Mark: The Divine Standard
of Service – 14: 1 - 16: 20

In His second prediction, Jesus had introduced the theme of betrayal – "delivered into men's hands".

• He continues this theme in the third prediction and identifies those to whom He would be delivered up as "the chief priests" and "the scribes".
  • However, He does not name His betrayer in either of the predictions.

The betrayer has already been identified as one of the twelve, whom Jesus appointed to be "with Him" – "Judas Iscariote, who also delivered Him up", 3: 14, 19.

• But now at last the betrayer, long dormant, is aroused by the spirit of devotion that marked God's Servant and those who surround Him at this critical juncture, the lull before the storm of sufferings.

• The spirit of devotion also exposes the weaknesses of the other disciples. Let us then carefully observe and take heed to ourselves.

Although they had been unable to "catch Him in speaking", "the chief priests and the scribes" had not abandoned their earlier plans to kill Jesus.

• See chapter 11: 27-12: 37 and 3: 6; 11: 18.

• "Now the passover and the feast of unleavened bread was after two days",

• and they had already "given commandment that if anyone knew where He was, he should make it known, that they might take Him", John 11: 47-57.

Fearing the reaction of the crowds, they wanted to "seize Him by subtlety" in secrecy "and kill Him" before the feast.

• Such is the atmosphere of hatred and plotting in Jerusalem as Jesus, with His disciples,seeks and finds sanctuary nearby "in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper".

"As He lay at table," at a dinner in His honour, John 12: 2 "there came a woman having an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly; and having broken the alabaster flask, she poured it out upon His head".

• This woman is the moral continuation of the "poor widow", 12: 41-44.

• Just as the widow gave all she had – "the whole of her living" – to support the service of God,
  • so this woman gives her all in an act of entire devotion to God's Servant and with the spiritual intelligence of what His devotion would involve.

There are still those who display a total ignorance of the supreme importance of surrendering all in devotion and worship to Christ,

• esteeming gospel efforts and social programmes more highly than that which is for His heart alone.

• Such take pride in their own service, but make no move to give their all for the poor, let alone for Christ.

• They are marked by the spirit of those false servants, the scribes, whose every act is calculated to secure glory for themselves.

Jesus defends the woman and her "good work" as to Him.

• She did not talk about what could have been done with someone else's substance, as did some who were "indignant in themselves";
  • but, "What she could she has done".

• He values her devotion so highly that He institutes a "memorial of her", deferring to this devoted soul rather than Himself.

• He does this according to Matthew as well as Mark, neither of whom mention "remembrance" as Luke does in reference to the loaf, and which Paul extends to the cup.
  • See Matt. 26: 13; Luke 22: 19; 1 Cor. 11: 23-26.

This act of costly devotion and the Master's praise of that which some consider as a "waste" is too much for Judas Iscariote.

• He, although "one of the twelve", is noted as "a thief", John 12: 6.

• He is not prepared to be deprived of gain and slips away into the night to offer his service to deliver up Jesus to the chief priests.

• How true it is that "the love of money is the root of every evil; which some having aspired after, have wandered from the faith, and pierced themselves with many sorrows", 1 Timothy 6: 10.

• And so with the promise of money, Judas seeks an occasion to deliver up Jesus.

• The woman's fervent devotion to Christ exposes the viper in Judas' breast. Compare Acts 28: 3.

The time to observe the passover – the foreshadowing of the Servant's own sacrificial death – has arrived.

• The disciples are concerned about the physical arrangements, just as we are so often preoccupied with such necessary details.

Jesus, however, is concerned as to the indispensable moral and spiritual conditions, and this should always be our prime concern in relation to all our gatherings.

• Compare 1 Corinthians 5: 7-8.

• The "man … carrying a pitcher of water", the cleansing and refreshing character of spiritual ministry;

• "the master of the house", the recognition of the Lord's authority in His assembly;

• "a large upper room furnished ready", the expansive, heavenly and divinely ordered character of the sphere into which the Lord conducts us –
  • these holy matters should be our prime concern, along with the constant requirement for our own moral suitability.

Before Jesus introduces His own Supper, the gravity of the moment requires that He at last expose the presence of His betrayer, one so near as to be eating the passover with Him.

• The disciples, no longer "indignant in themselves" but grieved at the possibility of being Jesus' betrayer, "say to Him, one by one, Is it I?"

