Mark 3: 1-6, 10: 32-34 & 45, 14: 27-36
|
The New
Testament Witness of the Apostle
Peter |
The Pulpit at Pilgrim's Rest Christ Covenant Reformed (PCA) |
|
Many contemporary authors and even common people see a staggering complexity in the simple gospel message. One popular writer describes this gospel as "the discussion of a theological problem in the form of a dramatic historical sketch." That supposed problem is linked to that viewpoint of many of the Jews at the foot of the cross, who articulated a theological problem. If Jesus was the Messiah, why did He die a criminal's death upon the cross? Arguments about a simple holy man being made too complex by the written accounts of the Apostles and witnesses are written far and wide. The doctrines of God's Word are considered too complex and unnecessary for a society that only needs to learn to love!
Such arguments miss the whole point of the gospel accounts. Such accounts leave out the purpose of the perfect plan and providence of God the Father, the obedience of His only Son and the real antipathy of fallen mankind. Pastor Phil Strong, our evangelist in Fort Wayne, Indiana shared with me an incident from several years ago. He had a chance to witness to a college acquaintance. During the course of the conversation, he detailed God's plan of salvation from beginning to end as it is focused in and through Christ alone. majesty sin wanted to hear about love. When his acquaintance responded, Phil was shocked to hear the young man say that what he had heard was most offensive and further, if Phil wanted to build up the church he should focus on love instead of the majesty and holiness of a God who frowned on sin.
Like a lot of churches, we could take this man's advice and do what the institutional growth congregations do, downplay the truth of the Scriptures and never tell people why Jesus died. As we work into the supposed offensiveness of the Gospel message, we shall consider three reasons for the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
First, the death of Jesus was due to the opposition of the Orthodox Jews. Second, the death of Christ was the result of perfect obedience on the part of the Lord's anointed. Third, the death of our Lord was a necessary part of the will of the Father, who saw the need for this atonement even before time. May we consider these reasons prayerfully in turn this morning. READ - Mark 3: 1-6 This was one of many such incidents in the life of Jesus. The Sanhedrin had sent a deputation to the Synagogue that Saturday to investigate this man from Nazareth. Certainly, it was their duty to deal with anyone who was likely to mislead the people and seduce them from the correct teachings. So that is why they had come. The last thing they had on their minds was worship and learning. They intended to scrutinize Jesus' every action. In the medical situation which Jesus brought before them, the Sanhedrin would allow only medical attention to save a life in danger. The most that could be done on the Sabbath was to prevent an illness or injury from becoming worse. So, these manmade laws of the Sanhedrin were challenged by the Lord of life. "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" , He asked. When they refused to answer, He went ahead and healed the man with the withered hand. The Sanhedrin members were so aghast that they missed the miracle and instead plotted to kill the One who would trifle with their heavy load of regulations. For this Jesus would die.
READ - Mark 10: 32-34 & 45 By this time in the gospel story, Jesus and His disciples were on their last journey to Jerusalem. The disciples are amazed here of His resolute stride towards the danger and possible death in the holy city. Three times Mark reports that Jesus foretold the things that must happen and in each telling the warnings and forecasts grow grimmer. If Jesus had only been human, He could have avoided the cross. He could have stayed in Galilee, He could have slipped into Jerusalem quietly. But, no - He had an appointment and what He did, He did deliberately and publicly. From Mark's gospel it is clear that Jesus knew what He was doing. In our last verse from this chapter He clearly enunciates His purpose: "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
READ - Mark 14: 32-36 In this scene we see that the reality of the crucifixion scared Him deeply. Yet, He submitted to the will of the Father whom He calls in the colloquial Aramaic language "Daddy". The very Son of the Sovereign God of the universe, went to the cross in perfect obedience. There He suffered and died. In the words of an old hymn "He could have called 10,000 Angels, but He died alone for you and me."
Why did Jesus die on the cross? Certainly, because of the reasons we have reviewed. But there is a much greater reason for which the gospels were written. He died on the cross because we are all sinners, because we like all men since the beginning of time need His atoning blood to cover over our sins. Why did Jesus die? For all of the historical and theological reasons ever written and preached about. Even the lost and wicked can understand plain English and appreciate the literate arguments of the first century Christians. But, what too many cannot comprehend is the fact that just as Isaiah predicted centuries before - our Lord Jesus Christ died for you and for me. Hear the gospel message from the prophet Isaiah:
"Surely he took up our
infirmities and carried
our
sorrows,
yet we considered
him stricken by God, smitten by him, and
afflicted.
But he was pierced
for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities;
the punishment that
brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are
healed.
We all, like sheep,
have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own
way;
and the Lord has
laid on him the iniquity of us all."
With all of that said, we can look back to five verses in the fourteenth chapter of Mark to get a sense of the worldly reaction and mindset that we started with. READ: Mark 14: 27-31. It is not often that I turn to the old King James Version. However, in this passage it is most appropriate. It brings out the best sense of the Greek word "skandalizein". Originally this Greek word meant the bait in a trap, or the stick which snapped a trap when it was stepped upon.
