Perhaps they faked His resurrection. Jesus had told them that He was going to resurrect on the third day, but did He really do it? How could we know with any level of certainty that this actually happened? There are a few indications from the gospel account that would tell us that the disciples did not take the body of Jesus and fake the resurrection of Jesus.
1) The disciples were amazed at the resurrection of Jesus.
John 20:14-16, 19-25 tell us the account of Jesus appearing to His disciples following His resurrection. The reaction of the disciples is similar on all accounts: amazement and wonder. A conspiracy to take the body would not result in any level of amazement. However, the accounts include this little detail to layer the veracity of the resurrection account.
2) The gospel accounts point out the disciples’ lack of faith.
This idea is given the term “criterion of embarrassment.” According to this theological argument, historical first person accounts, like the gospels, tend to overplay the awesomeness of the author or main characters. Surprisingly, when you read the gospel accounts, the followers of Jesus were doubtful that His resurrection had occurred. This little detail may perhaps be one of the key evidences that there was not a conspiracy amongst them. They didn’t even expect Him to resurrect, so why fake a resurrection?
3) His tomb was guarded by soldiers.
According to Matthew 27:62-66, the Jewish leaders that had arrested Jesus and crucified Him, feared that His disciples would show up and steal His body and claim that He had resurrected. Knowing this, they had set their own guard at the tomb. This group would have matched the might of the group that arrested Jesus in the garden. In the garden during His arrest, all of the disciples had fled away in fear, what would make anyone think that these same fearful disciples would overwhelm the soldiers and steal the body of Jesus?
4) Multiple eye witness accounts confirm that He did indeed resurrect.
In law, one eyewitness account holds a fair amount of sway on the veracity of any claim. Furthermore, multiple eye witness accounts secure the claim. To say that there was some random guy who thought he might have seen Jesus after His supposed resurrection would be a bit sketchy, but when Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:6 he tells us that over 500 people had witnessed the resurrected Jesus. There is very little room left for argument.
He had died. Now He was resurrected. Mark finishes his gospel account with this glorious truth. Jesus had resurrected. The sorrowful were rejoicing. The broken-hearted were healed. The doubtful had their faith restored. Jesus had brought hope back into the world. His resurrection mattered immensely, and it still matters today. The living Jesus is a vital part of our faith.
Food For Thought: Read Matthew 28:11-15. Where did the story that Jesus’ disciples had stolen the body of Jesus come from?
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Mark 16:1-3
“The Son of Man will be taken, and killed; and after he is killed, he will resurrect on the third day.” Mark 8:31, Mark 9:31, and Mark 10:33-34, the message was always the same. Jesus had constantly referred to Himself as the “Son of Man,” and as such, He had consistently told His disciples that His death was coming. But He never left them without the opportunity for hope. Rather, with every telling of His death, He would couch it with this specific promise of His resurrection. It was not, “I will resurrect some day.” Instead, Jesus consistently said, “On the third day, I will resurrect.”
Any disciple who could count should have had this hope in them on that first day of the week. Jesus was brutalized on Friday and buried that afternoon right before the Sabbath Saturday. Now, Sunday morning, the third day, had arrived. Mobs of faithful, hope-filled, believing, committed disciples should have been gathered around the tomb expectantly watching for the resurrection of their Messiah.
But that’s not the story that Mark tells. Mark finishes out His gospel account with the coming of three ladies to anoint the dead body of Jesus. They are at the tomb, but they are not there looking for a resurrection, they are there looking for a dead body. In fact, none of His disciples are there at the tomb. No one was watching in anticipation for Jesus to be resurrected. Had he not made Himself clear that He was coming back? Were His words hard to understand when He had said, “On the third day, I will resurrect.”? Why just these three women, and even these with the wrong motive? Did His people not believe the promise of His return?
A few days after this resurrection, we find ourselves in Acts 1. Jesus instructed His disciples to go and testify of Him in the entire world. Following His instruction to His disciples, Jesus was taken up into heaven. The disciples were certainly amazed to have heard the resurrected Jesus speaking to them and teaching them one last time, but now He was gone again. This time, they had the confidence that He was alive and not dead. But none the less, He was no longer with them.
