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Weekly sermons and Bible studies led by a retired pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Episodes
Monday Jul 26, 2021
Monday Jul 26, 2021
Sermon for the 9th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered July 29, 2012
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Monday Jul 19, 2021
When Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was quickly taken to the high priest, Caiaphas, and the ruling Jewish Council, the Sanhedrin (Mark 14:53). (Caiaphas was the actual high priest at this time, but his father-in-law, Annas, had been high priest for a long time earlier, and sometimes was also still called the high priest. See Acts 4:5-6. for example.)
Peter had run away with the other disciples when Jesus was arrested, but wanted to see what would happen to Jesus and followed to the outdoor courtyard around the place where the Sanhedrin met (Mark 14:54).
Several rules of the Jewish Council were being broken in this “trial” of Jesus. There were to be no night trials, but this trial was happening quickly, at night. There was to be an “indictment" with clear charges, before a person could be put on trial. At this meeting, the Council was still trying to come up with some charges, but was having trouble doing so (Mark 14:55). The verdict and punishment should not have been decided beforehand, but it had been (Mark 14:1-2). Also, the Old Testament required that there needed to be the agreement of at least two or three witnesses, before a person could be found guilty, and especially if there was the death penalty involved. (See Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15-21, and Proverbs 19:9 and the 8th Commandment, Exodus 20:16.)
The testimony of witnesses about Jesus did not agree (Mark 14:56), and some misquoted and misunderstood Jesus and what He had said (Mark 14:57-59). (See the true account of John 2:18-22, early in Jesus’ ministry, when He “cleansed” the temple in Jerusalem for the first time.)
The high priest, Caiaphas, finally realized that he needed to step in and question Jesus. Jesus said nothing at first, fulfilling Isaiah 53:7 (Mark 14:60-61). (See the comment in 1 Peter 2:22-23, also.) When Caiaphus directly asked Jesus, though, if he was “the Christ, the Son of the Blessed” (the Son of God), Jesus answered, “I am." He used the same words which He had used so often before in His “I am” sayings - “I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:35), “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6), and on and on. Jesus had even used the Old Testament name of God, (Exodus 3:13-14), “I am Who I am” and “I am” for Himself in John 6:56-58, too.) Jesus always spoke the truth (John 8:44-47).
He then quoted from Old Testament passages we have discussed before, saying that He was “the Son of Man” (Daniel 7:13) Who had been and would be “seated at the right hand of Power, of the Lord” (Psalm 110:1) and would come again “with the clouds of heaven” on the last day (Mark 13:26-27).
The immediate reaction of Caiaphas and the Council was to accuse Jesus of “blasphemy,” of speaking against God, in claiming that He was the “Christ, the Son of God,” the promised Savior. (Go back to that claim of Jesus and the Christian Church in Mark 1:1 and the comments made there, at the beginning of this Bible study.) This was a key, crucial truth of the Christian faith, but immediately rejected again by Caiaphas and the Jewish authorities. Caiaphus even tore his clothes, as a sign of how shocked and offended he was at this claim of Jesus. This was enough to condemn Jesus to die, Caiaphus and the Jewish authorities said (Mark 14:61-64).
They showed their outrage also by spitting on Jesus and hitting Him again and again and mocking Him and covering His face and daring Him to “prophesy” about who had struck Him (Mark 14:65). Again, this was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus as the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 50:4-9, in the Old Testament. Jesus had predicted this Himself in Mark 10:33-34. The same kind of treatment would come also from the Roman authorities, Jesus said, as we see happening in Mark 15:15-20.
Meanwhile, Peter was in the courtyard outside, and a servant girl said to him, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” Peter denied that and pretended that he did not understand what the girl was claiming about him. He moved away from her, and a rooster crowed (Mark 14:66-68). That should have been a strong warning of what Jesus had predicted earlier that evening - that Peter would deny Jesus three times, before the rooster crowed twice (Mark 14:30-31).
The servant girl said again, “This man was one of them” and Peter denied it again. Finally, another said, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” His accent, being from Northern Israel, where Jesus had been known to do much ministry, gave Peter away. Right away, Peter began to curse and swear, “I do not know this man”; and right away, the rooster crowed again. Peter then remembered what Jesus had said and how he had claimed he would even dies for Jesus. How badly he had failed.
