Mark 14:55-63, The Silence of Christ (1)

The most well-known prophecy of the “silence of Christ” comes from Isa. 53:7: He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.    I want you to see it in Ps. 38.  Read this “Psalm of David” below and see the “cross of Christ” as you read.  My comments are in ( ).

38 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath, Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure! ² For Your arrows pierce me deeply, And Your hand presses me down. (The cross is about the wrath of God on sin and sinners, wrath taken by Christ.)

³ There is no soundness in my flesh Because of Your anger, Nor any health in my bones Because of my sin. ⁴ For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. ⁵ My wounds are foul and festering Because of my foolishness. (Jesus was numbered with the transgressors.  He made our iniquities and foolishness His so He might make His righteousness ours.)

⁶ I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. ⁷ For my loins are full of inflammation, And there is no soundness in my flesh. ⁸ I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.  (Heb. 5:7!)

⁹ Lord, all my desire is before You; And my sighing is not hidden from You. ¹⁰ My heart pants, my strength fails me; As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.

¹¹ My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague, And my relatives stand afar off. ¹² Those also who seek my life lay snares for me; Those who seek my hurt speak of destruction, And plan deception all the day long.

¹³ But I, like a deaf man, do not hear; And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth. ¹⁴ Thus I am like a man who does not hear, And in whose mouth is no response. (The silence of Christ! And why?)

¹⁵ For in You, O Lord, I hope; You will hear, O Lord my God. ¹⁶ For I said, “Hear me, lest they rejoice over me, Lest, when my foot slips, they exalt themselves against me.” (Because, as Peter said, He entrusted Himself to the righteous judge, 1 Pt. 2:23).

¹⁷ For I am ready to fall, And my sorrow is continually before me. ¹⁸ For I will declare my iniquity; I will be in anguish over my sin. ¹⁹ But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong; And those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied.
²⁰ Those also who render evil for good, They are my adversaries, because I follow what is good.

²¹ Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, be not far from me! ²² Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation! (He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth.  Not to His accusers.  Because He had already opened His mouth to His Father in Gethsemane.)

Psalm 94

In Acts the gospel preached to the Gentiles mentions the fact that the risen Lord Jesus would be the judge of all men.  Peter preached this to Cornelius and his house (Acts 10:42).  Paul preached it to the crowd on Mars Hill (Acts 17:31).  Keep that in mind as you think of this wonderfully reassuring Psalm. 

This Psalm may have been occasioned by some difficulty experienced by the writer.  But it seems to have more in mind the general pride and seeming triumph of the wicked.  As we look around our society we also may think that the wicked seem to be winning.  But the mystery of God is that His Son will rule over His enemies.  The victory is His: promised by His Father and assured by His death and resurrection.  If we have the same confidence in the same Lord we will, in the multitude of anxieties within us, delight our souls in His comfort (94:19).

·         94:1-3: Calling on the Judge.  There are several things to think about.  In v1 vengeance belongs to God; that is why He is addressed in this situation.  The Judge of the earth is Christ (John 5:22-23).  And in v3 the Psalmist utters the prayer of the saints: how long until You judge the wicked (Rev. 6:9-11).

·         94:4-7: The Problem with the Wicked.  The wicked proclaim arrogant words (v4), make life difficult for God’s people (v5), and make life difficult for the weak (v6).  But then they deny that the Lord sees what they are doing; they are confident they will not be called to account (v7).

·         94:8-11: The Stupidity of the Wicked.  How senseless they are and foolish to think that the God who created ears and eyes and who has all wisdom does not hear, see and know the thoughts of the wicked. Their plans will fail.

·         94:12-15: The Blessing of the Upright.  On the other hand the Psalmist knows the certainty of God’s promises and plans for His people, for those He instructs.  They will experience relief as needed until the wicked fail.  Even in the times when God uses the wicked to chastise His people, He will not cast off His people nor forsake His inheritance (v14).

·         94:16-19: The Confidence of the Upright.  In Whom do the righteous trust?  In the Lord who has been their help (v17) and Who is merciful (v18).

