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Sermon Outline

The Gospel of Mark

Taken and Tried

Lesson #11 for September 14, 2024

Scriptures: Mark 14;John 12:4-6; Romans 8:28; Exodus 24:8; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Zechariah 13:7.

  1. In our study of the Gospel of Mark, we have come to the spring of d. 31. It was then 3.5 years after the anointing of Jesus at His baptism as the Son of God and the Savior of all mankind. That was in the middle of that 70th week of the prophecy recorded inDaniel 9:24-27. Like the other Gospel writers, Mark took almost half of his book to discuss the last week of the life of Jesus. Jesus’s death occurred on Friday, the day of Passover. In this lesson, we will review three major events occurring between Sunday and Friday of what has come to be called Passion Week: (1) The feast at Simon’s house with Mary anointing Jesus’s feet and head with a costly perfume, seemingly spurring Judas’s determination to betray Jesus; (2) Peter’s denials; and (3) Jesus’s suffering as a direct fulfillment of prophecy.
  2. InMark 14:1-11, we see the priests and scribes willing to pay a considerable sum of money to arrest Jesus. An unidentified woman, later identified as Mary, was willing to pay a much larger sum of money to anoint Him. Finally, the disciples apart from Judas Iscariot fled when Jesus was arrested. The priests and rulers had been determined to arrest Jesus and kill Him for about three years already, since at least the first cleansing of the temple. Why?

Mark 14:1-11: 1 It was now two days before the Festival of Passover and Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the teachers of the Law were looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death. 2 “We must not do it during the festival,” they said, “or the people might riot.”

3 Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon [the uncle of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary], a man who had suffered from a dreaded skin disease. While Jesus was eating, a woman [Mary] came in with an alabaster jar full of a very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on Jesus’ head. 4Some of the people there [especially Judas] became angry and said to one another, “What was the use of wasting the perfume? 5It could have been sold for more than 300 silver coins and the money given to the poor!” And they criticized her harshly.

6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a fine and beautiful thing for me. 7You will always have poor people with you, and any time you want to, you can help them. But you will not always have me. 8She did what she could; she poured perfume on my body to prepare it ahead of time for burial. 9Now, I assure you that wherever the gospel is preached all over the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went off to the chief priests in order to betray Jesus to them. 11They were pleased to hear what he had to say, and promised to give him money. So Judas started looking for a good chance to hand Jesus over to them.—American Bible Society. (1992). The Holy Bible: The Good News Translation* (2nd ed.,Mark 14:1-11). New York: American Bible Society [abbreviated as Good News Bible].†‡ [Judas was upset by the even mild rebuke of Jesus.]‡

  1. While Judas was fomenting his plan to betray Jesus, Mary was purchasing expensive perfume to be used in anointing the body of Jesus “for His burial.”
  2. Mark did not identify Mary as the woman who poured out the expensive perfume. That is likely because Mary was still alive when his Gospel was written. About 30 years later when he was writing, John identified Mary because she was already dead by that time. We do not know exactly what motivated Mary to make that expensive gift. Considering the facts that Jesus had not exposed her in front of her incestuous uncle and their friends and had cast seven different devils out of her, she obviously was very appreciative. (SeeLuke 8:1-3.)

[From the writings of Ellen G. White=EGW:] The work of Mary was just the lesson the disciples needed to show them that the expression of their love for Him would be pleasing to Christ. He had been everything to them, and they did not realize that soon they would be deprived of His presence, that soon they could offer Him no token of their gratitude for His great love. The loneliness of Christ, separated from the heavenly courts, living the life of humanity, was never understood or appreciated by the disciples as it should have been. He was often grieved because His disciples did not give Him that which He should have received from them. He knew that if they were under the influence of the heavenly angels that accompanied Him, they too would think no offering of sufficient value to declare the heart’s spiritual affection.

Their afterknowledge gave them a true sense of the many things they might have done for Jesus expressive of the love and gratitude of their hearts, while they were near Him. When Jesus was no longer with them, and they felt indeed as sheep without a shepherd, they began to see how they might have shown Him attentions that would have brought gladness to His heart. They no longer cast blame upon Mary, but upon themselves. Oh, if they could have taken back their censuring, their presenting the poor as more worthy of the gift than was Christ! They felt the reproof keenly as they took from the cross the bruised body of their Lord.

