Written by: David Booker - Church Army
Mark 14 v 10-11
One of the twelve apostles, Judas Iscariot, went to talk to the leading priests to offer to hand Jesus over to them. These priests were pleased about this and promised to pay Judas money. So he watched for the best time to turn Jesus in.
Notes
Dr Crippin, Harold Shipman, Myra Hindly, Judas Iscariot. Some names last through time because of the evil attached to them. We can only guess what leads people to actions that make most of us feel sick to our guts. In Judas’ case we have at least a few clues……
In two other Gospels we are told that money was at least on of the causes for Jesus’ betrayal. Judas was greedy and knew he had information worth something to the priests so he decided to cash in. The desire for money can be a real problem for many of us. There is always a temptation to cut the odd corner and cheat just a little if ‘nobody really gets hurt’.
Judas was also disillusioned with Jesus. We know Judas came from the background of a freedom fighter trying to rid the country of the Romans. Maybe Judas had thought Jesus would lead them to freedom. When the goods weren’t delivered Judas wanted to get revenge and turn Jesus in.
The scholar William Barclay raises another possibility – Jealousy. He asks if Judas saw Jesus’ very close friendship with John (the disciple Jesus loved) and simply could not cope with not being number 1. After all Judas probably thought to himself, he’d make a better foundation for the church than Peter anyway.
The truth is there are times when each one of us are faced with wanting more than we have, times when we suffer disillusionment with what is happening and times when we are jealous of the position or gifts of others. At those moments we can choose to confess and ask for God’s help in dealing with them or we can hold on to those thoughts and allow the Judas in us to grow stronger. It is our choice!
Mark 14 v 12-16
It was now the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread when the Passover lamb was sacrificed. Jesus’ followers said to him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover meal?”
Jesus sent two of his followers and said to them, “Go into the city and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. When he goes into a house, tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says: Where is my guest room in which I can eat the Passover meal with my followers?’ The owner will show you a large room upstairs that is furnished and ready. Prepare the food for us there.”
So the followers left and went into the city. Everything happened as Jesus had said, so they prepared the Passover meal.
Notes
Meals are important for more than our health! So why was this meal so important to Jesus? Here are just two reasons…………
The Passover meal was the great celebration and memorial of the way God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt. Through the food that was eaten, the songs that were sung and the stories that were told those who took part were taken back though the years to realise the greatness of what God had done. They celebrated their freedom and the goodness of God for his care for them. The Passover was an event in history that really happened, yet it was more than that, it was a trailer for what God was going to do though Jesus and the next few hours would see God’s greatest rescue begin.
The second reason was that at this meal Jesus gave his disciples the means to remember this new and living rescue forever. Depending on your church background you might call this way of remembering Communion, Lord’s Supper, Mass, or a number of other names. Whatever you are used to calling it, and however your church might ‘do it’ we can easily take what is going on for granted. We can get so used to the service that it loses its impact. In reality as we think again about the sacrifice Jesus made for us and as we take bread and wine to remind ourselves of that sacrifice Jesus does meet us. The act of coming to him and remembering what he has done for us deepens our relationship with him. Next time you are at this service, whatever you call it, ask God to make it real to you and not just a ceremony.
Mark 14 v 17-21
In the evening, Jesus went to that house with the twelve. While they were all eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will turn against me—one of you eating with me now.”
The followers were very sad to hear this. Each one began to say to Jesus, “I am not the one, am I?”
Jesus answered, “It is one of the twelve—the one who dips his bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will die, just as the Scriptures say. But how terrible it will be for the person who hands the Son of Man over to be killed. It would be better for him if he had never been born.”
Notes
How do you love people who hate you? We know that we are meant to love even our enemies, but how in real life do we do it? Mark gives us no clue of how long Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray him, but by this stage we know that Jesus was certain about what was going to happen. Yet Jesus still sits at the table and eats with him. In fact Jesus even warns him against the action when he says ‘how terrible it will be for the person…….’ Why does Jesus warn Judas? Not to save his own skin, but a final opportunity to allow his friend to change.
We must be people who keep the door open so that broken relationships can be healed. We can not force people to love us or to stop hating us. We can make sure they have an opportunity to change should they want it.
The other interesting thing here is that the other disciples seem to have no idea who the villain is going to be (if they had known surely they wouldn’t have let Judas manage to turn Jesus in!). We can hide our motives and actions from other people, but we cannot hide them from God.
So today if you are not where you should be with God stop trying to pull the wool over his eyes, instead return to him, his table is ready and he welcomes you if you will just come in. But just like Judas, he will not force you to change your ways; instead you have been given responsibility for your own choices.
Mark 14 v 22-26
While they were eating, Jesus took some bread and thanked God for it and broke it. Then he gave it to his followers and said, “Take it; this is my body.”
Then Jesus took a cup and thanked God for it and gave it to the followers, and they all drank from the cup.