The sadness of separation was quickly met with yet another promise from two angels. “This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” God was telling His people that this wasn’t the last time they were going to see Jesus. Just as He had gone away with the promise of His resurrection, now, He has gone away again, and we hold close to our hearts the promise of His return. He has already shown true to the promise of return once, and now with anticipation we look forward to His second return longingly. The day will come where Jesus returns. Wickedness will be undone, evil will be banished, brokenness will be gone, and we will rejoice with the righteous One. We know that He will fulfill the promise of His return.
Food For Thought: Read 1 John 3:2-3. What does John say a follower of Jesus will do in light of the return of Jesus?
Any disciple who could count should have had this hope in them on that first day of the week. Jesus was brutalized on Friday and buried that afternoon right before the Sabbath Saturday. Now, Sunday morning, the third day, had arrived. Mobs of faithful, hope-filled, believing, committed disciples should have been gathered around the tomb expectantly watching for the resurrection of their Messiah.
But that’s not the story that Mark tells. Mark finishes out His gospel account with the coming of three ladies to anoint the dead body of Jesus. They are at the tomb, but they are not there looking for a resurrection, they are there looking for a dead body. In fact, none of His disciples are there at the tomb. No one was watching in anticipation for Jesus to be resurrected. Had he not made Himself clear that He was coming back? Were His words hard to understand when He had said, “On the third day, I will resurrect.”? Why just these three women, and even these with the wrong motive? Did His people not believe the promise of His return?
A few days after this resurrection, we find ourselves in Acts 1. Jesus instructed His disciples to go and testify of Him in the entire world. Following His instruction to His disciples, Jesus was taken up into heaven. The disciples were certainly amazed to have heard the resurrected Jesus speaking to them and teaching them one last time, but now He was gone again. This time, they had the confidence that He was alive and not dead. But none the less, He was no longer with them.
The sadness of separation was quickly met with yet another promise from two angels. “This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” God was telling His people that this wasn’t the last time they were going to see Jesus. Just as He had gone away with the promise of His resurrection, now, He has gone away again, and we hold close to our hearts the promise of His return. He has already shown true to the promise of return once, and now with anticipation we look forward to His second return longingly. The day will come where Jesus returns. Wickedness will be undone, evil will be banished, brokenness will be gone, and we will rejoice with the righteous One. We know that He will fulfill the promise of His return.
Food For Thought: Read 1 John 3:2-3. What does John say a follower of Jesus will do in light of the return of Jesus?
Monday, October 28, 2013
Mark 15:42-47
It was late afternoon, Friday, and Jesus had just died. According to Jewish custom, the Sabbath was not to be desecrated by the dead bodies of executed criminals. Jesus could not remain on the cross over night, especially with the Sabbath day beginning in a few short hours.
“I want His body!” With wet cheeks, and red eyes that had been weeping for hours, Joseph of Arimathaea, a ruler of the Sanhedrin boldly entered the hall of Pilate. His motives were clear. Any criminal whose body was not claimed was cast into the smoldering rubbish pile of Gehenna, a valley to the south of the city. This was Jesus, the Messiah. If Joseph had anything to do with it, Jesus would not be discarded like some unclaimed criminal. Joseph, himself a wealthy man, would use his own hand-carved sepulcher if he needed to.
“Is he dead yet?” Pilate asked. Hurriedly, the executioner was brought into Pilate’s court. This man had killed hundreds, if not thousands of men. “Yes, sir. I made certain of it. He’s dead.” No one knew how to kill a man like a Roman soldier. From the earliest days of their training, they had been trained by the ruling empire of the world. They had perfected torture and death. Now this professional killer was testifying to Pilate and to all of history that he had most certainly verified that Jesus was dead. There was no need for a medical examiner to certify death, this soldier had used his own spear to pierce the broken heart of Jesus.
With the Roman governor’s approval, Joseph rushed down to the cross where he met with Nicodemus, another religious leader and disciple of Jesus. Together they wrapped the limp, bloodied body of Jesus. The innocent had been slain. The mistrial of all the ages had ended with the execution of the guiltless. Now, tenderly, these two old saints wound the burial linens around the body of Jesus. Of their own wealth, they had funded the burial of Jesus. Now, setting aside their esteemed social status, they did the labor of the close family members. Without regard to desecrating themselves by handling a dead body on the eve of the Sabbath, they entered this ultra-holy Passover Sabbath as ceremonially “defiled.” But this did not stop them.