The same want is evident in our world today. But few appreciate all that Christ is to them. If they did, the great love of Mary would be expressed, the anointing would be freely bestowed. The expensive ointment would not be called a waste. Nothing would be thought too costly to give for Christ, no self-denial or self-sacrifice too great to be endured for His sake.

The words spoken in indignation, “To what purpose is this waste?” brought vividly before Christ the greatest sacrifice ever made,—the gift of Himself as the propitiation for a lost world. The Lord would be so bountiful to His human family that it could not be said of Him that He could do more. In the gift of Jesus, God gave all heaven. From a human point of view, such a sacrifice was a wanton waste. To human reasoning the whole plan of salvation is a waste of mercies and resources. Self-denial and wholehearted sacrifice meet us everywhere. Well may the heavenly host look with amazement upon the human family who refuse to be uplifted and enriched with the boundless love expressed in Christ. Well may they exclaim, Why this great waste?—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages* 565.1-4.†‡

[https://egwwritings.org/read?panels=p130.2754&index=0]‡

  1. Mark, writing Peter’s Gospel, did not tell us what led Judas to do what he did. Writing many years later, John, once again, spelled it out.

John 12:4-6: 4One of Jesus’ disciples, Judas Iscariot — the one who was going to betray him — said, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for 300 silver coins and the money given to the poor?” 6He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. He carried the money bag and would help himself from it.—Good News Bible.*†

  1. How did John know that? Did he know about it even as it was happening? Or, did God reveal it to him later as he was writing his book?
  2. This side of the kingdom, it is impossible for us to know exactly how much Jesus knew in advance about the gift of Mary and the plot of Judas. Jesus called her gift good and chastised those who rebuked her. In contrast, Judas had been looking for a good (Mark 14:11) opportunity to betray Jesus.
  3. These two sandwich stories give us a little idea of the lengths to which Satan was willing to go to try to lead men to oppose Jesus. Nevertheless, God worked through all of those details to fill out the story of Jesus’s trial and crucifixion.

Romans 8:28: We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.—Good News Bible.*†

  1. Notice that it is God who “works for good.” It is not “all things work together for good” as suggested by the King James Version and the New King James Version.
  2. Notice these comments from the Bible study guide about Judas and the other disciples.

[From the Bible study guide=BSG:] The characters in the third scene, as noted, are the disciples and Judas. Unlike the unnamed woman, they considered the perfume too costly to waste on Jesus. They insist that “ ‘this perfume could have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor’ ” (Mark 14:5, NASB). Though the money was not theirs to begin with, they, nonetheless, blamed and discredited the woman for bestowing the bounty on Jesus.

Judas was willing to receive money to hand Jesus over to the ones who plotted His death. Mark does not provide details about the negotiation of the price for Jesus’ death. What we know of the negotiations, we learn from Matthew’s Gospel. According to Matthew, Judas asked the priests, “ ‘What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?’ And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver” (Matt. 26:15, NASB). The expression “thirty pieces of silver,” also translated thirty silver shekels, comes from the Greek triakonta argyria. Each of these argyria is equivalent to about four drachmas. The drachma was “the basic standard Greek coin, [it] was equivalent in value to the Roman denarius. . . . It is likely that this is the coin in which Judas received his ‘thirty pieces of silver,’ or 120 denarii (Matt. 26:15).”—McDonald, “Money in the New Testament Era,” pp. 573, 574.

The amount paid by the priests and accepted by Judas was inferior in relation to the amount paid by the woman for the perfume. In short, a lone woman paid approximately 300 denarii to anoint Jesus with perfume as a memorial, while Judas accepted only 120 denarii to betray Him. The discrepancy speaks volumes. It shows how little Judas and those who sympathized with his view valued their Master.―Adult Teachers Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* 146-147.‡Ω§

  1. We now turn to preparation for the Passover meal and the gathering of Jesus and His disciples for that meal.

Mark 14:12: On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the day the lambs for the Passover meal were killed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and get the Passover meal ready for you?”—Good News Bible.*

  1. It is interesting to note that Jesus sent two of His disciples, Peter and John, to prepare the Passover supper for the group. Normally, that would be preparing a lamb for them to eat along with bitter herbs. Why were those items not at their meal? The Passover was a memorial of what happened as the children of Israel were leaving Egypt. What we note instead is that Jesus introduced a new kind of ceremony in which they ate unleavened bread and drank unfermented wine. This meal is known as the Last Supper or the Lord’s Supper and probably took place in the “upper room” which likely belonged to Mark’s mother and which became a popular meeting place for the disciples after the resurrection.

