Gospel of Mark Study #47

“Offended by the Cross”

Mark 14:22-31

Study #47 in Mark Series

INTRODUCTION:

Today we continue in our verse-by-verse study of the Gospel of Mark. These verses describe the last night before the crucifixion of Jesus. Our Lord spent those intimate hours with twelve men whom He had come to know and to love in a special way. They had been with Him for over 3 years, going everywhere, participating in everything He did. Now Jesus was sitting down with them for a last meal, knowing full well that within the next few hours some of them would betray Him, others would desert Him, and He would be left alone to face the cross.

The cross! Have you ever noticed that some of our favorite hymns are about the cross of Christ: “The Old Rugged Cross,” “Beneath the Cross of Jesus,” “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” and many others. Consequently, when someone talks about the “offense of the cross” we are perplexed. Who in the world would be offended by the cross? Indeed, we see images of the cross everywhere we turn these days and therefore it has lost its impact for most of us. On television you will often see immoral, foul-mouthed actors and actresses wearing big gold crosses as jewelry. Likewise, rock musicians wear huge diamond-studded crosses on stage while they spew out their songs about sordid sex, and drugs, and hatred. The cross obviously does not offend them.

We will investigate this a little later but first let’s get into our text for today, Mark 14:22-31.

TRANSITION:

You need to understand that this Passover meal meant a great deal to Jesus. Try to picture the scene in your mind. In Luke 22:14-16 we are told, “When the hour came, Jesus and His apostles reclined at the table and He said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.’” 

NOTES on the Text:

Verse 22: While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.”

• According to the Passover seder practice this bread was unleavened. It was in the form of a hard cracker, like the matzah [or matzo] used today in the Jewish Passover meal. Or it may have been fresh unleavened bread that would have been more like East Indian chapati or Native American fry-bread. In any case, it was bread made without yeast.
• He took the bread in His hands and held it up before them. Then He recited the traditional Hebrew prayer before eating: “Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinhu, Melech ha-olam, hamotsi lechem min ha-arets.” “Blessed are You, O LORD our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.”
• He said, “Take it; this is My body.” Notice that He did not say, “This will magically become My body after I pray over it.” He said, “This is My body,” even though He was physically right there with them.

Verse 23: And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

• Taking the cup Jesus followed the traditional pattern. He held it up before them and said: “Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu, Melech ha-olam, borei p’ri hagafen.” “Blessed are You, O LORD our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.”

Verse 24: And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is to be shed on behalf of many.

• Notice that this is a one-sided, or unilateral covenant, not a normal agreement between two equal parties. God was the one who initiated the covenant, and all that man can do is either accept it or reject it. In any case, the blood of Jesus is the blood of the new covenant described in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:6-13.

Verse 25: “Truly I say to you, I shall never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

• He was saying that He would not drink wine again in this present age here on earth. I take it that He was looking forward to the celebration referred to as the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb” described in Revelation 19:6-9, although I cannot prove it.

Verse 26: After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

• Which hymn did they sing? When I was a boy The Lord’s Table was always at the very end of the service in our little country church. Before being dismissed with prayer we would almost always sing the same song: “Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.” However, that song was not even published until 1845 so I can say with confidence that it was not the song Jesus and His disciples sang before going out to the Mount of Olives. So, what was it?
• Almost certainly it was one of the “Hallel Psalms” (Psalm 113-118) or perhaps Psalm 136, which is known as the “Great Hallel.” The singing of one or more of these was the traditional close of the Seder ceremony.

Verse 27: And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written, ‘I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED.’

• Presumably, this revelation took place as they made their way on foot to the Mount of Olives where they planned to camp out for the night. Here Jesus paraphrased from Zechariah 13:7, which predicted that the Messiah would be abandoned by His friends.
• “You will fall away…” The King James translates it, “All ye shall be offended because of Me this night…” The word used here originally meant “to catch in a trap or a snare.” With time it came to also mean, “to cause someone to stumble.”
• Jesus said, “You will ALL be offended. You will ALL fall away. You will ALL run like frightened sheep. You will ALL abandon Me. You will ALL be scattered to the four winds.” The word all is obviously important.

Verse 28: “But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.”

• Jesus knew the exact chronology of events because He was the one orchestrating the events. He was in charge. He had the power to lay His life down, and He had the power to take it up again. He was confident that He would rise on the third day, and He affirmed that truth many different times, even though the disciples did not connect all the dots until after the Resurrection.

