MARK 14
The crucifixion and resurrection events were now rushing rapidly towards them all, and his disciples were struggling to ‘keep up’ emotionally and psychologically. First the scene shifts to the peaceful home at Bethany (whose Hebrew name means ‘house of figs’), the same village where Lazarus, Martha and Mary lived. John 12 tells us that they were invited too, in honour of Lazarus’ resurrection from death. A woman (Mary in John 12) breaks open a jar of very expensive perfume and pours it on Jesus as an act of worship. By breaking that jar, she was committed to follow through in her worship and devotion to Jesus; what things need to ‘break’ in our lives to begin that life of devotion?
The disciples miss the point and start to gently rebuke Jesus for being encouraging the miss-appropriation of funds intended for the poor. Jesus rebukes them in turn and explains that the poor will be around after his death, resurrection and ascension, and that Mary was correct in her priorities – that “She has done a beautiful thing to me”. The needs of the poor would always be with the church – and today their needs rest with us. Indeed, one of our roles and privileges is to meet the needs of the poor. However, Mary did what no-one else ever managed to do: she anointed the body of the Son of God for burial – whereas all the other women were too late by the time Easter Sunday had arrived. When God gives us opportunities to minister to Him we had better take them! Judas took all that happened the ‘wrong way’ and was soon on his way to the chief priests to arrange the betrayal.
Then we come to the so-called ‘Last Supper’. Jesus redefined the Jewish Passover Meal as a new covenant ritual. Participating in this – from that time onwards – ratifies your membership of the universal Body of Christ, worldwide and timeless. The covenant he refers to was spoken of by Jeremiah in 31:31-34; unconditional and irrevocable, we are the objects of the Father’s love and the recipients of his unlimited grace. This Passover Meal was yet another of those occasions when food was involved and Jesus gave his followers more than physical food – bread from Heaven! Again, Judas missed out on the blessings, leaving this meal early to continue his plotting!
Later, in the garden, Jesus began to experience the massive sorrow that comes with the awareness of impending death. But Jesus also knew that, for him, the physical agony was the tip of the iceberg; separation from his infinitely loving Father, whose presence and love had always been there for him for all eternity, would be much more painful to his soul. Not surprisingly, that sorrow almost brought death itself to Jesus, as he anticipated its effects on him. “Abba, Father, if there is any other way…” he pleaded. But, of course, there wasn’t.
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (14:38). Our lives are in a war between flesh and spirit – not that the physical aspects of our nature are evil, but simply that they are weak and so vulnerable to attack, distraction, and invasion by forces of evil. As we pray, we reinforce the spiritual aspects of our makeup, and this makes us better defended against the Devil and his schemes.
Then we come to the ‘arrest’ scene, which went beautifully smoothly from the point of view of the Jewish authorities – ably assisted by Judas, who having led them to the secret meeting place now needed to identify Jesus to them in the darkness. “The kiss” was unmistakeable and ironic. During Jesus’ arrest, a strange event occurs, narrated in Mark’s gospel only. There is mention of a “young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment” who was a follower of Jesus, and who fled naked when Jesus was arrested. This man was very possibly John Mark himself, the author of the gospel, who gave himself a quick walk-on autobiographical mention – albeit rather unflatteringly!
Peter, meanwhile, was scared. It is simple enough for us to condemn him for denying his Master, but fear makes you irrational and the truth expendable. Most of us would probably have succumbed to the same temptations levelled at our weak flesh, and most of us would have lied our way out of the situation. Peter had not yet received the Holy Spirit as we have now, so let’s not be judgmental until we have faced the same kind of persecutions ourselves. Interestingly Mark’s gospel gives the longest account of this scene; given that Mark was essentially Peter’s scribe, it is touching that Peter therefore insisted that his denial of Christ was included in all its details. Also, it is perhaps significant that John – who was the other disciple who accompanied Peter into the High Priest’s courtyard – makes no mention of this in his own gospel!
LEVITICUS 17 and 18
Blood sacrifices other than the ones prescribed at the tabernacle were strictly forbidden; the setting up of personal shrines and altars around the countryside was already an obsession in the native peoples of the Promised Land, and the Lord did not want Israel getting into bad and idolatrous habits. Furthermore, blood was not to be eaten under any circumstances since it symbolised powerfully the life of a creature and needed to be treated with respect. Therefore animals killed for the purpose of food had to be carefully hung for some days and drained of all liquid blood before being eaten.
Chapter 18 describes a catalogue of forbidden sexual practices and relationships; since they also appear in Chapter 20, I will defer any comments until then.
The Big Picture 