Peace on Earth

Luke 2:8-14.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 20, 2020.

I pray that you will have a wonderful Christmas this year because you have put your faith in Jesus.  If we thought we lacked peace in this world before now, 2020 has become a year to highlight that fact.  The turmoil of a pandemic that has spread worldwide has many in a panic.  The turmoil within the United States of America due to this, plus: the impeachment hearings, pandemic, race riots, and now questionable and corrupt elections, seems to be building.

If it weren’t for Jesus, there would not be a lot of hope in this world. Yet, there are many who are still doubling down on man’s ability to create Utopia without Jesus and God.  Mankind as a whole has rejected the path of peace that God the Father has offered it.  However, for all of those who embrace Jesus, we have peace with God, and we can have a peace that passes all understanding within our hearts because of it.

Let’s look at the story of the shepherds and hear the message that the angels brought that wonderful night.

When angels show up

Our story begins with shepherds doing normal shepherd things.  It is night and they are sleeping in the fields with their sheep.  Perhaps, they have a small fire to ward off the evening chill.  Suddenly an angel appears to them.  Now, the appearance of angels in the Bible is often accompanied by fright, which is often due to the unexpected suddenness of their appearance.  It is not generally what they look like that gives them away, but rather what they say and do.  Otherwise, we are often told that they look like men.

Hebrews 1:14 makes it clear that part of the job of angels is to serve those who will inherit salvation.  On this evening, God chose to send angels to these lowly shepherds in order to give them a message that is good.  However, it is not always a good thing when angels show up. 

These interdimensional beings are quite powerful.  God sometimes sends them to mete out judgment.  God sent two angels to Sodom in order to test their wickedness and to save Lot and his family.  In Genesis 19:13, the angel says that “the Lord has sent us to destroy it [Sodom and the surrounding cities].”  Yes, God gave the decree, but it is carried out by two angels. 

In 2 Kings 19, the Angel of the Lord slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night who were camped outside of Jerusalem in siege of it.  Also, the book of Revelation has the angels working hand in hand with Jesus in order to carry out his Trumpet Judgments, and the Bowls of Wrath.  Lastly, Jesus tells us that, at the end of the age, angels will gather out of the kingdom all those who practice lawlessness (Matthew 13:41).  Thus, when angels show up for judgment, it is a bad thing for those being judged.

Of course, that evening with the shepherd, God was giving grace to Israel and to the whole world.  When God sends angels for grace, it is good for those who are receiving it.  The angels were there to testify to a gracious message.  In fact, that is what the word angel means, “messenger.”  At first, there is one angel with the whole area lit up with what is described as the Lord’s glory.  Later, as if to emphasize the point, a multitude of the heavenly host, or army, join in at the end before all of them going back to heaven. 

It seems quite clear that the Old Testament prophets make the case that Israel did not merit the gift of the Messiah by their great loyalty and good works.  In case this seems uncharitable towards Israel, we can say that the other nations of the world had not merited it either.  These angels came bearing the news that the Messiah was now here to save mankind!  The statement is, “I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.”  Now, that was a glorious day!

When the Savior shows up

The incarnation is an amazing message in itself.  God does not send a servant, an angel, to do the great work of salvation.  Rather, He sends His Son who takes on the nature of a man in order to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.  Finally, after so many centuries of waiting for Messiah, he was there!

There is a certain parallel between how God is working with the Church today and what He was doing with Israel in those days.  Just as Israel waited centuries for the coming of Messiah, so the Church of Jesus is waiting for him to return.  And, just as it happened then, it will happen again.  Some will not be ready for his return.  We are in jeopardy of losing hope and surrendering to faithlessness and compromise.  Strengthen yourselves this morning because good things happen for those who are prepared for the arrival of Jesus the Christ, the Messiah.

The message of the angel states that a savior has been born that day in the city of David, which was Bethlehem.  The word for Savior and the verb, saving, that goes along with it are used throughout the Bible.  It is a general term that is understood best by the context.  For a person who is wounded or sick, a savior is one who heals and cures.  For a nation that is oppressed by an enemy, it a military deliverer who brings victory and freedom.  For a person who is in bondage spiritually, it is freedom and cleansing from that sin. 