After putting his body in the cold dark tomb, they set a stone at the door to keep people from entering and disturbing the body of Jesus that had been laid to rest. Broken-hearted, the two headed home. The coming days would bring shame amongst their peers for what they had done today. Their fellow leaders in the Sanhedrin would be enraged at them for the care they had shown this “enemy,” Jesus. But they had done what was right. Their relationship with the Sanhedrin had ended when the Sanhedrin had desired to execute an innocent man. They were done. They were going to follow the teachings of Jesus. They would give the rest of their lives to serving Jesus and building the Kingdom of God.
Food For Thought: Read Isaiah 53:8-10. What word in verse 9 do you think Isaiah prophetically used that would describe these two wealthy Jewish leaders’ burial of Jesus?
“I want His body!” With wet cheeks, and red eyes that had been weeping for hours, Joseph of Arimathaea, a ruler of the Sanhedrin boldly entered the hall of Pilate. His motives were clear. Any criminal whose body was not claimed was cast into the smoldering rubbish pile of Gehenna, a valley to the south of the city. This was Jesus, the Messiah. If Joseph had anything to do with it, Jesus would not be discarded like some unclaimed criminal. Joseph, himself a wealthy man, would use his own hand-carved sepulcher if he needed to.
“Is he dead yet?” Pilate asked. Hurriedly, the executioner was brought into Pilate’s court. This man had killed hundreds, if not thousands of men. “Yes, sir. I made certain of it. He’s dead.” No one knew how to kill a man like a Roman soldier. From the earliest days of their training, they had been trained by the ruling empire of the world. They had perfected torture and death. Now this professional killer was testifying to Pilate and to all of history that he had most certainly verified that Jesus was dead. There was no need for a medical examiner to certify death, this soldier had used his own spear to pierce the broken heart of Jesus.
With the Roman governor’s approval, Joseph rushed down to the cross where he met with Nicodemus, another religious leader and disciple of Jesus. Together they wrapped the limp, bloodied body of Jesus. The innocent had been slain. The mistrial of all the ages had ended with the execution of the guiltless. Now, tenderly, these two old saints wound the burial linens around the body of Jesus. Of their own wealth, they had funded the burial of Jesus. Now, setting aside their esteemed social status, they did the labor of the close family members. Without regard to desecrating themselves by handling a dead body on the eve of the Sabbath, they entered this ultra-holy Passover Sabbath as ceremonially “defiled.” But this did not stop them.
After putting his body in the cold dark tomb, they set a stone at the door to keep people from entering and disturbing the body of Jesus that had been laid to rest. Broken-hearted, the two headed home. The coming days would bring shame amongst their peers for what they had done today. Their fellow leaders in the Sanhedrin would be enraged at them for the care they had shown this “enemy,” Jesus. But they had done what was right. Their relationship with the Sanhedrin had ended when the Sanhedrin had desired to execute an innocent man. They were done. They were going to follow the teachings of Jesus. They would give the rest of their lives to serving Jesus and building the Kingdom of God.
Food For Thought: Read Isaiah 53:8-10. What word in verse 9 do you think Isaiah prophetically used that would describe these two wealthy Jewish leaders’ burial of Jesus?
Friday, October 25, 2013
Mark 15:37-41
“It is finished!!” The exhausted cry burst forth from blood crusted lips, as Jesus bowed His head and dismissed His Spirit. The earth shook violently, and those around the cross looked on in wonder at the limp, lifeless body of Jesus as it hung nailed to the blood covered wooden beams. What was finished? Why did the earth quake with such ferocity at the departing words of Jesus? Why did the impressive tapestry in the temple split in two?
The mews of little lambs in the temple were slowly fading, and the Priests were settling the temple for the Sabbatical ceremonies. In an instant, the temple began to shake. The bowls and utensils began to rattle and the golden lamp stand began to waver. Suddenly, with a roar, the massive veil separating the holiest section of the temple from the rest of the complex tore in half. According to early Jewish tradition this veil was so massive that it required three hundred priests to carry, and was the thickness of a man’s palm. The sound that roared out of the temple compound that day would be heard throughout the streets of Jerusalem.