Other Gospels tell us that he left the courtyard (Matthew 26:75) and as Mark tells us, “He broke down and began to weep” (Mark 14:70-72). The Greek verb indicates that he kept on weeping for quite some time. He was truly sorry, repentant, for what he had done. He did not end up, though, in total despair, as Judas had done. Later on, after the resurrection, Jesus forgave and strengthened him for future service to his Lord. This is good news for all of us, for things we have done, of which we are very ashamed, in the past. The mercy and forgiveness of Jesus are great! That is why He died for us all, for our forgiveness and new life, as He brings us to trust Him.
The Jewish authorities had a problem, though. They had condemned Jesus to die; but they were in a country occupied by the Romans and were not to put people to death themselves, though sometimes they did. (See Acts 7:51-60. Notice who it is that Stephen sees in a vision of heaven.) The leaders had to take Jesus to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate (Mark 15:1).
The Jewish leaders accused Jesus of many things, but the only thing that concerned Pilate was whether Jesus was claiming to be a King who wanted to rebel and overthrow the Roman authority. Pilate asked, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus simply said, “You have said so,” and gave him no other answers at this point (Mark 15:2-5). (Other Gospels tell us that there was other discussion; but Mark was satisfied, as God inspired him, just to make it clear that Pilate did not believe the Jewish authorities and did not see Jesus as a real threat to him. In fact, he tried to find ways to set Jesus free.)
Pilate had a custom of releasing a prisoner during the Passover feast. (Mark 15:6). He suggested that he was willing to release Jesus. He realized that the chief priests were trying to get rid of Jesus out of “envy” at His popularity with some of the people (Mark 15:8-10). The chief priests, however, used their influence to stir up many people in the passover crowds to be against Jesus and to ask for the release of Barabbas instead. Barabbas was a rebel and murderer and supporter of insurrection against the Roman government - the very opposite of a person Pilate would have been in favor of releasing (Mark 15:7,10,11). The crowds then cried out for Pilate to “Crucify” Jesus. Pilate even tried to defend Jesus, sensing that He was not an evil man at all; but the crowds kept shouting, “Crucify him” (Mark 15:12-14).
Pilate finally caved in to the pressure of the wishes of the crowd and the religious leaders. He released Barabbas and delivered Jesus up to be crucified. Pilate did one more thing. He had Jesus scourged. This was a unique Roman punishment. Jews used rods to give beatings. The Romans used whips with several leather lashes, with pieces of lead or lumps of bone attached. The skin and the flesh were gashed to the very bone of a person being beaten, in every direction where the lashes hit. It was a terrible beating (Mark 15:15).
Some think that Jesus died sooner than some expected, because of this beating before He was even nailed to the cross. This also might have been why Jesus was so weak that He could not carry His cross all the way to the place where He was crucified, as we will hear next week. Some also think that Pilate might have ordered this beating, hoping that people would see how weak and suffering Jesus then was and have sympathy and back off from calling for His crucifixion. It did not work, regardless of what Pilate might have intended.
Pilate also allowed his soldiers to do whatever they wanted with Jesus, before leading Him out to be crucified. The whole battalion was called in (as many as 600 soldiers, though probably a smaller group than that). They put an old purple robe on Him and a crown made of thorns and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews.” They struck His head with a reed, driving the thorns in deeper, and spit on Him. They knelt before Him in “mock” honor. Finally, they stripped off the purple robe and put his own clothes back on Him. One can only imagine the agony of that, after his earlier beating. Then, “they led Him out to crucify Him” (Mark 15:16-20).
Next week, we will hear of the crucifixion and death of Jesus, and Mark’s simple, short description of all that, as God inspired him to write it. Remember again that all He went through was for us and our forgiveness and salvation, available now for us and all the world. It was a very “bad” Friday for Jesus, but a very “Good Friday” for us.
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Sermon for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered July 22, 2012
Monday Jul 12, 2021
Monday Jul 12, 2021
Another Supplement to Mark 12:28-34
Another question came to me regarding “Love of the Neighbor." Are we really to “love“ our enemies, even if they have badly hurt us? That would be very difficult. Here is a response to that question.
Honest questions are good, and follow-up questions for more clarity are also good. (We have seen lots of times in the Gospel of Mark where the religious leaders, though, are questioning Jesus to attack Him or to try to trick Him and to get Him into trouble. That is not a good way to ask questions, and the questioners usually were not even wanting to listen for the answer or genuinely wanting to learn something from Jesus.)
You are asking a good question about something that is very difficult, impossible to live out perfectly in our lives. Jesus is very clear about love for others, even our enemies. See Matthew 5:43-48. See also the verses just before, v. 38-42. This is part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus describes what the Law of God really means and is calling us to do it perfectly (5:48). If we are honest, we know we cannot do all this as we should. This is the Law at work to show us our sins and that we are hopeless without Jesus and what he did for us.
