles in the recorded speech of Jesus in 16:15-18.  And we will look at that momentarily.  A quick outline of 16:9-20 reveals the following.

I.   The appearance to Mary. 9-10

II.  The description of the disciples continued doubt. 11-14

III. The Commissioning Speech. 15-18

A.  Command to Go and Preach to All 15

B.  The Resulting Judgment that will take place 16

1. belief + baptism = salvation 16 a

2. non-belief = judgment 16 b

C.  Authenticating signs of those who preach 17-18

1.  Cast out demons  (give to those they meet) 17 a

2.  Speak with new tongues (receive edification) 17 b

3.  Immunity from snakes and poison (receive protection) 18 a

4.  Heal the sick  (give to those they meet) 18 b

IV.  Jesus' Ascension 19

V.   The Disciples Response:  They Obeyed, Preached and had the Signs. 20

 

If we interpret this outline's structure we see that all of these themes are elsewhere but there is an emphasis in Mark on clearly portraying the disciples as doubting (9-14) and that true commissioned preaching has authenticating signs (17-18).

What often grabs people's attention is the authenticating signs that are listed.  Exorcism and healing are not new and were evidenced in Jesus' ministry and the Book of Acts.  In Acts there is clearly the report of new tongues, and Paul is bitten once and did not die.  Much has been made of handling snakes in some circles but the structure clearly sees this as an authenticating sign that these men were from God and were protected (much like the time in Acts 28:3-5).  The issue appears to be protection as the Word was spread.  A protection that authenticated the messenger and therefore the message.  There is a little chaism in 17-18 which is so typical of biblical literature:  A,B,B,A or give, receive, receive, give.  This is theologically consistent with the ministry of Jesus.  We give because we have received.  We receive in order to give. 

In verse 19 we have the Ascension of Jesus and then the Disciples seemingly conquer their doubts, obey the commission by preaching and receive the signs (20).

If we see this section as applying to our lives and how we should share the gospel, it does bring up some disturbing issues.

Q  Is it important how people respond to the preaching about Jesus?

   An = Our preaching is very important to those who listen (16:16), it determines their judgment.  We seldom believe our witness is important because of how people treat us as we share our faith.

Q  Does it bother you that the disciples are reported to have doubted?

Q  Have any of you doubted key things about the Christian faith?

   An = The disciples did at first, and Mark boldly and clearly says this was the case.  This could be very instructive for us and how to handle our own doubt.  This text (along with the other three Gospels), would argue for being open and honest about our initial doubts.

Q  Are you uncomfortable with the message of 16:17-18?  Why?

   An = I can relate, but if we look at this without prejudice or guilt for not being involved with the activities of 17-18 we see several clear things.  This is not a man made religion.  Our faith is miraculously verified.  Notice two signs give to others and two signs are of benefit to the believers themselves.  Two are giving signs and two are receiving signs.  What dominates is that they are signs. 

Q  So what if some of us do not experience such power does this call into question our belief?  

   An = Remember the structure of this passage.  Those who were given the signs struggled with the reality of the Resurrection (16:9-14).  The author is intending this section of doubt (9-14) to precede his description of miraculous power that accompanies those who believe (16:15-18). 

Q  Could we afford to be honest and tell the Lord our faith needs help according to Mark?

   An = Jesus did not get rid of His disciples because of their doubt (16:9-14), and it stands to reason He will not get rid of you!  Remember 16:7!  He wants reconciliation. 

Q  Should we ask for the authenticating signs?

   An = The church does need power and may we ask for the authenticating signs not so we can boast or lose our guilt of non-belief, but so the Lord can authenticate the most important message folks will ever hear (16:16).  Even in the reception of signs, the guiding rule is love and humility.  Think of how Jesus has been handling signs in the gospel of Mark.

Q  Where does Jesus go in verse 19 and what does that mean for ministry?

   An = He ascended into heaven.  He left us here to spread the message, and from heaven He can aide us.

Q  Did these men obey and receive?

 

Lesson # 45 | MARK 15:22-41 | THE CRUCIFIXION: THE CHALLENGE TO COME DOWN

I.  Greetings. 

 

II. Introduction:  Today's text covers the crucifixion.  This is not an easy subject to cover because it is so important. 

            Oswald Chambers says:  "The reason we are so shallow and flippant in our presentation of the Cross is that we have never seen ourselves for one second in the light of God.  When we do see ourselves in the light of God, there is only one of two refuges--suicide or the Cross of Christ." (Highest Good, p. 98.) 

 

III.  Put To Torture.  Mark 15:22-25.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 15:22-25.

            Note:  Most commentators believe that the wine mixed with myrrh was a sedative.  It was offered to Jesus by pious Jewish women of Jerusalem to lessen the horrible pain of crucifixion.  Notice Jesus did not take what was offered.

            Note:  Josephus described crucifixion as "the most wretched of all ways of dying.  Cicero calls crucifixion the grossest, cruelest or most hideous manner of execution"  (Lane, p. 561).

            Note:  The hanging on a gibbet was for idolaters and blasphemers who had been stoned.  They were already expired and were hung for humiliation not execution.

>>>> Have someone read Deuteronomy 21:23.

>>>> Have someone read Galatians 3:13.

            Q  Is the crucifixion a side-light or the center of Mark's view of Jesus' life?

               An = It is the center.  Remember the five times Jesus predicted His death in chapters 8-10.  Remember also how Jesus' awareness and acceptance of His crucifixion dominates all of chapter 14.  Remember his refusal to let the miracles become the center of His ministry in the chapters before that.

            Q  Why is something so horrible and painful described with such restraint in Mark? 

               An = Lane (p.564), thinks it is because everyone knew the horrors of crucifixion.  However, we have also seen that Mark was carefully written.  It could be that the author wants you to focus on something else.  Let us see what Mark does gives us, what Mark wants us to focus on.

 

IV.  The Humans Act:  The Call to Come Down.  Mark 15:26-32.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 15:26-32.

            Note:  Notice that above Mark takes longer to describe how they divided His clothes than how they crucified Him.  It stresses they took His clothes like a common criminal.  It was Roman policy for the state to confiscate the property of a man convicted of treason.  Jesus has so little that the soldiers are allowed to have His clothes.[1]

            Note:  Mark gives us the charge leveled against Jesus:  a royal pretender, (15:26).  Mark clearly presents Jesus as executed like a criminal.

            Q  What is Mark trying to say by mentioning those with whom Jesus is crucified?

               An = Barclay reminds us that "Jesus was crucified between two thieves.  It was the symbol of His whole life that to the end He companied with sinners."(Barclay, p. 381).  One thing is evident, Mark is not presenting Jesus in a good marketing light!  Jesus' reputation was trashed!  He was killed as a convicted criminal with His property confiscated much like a drug lord of today, His charge or crime was clearly portrayed, and He was tortured as a criminal among other criminals.

>>>> Have someone re-read Mark 15:29-32.

            Q  What is the overall stress of these verses?

               An = Humiliation and verbal abuse.  Again they add insult to injury.  Two types of challenge are given to Jesus by two different groups.

            Q  The bypasser opened the verbal abuse with what type of challenge?

               An = If you are so powerful so as to destroy the great temple, come down from the cross.

            Q  What is the challenge of the religious leaders?

               An = If He can save others, let Him now save Himself, no doubt referring to His healing ministry. 

            Note:  However their mockery had a profound meaning for if Jesus did come down from the cross then He could not have fulfilled His mission.  >> Have someone read to the group Mark 8:31 (Lane, pp. 568-569).

            Note:  The taunting of the chief priests and the scribes brought to an end a long sought after goal:  to destroy Him (See Mark 3:6, 11:18, 12:12, 14:1-2, 14:10-11, 14:64, 15:1, 15:3, 15:11 (Lane, p. 569).  Oswald Chambers reminds us that it was not the sinners of the town that wanted Jesus dead, but, "the refined, cultured, religious, moral people who refuse to sacrifice the natural for the spiritual."  He goes on to say that those who let their "natural goodness" stand in the way of their understanding, and refuse to acknowledge that they need something beyond their own goodness become those who detest the Cross of Jesus.[2]   Many people today want to admire Jesus but there is often great antagonism to His death on the cross.  Barbaric religion some call it.  

            Note:  Barclay quotes General Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, who said:  "it is because Jesus did not come down from the Cross that we believe in Him" (Barclay, p. 381). 

            Barclay goes on to note two things.  1)  His death was absolutely necessary.  If He did not die, we could not be forgiven.  2) If He loved us any less than He does, He would have come down from the cross and ended their humiliating, belittling of His glory.  He does love us and He bore the indignity and shame (Barclay, p. 381).

            Chambers adds, "The Cross is the secret of the heart of God, the secret of Person of the Son of God, the secret of the Holy Ghost's work."[3] 

            Note:  One of the hardest things about Christianity for me is bearing humiliation.  It is only when I sense His love that I can take it.  What is funny is when I am in His love, I know it is the right thing to do and bear it well.  Until I give up my right to my agenda I can never get there.  What is also true is that when the "death" is over, the real joy of my life begins.

 

V.  God Acts:  The Sky Darkens and The Son of Man Speaks.  Mark 15:33-34.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 15:33-34.

>>>> Have someone read Psalms 22:1-2.

            Note:  Chrysostom, (Chrysostom, p.520) thinks this should have given them some hint that God was not pleased.  He also points out that it could not have been an eclipse, it lasted too long.  They had seen eclipses in their day, and this was not an eclipse.  >>> Have someone read Amos 8:9,10.

            Q  What other time in Israel's history had the sky darkened?

               An = Lane (Lane, p. 572) points out that such a darkness over the land has its earlier example in the darkness that passed over Egypt (Exodus 10:21-22).  The darkness is the sign of the coming of judgment and the sign of coming salvation for Israel.  The darkness was the sign of both salvation and judgment.

            Q  What does Jesus' cry, the only speech Mark quotes of Jesus from the cross, mean?

               An = It could be Jesus expressing His humanity and despair.  Others see it as a statement of triumph for He quotes Psalms 22:1 and the first verse implies the rest of the Psalm which ends in triumph (especially 22:22-31). 

            However, the key emphasis is that the darkness and the cry indicate that "The sinless Son of God died the sinner's death and experienced the bitterness of desolation.  This was the cost of providing `a ransom for the many.'" (Lane, p. 573).

            Note:  The repetition of the phrase "My God, My God" points to the depth of His pain, whereas the personal pronoun "My" shows us that even in Jesus' deepest pain it was still His God.  He died honest, but not bitter.  He spoke the truth to God, but He did not abandon God.  Some of us have deep confusion and pain, and the Bible teaches us to tell God the truth, but to do so and remain loyal.

 

VI.  Human Response:  Curiosity, Taunt, Wonder and Love.  Mark 15:35-41.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 15:35-41.

            Note:  "Eloi, Eloi" sounds much like "Eli, Eli" and as Jesus was grasping for breath it could sound very much like Eli-ya-hu (Hebrew) or Elijah.  There was a Jewish custom that said Elijah would come to save righteous men.  So the first response to Jesus' speech is to misinterpret His quotation of Psalm 22.  Then someone runs to give Him a drink with the taunt: lets see if Elijah can get Him down.  Here is the third (actually fourth if you count the other thieves on the cross 15:32 b) time Jesus is challenged to come down from the Cross.  This time they taunt Him with the prospect that if He was really righteous Elijah would get him down.  The other times they goaded Him with the taunt that if He was truly powerful He would come down by His own power.

            Q  What do you think Jesus cried in 15:37?

               An = Obviously we do not know, but many think He cried "Finished" (John 19:30).  Whatever He said, it ripped the temple curtain and caused the centurion to exclaim:  Truly this man was the Son of God!" (Mark 15:39).  The centurion had no doubt seen many men die, but there was something about the dying of this man Jesus that caused Him to see God. 

            It is often in our weakness and our willingness to serve in a costly and humiliating manner that reveals God to people like no other way.  If we refuse to suffer, maybe we refuse to communicate the truths the world really needs to see.  Jesus refused to use His power to come down and escape the suffering that led to our salvation but rather used His power to bear His suffering well.

            Q Why are the women mentioned?

               An = Perhaps to say that many times when others are driven away by fear or confusion, others, though bewildered and heart-broken, will not leave.  Barclay says:  "Love clings to Christ even when the intellect cannot understand" (Barclay, p. 385).

            Note:  The curtain was torn.  That which separates God holiness from sinful man is torn.  Barclay notes, "No longer was God hidden.  No longer need men guess and grope.  Men could look at Jesus and say, `That is what God is like.  God loves me like that.'" (Barclay, p. 385).

            Note:  Jesus' death is like no other.  Only God Himself could die for our salvation.  Only a perfect man could be a perfect sacrifice for our sins.            Our call is to identify with His death and die to "our right to ourselves".  We need to sacrifice our agenda for His agenda. 

            Oswald Chambers puts it so well,  "I have to take up that cross daily and prove that I am no longer my own.  Individual independence has gone, and all that is left is personal passionate devotion to Jesus Christ through identification with His Cross."[4] 

---

    [1].  See Psalms 22:18.  Notice that 15:28 is missing from some translations.  This is not a serious omission.  If the verse is original, it certainly fits.  "And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, `And He was reckoned with transgressors'".  A quick reading of Psalm 22:1-18 shows how closely Jesus' crucifixion fits this Psalm.  It is remarkable how closely the first half of this Psalm fits the crucifixion and how the last half anticipates the Resurrection.

    [2].  See If Thou Wilt Be Perfect, p. 102.

 

    [3].  See Oswald Chambers, He Shall Glorify Me, p. 22.

    [4].   The Best From All His Works, p. 74.

Lesson # 44 | MARK 15:1-21 | INJUSTICE, HUMILIATION, YET BLESSING

I.    Greetings.

 

II.   Introduction:           

            Note:  The previous time we were together we examined the first stage of Jesus' trial:  the Sanhedrin trial.  In Mark there is one more phase:  the trial before Pilate.  In other Gospels there are two additional phases.  The other Gospel's have four phases:  Sanhedrin trial, Pilate trial, Herod Interlude, and then back to Pilate.  Mark, however, gives us a short, not a contradictory version.

 

III.  The Case Examined:  Mark 15:1-6.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 15:1-6.

            Note:  To get Jesus condemned the Jewish rulers were under a time constraint.  Roman rulers held court at dawn, so if the Jewish leaders had not held their court at night they would have gotten to Pilate too late in the day.  They had to get Jesus condemned and executed before the festival actually began that evening at 6:00 p.m.

            Q  Why does Pilate ask Jesus if He is King of the Jews, when in the Sanhedrin He was accused of blasphemy?

