Gethsemane and Trial; Dependability and Denial

Have you ever just blown it?

I mean, you meant to do the right thing. You were sincere. You knew, for once, what the right thing was. And you told several others about your good, bold plan. Maybe you even committed to God himself that you were going to get it right, quit that thing, or finally love well.

But then you didn’t.

What happened?

What happened next?

We all know what it’s like to fail. And often we respond to our failures with hopeful phrases like, “I’ll make it up to them” or “I’ve gotta redeem myself” or “I can make this right.”

But then we read Mark 14:26-42, and we realize that every effort to redeem ourselves is lost. Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, shows us beyond any doubt that there is only one way out of our brokenness–the way he made through his own suffering.

The good news is that he did not blow it.

Join us as we continue our journey through the week of the cross in the Gospel of Mark.

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Sermon Transcript

Grace Fellowship Church
Jon Stallsmith
Series: The King in the City
April 6, 2014

Gethsemane and Trial; Dependability and Denial
Mark 14:26-72

Well, good morning, and welcome to Grace. It is great to see you. We’ve been walking through the season of Lent, actually leading up to the celebration of the resurrection on Easter. It has been a really rich time in this series, The King in the City, following the life of Jesus in his final week in Jerusalem before going to the cross, Mark chapters 11-16.

If you have your Bibles, open up to Mark 14. We’re drawing closer and closer to the crucifixion. Next week is Palm Sunday. The week after that will be Easter. As you’re opening your Bibles, if you don’t have a Bible and you would like one in your hands, slip up your hand, and our faithful men will give you a Bible or a note sheet to track along, also.

As we’re coming up on Easter, the week between Palm Sunday and Easter is traditionally known as Holy Week in the church. Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Good Friday, is the evening when the church in its calendar has celebrated the Last Supper (we looked at that last week), the night before Jesus goes to the cross.

We are developing a really good tool for you guys with your groups, your families. We’ll have a DVD or even some videos online if you’d rather watch them that way that can help lead you through an evening together in your homes or wherever you’d like to meet. Maybe some of the rooms here at Grace if you’d like that also. But it’ll just walk you through step by step how to celebrate a Maundy Thursday gathering, a potluck meal together, praying, remembering Jesus in his crucifixion also. So that’ll be really sweet.

Just keep your eyes open for that and be thinking, “Who are the people in my life who I would want to gather with and share that kind of meal and read those Scriptures and just have a really sweet evening together?” Trust me; it’s low key. All you have to do is be able to have a potluck and push play on a DVD player, and I think it’ll be really sweet. I just want you guys to know that’s coming down the line. Then, of course, Good Friday. We’ll be worshiping here together at 6:30.

But as you’re turning to Mark 14, I was actually thinking a little bit this week about my wedding with Amy, especially the rehearsal dinner the night before, because we showed one of those classic slideshow videos. You know the ones with Jon as a baby growing up, growing up, growing up, and then Amy as a baby growing up, growing up, growing up. Then Jon and Amy together. There’s great music in the background. By the end of it, everybody’s crying. It was really sweet. I love those slideshows.

I was thinking about some of the pictures that made it into the slideshow of me. There’s the prerequisite baby picture, and then there’s Jon growing up and loving baseball. I’m the guy on the left, just to be clear. As we were looking at some of those pictures, Amy made the observation that through elementary and middle school, I actually was in costumes a lot. I don’t know what that was about, but a lot of things to dress up for.

But then, the inevitable happened. I think it probably happened to every one of us at a certain stage. We entered into that awkward age. Go ahead; you can take it down now. Maybe you remember the awkward stage of your life. I have a few pictures from that stage, and whenever I look at them, I shudder a little bit, “Oh my!”

I think we all probably have some pictures of ourselves somewhere (maybe in a hidden shoebox, or maybe they’ve just been consigned to the fire) that we do not like. Unless you’ve spent your life really working hard to make sure you’re on the taking side of the photo rather than the lens side of the camera, you probably have some pictures you don’t really like of yourself out there. We know that feeling.