Jesus did live a life of perfect love for us and the world. He gave His life for us and for the world to forgive all our sins and make us acceptable in God’s eyes. He prayed from the cross for the forgiveness of the very people who put Him on the cross, including us, as our sins helped put Him there (Luke 23:34). Read Romans 5:6-10. We were “weak," “ungodly," “sinners," even “enemies” of God, when Jesus gave His life for us to “reconcile” us to God and “save” us. It was by the “amazing grace," the undeserved love and favor of God for us, in Christ, that we were saved and now can be called “friends” of God.
If Jesus loved us that much, then we are called to try to love others, even our enemies, as He has loved us. That does not mean that we have to “like” others and what they do. We cannot approve of the evil that is done to us and others by some. We can even fight against that evil and defend ourselves. We can also get away from evil people and situations, when that is possible and best for us. At the same time, we are still called to “love” those people, in the sense of caring about them and wishing and praying that they find forgiveness and peace, too, as we have, in Christ.
This kind of “love” is very difficult to have, and not one of us has that love perfectly and at all times. Only Jesus has had that love for us and others, in our place. We too need continual forgiveness for our failures and lack of love. We live only by the grace of God. If there is to be vengeance and judgment, let that be up to God, in His time and way. See passages like Romans 12:14-21 and 1 Peter 2:21-25 and 3:9. And as we know we need God’s mercy, so we try to wish that mercy for others, too. But it is very hard to do, at times.
Much more could be said. God also provides government and courts to keep some peace and order in a very sinful world. Sometimes governmental authorities rightly carry out judgments for wrongdoing. When the Old Testament speaks of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" in the laws of a nation, it is referring to what we would say today in terms of “letting the punishment fit the crime.” But that is for government to determine, not for us as individuals to determine and carry out in our personal lives. We can try to influence the laws of a nation for good; but government has different responsibilities from what we have as Christians and churches. See Romans 13:1-10.
Finally, we can keep praying that the Lord will give us more caring, forgiving hearts, for very difficult people we sometimes have to deal with, and that their own hearts may change over time, too, as we try to reflect Christ’s love and care to them. People may resist all that we try to do, but we at least have tried to respond with care, not hate.
Monday Jul 12, 2021
Monday Jul 12, 2021
As we closed our study last week, we heard of the disciples and Jesus celebrating the traditional Passover meal together on what we would call the Thursday evening of Holy Week. Important parts of the Passover meal included unleavened bread (a flat bread with no yeast) and wine. We hear particularly of Jesus using these elements of the meal (Mark 14:22-24).
While they were eating, Jesus took some of the bread and prayed and blessed it and broke it into pieces and gave some to each of the disciples, saying, “Take; this is My body.” He then took a cup of wine, gave thanks to God the Father, and gave it to each of the disciples to drink from and said, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” (Other Gospels and 1 Corinthians 10 and 11 and other Scriptures give more detail, but we will focus mainly on what Mark tells us, as God inspired Him to write, and by what He was told by Peter.)
In the original Greek, it is clear that Jesus literally said, “This is My body….This is My blood.” “Is” means “is." Many churches say that Jesus was speaking symbolically; but there is no indication of that. He was presenting a whole new meal of the New Covenant that he was bringing into the world.
In the Old Testament, God gave the 10 Commandments and other parts of His will, through Moses, at Mount Sinai. Then animals were sacrificed, and their blood was used to seal the Covenant between God and His people. Read Exodus 24:6-9. The blood of animals was sprinkled on the altar and upon the people. God made His promises to the people, and the people said they would follow God and His will. Moses said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord made with you in accordance with all these words” that He had given. Sadly, many of the people of Israel did not follow God’s will and drifted far away from Him and even worshipped false gods. God then promised that He would bring in a whole New Covenant with people, because the old one had been broken by them. See Jeremiah 31:31-34.
Jesus was announcing and bringing in God’s New Covenant at this meal with His disciples. It also involved the shedding of blood - not the blood of animals but the sacrifice of Jesus Himself, His Body and Blood, on the cross the very next day. Jesus would die for the benefit of “many” - a Hebrew way of saying “for the many," for all people in the world.
Jesus was also introducing a new meal for the New Covenant, what we call the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion. When we receive bread and wine, we are also receiving the very Body and Blood of Christ, Mark 14:22-23 tells us. Jesus promised to be with us always (Matthew 28:20), but He is with us in a very special, personal way in the Lord’s Supper; and this and other Scriptures tell that we receive Christ Himself and His real Presence and forgiveness of our sins and strength from Him for our lives, in this holy meal.