               An = That was the charge.  Jesus was convicted in the Sanhedrin of blasphemy but with Pilate the charge is changed to treason.  Pilate would not have been interested in the religious scruples of Jewish sensibilities. 

            Note:  There is weakness in their case.  This is shown by the changing of the accusation to fit the audience.  This is often the case when people want to condemn those they do not like and yet have a weak case.  The charges change with the winds. 

            Note:  There is also irony here.  Lane (pp. 550-551) notes that the irony is that Jesus was rejected as Messiah and therefore a blasphemer because He did not come in power, and yet they turn Jesus over to Pilate for being a power-threat to the great Roman state.

            Note:  Note how brief Mark is in his version.  He does not give us the discussion that led to the question of Pilate.  The reader is to assume that Jesus has been accused of claiming kingship.

            Q  How does Jesus answer?

               An = Again, Mark's version is brief.  Jesus' answer implies it is their idea.  In John 18:33-38 we have a fuller discussion.  Jesus does admit to being King, but not in their way of thinking.  This answer kicks off Mark 15:3.  The chief priests seem to try and add charges seemingly realizing that their original case was not going to stick.

            Note:  Jesus is silent.  >>>> Have someone read Mark 15:5.

            Q  Why is Jesus silent?

               An = 1) He is fulfilling Scripture:  Have someone read Isaiah 53:7.    

                    2) He is emotionally in control and has no need of losing of His calmness (i.e. He is confident in God.)      3) They will not listen anyway.  Gerhard von Rad says:  "God's final judgment is silence".  If God is still talking, still correcting, still reasoning, still trying to convict us of our sins, then there is hope.  When silence falls, we are left to our own foolishness and destruction.

            Q  Even in so brief an account as Mark, why is so much attention given to Jesus' various legal trials and their unfairness?

               An = God wants you to know that He knows that some of you have and will suffer.  He knows what it is like to meet injustice full in the face.

 

IV.  Another is Benefitted.   Mark 15:7-15.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 15:7-15.

            Q  Who gets away with murder?

               An = Barabbas.

            Q  Who lets Barabbas get away with murder?

               An = The very people that are quite willing to let Jesus be executed on less than substantiated charges.

            Note:  Again, there is clear irony here.  The great Roman justice system let go a true insurrectionist while condemning a totally innocent man.

            RQ  How many of you have truly been given the raw end of the deal?

            Note:  God does understand because He has been there.  He has not only been cheated of justice, wrongly accused, lied about and slandered, but there was injury as well as insult. 

>>>> Have someone re-read Mark 15:12-15.

            Note:  >>>> Have someone read I Timothy 6:12-14.

            Note:  Why did the crowd want Barabbas?  Some speculate that it was his followers that were gathered outside the residence of Pilate in hope of getting the favor of release.  The text says the crowd was stirred up by the chief priests (15:11).  Crowds do not think!

            Note:  They scourged Him.  This was usually done with a whip of many leather tongs with pieces of bone and lead tied into the ends.  Usually several soldiers did the beating until flesh hung in bleeding shreds.  Josephus records one was beaten until his entrails showed, others recount scourging until bones were bared.  Many passed out, some lost eyes, many died. (Lane, p. 557).  The scourging was done away from the crowd.

 

V.  Humiliation by the Mob:  Mark 15:16-20.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 15:16-20.

            Note:  This too was done in the courtyard so the disciples could not see.  In addition, there is the possibility there were 300 + men present at these humiliating events.  It is one thing to be cruelly beaten, but then to be mocked and stripped in front of 300 men is worse.

            Note:  Chrysostom charges us:  "Considering then all these things, control yourself.  For what have you suffered like what your Lord suffered?  Are you publicly insulted?  Not like this.  Are you mocked?  Not in your whole body, not being scourged and stripped.  Even if you were beaten, yet not like this."  (Chrysostom, p. 517).

 

VI.  Another one Receives Benefit, Simeon carries the Cross:  Mark 15:21.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 15:21.

            Note:  No doubt Simeon was a pilgrim, a visitor to Jerusalem, fulfilling a treasured dream to visit Jerusalem at Passover time and worship God.  He was from Cyrene in North Africa, and may at first hated his being involved in the brutal activities of this stranger he did not know.  He had come to Jerusalem to worship in the great Temple, not be forced to carry a stranger's cross.  Mark's description of Simeon is odd.  He does not give us Simeon's reaction but rather gives us the names of his two children.  Most scholars believe Mark was written to the church at Rome and so turn to Romans 16:13. 

>>>> Have someone read Romans 16:13.

            Note:  Many think this was Simeon's son. 

>>>> Have someone read Acts 13:1.

            Note:  Many think this was Simeon himself, involved in sending the first missionaries to the Gentiles.  Most of you tonight are Gentiles (not Jews), so if this was Simeon, you owe him.

            Note:  Notice the contrast between Barabbas and Simeon.  One receives physical salvation and is freed from physical death.  The other receives inconvenience and humiliation but receives eternal life and becomes a part of God's holy family, the church.  Both received, because both Simeon and Barabbas, were drawn into the sphere of Jesus Christ.  The one receives physical blessing, and we never hear of him again.  The other received inconvenience and was won to the faith.

            Q How did Simeon see Jesus?  Was Jesus presented to Simeon in a winsome manner?

               An = So often we want to present God to the world in a flashy and successful manner.  We must be winners, prestigious, important people.  Simeon was won by seeing Jesus in his weakness, in His humiliation, and as a humiliated one Simeon saw the Humiliated One.  He saw Glory!

            Note:  Some of you fear that God's work will cause you inconvenience and suffering.  Being involved with Jesus Christ may very well may cost you such things.  May you become like Simeon and may such an experience show you Him. 

            Note:  Have everyone turn to I Timothy 6:13-16.

>>>> Read to them I Timothy 6:13-16. 

            Note:  May we be like Simeon and Paul here.  He starts to encourage us to stand up well for our Lord and then seemed at that point in his writing of the letter to ponder directly about who his Lord was.  He goes into rapture (goes bananas!) and begins to speak of the beauty of his Lord.  We are spiritually 

Lesson # 43 | MARK 14:43-72 | DESERTION, INJUSTICE AND BETRAYAL

I.    Greetings:             

 

II.   Introduction:  There are many who are angry at God because things have not gone well.  Things have gone wrong, these people have been deeply mistreated, and at times it has been by Christians.  Thus, the question asked is, "Where is God?"  It is a good question, worth asking. He is there.  He is not only there, He has been where you are now, He has been to the cross.  The way Jesus went to the cross is very similar to what some of you are experiencing today.

            God has allowed human beings to have free will, therefore He has allowed the possibility of evil, great evil, in this world.  As Charles Williams has reminded us, He came to His world and faced what the humans had become.  He faced the results of giving us our free will, God took His own medicine.  He faced a cruel, free choosing race, and we humiliated and murdered Him.  God came to earth and we brutalized Him.  He knows what you face!  He chose to know!

           

III.  Jesus' Desertion and Arrest:  Mark 14:43-52. 

   A.  The Desertion of His men. 

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:43-50.

            Q  How did they know which one was Jesus?

               An = It was by a kiss.  It was late at night at a place with no lighting.  Thousands of pilgrims were in the city, so it would be easy to lose Jesus.  Judas used a kiss, a customary greeting to give to a rabbi.  Then Judas called Him, "my master".  Judas used two actions meant to show respect and honor to betray his lord.

            Note:  Jesus had to face the awful gut-wrenching fact that He has been betrayed by one of His own closest associates.  Watch what else Jesus had to face besides betrayal....

            Q  What did the disciples do?

               An = They fled.  They deserted Jesus.  All those closest to Him abandon Him.  When hardship comes, it is hard to be alone.

            Q  Did any disciple do anything else?

               An = Yes, in 14:37 one of them cut an ear off. 

>>>> Have someone read John 18:10.

            Note:  That someone was Peter.

   B.  The Strange Addition. 

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:51-52.

            Q  Why are these two verses here?

               An = This could have been Mark.  It was written only in Mark's Gospel because it refered to Mark himself.  This passage is in no other Gospel and could be Mark's way of saying that he was there and possibly overheard, as a young man, much of went on in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Nevertheless, he fled too.  The only one left, calmly left, is Jesus.  He is in control and though the one arrested, He is asking the questions. 

>>>> Have someone read Isaiah 53:12.

 

 

IV.  Injustice:  the Sanhedrin Trial:  Mark 14:53-65. 

   A.  The First Legal Maneuver. 

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:53-59.

>>>> Re-read Mark 14:54.

            Note:  14:54 describes Peter's warming himself at the fire, but this is told to us in the midst of Jesus's trial before the Sanhedrin.  You might wonder why the author put this notice about Peter at this place in the story.

            Most scholars agree this is an attempt to let the reader know that 14:66-72 (the Sanhedrin trial) and 14:55-65 (the story of Peter's denial) happened simultaneously (Lane, p. 532).  While Jesus was getting treated with gross inequity and injustice, His key disciple was out in the courtyard betraying Him.  However, something else should be said about Peter...

            Q  How many disciples ventured into the courtyard?

               An = Mark records only Peter.  Why did Peter, and Peter alone, risk the dangerous proximity to the trial? 

            Q  Did Peter plan on betraying Jesus?

               An = No, he did not.  Only Peter verbally betrayed Jesus because only Peter cared enough to get close enough to be questioned.

            Q  Did Jesus get a fair trial?

               An = No!  Capital offense cases had to have the collaboration of at least two witnesses.  This was not working.  They tried to get Him on temple desecration (a serious offense in those days).  See John 2:19 and Jeremiah 26:1-9.  However, their case did not stick.

            Note:  What is clear is that the purpose and spirit of the law was outweighed by the firm resolve to get Jesus.  >> Have someone read Mark 14:1 and 14:55.  How interesting it is that no witnesses were brought forth that could witness of how Jesus healed them, feed them, brought back their children from demon possession, or the dead, etc.  Only witnesses for the supposed temple desecration.

 

   B.  The Second Legal Maneuver. 

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:60-65.

            Note:  The chief priest asked a leading question trying to get the defendant to incriminated himself (Barclay, p. 369).  This was not a proper procedure.  Judges were not to interfere in order to get a conviction.

            Q  What was Jesus' Spirit like in 14:60-61a?

               An = Calm, willing to be quiet, not alarmed at the injustice.  It seems to rattle the high priest.

            Q  What is Jesus saying in 14:62?

               An = He is the Messiah:  see Psalms 110:1, Daniel 7:13 and Isaiah 52:8.

            Q  What do they convict Jesus of?

               An = Supposed blasphemy:  >>Have someone read Leviticus 24:15-16.

            Q  Is it fair?

               An = No, Jesus is treated totally unfairly, like some of you have.

            Q  What is happening in 14:65?  What did Jesus ever do to deserve this?

               An = >> Have someone read Isaiah 50:6.  Many of you today have suffered unjustly, been railroaded, and if it has not happened to you yet, it easily could.  If it has happened, or when it happens, remember, your Lord knows.  He completely understands.

 

V.  Betrayal:  Peter's Denial.  Mark 14:66-72. 

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:66-72.

            Note:  There is a double interrogation going on. 

>>>> Have someone re-read Mark 14:65 and 71. 

            Note:  As Peter was acting as he did in 14:71, 14:65 was going on simultaneously. 

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:29.

            Q  Why did Peter not leave the courtyard in 14:68 when he was recognized?

               An = He wanted to be there.  He wanted to be loyal.

            Q  Again, why is only Peter here?

               An = Only Peter cared deeply enough to be there and to get into the trouble that he got into.

            Note:  Only those of us in this room who really care about God can fail as Peter did.  Lesser men would have never been there (Barclay, p. 370).  What is strange is that some of us really love God, and yet do things that betray Him. 

            In our own strength we try to serve God and we, like Peter, will fail.

            Q  What is the source of this story?

               An = The Gospel of Mark is said to be Peter's preaching memoirs.  It is from Peter himself that we have this story.  There is a power in true Christianity, where the Spirit of God is truly active, that allows us to tell the truth about ourselves and yet survive! 

            William Barclay tells a story,  "There was an evangelist called Brownlow North.  He was a man of God, but in his youth he had lived a wild life.  One Sunday he was to preach in Aberdeen.  Before he entered the pulpit a letter was handed to him.  The writer of the letter recounted a shameful incident in Brownlow North's life before he became a Christian and stated that if Brownlow North dared to preach he would rise in the Church and publicly proclaim what once he had done.  Brownlow North took the letter into the pulpit with him.  He read it to the congregation.  He told them that it was perfectly true.  Then he told them how, through Christ, he had been forgiven, how Christ had enabled him to overcome his sin and put the past behind him, how, through Christ, he was a new creature.  

            He used his own shame as a magnet to draw men to Christ.  That is what Peter did." (Barclay, pp. 371-372)

            That is what we could also do.  Tell the truth about our failures, because in Christ, if we are truly in Him, there is hope.

            Note:  Let me read the last sentence of chapter 14:  "And he began to weep."  No more fitting ending to this chapter can be made.  When we see we are wrong, then hope and restoration have begun.

Lesson # 42 | Mark 14:32-42 | BATTLES BEFORE THE STORM OR HANDLING STRESS

I.   Greetings: 

 

II.  Introduction:   The early church read the Scriptures and proclaimed that Jesus was fully a human being and fully God.  How Jesus could be fully God (infinite) and fully human (finite) is impossible to understand, but this is a mystery we proclaim.  However, that our Lord is fully divine and fully human has huge benefits for us as believers on a practical level.  We may not fathom the depth of the theological and philosophical implications of Jesus' nature, but we profit tremendously from pondering what it can do to bless us.  Because Jesus is completely God we see in Him the nature of God as clearly as can be expressed for us human beings.  If wonder we what God is really like, and what He really thinks, we need to look at Jesus.  Since Jesus was completely human we can see in Him how we are to act as human beings.  If we wonder how to handle certain situations then we can look at Jesus.  Today we will watch Him handle stress, something we humans have to deal with everyday.

            Note:  Outline of Mark 14.

            The chapter contains three key times where Jesus is alone with His disciples:  His anointing by the woman (14:3-9) and discussion that ensues;  communion with the disciples (14:22-26);  and the Garden of Gethsemane (14:32-42).  These three times alone with the disciples can be seen to take place in each one of the three parts of the chapter.  (You can skip this outline, as far as presenting it in the study.  If you do it might help to prepare it before hand on a board or something. 