Jesus is a savior in every way that the word can be used.  His emphasis in those days was to provide for our spiritual malady, and to weaken the power of our spiritual enemy.  One day he will return to set the world free from those who love wickedness, and the tyranny that results.  Though Jesus came as a Jew who was born within the kingdom of Judea, he had come to save Israel and anyone from the nations who would believe upon him, that is put their faith upon him.  So, each time you think that something needs fixing, either in your life or around you, rejoice that we have a mighty savior who has come and given us the greatest gift of God that we could desire, himself.  And, where the Lord is, there is freedom.

The angel also calls the Savior, Christ the Lord.  Christ is Greek and Messiah is Hebrew.  They both mean “anointed one.”  Jesus is anointed by God to be the perfect Voice of God, the perfect High Priest, and the perfect King.  Each of these roles were commenced with an anointing.  The outward ritual of anointing was to symbolize the spiritual anointing that God did Himself by His Holy Spirit.  The Spirit would be supplied to enable the person to fulfill the role that God had given them.  With Jesus, the Spirit of God was without measure.  He was not just a prophet, a high priest, and a king.  Rather, he was the final word, the final sacrifice, and the final coronation!

God had anointed him to be the Saving Lord for mankind.  He has the power to deliver us from ourselves and from the spiritual enemy that holds us captive.  One day, he will be Lord over all the earth.  The question today is this.  Is he lord of your life right now?  In Jesus, God has set the question before all people.  Here is your Savior.  Will you embrace him?  Let us fully embrace the Anointed One who is even now interceding on our behalf before the throne of God.

At this point, we have all of the angels showing up and saying, “Glory to God in the highest!”  Glory involves the opinion, or estimation that is held by others.  This can be congruent to the nature of the person or incongruent.  A person who is truly worthy of glory should receive glory from others and those who are not worthy, should receive none.  Yet, people often receive glory when they do not deserve it.

Our Father in Heaven is the most glorious being, and the incarnation of His Son on earth to save us is its ultimate proof.  However, not all beings in heaven or on earth glorify him as they should.  Here, the angels give glory to God who dwells in the highest place.  In the Old Testament, this is typically stated as “the Most High God.”  This statement is in contrast to the next statement.  God in the Highest place should receive glory because men who are on earth are receiving peace and goodwill.

At that point in history, both the Gentiles and Israel had proven that they do not deserve God’s goodness.  Yet here, we are told that peace and goodwill are now “among men.”  Jesus represents the peace of God, and is described in Isaiah 9 as the Prince of Peace.  He also represents the goodwill of God.  We should have received His wrath, but instead we get His favor and the most valuable thing that was dear to Him.  The word for “goodwill,” or “favor,” is related to the word for glory.  There is a poetic connection intended.  God thinks good things about us, or at least makes it possible.  And, therein lies the rub.  We must put our faith in Him and keep it there to have that peace and favor.

Today, the temptation is to view the message of the birth of Jesus as rubbish and no longer helpful.  It doesn’t look peaceful down here!  However, that is because multitudes are refusing to take hold of it.  Let me leave us with this.  Through Jesus, God has made peace available to you.  First, you have peace with Him.  You are no longer His enemy and under His judgment.  Instead, you are now under His favor because of your faith in Jesus, the Savior that He sent.  Second, this can give you peace in your heart in the midst of turmoil because God’s favor gives you a solid future, hope.  Do you have this hope today?  May God bring us all to the place where we see our sin, and yet also see His love giving us grace despite it.  Merry Christmas!

Peace on Earth audio

Arresting of Jesus

Mark 14:43-52.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 13, 2020.

We continue our walk through the Gospel according to Mark, and today we arrive at the point of the arrest of Jesus.  It is still the middle of the night, though we are not given the exact time.  Jesus and his disciples are at the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus has been praying.  At some point, Jesus tells Peter, James, and John upon waking them up that the betrayer is here.