• Even at such a moment the Servant only reveals the character of the betrayer.
  • Grace, withholding the betrayer's name, would still lead to repentance. Compare Romans 2: 4.

Then – Judas had already gone out, John 13: 30 – in complete contrast to the betrayer's spirit of greed,

• Jesus expresses the depth of His own devotion to God's service.

• He would indeed give, as He says, "my body … my blood, that of the new covenant, that shed for many".

How right that the betrayer be put on notice before such a disclosure of the devotion of covenant love,

• before they join with Him in a final hymn of praise to God, before retiring to the mount of Olives – for us, the sphere of the Spirit.

On the way to the mount of Olives, Jesus speaks of the severity of the judgment He soon shall bear – "smite the shepherd" –

• and how that severity will affect the disciples, scattering them abroad.

• But He Himself, after He is risen will be their point of gathering in Galilee, the sphere of reproach far from the religious centre.

But Peter, in fleshly self-confidence, declares his unfailing devotion to Jesus, no matter what other lesser mortals may do.

• He professes his integrity and devotion "so much exceedingly the more" even in the face of Jesus' prediction of his imminent failure:
  • "Verily I say to thee, that thou today, in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt thrice deny me".

• Not to be left out, the others join Peter in proclaiming their readiness to die with Jesus.

Let us learn from this to mistrust ourselves and to speak cautiously and soberly, if at all, of our personal commitment to Christ and how far we are prepared to go for Him.

• Indeed, there have been many since the coming of the Spirit who have laid down their lives for Him, and others doubtless will, but never in fleshly self-confidence.

• The disciples' expressions of devotion will soon evaporate as they leave Him and flee for their lives, and then will come Peter's threefold denial of the devoted Servant.

They come to Gethsemane – meaning the oil press – the final test before the Servant suffers.

• Leaving the other disciples, Jesus takes the favoured three with Him and goes apart to pray. Compare the two previous occasions, chapter 5: 37; 9: 2.
  • On this dark night, have they realized yet that Judas was not with them – that he had not returned?

• The whole weight of what is ahead now presses heavily on His spirit. He is facing the meaning of death:

• the end of His service here for God, the excruciating physical pain, the humiliation before men and,

• above and beyond all, the bearing of the judgment of sin and sins as He is forsaken by His God!
  • The principle of lawlessness and the detailed lawless acts.

"And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to Thee: take away this cup from Me: but not what I will, but what Thou wilt".

• What a contrast to the fleshly self-confidence of the disciples, professing their readiness to die with Him and now unable to even stay awake and watch.

• "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak". Their utter weakness is exposed by the Servant's devotion to God's will.

Three times Jesus prays the same prayer, in holy abhorrence of the sin and sins He is to bear as standing in the place of judgment but uncompromisingly committed to God's will – the true Servant!

• "Behold, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me – To do Thy good pleasure, My God, is My delight, and Thy law is written within My heart", Psalm 40: 7.

• Just as this had been the governing principle of His life, it now becomes so in His death:
  • "Then I said, Lo, I come (in the roll of the book it is written of me) to do O God, Thy will … then He said, Lo, I come to do Thy will", Hebrews 10: 7-9.

He has faced the coming horrors before His God. His devotion has not wavered.

• The betrayer and the betrayal are at hand. He does not hesitate; He is resolute;

• He remains ever the true Servant, ready to "give His life a ransom for many", 10: 45. Let us wonder and adore!

The betrayer, who had earlier left the passover supper, knew where he would find Jesus – see John 13: 21-30; 18: 1-2 –

• and now appears at the head of an armed band to earn the coveted thirty pieces of silver he had already received in advance.
  • Compare 14: 10-11; Matthew 26: 14-16; 27: 3-10; Acts 1: 15-20.

Contrary to the imaginations and speculations of artists, who have boldly dared to portray Jesus,

• Compare 2 Corinthians 5: 16; 1 John 3: 2.

• "He hath no form nor lordliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him", Isaiah 53: 2.

• The darkness – "the night in which He was delivered up", 1 Corinthians 11: 23 – adds to the difficulty of recognizing Jesus, as does the presence of the disciples.

• The betrayer has arranged to identify Jesus, not by merely pointing Him out from a distance but by the unmistakeable sign of a kiss.

• He not only kisses Jesus but, his greed spurring him on, "he covered Him with kisses".

