July 30, 2023 | Mark 14:1-72 | Pastor Chris Baker
Good morning, FBC Family and guests! This is the fifth Sunday of July, so we don't have children's church today. All the kids from age 4 and up are going to be staying with us as we study Mark 14, and I'm glad that you're here.
Parents, we do have nursery available for the littlest ones. There's also a mom's room just outside the doors to my right in case you need to change a diaper or feed a baby or anything like that. We encourage you to make use of that space as you need to. There's a livestream of the sermon playing in there, so you should be able to keep up.
We've already read most of Mark 14 as a part of our worship time this morning. This chapter is one of the most—can I say entertaining?—I know the point of the Bible is not to entertain, but it's a narrative. And within this one-chapter narrative, you'll find a piece of just about every genre of television or literature there is. You have the inner drama of betrayal, and you have the outlandish action of shattering an incredibly expensive jar of perfume. You have Jesus sending the disciples on a quest—verse 13, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him."
You have the vivid imagery of the Last Supper. Judas and Peter both betray Jesus. I'm telling you, whatever you like on TV, it's here: courtroom drama, true crime, cooking show, maybe even some light comic relief. It's a huge chapter. As we look at it, I hope we'll see a few things: the gospel made crystal clear in the institution of the Lord's Supper and the deadly sins of anger, doubt, and betrayal contrasted with the beautiful full-hearted worship of one nameless woman.
We've read most of the chapter already as part of our gathering. We'll finish it off now with Mark 14:53-72.
Read Mark 14:53-72
Pray
Here's how we're going to approach this chapter. We're going to do a flyover. I'll summarize the story and touch on a few things I think you might have questions about. Then, we'll zoom in on verses 22-26. That's the first Lord's Supper, which we celebrate as one of the two ordinances of the local church. There we see Jesus illustrating the cost of the covenant of grace. Jesus gives Himself. And then we'll look at what several of the others in this chapter give in response to Jesus.
Mark 14 in Summary
Mark 14 starts dark. It opens with murderous intent. We begin late on Wednesday of Passion Week, the final week of Jesus's earthly life. Jesus has already addressed the crowd for the final time. He also taught His disciples privately about His second coming. On the heels of that, we're told the chief priests and scribes are ramping up their plans to have Him murdered.
The Pharisees had decided all the way back in Mark 3:6 they were going to kill Him. The chief priests and scribes hopped on board with the idea in Mark 11:18. So these groups of men who were supposed to be the leaders of Israel, the holiest among God's people, stood off in the shadows of all these scenes of Mark's gospel plotting a way to kill Jesus without inciting a riot. Now it's time for their murderous intent to become murderous action.
This both illustrates how sin works. It starts with intention and ends up in action. James talks about that in James 1. It also reminds us that God is sovereign over all the actions of His creation. Jesus knew how their plan would play out long before they did. He predicted His death three times, and He was very specific. It happened exactly how He said it would.
But before we get to that dark moment where Jesus is betrayed, there's a pleasant scene. It's a beautiful moment of worship.
Jesus and His followers are at a meal in the village of Bethany, where Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were from. Bethany served as a home base for Jesus during this last phase of His ministry. It was about two miles from Jerusalem.
As Jesus reclines at the table in the house of Simon the leper, probably a man whom Jesus had healed because if he still suffered from leprosy they wouldn't have been in his home, this woman approaches Him.
She breaks open an alabaster jar of perfume that would have cost a full year's wages and poured it all over Jesus. It's hard to fathom a jar of perfume that would cost a year's wage for most of us, but rest assured it still exists.
A perfume called Shumukh, created by a company in Dubai, comes in a jar decorated with 3,500 diamonds, over 5 pounds of gold, and almost twice as much silver. It would set you back $1.3 million. (https://www.thespiritofdubai.com/shumukh/?filename=shumukh)
Now, if you have a $1.3 million perfume budget, what would it take for you to smash that diamond-encrusted jar on the ground?
This would have been shocking. The aroma would have filled the room. It was an incredible act of worship that we'll talk about later, but some people around the table were critical.
In the midst of this moment, we see Judas Iscariot show his true colors for the first time. It's the first action we see Judas take in Mark. He's named as the betrayer in Mark 3, but he has been in the background ever since. It seems like this one act was somehow the thing that pushed him over the edge because he immediately goes to the chief priests and offers to sell Jesus out.