We can’t understand or explain it, but we believe what Jesus clearly says. We receive bread and wine; but somehow, in and with and under these earthly elements, we receive also the Body and Blood of Christ. See 1 Corinthians 10:16, for example. This is the meal we are now called to receive regularly, for our own good and benefit (though we can learn some things through a Passover Seder meal, which some churches sometimes do).
Jesus then told His disciples that he would not receive this new meal again with them until He received it new in the Kingdom of God, after His death and resurrection, and in preparing for eternal life, always in the presence of the Lord (Mark 14:25). Here and in verse 30, Jesus said those strong words, “Amen, I say to you." These things are certainly true and are to be believed.
Jesus and His disciples then sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives, and a garden called Gethsemane, near Jerusalem (Mark 14:26,32). This was a familiar place where they went for rest and prayer. Likely, Psalms 115-118 were used during the Passover meal, according to Jewish tradition, and then the closing hymn was from Psalms 120-130. These Psalms are still used by many Jews for Passover.
Jesus then quoted a prophecy from Zechariah 13:7, that the disciples would all be scattered and fall away, when their Shepherd, Jesus, was “struck." In the context of this passage, a prophet would receive wounds on his back, in the house of his friends, as would soon happen to Jesus (Zechariah 13:6). And yet, through all this, “On that day, there shall be a fountain opened” for God’s people “to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.”
Jesus Himself would be that cleansing fountain, through His blood shed and His death on the cross (Zechariah 13:1) for the forgiveness of all sins. Jesus also predicted that after His death, He would rise from the dead and see them again in Galilee. They had spent much time in Galilee, as we have heard earlier in Mark’s Gospel; and now some the resurrection appearances of Jesus would happen there and around the Sea of Galilee (Mark 14:28).
As Jesus was “struck," though, He said that the disciples would all fall away. That is exactly what would happen when Jesus was arrested (Mark 14:50). Peter thought that he was so strong, however, that he would never fall away, even if the others did (Mark 14:29). Jesus then had to tell Peter that that very evening, he would deny Jesus three times, before a rooster crowed twice. Peter insisted that he would never do such a thing, and the other disciples all said the same thing (Mark 14:30-31). This was the typical Peter - so strong at some moments and then so weak soon after. (Isn’t that so true of all of us, at times in our lives? We need the warning, not to walk away from or deny our Lord, in difficult times, too.)
Jesus had most of His disciples wait for Him and then took Peter, James, and John with Him further into the garden. He asked them to watch and pray, while He went alone to pray. Jesus was full of sorrow and distress, because He knew that terrible suffering and His death were coming soon (Mark 14:33-34).
As a true man, as well as God, and knowing what was coming, He prayed three times that if there was another way to accomplish the work of salvation, that His Heavenly Father would grant that. Yet He trusted His Father and also prayed, Let it be done, “Not what I will but what you will” “Father, dear Father." He knew that it was His Father’s will that He suffer and die and accepted that He would have to drink “the cup” of God’s wrath to receive the penalty, by His sacrifice for us, that we and all the world deserve for our sins (Mark 14:35-36, 39, 41). (You can look back to Mark 10:38-39, and our study at that point, too, where the “cup of wrath and suffering” was discussed much more. Only Jesus, as true God and true man, could do this saving work and drink that cup for the good and forgiveness of us all.)
Three times Jesus also came back to His disciples and found them sleeping, when they were to be watching and praying for Him. They could not even stay awake and pray for one hour with Jesus. He warned them again to watch out for times of temptation. He knew the human condition, even for the disciples. “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:37-38, 40-41). That, too, is our own problem, too often. We have good intentions as Christians; but our sinful human nature gets the best of us, and we do not follow through with our Lord and His will as we should. (See Romans 7:18-25, where even Paul speaks of this same struggle, within himself.)
Jesus finally told His disciples that the time had come for all the predictions about His suffering death to be fulfilled, and His “betrayer was at hand” (Mark 14:41-42). At that very moment, Judas came, leading a crowd of religious authorities and the temple guards directly to Jesus. Judas then did what He said he would do to identify Jesus, so that He could be arrested stealthily (Mark 14:1-2,10-11) in this dark, remote garden place. Judas kissed Jesus and betrayed Him Whom he called “Rabbi” - Teacher. People in the crowd then quickly seized Jesus (Mark 14:43-46). Judas had done exactly what he had planned, with all the sorrow that followed for him, as we heard last week.