This ungrateful betrayer, he who had been among the chosen twelve, who also had received "power over unclean spirits", who had been trusted with carrying the money, who had the privilege of intimate friendship,

• performs this treacherous act of betrayal on the One who had only done him good!
  • Chapter 3: 19 (Acts 1: 15-22); 6: 7; John 12: 6; 13: 29.

How the Lord must have felt this cruel act of betrayal from one who had been so near to Him.

• "Yea, Mine own familiar friend, in whom I confided, who did eat of My bread, hath lifted up his heel against Me", Psalm 41: 9.

• "For it is not an enemy that hath reproached Me – then could I have borne it; neither is it he that hateth Me that hath magnified himself against Me – then would I have hidden Myself from him;

• "But it was thou, a man Mine equal, Mine intimate, My familiar friend … We who held sweet intercourse together. To the house of God we walked amid the throng", Psalm 55: 12-14.

There is no further reference to Judas in this gospel – even his remorse is omitted. Let all who take up public service be warned.

• Compare chapter 16: 14 – "He was manifested to the eleven"; Matthew 27: 3-10; 1 Corinthians 9: 27.

As Jesus is seized one of the disciples resorts to the sword, but Jesus "had done no violence", Isaiah 53: 9.

• Violence has been defined as "the last refuge of the incompetent".

Jesus first lays their wicked act upon their conscience and then submits,

• confident that as He has already submitted to the Father's will in Gethsemane so now all that transpires will be "that the Scriptures may be fulfilled".

• Then "all left Him and fled" for their lives. Their earlier vow evaporates:
  • "But he" i.e., Peter "said so much exceedingly the more, If I should have to die with Thee, I will in no wise deny Thee. And likewise said they all too", 14: 31.

• Without hesitation, the Servant goes forward alone.

The "young man",only noticed here by Mark, flees as well.

• He pulls out of the hands of those who seize him and "leaving the linen cloth behind him, fled from them naked".
  • The linen cloth left behind is not a testimony to righteousness here, as was Joseph's garment. See Genesis 39: 7-18.

• If the young man was actually Mark, this record may be a veiled confession by him of his own failure in service when he abandoned Paul and his company and did not go with them to the work.
  • See Acts 13: 5, 13; 15: 36-41.

• Again, let us take heed and be warned lest we be exposed when put to the test.

The fulfilment of the predictions continues to unfold. Jesus is arrested, it still being night, and is led away to the high priest.

• There "the chief priests and elders and scribes" assemble; the very ones Jesus foretold would reject Him, who had plotted to destroy Him,

• who had failed in their attempts to "catch Him in His speaking", are now assembled to condemn Him to death.
  • See chapter 3: 6; 8: 31; 10: 33; 11: 18; 12: 13-34.

• "Priests, that should plead for weakness, must Thine accusers be!", J.N.D.

Peter is there too, not on trial with Jesus who stands alone – as later also His servant Paul, 2 Timothy 4: 16-18 – but "warming himself in the light of the fire".

• Weak though he is, and will yet prove to be, Peter's attachment to Christ still held him.

• Unwilling to abandon Jesus altogether, yet afraid to openly identify himself with Him, Peter "followed Him at a distance".
  • We learn from John 19: 15-16 that John was also there, Peter having gained entrance through his means.

The mock trial begins, and the true Servant stands alone.

• They seek testimony to condemn the Servant to death. In spite of the clear prohibition, false witnesses come forward.
  • "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour". See Exodus 20: 16; Deuteronomy 5: 20; 19: 16-20.

• But their testimony does not agree and cannot stand the light of Scripture:
  • "One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, and for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth:

  • "at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established", Deuteronomy 19: 15.

Jesus' mission does not include defending Himself.

• The model for all true servants, He remains silent in face of all the charges.

• He only speaks when "the high priest asked Him, and says to Him, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?", Mark 14: 61.

• This is a matter of the truth and so He answers – but with a solemn prediction of future judgment which they ignore.

• They had failed earlier to "catch Him in speaking", but now they turn His words of truth into a charge of blasphemy.

• They condemn Him to death and, carried away with His surprise admission,
  • they vent their evil emotions upon Him in a sorrowful display of disregard for the Servant of the God they claimed to honour.

While Jesus was on trial, Peter was "below in the palace-court". He was there because of his attachment to Jesus –

• but his fear of the consequences of openly identifying himself with Jesus at this critical point overwhelmed his earlier commitment.
  • The thoroughness of Peter's repentance and recovery is shown in his charge against the Jews,

  • "But ye denied the holy and righteous one, and asked that a man that was a murderer should be granted to you", Acts 3: 14.

