I am Barabbas

Mark 15

Mark fifteen begins with the Roman trial of Jesus. The Jewish trials, unjust as they were, had been completed. Now he would be tried by the gentiles.

The Jewish leaders bring Jesus to Pilot because they could not execute anyone in their own courts. They wanted Jesus dead, so they drummed up some false charges. Luke gives us a list of these. They accuse first that he was misleading the nation. I’m not sure that this can even be construed as a crime. At any rate, Pilot questions him and finds him not guilty on this charge. They also make the claim that Jesus says not to pay taxes to Caesar. This was a blatant lie. The Pharisees had tried to trick Jesus with this question, and he had said that the imperial tax did have to be paid.

The third charge is that he is claiming to be the Christ, a king. This is sort of a half-truth. He does indeed claim to be the Christ, the Messiah. The Jews thought that when the Messiah came, he would immediately set up an earthly kingdom. There are several old testament prophecies about the Messiah that indicate he will set up a kingdom on earth. Today, we understand these to be referring to his second coming. But perhaps, they believed that he was trying to set up a kingdom. However, they would be aware that the Christ was also a spiritual designation, and there was nothing to indicate that Jesus was trying to overthrow the government. Jesus explains this to Pilot (in John’s account), “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). He makes it perfectly clear that he is not trying to interfere with Roman rule at all. Pilot again finds no reason to charge him. The Jews have one more charge to make, and this is the true one. They say, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he he has made himself the Son of God.” Here, finally, is the issue. Jesus does claim this. And if he were simply a man, he would be guilty of blasphemy. But if he really is the Son of God, then there was no crime.

Here Mark records an interesting statement by Jesus. Pilot says, “Are you a king?” Jesus responds, “You have said so.” What kind of a response is that? It is like he is saying, those are your words, not mine. I am making no claim to your physical kingdom. John adds a little more detail. After this Jesus says that he has come to bear witness to the truth, and everyone on the side of truth listens to him. Pilot responses, “What is truth?”

This could have come out of the mouth of anyone on a college campus today. It is postmodern philosophy. The idea that there is no objective truth, only subjective truths. There is no Truth, with a capital T, only little t truth. There is my truth and your truth, not an overarching truth. I read a reporter recently who said that he was not biased, he just reported “his truth.” But there can’t be differing truths, if so, then one of them is not the truth.

Jesus reminds us here that truth has a side. You are either for him or against him. He who does not gather scatters.

All these charges are brought against him, perhaps even more, and Jesus is silent. He does not respond to his accusers. This fulfills the scripture, like a lamb led to the slaughter is silent (Isaiah 53:7). Jesus does not defend himself, because he is taking the injustice willingly.

Pilot, knowing that the Jewish leaders are accusing Jesus out of jealousy, tries to make a deal. He usually releases a prisoner during the Passover feast as a favor to the Jews. He brings out a true criminal, Barabbas and asks them to choose between him and Jesus. It should be an easy choice. Barabbas was a murderer. He was a rebel. He was a bad human being. Jesus was a healer. Innocent. But the chief priests stir up the crowd to choose Barabbas and to crucify Jesus. A riot is on the verge of starting, and Pilot finally gives in.

Pilot is in a difficult situation. He knows Jesus is innocent. His wife warns him not to have anything to do with him on account of a dream she had. But the Jewish leaders want Jesus dead. They are adamant. And they turn the screw on Pilot. They present Jesus as “King of the Jews”. And they warn Pilot that anyone who claims to be a king opposes the emperor. If Pilot is too soft, he may get his position taken away.

Pilot releases Barabbas to “satisfy the crowd.” It was only a week earlier the crowds had been shouting “blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” and “hosanna.” But the crowds are fickle. The crowds turn on Jesus because they don’t have a relationship with him. They see him from afar, and they are fans. He is healing people, and preaching interesting things, but they don’t have any intimacy with him. They aren’t disciples. It does no good to be a fan of Jesus. You must be a follower.

Barabbas was a real person, but he also is representational. This is exchange is the one that every follower of Jesus is familiar with. I am Barabbas. We are Barabbas. Barabbas was an insurrectionist, a rebel. He tried to start a rebellion. He was a sinner, a murderer. That is what the bible teaches we are. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” In the garden of Eden, we rebelled against God. Barabbas is only the latest of a long like of sinners and rebels. And that is what we were before Christ.

As we read the next few verses, consider the exchange that takes place. Jesus gets the punishment that Barabbas deserved. Barabbas was truly a rebel. He was justly condemned, and Jesus took his place. All his punishment was that of an insurrectionist. And Jesus takes our place as well. What he endured, we deserved.