One of the disciples tried to defend Jesus with a sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the Jewish high priest in the crowd (Mark 14:47). Mark does not identity the disciple, but John’s Gospel tells us it was impetuous Peter. See John 18:10-11. We hear from John and from Luke (Luke 22:50-51) that Jesus told Peter to put away his sword, because He, Jesus, had to drink “the cup” prepared for Him. Jesus also healed the ear of the servant - a sign of care even for His enemies.
Jesus also questioned the courage of the religious leaders. They had plenty of chances to arrest Jesus in a public way in the temple, but did not do so. Again, Jesus pointed to the importance of the Scriptures and this event as fulfillment of what the Scriptures predicted. At this point, all the disciples, including Peter, left Jesus and ran away, just as Jesus had also predicted (Mark 14:48-50, 14:26-31).
Also, In Mark 14:51-52, we hear of a young man there in the Garden of Gethsemane who had also been a follower of Jesus. People from the crowd tried to seize him, too, but they could only hang onto a linen cloth he wore, and he ran away naked. We don’t know for sure who this man was, but many commentators think it might have been John Mark himself, the author of this Gospel. This might have been a kind of signature to the Gospel by Mark, who had to admit his own failures and his need also for his Savior Jesus. Whoever it was, the Good News is that Jesus was still willing to go on trial, as we will hear next week, and then to the cross to pay for that young man’s sins and the sins of all the other fleeing disciples and even for the enemies who would soon condemn Him, unjustly, to die - and in love for us, too, to forgive all our sins and weaknesses and failures.
Monday Jul 12, 2021
Monday Jul 12, 2021
Sermon for the 7th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered July 15, 2012
Tuesday Jul 06, 2021
Tuesday Jul 06, 2021
Chapter 14 of Mark begins with a reference to the major Jewish religious festival, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, coming in just a few days in Jerusalem. The festival went on for eight days, remembering God’s rescue of His people from slavery in Egypt centuries before. A key part of that was the Passover meal, remembering when God’s people were to sacrifice a lamb and put some of the blood on the door posts of their homes and eat a special meal, using unleavened bread, a flat bread prepared with no yeast, so that they could quickly leave Egypt when the Pharaoh allowed them to (Mark 14). (See Exodus 12-13 for details.)
However, the Jewish authorities were less concerned about the Passover and more concerned about getting rid of Jesus. Jesus was popular among the people, though, and the authorities wanted to arrest Jesus in a way that would not be noticed by many (Mark 14:2).
We then have a flashback to some days earlier. Mark does not tell us, but John’s Gospel tells us that this event happened six days before the Passover, when Jesus was at a dinner sponsored by Lazarus (who had recently been raised from the dead by Jesus) and his sister Martha, at the home of Simon the Leper in Bethany (Mark 14:3, John 12:1-2). (We don’t know for sure, but Simon was likely someone healed by Jesus from leprosy and very grateful for what Jesus had done for him. If Simon had still been a leper, he would have had to avoid all contact with other people.)
While they ate, a woman came and anointed Jesus with very expensive ointment, made of pure nard, which was a fragrant perfume and was used also on the bodies of people who had died. It may have come from as far away as India (Mark 14:3). John also tells us that it was Mary, the sister of Martha, who had anointed Jesus. Some objected to what Mary had done. They felt that the nard could have been sold and the proceeds used to help the poor. Again, John tells us that it was Judas, the disciple of Jesus, who was complaining the most and part of the reason why he was complaining. It is true that gifts were often give by Jews during the Passover celebration, and Judas was the treasurer for the disciples. However, Judas was also a thief and helped himself to what was the money of Jesus and the disciples, for his own personal gain. If the nard had been sold and the money added to the disciples’ treasury, Judas would have had the opportunity to steal even more (Mark 14:3-4, John 12: 4-6).
Jesus defended what Mary had done in anointing Him, for one simple reason. There would always be poor people to help. That need never stops. The opportunity to help Jesus so directly would not always be there, though. What Mary did was a kind of prophecy of what would soon happen to Jesus. Mary was anointing His body for His burial, even before He had died, Jesus said (Mark 14:6-8). Jesus predicted again and again that he would die, but so many, including His disciples, did not seem to believe and expect it. Mary, at least indirectly, seemed to realize that He would die and honored Him ahead of time. Other women would go to His tomb after His death to anoint His dead body. (See Mark 16:1-6.) They would not get the chance because He had already risen from the dead.