So the earth quaked, and temple veil split, but why?
The massive veil hung in the temple from ceiling to floor, signifying the great barrier that existed between God and the people. Once a year, the high priest would venture into the Holy of Holies to make a sacrifice for the sins of the people. With the devastation of this separating veil, came the overwhelming truth that no longer would man be separated from God. Because of Jesus, mankind could now have unhindered, uninhibited access to God.
Earthquakes in the Old Testament were a way of God indicating His presence to His people (Psalm 68:8). This was the case when Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the law of God. Exodus 19:18 describes how that when God showed up with Moses, “the whole mount quaked greatly.” As Jesus died, God was present. Because Jesus bore sin in His body, and thus received the wrath of God, God had not offered His comfort during this hour of need. But God nonetheless was present, and His testimony could be seen and felt as the earth quaked, and the rocks were smashed violently.
In His death, Jesus had finished the work that He had come to accomplish. He had born the wrath of God for all those who would believe in Him. He had destroyed the spiritual veil of separation that for thousands of years had kept sinful mankind from having unhindered access to God. And this was not a one-sided access that was granted. This was fully designed, and approved by the Providential God who showed Himself on that dark afternoon. In the quaking of the earth, He made certain that all the world could know that He was satisfied. Jesus had paid for the sins of the whole world. It was finished.
The mews of little lambs in the temple were slowly fading, and the Priests were settling the temple for the Sabbatical ceremonies. In an instant, the temple began to shake. The bowls and utensils began to rattle and the golden lamp stand began to waver. Suddenly, with a roar, the massive veil separating the holiest section of the temple from the rest of the complex tore in half. According to early Jewish tradition this veil was so massive that it required three hundred priests to carry, and was the thickness of a man’s palm. The sound that roared out of the temple compound that day would be heard throughout the streets of Jerusalem.
So the earth quaked, and temple veil split, but why?
The massive veil hung in the temple from ceiling to floor, signifying the great barrier that existed between God and the people. Once a year, the high priest would venture into the Holy of Holies to make a sacrifice for the sins of the people. With the devastation of this separating veil, came the overwhelming truth that no longer would man be separated from God. Because of Jesus, mankind could now have unhindered, uninhibited access to God.
Earthquakes in the Old Testament were a way of God indicating His presence to His people (Psalm 68:8). This was the case when Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the law of God. Exodus 19:18 describes how that when God showed up with Moses, “the whole mount quaked greatly.” As Jesus died, God was present. Because Jesus bore sin in His body, and thus received the wrath of God, God had not offered His comfort during this hour of need. But God nonetheless was present, and His testimony could be seen and felt as the earth quaked, and the rocks were smashed violently.
In His death, Jesus had finished the work that He had come to accomplish. He had born the wrath of God for all those who would believe in Him. He had destroyed the spiritual veil of separation that for thousands of years had kept sinful mankind from having unhindered access to God. And this was not a one-sided access that was granted. This was fully designed, and approved by the Providential God who showed Himself on that dark afternoon. In the quaking of the earth, He made certain that all the world could know that He was satisfied. Jesus had paid for the sins of the whole world. It was finished.
Food For Thought: Read Hebrews 10:19-22. What does the Spirit of God want us to understand in Hebrews about the spiritual work that Jesus accomplished in His death?
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Mark 15:24-41
Tears filled the sun-baked creases on old Abraham’s face as he walked toward Mount Moriah. For several decades now, as God would prompt him, he would obey. He was the epitome of a faithful servant. He trusted that God was right in every circumstance, and knew that God never commanded anything of him that was not for his own good. And as he and Isaac moved along the road to Moriah, the turmoil between his faith and his understanding must have been overwhelming. “God is always good,” he thought. “Then why did He make such a horrific demand?” Moments earlier, God had told Abraham to take Isaac and offer him for a sacrifice. God knew how much Abraham loved his son, yet he had asked him to do this horrifying deed.