·         94:20-23: The Hope of the Upright.  As he looks forward the Psalmist is sure of a good outcome.  In v20 there is a great description of what was happening that should ring a bell with us today.  The throne of iniquity was devising evil by law.  Christians see this today: laws passed that contradict their Biblical values.  The righteous and innocent are hurt by these (v21).  But judgment will come from the Lord in His time.  He will bring about the law of the harvest (i.e. He will bring on them their own iniquity, v23).  From Deut. 32 there is the important reminder: God is the Rock of Israel; He will be our defense and refuge (cf. Deut. 32:4,15,30-31).

Let us trust in our Rock today, the Rock of our salvation!

Mark 14:66-72, Jesus’ Effective Prayer (4)

Now we return to the Garden of Gethsemane, where the disciples of Jesus are unable to stay awake to pray with and for Him, or even themselves.  Jesus prayed and availed “the good confession.”  What did the “no-praying” disciples avail?

o   14:66-72: Denial.  They did not witness the good confession, none of them.  The story centers on Peter, even though they had all professed loyalty to Jesus with a promise to never deny Him (14:31).

o   Before we talk about Peter we should talk about roosters.  Some are bothered by the Gospel record saying “before the rooster crows twice” (Mk. 14:30 which is fulfilled in 14:68,72) and “before the rooster crows” (Mt. 26:34 which is fulfilled in 26:74). Some cry “an error in the Bible.”  Others of us say, “you (Mark) have not spent much time on the farm.”  What the rooster does can be called “crowing” (singular) though it might involve several “crowings” (plural) before he completes his sometimes obnoxious job of awakening the hens to their duty, of whatever he is doing.  The crowing (singular) is not finished until he completes all the verses (crowings, plural) of his song.  Enough said, from my point of view.

o   Now, note the ways of “denial.”  Peter first said, “I know nothing” (v68).  Then, when pursued by the same servant girl, Peter said, “I am not one of them” (denied being part of the group of disciples).  Then, “I do not know this Man of whom you speak,” to which he added “f” and “d” and “s” words.  Forgive me if you are offended at even the veiled mentioning of these words, but you ought to understand this is what the Bible says: “he began to curse and swear.”  That is what we do when we do not have the truth on our side.  We throw in all the words we can think of and raise our voices and make wild gestures.  Peter did all he could to convince people of his lies.  But then …

o   14:72: God spoke through the rooster.  And now look who is crying!  Jesus entered the Garden in sorrow but left in godly confidence.  Peter cried out in fleshly confidence, “I will never deny You.”  Now he is in tears.  You may want to look at Peter and say, “how depraved is this ‘friend’ of Jesus.”  I look at Peter, and sadly see myself, but then see Peter in tears over his sin.  For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of this world produces death (2 Cor. 7:10).  Without question, the one who betrayed Jesus expressed the sorrow of the world when he regretted what he had done and committed suicide (Mt. 27:3-5).  Peter’s tears were uncontrollable, the expression of a soul in shame, of a soul for whom Jesus had prayed (Lk. 22:31-34).  Is my sorrow over sin regret or repentance?

Mark 14:53-65; 15:1-5, Jesus’ Effective Prayer (3)

Again, what was availed through Jesus’ fervent prayer.

·       14:53-65: The Apostle Paul called it “the good confession” (1 Tim. 6:11-16).  The “good” confession is the one where we declare who we are and our lives match with our words.  Paul said that to do this requires that we “pursue” the life we profess, that we “fight the good fight of faith,” “until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing”.  Don’t misunderstand this.  The life we pursue is the life that Jesus lives in us (Gal. 2:20).  The good fight is a fight of faith, not our good works but God’s work as we trust Him.  In Gethsemane, Peter tried to fight with the sword of man.  Jesus fought with the “sword of the Spirit,” the word of God.  The result was that Jesus “witnessed the good confession.”  He glorified His Father by His obedience to death, even death on the cross.  This had been His prayer, as the Apostle John tells us: Father, the hour has come.  Glorify Your Son that Your Son also may glorify You (Jn. 17:1).  What did this good confession look like?

§  14:53-54: The setting for this confession began at the house of Annas, the previous high priest, and then to his son Caiaphas, the current high priest.  As the dawn approached the Sanhedrin gathered there as their meetings were required by law to be during daylight hours.  Eventually Jesus would be handed over to Pilate, perhaps at the Fortress Antonia that overlooked the temple area.