It’s funny. Even just this week, we had our final KidzLife (LUG with the middle schoolers wrapped up two weeks ago) on Wednesday. We had all of the kids from KidzLife in here. There were just hundreds of kids. Beautiful. All the volunteers together. We remembered the great things God had done this year, the projects we’d been a part of, and the things the kids had raised money for, lots of different things… meals for children in Africa and Asia and all the rest…the verses we’d memorized, and the stuff God had taught us.

Then at the end as a celebration, we had seven or eight of the kids and one our volunteers who were baptized. So we have the baptismal right here on the floor. I was in the tub with the folks who were coming and going. All the kids were seated and we had the cameras going so they could see on the screens the baptisms. It’s really powerful, especially to have the kids. That’s one of the reasons we like to do baptisms in KidzLife so the kids are seeing it happen before them, and they’re going, “Oh, that’s what that means,” and explain it, of course.

But at a certain point, about halfway through the baptism, I looked up at the screens to see how it appeared to the kids, to make sure they could see it. As I looked up, the camera caught the back of my head. I don’t normally see the back of my head, and so when I looked up and saw the back of my head, I thought, “Hmm. I thought that was hairier. Huh. Yeah, yeah.” So I made a mental note never to look farther than this or this when I’m preaching. That’ll probably hold things off for some time.

A couple of days later, I actually felt a great sense of relief when I remembered that here at Grace the congregation has been very content with pastors without hair for quite some time. If you’re new to Grace, that’s funny because Buddy Hoffman, who is our Senior Pastor (he founded Grace 31 years ago and now is pioneering the church plant at Grace New Hope and asked me to lead while he’s there), has not had hair for quite some time, and he looks great with it. I figure if I end up in the bald court, that’s fine.

But still, in the back of my mind, I don’t love the idea of having thinning hair and it showing up on cameras. The point is that probably all of us have stuff about ourselves we don’t like others to see.

Not just physically, like a bad picture, but if you take it in a layer and think about what’s going on in your heart or in your soul at a soul level, we probably have thought patterns and reactions and ways of speaking and even just episodes, situations in our lives that if we had our way we would prefer no one ever saw them. In fact, it would just be better if that got tucked away or eliminated altogether.

Even if we’re able to keep others from seeing those portraits of ourselves, there is always the challenging reality of our own awareness of them that more often than we like to admit we disappoint ourselves. We intend to do better. We intend to be better. We’re often sincere. Nobody wants to end up as a bitter or unhappy or miserable or angry person.

It’s not like when you’re 11 years old someone asks you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and you say, “Bitter.” Nobody says that, and yet many of us wrestle with some of those things, and try as we might to maintain the external façade of handsomeness or beauty, inside we know there are certain portraits we’d rather no one see and we wish weren’t there at all.

Now the gospel of Mark. His writing style is kind of like he’s showing us pictures as well. It’s the shortest of all four of the Gospels. He doesn’t give us a lot of explanation. If you read the gospel of Mark, it’s kind of like he just takes these Polaroid snapshots of episodes from Jesus’ life, and he puts them in front of us. He doesn’t really explain them a whole lot. He just says, “Look at this. Look at this. Look at this.”

Or maybe to update the illustration, rather than saying Polaroids, it’s almost like the gospel of Mark is Jesus’ Instagram feed. You could scroll through and just see picture, picture, picture, but the captions explaining what’s going on are not very elaborate. Mark prefers to just let us look and reflect at what’s going on. That’s what we’ve been doing these last weeks.

We’ve seen how Jesus came into Jerusalem, the triumphal entry, riding on a donkey. We’ve seen how Jesus came into the temple and pronounced judgment upon the whole corrupt system. We’ve seen how Jesus was the recipient of a nard perfume dousing from the woman who came in and just extravagantly affirmed Jesus’ plan to go to the cross, anointing him for his death.

We saw last week how Jesus was having the Last Supper, celebrating the Passover with his disciples and then retelling that story and instituting what we know today as Communion, the gathering at the center of our faith, of really where we remember what Jesus has done. Then this morning, we’re going to see another couple of pictures, another couple of snapshots. We’re going to look at them and see what they have to do with each other.