The gray beard caught the tears that flowed down his leather cheeks, as he continued to march to appointed place. Along the way, Abraham must have been devastated by the piercing words of his astute boy, “Dad, I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb that we are going to sacrifice?” With staff in hand, and faith in his heart, Abraham, the Father of Faith, responded with words that showed his faith in God’s goodness was still holding strong through all the frustrations and confusion, “Son, God will provide himself a lamb.” And God did provide a lamb that day.
Nearly 2,000 years later, the land of Moriah had drastically changed. Starting with Solomon (900 years after Abraham), the Mount Moriah had been converted to the temple grounds, and the land of Moriah had become the bustling metropolis of Jerusalem. And while the land changed, the truth that “God would provide Himself a lamb” had not changed. Here in the same land, a Father was taking His Son to be sacrificed. Like the obedient Isaac, this Son did not need to be coerced. Rather, obedient and trusting in the goodness of the Father, He had climbed the rugged hill where He would lay down His life. On this afternoon, He would bear the shame, the curse, the blasphemy, the penalty and ultimately the punishment of all mankind.
In the darkness of the day, Jesus took on Himself the sins of all mankind. He suffered the weight of God’s wrath. But taking sin on Himself had left Him vulnerable. Whereas in times past, He could turn for comfort to the Father in His suffering, now He was separated from the Father by our sin, comfortless, compassionless, feeling the full weight of punishment from God. In agony He mustered all the breath He could and screamed, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?!” He became sin for us. He had been obedient. He had been loving. Now, He was alone in His suffering. Don’t miss this: This is what Hell is like. He bore it so we would not have to. The punishment of God and separation from God is unbearable. Furthermore, it is without comfort. This feeling of agony that Jesus felt that day is the very feeling that all those who do not fully trust in Him will feel for all eternity – separation without any hope of comfort. Jesus died, the sinless for the sinful, the guiltless for the guilty. Jesus died for you, and Jesus died for me. He bore the punishment for our sin. This is the heart of the gospel. John 3 made it quite explicit when Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Food For Thought: Read Job 13:14-15, and Proverbs 14:32. How do these verses describe Jesus in this last hour before His death?
The gray beard caught the tears that flowed down his leather cheeks, as he continued to march to appointed place. Along the way, Abraham must have been devastated by the piercing words of his astute boy, “Dad, I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb that we are going to sacrifice?” With staff in hand, and faith in his heart, Abraham, the Father of Faith, responded with words that showed his faith in God’s goodness was still holding strong through all the frustrations and confusion, “Son, God will provide himself a lamb.” And God did provide a lamb that day.
Nearly 2,000 years later, the land of Moriah had drastically changed. Starting with Solomon (900 years after Abraham), the Mount Moriah had been converted to the temple grounds, and the land of Moriah had become the bustling metropolis of Jerusalem. And while the land changed, the truth that “God would provide Himself a lamb” had not changed. Here in the same land, a Father was taking His Son to be sacrificed. Like the obedient Isaac, this Son did not need to be coerced. Rather, obedient and trusting in the goodness of the Father, He had climbed the rugged hill where He would lay down His life. On this afternoon, He would bear the shame, the curse, the blasphemy, the penalty and ultimately the punishment of all mankind.
In the darkness of the day, Jesus took on Himself the sins of all mankind. He suffered the weight of God’s wrath. But taking sin on Himself had left Him vulnerable. Whereas in times past, He could turn for comfort to the Father in His suffering, now He was separated from the Father by our sin, comfortless, compassionless, feeling the full weight of punishment from God. In agony He mustered all the breath He could and screamed, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?!” He became sin for us. He had been obedient. He had been loving. Now, He was alone in His suffering. Don’t miss this: This is what Hell is like. He bore it so we would not have to. The punishment of God and separation from God is unbearable. Furthermore, it is without comfort. This feeling of agony that Jesus felt that day is the very feeling that all those who do not fully trust in Him will feel for all eternity – separation without any hope of comfort. Jesus died, the sinless for the sinful, the guiltless for the guilty. Jesus died for you, and Jesus died for me. He bore the punishment for our sin. This is the heart of the gospel. John 3 made it quite explicit when Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Food For Thought: Read Job 13:14-15, and Proverbs 14:32. How do these verses describe Jesus in this last hour before His death?