§  14:55-62: The “good profession” was one of a blameless life.  It was blameless in that the Jews could not find any witnesses to declare anything that Jesus had done wrong.  In the end they made up things, such as the misinterpretation of His words about destroying and rebuilding the temple.  Certainly Caiaphas knew they had no offense that would stick against Jesus, which was why he would eventually compel Jesus to indite Himself by His words, the words of His good confession (14:61-62).  Pilate, more than once, declared he could find nothing worthy of death in Jesus.  As Peter tells us (1 Pt. 2:19-22), Jesus set an example for us in that He did not suffer for wrong-doing but suffered for doing good, and He took it patiently. 

§  14:63-65; 15:1-5: Jesus also confessed the good confession in that He was blameless in the courtroom itself.  For the most part He was silent, even as false charges were filed against Him.  Again, to quote Peter, who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed (2:23-24).  He did this for our salvation, but at the same time, set an example for us.  The key was, He did not do this in the flesh but in the strength He received from His Father when, in fervent prayer, He committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.  Ah yes!  This Righteous Man availed much through fervent prayer!

Mark 14:43-52, Jesus’ Effective Prayer (2)

Jesus fervent prayer availed a new perspective, from sorrow and trouble to “Rise, let us be going!”  This is not the “positive thinking” but the God’s work in His life. 

·       14:49: Even from before Jesus’ birth, every detail of His incarnation was a fulfillment of Scripture.  (To point out just a few, see Matt. 1:22-23; 2:5-6,14-15,17-18,23).    He knew His rejection by Israel fulfilled Scripture (Jn. 12:38-41).  Jesus knew that the cross was the very reason He had come to earth (Jn. 12:27).  One significant aspect of the Father’s encouragement for His Son was to remind Him that “the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”  Jesus never doubted this.  He never denied this.  The reminder was one of His Father’s answer to His fervent prayer.  When things began to get out of hand in the Garden, Jesus made sense of the entire scene: But the Scriptures must be fulfilled!  The must be fulfilled.

Before we mention one other major fruit of Jesus’ fervent praying, let’s note what was brought about in the disciples who slept instead of praying (14:37-38,40-41).  Jesus had warned them, Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.  What they got was temptation that they could not resist, and weakness in their response.

o   14:47: “One of those who stood by” we are told by John (Jn. 18:10) was Peter.  Peter, and the same could be said for the rest we are sure, did not understand that “the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”  They had been consumed by the need for weapons since they left the Upper Room (Lk. 22:38).  It sounds like things happened quickly.  The mob arrived, Judas stepped forward and greeted Jesus with a kiss, and the police put their hands on Jesus.  In the heat of the moment, Peter, who is certain he must do something, whacks off the ear of Malchus, a servant of the high priest.  The flesh is weak.  Peter did not have enough strength to allow Jesus to direct them.  He did his best.  His best was going to get them all killed.  It would not deliver Jesus.  Peter was still setting his mind on the things of men and not on the things of God (Mk. 8:33).  That’s how we are without prevailing prayer.  In a panic, we will strike out in our own strength. 

14:50: When the flesh fails, when our best does not carry the day, when our strength fails, we will run from the problem.  We might even tell the Lord, “Father, I have done the best I can,” perhaps assuming He will be thankful for our effort and will agree with us that the situation is hopeless.  In 14:51-52 we have the interesting note of a “certain young man” who fled, leaving his clothes behind.  Many people think this was Mark, since he mentions it in his account.  That would be the same “John Mark” (John whose surname was Mark, Ac. 12:12), who accompanied Paul and Barnabas on the first journey (13:5), who, when things got “hot” left the team (fled, 13:13; 15:37-38).  Jesus was not alone in the Garden, except that He had His Father.  Paul learned from Jesus when he had the same experience as he faced certain death (2 Tim. 4:16-18).

Mark 14:39-42; Heb. 5:5-11, Jesus’ Effective Prayer (1)

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.  Jesus prayed fervently in the Garden of Gethsemane.  His Father did not take away the cup that Jesus asked Him to take away.  So, what did Jesus’ fervent prayer avail?

