Week 16

Monday, April 14

Mark 13

         

Commentary

In Mark 13, we witness Jesus' final departure from the temple, leaving it behind as part of the old covenant that will be fulfilled in Jesus’ death, resurrection, and imparting of the Holy Spirit to believers. While one of the disciples marvels at the beauty of the temple, Jesus foretells its impending destruction and gives his famous end times sermon, often called the Olivet Discourse. Some key points about the Bible’s teaching on eschatology, the end times, are worth noting here. First, the “last days” commenced with Jesus' earthly ministry, as 1 John 2:18 reminds us. Second, Jesus gave this sermon to his disciples; it had meaning to them and to Italian Christians in the 800s and your great grandfather. We cannot find a meaning here that has never been understood by anyone else or only makes sense with this week’s news headlines. Lastly, we need to remember that the Bible’s eschatology is a call to faithfulness and reliance on God. As a wise saint in the nursing home once told me, “I don’t know everything about the end times, but I know this: at the end of the day, we win!”

Jesus' response to his disciples' inquiry about the temple's destruction expands to encompass the broader scope of the end times. The temple would be destroyed in 70 AD, about 40 years after Jesus’ death, but much of what Jesus speaks to here reaches beyond that event and talks of normative patterns of life until and immediately before the Lord’s return. The signs of wars, earthquakes, and famines are not unique to our time or place; they have marked human history throughout the ages. Some peoples and places has never known peace and some groups of believers have always been under harsh persecution! The “abomination of desolation,” a phrase from Daniel's prophecies, refers to the desecration of the temple, which happened several times and is depicted as part of the work of the final antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2.

Jesus warns that false prophets would attempt to deceive even the elect, “if possible” – it is not truly possible, though deceivers will try anyways, because the Holy Spirit indwells all believers. Do not worry, a true believer cannot accidentally worship Satan, the Holy Spirit is not that weak and God holds onto his own! This passage calls us to be faithful, always ready to meet the Lord, and wise with our time, resources, and relationships. Jesus is coming back, and he is taking his people home with him. Rejoice!

 

Application/Discussion

1. How does this passage motivate your obedience and holiness? What about your evangelism? Your finances?

 

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God for Jesus’ certain return for his elect.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in perseverance, wise stewardship, and gospel priorities.

3. Pray for the salvation of a lost person you know well and ask the Holy Spirit to give you an opportunity to share the gospel with him or her.

 

 

 

Tuesday, April 15

Mark 14:1-25

 

Commentary

          Jesus’ death marches ever closer in the passage. While the religious leaders plot against Jesus, a woman in Bethany anoints Jesus with a costly ointment. This ointment, worth almost a year’s wages, was likely something like an emergency fund for her. She gave up this precious resource to anoint Jesus, showing him great love and honor and preparing him for his burial. While some saw this as a waste, Jesus commends her for her worshipful act. Like the woman who put her last little coins in the offering box at the temple, this woman gave everything she had in worship and devotion to the Lord.

          In sharp contrast, Judas takes this time to sell out Jesus, conspiring with the religious leaders to ambush Jesus when the people would not be a distraction or impediment to the arrest.

          Next, we see Jesus celebrating the Passover with his disciples in the famous Last Supper. In this event, Jesus established a new Passover to celebrate – not the passing over of God’s destruction of the Israelites because of the blood of an animal, but the passing over of God’s destruction of all who turn to them because of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. We now celebrate this together as a regular part of Christian worship, celebrating as the gathered church, God’s family, rather than just individual family units. In response to the great love Jesus showed us by dying for our sins, we are to pour out our lives for the glory of God, just as the dear lady from Bethany poured out her treasure for Jesus’ sake.

 

Going Deeper

You can learn more about the background, meaning, and practice of the Lord’s Supper with this article on the Family Bible Reading blog:

·      https://familybiblereading.blogspot.com/2025/01/a-sermon-on-lords-supper.html

 

Application/Discussion

1. What items do you value most in your life? Could you give them up to serve the Lord? Are these items a sinful distraction, or an avenue through which you can glorify and love God?

2. How does the Lord’s Supper connect us to redemptive history, how God has worked throughout the ages to save his people?

 

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God for the love he poured out on us by sending his Son to die and the love Jesus poured out as he died on the cross for our sins.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in pouring your life out to serve God and making him your greatest priority.

3. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and encouragement as your church gathers, worships, learns, and reflects in your Sunday worship and other avenues.

Wednesday, April 16

Mark 14:26-42

 

Commentary

In our reading today, Jesus foretells that Peter will deny him. Peter insists that he would never, yet soon after, Peter, James, and John repeatedly fall asleep while Jesus pours his heart out in agonized, sorrowful prayer about his impending death. Jesus, though he knew from eternity that he would die on the cross, feels true fear as this time approaches. Jesus was fully God, yet he was also fully man. He would feel every bit of the agony – and agony not just from physical torture and death but also from God’s wrath being poured out on him as the punishment for the sins of the world. The sin of any one of us is so great that even an eternity in Hell cannot make up for it, yet Jesus experienced a greater suffering and punishment than that, all in the course of a few hours. No wonder he was afraid! Yet Jesus humbly submitted himself to the will of his Father.