[BSG:] It is striking that in the Lord’s Supper, which Jesus institutes here, no use is made of the lamb of the Passover meal. That is because Jesus is the Lamb of God (compare withJohn 1:29). The bread of the Lord’s Supper represents His body. The new covenant (compare withJer. 31:31–34) is sealed with the blood of Jesus, and the cup represents this. He says, “ ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many’ ” (Mark 14:24, ESV).―Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* for Monday, September 9.‡§

  1. Try to imagine the thoughts of Jesus as He was sitting there, hearing Peter vehemently deny that he would ever forsake Jesus while Jesus knew that Peter would deny Him and at the same time, recognizing that Judas was about to betray Him!
  2. With all the ideas about Peter’s denial and Judas’s betrayal running through His mind, He also recognized that when it would come to the critical moments, His disciples would be sleeping; and then, they would all run away from Him.
  3. Do you think He thought back toZechariah 13:7?

Zechariah 13:7: The LORD Almighty says, “Wake up, sword, and attack the shepherd who works for me! Kill him, and the sheep will be scattered. I will attack my people.”—Good News Bible.*

  1. We must give some leeway for the disciples’ thinking. I think it would be hard for me even to sleep at night if in their situation, trying to work out the incredibly conflicting ideas running through their heads. On one hand, they knew about the people who had celebrated at the triumphal entry and were prepared to crown Jesus as king. On the other hand, they had heard Jesus tell them several times that He was going to be betrayed into the hands of Gentiles and be killed. Did the disciples consciously compare and contrast those thoughts?
  2. After having finished the Lord’s Supper and after Judas left the group, Jesus led the rest of the disciples out of the upper room and across the valley to the garden of Gethsemane.
  3. We do not know exactly where the garden of Gethsemane was located because at the time of the Roman siege of Jerusalem in d. 70, the Romans cut down all the trees on the Mount of Olives. What we do know is that Gethsemane means oil press. So, presumably, olives from that garden and perhaps other places were pressed into oil nearby.

Mark 14:32-34: 32 They came to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33He took Peter, James, and John with him. Distress and anguish came over him, 34and he said to them, “The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch.”—Good News Bible.*

[BSG:] As Jesus enters the garden, He leaves His disciples there and goes farther with Peter, James, and John. But then He leaves these three, as well, and proceeds farther by Himself. This spatial distancing suggests Jesus is becoming more isolated as He faces His upcoming suffering.―Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* for Tuesday, September 10.‡

  1. Is it possible that Jesus did not want His disciple to see all the conflict, distress, and suffering that He was going through?

Mark 14:35-42: 35 He went a little farther on, threw himself on the ground, and prayed that, if possible, he might not have to go through that time of suffering. 36 “Father,” he prayed, “my Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.”

37 Then he returned and found the three disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Weren’t you able to stay awake even for one hour?” 38And he said to them, “Keep watch, and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

39 He went away once more and prayed, saying the same words. 40Then he came back to the disciples and found them asleep [again]; they could not keep their eyes open. And they did not know what to say to him.

41 When he came back the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come! Look, the Son of Man is now being handed over to the power of sinners. 42Get up, let us go. Look, here is the man who is betraying me!”—Good News Bible.*†‡

[BSG:] Jesus prays for the cup of suffering to be removed but only if it is God’s will (Mark 14:36). He uses the Aramaic term Abba, which Mark translates as “Father.” The term does not mean “daddy,” as some have suggested. The term used by a child to address his father was abi (see Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah, Anchor Bible Reference Library [New York: Doubleday, 1994], vol. 1, pp. 172, 173). However, the use of the term Abba, “Father,” does carry the close familial linkage, which should not be diminished.―Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* for Tuesday, September 10.†‡Ω§

  1. Do you think the disciples were just sleepy? Or, did the Devil have something to do with their “sleepiness” at that critical time for Jesus when they could have been supporting Him? Does the Devil put us to sleep sometimes when we should be learning more about our God?
  2. We are admonished to pray as Jesus did.