            PLOTS, PREDICTIONS, BETRAYALS

            I.  Plots to kill Him  1-11

                        A. Scribes plot to kill Him (1-2)

                             B. Interlude of Kindness by the Women (3-9)

                             C. Judas plots to betray Him  (10-11)

            II.  Predictions of Betrayal  12-31

                        A. Setting for Communion (12-16)

                        B. Prediction of Judas Betrayal (17-21)

                        C. Communion (22-26)

                        D. Prediction of Disciple's (Peter's) Betrayal (27-31)

            III. Betrayal and Trial Begins  32-66

                        A. Garden Scene (32-42)

                        B. Judas Betrayal/Arrest of Jesus (43-52)

                        C. Sanhedrin Trial (53-65)

                        D. Peter's Betrayal (66-72)

            Q  Do the plots of the religious leaders and Judas succeed?           

               An = Yes they do.

            Q Is Jesus caught off guard by the conspiracy against Him?

               An = No!  He anticipates their plot in 14:3-9 by pronouncing the woman's act of kindness as anointing for His death.  He also predicts both Judas' and Peter's betrayal.

            Jesus was not caught off guard.  They seemed to be succeeding against Him, and all the while He knew God was succeeding through Him.  They wanted to get their evil way, while He wanted to redeem the world.  I saw a good bumper sticker, it stated:  "I have seen the future, God wins!"

            Q  Given Jesus' awareness of such things, how depressed would you expect Him to be given the fact He knew they were going to kill, humiliate, and betray Him?

               An = It is natural to be deeply disturbed by what is taking place.  When people hurt, plot against, and betray us it will affect us emotionally in a profound way.  Christ understands what you are dealing with.

            Q  Does Jesus have a nervous breakdown?  Would it not be understandable if He did?

               An = Yes, but He does not.  He is being betrayed, will be murdered, and He knows it, but He remains steadfast.

            Q  What does He do?

               An = Jesus is creatively appreciative of the woman's impulsive anointing.  He sees her act through different lenses.  Strong people can face their own pain and see the needs of others (He protects her from verbal abuse of the disciples who strongly react in a negative way to her action.)  He sees the kindness of others.  We need to look beyond our own nose and verbalize our observations of other people's good deeds as He did.

            Note:  If you are going through stress this week, decide to verbalize someone's good actions as often as it can be legitimately done.

            Q  How does Jesus see His death in the communion service?

               An = As death for others.  >> Have someone read Mark 14:24.

 

III.  Dealing With Stress Through Prayer and Being With the Disciples:  Mark 14:32-34.

    A.  With Disciples:  

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:32-34.

            Note:  He does not let His feelings surface until he is alone with the three of His closest disciples.  It is important to let a few into our deepest struggles. 

            Note:  His pain is intense.  Notice though that He does not break down in general but only lets His feeling surface when He chooses to.  He maintains control but also does not bottle things up.

            Q  Does Jesus ask for help from His friends?

               An = Yes He does.  He asks them to keep watch.  Jesus asks for help.  We need to be willing and open enough to ask for help from our closest friends.  Psychologists tell us this is healthy, but Jesus was modeling this for us a long time before modern psychology.

            Q  Who are they to pray for, themselves or Jesus?

               An = Mark does not tell us.  It is unclear.  Perhaps, what is important is that people pray.

    B.  With God: 

>>>> Have someone read mark 14:35-36.

            Note:  Jesus' posture was to fall on the ground, normally they stood when they prayed in those days.

            Q  In Mark 14:35 what is emphasized?

               An = Jesus' desire not to suffer.  Jesus did not want to suffer, neither should we.  Scholars believe the "cup" is the same as the "hour".  Jesus did not want to go through this suffering (cup) or this event (hour).  It is the same thing.  Jesus knows what it is to experience dread like we do.

>> Read Mark 14:41 and 10:38.

            Q  There are three parts to the prayer, what are they?

               An = The three parts are:  Title of address, a request, an act of submission. 

            THE TITLE:  In the title of "Abba" Jesus calls or addresses God so we can see His attitude towards God.  Jesus sees God as "Father" or "Daddy" even though it is His Father's will that He suffer.  Jesus knew sorrow and pain (though they may come from the Father's hand) are not a sign that God does not love Him.  "The Father's hand will never cause His child a needless tear".  (Barclay, p. 362)  Jesus proved His faith and His trust in His Father by the very title He used.

            THE REQUEST:

            Q  What does Jesus request of God when He refers to the "cup"?

               An = Jesus is a healthy person.  He did not want to die or drink such judgment.  No healthy person would.

            Note:  Jesus spoke the truth about what He really desired.  We too can tell God what we really want, Jesus did.  We may not get what we want but we certainly allowed to tell Him the truth.

            >>>> Have someone read Isaiah 51:17.  It is the judgment of God.  Jesus was to bear the wrath of God on sin.  He who knew no sin was to bear sin's curse. 

           

            THE ACT OF SUBMISSION:

            Q  Is Jesus willing to let God's will be done even though He does not like it?

               An = Yes He is.  This is key.  When we let God have His way we are no longer god, but God is God.  If we refuse to let God have His way, we prove that we do not really trust God, but must stay in control of our lives because we do not believe God is competent to run it for us.

            Q  Is Jesus forced to submit or does He choose to submit?  Why is that so important?

               An = We must choose.  We must choose to obey God even though we fear or dread the consequences of obeying Him.  It must be our choice.  Emotions must not lead, clear knowledge of God's will must be what we choose, whether we feel like it or not.

    C.  With Disciples: 

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:37-38.

            Q Do we need to fight the body at times to obey God?

               An = Yes, we must fight the body's desires at times if we want to be loyal to God and others (see 14:37). 

            Q  Does He confront the disciples?

               An = Yes, and we too need to be open when others fail us, and it is not wrong to verbalize such beliefs.

            Q  Who is Jesus concerned with in Mark 14:38?

               An = He is concerned with them.  We can tell others we are disappointed with them, but we can never stop caring about them.  Tell those who have let you down how you see their action but never stop loving them.  In other words, despite Jesus' pain and disappointment He is still other centered.

            Note:  He forgives the disciples who have disappointed Him before they even ask for such forgiveness.  This is so important!  With the "spirit is willing but the body is weak" statement, He verbally recognizes that they were not off selling drugs to children or hurting widows but merely gave into their bodies' need for sleep.  Jesus tried to see things from their perspective not just His own.  We too, must be other centered enough to forgive even when we are stressed.

    D.  Repeatedly Going To God:

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:39-42.

            Q  How many times did Jesus have to pray?

               An = Three times, often we must battle repeatedly in prayer when we are truly stressed.  Jesus was the perfect human being, and He had to struggle three times.  We need not get discouraged if we repeatedly struggle to win in a tension filled predicament.

            Note:  Jesus does not run from difficulty.  He saw it (41) and arose to meet it (42).  This is the only way to face such things.

 

IV.  Summary of His Response to Stress:

            As fully human

            He modeled for us several things as a human being.

                        He is other centered.

                        He openly asked for help from His friends.

                        He confronted their failure but then forgave.

                        He went to God in Prayer: 

                                    With trust (to His Father),

                                    With honesty (asking to get out of it),

                                    With submission (knowing our will must be sublimated to God's). 

            He modeled true humanity for us. 

            As fully God

            If Jesus is God, we need to fall on our knees.  Jesus was willing to identify with our struggles, our weaknesses, our pains.  God was so humble, so unselfish, so willing to see our pain, that He came to earth and submitted to the horrors we so often face.  If this is God's attitude then this is good news!  If this can open our eyes to God to see how God really is, other centered, open to confront us in our faults and yet willing to forgive, and a God who can be addressed as Father, openly and honestly spoken to, yet submitted to, then we do indeed have a true picture of God.             

Lesson # 41 | MARK 14:22-31 | THE REVERSAL OF DEATH AND FAILURE

I.    Greetings: 

 

II.   Introduction:  One of the things we fear is failure.  Often we will not try something, not because we think it is wrong but because we are afraid to fail.  Another thing we fear is death, and we can often be crippled by the fear of it.  Jesus fears neither.  In His Work and in His Person is the reversal of both death and failure.  Mark 14 deal with both of these issues.

 

III.  The Lord's Supper:  The Reversal of Death.  Mark 14:22-26.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:22-26.

            Q  What do you think the bread symbolizes in 14:22?

               An = Lane thinks it does not symbolize the broken body as it does a pledge of personal presence.  Whenever we hold any piece of bread, we hold a reminder that He is with us.  He was once bread for us.  He is now with us. (Lane, p. 506)

            Q  What does the wine symbolize?

               An = That He died for us.  Blood also seals a covenant.             

            Note:  In the Passover service the youngest person present asks what makes this day different.  The head of the household tells the history of Israel down to the passover.  To the Jew it can never become a ritual, rather it always symbolizes the power and mercy of God.  (Barclay, p. 354)

            Note:  Mark records that Jesus and the disciples sung a hymn before they left.  The reason for this is that they sung hymns at a passover service as well.  One of the hymns they sung was from Psalms 118. 

>>>> Have someone read Psalms 118:22-29

            Note:  One thing the Lord's Supper clearly teaches is that our ultimate good cannot be accomplished without His death.  It is not our religious actions, our faithfulness, or our good deeds that accomplish our salvation.  It is His death!

            Q  For His death to be affective can we take communion unworthily?

               An = Today we are quite willing to despise Judas and those who killed our Lord, but it is not despicable to attempt to receive such a great sacrifice with a filthy soul?  Are we not despising Jesus, and His sacrifice, by such actions?

            Note:  It is by His embracing death for us that He breaks the power of death.  He did not want to die, but He did not let the fear of death overshadow His love for us.  He took the power of death and made it the means of our salvation.  He reversed the greatest tragedy on earth and made it the greatest reason to have hope.

            The cross is not a symbol of condemnation but of hope.  By dying Jesus reversed death!

 

IV.  The Disciple's Failure:  The Reversal of Shortcoming.  Mark 14:27-31.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:27-28.

            Note:  Jesus told them they would fail Him and all of them would "fall away".

            Q  Do we like to be told that we will fail?  Why not?

               An = (Let them give their answers.)  No one likes to hear bad news about themselves, especially about their actions.  Let me give you a simple reason:  pride! 

 

            Q  Is it cruel to tell someone they will fail when you know it is the truth?

               An = It is not necessarily cruel if it is true, and it has a loving intent behind it.

            Q  Was Jesus trying to put them down?  Was He trying to demean them?

               An = No, He loved them!  He wanted them to succeed, and He knew they were going to fail.  He knows human nature.  He also specifically knew their future, it was predicted in Scripture.

            He knew they would be devastated when they failed and it would eventually be helpful to know that He knew before hand.  He was not devastated.  I once spoke with a young high school age Christian as I was dropping him off from camp on a Sunday afternoon.  He told me he felt so good that he would never feel spiritually low again in his life.  I then warned him about the let down that would happen after the "camp-high" was over.  He defiantly looked me in the eye and said, "You're wrong, it will not happen to me!"   The following Tuesday I was on his campus, and he came up to me privately and said, "How did you know man?"  I told him, I had seen this many times before and had experienced it many times myself.  It did not invalidate his camp experience, nor did it make him a lessor Christian.

            Jesus was not trying to put the disciples down, but warn them.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:29.

            Q  Peter was wrong in his brave statements, but was his heart in the right place?

               An = Yes, it was!  Many of us have started out well but failed.  We have the right motives, but as Matthew records Jesus saying,  "The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."

            Note:  Chrysostom (pp. 494-495) says there are two ingredients to gaining spiritual maturity:  our willingness to struggle and our willingness to receive help from God.  Without both we will fail.  We must be willing, but we cannot succeed alone. 

            Some of us are not willing to struggle and to try.  We want things easier and God will not make it easier.  However, once we truly struggle with all of our might we will soon learn that we cannot succeed without His grace. 

            We must then be willing to ask for His power to backup our efforts.  Peter thought his bravado and natural love for Jesus would be enough to carry him through.  He was wrong.  Peter needed to learn that Jesus' sufficiency was going to be necessary. 

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:30-31.

            Note:  Is it not amazing that the holy disciples of God did not listen to Jesus Christ, the Holy Son of God?   We did this with our parents when we were young, or if we are young are we doing it now.

            Note:  My dentist in Los Angeles used to tell us:  "Jr. highers should rule the world while they still know everything?"  Sometimes we are like the apostles, we are still in spiritual adolescence, we are spiritual know-it-alls. 

            Note:  Jesus kept pressing on.  He would not give in to Peter's living in denial, until Peter insisted on incriminating himself.  Jesus let him do it, and then painfully Peter learned.

 

V.  Conclusion:

            Q  Why did Jesus allow Peter to fail?

               An = After they have given their answers, share with them some of Chrysostom's view point (if they did not come up with it on their own) that Peter, though the chief apostle, is allowed to fall, it "makes him humbler in mind, training him for greater love".  (Chrysostom, p. 495). 

            It is easy to see how Peter was to become more humble by his failure.  We are less apt to judge others when we experience failure ourselves.  However, ....

            Q  How does Peter's failure train him for greater love?

               An = Chrysostom then quotes Luke 7:47:  about the one who has been forgiven much loves much and who has been forgiven little loves little (p. 495).  Peter received Jesus' forgiveness in a great and powerful manner and was to open his heart to Jesus in an even more powerful loving way.

            RQ Have you ever noticed that those who receive forgiveness for great sins seem to be the more loving Christians?

            Note: It is when we see our failures that we can begin to be true leaders in the church.  So many in church work or christian work today have not seen their failure and consequently they do not see what ministry is really about.  They are so afraid that they will not be accepted by others if someone sees a crack in the armor. 

            As some have put it they do not have a good theology of failure. 

            Q  When do we not have a good theology of failure?

               An = When we never confess our failures, even though everyone has them.  However, because we do not confess, we do not understand the power of reversal because we have never experienced it ourselves, and therefore we have no hope that it can happen to us or to others by God's power.  We must see our own sin, and failures to see the true meaning of the Gospel.

            The Christian religion is founded on eleven men who were failures.  If you know yourself as a failure, then a true Christian walk can begin.

            Note:  It is our denials of failure that drown out Jesus' promises.

>>>> Have someone re-read Mark 14:28.

            Peter did not hear the promise of rejoining Jesus after the failure in Galilee.  Peter never heard that promise because he was too busy denying his possibility of failure.   If we cannot face our failures we cannot see that Jesus sees beyond the failure.   Jesus sees the hope.  He knows who and what we are and that we will fail and still He wants us back!  

>>>> Have someone read Zachariah 13:9.

            Note:  May we become like refined silver and tested gold and as we face our betrayals of God, for then we can join Him in Galilee.  From there grace begins. 