The first snapshot we’re going to be looking at is just the portrait, the picture of Jesus. What does he look like? Then the other one that’s going to be right next to it… Mark is doing this intentionally. He’s putting both pictures right next to each other. The other one is going to be a picture of everyone who’s not Jesus, everybody else in this scene of Jesus’ betrayal and eventual crucifixion.

He puts them right next to each other. The questions are…What do we see in Jesus? What do we see in everyone else? What do these have to do with each other? What we’re going to find is one of the pictures is incredibly beautiful and the other picture is terrifyingly familiar, and maybe the other picture is one we don’t want to look at but at the same time it’s one that does reflect all too often what’s going on in our own hearts.

We’re going to look at these two pictures in the three scenes of our text. We’re going to start in Mark 14. I’m just going to read verses 26-31, and then we’ll stop. So that’ll be the first scene, and then we’ll do the other two scenes. As I’m reading, if you have your notes sheet with you, you have some space there. Maybe just be thinking about a word or a couple of words that would describe the picture of Jesus in this scene and the picture of everyone else, those who are not Jesus in this scene.

Starting in verse 26, it says, “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away, for it is written, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.’ Peter said to him, ‘Even though they all fall away, I will not.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.’ But he said emphatically, ‘If I must die with you, I will not deny you.’ And they all said the same.” (Mark 14:26-31)

So take a second. How would you describe the picture of Jesus here and how would you describe the picture of the disciples, those who are not Jesus? Of course, the scene here is the disciples going from the Last Supper toward the Mount of Olives where Jesus wants to pray. We’ll look at Jesus’ picture, the portrait of Jesus first. He’s quoting here as he’s talking to them from Zechariah 13:7.

If you go back and you read Zechariah 13, the prophecy there is a prophecy about how God’s people are like sheep, and the sheep have just brokenness. They’ve gone astray. There’s something wrong with the sheep in the prophecy. So the way God deals with the wrongness in the sheep is by striking the shepherd so the sheep are scattered. Then if you continue reading in the prophecy, it says a third of the sheep will be gathered back in.

Now the interesting thing about the Zechariah prophecy is that the shepherd who is struck has nothing wrong with him that we can tell. As we read through it, it just seems like the only issue the shepherd has is that he identifies with the sheep. It’s not that the shepherd has done anything wrong. He has not led the sheep astray. He’s simply there and identifying with the sheep, and then God is the one who strikes him.

So what’s the portrait of Jesus in this little passage? Well, Jesus is telling the disciples that he sees himself in the role of that shepherd, that he is about to be struck, and he’s okay with it. The portrait of Jesus here is that he’s ready to die even though he’s innocent. He’s ready to be betrayed. We’ve already heard earlier in this passage how Judas, one of the Twelve, has gone and begun to betray him to the chief priests.

Jesus is ready for what’s coming, and maybe even more than that, Jesus understands that what is coming is not nearly the rejection of the government or the jealousy of the high priests and chief elders and everyone else, but what’s coming is actually the will of God. That it’s God himself who strikes the shepherd.

We see Jesus also, even though these sheep will be scattered, extending forgiveness. He’s extending reconciliation, because remember, we saw in the passage he says, “I’m going to go before you to Galilee. We’re going to meet up again even though you’re all going to be scattered in the next 24 hours. You’re going to lose faith. You’re going to deny me. You’re going to stab me in the back. You’re going to turn your back on me. Even though that’s all going to happen, after I’m resurrected, I want to hang out with you again in Galilee.” Is that beautiful or what?

Let’s put this into some other terms maybe. Think about the people in your life who maybe have hurt you, betrayed you, treated you poorly. It’s one thing to walk through forgiveness toward those people and before God, “Yes, I forgive that person.” Some of us are capable of doing that. Of course, the Scripture calls all of us to forgive those around us because of what Jesus did for us.

But for me, it’s one thing to think about forgiving someone; it’s another thing about inviting that person with me on Spring Break. Do you know what I mean? Have you ever been on vacation with other people who aren’t your family? Or maybe it is your family, actually. But you get out there and it’s like day one of a six-day trip and you’re going, “Oh, this was not a good idea.” Family expectations are quite different.