Verse 12 transitions us to Thursday. He tells the disciples, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him."
Carrying water was typically a task done by women, so the sight of a man carrying a jar of water would have been unusual and easily identifiable.
They follow the man and find everything exactly as Jesus said it would be. Perhaps Jesus was cryptic here to stop Judas from being able to report His position to the Jewish leaders too soon.
As they recline at the table, Jesus takes a moment to address His disciples, and He says to them, "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me."
How do the disciples respond?
I need to take this moment to share with you that Monika and I have two additional children in our family that many of you haven't met yet. Seven kids were fun, but somewhere along the way, we added an eighth and ninth.
Their names are nobody and 'not me.' Often, when something like ice cream is left on the counter or the front door is left wide open in the 100-degree heat, there is no child to take responsibility. Seven of them will either blame nobody or 'not me.'
"Truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me," says Jesus. Not me.
And it's on the heels of this revelation, and on the heels of the guilty party's denial, that Jesus institutes perhaps the most sacred and intimate form of worship that we'll experience on this side of eternity.
e takes the unleavened bread, gives thanks, and breaks it. Then He distributes it to His disciples, saying, "Take; this is my body."
Next, He takes the cup, gives thanks, and offers it to His disciples, saying, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."
The disciples didn’t fully grasp how incredible this is yet, and that’s illustrated by the two passages that bookend the Lord’s Supper: Judas’s betrayal and Peter’s denial.
Jesus references Zechariah 13:7, saying, "You will all fall away, for it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'"
Peter stands his ground, saying, "I’ll never leave you, Jesus!" We’ll see how he fares shortly.
They arrive at Gethsemane in verse 32. As Jesus and His disciples enter the garden, He says, "Sit here while I pray."
Jesus then takes Peter, James, and John with Him and says to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch."
Jesus then withdraws a little farther and falls to the ground, pleading with the Father, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."
We get just a peek here at the full humanity of Jesus. He experiences the depth of His emotions, acknowledging the anguish of the cup of suffering that awaits Him. Yet, in perfect submission to the Father's will, He surrenders His desires and trusts in the Father's plan.
He returns to find the disciples sleeping despite Peter’s cavalier attitude just a few verses earlier! "I’ll stand with you forever, Jesus!" Yet, he couldn’t even stay awake for a few hours.
The tension in the garden reaches its peak in verse 43 as Judas arrives with a crowd armed with swords and clubs to arrest Jesus.
The crowd seizes Jesus, and just as He predicted, again, the disciples abandon Him.
And in the middle of this high drama— I’ll just be honest— one of the weirdest verses in all the gospels— at least in my opinion.
Mark 14:51-52: "Now a certain young man, wearing nothing but a linen cloth, was following him. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth behind and ran away naked."
What do you do with that? It’s one of the rare bits of info that is included only in Mark. Nowhere in the other three gospels. Most commentaries I’ve read ignore it like a weird uncle at a family reunion.
I love what John MacArthur said about it in a sermon, though:
I have absolutely no idea who that young man is. How would I know? I’m looking at the same Bible you’re looking at. I don’t see a name. “And what is the linen sheet?” I have no idea, but I do know that when people went to sleep at night, they put a linen sheet on. And he wrapped himself in a linen sheet, and they tried to seize him, and he pulled free from the linen sheet and ran away. I love that about the Bible - it just says it because it happened.
(https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/41-76)
We leave that young man and arrive at the high priest's house where the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes have assembled. Their long plan to finally murder this Jesus is now coming to fruition.
False witnesses step forward, attempting to fabricate accusations against Jesus. Even in the face of unjust accusations, Jesus remains silent.
Finally, the high priest addresses Jesus directly, asking, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" To this direct question, Jesus responds with a definitive answer, saying, "I am.”
The high priest and the religious leaders are incensed by Jesus' response. They accuse Him of blasphemy and condemn Him to death. They spit on Him, punch Him, and violently abuse Him.
Peter is outside in the courtyard, as we see in verse 66. A servant girl sees him and recognizes him as one of Jesus' followers.
With a sense of fear and self-preservation, Peter denies any association with Jesus, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you mean.” Nobody and Not Me make another appearance!
He tries to distance himself from Jesus, yet, his denial doesn’t end there. As Peter lingers in the courtyard, others begin to accuse him, saying, "You also are one of them." Again, Peter denies it, getting more forceful.