Judas leads an arresting force to take Jesus

As Jesus is speaking, the arresting force comes on the scene.  It is led by Judas and Mark particularly notes that he is one of The Twelve.  To be betrayed requires someone who has been close to you.  We never speak of being betrayed by an enemy.  We expect them to try and harm us.  Judas had been chosen by Jesus, participated in all that the disciples did, and was loved by Christ until the end.  The Bible tells us that, even when Jesus chose Judas, he already knew what he was and what he would do.  John 6:70 states, “Did I not choose you, and one of you is a devil?”  John places this immediately after a statement from Peter that The Twelve had come to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Later in John 18:9, Jesus prays, “Of those whom you gave me, I have lost none.”  This implies that Judas was never one that God had given Jesus.  Jesus chose him on purpose.  There needed to be a betrayer.  Still, few things sting quite so badly as being betrayed by those you treated well.

To add insult to injury, the group coming to get Jesus is armed to the gills with swords, clubs, and a lot of man-power.  Just from the situation alone, we could expect at least 2 to 3 men per Jesus and his disciples, without Judas.  This would be a force of over 20 to 30 men.  It is interesting that the word used in John 18:3 and translated as a “detachment of troops,” is a technical term for at least 200 men.  We cannot be completely sure John was using it technically, but we will leave it at that.  John also tells us that they carried torches and lamps, which would make sense since it is the middle of the dark and not inside the city.  Jesus will emphasize the ludicrous nature of this huge arrest party later, so I will leave it here.

Judas has worked out a signal for the group that would identify which of the men is Jesus.  It is dark and there are at least eleven of them who have a vested interest in protecting Jesus.  So, this does make some sense.  However, Judas chooses a kiss of greeting as his signal.  Thus, Judas comes up to Jesus and addresses him as Rabbi, which means teacher, and gives him a customary kiss.  The Gospels of Matthew and Luke give a few lines from Jesus to Judas that Mark does not record.  It is unclear whether Jesus asks this as a question or a statement, but it doesn’t change it in the end.  “Friend, do what you have come to do.”  The second is this.  “Judas, are you betraying me with a kiss?”

For his part, Jesus had treated Judas as a friend, and given him a friend’s place near him.  Yet, Judas uses something that should be a good thing, an intimate thing, to portend something that is bad.  O friend, beware the kisses of this world.  Many pretend closeness, but they are all about their own gain and advancement.  Politics may make strange bed-fellows, but they generally will stab each other in the back in the end.  We can choose to obsess over who may betray us, but Jesus shows us that this need not be our concern.  Betrayals will occur, and it is not my job to determine ahead of time in order to stop them.  If God is our guide then He will also be our guard.  And, if anything gets through His guard then He is working it for our good.  Part of the problem that Judas has is that he cannot see how Jesus is working things for the good of Judas.  He takes matters into his own hands and betrays Jesus for his own personal ends.  To follow Jesus in this matter requires us to have faith in God over the top of our hurt feelings.

A confrontation occurs

As the men move to seize Jesus, a confrontation occurs.  Before we follow this account, let me remind us of the added detail that is given in John 18:4-8.  There, Jesus asks the men who they are seeking and then answers, “I am.”  We are then told that the men drew back and fell to the ground.  By the way, I would not assume that this means ever single person in the arresting party, especially if there are 200 of them.  Regardless, when they get up, Jesus asks them again and then tells them again, “I have told you that I am.  Now, most translations will have Jesus saying “I am he.”  However, the pronoun he is not actually in the Greek.  It simply says I am.  Of course, many languages allow and employ assumed words within discourse.  Yet, the forceful falling backwards of the men (at least those directly around Jesus) gives a strange emphasis to his words.  The Hebrew name of God given to Moses at the burning bush was in Hebrew Yahweh, I am.  Two things are accomplished by this.  Jesus signals to us just who he really is, and how easily he could get out of this predicament.  Second, it focuses the men on him so that they will be more likely to let the disciples go.

But, let’s get back to Mark.  As the men begin to lay hold of Jesus, Peter uses a sword to strike at one of the men.  He ends up cutting off the ear of Malchus the High Priest’s servant.  No doubt, Malchus was there to represent the High Priest, and make sure all went well.  Though Mark leaves it at that, Luke tells us that Jesus healed the man’s ear.  This would be similar to a police officer being knifed by a guy when arresting his friend.  However, the friend then comes over and heals the knife wound.  Wow, what would you do with that as a police officer?  Here we see that Jesus had no ill-will towards these men.  They are only the blind following blind guides.  It is the authorities who sent them that have the true guilt.  We should also remember that when Jesus talked to them about having a sword earlier that night, he did not mean to protect him from being arrested.  Even when Jesus was suffering injustice, he was gracious.  How can this be?  For the one who is in God’s hand, injustice is never permanent because God oversee it all.  The day of setting all things right may be in the future, but God has guaranteed it to mankind.