Then imagine this. Imagine rather than just it was not necessarily a good idea, but like your worst enemies, the people who’ve treated you worse than anyone else… Would you invite them to go hang out with you on vacation? Is that how you would want to spend Spring Break? I would not, even if I feel like I had forgiven them.

Here’s what Jesus is saying. “You guys are going to hurt me in the worst possible way. You’re going to betray me. You’re going to turn your back on me, but when I’m resurrected, I’d really like to hang out with you in Galilee. Come on. Meet up with me up there.” The portrait of Jesus is that he’s willing to do this, he’s willing to undergo the betrayal and the hurt, and at the same time, even though he sees all of it, he’s still extending the invitation to, “Come, be with me.” This is beautiful.

Now what’s the portrait of the disciples? On the other hand, they are hardly able to hear Jesus’ invitation to go hang out in Galilee. They pretty much only hear the prophecy of falling away, and they don’t like it. So how do they respond? Peter stands up and says, “Even if all of these guys fail, I will not.” Because he has such conviction and sincerity, he just feels like he can do it. He can hold onto Jesus through thick or thin. “No matter what comes, I’ve got this!”

Of course, Jesus says, “You know, Peter, you’re going to fail tonight.” Peter is like, “No way!” When all the other disciples hear that, they’re just like, “Yeah, me too.” They all said the same. “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” So the picture of this disciples here is a picture of people who have great intentions, are incredibly sincere. They are committed to following Jesus, but already we know they cannot, that they’re going to blow it. Jesus has told them, “You’re all going to be scattered.” They said, “No, we won’t. We can do this.”

I can relate to this because so many times in my life I’ve come across some negative pattern, routine, response, something that I know needs to change, and I look at it and I say, “Oh, I can do this. Lord, no matter what, this time I’m going to fix it. I’m going to make it up to that person. I’m going to totally redeem myself on this.”

Full of sincerity, full of commitment, and utterly incapable of following through. It’s not one of the pictures we really like to admit about ourselves, but if you think back through your life in some of the commitments you’ve made that have perhaps fallen through, well, you’re in good company with the disciples because they were the same way.

Let’s see what happens next. Verse 32. I’m going to read down to verse 52, so it’s a longer chunk, but this will be the second scene. Again, I want you to be thinking about, “What’s the picture of Jesus, and what is the picture of everyone else?” Verse 32:

“And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.’ And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

And he said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’ And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.

And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.’ And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.’ And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, ‘Rabbi!’ And he kissed him. And they laid hands on him and seized him. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

And Jesus said to them, ‘Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.’ And they all left him and fled. And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.” (Mark 14:32-52)

What’s the picture of Jesus here? Well, at first, what we see is perhaps troubling. The words used to describe what Jesus begins to feel as he gets to Gethsemane… The word Gethsemane simply means olive press, so it’s most likely a garden or a grove of olive trees where they would’ve had an olive press nearby.

If you know anything about the way of extracting oil from olives, it’s really a process of just pressing hard on it for long periods of time until the essence, the oil, comes out. That’s really what’s happening here. Everyone is in the press together, and what’s inside is coming out. Jesus, as he steps into Gethsemane and that pressure begins to fall on his shoulders, feels greatly distressed, troubled.

He tells the disciples, “My soul is so sorrowful I feel like I’m dying.” What does that do to your perception of Jesus? I think sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that Jesus in his oneness with God… Scripture says he’s the exact representation of God. That all the fullness of deity dwells within him.

In our view of Jesus through that lens we sometimes can think he is a Superman kind of figure who’s impervious to what’s going on around him, as though when he was rejected in his hometown it didn’t hurt, or when people misunderstood him or called him a heretic it didn’t bother him, or as though when people rejected him or betrayed him he was just kind of like, “Whatever.” He’s this sort of Superman figure, and the bullets come, and they just ping, ping, ping, ping bounce off of him.