Then Jesus said, “This is my blood which is the new agreement that God makes with his people. This blood is poured out for many. I tell you the truth, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine again until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Notes
Were the disciples as thick as they appear? Sat in the upper room listening to Jesus not one of them seems to object to what Jesus was saying. They all seem to be quite happily taking it in. After all they were used to hearing Jesus talk in odd ways. He called himself a door on one occasion, a shepherd on another and his followers he called lights and salt. No wonder they didn’t cotton on to how serious he was being. They simply had no idea of the depth of sacrifice that he was about to make.
Jesus on the other hand knew what he was letting himself in for. He knew as he held the cup that within hours his own blood would be literally poured out and that his body would be broken. Yet he knew that very action would seal God’s new promise to them and to us. A promise that we can know God right here and right now. That is why he was willing and able to go through with it.
To put it simply, Jesus chose to die in agony for you.
What difference does that make to the way you have lived today?
Mark 14 v 27-31
Then Jesus told the followers, “You will all stumble in your faith, because it is written in the Scriptures:
‘I will kill the shepherd,
and the sheep will scatter.’
But after I rise from the dead, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
Peter said, “Everyone else may stumble in their faith, but I will not.”
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, tonight before the rooster crows twice you will say three times you don’t know me.”
But Peter insisted, “I will never say that I don’t know you! I will even die with you!” And all the other followers said the same thing.
Notes
Ever been to a big worship meeting or Christian event and made some kind of promise to go on with God? Maybe that is how you became a Christian, or maybe you made a response about an issue you needed to deal with or made a promise to be more committed. The chances are that if you have done that you have also fallen flat on your face. It’s not that you didn’t mean your promise. It is just that, well you know………
Somehow it didn’t work out as you had planned.
If that is you, Peter has been in your shoes. He made a promise he didn’t see through. Its not that promises and commitments are wrong, far from it, it is simply that we are not who we would like to be. So if that is you take one thing to heart from this reading………
Jesus didn’t say ‘Peter you are going to let me down, so get lost I never want to see you again’. Instead he knew Peter’s heart was good even if he did not have the courage to see his promise though. On the other side of the cross Jesus comes to Peter and picks him up from his failure. If our desire is to love and serve God our failures along the way will not be the end of the world, we can know God’s forgiveness. We should aim high, and when we fall flat on our face we simply need to allow God to pick us up again, if we keep at it we will slowly discover we are falling down less and less often as we grow in our faith.
Mark 14 v 32-36
Jesus and his followers went to a place called Gethsemane. He said to them, “Sit here while I pray.” Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be very sad and troubled. He said to them, “My heart is full of sorrow, to the point of death. Stay here and watch.”
After walking a little farther away from them, Jesus fell to the ground and prayed that, if possible, he would not have this time of suffering. He prayed, “Abba, Father! You can do all things. Take away this cup of suffering. But do what you want, not what I want.”
Notes
Jesus did not have a deathwish! Sometimes we can believe he wanted to die, in reality we see he wanted to live but wanted more to please his Father. That is why he pleads for another way if there is one. We too can beg God for another way in many areas of our lives, and come up with all sorts of justifications for doing things another way. Ultimately we know only God’s way will do, only his way will lead to what is best for us and those around us.
So where do we go when we are in trouble, or don’t know the way ahead? Going to God is not easy because he does not always lead us on an easy road. It is sometimes easier to find another way by doing what we would like or what we find easy, or reacting the way we always have done before. Prayer is too often the last thing we do rather than the first. To follow Jesus takes guts. Gethsemane was not a place for wimps. Yet beyond Gethsemane and the cross were the glory and the one way for us to reach God. That made it worth following the will of the Father.
So today don’t take short cuts around things that are difficult, follow the leading of God our Father even through the tough places………when you get beyond the difficult path it really is worth it!
Mark 14 v 37-42
Then Jesus went back to his followers and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you stay awake with me for one hour? Stay awake and pray for strength against temptation. The spirit wants to do what is right, but the body is weak.”
Again Jesus went away and prayed the same thing. Then he went back to his followers, and again he found them asleep, because their eyes were very heavy. And they did not know what to say to him.
After Jesus prayed a third time, he went back to his followers and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? That’s enough. The time has come for the Son of Man to be handed over to sinful people. Get up, we must go. Look, here comes the man who has turned against me.”
Notes
Jesus needed friends. He prayed to his father but then he went for the support of those who were closest to him. I am sure that if they had known what was coming next they would have stayed awake. But they did not know and they slept. It was not because they did not care or were lazy, they simply did not know why it was important to Jesus to have them there. Even Jesus seems to understand when he says to them ‘the spirit wants to do what is right but the body is weak”. The problem is we use this phrase, as an excuse, Jesus said it was a reason to pray harder!
We are not meant to live the Christian life alone. Some of us have been let down by the church and so are tempted to close off. However most of us have also been a bit like the disciples, we may not have fallen asleep, but we have not been there for others when they needed support. We have good excuses about being busy, not knowing what to say or thinking others would do it, but in reality we may as well have been asleep for the help we have been.
There was a point in today’s reading where it was too late to wake up and support Jesus, things had moved on and the time for that kind of support was over. Pray today that God might wake you up if there are people you should be supporting and caring for around you. The Holy Spirit is an effective alarm clock if we will let him be, so hurry up and get up before it is too late!
word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the
Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word
Publishing Milton Keynes