Lesson # 40 | MARK 14:1-21 | SECRET PLOTS OF MEN VS. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

I.                Greetings. 

 

II.    Introduction:

            Note:  There is no place or situation you will encounter that scripture has not already anticipated.  As you grow and experience life, it will always be the guide you need.  The more you learn of life the more you will understand of Scripture.  Today's lesson is needed by some of you already, others should put it into their memory for times ahead.

 

III.  The First Plot:  Mark 14:1-2.

            Note:  We now enter upon the Passion Narratives, the narration of Jesus' last week.  It is a pain-filled week, filled with the drama of our salvation, and with the passion and pain of Jesus as He affects our redemption.  All of Mark points toward this.  Some scholars have said all four Gospels are nothing more than Passion Narratives with long introductions.

            Note:  What we wish to do today is to focus on who Jesus is.  He will enter pain, stress, and hardship.  Let us watch Him whom we adore. 

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:1-2.

            Note:  The desire to put Jesus to death was not new: 

>>>> Have three different people read Mark 3:6; 11:18; and 12:12. 

            Q  Who killed Jesus, the Son of God, God-believing Temple attenders or pagans?

               An = It was the believing community of Jesus's day, the church goers of that time killed Jesus.  The Jews used the Romans to do their wishes.  Mark makes that very clear.

            Q  Who would, no doubt, kill Jesus today if He had come to earth in the flesh in our time?

               An = It would be the church goers of today, and if the Gospels are correct, our high, established church leaders....

            Note:  Anti-semeticism misses the point!  It is not Jews, but religious people who do not love God, who kill God, and try to stop His work.  We have such people around today. 

            Note:  Leaders are often resented and criticized, especially when they speak the truth.  If you become a leader remember this.  Now if you are in leadership, the Gospels are not trying to create a persecution complex.  Some leaders are criticized because they do not brush their teeth, i.e. they do stupid things, or act unfairly, selfishly, or incompetently.  Jesus was disliked because He spoke the truth and stepped on their toes, not because He was incompetent.

            Note:  Passover in Jesus' time was actually two feasts:  Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread.  Most often they were understood as part of one another.  Passover itself was a great feast.  Depending on whose numbers you accept the city either became 5 times its normal number (300,000) or if Josephus can be believed the numbers approximated 3,000,000 in the city of Jerusalem at Passover.  It celebrated two functions:  the deliverance from Egypt when the death angel passed over the homes with blood on their doors, and it was a consecration of the barley crop.

            Note:  It was a celebration of deliverance from slavery - Later we Christians saw Jesus killed for our deliverance from the slavery of sin.

            But, before the plot thickens, Mark tells us a story.  It is an interlude, an interlude of kindness.

IV.  Interlude of Kindness:  Mark 14:3-9.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:3-9.

            Q  Why were the disciples upset?

               An = The money represented by the perfume poured on Him could have been given to the poor.  It was worth over 300 denares, roughly worth a year's wages for the average worker.  In fairness to the disciples, it should be understood that it was a common custom at the feasts to help the poor.

            Note:  The contrast between the woman and the High Priest in 14:1,2 is extensive.  She shows an extravagance of honor and love that was extraordinary.  It was obviously not appreciated though by the disciples.  The disciples often did not understand Jesus.  If you become a leader remember this as well.  Even your closest men may not always understand you.

            Q  Are people (Christian people) as calloused today as the disciples were?

            Note:   There was a Jewish custom of anointing someone for a feast, but Jesus sees a far more profound meaning.  He knew He would suffer a criminal's death and not be cleansed and anointed as was commonly done for the dead.  So He took her extravagance and dignified it from an impulsive action to a prophetic event.  He took her impulsive act and made it a significant and appropriate action.  Jesus has a way of seeing things in a different light.  As we try to serve Him, He sees our heart!  Some things we do may not always be wise, but the One we serve is! 

            Jesus sees us in a different light.  We are often ridiculed for our extravagant acts of love towards God but Jesus sees them in the proper light.

            RQ  Do we love Jesus as extravagantly as this woman does?

            RQ  Do we recognize the love others try to show us, or are we too concentrated on our own problems?

            Jesus shows a higher way....

 

V.  The Second Plot:  Mark 14:10-11.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:10-11.

            Note:  Jesus' life and His position are being threatened.  Yet, He has the presence of mind to see through the extravagant acts of an impulsive woman.  When we get threatened we often stop thinking of others, Jesus shows us a better way.

            RQ Have you ever been plotted against?

            RQ How are we to feel when we find out?

             Q  How did you feel?

               An = See if some will share their feelings of being truly disliked.

            Q  What does it do to our concept of ourselves when we are betrayed?

               An = It makes us wonder about our worth, what is more it hurts!  How Jesus handles threats and betrayal will now be shown to us.

 

VI.  Understanding Reality:  Mark 14:12-16.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:12-16.

            Note:  Jesus knows He is being pursued and He knows about Judas.  By this action Judas will not know where the passover celebration for the disciples will take place.  Since Jesus is either making these arrangements by miracle or by having already set this up earlier, Judas does did not know where they would meet.  It is clear that Jesus and the other ten do not arrive till after dark.  Thus with so many pilgrims in the city, it would be hard to find Jesus after dark and where he would be holding the passover.  Judas does not know where they are going until they arrive there that night.  Only Jesus and the two disciples know the location.  This guarantees they will have privacy in this important time.

            Q  Is this action of Jesus, guaranteed privacy, a sign of mental anguish or a sign of cool, calm intelligence?

               An = It is a sign of a clear thinking and rational individual.  He knows He is going to die, and is being plotted against, but He also knows that His men need some time alone with Him, He uses His brains to obtain it.

            Jesus is thinking, and thinking of others!  We handle betrayal best when He helps us be like Him.

 

VII.  Jesus Is Aware:  Mark 14:17-21.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 14:17-21.

            Q  Is Jesus aware of His betrayal?

            Q  What does He do?

               An = He confronts the guilty party.  This is an example of what we should do in such situations.  Tell people what we truly think.

            Q  In Mark, does Jesus identify Judas the traitor?

               An = The answer is no.  If Jesus had done so the disciples would probably have killed Judas rather than let him hurt Jesus.  Jesus confronts Judas but not in a manner that exposed Judas.

            Q  Why do you suppose Jesus did not stop Judas or turn him over to the disciples?

               An = Jesus confronts but does not need to see immediate punishment. 

            Note:  We too will experience deep betrayal if we live long enough in this world.  Jesus is giving us insights and clues as to how to handle such situations.  He does this lest we become totally destroyed when this is done to us.  We need to remember that even the Son of God was betrayed and plotted against.  He knows what we are going through.

            RQ Do you see why you can pray to Him, He understands!

            RQ Do you see how you might be like Jesus!  He shows us how to handle real life, hard life.

Lesson # 39 | MARK 13:24-37 | THE KEY TRUTH IN THE SECOND COMING

I.    Greetings: 

 

II.   Introduction:

            Note:  This lesson will center on key words today so carefully watch for them.  Hopefully it will help us see what Jesus was saying as clearly as the early church, who were steeped in the Old Testament and its metaphors.

            Note:  Key Phrases for Understanding Mark 13 (Matthew 24 too).

            A.  "that day" = in the Old Testament this phrase refers to the final day of judgment: 

            B.  "these things" = the immediate events that are concerned with Mark 13:4 (the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple).  >>>> Have someone read Mark 13:4.

            Note:  Mark 13:24-27 = "that" or "those days" = End time judgment

                          Mark 13:28-31 = "these things" = destruction of Jerusalem in 68 AD.

                          Mark 13:31-37 = "that day" = End time judgment

 

III.  The Coming of the Son of Man:  Mark 13: 24-27.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 13:24-27

            Q  When will this coming take place?

               An = After the tribulation spoken of in 13:14-20.  Christ will come but only after a time of trial and difficulty.  This is often true whenever God comes.  He came to Israel in Egypt after they had been slaves for many years.  Those of you who really know the Lord, think back on some of the times He has come close to you.  Many times, there is something about difficulties, hardships and trials that help us be more receptive and open to God breaking in on us.  I said sometimes though, not always.  But when Christ comes at the end of time, it will be preceded by time a time of tribulation.

            Q  What is being described in 13:24-25?

               An = Convulsions in the heavens:  the "universe is united with man in his destiny" so as human fortunes were to be radically affected they "spoke freely of an upheaval in the heavens themselves" (Lane, p. 475).

>>>> Have someone read Isaiah 13:10-13.

            Q  How will the Son of Man come?

               An = In the clouds with power and glory.

>>>> Have three different people read Nahum 1:3, Psalm 97:2-6, Daniel 7:13-14.           

            Note:  When Jesus started using language like this in Mark 13, Luke 21, or Matthew 24 you can clearly see what the early church was understanding.  It was an exalted and powerful Jesus.

            Q How does this view of Jesus differ from the view presented in the Christmas story?

               An = One speaks of a baby, born poor, lowly and humble.  A baby is sweet, approachable and non-threatening.  Mark 13 speaks of a mighty warrior coming with earth crushing, heaven disturbing power.  Jesus will come again, but it will not be in the same manner as the first coming.  In the first coming He came as a baby and died as a Lamb.  He will return as a warrior and roar as a Lion.

            Note:  God will approach us gently at first but if we do not respond we will meet His wrath!  We may not like to hear that, but it is true non-the-less.

            Note:  Jesus' historical life has always been one of humility, one of veiled power.   His Second Coming will be in the clouds of glory and be open power.

            Q How does Jesus' coming differ from the comings described in Mark 13:21?

               An = Verse 21 describes local manifestations versus world wide unveiling in the clouds with power.  If someone says they are the Messiah tell them:  "Fine, when you spilt the sky, then I will believe!  Until till then don't bother me!"

            Note:  To gather the elect in 13:27 is a classic Old Testament theme: 

>>>> Have someone read Isaiah 43:6-7.

 

IV.  Near Fulfillment = Verification:  Mark 13:28-31.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 13:28-31.

            Q What is the main point stressed in the fig-tree parable?

               An = Figs speak of a coming harvest.  In the Old Testament harvest was a metaphor for judgment:  >>>> Have someone read Amos 8:1-2.

            Note:  Huge fig trees (20-30 feet tall) were on the Mount of Olives.  It was early Spring when Jesus was talking, so they saw fig trees all around them putting forth leaves, Summer was coming.  As they looked across the Valley they could see the Temple.

            Note:  Mark 13:28-31 refers to the Fall of Jerusalem.  It was to happen in their generation.  It was roughly 27 AD when Jesus was speaking and the Fall of the City of Jerusalem was in 68 AD.  That generation would see the most magnificent building they had ever known crumble (Mark 13:2).

            Note:  >>>> Have someone read Isaiah 40:7-8.  God's Word never fails, and Jesus' Word is God's Word.  >>>> Re-read Mark 13:31.  Immediate proof of Jesus' Word was the Fall of Jerusalem, thus it was logical to take serious what Jesus said about the more far off future in Mark 13:32-37.

 

V.  Vigilance Over Speculation:  Mark 13:32-37.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 13:32-37.

            Q  What does Jesus tell us here, to speculate or to be vigilant?

            Note:  From history we know the date of the Fall of Jerusalem, but we do not know the date of the Second Coming of Jesus.  It has not happened yet!  In verse 13:30 and 13:32 we have two distinct dates spoken about.  The one, the Fall of Jerusalem in 68 A.D.,  we can know.  The other, the Second Coming, we are clearly told we can not hope to gain knowledge of the date by speculating about it.

            Note:  Many today want to speculate about the exact date instead of listening to what Jesus says.  We want an exact date so we can be in control.  Jesus says just to be ready.  It stands to reason that if we put Jesus in control of our lives we will be ready.

            Q  How are we to be vigilant or ready?

               An = Each of us is to do our duty.  See 13:34-37.  Chrysostom reminds us, (p. 460)

                        "There is strife on earth ... but a crown in heaven

                        punishment by men ... but honor by God

                        a race for two days ... but reward for endless ages

                        struggle with our corruptible bodies ... but we will inherit incorruptible ones."

            Note:  Do not sell out your souls for a few short years of seeming gain in this life.  Jesus is coming again to the earth and He will come in power and judgment.  He may come for you personally before the world ends, but either way you will face the judgment.  It is the fool that goes for the short term gain and loses the long term gain.

            >>> Give an example.

Lesson # 38 | Lesson # 38 | THE COMING AGAIN OF JESUS

I.    Greetings: 

 

II.   Introduction:

            The distinguished British scholar William Barclay says we often ignore two doctrines in modern times because they do not fit our comfort zones (Barclay p.330).  In his circles he noticed they left out speaking much about the doctrines of Hell and the Second Coming.  Both could imply a truly supernatural belief structure and both doctrines make us highly uncomfortable.

            In our last lesson we noted that Jesus predicted the fall of the Temple in Mark 13:2.  The disciples countered with Mark 13:4. 

>>>> Have someone read Mark 13:4  What follows in Mark 13:5-23 is the answer to their question, and what we will explore today.

           

III.  Be Not Deceived Nor Frightened!  Mark 13:5-8.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 13:5-6.

            Q  What is the main concern of Jesus here?

               An = In times of crisis false leaders will emerge.  Jesus' main concern is for his disciples welfare, it is pastoral.  In other words, His concerns are not to impart esoteric information, but are focused on our well being.  Jesus worries or cares about how they will fare. 

            Note:  He is very directive in these verses, and this is an indication of His overwhelming concern for whether the disciples will make it.  In the verse 5-37 there are 19 imperatives (Lane, p. 446).  In these opening verses the warnings are against bad leadership.  In times of crisis such leadership will emerge.  He is telling them not to be taken in.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 13:7-8.

            Q  Why are we not to be frightened?

               An = We know that God knows!  Jesus is telling them that these things must take place.  This is only the beginning, so He wants them to stay focused, to stay vigilant.  His message is:  "Don't be mislead nor frightened.  All is in God's hands."  The key response is to stay obedient!

 

IV.  Do Not Wilt Under Persecution.   Mark 13:9-13

>>>> Have someone read Mark 13:9-13.

            Q  Why will they be arrested in Mark 13:9?

               An = For Jesus' sake.  The abuse, says Lane (p. 464), heaped on the disciples was intended for Jesus.  The only reason the disciples were to have trouble is that they were identified with Him.   Have three people turn to the following three texts and have them take turns reading them out loud to the group: 

>>> Have someone read:  Acts 9:1-2;  Philippians 1:29;  Colossians 1:24

            Q Is following Jesus an honor or an advantage?

