Sermon Tone Analysis

*“One Life to Live”*

*Mark 14.1-21*

*            *

In our last chapter of Mark, we dealt with some of Jesus’ teaching regarding the times and we were exhorted to keep awake because we don’t know when Jesus, the Son of Man, will return.

We were reminded that there would be natural disasters and famines and false christs and prophets throughout the ages.

And that in the end there would be terrible tribulation.

But in all of these circumstances, we are to see sovereignty and not chaos.

Jesus has clued us in beforehand so that we will not be surprised when these things occur, but that we remain steadfast in our faith.

At the same time, such things should remind us that the end will come and Jesus will return.

And we want to be ready and not ashamed when he does so.

We want to be awake and not asleep.

In our chapter this morning, chapter 14 of Mark, we resume some of the narrative as events move forward in this last week of Jesus life and ministry before he goes to the cross.

We have seen throughout the Gospel (especially early on) that Jesus had to keep some things secret regarding his identity so that he would not be forced upon a throne as ruler or face an untimely death on the cross without preparing his disciples for their continued ministry after his death.

We are now in the final week.

And when the inevitable is coming, there is an intentionality to continue to prepare the disciples and drove home some things before his departure from them.

If you have not yet done so, please turn in your Bibles to Mark 14.

We will be covering the first 21 verses today.

*Let’s read *as we get underway.

What we have here is another case where Mark likes to sandwich a story within a story.

You remember he has done this in the past with lessons of fig trees and the destruction of the temple and elsewhere.

So, Mark has purposefully included a story of this woman at Simon’s house within a story of betrayal.

What I believe that we will see here is a contrast between a life surrendered to Jesus and one who betrays and opposes him.

We’ll begin by looking at *Betrayal.

*And this betrayal Mark splits up and addresses in three different sections of our text.

We can consider them to be sub-points of *Betrayal.

*We will see the /Problem of Passover /in the first two verses, /Partnership in Betrayal /in verses 10-11, and /Prediction of Betrayal /in verses 17-21.

We’ve have seen in weeks prior that multitudes have come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.

Passover was a big deal for the Israelites – and rightly so.

It was the first Passover that celebrated their protection from the last plague when they were slaves in Egypt.

It was only by the blood of a spotless lamb sprinkled on a doorpost that caused the angel to bypass the killing of their children.

They celebrated Passover to remind them of God’s goodness and deliverance from the hand of the oppressive Egyptians and the establishment of themselves as a people for his name’s sake.

As we mentioned before this notion of deliverance kept the anticipation of a coming Messiah fresh on their minds.

Their mistake was that they had anticipated a deliverer that would physically deliver them and establish a physical kingdom.

And they missed the spiritual connotations associated with Passover – that another spotless Lamb would come to provide spiritual salvation and a spiritual kingdom.

They physical kingdom would not be established until the Messiah’s return.

So we find ourselves in Jerusalem at this time – Mark says two days before the Passover.

It has been estimated that there would be hundreds of thousands of people that have journeyed to the city to celebrate.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread occurred at the same time but lasted for seven days around the Passover.

You can find this in Exodus 12 if you want some more insight into the practice.

In Deuteronomy 16 also Moses records that in the time of recognizing Passover the people would also eat unleavened bread for those seven days.

Enter the priests and the scribes once again – the hypocritical religious leaders.

They have been the unexpected villains throughout Mark’s account of the life and ministry of Jesus.

I say “unexpected” because they were the religious leaders.

And they should have been the ones who befriend Jesus and partner with him on God’s mission.

But it is discovered that they are really on their own mission of burdening the people with extrabiblical expectations, elevating themselves above the commoners, seeking the praise of men, and showing no mercy to the outcast.

By their words and actions, they have set themselves in opposition of the One they should have worshipped.

Mark writes that the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Oh, and that’s nothing new.

They’ve been thinking this already.

Remember Mark 11:18?

After overturning tables in the temple area and calling out the religious leaders, Mark writes, 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and /were seeking a way to destroy him/, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

And as was customary for Jesus, he clues the disciples in (and us) so that they are not surprised.

Mark 8:31 “31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

Mark 10:33–34 “33 saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles.

34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him.

And after three days he will rise.”

So we’re at least prepared for this.

It is great irony though, isn’t it?

All along the chief priests and scribes plot against Jesus without realizing that they are merely playing into God’s hands and his plan.

However, they come upon a roadblock.

The problem lies primarily with the occasion.

Because Jerusalem was crowded, they risked a possible riot in the city.

And so they cannot arrest him publicly to carry out their plan.

It was too risky.

This was the /Problem of Passover.

/

            Now look down to verses 10 and 11.

We’ll come back to verses 3 to 9 momentarily.

In verse 10 and 11, suddenly their plans have some hope.

Judas Iscariot (likely means the “betrayer”) seeks out the chief priests to betray Jesus.

And when they heard it, *they were glad.*

They were glad because now they had an excuse, an insider, a reason to acquire him.

And… he… was… one of the twelve.

Doesn’t this play out as a soap opera or prime time drama?

At this point, he is like the double agent.

The other eleven don’t know what is going on.

He’s one of them.

Judas has been right there with the rest of them for three years – watching Jesus heal the physically handicapped, reaching out to women and Gentiles, handing out fish and loaves to multitudes, even being numbered as one of his followers when accused by the opposition.

Judas was on this grand mission with the rest who left behind everything to follow this man from Nazareth who made these outrageous claims and lived this eccentric life, claiming to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.

He was one of them!!

And Judas went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.

Judas played the part, looked the part.

But he was not “genuinely” one of them.

I think the same can be true of some in the church.

Not just here, but any church.

I know I’ve been saying this a fair bit lately.

But we exist as a community here, as we gather from week to week, we have a responsibility to one another to ensure that we (together) are truly his.

It’s not too difficult to look the part, even play the part.

But there is always the danger of falling away and showing that we never really belonged to Jesus!

In the case of Judas, time would reveal where his allegiances lie – namely with himself.

Luke would include Satan.

He records that Satan entered Judas.

This would confirm that he did not belong to Jesus.

But even to those closely associated with him, he went undetected.

How is this possible?

We know that it was part of God’s plan that Jesus would be delivered over.

And perhaps he caused to disciples to not see that Judas did not belong.

But what were the reasons or purpose that Judas would seek out the chief priests?

Humanly speaking.

We can really only speculate regarding his reason for doing so.

Was it for money?

Not sure.