Not once, not twice, but three times Peter denies having been with Jesus or knowing Him – the third time vehemently.

• Peter's actions cannot be justified, but let us judge ourselves. Few, if any, have in this day been in such circumstances. Would we do any better?

Mark alone records Jesus saying "before the cock crow twice", 14: 29.

• This makes the denial all the more solemn, as if the first crowing was a warning – unheeded.

• If Mark received the details of his gospel through Peter, as some suggest, it also shows the depth of Peter's self-judgment.
  • Compare Acts 12: 11-12; 1 Peter 5: 13.

Jesus felt the betrayal by Judas keenly, but how much more intensely would he feel the threefold denial of Peter,

• who had "said so much exceedingly the more, If I should have to die with Thee, I will in nowise deny Thee", 14: 31.

• The fact that Jesus had foretold Peter's denial would in no way mitigate the pain.

After a life of service to God and to men, the climax of the Servant's mission approaches:

• "The Son of man did not come to be ministered to, but to minister, and give his life a ransom for many", 10:45.

• But as regards man's responsibility, Peter says,
  • "Him, given up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye, by the hand of lawless men, have crucified and slain", Acts 2: 23.

Jesus is led out to be crucified. He had been up all night and was further weakened by scourging, so weak that

• the soldiers "compel to go with them a certain passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, coming from the field, the father of Alexander and Rufus, that he might carry his cross".

Apart from Mark we would not know there was any fruit from the Servant's sufferings on the way to Golgotha –

• but "Simon … Alexander and Rufus" – all evidently sufficiently well known among the disciples to be named – were ultimately secured.

They come to the well-named "place of a skull" void of knowledge, for

• "the princes of this age … had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory", 1 Cor. 2: 8.

Jesus refuses the customary soporific for, as ever, God's Servant is committed to do God's will without mitigation.

• Then "they crucified Him" – with all the pain that involved – and without further thought callously divide his clothes among themselves.

Mark alone records "And it was the third hour" –9:00 a.m., according to the Roman reckoning of time – "and they crucified him".

The next three hours He suffers humilation at the hand of man.

• The accusation "the King of the Jews" is put up.

• A robber is crucified on either side of Him as if He too were a criminal.
  • But it was the greedy priests, who resented Him cleansing the temple of their commercializing and who had accused Him, who in fact robbed God and man.

• The casual passersby frivolously challenge Him to descend from the cross.

• The chief priests and the scribes, whom He had trounced in the temple, sweeten their vengeance by flippantly belittling His compassionate healing of so many.

• Then, in unbounded arrogance, they mockingly say that they would believe and accredit Him as the Christ, the King of Israel, if He came down from the cross.

• Even the robbers reproached Him. There is no modification here, as in Luke 23: 39-43.

• The Servant remains steadfast in His commitment, refusing to dignify any of man's gibes and insults by replying.

When unjustly accused or mocked it is easy to act in the flesh and retaliate.

• But as aspiring servants we must remember that "Christ also has suffered for you, leaving you a model that ye should follow in His steps …

• "who, when reviled, reviled not again; when suffering, threatened not; but gave Himself over into the hands of Him who judges righteously", 1 Peter 2: 21, 23.

Now comes that awesome second three hours – when He suffers at the hand of God.

• "And when the sixth hour was come, there came darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour".

• God hides His Servant from the eyes of men as He bears the holy judgment of God for sin and sins – not His own – at such a cost. As one poet said,
  The cost, that cry from Calv'ry's gloom –
  God's face averted while the knell
  Of soundless death, the curse, the tomb,
  Tolled through Thy soul, Immanuel!

• "And at the ninth hour" – the ninth hour, 3:00 p.m.. is "the hour of prayer", Acts 3: 1 – "Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,
  • Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" See Psalm 22: 1.

• Those who stand by misinterpret His cry. One soul, as ignorant as the rest, gives Him drink.

• This lone act of mercy, reserved until He has borne the full weight of divine justice, is not connected with the fulfilment of Scripture here as it is in John 19: 28-29.

"And Jesus, having uttered a loud cry, expired" – the Servant gives "His life a ransom for many", 10: 45.

• God's answer to that mighty cry came at once: "And the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom" – not to let men in, as many imagine,

• but "for the shewing forth of His righteousness in the present time, so that He should be just, and justify him that is of the faith of Jesus", Romans 3: 26.