               An = These passages seem to indicate there are costs to pay when someone is closely associated with Jesus Christ.  Turning back to our passage in Mark....

            Q  If these Mark verses are Second Coming texts, how are we to be watchful?  What does taking abuse on behalf of Jesus have to do with being ready?

               An = If we are not sharing our faith, or being open about our faith, it could impair our readiness.  The abuse could be the sign that we are ready.

            Q  Why are they not to be anxious in Mark 13:11?

               An = The Spirit of God, He makes all the difference.  If we are truly God's children then God's Holy Spirit will be with us in our times of persecution.

            Note:  The courts mentioned in 13:9 are both civil and secular.  Sometimes we get in trouble with the civil authorities and at times it is the religious establishment that gives trouble to believers.

            Note:  It is the preaching of the gospel that causes persecution.  Many today want to be politically correct and not do embarrassing evangelism.  If you want to avoid persecution, do not evangelize.  You will have no trouble, but you will also have no power and abilities to speak from the Spirit.  If you keep your belief private, all may seem well, but something will be missing.

            Q  The Spirit of God cannot come until what happens according to Mark 13:10?

               An = Until we preach to all nations we cannot expect the helping power of the Holy Spirit.  Evangelism and the Holy Spirit coming are tied together.

            Q  Is verse 12 disheartening?  Why?

               An = Being betrayed is extremely disheartening.  Have you been significantly betrayed?  If it has not happened yet, it certainly will.

            Q  Do you see the "why" of the betrayal in the last part of 13:13, what is it?

               An = The betrayal comes because of our loyalty to Jesus Christ.  Betrayal hurts, and it is often one of the most difficult things to recover from.  It can cause us more harm and discouragement than most things.  Barclay tells the story of a man who was captured by the Nazi's and severely tortured mentally and physically.  He held on though and did not crack or give in.  Finally, the Nazis released him to go home.  A short time after he was home he committed suicide.  It was later found out that when the man came home from his ordeal he found out who had turned him in.  It was his own son.  He could not handle such betrayal (Barclay, pp. 327-328).  We will need to! 

            Q  Did Jesus experience any of the above?

               An = Remember Jesus Christ was betrayed by one of His closest followers, Judas.  Jesus' experience will become the cruel prototype of their own. (Lane, 461)

           

V.  Sacrilege, Flight and Vigilance.  Mark 13:14-23.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 13:14-23.

            Q What is the major issue here?

               An = Flight!  There is the urgency for flight (15-16);  what can hinder flight (17-18);  reasons for flight 19-20);  and the final deterrent to flight (21-22).

            Note:  The Bible says there is coming a time when abominable things will happen and nothing should keep us from getting away.  Christ will come back to earth again, and it will preceded by great social turmoil.  We are to be ready, to be on our guard.

            Q Why do phonies (false prophets) not want us alert?

               An = They want cattle, not real humans.  They do not hear God and do not want us hearing Him either.  They want us caught up with the sensational,  "here is the Christ", "He is there", etc.  Their only desire is to use us for their ends, not lead us to the Savior.  If we are alert to the things of God, vigilant to do His will, we will know when to flee, and therefore we can succeed.  There is going to be trouble coming and success will necessitate alertness!

            Q  As an individual, if we really believe in the Second Coming or Hell how should it help us not be caught up in selfishness, sexual sin, materialism, or the hunt for a pride-centered career?

               An = If you know of an example of someone who has missed these pitfalls due to their beliefs, share it.

            Q  As a church or body of believers, how can false leaders lull us to sleep or deceive us?

               An = Many times false leadership has let the church go to sleep and be involved in other things than the preaching of the Gospel and the work of evangelism.  They point to politics, nationalism, spiritual sensationalism, etc.

            Q  If you could only pick one command of the many Jesus has given in these verses, which one is the most important?

               An = Watch, or be ready, or be alert! 

Lesson # 37 | MARK 12:38-13:4 | DRAWING CLOSER TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN: A GOOD IMAGE OR A GOOD HEART

I.    Greetings: 

 

II.   Introduction:

            Note:   Our lesson tonight will continue to answer the question how God can truly reign in our hearts.  We are approaching the end of Jesus' public ministry, and it is interesting to see what issues He addresses.  Notice what He will say last....  Oddly enough, one of the last things He has to say, He says to me, the religious leader.

 

III.  Jesus' Assessment of Religious Scholars:   Mark 12:38-40.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 12:38-40.

            Q  Who are the Scribes?

               An = Religious scholars.  People who have a master's degree, or Ph.d in Religion (or possibly, Bible Study leaders).

            Q  What four things do they like in Mark 12:38-39?

               An = 1) Long robes:  In other words, distinguished clothing.  They usually wore white and stood out among their contemporaries.  Do we do this today?

               2) Greetings in the market place:  They enjoyed special attention.  In those days people rose when they passed by.  Only a merchant working his trade was exempt from standing when such a person passed by.

               3) Chief seats in Synagogue:  They sat facing the audience up in the front.  They were always given special seating.  Is that done today?

               4) Honor at Banquets:  Often they were given the best seats.  (Lane, p. 440) 

            Note:  One of the things young people often look at is the respect someone with degrees or a position has.  Often what drives someone into the teaching profession or ministry is the hope that it will be a short-cut to respectability.  However, respectability truly comes from being respectable.  Some people think that titles bring respect.  Think of the teachers and ministers you know that you do not respect!

            Q  What warning does Jesus give concerning these people in verse 40?

               An = Beware of educated religious people who desire honor but are financially greedy.  They will devour the money that should go to the needy and cover their greed with religious language (12:40) (Lane, p. 339).

            Q  What does Jesus predict for them?

            Q  Should those who study the Bible be preoccupied with God's glory instead of the praise of men, why?

            RQ  Does such abuse of religious authority happen today?

               An = Do not push this into a complaining time, but someone might genuinely need to vent or express some deep hurt they have about religious authorities.  Listen, but do not comment.

            Q  Did Jesus endear Himself to the authorities?  Did He pay for such an attack?

               An = Jesus paid dearly for such comments and attacks.  They killed Him.  It is easy to pop-off against authorities that will not hurt us.  It is easy to be a political critic here in America, but if we try that same thing in a third world country we and our family will experience something very different.

            Q  If the attack was to prove so costly, why is Jesus so harsh on these men?

               An = The truth needs to be said even though it costs us everything, even our career.  If someone does not stand up and tell the truth then all suffer.  Besides, Jesus was giving them a chance to repent.  Sometimes, the most loving thing one can do for a powerful individual is to confront them when they are wrong.

 

IV.  True Religion:   Mark 12:41-44.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 12:41-44.

            Q  How does this woman contrast with the scribes?

               An = She is primarily contrasted with the scribes in the area of money.  She gave at great cost to herself whereas the others gave only out of their excess. 

            Notice too, the humility with which she gave.  There was no fan fare, no one knew the extent and cost of her magnanimous gift, except Jesus.  But then again, Jesus is God, and someone very important knows what we truly give.

            Q  Does her action make you uncomfortable?  Why?

            Note:  What she put in was of the smallest possible amount at that time.  There was no smaller coin in those days. (Lane, p. 441) 

            A lot of us get irritated when someone sacrificially gives because we feel intimidated that we too should be such magnanimous givers.

            Note:  She gave two coins.  She could have kept one for herself.  This awes me.  I often give of my abundance, but she gave when she was in need.

            Q  What does her action illustrate for the disciples?

               An = The call of the gospel is a call for absolute surrender to God and total trust in Him.  That trust must take a financial dimension.

            Q Have you seen someone in your life time who was like her?

            Note:  Jesus ends His public teaching by contrasting the widow with the outward corruption (pride) of the present day leadership.  He contrasts humble service and sacrifice with ostentatious religious show (Matthew 6:1). 

            Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount with a teaching on leadership as well.  Jesus loves us and knows how influential leaders are on a population.  Therefore, He tries to show us what good leadership is and what type of leaders need to be avoided.

 

V.  Outward Religious Beauty Will Fade:   Mark 13:1-4.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 13:1-4.

            Q  What impressed the disciples?

            Note:  The stones of the great temple building.  This was one of the most impressive buildings in the ancient world.  Remember, the temple complex covered over thirty-five acres.  The stones the disciples were talking about were probably like the ones Josephus mentions, some of which were 40 feet by 12 feet by 18 feet.  They were so well quarried that when they were fit together you could not get a razor blade to fit between them.  The building was magnificent.

            Q  Does Jesus appreciate architecture?

               An = I do not think Jesus is against architecture, but His value system is a heavenly one.  We are often impressed with great buildings, churches, etc. built for this life but Jesus knows eternity.  He is the Eternal One, He lives in eternity and sees reality from a whole different perspective.  One hundred years from now most of the homes, buildings, stadiums, etc. we so much admire will be torn down or gone.  Jesus knows that.  What the woman did was from a heart of love, and her act would last for all eternity.

            RQ  Do we want to do things that will last forever?

            Note:  It is accessible to the very least of us.  That woman did not have any special talents, gifts, abilities, or position.  She just gave from a full heart!

            Q  Why does He say what He says in 13:2?

               An = Great cataclysmic events would need to happen for every stone of this magnificent structure to be toppled.  He is forecasting a massive upheaval in society or nature that would allow this sacred building to be totally destroyed.

            Q  Are the disciples concerned about Jesus' dire prediction?

               An = Yes!  See 13:3-4.  They are deeply concerned and therefore are quite interested in what such an event could be.  Next week we will discuss Jesus' answer to their question.

            Q  What will last longer?  The widows gift or the greatest temple ever built by man?  What is God more concerned with:  a building or an hidden, humble act of devotion?

            Q  Do you now of anyone who has given like this poor woman?

               An = Perhaps, it would help you to remember that nothing given to Him is ever forgotten or lost.  It is the fact that it was given to Him, not the impact it makes on the earthly plane.  Remember to Whom you are giving...the Eternal One with eternal perspective and Who sees things from a completely just standpoint.

            Perhaps, it would help to know that if we can give sacrificially, and know one understands, except God, how much it cost us, we might truly be drawing near to the reign of God.

Lesson # 36 | MARK 12:28-37 | THE CENTER OF RELIGION

I.   Greetings:

 

II.  Introduction:  Being Put to the Test.

            Q  Has anyone ever asked you what a Christian was?

            Q  How did you answer? 

               An = See if some will share what their experiences were. 

            Q  Do some people ask questions, not to learn, but to see if they can catch you in some type of error?

               An = Jesus was asked a question like this, notice how He answers those who did not want to learn.  True to Jesus' form He takes the opportunity to teach anyway.  It was those who overheard the dialogue, Jesus' own disciples, who benefitted from the answer, and hopefully the askers of the question.

 

III.  What is the Greatest Commandment:  Mark 12:28-34.

   A.  The Intellectual Challenge:  Mark 12:28

>>>> Have someone read Mark 12:28.

            Note:  Barclay points out there were two tendencies present in Jesus' day about the Law (Barclay pp. 306-308).  One tendency was to summarize it, the other was to expand on it.  Scribes had found 613 commandments in the Torah, so there were attempts to categorize them according to their importance.  Other famous men attempted summaries.  The famous rabbi a generation before Jesus was asked to summarize the law and his answer was:  "What you hate for yourself, do not to your neighbor.  This is the whole law, the rest is commentary.  Go and learn."  In the O.T. there are several summaries (Barclay, pp. 306-307, has a whole list), but my favorite is Micah 6:8:  "He has told you, O man, what is good;  and what does the Lord require of you.  but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." 

            St. Augustine, a Christian, centuries later said, "Love God, and do what you like" (Barclay, p. 308).

            Jesus answers the question, let us watch to see what He does.

   B.  Jesus Ennobles The Discussion Beyond Petty Debate.  Mark 12:29-31.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 12:29-31.

            Q  What is Jesus' answer?

               An = Jesus' answer was a combination of two commandments:  love God and love man:  Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18.

            Q  Why does Jesus say "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is One"?

               An = One of the most famous passages in the Old Testament, especially for Israelites, is Deuteronomy 6:4-5.  It is read in every synagogue service in every country every time they meet.

            Q  What does this "our God is One" mean?

               An = God is One, not many, i.e. monotheism.  It could also mean God has integrity, He is trustworthy.  The word integrity comes from the idea of oneness.  Our God is one, not one way this time and another contradictory way another.  In other words, He is faithful.  He does not change. 

            Either way we see it, this phrase can help us understand Jesus' answer about the greatest commandment.  For Jews the command to love God stems from His uniqueness and loyal commitment (covenant love) to them (Lane, p. 432). 

            Q  Can we love God without loving our neighbor?

               An = Turn to Romans 13:8-10 and James 2:8-9.

>>>> Have someone read Romans 13:8-10

>>>> Have someone read James 2:8-9

   C.  Coming Ever So Close To Jesus.   Mark 12:32-34.

            Q  When attacked, should we get close minded or defensive?  Is it hard not to do this?

            Q  When someone else makes a good point, should we be willing to give credit where credit was due?  Is this a good way to debate? 

               An = After there answers, only add, watch the interaction between Jesus and this man.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 12:32-34.

            Q  What do you think of the Scribes Response?

               An = It is a good answer.  In reference to 12:32, >>> Have someone read Deuteronomy 4:35.  What the man sees is that God's glory is more important than legalism and even more important than the proper practice of religion (i.e.sacrifices).  The greatest importance is to love God and one's neighbor. 

            Note:  There are some of you here today who have come to this realization even though you are not close to God, you are incredibly close to the truth.

            Q  What does Jesus mean by His answer in 12:34?

               An = He thinks this man has answered well.  Jesus complements him.  Even though this is a debate, Jesus calls a "good answer" a "good answer".  That is how we should be when we discuss religion or our faith.  Is Jesus open to seeing good answers from opponents.

            Q  How can we be that way?

               Note:  You read from Isaiah 40:21-31.

            Q  What does "near the kingdom" mean?

                An = After their discussion, you could add that Jesus said the man was close but not there.  The kingdom of God is more than a good intellectual understanding.  Some people are attracted to the faith and are drawn to truth.  So how does one come from being close to closer.

            RQ  Are some of you today wondering if there is more to this thing with God.  Can one get closer?

            Let us read on for I think Jesus will help us answer this.  We will look at one part of His answer today (12:35-37 and the rest next week).

 

IV.  Coming Closer:    Mark 12:35-37.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 12:35-37.

            Note:  This is a Haggada question.  It is a question that asks how two seemingly contradictory Scriptures can be shown to be both true?

            Q  What are the two contradictory concepts?