Jesus actually gives two rebukes here, although Mark only records a rebuke of the arresting force.  In Matthew 26:52, Jesus rebukes Peter.  “Put your sword away.  All who live by the sword will die by it.”  Peter was a man of action and wanted to stop this injustice from occurring, but this is not God’s way.  Jesus also states, “I can pray and receive 12 legions of angels.”  Note: 1 legion was typically 6,000 foot-soldiers and 700 as cavalry.  That would be nearly 84,000 angels.  An extremely large force to say the least.  Jesus was probably not emphasizing the exact number, but rather the overwhelming force.  We should also keep in mind that one angel slew 185,000 Syrians in one night in 2 Kings 19:35.  No earthly forces, nor any fallen spiritual forces can actually do anything to Jesus save he allow it.  Lastly, Jesus says to his disciples, “Shall I not drink the cup that my Father has given me?”  He can come all this way for this purpose, and now he would balk?  No.  Jesus would press on.

Jesus also rebukes those leading the arresting party, as Mark records.  They could have arrested him any time during the day at the temple.  Why did they wait for now?  Jesus was not known to be an outlaw in any way.  Why a huge force with swords and clubs?  This is most likely projection on their part.  The wicked are always afraid that others are just like them in their hearts.  Thus, they trust no one.  Luke adds the words, “But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”  Jesus connects the hour of the arrest with the spiritual darkness with which they were in league.  In these last days, a great darkness called by Paul, “The Lie,” and “A Strong Delusion,” is coming.  It will be a time where the powers of darkness will have their way for a season.  Children of the light never need to be afraid of the powers of darkness, not because it cannot touch us, but because God is our defense and our vindicator.

At this point, Jesus is bound and taken away.  He has told the guards to let the disciples go, and they seem happy to have him alone.  Their arrest order was apparently only for Jesus.  Of course, if they had understood what those eleven men would do later, the leaders would have had them all seized and executed, but this was not in God’s plan.  Let us remember that God is always in control, even when the forces of darkness are having their way.  It is difficult to rest in that belief in chaotic times like they were seeing and that we are seeing today.  However, it is possible, and it is the gift that God gives to us if we will seek it through faith.

The disciples abandon Jesus

At this point, all of the disciples forsake Jesus and flee.  On one hand it was fine for them to leave Jesus because that is what he wanted and what the Father had decreed.  It was not their time to be arrested and die.  On the other hand, they vehemently insisted that they would stand with Jesus just hours ago.  They are doing in the flesh, what was proper to do by the Spirit of God.  What I mean is that we can do the right thing, but for the wrong reasons.  It is a good thing that God loves us, disciplines us, and restores us to him in grace.

In verses 51 to 53, we have a strange part of the story that is unique to Mark.  There is a young man who is obviously not one of the disciples.  The term means a young servant who is typically in the teens.  The fact that he only has a linen covering seems to imply that he had been in bed, and had hurriedly covered himself to see what would happen.  This is not one of The Twelve.  In short, it is believed by many that this is Mark himself, though we cannot be sure.  The arresting party may have stopped by the place of the last supper first.  This would have wakened up the household and made them aware of the desire to arrest Jesus.  Mark may have been following the party to see what would happen and is nearly grabbed as he tries to continue his following after the arrest.  Of course, we are told that he slips away without his linen covering.  Why would Mark record this?  One conjecture is that Mark couldn’t describe the failures of his betters without including his own failure in the moment, though he leaves it anonymous.  Of course, we all fail at times.  Yet, the Lord loves us and promises restoration to those who love him.  And, this is what the world does.  It challenges your love for Jesus.  Will we love him and follow him, or will we run away from him?  And, if we run away from him, will we go to destruction like Judas, or will we be restored like these men were?  The disciples ran away, but in that isolated place, they met the resurrected Lord and that made all the difference.  May God strengthen us and remind us that we serve the Lord of Life who has conquered death.  Amen!