Now remember, Jesus has stayed up all night, sweating blood, and enduring hours of false accusations. He has been beaten and mocked and denied justice a second time. Now he is scourged. It is difficult to convey the suffering he endured this day. The scourging involved being beaten with a whip that at the end had strips of leather with bits of bone and metal woven in, so that as it came down across the flesh and was jerked away, it would tear furrows of flesh away. A Jewish historian, Josephus, said that Jesus, by the time he was crucified, looked like a chunk of meat instead of a person.

After this painful experience, Jesus was again mocked and beaten, this time by the callused Roman soldiers. Jesus is so weak now, carrying his cross, that a man must be conscripted to carry his cross for him. He cannot even lift it himself. As a last mercy they offer him wine mixed with myrrh. This was a drug that was used as a painkiller. It was meant to numb him to what he was to endure. Jesus refused it. He took the full agony of the cross.

On the cross, his hands and feet were nailed through to support him. Hanging as he was, he could not breath unless he pulled himself up. Every breath would have been a new wave of pain. And so he hung, for hours. The crowds continued to hurl insults upon him. He bore our suffering. He bore our shame.

Finally, after hours, he died. The ultimate price was paid. And we, like Barabbas, walk free.

The chapter ends at the darkest moment. The light of the world was laid in darkness. He who was the “Life” was in the grave. The Truth was overwhelmed by lies. The disciples were scattered, terrified, ashamed.

We must remember that these moments don’t define us. This chapter leads to the next, to the resurrection. While we are waiting, God is working. It looked like Satan had won, but Jesus was giving the final blow. Imagine being a disciple that weekend. It must have been hard. Jesus had promised to rise again, but that is hard to believe in the struggle. We must trust his promises in the dark place. We must trust his leading in the valley.

You may be struggling today. Things may be difficult. Maybe you are faced with something that seems like it is impossible to overcome. But remember, God is working. Trust in Him.

The prophet Habakkuk begins his short book with this question, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?” (Hab. 1:2) But it ends this way. “God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer’s; he makes me tread on the high places” (Hab. 3:19). God does not always remove the mountain, but he makes us able to stand on the top. There may be difficulties – no, there will be difficulties – but the Lord will make us able to overcome. Whatever your struggle is, make the Lord your strength. Trust in Him. He never fails us.

Mark 14 -the Second Garden

The second half of Mark 2 describes the events that happen the night before Jesus’s crucifixion. After the last supper, he sings a hymn with the disciples and goes out to the mount of Olives to a garden called Gethsemane. This is the transition from the celebration to the trial. Now Jesus gives them a warning.

“You will all fall away”

This must have been difficult to hear. These disciples had given everything to follow Jesus. They were his closest friends. They protested. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you,” Peter says. But words are cheap. By early morning he was gone, along with all the rest.

Why did it have to be this way? Why did Jesus insist that they would fall away?

First, it was fulfilled prophecy. Jesus explains, “for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’” Everything that happens this night fulfills prophecy that was given hundreds of years earlier. Their fulfillment establishes that Jesus is who he says he is.  

But why did it have to be this way? The disciples did die for him later. Tradition tells us that all the twelve disciples died as martyrs, except John, and he only because he survived his execution. They would die for him, but not that night.

This night was something that Jesus had to do alone. The significance of this moment cannot be overstated. This is about the redemption of the entire human race. To gain the proper perspective, we must go back to the very beginning of our history, to another garden.

In the garden of Eden, thousands of years before, the human race had chosen to turn away from God. In this garden, they had given into temptation, bought into the lie that they could take the place of God. You know the story (If you don’t read Genesis chapter 3). In that other garden, they had been driven out of God’s presence, and cursed to suffer. In that garden, sin had been brought into the world.

In the time between that garden and this one, human history had become a cesspool of war and oppression, rape and death. It turns out that sin has real consequences. “[T]he wages of sin is death,” (Romans 6:23). Our problem was that we were sinners. We had done things that were wrong, and these had separated us from God. This is a problem for all humans. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

But our problem also was with Sin. We have a nature that is drawn to sin. Not only have we done things that are wrong, but something inside of us is wrong. Sin appeals to us. Our flesh wants to indulge in sin, to justify sin, to hide sin inside. Therefore, it does no good to wash our past away unless something is done about our nature.

Jesus is the only solution. We know he is the only possibility because in the garden, he begs the Father to not make him go through it. But he submits to God’s will. “If it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done” (Matt. 26:42). There was no other way for the cup of God’s wrath to be poured out. If Jesus had not taken it, then we each would have paid the price for our sins in full.

