See You There

But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. Mark 14:28

News of coming betrayal by one of His own, ceremonial ingestion of His body and blood, and a prophecy of the frightened flight of the faithful disciples, could Jesus top all of that? Oh, why do we even ask? After telling of His coming death in plain terms and metaphor, Jesus tells His disciples that He will be raised from the grave and meet them in Galilee.

Right, boss, see you there.

The disciples at this time could not believe in Jesus and His absolutely certain foreknowledge. Peter will receive his own personal denial prophecy in our Lord's next statement (v30), but he won't believe that either. And yet, all that Jesus said came to pass.

So, when Jesus says that He is returning, I'll see you there!

Bucky

No Way, Prophet!

Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:

​

​‘​I will strike the Shepherd,
​​And the sheep will be scattered. 
  -- Mark 14:27

Jesus said the prophet said it, Peter immediately denies it; Jesus says Peter will stumble even harder, and the disciple denies it more strongly even if he must die with Jesus. Hey, it's the old doubling down trick! Denial of denials forgotten, Peter will soon be among those sleeping in the garden while our Lord Jesus struggles in prayer. Jesus knew the prophecies, and He knew the fatigue and difficulty of staying awake at night while waiting on someone. Peter denied the prophecy and intended to be strong in his own might. We know who was proved right.

It is easy for any of us to say, "No way, prophet!" but if the Lord God gave the prophecy, we had better dial back those words and listen. Peter learned a tough lesson. Let us learn from his lesson.

Bucky

Eat, The Bread

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Mark 14:22

Jesus had done some extraordinary things up to this time in His ministry, but then He does this we read in our verse today. Jesus symbolically has His disciples eat His body by way of the bread. As we have read many times before, He will do a similar thing with wine and call it His blood. To the outsider and critic, this eating the body and drinking the blood is grounds for many jokes and much criticism. Symbols, no matter who may scoff, are important to the faith.

A stop sign is already stopped. It does not need to stop. However, it is a symbol telling a driver to stop the vehicle at a certain place. Jesus tells His disciples and us that this symbol of the communion tells us to take Him into ourselves. The body and the blood, we see it as His salvation and His cleansing of us, or His presence by the Holy Spirit and His word by the Bible, and others. As drivers we have at times wished the stop sign that other drivers flagrantly ignored was able to do the stopping for them. In the Communion, we get our wish in that Jesus as He comes to live inside of us by His Spirit, does all the work of saving, cleansing, educating, and in all ways making each of us suitable for presentation to His Father.

May God have mercy on the scoffers,

Bucky

Never Been Born

The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.” Mark 14:21

Hardly could a stronger warning have been given to Judas Iscariot to stop his progress down the road of betrayal. Jesus, the Son of Man, was following the prophecy road to His crucifixion, and He did not need the help Judas was giving. If the betraying man had never been born, then he could not do that terrible act he would become infamous for. It seems obvious to us now, but for Judas the warning goes right by him. Jesus gives the word and off Judas goes to his infamy. Can we pray for Judas these many years later? I believe so. Will it be useless? Maybe, but we can look upon it as a test of keeping our love warm and alive. And it reminds us to pray for those who are alive now, and yet our prayers appear to do nothing toward their repentance.

Pray in love, pray always,

Bucky

Judas, My Social Skills Hero

In the evening He came with the twelve. Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me.”
And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, “Is it I?” And another said, “Is it I?” Mark 14:17-19

It has been written, I read it the other night in Patriot Games by Tom Clancy, that in order to betray one must first be trusted. Here this morning we see Jesus drop a heavy rock into the still waters of the Passover dinner. The twelve disciples are trusted and they trust one another, so much that each has no idea who will do it. As we know from the story, even when pointed out Judas raises no suspicion in the mind of the other disciples. Judas has credibility, he is probably a very likeable fellow. Unlike this writer, Judas has those social skills I have heard about. When Jesus all but stands and paints 'Betrayer' on his cloak, Judas comes out smelling clean and generous. We know from the gospels that the disciples think that Judas left to give some alms to the poor. We also know from the gospels that Judas becomes the worst sort of traitor - the well-liked and beloved disciple sort of betrayer who leaves his Savior to hang.

Maybe I don't need the Judas kind of social skills...

Bucky

Of Course They Did

So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover. Mark 14:16

It reads easily after we know the outcome, but for the doubting disciples in their day the things Jesus said could be difficult to believe. As we read last time, even the seemingly simple things Jesus said required considerable preparation and foreknowledge. Jesus also aligned all He said with centuries of prophecy. Which brings me to think of me. No, not in the usual old selfish way, but as in, "What has Jesus plainly said of these end times that I have doubted?" From our dear brothers in Christ, His disciples, we can see one thing - it will be just as He said it will be.

In Christ Jesus our Lord, love and grace to you,

Bucky

A Pre-arranged Meeting

And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’ Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us.”  Mark 14:13-15

Any spy novel could start out in a similar fashion. Some of them may have taken inspiration from this passage of scripture. Meet a person described by a singular feature, follow, give a sign to another, receive the countersign, and carry out your first assignment. Of course this must all be set up ahead of time, and the timing must be arranged. It wouldn't do to have our first contact missed a mere minute or two. We note in the scripture that the room has been prepared, but for whom? Did someone not make an appointment? Or was the appointment arranged by God and made ready for Jesus and His disciples?  From donkeys to Passover meals, nothing in our Lord's final week was left to chance. 

Maybe those things that seem random in life aren't so random after all?

Bucky