They argue, "Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean." In a moment of desperation, Peter utters curses and swears, denying any knowledge of Jesus or His teachings.
And then, the rooster crows.
In that precise moment, Jesus' words from earlier in the evening come flooding back to Peter's mind. He remembers Jesus' saying that he would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed twice.
Again, Jesus was accurate in His prediction. He speaks truth—and this is a chapter full of truth. We see the gospel played out in these words, even though Jesus has not yet gone to the cross. For the rest of our time, we’re going to look at Jesus’s giving of Himself as He invites us to enter into this New Covenant. Then we’ll explore four responses to the gospel that are present in this chapter. They may have all been present in your heart at some point.
Jesus Gives Himself (v.22-26)
The most crucial phrase in this whole chapter is found in verse 24: He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."
Jesus poured out His life to save ours. That’s the one truth I want you to take home with you today if you take nothing else.
This is Jesus acting out the new reality of God’s relationship with His people. Sin came into the world in the Garden of Eden, and with sin came death. Death is the wage earned by the labor of sin—that is made clear in Romans.
To atone for sin requires death. It requires a blood sacrifice. Do you remember what God gave to Adam and Eve to hide their nakedness after their sin? Clothes made of animal skins. Blood had to be shed to cover the shame of sin.
The covenants of the Old Testament were sealed by blood. God makes a covenant with Noah in Genesis 8, and in verse 20, Noah makes a sacrifice. Blood was shed. In Genesis 15, God enters into a covenant with Abraham. In Genesis 15:10, animals were sacrificed as an offering. Blood was shed. In Exodus 24, God affirms His covenant with Israel, and there’s a sacrifice in verse 5.
Those covenants are promises. Those promises are rehearsed—remembered—through a series of sacrifices. The Old Testament sacrificial system, all the burnt offerings and sin offerings and offerings on the Day of Atonement, quite literally millions of offerings, never truly atoned for sin. They were pictures of the perfect sacrifice that was to come.
Jesus is announcing a new covenant here, and it's a covenant that never has to be repeated. Jesus' blood that covered sin was the last blood that was shed to cover sin, and it was ultimately the only blood that could cover sin.
The old covenant was a promise. The new covenant is fulfillment. His blood was poured out to cover the sins of everyone everywhere who will ever call on His name for salvation, past, present, and future. Sin was either paid for on the cross, or it will be paid for on the shoulders of sinners in eternity. Those are the only two ways the penalty for sin is ultimately carried out.
Final payment was made in the substitute sacrifice of Jesus. We don't need a scapegoat. We don’t need a bull or a dove or a lamb. We need to remember the cross! That’s what the Lord’s Supper is all about, after all, isn’t it? It's a call to remember.
Jesus takes the unleavened bread, which was normal to eat during the Passover, and breaks it before giving it to His disciples. In the other gospels, we see Jesus said His body was given for them. That means He gave His body so that we don’t have to.
Through the shedding of His blood, Jesus fulfills God's redemptive plan, providing forgiveness for sins and reconciling humanity to God. The new covenant, established by Christ's sacrifice, offers a relationship with God based on grace, not human effort or following the law. It is a covenant of love, mercy, and acceptance through faith in Christ.
Church, think about all the things we do to chase after those things! We’re desperate to be loved, we’re desperate to be accepted. And here, Jesus is calling. Calling us to embrace His acceptance and remember His sacrifice.
We observe the Lord’s Supper regularly as part of our worship services to do that very thing. To remember what He did and cast an eye toward what He’ll do.
We proclaim Christ's death, celebrate His resurrection, and affirm the settled hope we have of His return.
The Lord’s Supper is the most explicit illustration of the Gospel that God has given us. To my friends who are here and have never repented of your sins and placed your faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, I hope this gospel picture is clear for you. It’s either your blood or Jesus’s blood. Those are the only two options.
Our sin earned death, separation from God, and eternal punishment. There’s no sacrifice we can make, no price we can pay, no amount of good works we can do to overcome death. We can only trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ to cover our sins.
Romans 10:9 says, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." Confessing Jesus as Lord means submitting to His authority. Calling Him ‘Lord’ means we belong to Him. So we submit ourselves to His authority. Believing that God has raised Him from the dead involves trusting in the historical fact of His resurrection. Jesus lives today and will one day return to rescue His people once and for all.