Arresting audio

The Sheep Will Scatter

Mark 14:27-31.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 29, 2020.

Although our passage is immediately about the events leading up to the crucifixion, it also points to all those places along the path of our walk of faith where our faith will be tested.  We can call this the crucible.  The crucible is a place where we are melted down and the impurities float to the surface.  The purpose is to remove the impurities identified in that event.  The crucible experience always asks the question, “Will you continue to follow Jesus, or will you stumble?”  Or, in the words of John 6:67, “Do you also want to go away?”

The truth is that we all stumble at times in this walk of faith.  The real point is whether or not we will stumble to the point of falling away completely.  I pray that you will remain loyal to the Lord Jesus in the days ahead regardless of any stumblings.

We are living in a time where no people on earth are going to be able to escape the trap that the whole world is heading into.  You can escape its destruction, but the trap will be there nonetheless.  The wonderful news is that in Jesus there is a way through the trap.  You can’t avoid it, but you can be saved through it by putting your trust in Jesus completely, by letting your fears and idols be purged from your life in the refiner’s fire of these times, and by clinging to him, no matter what.

Let’s look at our passage.

Jesus tells the disciples that they will be made to stumble

This discussion seems to take place on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mt. of Olives, east of Jerusalem.  Jesus tells his disciples that they will all stumble because of him this very night.  This word for stumble is the same word that Jesus used when John the Baptist was in prison.  John was having second thoughts on whether he was right about Jesus.  Thus, he sends his disciples to Jesus with the question, “Are you the Coming One, or do we wait for another?”  Jesus tells them to tell John the miraculous stuff that he is doing, but then ends with this statement.  “Blessed is he who is not offended because of me.”  This gives the wrong impression to us today, one of a person’s feelings being hurt.  It would be better translated as this, “Blessed is he who is not made to stumble because of me.”  Jesus is using the Old Testament stumbling block imagery we find throughout the prophets (see Isaiah 8:14-15 and its context).

The stumbling that is being referred to is a spiritual stumbling, and is tied into the Greek term for a stumbling block, skandalon.  This actually points to a whole series of things.  To stumble is to waver in our faith in such a way that we lose our balance on the path of following the Lord.  This can lead to a person falling to the side of the path, even landing on the ground, injured.  If the problem is not rectified at each point of the situation then it can lead not only to falling off the path, but a person may continue on an alternate path that does not follow the Lord, that is either deception, or apostasy (leaving the faith completely). 

Stumbling and falling away are spiritual terms that Paul uses in Romans 11 when he explains what God is doing with national Israel.  As a nation, Israel had stumbled and fallen away from the path of God.  To some of the early Christians, it appeared that God was replacing Israel with the Church and that Israel would be no more.  Paul explains that the fall of Israel was not for nothing.  It had opened the door for the Gospel to be sent to all the nations, and, when this time of the Gentiles was completed, God would open the eyes of natural Israel that they may believe in Jesus the Messiah.  Of course, through the centuries, anyone of natural Israel could believe on Jesus and be recovered, but they would not be recovered to the faith as a nation until the end times.  This is what Isaiah is talking about in chapter 8 and is what Jesus means.

Before they can protest this statement, Jesus quotes Zechariah 13:7.  This is an interesting passage.  In chapter 12 of Zechariah, he talks about Israel, “they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son.”  This is in the context of a great salvation from many, if not all, of the nations of the earth marshalled against her.  Zechariah 14 actually describes the second coming of Jesus, which also spares Jerusalem from total destruction.  However, in Zechariah 13, nestled in between those other chapters, God calls upon one who is “My Shepherd, and My Companion (or Associate).”  It pictures the shepherd (the good shepherd) that God sent to teach and to lead Israel (this shepherd who was a close companion to God, being struck and the people of Israel (his sheep) being scattered.

It is interesting that Zechariah doesn’t mention stumbling in the verse Jesus quotes, only “scattering.”  The prophets not only spoke of stumbling, but also of falling, broken, snared, and taken.  It speaks of such a bad stumbling that Israel is removed from the land and scattered throughout the nations.  A scattering that only Messiah could recover.  This the verse in Isaiah 8:14-15.