Matthew 6:10: “May your Kingdom come;

may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”—Good News Bible.*

  1. We do not know exactly how long Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. However, we do know what happened next.

[EGW:] Having made the decision, [to accept the Father’s will] He fell dying to the ground from which He had partially risen. [What was happening there?] Where now were His disciples, to place their hands tenderly beneath the head of their fainting Master, and bathe that brow, marred indeed more than the sons of men? The Saviour [sic-Br] trod the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with Him. [This is the first time at which Jesus almost died the second death that week, separated from His Father. He only survived at that time because an angel came to revive Him until He could die in public where humans could see Him and hopefully understand what happened!]

But God suffered with His Son. Angels beheld the Saviour’s [sic-Br] agony. They saw their Lord enclosed by legions of satanic forces, His nature weighed down with a shuddering, mysterious dread. There was silence in heaven. No harp was touched. Could mortals have viewed the amazement of the angelic host as in silent grief they watched the Father separating His beams of light, love, and glory from His beloved Son, they would better understand how offensive in His sight is sin. [This was one of the major battles of the great controversy between God and Satan over the character and government of God!]

The worlds unfallen and the heavenly angels had watched with intense interest as the conflict drew to its close. Satan and his confederacy of evil, the legions of apostasy, watched intently this great crisis in the work of redemption. The powers of good and evil waited to see what answer would come to Christ’s thrice-repeated prayer. Angels had longed to bring relief to the divine sufferer, but this might not be. No way of escape was found for the Son of God. In this awful crisis, when everything was at stake, when the mysterious cup trembled in the hand of the sufferer, the heavens opened, a light shone forth amid the stormy darkness of the crisis hour, and the mighty angel who stands in God’s presence, occupying the position from which Satan fell, came to the side of Christ. The angel came not to take the cup from Christ’s hand, but to strengthen Him to drink it, with the assurance of the Father’s love. [SeeLuke 22:43-44.] He came to give power to the divine-human suppliant. He pointed Him to the open heavens, telling Him of the souls that would be saved as the result of His sufferings. He assured Him that His Father is greater and more powerful than Satan, that His death would result in the utter discomfiture of Satan, and that the kingdom of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High. He told Him that He would see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied, for He would see a multitude of the human race saved, eternally saved.—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages* 693.1-694.0.†‡ [Did He believe what the angel said to Him?]‡

[https://egwwritings.org/read?panels=p130.3395&index=0]‡

  1. Jesus would have died in the garden of Gethsemane if God had not sent an angel to strengthen Him. But, He needed to live through all of the rest of the events of that weekend so that we as humans could understand at least a portion of what God was willing to do to demonstrate the truth about the second death and the awfulness of sin. Just imagine how the words of that angel must have given Him some hope through all that was happening to Him. The truth about the second death being a direct result of sin, separating us from God, the only Source of life, was demonstrated right there in the garden of Gethsemane. But, no human had any idea of what had happened. If Jesus had died there in the garden, we would have assumed that He had died from a stroke or perhaps a heart attack! So, the angel strengthened Him so that He would not die until He was in a place and situation that humans could see and possibly understand. However, most humans today still do not understand the significance of why Jesus died!

Mark 14:43-49: 43 Jesus was still speaking when Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, and sent by the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the elders. 44The traitor had given the crowd a signal: “The man I kiss is the one you want. Arrest him and take him away under guard.”

45 As soon as Judas arrived, he went up to Jesus and said, “Teacher!” and kissed him. 46So they arrested Jesus and held him tight. 47But one of those standing there drew his sword and struck at the High Priest’s slave, cutting off his ear. 48Then Jesus spoke up and said to them, “Did you have to come with swords and clubs to capture me, as though I were an outlaw? 49Day after day I was with you teaching in the Temple, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must come true.”—Good News Bible.*†

  1. At His arrest in the garden, Jesus reminded the mob that He had been quietly teaching in the temple grounds day after day, and they had failed to arrest Him at any of those times! (See just above inMark 14:49.)
  2. The disciples all fled as Jesus was arrested. Was Mark there also?