We respond to the gospel when we repent of our sins and place our faith—our only hope in life and death—on Jesus Christ alone. But in a sense, we respond to the gospel every day.
I don’t mean we get saved every day. But our posture, the way we live our lives, is a response to this truth.
To put it another way, Jesus gives Himself. What do we give back? We get four examples in this chapter. See if you can find yourself in these. This is a narrative story, but we don't just read the Bible for knowledge. At the end of Matthew, as part of what we call the Great Commission, Jesus said (and I’m paraphrasing a bit): "Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you."
Not just teaching them. Not just imparting knowledge, but knowledge that changes us. Teaching them to observe. Sometimes when we study narrative, we’re either tempted to make ourselves the hero of the story or to memorize it as fact without applying it.
We’re never the hero. If we were, we wouldn’t need Jesus. And there’s always application, there’s always change that is needed in our lives no matter how long we’ve been following Jesus. So, as we look at these four responses, ask yourselves how God is working to reshape your heart this morning.
First, we see that even though Jesus gives Himself, the chief priests give rage.
Chief Priests Give Rage (v.1-2, 53-65)
For committing the heinous and treasonous acts of healing people, casting out demons, and making them look bad, the religious leaders grew more enraged about Jesus by the second. Their hearts are hardened, and they are set on opposing Him at every turn. They tried to ruin His reputation by tripping Him up with a series of theological traps, but those failed.
Jesus is offering a new covenant in His blood, but they just want His blood to be spilled, and the sooner it can happen, the happier they’ll be. They rejected Jesus and rejected the gospel because Jesus wasn’t doing it their way. Church, let’s not write them off too fast. These were the holiest men in Israel, or they were supposed to be, anyway.
There are a number of different groups with various interests involved here, but let’s just take the Pharisees as an example. The historian Josephus wrote that when a boy in a Pharisee family turned two years old, they would take the scroll of the Law, the Torah, put honey on it, and have him lick it so that his earliest memory would be, “How sweet are Your Words to my taste. Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth” (Psalm 119:103). At four years old, he would start memorizing the book of Leviticus. By twelve years old, he had memorized Genesis through Deuteronomy. As a teenager, he memorized the Prophets and the Psalms. If you chose to become a Pharisee, you had to publicly promise to “take the yoke of the Torah” upon you. They vowed to yoke themselves to the Law of God. They kept the hours of prayer wherever they were, whether in the Temple, the marketplace, or the street corner. They would fast twice a week. They didn’t just tithe their money but tithed on everything they had, even down to their herbs and spices
(source: http://storage.cloversites.com/makinglifecountministriesinc/documents/Who%20were%20the%20Pharisees_2.pdf).
The Chief Priests, who seem to be the ring leaders in Mark 14, would have been just as impressive. Church, many of these men had committed more Scripture to memory than any of us. Many of them would have had more regular prayer lives than we do.
And yet, they were so enraged with Jesus that they had him murdered. Would you be bold enough today to admit, even if it’s just between you and the Lord, that you’re angry with Him? Or you have been? Are you disappointed with God, discouraged about the circumstances He has set before you?
Discouragement isn’t always sinful. Anger isn’t even always sinful. But, Church, we must guard our hearts. The high priest gets so close to the truth in verse 61: “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Are you the Savior? He’s a sinner in desperate need of salvation, the only one who can save is right there, and his anger causes—his rage, his frustration—it causes him to miss it.
Don’t let God not showing up in the way you think He should cause you to miss it, church! Jesus gave Himself, but the religious leaders gave rage. Then, there’s Judas. Judas gives betrayal.
Judas Gives Betrayal (v.10-11, 17-20, 43-49)
He allows greed and selfishness to consume his heart. Thirty pieces of silver. That’s the price paid for the betrayal of the Son of God. That seems so silly, doesn’t it? But goodness, church, haven’t we betrayed God for less? We don’t know exactly why Judas did it. We have a pretty good idea, but we don't have a verse where Judas explains himself. But ultimately, he traded the grace offered in a relationship with Jesus for something he decided in that moment he wanted more. That’s precisely what we do when we give in to the temptation to sin, isn’t it? We take God out of the position of Lord in our lives and substitute ourselves for that moment. In that sense, we betray our Lord. We have a constant need for God’s grace, church. We can’t ever forget that. Perhaps you’ve substituted yourself or someone else or something else as lord in your life for a long time. Repent and give God back control of the life you stole from Him. Remember, if we belong to Jesus, it’s His life now. It’s not ours anymore. It was ours once, and we earned Hell. Jesus bought it back.