But what we see here perhaps more clearly than in any other place in the Gospels is that at the same time is fully divine he’s also fully human. He feels this. This is his humanity on absolute display. The verses from Hebrews 5:7-8 are on your sheet, and it says, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.” (Hebrews 5:7-8)

Jesus is not impervious to this situation. He is feeling the challenge, the hardship, the terror, the raw fear of what’s going to come. If anyone ever tells you that following Jesus means you will never, ever, ever be afraid, they haven’t read this passage. Jesus himself was gripped by the terror of what was coming. That might be troubling to you.

Why? Why is it that Jesus…? I mean, he knows he’s about to die. He has said it numerous times in the gospel of Mark. Why is this so disturbing to Jesus? As we see his prayer, we realize that what Jesus is about to undergo is much more than a mere martyr’s death. Through the book of Acts we see several of the followers of Jesus who are martyred for their faith. Like Stephen for example in Acts 7.

When Stephen is martyred, he’s stoned for following Jesus. As he’s dying, it says he has a vision up into heaven. He sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He goes to his death peacefully. Through history, many have been martyred for the name of Jesus, and they handled it with great peace. Even those who weren’t following Jesus! The ancients marveled at Socrates because even though he was condemned to death he went to his death with such peace.

Why is it here that Jesus, as he’s looking at what’s to come with his death, just feels like he’s being torn apart? Why is this such a struggle in Gethsemane? The key word in Jesus’ prayer is the word cup. In verse 36, Jesus, in bold terms, says, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me.” What cup? What’s the cup? What does the cup mean?

Throughout the Old Testament, the imagery of the cup is really the imagery of God’s wrath. So you have passages like Ezekiel 23:33-34. God says, “A cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria; you shall drink it and drain it out, and gnaw its shards, and tear your breasts; for I have spoken, declares the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 23:33-34) It’s this picture of a cup full of desolation, and as you drink it, you’re tearing at your breasts because it’s like poison.

Isaiah 51:17 is another example. It says, “Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.” (Isaiah 51:17) What Jesus is about to undergo is not a mere death, but rather what is before him is the fullness of the cup of God’s wrath for all evil, wickedness, sin. Jesus is looking at drinking that, taking all of that upon himself. This is a harrowing prospect. This is a terrifying task. How is Jesus going to do this? How does this work?

Maybe you’re not comfortable with the idea of the wrath of God. You don’t like the idea of a loving God who also has a cup of wrath, but what we have to remember, and the Scripture teaches us over and over again, is that in order for God to fully love his people, he also must hate when his people are abused, hurt, rejected, subject to injustice.

This is not a very comparable example, but maybe it will help as we understand thinking about the wrath of God. Imagine that I’m at a dinner and Amy, my wife, is with me, and we’re sitting with some friends, and one of the men at the table just insults my wife in the worst possible way. If I love my wife, what will that insult to her do? Oh, it’ll make me really angry. That insult generates anger, a yearning for things to be set right.

So what do I do with that anger? Well, one option, and I cannot guarantee this would not be the option I would choose, would just be to sock him in the jaw. “Don’t say that to my wife.” Of course, I’m a pastor, so I probably shouldn’t do that. Another option, and sometimes we choose this option too, is just kind of hold onto it. “Well, I know I can’t punch that guy in the jaw. He’s huge.” Or whatever it is that prevents us, and so we hold onto it.

That wrath, that anger generated by the injustice against those we love is there. If we hold onto it, it eats us from the inside. God in heaven creates this entire cosmos, and he has all of these people, and he seeks their best, and he loves them, and at the same time they’re murdering each other, they’re treating each other horribly, they’re insulting each other.

Every time that happens to the people God loves, he feels that wrath. But if he were to pour out his wrath on those people, if he were to punch everyone who insulted the people he loved in the jaw (to continue the illustration), we would all be decimated, nothing left, because when God’s wrath is poured out, it’s heavy.

So the divine plan, the way God pours out his wrath while still showing love to his people and not destroying them altogether was to pour out the wrath upon Jesus. That he’s going to pour out the wrath upon the sinless One, Jesus, his Son and that Jesus would take in himself all of that wrath and anger and injustice and sin and that dying on the cross was more than a simple physical torture; it was also in every way experiencing the fullness of the wrath of God so that it would not fall upon all of us.