               An = The messiah is the son of David and the messiah is David's Lord.  In other words, the coming messiah is a descendent of King David and yet is David's superior Lord. 

            Q  How can both be true?

               An = The Incarnation.  God came into the world.  Jesus is David's son in the flesh, in a human decent line, yet also God.  Jesus was born a defenseless baby and yet in that baby was Almighty God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth.  All that we see and know in this life were created by God, and God was in Jesus.  God came to earth and dwelt among us. 

            Note:  We have Progressed beyond the point where Jesus is just a good and insightful moral teacher.  We now understand that Jesus Christ is "God in the flesh".  We have to accept Jesus, not as teacher alone, but as Lord.  He has to be Lord over our lives.

            Q  Why does Jesus use questions?

               An = To help them and us see the truth for themselves, on our own.  God wants us to see Jesus as our Lord, as our Savior.  However, we need to decide what type of Lord we want.

            Q  Do we want God to save us out of our earthly problems or to save us from our sins?

               An =  Do we want Jesus to be a limited savior, one who saves us from our personal problems, or to be the Savior of the World.  Jesus does want to help us with our personal problems.  We all came here today with loads of them.  Some of us are keenly aware that we have need, and others of us are clueless that we have needs.  Those of you who know you have needs are the more insightful ones. 

            However, Jesus wants to help us with our greatest need.  I have to ask myself, do I want Him to save me from my sins.  I have to ask myself if I really think I need to be saved from my sins.  Do I want to enlist Jesus merely in the cause of finding a mate, a good or better job, good health and prosperity?  Again, Jesus is interested in these things, but He is most of all interested in saving the world from its sins.  That is why the central thing about Jesus Christ is the Cross.  He came to earth as the son of David, but also to save from sins.

            RQ  Do I want Him as a savior today?

            RQ  Do I care that He wants to save the world?  Am I interested in what God is interested in? 

Lesson # 35 | MARK 12:13-27 | THE CENTRALITY AND FAITHFULNESS OF GOD

I.    Greetings: 

 

II.   Introduction:

            Note:  We spoke last time of being under attack.  Today our focus will be more on substantive answers.  The Holy Spirit has chosen to present Jesus in controversy five times between Mark 11:27-12:40.  These controversies were recorded for our benefit.  The two we will deal with today cover two great doctrines:  the nature of what it means to be human and the resurrection, but in a practical sense (and all real doctrine has practical implications) it will deal with our freedom and hope.  Freedom and hope are two qualities many today desperately need, hopefully we can see the source of both.

 

III.  Trying To Impale Jesus on the Horns of Politics:  Mark 12:13-17.

            Note:  The first attack on Jesus was meant to hurt Him, but Jesus will take this deceptive attack and turn it into a benefit for us.  Jesus can use even the most vile situation and bring benefit from it.  He is the master of reversing what sinful man tries to do.

   A.  The Attack.  Mark 12:13-15.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 12:13-15.

             Q  Are they using flattery? 

               An = Yes the are.  Sincere compliments and flattery are two very different things.

            Q  Why?  What reason do they have to compliment Him?

               An = He has boldly taken them on and not deviated from His answers no matter how many important and powerful people He has offended.  However, their compliments are not sincere but rather flattery.

            Q  What constitutes flattery?

               An = Praise that is insincere.  Have two different people >>> read John 8:48 and John 9:16.  In John's Gospel these particular enemies expressed openly their negative opinions of Him, but here in our story, they use flattery.  Beware of flattery.  We love to hear it, but Jesus saw through it (Mark 12:15 b "But He, knowing their hypocrisy,").  We need to focus on our mission of obedience, not on the approval of our detractors.

            Q  What was the trap they were setting?

               An = The Pole tax that was placed on all adults that the Romans put in place in 6 AD.  It was deeply hated by the local population.  The money was used to pay for the Roman soldiers stationed there to control the Jews themselves.  If Jesus said yes, He would lose popular support.  If He said no, they could have Him arrested by the Romans for inciting rebellion.  It was a good trap.

   B.  Jesus' Response:  Sanity and Centrality.  Mark 12:16-17.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 12:16-17.

            Note:  No one had a denarius, least of all Jesus.

            Note:  Coins in the ancient world were 1) signs of power, 2) the extent of a king's or government's rule was delineated by the presence of his valid currency.  3)  often a king's head or inscription was on the coin, so in a sense it was His property.  In this case, Caesar had his likeness on the coin and his titles that stressed his partial deity.  Such coins as these were a great offense to the Jews, it was a form of idolatry to them. (Barclay, pp. 298-300).

            Note: Jesus' answer was that the coin was Caesar's, so give it to him = if we enjoy the fruits of government, then pay taxes whether we like the government or not.  If we use a road, mail a letter, are not invaded, etc. then pay taxes.

            Q  What does the last part mean?

              An = We are in His likeness, so we ultimately belong to God.  Our life's existence bears likeness to God.  As the coin bore the likeness of Caesar and belonged to Caesar we human beings bear the likeness of God and therefore belong to Him.

            Q  How did Jesus' detractors respond towards Him. 

               An = They were amazed.  They tried to trap Him and wound up amazed, not converted, but impressed.

 

IV.  Trying to Embarrass Jesus on a Doctrinal Issue.  Mark 12:18-27.

   A.  The Attack:  Presenting the ridiculousness of His doctrine.  Mark 12:18-23.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 12:18-23.

            Q  Did the Sadducees believe in the Resurrection?

               An = They did not and only held the Torah or first five books of the O.T. to be authoritative.  The Sadducees in Jesus' time did not believe in a Resurrection as they claimed such a belief could not be found in the first five books of the Old Testament.  It is true the belief in a resurrection is more clearly drawn from other parts of the Old Testament.  The Pharisees and Jesus held the rest of the Old Testament to be authoritative, and Jesus agreed with the Pharisees that there was going to be a resurrection.        

            Note:  Since the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection they wanted to ridicule Jesus' belief and had some standard arguments one of which is the one we have just read.  It is based on the Leverite marriage law.

            Q  Does anyone know what the Leverite marriage law was?

               An = The Leverite marriage law was an ancient custom to protect land distribution, give security to women, and honor to the deceased who died without children.  If a man died, while being married and did not have a male descendent, a brother was to marry her and the first male child of the union inherited the deceased brothers estate and carried the name of the deceased brother. 

            However, the situation here is a highly ridiculous one.  A situation that would never happen in reality.  A huge "what if" that is intellectually possible but not likely to happen.  However, it is used to attack a belief Jesus had clearly taught.

            Q  Have people ever ridiculed some of your beliefs?  (Encourage people to share their experiences).

            Q  What have been some of your experiences?

            Note:  The Sadducees are trying to show the stupidity of the resurrection.  They want to show that Jesus is stupid and ridiculous for believing in a resurrection.  We will see how Jesus is going to answer.  He knows they do not believe in the parts of the Old Testament that refer to a resurrection, so He is going to play the game in their court, using only the parts of the Old Testament they considered authoritative.

   B.  Jesus' Answer:  You Misunderstand the Power of God.   Mark 12:24-27.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 12:24-27.

            Q How did Jesus answer their ridicule?

               An = 1)  They had made heaven in their own image, just like we often do (Barclay, p. 304).  Their understanding of resurrection was revealed to be in error.  Their reference point to understanding the resurrection was inadequate.  They had left out God Himself.

            2)  The depth of God's power and the depth of God's powerful love for His own was misunderstood.  Whom God makes a covenant with has His love forever.  

            3)  The great name of God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob points to another aspect of His power.  It is extended to the living, not the dead because God is the God of life, not of death.  There is no death-cult or preoccupation with the dead in the Torah, and every Jew knew that.  If one reads several of the laws in Deuteronomy or Exodus one can see that following them would remove the Jews from the being trapped by fear of the dead, death spirits, etc. The Jews were the most free people around in their handling of death.  In addition, the Mosaic law forbid preoccupation with the dead and not only focused all the community's resources on the living, but also freed the Jews from a great deal of dread, fear and torment from the occult world.

            Since God is spoken of as the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" then they must be alive, because God is not the God of the dead.

            Q  Do people often attack an inadequate view of Christianity?  What can we do in such cases?

               An = The informed Christian can straighten out their conceptual errors in understanding what Christians actually believe.  This is what Jesus has done.  The Sadducees were attacking an inadequate view of the Resurrection.  Many people who attack Jesus Christ or the Bible often reveal a deficient understanding.  If they really knew God's power, if they really understood the Scriptures, then their attack would not take place.

            Q  By the way, from what part of the Old Testament does Jesus answer their question?

               An = Jesus answers the Sadducees from the Torah:  Exodus 3:6.  He plays the contest in their court and uses only the Scriptures they held themselves as authoritative.

            Q  In both of Jesus' answers in (12:13-17 and 12: 18-27) what is the center focus?

               An = Both answers stress putting God first and understanding properly the situation (our being made in His image, and a proper understanding of God' majesty of being the God of the living). If we can see Him as He really is , One who loves us forever, (12:27), and One who has a right to our loyalty (12:17), then we will see reality as it really is.

            Q  What could this teach us in handling the controversies set against us?

               An = God should be the key focus of our presentation.  The more we understand who we are, and who God is, the more we can adequately defend the truths of Scripture and reality.

            1) If we can understand that He made us, has a right to us and our loyalty, then we can be free.  Loyalty to Him can free us from bondage to other humans. 

            2) If we understand the power of His everlasting love for us, then our understanding of God's love can help us understand our own dignity, and the basis for our hope of eternal life.  Once we really understand God, then knowing we will live forever in the Resurrection is easy to understand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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            Note:  You may want to print the box below and hand it out after the meeting to your audience to help them with their own witnessing attempts.   Some of this comes from Lane, p. 421.           

                                                                                          

1.  First Encounter.   Jesus authority is challenged.  Mark 11:27-12:12.                                                                                    Answer:  He begins with a counter question that forces his audience to                                                             commit themselves first, thus robbing them of the "cat-bird" seat of non-                                        committal.  Jesus uses an O.T. parable (Isaiah 5:1-7) and then creates one of His own                           (12:1-12).  Both stress that by means of humility, God wins out.

2.  Second Encounter.  Jesus' Enemies Use Trickery:  "What about taxes".   Mark 12:13-17.                      Answer:  He creates a proverb that stresses putting obedience to God above all else.                                           They set a trap, and He brilliantly stepped out of it.                             

3.  Third Encounter.  They Attack His doctrine of belief in the resurrection. Mark 12:18-27.                       Answer:  He again uses the O.T. and shows what the Scriptures truly stress:  God's             personhood and God's power.                                                         

4.  Fourth Encounter:  An Intellectual Challenge:  "What is the greatest commandment?"

             Mark 12:28-34.

         Answer:  Jesus uses the O.T. and stresses loving of God and others.   

5.  Fifth Encounter:  Jesus Goes On the Offensive:  He poses an interpretive question. 

             Mark 12:35-4.      

                  Answer:  Jesus is subtly pointing to Himself as the Messiah, especially because of the                 openness of the last enquirer.  He shows great interpretive ability with the O.T.

             and stresses that the true Messiah would come on a larger scale than they had

             anticipated.   

 

       Note the responses to His answers:                                                    

               12:12  the opponents were angry but feared multitude.                                                                 12:27  the opponents were amazed at the brilliant answer.                                                        12:34  the opponents would not question Him any more.                                                          12:37  crowds enjoyed His answers.                                                 

            Note:  He clearly won these debates, but not their hearts.  Even the most brilliant mind cannot win over a stubborn heart.

             Note:  Jesus is well versed in the Scriptures (as we should be) and in its true intent.  Throughout all of these encounters there is a focus on the will, character and agenda of God, not on a human agenda.  If we have our own agenda in situations where we witness, we cannot serve as He did.  Jesus is pleased if we stay focused on pleasing His Father, not winning arguments.  He wants to properly show forth the character and purpose of God.

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Lesson # 34 | MARK 12:1-2 | THE REJECTED STONE

I.    Greetings:

 

II.   Introduction:

            Q  What do you do with people who are spiritually blind and reject the truth?

               An = It is easy to quit on them, gossip about them, or bad mouth them, but Jesus does something different, He does the right thing.

            Note:  Today we are going to look at one of Jesus' parables given right after He has been hassled by the religious authorities.  His little speech is a bold move.  He is going to confront those who have rejected Him and do it with an illustration from agri-business.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 12:1.

            Q Why does Jesus use parables?  How come He does not merely tell them straight forward what He thinks?

                     An = Listen carefully to and note their answers, then add the following if they did not bring these ideas up. 

            1)  "In parables truth is expressed in concrete pictures, rather than in abstractions."  We can relate to stories because we are able to picture them.  (Lane, p. 149).             

            2)  The parables appeal to the imagination and force the listener to get involved. 

            3)  Jesus appeals to natural life experiences that can illustrate His redemptive plan.  This is because both our experience of nature (our existence in this life), and the kingdom of God originate in God. (Lane, p. 151). 

            4)  Stories can also sneak up on us and hit us from behind.

            Note:  The story we will see Jesus use is about business, specifically agri-business. Jesus has picked an story about economics, about the realm of finance and business.  This story reflects a typical agri-business set-up in Jesus' time, but this situation still exists frequently today. 

            A large amount of land in Jesus' area was owned by absentee ownership.  The owners were either foreigners who had bought Palestinian land for an investment or they were Jews who owned the land but chose to live elsewhere. 

 

III.  The Parable of the Tenants:  Mark 12:1-8.

            Note:  Before we read Jesus' attempt to wake up blind religious leaders, let us first read an ancient story, ancient even for Jesus' day, it was told 600 years before Jesus was born by the prophet Isaiah.

>>>> Have someone read Isaiah 5:1-7.

            Q  How is this parable similar to the one Jesus is beginning to tell?

            Q  What is the meaning of Isaiah's parable?

               An = This is a parable of rejection.  However, the rejection is by God of wicked religious people.  The vineyard is Israel and they were well cared for by God and given the best possible circumstances, but Israel produced wickedness, in the form of bloodshed and oppression (5:7) instead of righteousness (i.e. metaphorically, lousy grapes instead of good ones).  With this parable in mind let us go back to Jesus' story in Mark 12.

 

IV.  The Parable.  Mark 12:1-8.

            Note:  Since the function of a parable is to appeal to the imagination.  Listen to this  parable as it is read and try to picture it in your mind.  Perhaps even close your eyes and try to picture it.  This too is a picture of rejection.  Try to see it with your mind's eye.

>>>> You read Mark 12:1-8.

            Q  What did you picture?

            Q  What does this story mean?

            Q  Who is the owner? 

               An = God, right?

            Q  What is the vineyard? 