“He will be a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken.”

Yet, in Luke 21:35, Jesus says, “[The Day of the Lord] will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.”  It is not just the disciples of the days of Jesus that need to beware spiritual traps that lead to us being snared.  Jesus promises that the trap is not done.  There is a great end times trap that has been set by the Lord.  This world is quickly rushing headlong into it.  The only ones that will survive are those who put their full faith in Jesus and do not stumble to the point of not recovering.  God help us to keep our bearings, not to be deceived, nor to lose faith in Jesus.

Jesus then tells them that he will go ahead of them to Galilee after he is resurrected.  This helps us to understand why Jesus was telling them that they would stumble.  His purpose was not to rub their nose in their coming failure, nor to tell them what a bunch of losers they are.  Jesus is not vindictive and angry at their weakness.  He had told them many times that he would be killed in Jerusalem, and yet, rise on the third day.  Now, he is adding that he will meet them in Galilee afterwards.  Yes, the sheep will scatter when God’s shepherd is struck, but then the Good Shepherd (who was struck on our behalf) will rise up and seek out his sheep who were scattered “on a dark and cloudy day.”

We have our own dark and cloudy days, not just on the horizon, but even now.  These are times of testing in which all of us have our times of wavering in faith.  The Spirit of Jesus is here today, drawing us to his side, saying, “Stand with me and I will give you rest.”  For those who stumble, we are called to help them to keep their balance, and keep walking in faith.  Even those who fall to the side of the path, we are to warn them of the destruction, bandage their wounds, and help them back into the way of the Lord. 

There is a great falling away from the truth of God and His Messiah that is moving throughout the earth.  We must guard our hearts and prepare for greater storms yet.

It is at this point that Peter protests what Jesus is saying.  True to form, Peter is only saying what he wants to be true.  “Even if everyone else is made to stumble, I will not be made to stumble!”  This sounds like a great statement of faith, similar to Joshua’s, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”  However, Joshua spoke his statement as a battle-hardened warrior who had been fighting the battles of the LORD.  For him, it was not bravado, but a faith that had been tried in the furnace and purified.  Peter and the disciples were still wet behind the ears.  They were only now headed into the first of many furnaces that lay ahead for them.  In fact, in Luke 22:31, Jesus tells Peter that “Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.”  Like with Job, Satan had requested to try Peter and his pretentious words.

Jesus prophesies that Peter will deny him three times before the rooster crows a second time that very evening.  Peter and the other disciples then vehemently protest this statement.  I know that in your heart you may want to be something great for Jesus, but be warned.  We are only now in a time of furnace that is itself what purifies our motives and hearts.  These are not the times to be talking smack, but rather to be removing the impurities that come to the surface. Jesus knows that we are weak and frail in ourselves.  Without him we are fodder for the enemy.  Yet, he loves us.  In Luke, Jesus tells Peter a wonderful thing in this exchange.  He says, “I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”  How beautiful is that?  When we couple this statement with the events after the resurrection in John chapter 21, they are like bookends of the love and forgiveness of Jesus.  He is not expecting you to be a robotic faith machine.  He loves you; He will not forsake you; He has prayed for you that your faith will not fail!  Yes, the sheep will scatter, but in the Name of Jesus we are empowered and authorized to go out into all the world and draw God’s sheep back into the fold.  Amen!

Sheep Scatter audio

A Last Meal Together

We will have the audio uploaded shortly.

Mark 14:12-21.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 01, 2020.

You do not always know when you are having your last meal with someone that you love.  Whether it is they who will pass on or you, the meaning of the moment becomes so much more important than normal.  Meals with loved ones can be simultaneously an intimate event and yet also an everyday occurrence to which we often fail to give a second thought.

Jesus knew that this was to be his last meal with his disciples.  However, it is more than just a normal meal; it is a Passover meal celebrating that night in Egypt when the Death Angel passed over those who had the blood of the lamb on the door-post of their dwelling.

On top of this, it was a troubling time for Jesus and would become so for his disciples too.  There was a betrayer among The Twelve, and Jesus would soon be put to death in an agonizing, excruciating way.  It is tough to have grace under pressure, but it is even harder when you know that someone plans to stab you in the back.