Mark 14:50-52: 50 Then all the disciples left him and ran away.

51A certain young man, dressed only in a linen cloth, was following Jesus. They tried to arrest him, 52but he ran away naked, leaving the cloth behind.—Good News Bible.*

[BSG:] The disciples all flee, including Peter, who nevertheless will reappear, following Jesus at a distance and ending up getting himself in trouble. ButMark 14:51, 52 tells of a young man following Jesus, an account found here and nowhere else in the canonical Gospels. Some think it was Mark himself, but that is unprovable. What is remarkable is that he runs away naked. The young man, instead of leaving all to follow Jesus, leaves all to flee from Jesus.―Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* for Wednesday, September 11.‡§

  1. It is incredible to consider what Judas did.

[EGW:] Judas had naturally a strong love for money; but he had not always been corrupt enough to do such a deed as this. He had fostered the evil spirit of avarice until it had become the ruling motive of his life. The love of mammon overbalanced his love for Christ. Through becoming the slave of one vice he gave himself to Satan, to be driven to any lengths in sin.—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages* 716.3.†‡

[https://egwwritings.org/read?panels=p130.3512&index=0]‡

[BSG:] Think about the fearful idea that being a slave of only one vice led Judas to do what he did. What should this tell us about hating sin and, by God’s grace, overcoming it?―Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* for Wednesday, September 11.†‡§

  1. It is one thing to betray someone behind their back. But, Judas did it in the face of Jesus, pretending to be His friend.

[EGW:] Judas reasoned that if Jesus was to be crucified, the event must come to pass. His own act in betraying the Saviour [sic-Br] would not change the result. If Jesus was not to die, it would only force Him to deliver Himself. At all events, Judas would gain something by his treachery. He counted that he had made a sharp bargain in betraying his Lord.—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages* 720.4.†‡ [https://egwwritings.org/read?panels=p130.3531&index=0]‡

[Was Judas the only disciple who understood Jesus’s words about dying? Judas apparently thought that Jesus would escape from the Jewish leaders and become king; and he, Judas, would be hailed as the king-maker!]‡

  1. We will not know until we get into the kingdom of heaven exactly the sequence of events that occurred in that garden. When Judas arrived at the garden ahead of that mob of priests and elders and rabble from the streets and when Judas kissed Jesus, absolute chaos reigned. Where had the eight disciples been? Peter tried to kill one of servants of the high priest by swinging his sword. However, Peter managed to cut off only the man’s ear. Jesus promptly healed the man and the ear.
  2. Despite carrying out illegal trials at night and in the early morning and despite incredible abuse by soldiers and people, the priests could not make any progress in the trial of Jesus.

Mark 14:60-65: 60 The High Priest [Caiphas] stood up in front of them all and questioned Jesus, “Have you no answer to the accusation they bring against you?”

61 But Jesus kept quiet and would not say a word. Again the High Priest questioned him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed God?”

62 “I am,” answered Jesus, “and you will all see the Son of Man seated on the right of the Almighty and coming with the clouds of heaven!” [SeeJohn 8:24-59.]

63 The High Priest tore his robes and said, “We don’t need any more witnesses! 64 You heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?”

They all [Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were not at that meeting at night!] voted against him: he was guilty and should be put to death.

65 Some of them began to spit on Jesus, and they blindfolded him and hit him. “Guess who hit you!” they said. And the guards took him and slapped him.—Good News Bible.*‡

  1. As the trial progressed, Peter was confronted in the courtyard by the servant girl.

Mark 14:66-72: 66 Peter was still down in the courtyard when one of the High Priest’s servant women came by. 67When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked straight at him and said, “You, too, were with Jesus of Nazareth.”

68 But he denied it. “I don’t know… I don’t understand what you are talking about,” he answered, and went out into the passage. Just then a cock crowed.

69 The servant woman saw him there and began to repeat to the bystanders, “He is one of them!” 70But Peter denied it again.

A little while later the bystanders accused Peter again, “You can’t deny that you are one of them, because you, too, are from Galilee.”

71 Then Peter said, “I swear that I am telling the truth! May God punish me if I am not! I do not know the man you are talking about!”