• God comes out in grace.

How fitting that one of the nations, a hardened Roman centurion who had doubtless been in charge of many crucifixions,

• should be so affected that he says, "truly this man was Son of God".

John, who gives the burnt-offering aspect of the Lord's death, which is "for … acceptance" – see Leviticus 1: 3 – records some standing "by the cross of Jesus", 19: 25.

• But Mark – as Matthew and Luke – says the women looked on "from afar off".

• Mark stresses the severity of His sufferings as the sin-offering, and Matthew as the trespass-offering –
  • they alone give the cry of abandonment – at the end of the second three hours – as the only cry from the cross.

• Even Luke who portrays the Lord's death as the peace-offering mentions the "darkness", 23: 44-45.

We may – and should – have part in certain sufferings, but here in His vicarious suffering the Servant is alone!

• "To know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death", Philippians 3: 10.

• See also Romans 8: 17; 2 Timothy 2: 3; 1 Peter 4: 12-14; Revelation 1: 9.

• We cannot draw near to, or penetrate, those holy sufferings from the hand of God for sin – the lawless state of man – and for sins – the lawless acts of man.

Hymn 298: 3-4, by Malcolm W. Biggs,
Hymns and Spiritual Songs for
the Little Flock – Re-Selected 1973.

In God's righteous provision His Son, and His Servant, so recently treated with contempt, receives an honourable burial.

• Joseph of Arimathea comes forward at this critical moment to ask Pilate for the body of Jesus.

• He was a member of the council but he "had not assented to their counsel and deed", Luke 23: 51.

• Even as having access to Pilate, he "emboldened himself".

• In times of crisis and special need in the testimony we too, as servants, may have to embolden ourselves –
  • to "be strong in the Lord, and in the might of his strength", Ephesians 6: 10.

Having ascertained from the centurion that the Lord had died, Pilate releases the body to Joseph, who proceeds with the burial.

• Mark, in keeping with his object, gives only the main details.
  • A comparison with John shows that many details and much time was involved until completion of the burial.

"And Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of Joses" – the same as "the other Mary" and "Mary the wife of Clopas", Matthew 27: 61; John 19: 25 – "saw where he was put". Salome, 15: 40, is no longer with them.

The sabbath now over, the women perform their traditional task, buying and preparing spices "that they might come and embalm Him".

• Salome is now back with the two Marys after – as is supposed – having accompanied her sister Mary, the mother of our Lord, to comfort and support her when her own son John took her sister from the cross to his own home.
  • Salome is "the mother of the sons of Zebedee" and "the sister of His mother". Matthew 27: 55-56; Mark 15: 40-41; John 19: 25-27.

The stone, suddenly remembered as the unforeseen obstacle to fulfilling their final service of affection, had been rolled away.

• "A young man sitting on the right, clothed in a white robe", tells them "He is risen, He is not here", and gives them directions for "His disciples and Peter" which in their fear they do not relay.
  • Contrast the "certain young man" in chapter 14: 51-2.

• Peter is mentioned specially to make it clear that his denial of the Lord will not stand in the way of his restoration.

But "He is risen" indeed. The final and essential phase of His three predictions had taken place.

• It is not said that He was raised or that He had risen – both true historically – but that He Himself "is risen!" He is alive – in a new life, beyond death!

The appearances, which Mark briefly records here, are quickly confirmed by the Lord Himself – but at first were not believed.

Mary of Magdala is honoured with His first appearance. See John 20: 1, 11-18.

• Though she was alone when He appeared to her, the fact that she was the one "out of whom He had cast seven demons" – Luke 8: 2 – should have established her as a credible witness to the other disciples.

Even the manifestation to "two of them" – Luke 24: 13-35 – was not believed, in disregard of the divine principle:

• "at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established", Deuteronomy 19: 15.

Later, "as they lay at table He was manifested to the eleven, and reproached them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen him risen".

• "Eleven" was a broken number, soon to be restored to twelve. They would have been better occupied with mourning that one of their own number had betrayed the Lord than letting their hearts be hardened.

• The root of their unbelief is hardness of heart.

• Servants must not let discouraging events – as the death of the Lord must have been – make them insensitive to His movements through others.

Earlier the Lord had sent the twelve out on their first training mission – chapter 6: 7-13 "Sent Out – Service Successful" – but now they receive their full commission:

The Lord assures them of confirmation in their service.