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Mark 15:16-23
The spectacle was startling. A battered man, unrecognizable, staggered out of the house of abuse. Pilate’s thugs had done their work. With flesh-tearing, bone-scraping, muscle-destroying blows they had used their infamous torture implement. Their indifferent imprecision left wounds that could never be repaired. If He were to survive this beating, it wouldn’t be for long. As He shuffled out, every barefoot step left a shadow of smeared blood. Draped over His battered shoulders and flayed back was a blood soaked purple robe.
“King of the Jews” was the sneer of the day. The Romans never knew that He had never claimed this title for Himself, and their abuse showed that they believed the very opposite. This day would carry with it far more than physical abuse. The physical abuse would be more horrifying than the darkest thing that any special effects studio could create. But literally adding insult to injury, the Praetorian guards attached vitriolic mockery to each blow. Skin-piercing thorns were fashioned into a royal laurel, and beaten into His scalp with a rod. Laughing with mockery, these brutish execution machines of Caesar bowed a knee and breathed a derisive “Hail, King of the Jews!”
Stripping Him of the blood stained robe, they put His clothes back on Him. They were done with the beating and the mocking for now. It was time for Him to bleed His way to where He would die. The angry mob cursed and spat on Him, and Jesus slowly staggered down the narrow streets to Golgotha. Along the way, the dust that stirred from the crowd mingled with the blood from His head, His face, and His back. A muddy, blood covered Jesus travelled the city streets one last time. Because He was too weak to carry His own execution implement, the Romans grabbed a Cyrenian (present day Africa) and made Him carry the blood-moistened beam.
This Friday morning was gruesome, and not just because of what was happening to Jesus. It was Passover. The brutal slaughter of nearly a quarter million lambs would take place on this day in the temple. The sacrifice of lambs had been commanded by God to remind the Jews of their sinfulness, and their need of a sacrifice to atone for that sin. The special day known as Passover was supposed to serve as a reminder of when God delivered His people from their bondage in Egypt. On this Providential slaughter-filled Passover day, the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29, Rev. 13:8) was taken to the top of a hill to be slain for the sins of the whole world, and to set them free from their eternal bondage.
The brutality of the beating and the mockery were just a glimpse of the agony He was about to endure. No whip or shame-filled word could compare to the spiritual reality that was coming. Jesus was about to die as a sacrifice for the sins of all those who would trust in Him, and in that death, the very wrath of God would be poured out on Him.
Food For Thought: What was the significance of Jesus being crucified on the same day as the Passover?
“King of the Jews” was the sneer of the day. The Romans never knew that He had never claimed this title for Himself, and their abuse showed that they believed the very opposite. This day would carry with it far more than physical abuse. The physical abuse would be more horrifying than the darkest thing that any special effects studio could create. But literally adding insult to injury, the Praetorian guards attached vitriolic mockery to each blow. Skin-piercing thorns were fashioned into a royal laurel, and beaten into His scalp with a rod. Laughing with mockery, these brutish execution machines of Caesar bowed a knee and breathed a derisive “Hail, King of the Jews!”
Stripping Him of the blood stained robe, they put His clothes back on Him. They were done with the beating and the mocking for now. It was time for Him to bleed His way to where He would die. The angry mob cursed and spat on Him, and Jesus slowly staggered down the narrow streets to Golgotha. Along the way, the dust that stirred from the crowd mingled with the blood from His head, His face, and His back. A muddy, blood covered Jesus travelled the city streets one last time. Because He was too weak to carry His own execution implement, the Romans grabbed a Cyrenian (present day Africa) and made Him carry the blood-moistened beam.
This Friday morning was gruesome, and not just because of what was happening to Jesus. It was Passover. The brutal slaughter of nearly a quarter million lambs would take place on this day in the temple. The sacrifice of lambs had been commanded by God to remind the Jews of their sinfulness, and their need of a sacrifice to atone for that sin. The special day known as Passover was supposed to serve as a reminder of when God delivered His people from their bondage in Egypt. On this Providential slaughter-filled Passover day, the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29, Rev. 13:8) was taken to the top of a hill to be slain for the sins of the whole world, and to set them free from their eternal bondage.