Jesus gave another important prophecy in Mark 14:9, too. The Good News of Jesus and what He has done as the Savior would eventually “be proclaimed in the whole world." That is still happening today, for us and our benefit, far from the land of Israel. For Jesus is our Savior, too; and we still hear of Him, above all, but also of Mary and how she did “a beautiful thing” for Jesus. May we honor Him as well, in word and deed.
Sadly, we also hear, in Mark 14:10-11, how Judas continued to dishonor Jesus, by going to the chief priests and promising to hand Him over to them if they would pay him money. It was not a huge amount of money, but money seemed to be his “god” and getting more and more of it his primary goal, even though Jesus had warned of this danger. (See again Mark 10:17-27 for such a warning.)
In Mark 14:12, we are back on the Thursday of Holy Week, when the traditional Passover meal was to be prepared and eaten. Jesus sent two of His disciples into Jerusalem, with specific directions on how to find the place where everything was to be made ready (Mark 14:12-16). Jesus always followed His Heavenly Father’s will in carrying out what the Scriptures clearly commanded. Some think that Jesus had pre-arranged all this. Others think that He knew that people respected Him as “The Teacher” (v.14) and would provide what He wished. Still others think that the “upper room” was part of the home of Mark himself and his mother, and that this was the place of the Passover meal, and later, the “upper room” where the early believers waited for the Holy Spirit’s coming at Pentecost. (See also Acts 1:14ff.) If so, Mark would have known very personally about all this.
The Passover meal began on what we would call Thursday evening (Mark 14:17). As they were eating the various portions of the Passover meal, Jesus told the disciples that one of them would betray Him. He says this very solemnly, using the phrase we often have heard, “Truly, I say to you” (literally, “Amen, I say to you”). Jesus continued to give warnings to all the disciples about falling away from Him; but He was particularly warning Judas (Mark 14:18-21). Jesus knew what Judas was planning, but there was still time to turn away from that betrayal.
The betrayal was predicted, but that did not mean that Judas was predestined to do this. God wants all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-4), but too many reject and continue to reject what God wants for them, as Judas did. It was the fault of Judas. And by continuing to reject Jesus, Judas was rejecting the salvation Jesus earned for the whole world. Eternal sorrow was coming for Judas, by his own choice.
There are mysteries with all this that our human minds cannot comprehend; but the warnings were there, even in the Old Testament. There was a story in the Old Testament of a time when King David was betrayed, that prefigured the greater betrayal of the Son of David, Jesus, by Judas. A number of the psalms of David are prophetic. Read of the agony of David in Psalm 55:12-15, when a “familiar friend” who had spent time with him even in God’s house, the tabernacle, had turned against him. David also wrote in Psalm 41:9, “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.” See John 13:18 where Jesus quoted this passage, most likely warning Judas again. Jesus had taught earlier that He was willing to “eat with tax collectors and sinners” who really needed Him. Judas really needed Jesus; but Judas rejected Him, even as he ate with Him at the Passover meal. See again Mark 14:20-21.
An Old Testament parallel to this is the betrayal of David by his friend and advisor, Ahithophel. See what is said of him and Hushai in 1 Chronicles 27:33. Then see 2 Samuel 15-17. David’s own son, Absalom, rebelled against David and pulled enough people away from David to overthrow him and became king in his place. David and those who still followed him had to flee from Jerusalem, and David heard, in 2 Samuel 16:31, that “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” Ahithophel gave Absalom advice that helped seal him as king in 2 Samuel 16:15-23. In 2 Samuel 17, though, Ahithophel’s advice was rejected, and Absalom listened to to Hushai, who gave Absalom bad advice that led to his death in chapter 18. Ahithophel realized his failures in betraying David. See what he did in 2 Samuel 17:23 - the same thing that Judas did - hanging himself in despair.
One of the saddest stories in the Bible is then in Matthew 27:3-5. Judas finally did realize his sin and tried to give the money back; but the religious leaders did not care. They had gotten what they wanted - to get Jesus arrested and soon put to death. They did not care a bit about Judas and threw him back upon himself. “See to it yourself.” We cannot see to our sins by ourselves. We cannot deal with them on our own. Only Jesus can deal with our sins. And he did, paying for them on the cross. He came in love for sinners, for you and me. May we always know and trust that mercy of God for us - unlike Ahithophel and Judas, who took their own lives in despair.
Next week, we will see again how great God’s love still is, even for sinners like us, as Mark 14 continues. And as we know God’s love for us, we have His love and forgiveness to share with others, too, unlike those religious leaders who gave no hope to Judas.