It is from this word that we get our scandal, which means properly: a pitfall or a stumbling block. In verse twenty-seven, the word has been translated as "offended". "And Jesus saith unto them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered."
The personal scandal Jesus is talking about may be understood in several examples: First: A few years ago, I was browsing through a novelty shop. I noticed a little wall hanging with a children's prayer. It was a copy of that popular prayer which used to be memorized by thousands of children in christian families. "Now I lay me down to sleep". As I read through it, I stumbled at the place where "if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take" should have been. It was gone! Evidently someone had exorcised that old calvinist phrase as being too offensive.
Second, when I was in Seminary, our Church Music Professor carefully indoctrinated as many who would listen, to disparage the "sacrilegious" use of hymns that offensively referred to the "blood of Jesus." To him, it was a scandalous reference to an Old Testament motif and an inappropriate reference to the role of Jesus Christ.
Third: It is in this same sense that Judas was offended with the "waste of perfume" early in this fourteenth chapter of Mark, when Jesus was anointed with precious perfume.
And fourth: It is in this sense that the disciples fail to comprehend the meaning of the last supper. The thought that Jesus could be betrayed and suffer and die was simply beyond possibility.
Jesus, however, rightly understands the frailty of our human nature. He quotes from Zechariah the fact of sheep scattering without a shepherd! In the face of this Peter and the others vehemently argue that He can trust completely in them, even unto death. Yet, within hours, the disciples cannot even keep their eyes open to watch and pray. When Judas returns to kiss his Lord, almost all flee in the face of armed strength. Even, Peter, who draws his sword, fails before first light.
In this chapter, Peter is indeed everyman! His failure is our failure. We have not kept awake in our "Churches" to notice what has been going on these last fifty years! We, like most of the disciples have been unwilling to draw even verbal weapons to protect our King's Kingdom. We, like Peter would rather deny our Lord whenever someone really accuses us of being Evangelical Christians. We read about our Christian brothers and sisters in other lands who are faced with persecution and restrictions, just because they are Christian. Yet here in America, where we have so much freedom, we fail to witness openly because of social pressure within and without the Church.
A few years ago, I was leading a small group of people around my home county hanging flyers on doorknobs. That was about the limit of their evangelism skill. At one of the first homes one pagan came running down the street after us cussing and screaming about invading his privacy. He was only one out of four thousand. Yet it was difficult to keep my group on task after that traumatic experience. Are we, like that pagan as well as Peter, Judas and the rest offended at the necessity for the New Covenant of Jesus' blood and righteousness. Are we offended because we, like Judas and the liberals find it hard to admit that we cannot save ourselves. Well do we need to consider the Lord's plan which Zechariah foretold centuries before. Zechariah 13: 7-9 "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!" declares the Lord Almighty. "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land," declares the Lord, "two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is our God.'"
We would rather focus upon our response there in the last verse: "and they will say, 'The Lord is our God.'" We would rather not dwell upon the Lord's actions that are a necessary preparation for our decision! Today, we need to relearn the implications of that old calvinist children's prayer; "If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." In this prayer, even if we are offended by the good news, we ask that if it is the Lord's intention to save us, that He send the Holy Spirit quickly to accomplish His will.
When the Spirit comes there is very much work that must be done within our hearts and minds. Our emotional and spiritual struggles may not present a pretty sight! In verse nine of Zechariah we see that those who will call on God's name are brought into the fire, refined like silver and tested like gold. These images refer to the very real struggles of knowing salvation and experiencing sanctification. I am reminded of a idealistic young teacher who wanted to share his love of the literature of Edgar Allan Poe with students. He spoke fondly of that author's poem where the Raven spoke "Nevermore". The students one day brought in a dead raven and laid it on his desk. When the teacher came in, he took one look, screamed in anguish and disappeared not only from the class room but from the county as well. His task of teaching was left behind because he was grossly offended!
In a completely different sense there is an opportunity for people to be greatly offended when they are invited into the Kingdom of our God and His Son Jesus Christ. That offense comes when we begin to comprehend the necessary fact of the death of Christ on the cross for our own particular sins. But very many people can get over that by assuming that after all they are really nice people deserving the final sacrifice of God's Son. The really offensive part of the Gospel comes when we begin to understand that Peter's and the other disciple's experience is our own in this passage. Without the Good Shepherd we have no hope whatsoever!
Say, what we will, unless the Lord goes before us we would all be scattered like lost sheep and disciples. However, if we will learn to trust completely in Him, we will not be dismayed. We will find in the course of having our offenses overcome that just as He promised to go before the disciples to Galilee, He has gone before us and provided for all our emotional and spiritual needs. May the Spirit of our Lord lead us to appreciate the fact that God indeed has a plan to overcome our natural tendencies to be offended just as He had a plan for Peter and all the rest who belong to our God and Father. Amen.
|
|
|
|
Barclay, William. |
Daily Study Bible:
Mark. |
|
Cole, Alan. |
Tyndale New Testament
Commentaries: |
|
Forsythe, Max |
Instuaratur Ruinae. |
|
"Bringing the Light of the Reformation to Scripture" (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995) |
|
|
B2b27 |
Pub: 1984, 91 & 95, 02 April 00 |