Jesus gave Himself. Judas gave betrayal.
Peter gave denial and abandonment.
Peter Gives Denial and Abandonment (v.27-31, 32-42, 66-72)
Peter's response is one of fear and weakness. Despite his initial bravado, when faced with the possibility of suffering and persecution, Peter gives in immediately. We have two dogs. One weighs about 40 pounds, and the other one weighs about 8 pounds. The 8-pounder, though, is the loudest when someone comes to the door. And as soon as you open the door, she’ll come at you like Scrappy Doo. But when she gets within arm’s reach, she’ll lay down on the floor. That’s Peter. He’s ready for a fight when Jesus says someone will betray Him. But, when the rubber hits the road he forgets how to speak English, or Aramaic, or whatever fits best for you there.
But we’ve beaten up on the priests, we’ve beaten up on Judas, I fear we’ve beaten up on some of you so let me give you some hope here. We don’t know what happens to the high priest after the crucifixion, but it’s probably not good. We know Judas met a tragic end. But what about Peter? God gave grace!
Peter figured it out! Not because He’s awesome. He has ruined just about every scene he’s been in through Mark’s gospel. No, Peter goes on to become an incredible evangelist, a pillar of the Jerusalem church, and one of the authors of Scripture because God gave him grace.
If you’re here today and you’re still breathing, then God’s grace is still available to you. The late Jerry Bridges in his book The Discipline of Grace said it so well. “Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need for God's grace.”
You’re not beyond the reach or beyond the need for God’s grace if you’re within the sound of my voice. Sure, you’ve messed up. But clearly so did Peter. And God showed grace.
Jesus gave Himself. Peter denied even knowing Him. But, Mary didn’t.
Mary gave worship.
Mary Gives Worship (v.3-9)
I use Mary’s name here with a caveat. She’s not named here, but I believe this is the same incident John recorded in John 12, and there she is named. This was Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus. And by anointing Him for His burial, she displays an incredible devotion to Jesus. This was astronomically expensive. It required massive sacrifice on her part, but this reveals a heart that values Jesus above all else.
Her worship is not merely lip service or religious ritual. This is just what a heart that loves Jesus does.
True worship involves pouring out our hearts and lives before Jesus. He gives Himself and the only right response is for us to give ourselves back.
It’s recognizing that Christ is worthy of all our love, honor, and adoration.
Romans 12:1 encapsulates it well and it’s the verse we’ll close with.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.
Mary may have been the least likely person in this chapter to get it, but she was the only one who truly worshipped. Can the same be said for our lives? Are we true worshippers? What’s God doing in your heart this morning? What change do you need to make? What sin do you need to repent of? Are you angry with God, or maybe just indifferent?
Do you identify with Peter? You’ve messed up big, but Jesus doesn’t cast you out. He’s still extending grace toward you today. Will you take hold of it? Let’s pray.
Questions for Further Reflection & Study
The sermon highlights the different responses people had to Jesus in this chapter: rage, betrayal, denial, and worship. Can you identify with any of these responses in your own life or experiences with Jesus?
The religious leaders in this chapter were filled with rage and sought to have Jesus killed. What can we learn from their response, and how can we guard against letting anger or bitterness control our hearts?
Peter denied knowing Jesus three times, despite his earlier claims of loyalty. Can you relate to moments of fear or weakness in your faith? How can we find strength and courage to remain faithful to Jesus even in difficult times?
The sermon mentioned that true worship involves pouring out our hearts and lives before Jesus. What does this look like practically in our daily lives? How can we cultivate a heart of worship in everything we do?
The sermon ends with the challenge to be true worshippers and present our lives as living sacrifices to God. What specific areas in your life do you need to surrender to God and offer as an act of worship? How can you practically live out Romans 12:1 in your daily life?
In verse 25, Jesus mentions that He will not drink of the fruit of the vine again until the kingdom of God comes. What does this statement imply about the future hope and anticipation of Jesus' followers regarding His return and the establishment of God's kingdom?