               An = Our life.

            Q  Who are the vine dressers or farmers? 

               An = These are the religious leaders of Jesus' day.  He is telling this parable about them.

            Q  Who are the servants sent to collect the crop? 

               An = These are the prophets or those preachers and believers who tell us that God has a right to our lives.  He owns us and has to right to tell us what to do.  God sends his true servants to tell us that God has a right to our lives.  Those who do not tell you this are not true servants of God.  They are men-pleasers or people who wish to manipulate and fleece you.

            Q  Who is the son? 

               An = The son represents Jesus Christ.

            Note:  Jesus is clearly attacking the religious leaders of His day with this little story.

            Note: Jesus clearly says He is more than a prophet, but the son!  Jesus is subtly claiming to be the son of God to these men who are rejecting Him. (Barclay, pp. 293-295).

            Q  Did Jesus know at this time what they were going to do to Him?

               An = Yes He did.  He knew these men were going to kill Him.  He is predicting His death in this little story.

            Q  Why did they think killing the son would give them the land?

               An = Actually, if the owner was dead it was possible they could claim the un-owned land (Lane, p. 418).  Note that they supposed the father was either too far away to do anything, would not act, or was dead himself.

            Q  Again, who does the owner represent?

               An = God.  Today many think God, for all practical purposes, is either:  dead, too far away, or would not act anyway.  They are wrong.  Many will possibly treat you as they treated God's son.  People do some amazingly wrong things and think they will get away with it.

>>>> Have someone read Psalm 37:34-39.

 

V.  The Final Result:  Mark 12:9-12.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 12:9-12.

            Q  Will they get away with it? 

               An = No, God will come, kill the tenants, and the vineyard will be given to others (Mark 12:9).

            Q  Will Jesus be vindicated according to 12:10-11? 

               An = Yes!! The stone the builders rejected has become the key stone (Mark 12:10-11).  The religious leaders of that day rejected Jesus, and He is the key element of our planet.  What is more, Jesus Christ is the key stone, the key element in our eternal destiny.

            Q  Who will get the vineyard?  Who is the vineyard?

               An = The people of God.  There will be new leaders for the people of God.             

            Note:  Have everyone turn to I Peter 2:4-10

>>>> Have someone read I Peter 2:4-10.

            Q  How many people do you know in church who are "dead stones"? 

               An = A lot of people just go to church and are not "living stones".  To be living stones you have to be connected with the "Living Stone".  To be living, you have to be alive, you have to be born again!.  That is not popular with some, but remember Jesus Himself was rejected!  Our chosen, royal, Holy status is connected to the One who was rejected.   If we are not willing to be rejected, we cannot be with Him.  (Give an example of Christians you know who were rejected and hassled because they stayed true to the Lord.)

               Note:  Turn to Acts 4:8-14. 

>>>> Have someone read Acts 4:8. 

             Note:  See what it says about Peter:  he is filled with the Holy Spirit when he spoke.   The Lord's Spirit filled Peter.

>>>> Have someone read Acts 4:9-12.

            Note:  Notice here they are on trial because a man was healed, but Peter said all power was tied to the "name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene".  He then pointed out that they crucified Him, and He was the corner stone that was rejected.  Peter and John were not going to back off because in verse 12 they state that salvation is in no other name.  The rejected one is the key to the salvation of the world.

            I love the way this ends.

>>>> Have someone read Acts 4:13-14.

            Q  What did these authorities accredit the boldness they found in Peter and John?

               An = These two young men were in real hot water here, but they had confidence even though they were untrained and uneducated.  Their accusers marveled and noted:  "they had been with Jesus".  It is true we will face rejection if we identify with Jesus and do as He did, but we will be changed.  If people do not see such confidence in us, maybe it is because we have to go through the experiences the apostles had.

            Q  According to verse 14, what silenced the authorities?

               An = The presence of the healed man.  These men had been used of God to do powerful acts of mercy.  It was hard to ignore such hard data.  May such hard data be in our ministries.

            Note:  Stay with the crucified one.  He was rejected, but His rejection brought power to us.  Do not be ashamed of His humility, for if you are willing to identify with Him, you will be the new vineyard cultivators, the new farmers, the new leaders in His kingdom. 

            Note:  Rejection is not avoidable no matter what we do.  I would think it would be better to be rejected with Jesus than be rejected by Jesus.

Lesson # 33 | MARK 11:27-33 | HANDLING ATTACK

I.   Greetings:

 

II.  Introduction:

            Q  How many of you have been questioned about your faith by family, friends or co-workers?

            Q  Was the questioning negative?

            Q  How did you come out?

               An = Let some share, if they will, from their experiences.

            Q  Will people attack us even if we are righteous, humble and loving?

               An = Admittedly, we are often attacked because we made some type of mistake in our attitude or presentation, but sometimes we really do make the presentation of our faith properly and still we are attacked.

            Q  Should we expect it?

            Q  Why?

            Note:  In the next few verses we have the opportunity to see how to answer those who question us.  In addition, we will see how Jesus' answer to His critics becomes a test of our own spirituality.  God in His glory came to earth not merely to demonstrate His power, but to get involved with the daily grind of our experiences of criticism, and with such experiences, teach us.

 

III.  Jesus Under Fire:  Mark 11:27-28.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:27-28.

            Note:  Barclay (p. 290) notes that there are two great porches or courts in the temple:  "Solomon's Porch" and the "Royal Cloister".  The latter had four rows of marble columns 6 feet in diameter and 30 feet tall.  There were 162 of them.  This is where people would gather under shelter and often where the Rabbis taught.  What Jesus is doing is quite normal.  He is probably teaching where Rabbis were supposed to teach.

            Note:  The groups approaching Jesus were the scribes, chief priests, and elders.  These are all the various people of distinction that made up the highest court in the land, the Sanhedrin.  Hostility was coming from all factions of leadership in Jerusalem.

            Q  Does it surprise you that the perfect Son of God, the man who never sinned, was attacked by religious leaders?

               An = It should not surprise us.  Often people who are religious or are very interested in the church, are not very interested in the truth.  Many people go to church but are very upset if God would be present.  Religious people would be very offended if Jesus came to church.

            Note: No doubt the cleansing of the Temple and His great public acclaim on Palm Sunday were the cause of all the negative response He was attracting.  He had stepped on their toes both by threatening a great source of income and exposing their wrong doing, and in addition, He was obviously popular and that concerned them.  People in power do not like other people, whom they cannot control, to be popular.

            Q  How do they challenge Jesus?

               An = They question His authority for doing the things that He had been doing.  Jesus seemed to be doing things differently than before and they were upset.

            Note:  Do you see the irony?  God was right in their presence.  They were questioning what right God had to do such things in His own temple.

            Q  In your opinion, are there still people who are religiously interested without being interested in God?

               An = How people answer that question will no doubt determine their eternal future.  He is going to give them (and us) all a test today.  The first question....

            Q  Do we find ourselves always criticizing and totally disinterested in what God is doing?

            Q  Do we care about His interests or do we care about getting our own way?

 

IV.  Jesus' Non-Passive Response:  Mark 11:29-30.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:29-30.

            Q  Is Jesus humble (passive)?

               An = He does not seem to be very humble or very passive.

            Q  What type of personality is this?

               An = It depends on how one defines humble.  He is aggressive.  He goes on a counter attack.

            Q  How would this apply to us in answering our friends/relatives/co-workers? 

            Q  What about religious folks who do not understand what it means to really walk in a dynamic manner with the Lord?

               An = Our Lord will give us a pattern of how to answer.  If we want to answer in a manner similar to His then He will show us how to respond.  Lets watch Him...

            Note:  Jesus' first response is to turn the tables back on them.  They ask Him a question and He responds with a question.  They had Jesus seemingly on the defensive, and now He has them on the defensive.

 

V.  The Danger of Attacking the truth:  Mark 11:31-32.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:31-32.

            Q  Is Jesus intelligent?  How has He trapped them?

               An = Everyone in those days regarded John the Baptist as a prophet.  The religious leaders did not like John, but the populous did.  What Jesus did with His question was to trap them.  In what ever way they answered they were caught.  If they answered that John's authority was from men the crowds would attack them, and they would lose credibility with the crowds who clearly saw John as a martyred prophet.  If they answered that John's authority was from God then Jesus could easily point to the fact that John authenticated Jesus' ministry.  They were stuck.

            Q  Why does Jesus withhold His answer, what does He want them to do first?

               An = They had to first answer.  He forced them to commit themselves publicly.  They had to take a position. 

            Note:  People who like to criticize do not like to take a position themselves.  It is easy to stay in the role of a critic, and attack others.  It is much harder to take and defend a position.

            Q  How could we do this in our situations with our relatives, friends or co-workers?

               An = It is possible to be quick enough to answer questions with questions.  We can learn to be quick enough to turn the tables back on them.  We can learn this if we care and we can pray for God to help us do this.  We can get them to think by making them face themselves, and their own viewpoints.  It is an act of love to do this.  Jesus loved the religious leaders.

            The only hope for religious critics is to make them examine their own lives.

            Q  Why did Jesus link Himself with John?

               An = Both stood in common opposition to those who disregarded God's will.  (Lane, p. 413).  Both of them radically put God's will first.  Both of them were courageous followers of what the Lord wanted. 

            Note:  Remember, if you truly want to follow God you will face opposition and often from the religiously powerful or religiously interested. 

            Q  Why did Jesus demand they decide about John before they could get more information about Jesus?

               An = This is the second test question for us today.  So often we do not see what the Lord is saying because long ago we did not listen to or respond to what the Lord said then!  If we keep brushing aside what He told us to do, then He will stop talking to us.

            Note:  If there is something God has told us to do and we have ignored Him, or if we have not listened to the "John the Baptists" in our lives, then God will not answer us directly.  We  will have to obey the first message before we can hear the second.  A lot of us get stuck, because God has shown us what we need to do, and we have not done it.  Then we face the silence of God.

>>>> Have everyone turn to Matthew 7:6 and you read it.

            Note:  They would not listen to John, so Jesus said they were no better than "pigs".   This is quite a racially charged statement.  Pigs were not animals of choice for Jews.  They were unclean animals.  Give them a similar example that would be as pejorative.  

            Note:  Had He said anything they would have trampled him under-foot.  By not directly answering their question He not only forced their silence, He addressed the real issue.  He was going beyond their question and showing them that despite their human religious authority they did not obey God, therefore they did not know Jesus was from God. 

            RQ  Who are the John the Baptist's we have not obeyed? 

            RQ  On what issue have you not obeyed?

            Note:  We can challenge and question God all we want, but God will come and say "what did you do with John the Baptist?"

            Note:  I had a co-worker in YFC that years ago said our work for God will go dynamically forward when our staff go straighten out their relationship to their parents.  It sounds strange that good youth work with other kids is dependent on showing respect to your own parents, but I have seen how amazingly accurate my co-worker was.  God said "Honor thy Father and Mother", He has not changed His mind.  How can we work for Him and blow off what He says?

            Note:  For you it may be something else, go over the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount, but go back to what the first message you heard from the Lord and do it.

 

VI.  The Silence of Disobedience:  Mark 11:33.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:33.

            Note:  The leaders were caught between not wanting to submit to God and from fear of the people.  They had it backwards.  They needed to be like Jesus.  We should not fear men because we submit to God. 

            If we are going to get into ministry, we need to figure out who we are going to fear.

            If we want to learn to be a strong and helpful influence in our community and family then we need to figure out who we are going to fear.

            Q  Why do leaders fear the people?

               An = Let them answer without comment.  Then add, when we are afraid of people, then we are not afraid of God.  We are to love people, not fear them.

            Note:  Christ is wonderful.  He is not only bright, quick, unbelievable subtle and penetrating in His handling of attack, but He has courage!  This is our model, this is our Lord,  this is our glory!  His courage was going to cost Him His life...but it would give us ours!

Lesson # 32 | MARK 11:12-25 | Faith For Disciples

I.   Greetings:

 

II.  Introduction:  It was near ten years ago I sat in a parked car outside of  St. Agnes hospital trying to have faith.  One of my best friend's wife was dying of cancer, had, I was told, two days to live.  I was there to pray for her healing.  I prayed I would have faith and tried to pump myself up with as much positive feelings as I could muster.  However, by the time I arrived at the 5th floor to enter the intensive care unit all confidence was gone.  She is alive today, over eight years later, but it was certainly not due to my overriding faith.  I had much to learn!

            I believe such faith is to be part of the believer, and Jesus addresses this issue on the last week of His life. 

            Note:  Jesus is a master teacher.  He was then and is now.  He knows how to seize the moment and use metaphors or concrete images to get across His points.

 

III.  Working With Trees (Metaphor):  Mark 11:12-14

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:12-14

            Q  Why is Jesus in Jerusalem?  What will happen this week?

               An = This begins the passion week, the week of His death.  It is His last chance to teach the disciples key truths.

            Q  Assuming Jesus understood the proper season for figs, why did He approach the tree in the first place?

               An = Mark wants to point out at the end of 11:14 c "And His disciples heard it."  This is a strange occurrence and Mark seemingly does not interpret it for us.  Even today, God does things that seem strange and are not understandable to us.  However, He is God, and He knows what He is doing.

 

IV.  Justice:  Mark 11:15-19.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:15-19

            Q  Why is Jesus so upset?

               An = The holy temple of God has been defiled, but in a most horrible manner.

            Note:  It is a matter of injustice!  People came from all over the world to pray to the God revealed in the Old Testament Scriptures.  Many were not Jews but had been deeply attracted to the Jewish conception of God:  All power, unlimited power was in one Person (monotheism) and this power was Just and Loving.  At the heart of the Universe was an unmitigated power that was both just and loving;  good news indeed!  That justice and power combined was the greatest religion ever heard of on the planet! 

            Jesus was angry because at the very place on earth where one should have expected justice and loving treatment was the seen of robbery.  People would come to buy a proper sacrificial animal or grain only to find they had to use temple currency and the rates of exchange were corrupt, or the animal, grain, etc. was found to be deficient so a temple approved animal had to be bought at exorbitant prices.  This was "unrighteous".  In Hebrew, the definition of "righteousness" is usually best understood as "what is appropriate."  Cheating defenseless pilgrims, many who had traveled for months for a once-in-a-life-time experience of worship is inappropriate.  They were cheated at the very threshold of the God of Justice and Love.

            Jesus was deeply angry and when he was through with the temple thieves a lot of money had been lost, and so Jesus was not the only people angry that day.  Jesus had threatened the power structure of His day.

            RQ  However, what does this have to do with fig trees out of season?