The brutality of the beating and the mockery were just a glimpse of the agony He was about to endure. No whip or shame-filled word could compare to the spiritual reality that was coming. Jesus was about to die as a sacrifice for the sins of all those who would trust in Him, and in that death, the very wrath of God would be poured out on Him.
Food For Thought: What was the significance of Jesus being crucified on the same day as the Passover?
Monday, October 21, 2013
Mark 15:1-15
It was early morning Friday, and the Jewish leaders had finished their feigned trial of Jesus. This was not an American court of “innocent until proven guilty.” This was a perverse group of corrupt justices who believed in “guilty even if proven innocent.” The court case had included so many false witnesses that it should have been completely undone and thrown out. The liars that showed up for the illegal late-night trial could not even collaborate their stories. According to Mark 14:59, “Neither so did their witness agree together.” This trial was wrong in every way. The guiltless was being charged. He was going to be punished, and eventually He would be murdered.
These “defenders of truth” were so blinded by hatred that they failed to see that they were violating the very law they sought to uphold. No one stood in defense of “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” or “Thou shalt not murder.” No, their own desires replaced the very desires of the God they said they represented. Their hatred of Jesus far outweighed their love for God’s truth.
And so they turned Him over to Pilate, the Roman governor. Their accusation to him was that Jesus claimed to be the “King of the Jews.” This was not Jesus’ claim. It had never been His purpose. It had been the constant misconception of His existence here on earth. It was the crowd’s. It was His disciples’. It was everyone except for Jesus who thought He had come to re-establish the Kingdom of David. He had tried to make it clear, but their deaf ears and hardened hearts had not received the truth that He had come to be the Savior of the World, not the King of the Jews.
Pilate, the Roman, was helpless. He was a coward. Mark 15:10 tells us that Pilate was fully aware of the Jewish leaders’ jealousy of Jesus. But he was a man-pleaser who was willing to violate his conscience and execute an innocent man. So in order to satisfy the crowd, or as verse 15 says it, “willing to content the people,” Pilate issued the order for execution.
Greed, cowardice, murder – these are the products of sinful hearts. This was the very sin for which Jesus had come to die. While those around Jesus sought to undo Him, He was not deterred from His ultimate purpose. For this reason, when He was lied about and shamefully mistreated, He did not retaliate. He pressed on, with His eyes fixed on the salvation of all those who would put their faith in Him. He loved His own more than He loved His own life.
Food For Thought: Read Matthew 27:3-10. After realizing the innocence of Jesus, what was the difference in the reactions of Pilate and Judas?
These “defenders of truth” were so blinded by hatred that they failed to see that they were violating the very law they sought to uphold. No one stood in defense of “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” or “Thou shalt not murder.” No, their own desires replaced the very desires of the God they said they represented. Their hatred of Jesus far outweighed their love for God’s truth.
And so they turned Him over to Pilate, the Roman governor. Their accusation to him was that Jesus claimed to be the “King of the Jews.” This was not Jesus’ claim. It had never been His purpose. It had been the constant misconception of His existence here on earth. It was the crowd’s. It was His disciples’. It was everyone except for Jesus who thought He had come to re-establish the Kingdom of David. He had tried to make it clear, but their deaf ears and hardened hearts had not received the truth that He had come to be the Savior of the World, not the King of the Jews.
Pilate, the Roman, was helpless. He was a coward. Mark 15:10 tells us that Pilate was fully aware of the Jewish leaders’ jealousy of Jesus. But he was a man-pleaser who was willing to violate his conscience and execute an innocent man. So in order to satisfy the crowd, or as verse 15 says it, “willing to content the people,” Pilate issued the order for execution.
Greed, cowardice, murder – these are the products of sinful hearts. This was the very sin for which Jesus had come to die. While those around Jesus sought to undo Him, He was not deterred from His ultimate purpose. For this reason, when He was lied about and shamefully mistreated, He did not retaliate. He pressed on, with His eyes fixed on the salvation of all those who would put their faith in Him. He loved His own more than He loved His own life.
Food For Thought: Read Matthew 27:3-10. After realizing the innocence of Jesus, what was the difference in the reactions of Pilate and Judas?
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