He is the only solution to the Sin in us as well. We need his transformation of our desires, of our very selves, to be right with God and to be free of Sin. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”

But why was Jesus uniquely able to do this?

The Bible tells us that a sacrifice is required for sin. It is because sin leads to death (Romans 6:23) and life is in the blood (Lev. 17:11). So, blood must be spilt in order for sin to be atoned. Jesus had to spill his blood for us, in place of our own, so that the just penalty that was upon us could be paid. In the old testament, they would use the blood of lambs and bulls for these things. But that was a stop gap measure. But they were not able to really pay the price (Heb. 10:4). A lamb’s life is not the same as a man’s.

But Jesus was not just any man. He was pure. The old testament rules for a lamb to be sacrificed was that it had to be without blemish (Lev. 1:3, Duet. 15:21). The idea is that something cannot be used to purify something else, if they first thing is not clean. They would look for any blemish on the sacrifices. Jesus lived a completely perfect life on Earth. He never sinned, not even once, so when he died, he was the perfect sacrifice (1 Peter 1:19).

When he died, the scriptures say that his righteousness was transferred to us (2 Cor 5:21). Our sin went to him, and his righteousness went to us. So not only did we have the negative effects of our live taken away, we have good imputed to us.

Another thing that makes Jesus unique as a sacrifice is the fact that he was fully God and fully man. He was able to suffer with us. We see his distress at the thought of going to the cross in the garden. His soul was sorrowful unto death. He has experienced our weakness. But he is also God. His death as the son of God, was enough for all of God’s wrath to be poured out. He was able to stand in the place of all mankind.

Here in Gethsemane, we have God again in a garden, this time him taking on flesh. Gethsemane means the place of crushing. It was where the olives would be crushed into oil. In this garden, he is preparing to be crushed. He would take the suffering they earned in Eden. He, even though he is God, he is submitting himself to God, the very thing that the first Adam could not do (Phil. 2:6-8). He resists the temptation to let his will override his Father’s. From here he goes willingly to suffer, to take our curse upon himself. In this garden, he prepares to open the way that was closed to us. The veil in the temple, inscribed with angels, blocking off the way to the most Holy place would be torn in two, by the hand of heaven (Matt. 27:51). The garden that was closed to us in the beginning has been reopened. He does what we are too weak to do.

We are given such a clear example of our own weakness in Peter in this chapter. He is brash and bold, going so far to argue with Jesus about whether he will follow him to death. This is the Peter we have come to know. He claims that he will never fall away. He pulls out a sword to defend Jesus at his arrest (John 18:10). Jesus rebukes him again and heals the man.

This night all of Peter’s bravado melts away. He runs with the others. Sneaking along after the mob that arrested Jesus, we see him in the courtyard of the high priest, trying to pick up some news about the trial. And he is ousted with a servant girl. He denies he even knows Jesus. He declares it on an oath. He calls down curses on himself.

Then he realizes, it all went just as Jesus said it would. His master is condemned, and he has abandoned him, just like Jesus said he would.

The strength of man is small. When we rely on ourselves, we are insufficient. You will never be good enough on your own. You can’t earn God’s grace or his love. Like Peter, we are all utterly weak.

But there is good news. Because Jesus did what no one else could, we have hope. He died so we could live. He took our sin, so we could be clean. He sent his Spirit so we could live holy lives and serve him.

If you look at Peter after the resurrection, he is a changed man. He gets up on Pentecost and delivers a speech that brings in thousands of converts (Acts 2:14-41). He becomes a pillar of the church. He faces the Jewish authorities without fear and speaks with eloquence and power. He endures suffering without backing down, and eventually he dies for Jesus, as promised, without falling away.

The difference is that he was living on what Jesus had won. He was no longer working in his flesh. He was working in the Spirit. The cross changed everything.

So too for us, the cross changes everything. In our own strength, we are weak, sinful, selfish creatures. We don’t dare confess our faith before others. We follow the crowd and do our best to “fit in” no matter the cost to our integrity. Fear rules us. Our attempts at service are generally selfish.

But the Holy Spirit strengthens us. When I am weak, he is strong (2 Cor. 12:10). We walk by faith, and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). We are unafraid. We live holy, pure lives. We are creatures of selflessness. We are willing and able to stand up to wrong that we see around us, and we can take the road less traveled. We can share our faith effortlessly. Fear is dead.

You might say: I am a Christian, but I feel like I am living in the first category rather than the second. I don’t feel like I am living a victorious life. What am I doing wrong?

You need to grasp what Christ has done for you at the cross. You need to know the love that was poured out for your sake. You must understand how precious you are to God. As Paul said in Ephesians, “And I pray that you, being rooted and stablished in love, may have power, together will all the Lord’s people, to grasp how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17b-19).

