Sermon Tone Analysis
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*“Testify”*
*Mark 14.53-72*
Several of us recently took to the streets to incorporate what we were learning in the Way of the Master course we completed.
This is an evangelistic training course that helps us to interact with confidence as we share the gospel of Jesus Christ with unbelievers.
As Christians, we want to make sure that what we learn is not merely an intellectual exercise but we want to live out what we are learning.
And so to be consistent with this, and because of our commission to make disciples, we went out of our comfort zones to have “cold” conversations with people.
As you know, this is not all that easy.
This is something that definitely takes many of us out of our comfort zones.
For a number of reasons, it is easier for me being a pastor to tell the same truths within this environment.
This is because to be here on a Sunday morning indicates that there is at least a desire to hear of spiritual matters.
Right?
We haven’t come here to get advice on how to be a better baseball player or advice on financial investments or to discuss the latest on Hollywood movies.
We have come because of our desire to hear from God through his word.
And so for me and others to talk about Jesus in this environment is expected.
We have come here this morning at least primed for spiritual matters.
So, for those who have had experience sharing with people about Jesus, you know that there are some things at stake once you’ve done so – especially in a small town context.
If you are in the Boston Pizza ~/ cinema ~/ liquor store parking lot, it is almost guaranteed that you will come across people you know.
This friend, co-worker, store clerk will see you with perhaps a couple paperback New Testaments and gospel tracts.
Deep breath.
Because having taken this step, you have chosen your team.
In the words of some of the bystanders in our text this morning, “you are one of them.”
The question of our lives is, “are you ok with this?” I’ll pause for a moment as you consider this.
This is something you need to make sure that are firmly and confidently alright with claiming.
If you answer in the affirmative that you are “one of them,” “a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ,” there is a cost.
You have simultaneously become a “fool” in the eyes of the world and an “ambassador” for the King of Kings.
Have you ever considered that??
I think some of us have embraced the thought that we will spend eternity in heaven with him and forgotten that we will be rejected by unbelievers.
We want to be accepted by God and the world.
We will see these issues emerge in our text today.
Please turn in your Bibles to Mark 14.
We will be dealing with verses 53-72.
If you had highlighter in hand, you might likely do as I do.
In a given text, I will highlight, underline, circle things that are interesting.
In our passage today, we have a word and theme that is repeated frequently.
As I read the text, listen for them.
I think you will see emphasized the theme of “testimony.”
And this is why the title of the sermon is “Testify.”
You will see this evident in words such as testimony, witness, testify, and unfortunately even “deny.”
*READ.*
As I mentioned there is a lot of testimony (or lack thereof) in this text.
Our first type of testimony is our first point: *Opposing Testimony.
*
We see this is in verses 55, 56, and 57.
It is identified as testimony against Jesus.
We find ourselves in what is known as “Passion Week” in the life of Jesus.
It wasn’t too long ago that he and the disciples had entered into Jerusalem where Jesus pronounced judgment on the temple and its practices.
And then just before the Passover, according to Mark 14.1, the chief priests and scribes were seeking to arrest Jesus and to kill Jesus.
But there was the problem of the Passover, where they feared potential rioting from the hundreds of thousands of people who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate.
But, according to the plan of God, there was a traitor in the midst of the disciples who sought out these religious leaders in order to betray Jesus to them.
His name was Judas Iscariot.
This made the chief priests and scribes very happy because it provided a means to get to Jesus by stealth and avoid any crowds.
None of this took Jesus by surprise.
In fact, he foretold the event as he joined his disciples in celebrating the Passover with them.
All along, Jesus knew that this was part of God’s plan so that he could fulfill his mission and die on a cross for sinners.
After Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper during the Passover celebration, he and his disciples go to the Mount of Olives where Jesus makes this alarming pronouncement.
He He says that all of his disciples would leave him and that the chief of the disciples, Peter himself, would deny Jesus three times that very night.
Instead of accepting the Lord’s words humbly, Peter makes a rash and proud statement saying that, despite the wavering faith of the others, he would certainly not deny Jesus.
We saw last week how the disciples departed from there and went to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus would warn his disciples to be on the alert while he went away to pray.
Jesus spent some time pouring out his soul to God the Father.
Three times he returned to his disciples to find them sleeping and not watching.
And on the third time, Jesus sees that the betrayal is at hand and those who would capture him were approaching.
Judas betrays Jesus and the crowd apprehends him.
And Jesus says, “let the Scriptures be fulfilled.”
And they all left him as he had said.
And this is where we left off and where we will pick up the story this morning.
What we will see is Mark’s intentionality in his recording of events once again.
He has repeatedly organized stories in order to communicate significant lessons for his readers.
In other words, Mark does not just provide a running commentary on chronological events, but wishes to draw our attention to similarities and contrasts.
And the same is true with the passage this morning.
There is a contrast between Jesus’ response in interrogation and Peter’s response.
Mark sets them up as simultaneous events and notes the differences.
The religious leaders must have been thrilled with their plan.
They have succeeded in acquiring Jesus.
Now they merely needed to find charges against him so that they could finish the end goal – which was his death.
In verse 53, they take him to the high priest where the chief priests and elders and scribes have all come together.
Verse 55 alludes to the whole Council, otherwise known as the Sanhedrin.
Normally, the Sanhedrin would convene and meet in an assembly hall called the “Chamber of Hewn Stone” which would be found in the temple area in Jerusalem.
This is where people would be tried for their crimes.
And these hearings would be held in the daytime.
You know, “normal business hours.”
But we find some irregularities in this current situation.
It appears that they have gathered at night and not at the chamber in the temple courts, but at the house of the high priest Caiaphas.
In addition, I found that the religious leaders were allowed to follow their customs regarding religious matters and provide justice on such things.
But they were not permitted to sentence offenders to death as they pleased.
So, because they did not have the power of capital punishment, I believe that they were likely have something similar to a police interrogation before going to trial.
They were trying to pile up evidence against Jesus.
For a moment follow the narrative.
They have picked up Jesus in Gethsemane and dragged him to the high priest’s house.
The disciples have scattered.
And then there’s Peter… Peter followed him at a distance – even to the house where Jesus is being questioned.
Peter is outside warming himself by the fire.
And that’s where we leave him and return to the house – likely to an upper room because Peter is apparently “down below” as verse 66 indicates.
Verse 55 tells us that the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking testimony /against /Jesus.
If you remember at the outset of our study, we mentioned briefly that when Mark uses the word for “seek” here (ζητέω), it is always in a negative sense.
The religious leaders are never “seekers” of Jesus in the way that the term is used today.
It is always “seeking” to get him.
Remember Mark 11.18, “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 Mark 12.12, “And they were */seeking/* to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them.
“ And, of course, we most recently saw Mark 14.1, “It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
And the chief priests and the scribes were */seeking/* how to arrest him by stealth and kill him.”
So, it’s safe to say that these guys were not genuinely interested in “seeking” Jesus in order to put their faith in him.
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