Tuesday Jul 06, 2021
Tuesday Jul 06, 2021
Sermon for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered July 8, 2012
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
A Supplement to Luke 12:28-34 - Response to a Question: Why is "Love your neighbor as yourself" called the second important commandment?
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” is found first in Leviticus 19:18, among other Old Testament laws and commands. Strict Jewish rabbis often combined it with the first commandment about love for God. They also added, “Hate your enemies.” That is why Jesus has the comment in His sermon on the mount that you can read in Matthew 5:43ff. He does not agree that we should hate our enemies. He wishes us to try to care for and respect the people God places around us (that’s what the word “neighbor” means). We should try to want for them what we would want for ourselves. See the context of the Leviticus passage in Leviticus 19:17-19 and also 19:32-34.
That does not mean that we must like or agree with what others think and do. But we are to try to “love” them in a caring and sacrificial way. Love for the neighbor thus becomes a summary of the commandments that have to do with our relationships with other people - the 4th-10th of the 10 Commandments.
The first listed is to honor our father and mother. Again, it does not means that we approve of or “like” them and “like” all they do. But it does call us to try to care for and respect them. The commandments that follow tell us how such “love” looks, in what we don’t do to others - not killing, committing adultery, stealing, bearing false witness, and coveting. If you look at Martin Luther’s explanation of these commandments, in the catechism, he also adds positive things we can do for others, in care for them.
Three of the four Gospels tell us that Jesus emphasized love of God and love of neighbor as a summary of the law. See Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, and Luke 12:25-37 (where Jesus also calls us to be a caring “neighbor." Again, a neighbor is not simply someone who lives near us, but the people God places around us and whom we meet, too.) John’s Gospel quotes Jesus as speaking of such love for others also. See John 13:34-35, for example. See also what some people call the Golden Rule of Jesus, in Matthew 7:12.
Paul also speaks of love of our neighbor in Romans 13:8-10. He specifically calls this command a summary of many others. He also speaks of this in Galatians 5:13-15. James also quotes this command in James 2:8. James points out that we are all sinners, because none of us keeps the law perfectly (2:9-11). We cannot be saved by keeping these laws, because none of us do, all the time. Therefore, we have hope only through God’s grace and love and forgiveness for us, in Jesus.
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
Chapter 13 of Mark focuses on predictions Jesus made about the future. Last week we heard how He told the disciples that the temple in Jerusalem would be totally destroyed and that there would be much trouble and persecution for the disciples, as they sought to bear witness about Jesus. The disciples wanted to know when these things would be and what were signs of these coming events - times and signs. Jesus listed some “signs” but they were events that happened again and again through the years that followed - wars, earthquakes, famines, and kingdoms rising and falling.
All these events are to remind us that the end of all things as we know them will be coming and that the end might be coming soon. We are therefore to be on guard against false teachers who could lead people astray and to be prepared for the end by continuing faith in our Savior and by doing what our Lord calls us to do, especially proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus to all nations.
Surprisingly, Jesus said that He could not tell us just when the end will be, because only the Heavenly Father knows. Skip ahead and read Mark 13:32-33. Though Jesus was the Son of God, He did not always use His Godly power and at least while He was on earth, He did not know when the end would be. Churches and people who spend much of their energy on trying to figure out when and how the end will come are missing what is more important - being spiritually awake, by faith in Christ, and doing what He calls us to do, as His servants.
Jesus told a parable of a man going on a journey and leaving his servants to do the work until he returned, at a time unknown (Mark 13:34-37). They were to be awake and ready for him, whenever he returned. For us, that means being spiritually awake and active as a believer and not being spiritually asleep and uncaring about our Master and His wishes for us.
Go back now to Mark 13:14-18. Jesus referred to an “abomination that causes desolation” that was coming. This was a phrase that was first used in the Book of Daniel, in Daniel 9:27, 11:31, and 12:11. It predicted a time, before Christ, when the temple in Jerusalem would be desecrated by a terrible Greek leader who wanted the Jews to follow false gods. (We can’t go into all this here; but if you go back far enough on the podcast site, you will find a study of Daniel and these passages and much more detail about this.)
Jesus used this same phrase in Mark 13:14 to refer to another coming destruction of the temple and much of Jerusalem that He was predicting. He warned people that it would be a terrible time and that they should flee away from Jerusalem and Judea, when they saw this coming. They should not even try to gather up things, but just leave the area quickly and pray that it would not be in winter or during a woman’s pregnancy or at any time when it would be harder get away (Mark 13:14-18).