Let us not forget that we live in a time of testing.  We will stand with Jesus, or we will sell him out for 30 pieces of silver.  As we approach closer and closer to the end times, we will find that the spirit of Judas, the spirit of this age, is not done testing and seducing those who follow Christ.  I pray that you and I will be found as those who trust the Lord regardless of who abandons ship, and regardless of how difficult the path ahead may become.

Let’s look at our passage.

The last Passover with Jesus

The Passover meal commemorated the 10^th and last plague that had come upon Egypt over 1,400 years earlier than this.  God had sent the death angel throughout the land to kill all who were a firstborn of their families.  Israel was not to be exempted from this unless they had sacrificed a lamb, applied its blood to the door-posts of their house, and had eaten it in a meal cooked in fire.

Passover was one of the feasts of the Lord.  However, another word is used of them in Scripture.  They are also called moed (mow-‘ade) and the plural being moedim.  It refers to an appointed time of the Lord, but also has connotations of an appointed signal or sign.  Thus, it became clear to the early Church that the feasts or appointed times of the Lord had been enactments of prophetic things that pertained to the coming of Messiah, his great harvest in the Church, and his return.  The celebrations are themselves prophetic in nature.

It was fitting that this last Passover meal would be on the eve of the death of Jesus because, as John the Baptist said, he was the Lamb of God who had come to take away the sins of the world and spare us from eternal death.  Israel’s deliverance from Egypt had been a prophetic enactment of the salvation that Jesus the Messiah would accomplish for the whole world, delivering us from slavery to our sins and to Satan who is the Pharaoh of this world.

We are told that this is happening on the first day of Unleavened Bread “when the Passover Lamb was slain.”  This may appear to be a mistake by Mark at first glance.  Passover was to happen on the 14^th day of Israel’s month Aviv (later called Nisan).  Unleavened Bread was a seven-day celebration that started on the 15^th of Aviv and went until the 21^st.  I want to walk through some issues concerning the timing of these feasts because some think that there are contradictions in these accounts.

How can Jesus eat the Passover with his disciples one night and then the next day we are told that the religious leaders would not enter the Praetorium of Pilate, lest they be defiled and not able to eat the Passover?  Shouldn’t they have eaten it the night before like Jesus did?  Several issues are involved that add to the complexities of unwinding the timeline of what exactly happened: the way terms were used, the timing of the calendar year, and the timing of the Passover meal.  Let’s look at them separately, but quickly.

Passover would be on the 14^th of Aviv and Unleavened Bread would be another seven days (15^th-21^st).  This would be a total of eight days.  Over time, it became common to use the term Unleavened Bread to refer to all eight days.  Sometimes, even the term Passover was used for all eight days.  Though the events were clear to the original disciples and those to whom they related the events, the descriptions beg a greater context that we do not know.  By definition, it is clear that the first day of Unleavened Bread mentioned in verse 12 must be actually referring to Aviv 14, Passover.  So, though it may look like an error to say that the Passover lamb is killed on the first day of Unleavened Bread, it really isn’t because of the way the phrase was used in first century Judea.

The Essenes were a group that had separated from Jerusalem into the desert place we call Qumran around the 160’s BC.  Israel was dominated by the Greeks during this time and several High Priests had begun to adopt the Greek calendar.  By changing the way that the new year was calculated, the Essenes believed that Israel was no longer celebrating the feasts on the proper days.  Though the successful uprising of Judah Maccabee gave Judah a semblance of freedom, the priests continued to follow this Greek calendar.  We do not know what Jesus thought about these issues.  At least one group disagreed with the official date of the Passover and would perform their meals on a different day.

Another issue rose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  The Sadducees held to an older way of keeping the feast.  It is important to note that the Hebrew date switches when the sun goes below the horizon.  Let’s use the time of 6 PM to serve as a chronological way to speak of the beginning of twilight.  The old way would wait until the end of the day of Aviv 13 when it began to be dark.  During this twilight, they would sacrifice the Passover lamb, which would now be Aviv 14.  The lamb or goat would then be cooked over a fire and eaten that night.  Nothing could be left over to the morning, which would still be Aviv 14.