Theologians note two possible ramifications of moments like these for the doctrine of the Trinity – either Jesus temporarily subordinated himself to his Father’s will in his incarnation, or from eternity, Jesus has been subordinate to the Father. This is not a debate between whether Jesus is God, but rather about the roles of both the Father and the Son. Both positions are biblically compelling – we see ample evidence of Jesus’ submission to the Father’s plan in the Gospels, yet since Jesus is equally divine, he very well could only have become subject to his Father only while on earth. In either case, Jesus perfectly obeyed his Father, even to the point of his agonizing death, and we are called to follow in his obedience and his suffering. When we feel weak or tired or afraid, like the disciples must have in this passage, we should rely on God and his vast strength to sustain us.

 

Application/Discussion

1. How does Jesus’ obedience exceed even our best attempts at obedience? How does his example encourage you to obey God, and how does his saving work on your behalf encourage you in relation to your salvation?

 

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God for Jesus denying himself and suffering to the point of death for our salvation.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help and strength in denying yourself and your temptations and following Jesus’ example.

3. Pray for the salvation of two lost people you know by name.

Thursday, April 17

Mark 14:43-73

 

Commentary

In our reading today, we see Jesus’ arrest and trial. He had to be identified by someone who knew him well when he was arrested – it was night, after all, and he was just a normal looking guy. Jesus was betrayed by an intimate and respectful gesture, making his betrayal even more tragic and Judas’ sin all the more horrid. Peter, brash as always, wrong-headedly attempts to defend Jesus. As Pastor Alistair Begg has said, Peter was either bad enough with a sword to miss the head and hit the ear, or good enough to hit the ear and miss the head. Either way though, this is not how the King fights. Jesus did not come to the earth to take the life of others, but to lay down his own for their salvation.

All the disciples left, except Peter. As often as Peter jumped the gun with wrong ideas and as much as his denial of Jesus should make us shudder with shame, at least he stayed near Jesus. At his trial, the religious leaders have poor, conflicting testimonies against Jesus that would not have gotten far on their own. The only damning testimony against Jesus was his own! He could have gotten out of this easily, and yet he chose to say what he knew would seal his sentence. Jesus has called himself Son of Man plenty in his ministry, this designation comes from Daniel 7:11-14. In answering the High Priest, Jesus specifically quotes part of these verses so that there can be no confusion – Jesus claims to be the promised Savior of the Old Testament, worthy of ruling God’s kingdom and receiving worship. He is claiming to be God, thus his words are declared blasphemy.

In contrast to Jesus’ boldness, Peter cannot tell even a servant girl that he knows Jesus! He is also so hard-headed that he misses the meaning of the first rooster crow and continues to adamantly deny Jesus even when he is identified as a Galilean (likely from his more rural dress or accent). When the rooster crows a second time and Peter finally remembers what Jesus said, Peter is struck with guilt and sorrow. Here is the difference between godly grief and worldly grief – godly grief leads to repentance. As Paul said, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (2 Cor. 7:10)

 

Application/Discussion

1. Can you relate Peter’s cowardice about his faith in Jesus? Why should we be bold in declaring that we know Jesus?

2. Have you been, are you currently, grieved by the sin in your life? Has that grief led you closer to God, or farther away from him?

 

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God for Jesus boldly confessing his identity as the Christ and claiming us as his own despite our sinfulness.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in cultivating a great boldness and passion for evangelism and opportunities to share the gospel with those around you.

3. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help for your church members to increasingly love and practice evangelism and for your pastors and other church leaders to faithfully teach, lead, and train the church.

Friday, April 18

Mark 15:1-20

 

Commentary

Jesus’ trial lasts into the morning hours, until the religious leaders cart Jesus off to Pilate, the Roman governor. The Israelites could not execute anyone without Roman permission. Jesus knew he was already condemned and set to die on the cross, so here, he remains essentially silent. When Pilate asks what Jesus has done, he receives no answer, just an increased fervor to kill him. Jesus was presented to his own people and met with cries for his death rather than excitement and joy. After his sentence, he is tortured and cruelly mocked by the Roman soldiers rather than worshipped and submitted to. They sarcastically treat him like a king, giving him a crown of thorns and a cloak, completely ignorant that he really is the King!