·       14:42: Jesus came into the Garden “troubled and deeply distressed” (v33).  His soul was “exceedingly sorrowful, even to death” (v34).  He had been feeling this all day (Jn. 12:27).  But after a time of fervent prayer, His attitude had completely changed.  To His sleeping disciples He said, Rise, let us be going.  See, My betrayer is at hand.  He is now ready to face all that is involved in the cross.  In fact, His Father had answered prayer, because Jesus did not simply ask “Take this cup away from Me.”  He had also prayed, “nevertheless, not what I will but what You will.”  He submitted Himself to His Father.  So the Father answered, not by removing the cup but by strengthening His Son, to the depths of His soul, that He might be enabled to drink from the cup.

o   The Apostle Paul had a similar experience and explains what Jesus experienced.  In 2 Cor. 12:7-10 Paul asked the Lord to remove a “thorn in the flesh” that he was experiencing.  Like Jesus, Paul pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away.  In other words, he prayed fervently.  The answer was, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.  God assured Paul that he would be able to serve Him in spite of the trial.  And more likely, the trial would bring to God greater glory.  That is why Paul went on to say, Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.

o   If you are wondering about this, yes, the same thing happened to Jesus.  Heb. 5:5-11 tells us what was happening in Gethsemane.  Christ was becoming our High Priest.  But v5 tells us He did not glorify Himself to accomplish this.  His Father declared Jesus to be His Son and a “priest forever” (v5-6).  One thing about our High Priest is that He was one of us, a fellow Man (Hb. 5:1; 2:9-16).  Since He suffered, He HHe is able to aid those who are tempted (Hb. 2:18; 4:15).  To qualify as our High Priest He had to endure the suffering.  Heb. 5:7 describes His fervent praying in Gethsemane: He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death.  The writer goes on to say, and was heard because of His godly fear.  The Son of God learned obedience, and was perfected.  The term means He came to the conclusion that God had in mind for Him.  Having been perfected He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (5:9).  God made the “captain” (author) of our salvation perfect through suffering (Hb. 2:10).  Truly, the fervent prayer of Jesus availed much! Can you say Amen!?

Mk. 14:39; Jas. 5:16; 1 Ki. 18:41-46, Fervent Prayer

We are still considering Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane.  We have seen that it was both a time of fellowship with His Father and a request from the Father.  There is no conflict between these things.  God wants us to come with our requests (Phil. 4:6-7).

Let me remind you of another well-known statement about prayer in the Bible: The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16).  This is an interesting passage if you delve into the original language.  Young’s Literal Trans. puts it this way: very strong is a working supplication of a righteous man.  “Effectual, fervent” prayer is one word, meaning a very energized prayer.  When a righteous man prays that kind of prayer it accomplishes many strong things. 

The illustration in James is Elijah (1 Ki. 18:41-46).  Elijah, after the amazing experience on Mt. Carmel, God sending fire from heaven, and the killing of all the prophets of Baal, then got down on his knees and began to pray.  There was no answer, and again no answer.  He sent his servant seven times to look for a cloud before he finally saw something small that became a torrential downpour.  Elijah’s prayer was fellowship with God, but it wasn’t like enjoying a coffee together.  He was pleading with God.  His was a strong prayer, highly energized.  He would not let go of the LORD.  And it accomplished much.

This kind of praying is seen often in Scripture.  Jacob wrestled with a Man, the Angel of the LORD, all night at Mahanaim (Gen. 32:22-32).  Epaphras knew how to wrestle or labor fervently in prayer (Eph. 4:12).  In Gethsemane we see the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth praying a simple prayer: “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”  He prayed this prayer for a time.  Then He went to check on the disciples and returned to pray the same prayer again.  He had three sessions with His Father.  We are all familiar with the short prayers, spur-of-the-moment pleas to the Lord.  Nehemiah prayed one of those in Neh. 2:4, a quick dart in the middle of his conversation with the king.  But Nehemiah had previously spent “many days” weeping and fasting and praying over the issue.  I must have more of these times!

So, we come back to Jesus in the Garden.  This is a righteous Man, without question.  We could go to the many scriptures that tell us He was without sin.  But let me remind you of the pivotal point in Mark’s Gospel, in 8:34.  It was here He told His disciples and the crowd how to be righteous, and what He told them to do was what He was doing: let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  The prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane is based in His submission to His Father.  He had denied Himself and had taken up the cross.  We will see in the next couple of posts what great things were availed by His praying, the praying of a righteous Man!