When Jesus says, “Can this cup pass?” he’s asking God to remove the cup of wrath from in front of him. Essentially, he says, “God, all things are possible for you. Remove the cup. If there’s any other way, if there’s another way for your wrath to be satisfied but for your love to be shown to your people, can we do that way?” The answer we see so crystal clearly here is that there is no other way. This is it.

There is no program of self-improvement. There is no number of apologies that people can extend to one another. There is no religious duty. There is no sacrifice of repeated goats and bulls that can erase this issue. This is the only way. This is the only way to deal with evil, wickedness, and sin in the cosmos. Maybe that’s a troubling idea to you.

Sometimes we like to think, “Well, everyone chooses their way and they’re trying to be good people, and so some people choose this path or this religion or that tradition, and we happen to be Christians and we trust in Jesus, but everybody is going to end up in the right spot together.” When Jesus is praying, he says, “Is there any other way?” The answer from heaven comes back and says, “No. This is it.”

Everything hinges on the crucifixion and the resurrection. Dealing with sin and evil, winning that greater victory at the deepest levels only happens here at the cross and at the resurrection. There is no other way. So Jesus just beautifully says, “Yes, Lord, I receive your will.” In spite of the terror of receiving the wrath of God upon himself, he embraces the plan.

Part of the reason he can embrace the plan is the first word he says when he begins his prayer. In verse 36, he starts with, “Abba, Father.” He knows that even though this ordeal will be terrifying, awful, and excruciating beyond all human comprehension that God is his Father and that God is good, and then on the other side will be resurrection.

So this is the picture of Jesus. Even the disciples as they fall asleep, and Jesus just wants the disciples to be with him, to pray with him, and they keep disappointing him and everything else. Even then, in verse 42, after they’ve fallen asleep again and again as Jesus is praying, Jesus says, “Rise. Let us be going. Let us get going. I still want you with me.” He’s still inviting the disciples into his company even though they’ve failed him.

Now what about the others? What about those who are not Jesus in this scene of Gethsemane? Well, of course, we see the disciples. Jesus asks them to watch. If you remember from Exodus 12 and 13 where God gives the command in the Old Testament of how the people are to remember the Passover meal and how they’re to remember how God delivered them by the blood of a lamb from the hand of the oppressor, one of the commands is that through the night of the Passover meal, the families gathered in homes keep watch.

Jesus tells the disciples while he’s praying, “Keep watch.” How do they do? Not well. They do not keep watch. It’s a sign of their own inability to keep the commands of God. The disciples really represent us. They represent humanity. None of us has the power in ourselves to keep the commands of God. The disciples keep falling asleep. Jesus says, “Your spirit is willing, but your flesh is weak.” Literally, “Your humanity is sick.”

Through and through, apart from God, we’re sick. Yes, there are reflections of the image of God. Yes, as humans we’re capable of doing some beautiful things apart from God, but the resounding picture of humanity in this passage and throughout the Gospels and throughout the Scripture is that the flesh is sick, that on our own we are broken down. I just hear Buddy’s words echoing in my mind. You know he says, “We don’t have a problem; we are the problem.”

Judas comes to Jesus. Another unflattering portrait of humanity. On the outside he’s showing affection. “Rabbi!” He gives him a kiss, but on the inside he’s totally corrupt and broken. Again, how many times do we go through life when on the outside we try to maintain that façade of conviviality, positivity, happiness, and on the inside we’re just broken? We can even come into church and we can raise our hands to worship on the outside. We’re saying, “Hey, Rabbi!” We adore Jesus, but in our hearts, we are far from him. That’s what Judas is doing here.

Then of course, the guards come to arrest Jesus, and now the disciples who could not stay awake during the prayer time are ready for action. One of them (we learn from the gospel of John that it’s Peter) pulls out his sword, tries to chop off the high priest’s servant’s head, gets an ear. That’s what happens when a fisherman tries to fight. Not very well trained.

The gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus heals the severed ear. When that doesn’t work, this moment the disciples realize the gig is up, and it says they all fled. “We’re gone.” The same guys who said, “No matter what we’ll die for you.” They said they would die for him; they wouldn’t die with him. So they fled.

Then in verse 51, the young man. Some people have wondered who this is. There are guesses that perhaps it’s Mark himself, the one who wrote this gospel, or maybe Lazarus, but the imagery is so interesting because Jesus challenges people. He says, “You need to give up everything to follow me.” In this picture, this man gives up everything to flee from him. So again, the portrait of Jesus on one hand and the portrait of everyone else on the other is not flattering over here. Humanity is just running away from Jesus.

Let’s get this third scene and go ahead and finish out the chapter. In verse 53, it says, “And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.

Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, ‘We heard him say, “I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.”‘ Yet even about this their testimony did not agree.

And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, ‘Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?’ But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ And Jesus said, ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.’

And the high priest tore his garments and said, ‘What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?’ And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, ‘Prophesy!’ And the guards received him with blows.

And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, ‘You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.’ But he denied it, saying, ‘I neither know nor understand what you mean.’ And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, ‘This man is one of them.’ But again he denied it.

And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, ‘Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.’ But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, ‘I do not know this man of whom you speak.’ And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.’ And he broke down and wept.” (Mark 14:53-72)

The picture of Jesus in this scene. All around him, the tide of evil is rising. Human brokenness is just washing over him, but he has settled it. He understands. He has made his decision. He’s going with the plan of God. He’s going to take the cup of suffering. So he sits there while the accusations fly. He doesn’t defend himself, like a sheep led to slaughter.

Then finally, when the high priest addresses him directly, Jesus quotes from Daniel 7. I’d encourage you in the next week or two to go back and read Daniel 7 because it’s all about how Jesus, or the one like a Son of man, comes to the Ancient of Days and receives the right to be the true Judge, the true Ruler and King, and share that kingdom with his people and he overcomes the power of evil.

As Jesus is quoting that passage, he’s saying, “Even though it looks like you guys are in charge and this is your court and you’re judging me, in fact, I am the world’s true Judge. I am the One with the real power here. I am the One who will be coming on the clouds, and the power of resurrection is going to be able to set the world right.” This is the picture of Jesus. Calm before the wildness of wickedness.

The picture of humanity? Well, we’ve seen the priests. They were desperate to get some lie to stick to Jesus. They’re cruel. They’re beating him. They say, “Oh, if you’re a prophet…” They cover his face and they hit him. They say, “Tell us who hit you. Prophesy.” They spit on him. This is a terrible picture of humanity.

Then of course, Peter himself. Peter, the one who was so firm and committed in his resolve, “I can do this! We can do this, Lord,” denying Jesus. Not to some terrifying soldier but a little servant girl. Peter’s resolve quails as the situation darkens. He just cannot do it himself. Finally at the end of the passage, he hears the rooster crow, and that rooster’s crow is like this reminder that Jesus was right and he was wrong. It’s a reminder that on his own he cannot do this.

So if we look at these two pictures next to each other, the one of Jesus is quite beautiful while the one of humanity is shockingly ugly. What do we learn from this? Well, one is that in this story and in life everyone fails except for Jesus. Everybody has brokenness, rebellion, evil, injustice. Everybody except for Jesus. “We all,” Isaiah says, “like sheep have gone astray.”

So part of reading this text and looking at these pictures and really letting God speak to us is recognizing that we have failed and that we will fail and that in spite of our best intentions and our hopes and expectations and efforts to become better people that on our own we cannot pull it off. No matter how hard we want to try to follow Jesus, on our own we can’t do it. No matter how fervently we claim to be able to do exactly what Jesus does, we can’t. We fall away.

But sometimes, there’s a deep blessedness, a freedom actually, in finally coming to the point of recognizing and saying, “I cannot do that. I can’t do it on my own. I cannot. I can’t.” That’s what this passage is teaching us. We can’t do it on our own. On our own, we make a mess of things. On our own, we reject Jesus. On our own, we go the wrong way. We’re scattered.

