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Open your Bibles to Mark 14:12-21.
We are continuing our study of the Gospel of Mark.
•This morning we come to the beginning of the portion of Mark’s Gospel that tells us about the day before our Lord was crucified.
•We come to a text that tells us about Jesus’ preparation of the Passover and His revelation that He would be betrayed by a disciple.
Last week we considered Judas’ agreement with the chief priests to betray Jesus.
•We saw how Judas went to them with the intention to betray our Lord.
And how Judas from then on began to try to find an opportune time to betray Him.
•A darkness of sorts has settled upon Mark’s Gospel.
•The betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus is on the horizon.
The stage has been set.
The wheels are in motion.
•And there is no turning back.
Now, some liberal theologians (unbelievers) believe that this was all outside of Jesus’ control.
•They believe that His betrayal, mock trial, and death on a cross were simply bad things that happened to Him.
•They believe that Jesus was the helpless victim of an elite ruling class and a disciple who loved money.
•They believe that Jesus was simply a man who claimed too much, opposed people who were too powerful, and got stuck in a bad situation beyond His control that led to His death on a cross.
A liberal heretic named Albert Schweitzer once wrote this:
“There is silence all around.
John the Baptist appears, and cries ‘Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Soon after that comes Jesus, and in the knowledge that He is the coming Son of Man lays hold of the wheel of the world to set it moving on that last revolution which is to bring all ordinary history to a close.
It refuses to turn, and He throws Himself upon it.
Then it does turn; and crushes Him.
Instead of bringing in the eschatological conditions, He has destroyed them.
The wheel rolls onward, and the mangled body of the one immeasurably great Man, who was strong enough to think of Himself as the spiritual ruler of mankind and to bend history to His purpose, is hanging upon it still.”
•Schweitzer, and many others like him, believed that Jesus overplayed His hand during His earthly ministry and as a result was mangled like a doll in the merciless gears of history.
•People like Schweitzer believe that Jesus was a victim of circumstance and bad people.
And even today you sometimes hear evangelical Christians say things that sound similar.
•They talk about how Jesus was a victim.
They talk about “poor Jesus” and how He was a victim of wicked men.
•And they turn the betrayal and death of Christ into mere emotionalism.
Just a sad story about how kind Jesus was treated terribly by bad people.
•Now, hear me: There is some truth in saying that Christ was a victim.
He was wronged.
He was murdered.
•But, strange as it may sound, He was a WILLING VICTIM.
•More than that, He was a victim who CONTROLLED HIS OWN DEATH and permitted it to happen.
•He was a victim.
But not a mere one.
Not like you or I would be if a similar thing happened to us.
•And it is because of this that we glory in the Cross.
This morning, I want to show you that our Lord was in full control of everything about His betrayal and death.
•I want you to see that nothing happened that He did not permit.
•I want you to see that nothing happened that He did not know would happen ahead of time.
•I want you to see that nothing happened before He said, “Go.”
•I want you to see that everything that happened to Jesus was actually His will and the divine plan of God to bring about the salvation of sinners.
•And, in doing so, I hope to show you how much Jesus Christ loves you.
•And I also hope to show you that our God is so sovereign that even sin, even sorrow and darkness and terrible things, serve His holy purposes to glorify Himself and do good for His People.
If you would, and are able, please stand with me now for the reading of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God.
Mark 14:12-21
[12] And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
[13] And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.
Follow him,
[14] and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’
[15] And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.”
[16] And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
[17] And when it was evening, he came with the twelve.
[18] And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.”
[19] They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?”
[20] He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me.
[21] For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!
It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
(PRAY)
Our Heavenly Father,
We come before you once again thankful for your Word.
It is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.
In it, there are treasures untold, glories we couldn’t imagine, and joy unspeakable for those who believe.
In your Word there is encouragement and comfort for the weary soul who will receive it by faith.
And so we ask now that you would bless us and, by your Holy Spirit, work in our hearts to receive your Word with faith, gladness, reverence, obedience, and love.
Open our hearts so that we might behold the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus this morning.
Teach us, Father.
And change us.
Sanctify us in your truth.
Your Word is truth.
We ask these things in Jesus’ Name and for His sake.
Amen.
1.)
vv12-16 of our text this morning tell us about the directions that Jesus gave two of His disciples concerning the preparation of the Passover meal.
•It’s now Thursday in Mark’s Gospel.
Our Lord will be crucified and die the following day.
•But Thursday evening, our Lord would celebrate the Passover with His disciples.
A brief reminder about Passover:
•Passover was the most sacred feast in Jewish life.
It was the kickoff to the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
•And it was in this feast that the Jews celebrated God delivering them from slavery to Egypt.
•You’ll remember that the night before the Exodus, God sent a destroying angel through Egypt to kill the firstborn of every household.
•And the only way to avoid the wrath of God was to slaughter a lamb and put it’s blood on the doorposts of the house.
And then God’s wrath would pass over the house and those inside would be saved/spared from death.
•The blood of a lamb was required or death would come to the house.
So, after that night, God instituted a feast of remembrance to commemorate His work of redemption.
•And Jews had to take a lamb or goat to the Temple and have it sacrificed.
Some of the blood was sprinkled on the altar, and the meat was given to the individual to take home and roast and eat as part of the Passover meal.
•And the Passover had to be eaten within the walls of the city of Jerusalem.
And every house participated in this.
And we know, in light of the New Covenant, that this feast was a foreshadowing of Christ and His work.
•The blood of a lamb was required or God’s wrath would come and consume.
•This points forward to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
The blood of the Lamb would be given for the life of the People.
•And it would be on this day, Passover, that our Lord would die for the sins of His People to save them.
(Remember, the Jews counted the days from sundown to sundown.
So our Lord died on Passover.)
•And this was no accident.
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