This is different than the Pharisees.  The Pharisees had slowly taken control of the majority of Israel.  It was their system that was the official system at the crucifixion of Jesus.  They believed that the lamb should be killed after noon (usually 3 PM) on Aviv 14.  They would also eat the Passover meal after dark, but for them it would be Aviv 15 now.  Though they officially observed the Passover meal on the 15^th of Aviv, there were some who would keep the feast the night before, Aviv 14.  Again, we do not know what Jesus thought about this.  It is possible that he is following the older model rather than the Pharisee-model, but we are not exactly told this in the Bible.

The point in going through this is to show that the issues are far more complex than we realize, and we are not given enough information in the Bible to clear this up.  Sure, the early disciples perfectly understood these issues, but it was not important enough to them to detail.  Was Jesus doing the Passover the night before, or was John talking about other meals that would happen on the High Holy Days of Unleavened Bread and simply using the term Passover meal to refer to any meal that happened during these feasts?  We may never know at this point.  However, we do know that these are not contradictions.

Jesus is asked where they are going to celebrate the Passover meal.  The answer that Jesus gives is reminiscent of his instruction to the disciples to get the donkey that he rode during the Triumphal Entry.  It may be that Jesus is being cryptic on purpose so that Judas cannot tell the religious leaders where they can ambush Jesus.  Regardless, Jesus tells them to go into the city and that they would eventually see a man carrying a water pitcher.  We are told by those who know the culture of this time that this would be an oddity.  This would be considered women’s work, and men carried water in animal skins.  So, this would stick out in the middle of a busy Jerusalem.  They were to follow this man to the place that he enters and then ask the master of the place to let them use a large room that he had already for the feast.  From the other Gospels, we are told that two of the disciples follow these instructions and prepare the Passover meal.  They would then go get Jesus and the other disciples in order to bring them to the place after dark.  It was very common for people in Jerusalem to rent out rooms during the feasts for those who were not from Jerusalem.  This owner appears to donate it to the Lord and his disciples, most likely as a follower of Jesus, or at least, a sympathizer.

From the other Gospels, it seems that Jesus references a betrayer several times throughout the night.  It isn’t entirely clear that there aren’t other disciples besides The Twelve, perhaps serving etc.  Passover was not a time that was about the temple compound.  It was a family or multiple family affair that happened at home.  It was to be prepared by the family, eaten quickly during the dark, as if ready to leave Egypt at a moments notice.  This represents how we should not take our duty to apply the True Passover, Jesus, to our lives by faith in him.  We are to live our lives trusting in his salvation, trusting in his commands, and ready to leave this world at a moments notice, whether through our death or the rapture.  This would be the ultimate rescue from the Egypt of this world.  This is an intimate affair, and Jesus is revealing that one of his closest disciples would betray him, one who was dipping in the dish with him, as if they were family.

This sets up a scene of being both flabbergasted and asking who it will be.  “Is it I,” they all say.  Jesus then teaches them a valuable lesson.  The death of Jesus would be a fulfillment of prophecy and therefore had to happen.  However, it is not the job of believers to try and fulfill prophecy unless the Lord has commanded it.  The horrendous betrayal of Judas cannot be excused or moralized by stating that he was doing God’s will.  It was God’s will that Jesus die on the cross, but it cannot be said that God wanted anyone in particular to be the one to do it.  In His wisdom, He knows that there will be wicked men that is why Jesus is there in the first place.  It is going to happen, but the question is will it be through you?  Judas would have no excuse.  He was doing what he was doing, not for righteous reasons, but for personal and selfish reasons.  Later in the Garden of Gethsemane, we are given another phrase from our Lord.  “You betray me with a kiss?”  True to life, those who are closest to the Lord outwardly are most able to betray him.  They do so first inwardly, but eventually it will also be outwardly.  Woe to the person who betrays the Son of Man.  It would be better for that person if he had never been born.  Friend, I warn you now that there are betrayals happening in the Church of Jesus every day.  Some of the betrayers are lay people, others are pastors, presbyters, superintendents, and even popes.  Woe to such people, and woe to anyone who will follow them.  God help us to cling to Jesus regardless of how bad the road ahead becomes because he has shown us once and for all that the way of the cross is the way of eternal life!

Last Meal audio