You need to ask the Holy Spirit to come in and empower your life. Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they had received power from on high (Luke 24:49). It is absolutely essential that you are working in the power of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

And you need to submit to the will of God. We must pray as he did in the garden, “not my will but yours be done.” The places he will take you will not always be the feast and the mountain. Sometimes he will lead you through the valley of the shadow of death to the place of crushing. Remember, he has been there, and he will bring you through.

Mark 14 - Anointing Jesus

The events of the first half of Mark 14 lead up to the arrest of Jesus, and the stage is already being set. The Pharisees have decided, after being outsmarted by Jesus in the public forum, that he must die.

It is amazing that these men, who considered themselves the most spiritual people on the planet, were able so easily to plot the death of an innocent man. But that, of course, is human nature. We tend to judge others much more harshly than we do ourselves. Anyone who thinks that they are on the moral high ground should consider their own sin. As Jesus said, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Jesus is spending the night in Bethany, as was his habit. He would go only during the day into Jerusalem. No doubt it would have been a dangerous place for him at night, if the Pharisees knew where he was staying.

A woman joins their dinner party. Her behavior is erratic. Strange. She stands behind Jesus and breaks an expensive jar of perfume. She pours it over his head, over his feet. She is washing his feet with her hair. It is almost like… an act of worship. The scent fills the room. Noses snort in disgust. How could she waste the whole bottle on Jesus like that?

The gospels all treat this story a little differently. Matthew and Mark are essentially identical, but John gives different details, and Luke’s has a different point. He also puts the story much further back. Some believe Luke’s account was a completely different event. There are some indications that they are the same event, but the disciples remembered different things about it.

At any rate, the significance of the woman’s act is different in the different stories. In Matthew, Mark, and John, the significance is on the woman’s love for Jesus and it serves as the impetus for Judas to betray Jesus. In Luke, it is the woman’s love for Jesus and the fact that she is sinful and made clean.

Mark says the woman comes and breaks the very expensive jar filled with very expensive oil over Jesus head and pours it over him. The emphasis is the extravagance of the gift. The disciples protest, this is worth a year’s wages! All poured out for Jesus. What an incredible gift this was. What a costly gift. Remember the poor widow woman who gave the two pennies. She gave the greatest gift at the temple because it was costly. Here is another costly gift. King David said, when he was offered the land to build the temple on for free, I will not offer to God something that cost me nothing. Devotion to Jesus is costly.

John informs us the woman was Mary, sister of Lazarus and Martha. This changes the context somewhat. Just before this in the book of John, we find that Lazarus had been raised from the dead. Mary, raised from the depths of grief, has seen the first fruits of our greatest hope. Eternal life with God. She received back her brother from the dead. The overwhelming gratefulness in her heart is on display here. There is no gift that is too much for our Lord. She is a woman who knows what God has done for her. She knows the incomprehensible value of our savior. And more than that, when Jesus came to Lazarus’s tomb, he wept with them. He experienced their pain and shared their suffering. One of the reasons that Jesus came to this earth was to suffer with us. Whatever pain you have experienced, Jesus has been there. He was beaten, mocked, shamed, betrayed, and carried the sins of the world. He can identify with your pain. He never promised us that we wouldn’t suffer. In fact, he promised the opposite. “In this life you will have trouble…” (John 16:33). But he did promise to go through it with us. “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).

When the disciples, led by Judas, see this anointing, they are indignant. They are struck by moral outrage. This could have been sold and given to the poor. That is a good thing, it is a moral thing, but it is not the best thing. Jesus defends the woman. He says, “she has done a thing beautiful for me.”

And as we look deeper, the moral high ground begins to teeter. John tells us Judas said this and informs us that Judas was a thief. He would steal the money that was to go to the poor. The money that Mary “wasted” was money that he foresaw going to his own pocket. It is always a good idea, whenever there is moral outrage to see if someone is standing to get a financial payoff. Shortly after this, he goes to betray Jesus. Apparently, for Judas, this was the last straw.

Now one more important thing here. Jesus says that Mary did this to anoint him for his burial. In Mark, we have seen in the last few weeks, that Jesus has foretold his death no less than three times. The disciples seemed to have a difficult time with this. Peter rebukes him about it, and later they are afraid to ask him about it. It seems that Mary is the only one who actually believed him.

She gives him this anointing, to prepare his body for the grave. She was the only one able to do so, by the way. You will remember that on the first day of the week, the women came to the tomb to anoint Jesus body, but he was not there. He was already risen. So, Mary gets to do what no one else could. Jesus calls it a beautiful thing.