Sin does not always make sense, and neither do sinners. We should not expect morality, reasonableness, or fairness coming from lost sinners. We should expect that they will, more often than not, live and act as the enemies of God and his people. As we seek to witness and live our lives, we should persevere in faithfulness and know that, like Jesus, we will be vindicated one day for any wrongs done against us. Whether Pilate or the Jewish crowd or the Roman soldiers knew it or not, Jesus truly is the King and the Savior. He gave up his life to pay for our sins so that we would be free to love and serve him. We are to share this love with others, yet to do so knowing that not all will receive Jesus in faith. Pray earnestly for opportunities to share the gospel with those around you and for God to open their hearts to salvation!

 

Application/Discussion

1. How does the cruel rejection and mocking that Jesus faced in this passage make you feel? How does this teach you about Jesus’ love?

 

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God for Jesus enduring the scorn and suffering he faced on his way to the cross and while on the cross.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in relying on God, trusting his perfect justice, and sharing the gospel with those around us while we can.

3. Pray for the salvation of two lost people you know by name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, April 19

Mark 15:21-41

 

Commentary

          As we read of further events in Jesus's torture and crucifixion, Mark hones in on the profound sense of rejection from man and wrathful judgment from God that Jesus experienced. The Roman soldiers, conscripted a passerby to carry Jesus's cross, likely due to Jesus's weakened state following the severe flogging he received from the soldiers. The mocking taunts directed at Jesus, echoing the pleas for self-salvation in Psalm 22, underscore this rejection. While both criminals crucified alongside Jesus initially mocked him, Luke's gospel highlights the repentance of one of them. Mark is particularly highlighting here Jesus’ complete rejection by everyone, while Luke highlights the availability of salvation to everyone who calls on Jesus in faith. These accounts complement each other, rather than contradict each other, and give us a fuller picture of the agony of the cross and how that agony has made our salvation possible.

Darkness in the daytime is an Old Testament symbol of God’s judgement. This was probably not an eclipse, as there is no astrological record of one from around this time. God did a supernatural thing because he is God, we do not have to make it more complicated than that. The darkness, and Jesus’ cry, signify the unfathomable separation of the Son from the Father as Jesus bears the Father’s wrath against the sins of the world. As Jesus dies, the temple curtain tears in two, symbolized the removal of barriers for sinful man to come to God for forgiveness, as explained in Ephesians 2:14-16. The centurion's awe at these events led to only one of two full declarations of Jesus's true identity in Mark’s entire account!

 

Application/Discussion

1. Have you considered how Jesus must have felt on the cross before? How does learning about his suffering increase your love and thankfulness for him?

 

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God for the salvation and eternal blessing that is offered to us thanks to the sacrifice of Christ.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in forsaking sin and pursuing godliness.

3. Pray for the salvation of the lost in your community and for the Holy Spirit to move the local believers and churches to witness to them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, April 20

Mark 15:42-16:8 (or 16:20)

 

Commentary

As we wrap up Mark’s gospel, we see Jesus’ burial and resurrection. Jesus, as the Passover sacrifice, could have no broken bones, so he died before the soldiers had a chance to hasten his death with further injuries. When Jesus died, he was buried in someone else’s tomb – as Jesus said, the Son of Man truly had no place to lay his head! As the women come to Jesus’ tomb, they are worried about how would they move that massive stone. It would have taken several centurions to roll it back, and the tomb was under strict guard due to the controversy over Jesus. The women find the guards sleeping, a failure that would have meant their execution and surely would not have been intentional! Further, they find the stone rolled away, and most miraculously of all, they learn that Jesus has risen from the dead!

This is quite the story, with quite the ending and many odd occurrences and unanswerable questions. Women could not even testify in court as a man could at this time, yet they are the first witnesses of the Resurrection and they run away in fear. The disciples repeatedly fail to understand Jesus and their cowardice is laid bare. The incarnation itself is a mystery, but the Father forsaking the Son, and the Son's resurrection? How was the tomb opened? If the body had been stolen or simply lost, why would the disciples die for the lie that Jesus was alive? Why did the authorities never produce the body? The gospel’s “strangeness” is a testament to its authenticity. This is not a tale that men would invent, but it is the true tale of God sending his Son to be our Savior.

As the editorial notes in your Bible likely tell you, earliest copies of Mark's gospel conclude at 16:8 and the following verses are very different from Mark’s usual vocabulary and style. Verses 9-20, while certainly consistent with what the rest of the New Testament teaches, were likely added later, perhaps initially as a scribal note to give a fuller conclusion to the gospel. However they wound up in later copies of the Bible, these verses were likely not from the pen of Mark or his contemporaries. The good news is all the same however – Jesus has done the impossible, he has risen triumphantly from the dead, and he calls us to follow him in resurrection life. Are you following him?

 

Application/Discussion

1. Which of the evidences discussed for the Resurrection do you find the most compelling? How can this information help you in witnessing to others? How does it strengthen your own faith?

 

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God for Jesus laying down his life for us in sacrifice and for his resurrection in victory.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit to strengthen your church members and pastors to boldly live out and share the gospel.

3. Pray for the salvation of a lost person you know well and for the Holy Spirit to give you opportunities to witness to that person.