Verse 29: But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away [i.e., be offended], yet I will not.”

• Notice that Peter picked right up on the word that Jesus had used and immediately contradicted Jesus. He boasted that he would never chicken out. Talk about famous last words… after 2,000 years even non-Christians can tell the story of this famous line spoken by Peter. It has become the poster child of dumb things people say. Oh, he was serious and thought he was tough, and he was filled with good intentions, but he underestimated his own weakness. He thought that he was different from everyone else—stronger, more dedicated, and more prepared. His hubris [i.e., excessive pride, arrogance] and self-assurance are what got him into trouble. That is true of us as well.

Verse 30: And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, that you yourself this very night, before a cock crows twice, shall three times deny Me.”

• Jesus knew exactly how this thing would play out and how Peter would fail miserably. After all, Jesus was truly God and truly human. He knew that Peter would fold up like a cheap lawn chair when the going got tough. He also knew that this experience would eventually work for good in Peter’s life and would help to shape him into a man that God could someday use. But Peter had to be broken first. While he was boasting about his strength God could not use him. That is true for us as well.

Verse 31: But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing, too.

• You would think that hearing the truth one time from Jesus’ mouth would be enough for Peter, but it was not. He was insistent that he would stand even if everyone else abandoned Jesus. How many times in the years that followed did Peter hear and rehear those words uttered by his own lips? But words, once uttered, cannot be taken back.
• “And they all were saying the same thing, too.” So, Peter was not the only big talker. The other guys were just as guilty, just as full of themselves, and just as confident in their own strength. And what is even scarier… if we had been there, we would undoubtedly have been saying the same stupid stuff. Do not kid yourself.

CONCLUSION:

In Galatians 5:11 Paul wrote, “Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.” When Paul wrote these words, he was under attack. His message was being criticized from every side. Indeed, Paul argues that criticism is to be expected. He was not preaching the popular “gospel” that told people what they needed to DO to earn salvation. Instead, he preached that we can only be saved through the cross of Christ. As he pointed out, this message the world finds very offensive, and he was right!

We must remember that a Roman cross was a horrible, despicable instrument of torture and death. I will give you three reasons why it was offensive to the Jews: 

1. The cross was offensive because of the barbarity of crucifixion. Familiarity can dull us to the horror, revulsion, and shame of the crucifixion of Christ. It was a dreadful thing! Even more dreadful, of course, is the fact that He was innocent of any crime or wrongdoing. However, the cross of Jesus has become so familiar to us that we are in danger of forgetting just how dreadful, how horrific, how offensive, it was. We make crosses of brass as ornaments. We wear the cross as jewelry. Perhaps we should wear an emblem such as a miniature electric chair, or a hangman’s-noose, for those are also symbols of shameful execution. Unlike the electric chair, however, crucifixion was one of the most refined processes of torture that the twisted human mind has ever devised. It was the extreme punishment, reserved for the worst kind of criminal. The victim was totally degraded in his naked, vulnerable shame. It was an offensive thing. Crucifixion was something not even mentioned in polite company. And in fact, we have no idea of how offensive to the Jewish leaders was the idea that the Messiah could suffer crucifixion. The very notion that the Messiah of God would be asked to carry such a stigma was unacceptable. They considered such an idea to be downright blasphemous. They insisted that the Messiah would never be allowed to undergo such indignity and suffering. God would never allow it. Certainly, the Almighty would put a stop to such notions before they could be carried out. Unless, of course, this was exactly what the Father designed for the Son. 

2. The cross is offensive because of what it implies about humanity. This contemporary world does not want to hear that our sin made Christ’s death necessary. We run from concepts related to death, judgment, and punishment. No, we want to hear about the goodness of man. We want to talk about our great, untapped potential. We resist and fight any notion that we are “sinners in the hands of an angry God,” to quote Jonathan Edwards. When we consider that our sin was responsible for Christ’s suffering we turn away. We cannot and will not bear that responsibility. This is a view of our own sinfulness we do not want to see. However, the Bible paints a clear picture. We have rebelled against God, constantly and much more than we are willing to admit. This rebellion is infinitely offensive to our Holy God. We deserve God’s electric chair. We deserve judgment. There are no appeals before God, no last-minute calls from the Governor. We are condemned unless the Judge Himself intervenes. We can rationalize, we can blame, and we can seek to redefine sin. However, God’s standard does not bend. He does not waver. God hates sin! It is so terrible to Him that He was willing to allow His Son to suffer unspeakable indignity and torture to free us from that sin.
• Anytime we do “our own thing” (rather than God’s), we sin.
• Anytime we compromise the truth for self-preservation, we sin.
• Anytime something or someone has more influence in our lives than God, we sin.
• Anytime we point a bony finger at another person in condemnation rather than compassion, we sin.
• Anytime we make a promise and do not deliver, we sin.