Reading this passage many times in my life, I’ve always thought of that rooster’s crow as sort of a terrifying noise. I’ve always felt like, “Man, I sure hope I never hear the rooster’s crow in my life.” You know what I mean. Jesus hasn’t prophesized I’m going to reject him three times and hear the rooster crow, but just those reminders or whatever it is. I thought, “Oh, I hope I never hear that.”

But as I’ve been rereading this passage this time, I actually see that the crow of the rooster is an incredible grace for Peter, because Peter is so committed, he’s so focused on survival at this point. He has chosen his path and he’s rushing headlong into rejecting Jesus, and it’s that rooster’s crow that breaks into his direction, that finally at long last this whole gospel shatters the hardness of Peter’s heart.

His pride and self-sufficiency at the rooster’s crow finally crumbles, and he breaks down and weeps. Peter finally gets to the place where he recognizes, “Oh my, I’m just as broken as everyone else. I cannot do this.” That’s the real place where healing can begin and where trust in Jesus rather than trust in ourselves can begin.

It’s kind of like the common wisdom within AA and other addiction rehabilitation communities. Until we recognize our own personal bankruptcy there is no hope of recovery. The rooster’s crow for Peter here is the moment when he finally recognizes, “I’m bankrupt. I can’t do this on my own. No matter how good my intentions are, no matter how hard I try or want to be or whatever else, unless I trust Jesus I’m done.”

The very good news about this passage is that Jesus welcomes even Peter. John 21, after the resurrection, Jesus meets with the disciples and then takes specific time to affirm with Peter that he loves him, and he gives him a task, and he restores him. Some of us maybe think we’ve done stuff, we’re bankrupt beyond what Jesus could forgive.

We’ve done some stuff that’s pretty awful, and so we’re going to have to fix up some of those things before we are presentable enough to show up for forgiveness from Jesus. That’s just folly. That’s an absolute, utter, total lie to think we have to clean up ourselves a bit or that we have ever done anything that would put us outside the reach of Jesus’ forgiveness.

What is Jesus doing here? He is taking all the wrath of God upon himself. He is opening up a way for all of the people around him who are doing the worst possible things, betraying him, denying him, rejecting him in every way, and he’s saying, “While you’re yet sinners, I will die for you. On the outside shot you will receive forgiveness, on the outside chance that the Holy Spirit will soften your hearts, you’ll hear the crow of the rooster and recognize that on your own you make a mess of things and that the only way to be redeemed is to put your trust in me.”

That is what Jesus is doing. Both heaven and hell are populated with forgiven sinners. Do you know what the difference is? Those in hell never received the forgiveness that Jesus extends. His forgiveness is powerful enough to welcome any sinner. The only prerequisite is showing up and recognizing on our own we cannot do it.

What we must do is trust in Jesus, that we’re not here to bargain with God, negotiate with God, conceal stuff from God, trick him into accepting us. Actually, we only need recognize that God has dealt with sin once and for all fully in Jesus, and then trust him. Sit back. Enjoy grace. Let’s pray.

Lord, we bless you this morning. Sometimes it’s not very comfortable to see the reality of what goes on in our hearts, but Lord, we do not feel like we are above any of the people in these stories, the disciples, or maybe even Judas himself. Lord, we recognize that we have hardness in our hearts, that we all too often have good intentions but continue to deny or reject you. Lord, we recognize we mess things up pretty much all the time.

Lord, I pray your Spirit would come and search our hearts. Show us if we’re rushing headlong away from you in any way. Lord, I pray you would symbolically let us hear the rooster’s crow in any area of our lives where we’re rejecting you. Lord, for those of us who feel like we’ve messed up too badly, remind us of the depth of your welcome and your forgiveness, the sufficiency of the cross.

Lord, for some of us who feel like we don’t really need it, remind us that we do. Come now, Lord, as we bless you in the giving of the offering, as we partake of Communion here at the front and around the room. Remind us, Lord, that our only hope is trusting in you. In Jesus’ name, amen.