Mark 14:12-21 - Jesus Celebrates Passover

This is how I introduced this sermon:

“We began this chapter last week with the anointing of Jesus at Bethany. The faith, love, and devotion displayed by the unnamed woman there, Jesus called beautiful. She had done this, he had said, for his burial. And we were reminded again that Jesus is on a mission.

He first said they were going to Jerusalem. Then he had said that he was going to die there—that he would be rejected by Israel, handed over to the Gentiles, and executed. He repeated this twice more in chapters nine and ten.

Mark has informed us of this for the express purpose of making sure we understood that what happened to Jesus was according to plan. The son of man must go to Jerusalem, Jesus had said. He must be rejected. He must be handed over. He must die. 

Mark has told us this so that we would not make the mistake of thinking that perhaps Jesus had miscalculated, or that things had spiraled out of control. Jesus has entered the heart of enemy territory, is offering himself up, and now he will be crucified. Peter will say in just a few weeks that all of this happened according to the ‘definite plan and foreknowledge of God.’ It was foretold by the prophets who spoke as they were ‘moved along by the Holy Spirit.’ It must happen this way.

So after the story of his being anointed for burial at Bethany we were told how Judas went to the chief priests and offered them the information they needed in exchange for money. That’s where we ended last week.

What we’re about to see is that just as Jesus sent disciples ahead to make preparations for his entrance to Jerusalem back in chapter eleven, so he does again, this time for the celebration of the Passover meal. The stories and details are remarkably similar and serve to emphasize that Jesus is in complete control of events as we edge closer and closer to crucifixion. Everything is according to purpose—his as well as the Father’s.”

To listen to the sermon just click the link below.


Click here: Mark 14:12-21 - Jesus Celebrates Passover


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Mark 14:1-11 - Jesus Anointed At Bethany

Now it has come to it. We are at the cusp of the great event. We are peering at the climax of Mark’s gospel. More than that, we find ourselves on the verge of the climactic event of human history. Everything heretofore has been building toward this.

We finished chapter 13 last week and now we press forward to the end. Mark has been prepping us for this, and so has Jesus. In the very first verse of this gospel Mark told us the purpose of his writing, to announce to us the beginning of the good news of Jesus Messiah, the Son of God. Every step of the way he has shown us Jesus Messiah and he has also been preparing us for these climactic events. 

Way back in chapter 2 he began describing the building opposition to Jesus culminating early in chapter 3 with the plot between the Pharisees and Herodians to have him put to death. Then we witnessed miracle after miracle, event after event, that demonstrated to us in ever-increasing clarity that Jesus was, indeed, the promised Messiah, God in the flesh come to redeem us, come to fulfill all the promises made to Israel.

But he was not what the people expected. They expected, they desired, a warrior king to throw off the yoke and tyranny of Rome and usher in a new David-like kingdom of glory, like the one of old. But God had something much more grand in mind. God had in mind a world-wide kingdom which would transcend the temporary, provincial, political kingdom of David. What God was doing through Christ was far greater than all that they could ask or think or even dream. And yet it would be brought about in a way that they would never dream.

The Son of Man must suffer, Jesus had told them at Caesaria Philippi. He must suffer many things. He must be rejected. He must be executed. He must rise again the third day.”

That is the introduction to this first sermon from chapter fourteen of Mark, the first of fifteen sermons that will take us through the resurrection of Jesus and to the end of Mark’s Gospel. I’ve linked the sermon below so that you can listen to it and be blessed. I hope you will.


Click here: Mark 14:1-11 - Jesus Anointed At Bethany


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Mark 13:28-37 - Stay Awake!

This is the last sermon from Mark 13, the chapter which contains Jesus’s famous Olivet Discourse. What we look at in this sermon is the purpose of the discourse and what it says about the future of Israel and the Church. And we conclude with Jesus’s admonition to “Stay awake” and what that means in its New Testament context.

The whole of this chapter hinges around the cataclysmic judgment of Jerusalem and the temple and the end of Old Testament, Old Covenant Judaism. But it isn’t accurate to say that it ended. The better way to express it is that it was fulfilled and became what it was always destined to be. The promises made through the prophets to true Israel are being fulfilled and the unbelieving branches are being cut off.

When? And what will be the signs? That’s what the disciples want to know and that’s what Jesus has been telling them. In addition to that he has given them a confirmation of the coming of the kingdom and a glimpse of its fullness.

The whole discourse has been pastoral in tone. Jesus loves his disciples, and in his concern for them he has given them the information they need to survive and thrive through the coming days. And now he gives them one final lesson and warning.

To listen to this sermon just click the link below. A page will open up in your browser where you will be able to either stream the sermon immediately or download it for later listening. God bless you.

Click here: Mark 13:28-37 - Stay Awake!


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