Obviously, the list could go on and on. But we say, “Hey, everybody does these things.” And you are right. However, the implication drawn from your comment is this: everyone does them so…it is understandable. NO, IT IS NOT! These are the very sins that sent Christ to a horrible death. These are the sins that killed Him! Violence has become so commonplace that we are becoming numb to it. Immorality is so pervasive that we hardly notice anymore. And sin is so much a part of what we do and who we are that we seldom give it a second glance. But those sins we shrug off are the ones He went to the cross to save us from. Face it, most people find the cross offensive because it shows them a picture of themselves that they do not want to see. 

3. The cross is offensive because it declares us helpless to contribute to our own salvation. People may be able to deal with the fact of Christ’s suffering, they may be willing to concede their sinfulness, but they recoil at the idea that there is nothing we can do to earn salvation. They hate the idea that we are at the mercy of the court. The cross reminds us that there is only ONE way for us to be reconciled to God. Namely, God Himself had to take up human residence, live a holy life despite constant temptation from Satan, and then give His life to unimaginable suffering, all to pay for our sin. It was the only way. His glorious resurrection was the exclamation point to His sacrifice. The world considers this whole idea to be foolishness. The very idea of God becoming man! The notion that a perfect God would reach out in such a way to rebellious humanity! The notion seems preposterous. The world laughs, scoffs, and sneers. And the world dies. Americans, perhaps more than any, resist this teaching. We relish our independence, our freedom. We believe we can do whatever we want if we set our minds to it. We believe that enough hard work and determination can lead anyone to reach his goals. But it is a lie! It is impossible for us to work hard enough to earn our own salvation. We cannot do it, even if we wanted to try, and we will not! We are helpless. But people want to control their own destinies. The real reason that the cross is offensive is because it wounds our pride because it declares that the only way to be saved is to throw yourself completely on the mercy of God. Do you understand how offensive this is to contemporary man? People want rules to follow. They want formulas. They want control. But the Gospel tells us that salvation is gained only by those who:
• Admit their sin with a sincere attitude of repentance (meaning we are sorry for the sin itself, not just for getting caught).
• Place their trust and hope in Jesus alone. Salvation is not about a formula to follow, or special words to be recited. It is a total surrender to Jesus Christ. It is saying, “Lord, I give myself to You. I trust in You as my Savior. I will rely on You alone. I will submit to Your rule and leadership in my life.”

There are several ways I hope we will respond to this lesson today:

1. I pray that we will take the time to seriously ponder the message of the cross once again. We need to see the horror of the cross with fresh eyes so that we can understand the devastating nature of what Christ suffered for us when He took our sin upon Himself. We need to see with new freshness the horror of sin, our sin. Where it is needed, we must repent. Where we have been compromising, we must quit. Where we have rationalized, we must begin telling ourselves the truth. We need to stop hiding and face reality. Sin is hideous and ugly.
2. I pray that we will resolve never again to water-down the Gospel presentation. It is tempting to make things more agreeable to the world. It is tempting to talk about our goodness, power, and ability. It is tempting to explain the Gospel in terms of formulas and systems. It is tempting to tell people what they want to hear. But we must not do that. Christ’s blood is the only way of salvation. It is only by trusting God’s mercy that we can be saved. To compromise the true message is to withhold the words of life, or worse…to lead someone down the wrong path, the path that leads to eternal destruction.
3. I pray that we will examine ourselves. Let me ask you: are you still trying to find some way to save yourself? Are you hoping to be good enough? Friend, anything other than repentance and faith is a worthless substitute for the truth, which alone can save. If you ask Him in faith, Christ’s righteousness will be applied to your account. His blood will be applied as payment for your sin, and you will be made clean and righteous in God’s sight. And one day, like the thief on the cross, you will be with Him in Paradise.