Early Christians remembered these words of Jesus, and most of them escaped from Jerusalem just before 70 AD, when Roman armies came to put down a Jewish rebellion and destroyed the city and desecrated and destroyed the temple, just as Jesus had predicted. That temple has never been rebuilt, since that time.
These words of Jesus also go beyond this terrible time. The destruction of Jerusalem was also a kind of prediction of trouble for Christians near the very end times of the world. In Mark 13:12-13, Jesus told of families turning against one another, and Christians being hated just for following the name of Jesus. (Such things have happened at various times in the past. Even in more recent times, groups like Hitler and the Nazis and Communist groups and some Islamic groups have been very anti-Christian and have sought to turn people against their own families and family life. But this passage and others in the Scriptures seem to speak of even more possible trouble near the end.)
See the description of great “tribulation” and “false christs” and “false prophets” who seem to do amazing things that could lead many astray, in Mark 13:19-22. (Again, other Scriptures warned of antichrists, even in the days of the early church; but it may be that the challenges will be even tougher for Christians near the end. The Lord will be with His believers, “the elect,” though, and will help them and “shorten” these troubled times.)
The key thing, again, is to be on guard and trust Jesus and endure in faith, even if we have to live through such troubled times as Christians. Jesus has warned us about this, and He will be with us (Mark 13:13, 23). And the forces against Christ and Christians will be defeated by the return of Christ on the last day. Jesus, the Son of Man, will come back with great power and glory, and will gather all believers to Himself for eternal life. The universe as we know it will pass away and we will have a whole new and perfect existence with our Lord (Mark 13:24-27).
Jesus used one more parable to assure his disciples. As a fig tree and its growth and leaves indicate that summer is near, so Christ will be near to us and rescue us, at just the right time, with His return (Mark 13:28-29).
Jesus gave a difficult saying in Mark 13:30. Some people thought from this that Jesus would return within their own life span, their generation, very soon. That obviously was not the case. The word “generation” can also refer to a group or race of people - in this case the Jewish nation or the Christian believers. Still today, both Christians and Jews survive. The Lord takes care of the believers in Christ, and there are Jews who are Christians, and there is still opportunity to be a witness for Christ to Jewish people, so that more can trust in Jesus, too. All that will continue to the end.
Jesus also said, “Heaven and earth will pass away.” That happens at the end, when Christ comes back. “But my Words will not pass away.” The promises and predictions of Jesus are certain, and we will have eternal life with Him one day, as our Savior (Mark 13:31).
So much more could be said, and so many other Scriptures could be given to explain and support what I have given here. Here are just a few, with their subject:
The Return of Jesus on the Last Day
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13-21
- 1 Corinthians 15:51-57
End Time Enemies
- 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8
- 1 John 4:1-6.
- Revelation 20:9-10
The Abiding Word of God
- 1 Peter 1:23-25
New Heaven and New Earth
- 2 Peter 3:7-13
- Revelation 21:1-4
Waiting for the Lord to Come
- Luke 12:35-46
- Revelation 3:19-22
Confidence in Jesus
- 1 John 5:9-13
Finally, I talked a little in this podcast about learning several languages in order to become a pastor, including Latin and German, as much Biblical commentary is written in those languages. Most important were Biblical Hebrew, in which the Old Testament was written and Biblical Greek, in which the New Testament was written. This allows a pastor to compare different translations of the Bible and see which are most accurate in an English or other translation.
There are insights that one learns, too, that are not clear in all translations. Look at Mark 13:8. Notice that the events described there are called “birth pains." What does that mean? The Greek word normally means the pains a woman goes through during the birth of a child. The pains can be terrible, but from them comes the great joy of the birth of a child and the blessings that brings. Jesus used that very image in John 16:20-23 to encourage His disciples, with sorrowful times coming.
Mark 13:8 tells us that we may face trouble and pain, if we happen to be in the last times, when there are wars and famines and earthquakes and other challenges. But out of that will come new life and eternal joy with the Lord. When I was just learning Greek, I found that same Greek word in Acts 2:24. My Bible translates that as “the pangs of death” that Jesus went through for us. What it really means is that Jesus suffered “the birth pangs of death.” His death for us was terribly painful, more than we can imagine; but out of those birth pains came new life for Jesus, as He rose from the dead, and new and eternal life for us, too, who trust in Him. For us, as well, death may be painful, but these pains are only birth pangs that bring us to eternal life and joy with our Lord. Some of the predictions in Mark 13 are scary; but words like “birth pains” put things in perspective and encourage us, even in hard times. Remember that every Word of Scripture is important for us.