 

V.  Trees and Faith:  Mark 11:20-24

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:20-24.

            Note:  Peter is obviously surprised and points this out.

            Q #A  What does faith have to do with fig trees?  How does the tree story in 11:12-14 and 20-24 relate to the temple story in 11:15-19?  

            Q  Why did Mark interrupt his tree story?  How does a lesson of faith and justice belong together?

            Q  Even more alarming, is not Jesus' definition frustrating?

            Q  Are not definitions like the one in 11:24 the cause of some much grief and pain like the experience I had in the parking lot of the hospital?

            QQ  Have you experienced such frustration?

            Q #B How do we gain such faith?

 

VI.  Trees, Justice, Faith and the Key to gain Faith:  Mark 11:24-26.

            A.  Looking More Closely At Verses 23-24.

            Note:  To answer these questions, lets examine Jesus' speech more closely.  In 11:22 one is commanded to have faith. 

            In 11:23 there is an "If...then" structure to the verse.  Mountains are put into the Sea "if" one speaks, with no doubt, and believes in one's heart (or mind or consciousness for that is more accurately what heart means in Hebrew) what he speaks, "then" it will be accomplished.  Mountains could mean several things, but one thing is given in this context of the fig tree.  It would certainly include physical miracles (see Mark 16:17,18).

            In 11:24 we have the conclusion/interpretation.  If anything is believed, then it shall be. 

            B.  Answering Question # A, What Do Trees and Faith Have To Do With Each Other?

            Q  What do trees and faith have to do with each other?

               An = Let them answer without comment by you and then note that Jesus is not through speaking but says one or two verses more (depending on their translation).

>>>> Have someone one read Mark 11:25-26.

            Note:  There is a text-critical problem with 11:26 and some English version leave the verse out, but the deletion of the verse does not affect the argument (see Matt. 6:15, 18:35).

            Q  Why is this here?  Is Jesus' interpretation of the mountain a lack of forgiveness?

            Q  Is great power needed to forgive in certain situation? 

            Q  Are brothers (physical or christian ones) harder to forgive than others?  What do you think?

            Q  What do our churches need most:  physical miracles or for their members to forgive one another?

               An = Perhaps there is a logical progression here in Mark.

            * It is appropriate (righteous) for fig trees to have figs.

            * It is appropriate for justice to be found in the temple of the God of Justice.

            * It is appropriate for forgiveness to be found in Christians.

There is more logic implied here, and it is frightening: 

            * Trees that do not act appropriately are withered.

            * People who cheat others at the temple are thrown out. 

            * Christians who do not forgive are not forgiven.                                   

            C.  Gaining Faith:  Applying Verse 25-26 To Verses 12-24.

            Perhaps we now need to look at Q #B again.  How do we gain such faith?  Perhaps, we can start with something very near to us. 

            Q  Do we forgive?  Is this where Jesus wants us to start in our quest for faith?

            Q  If we started forgiving our enemies, would the faith to do healing be present?

               An = Jesus seems to put a priority on forgiving, rather than physical healing.  Maybe these are the mountains He is most concerned with.  This is not to knock physical miracles.  The church has experienced them in every age, and they are often signs or acts of compassion that God sees fit to give.  However, our real problem is what Jesus brings up.  We often do not forgive because we do not have faith.

            Q  Why does it take faith to forgive? 

               An = Let me offer two reasons. 

            1)  One is we do not forgive because we doubt God will judge our persecutors/enemies.  Psalm 108:12-13 says differently.  However, it does take real faith to believe justice will take place in the end.  It does seem the wicked prosper. 

            2)  Second, we are often in doubt whether He can take the feelings of anger/hatred/etc. away. 

            Q  Let me ask you, even if we do forgive in our minds, could we ever be free in our feelings? 

               An = The fact is that we cannot get rid of these feelings, but He can.  Physical miracles are not done by our faith, they are done by God.  Our feelings, and the freedom we need from them, will not be accomplished by our faith, but by God.  For that matter, so will the judgment of our enemies.  Our faith is demonstrated when we do not take matters into our own hands.  >>>>  Have someone read Psalms 37:34-40

            Note:  A last word from our brothers/sisters of long ago.[1]

            "A brother who was hurt by another brother went to the Theban Abba Sisois and said:  `I want to avenge myself on a brother who has hurt me.'  The old man begged him? `Don't my son:  leave vengeance in the hands of God.'  But he said: `I cannot rest until I avenge myself.'  The old man said:  `My brother, let us pray.'  The old man stood up and said: `O God, we have no further need to think of Thee, for we take vengeance of ourselves.'  The brother heard it and fell at the old man's feet, saying:  `No longer will I quarrel with my brother:  I beg you to forgive me.'" 

            Another word from the desert fathers....

            "They said of a monk, that the more bitterly anyone injured or assailed him, the more he was well-disposed to him;  for he said:  `People like this are a means to cure the faults of serious men.   We often need troublesome people to help us get cured before the last call, the last blast of the trumpet.  I deeply appreciate those who treat me justly and lovingly, but I must admit that the jerks of the world can be the means of my growth in grace and, according to Jesus, my growth in faith.'"

---

    [1].  These quotes are from the Dessert Fathers, an accessible copy of their teachings is Owen Chadwick, Western Asceticism, The Library of Christian Classics:  Ichthus Edition, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1958. p. 177.  See also page 262, #8 on miraculous gifts.

Lesson # 31 | MARK 11:1-11 | GOING UP TO JERUSALEM

I.   Greetings:

 

II.  Introduction:

            Today we will be discussing a famous passage that is associated with Palm Sunday:  the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem to the cheers and welcomes of crowded Jerusalem.  This is a water shed moment in Jesus' life. 

 

III.  Nearing Jerusalem:  Mark 11:1

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:1.

            Q  Have you ever heard the phrase:  "going up to Jerusalem"?  What does it mean?

               An = Being willing to enter that place or situation where you fear trouble, death, persecution or pain may be found, but knowing it is God's will to do so.  Throughout church history this phrase has been used to describe one's choice to face one's fears so as to obey God in the task He has put before us.

            Note:  In chapter 11 we enter the last week of Jesus' life:  the Passion Week.

            Q  What does Passion Week mean?

               An = The word "passion" comes from the Greek word pascho, meaning "to suffer".  It often refers to endurance by a submissive victim of afflictions imposed upon him.  In addition, it can also refer to an inner emotional experience.  Jesus suffered inside as much as outside.

            Q  Do good Christians suffer?

            Q  Do you know good, righteous Christians that are suffering right now?  If so raise your hands?

            Q  Why would that be a Christ-like condition?

            Note:  Some of you are suffering inside and only you know that, or you are aware of someone who is suffering deep within themselves.

            <<<<Note:  Lets stop right now and take the time to tell God about what we are suffering or about suffering we know of in others.  Tell God where you hurt or your friend hurts.  He is willing to listen, He is quite well acquainted with suffering.  Stop and open in a brief prayer, then pause and let them pray for about a minute, then close and go on with the lesson.>>>>

            Q  When does the passion week begin and end?  What two events function as bookends for the passion week?

               An = Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday, it is eight days long.  It opens with Jesus' acclaim on Palm Sunday, then the suffering culminating on the cross and ending in Resurrection Sunday.  Obedience to God always includes both suffering and resurrection.  It always culminates in glory!  If there is a cross in God's will for you, there is also a crown!

 

IV.  Obtaining the Colt:  Selected Humility.  Mark 11:2-7

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:2-7.

            Q  Is this proof that Jesus knows the future?

               An = This could be a miracle or it could be a plan pre-arranged by Jesus with those He had met at an earlier time.  It is unclear.  However, all through Mark's Gospel Jesus is clearly aware of His future (Mark 8-10 has 5 predictions of the passion week by Jesus).  It is quite in line with the tenor of Mark that Jesus would know some small detail such as this.

 

V.  Entrance Into Jerusalem:  Mark 11:8-10

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:8-10.

            Q  What are the crowd's actions in 11:8?

               An = They spread their cloaks on the road or palm branches on the road to show Him honor.

            Q  Do they think He is a king?

               An = It could be they thought Jesus was the Messiah, and the popular conception was that the Messiah would come as a king.

            Q  What is ironic about their showing Him such honor?

               An = The crowds turned on Him by Friday.

            Q  Why does a king ride a donkey?

               An = Listen to and note their answers and then.... 

>>>> Have someone read Genesis 49:10-11. 

            Q  What strikes you about these two verses?

               An = They are an ancient prophesy, tieing three themes:  kingly authority, the humility of the donkey, and the theme of blood.  What a strange combination.  

>>>> Have someone read Zechariah 9:9.

            Q  What is stressed here?

               An = Kingship, joy, salvation and humility. 

            Note: There is no joy without humility (which is submission to the will of God).  Kingly glory is tied to humility.  If we wish to be kingly, then our coming exaltation must be preceded by humility, including humiliating circumstances.  Even the greatest man to ever live on earth, was humiliated.

            Q  When the people sing Hosanna, what does this word mean?

               An = It literally means "save us".  >>>> Have someone read II Samuel 14:4.   In this Samuel passage the woman uses this phrase as a call for help made to a king.  Later in use it grew to mean "an appeal for God to inaugurate the era of salvation" (Lane, p. 398).

            Note: "Blessed is He who cometh" (Mark 11:9) is a messianic title.

            Q  Did Jesus come to save them as Messiah in the way they imagined?

               An = No.  Jesus came in a manner they did not expect.

            Q  Will Jesus come into our lives in a way we may not expect or want?

               An = After their answers, give an example from your own life where you wanted God to come and do one thing where He had a different, but later understood, better agenda, better plan, better coming.

            Q  Will Jesus save us in due time?

 

VI.  Quiet Review:  Mark:11:11

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:11.

            Q  Why is this here?

               An = First, it is a quiet review.  He calmly, quietly, looks over where He is going to preach in the days to come.  He reviews the scene of His coming work.  Second, as Barclay puts it, He had an atmosphere of deliberation about Him.  "Jesus was not recklessly plunging into unknown dangers.  He was doing everything with His eyes wide open" (Barclay, p. 279).  He knew what He was about and why.  He deliberately began His final week.

            Q  What could that mean for us today?  How could we apply this verse to our situations?

            Note:  He goes back to Bethany.  It shows where Jesus got his strength before he joined battle.  He sought the peace of God (Barclay, p. 279).  We too need to return to Bethany for times of refreshing between the battles.  We too need Sabbaths, we need breaks, we need rest.

 

VII.  The Pattern:   The Way of Righteousness, Rejection, Marvel and Finally Joy.

            Note:  Have everyone turn to Psalms 118.  We are going to read part of this psalm because it might help to see that Jesus' experience is in a pattern that is in the Psalms and other parts of the Bible.  It is in many stories, for example:  David, Joseph and Daniel.

>>>> Have someone read Psalms 118:19-21.

            Note:  The way to God is the gate of righteousness and only the righteous can enter it.  If we have known sin in our lives and we will not deal with it then the gate to God is not open to us.  God rescued David, Daniel and Joseph, but they were living righteous lives.

>>>> Have someone read Psalms 118:22-23.

            Q  What is marvelous in the Psalmist's eyes?

               An = Rejection was going to take place.  They rejected the King of Glory.  We have to marvel, we have to stand in awe, we have to stand in humility and gaze at His humility.  Jesus knew this, even on His Palm Sunday day of triumph.  His rejection, and ours, if it is because of righteousness, is "His doing" and it is "marvelous in our eyes".

>>>> Have someone read Psalms 118:24-26.

            Note:  Some of you may recognize the words in 118:24 as the words to a well known song.  It is a great song, but when I saw the context of this verse here, I saw we "rejoice in the day that the Lord hath made", when it is a day of rejection.  The days of rejection are also in God's hands. 

            Finally, the phrase "Blessed is the one who comes in the Name of the Lord", is a messianic phrase.  The Blessed One comes in humility and rejection, but He will rise from the dead.  If there is suffering ahead for you because you are righteous, then blessing will result.

            Jesus rose from the dead, David became king despite Saul's persecution, Daniel got out of the lion's den, and Joseph went from prison to being premier of Egypt.

Lesson # 30 | MARK 10:46-52 | GETTING TO GOD

I.   Greetings:

 

II.  Introduction: 

            Note:  So often we have to face things we do not enjoy.  New jobs, a new school, coming exams, coming operations, etc.  We often dread certain things we know are on the near horizon or in the future.  Jesus understands this aspect of our lives and gives us some tremendous help in dealing with our dread.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 10:46 and Mark 11:1.

            Q  Where is Jesus heading as He leaves Jericho?

               An = Jerusalem.  There is nothing between Jericho and Jerusalem but a desolate waste land. 

            Q  What will happen to Him when He arrives?

               An = His humiliation and crucifixion which Mark has shown five times in chapters 8-10 that Jesus is consciously aware of.  Jesus knows what He is heading into, and He must have experienced some dread.

            Q  Is there something you are dreading tonight?

               An = Write it down on a 3x5 card.  They are being passed out right now.  If you cannot think of anything right now, keep the card in case something comes to your during the lesson tonight.

 

III.  First Interaction Outside of Jericho:  Blind Man & Crowd.  Mark 10:47-48.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 10:47-48.

            Q  Why did the crowd silence the blind man?  Because he was a nuisance or because of his calling Jesus a messianic title?

               An = It could be both, but probably because he was a bother.

            Q  What do we learn of the blind man's character?

               An = He is determined, persistent and insistent.  These are excellent qualities for prayer.

            Q  Is determination necessary for getting to God?

            Note:  The phrase "have mercy on me" is a cry from the Psalter.  Have three different people turn to the following three different Psalm references:  Ps. 4:1;  Ps. 6:2;  Ps. 51:1. 

>>>> Have them read Psalm 4:1;  6:2; and 51:1.

            After these three verses are read out loud you could encourage them to read the whole Psalm on their own at a later date.  Psalms 4 is a call for mercy because of oppressive powerful people, Psalm 6 is a cry for mercy due to physical illness, Psalm 51 is tied to need that arises from our own guilt and sin.  All three are but the tip of the iceberg in the Psalms where Israel was taught to cry out to the true Lord of all creation because He was interested in their cries.

            Note:  Perhaps the title "Son of David" is messianic or at least that Jesus is an instrument of davidic hope.  Have everyone turn to Isaiah 35:4-6.

>>>> Have someone read Isaiah 35:4-6.

 

IV.  The Second Interchange Outside of Jericho: Jesus, Crowd, Blind Man.  Mark 10:49

>>>> Have someone read Mark 10:49.

            Q What is the difference in the crowd reaction from 10:48?

               </