72 Just then a cock crowed a second time, and Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the cock crows twice, you will say three times that you do not know me.” And he broke down and cried.—Good News Bible.*

  1. What a contrast between Jesus’s response to His beatings and accusations at His trial versus Peter’s response to the questions of the maiden, the servant woman.

[EGW:] While the degrading oaths were fresh upon Peter’s lips, and the shrill crowing of the cock was still ringing in his ears, the Saviour [sic-Br] turned from the frowning judges, and looked full upon His poor disciple. At the same time Peter’s eyes were drawn to his Master. In that gentle countenance he read deep pity and sorrow, but there was no anger there.

The sight of that pale, suffering face, those quivering lips, that look of compassion and forgiveness, pierced his heart like an arrow. Conscience was aroused. Memory was active. Peter called to mind his promise of a few short hours before that he would go with his Lord to prison and to death. He remembered his grief when the Saviour [sic-Br] told him in the upper chamber that he would deny his Lord thrice that same night. Peter had just declared that he knew not Jesus, but he now realized with bitter grief how well his Lord knew him, and how accurately He had read his heart, the falseness of which was unknown even to himself.—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages* 712.4-713.1.‡

[https://egwwritings.org/read?panels=p130.3488&index=0]‡

[BSG:] Finally, the high priest arises and addresses Jesus directly. At first Jesus does not respond. But then the high priest places Him under oath before God (seeMatt. 26:63) and asks the direct question if He is the Messiah. Jesus frankly and openly admits that He is and then referencesDaniel 7:13, 14, regarding the Son of man as seated at God’s right hand and coming with the clouds of heaven. This is too much for the high priest, who tears his robes and calls for Jesus’ condemnation, which the council immediately gives. The leaders begin to shame Jesus by spitting on Him, covering His face, beating Him, and calling on Him to prophesy.―Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* for Thursday, September 12.‡§

  1. Judas begged Jesus to deliver Himself from His enemies.

[EGW:] Judas now cast himself at the feet of Jesus, acknowledging Him to be the Son of God, and entreating Him to deliver Himself. The Saviour [sic-Br] did not reproach His betrayer. He knew that Judas did not repent; his confession was forced from his guilty soul by an awful sense of condemnation and a looking for of judgment, but he felt no deep, heartbreaking grief that he had betrayed the spotless Son of God, and denied the Holy One of Israel. Yet Jesus spoke no word of condemnation. He looked pityingly upon Judas, and said, For this hour came I into the world.—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages* 722.2.‡

[https://egwwritings.org/read?panels=p130.3543&index=0]‡

  1. If you could have asked Jesus right at that point in time why He had to die, what do you think He would have said? Why didn’t He directly tell His disciples and us?
  2. Let us review briefly the events that happened involving Peter during those two days. First, he was sent with John to prepare the Passover meal. During the Lord’s Supper, he vehemently denied Jesus’s accusation that he would deny Jesus three times. He fell asleep with James and John in the garden; he could not stay awake to help Jesus. He tried to kill the servant with his sword as the mob arrested Jesus. He followed Jesus at a distance, trying to determine what was going to happen. Then, he denied Jesus three times, just as Jesus had predicted. And finally, seeing that look from the Savior in the courtyard, Peter ran out and stumbled back to the garden of Gethsemane and fell on the very place where Jesus had prayed. Peter was so disappointed in himself that he wished that he could die.
  3. Think of the thoughts that were going through the mind of Jesus at that point, realizing that His disciples, some of whom had been with Him for up to 3.5 years, still did not seem to have any idea of what He really came to accomplish!
  4. But, Jesus knew what was coming and the truth of what sin did to Him and will do to the wicked in the end. (See Desire of Ages1-2.)
  5. So many things were happening in such a short time! No doubt, those were the most important events in the history of our world so far. What can we learn from studying them more closely?

©2024, Kenneth Hart, MD, MA, MPH. Permission is hereby granted for any noncommercial use of these materials. Free distribution of all or of a portion of this material such as to a Bible study class is encouraged. *Electronic version. †Bold type is added. ‡Brackets and content in brackets are added. ΩBrackets and the content in brackets within the paragraph are in the Bible study guide or source. §Italic type is in the source. [sic-Br]=This is correct as quoted; it is the British spelling.

Last Modified: August 4, 2024                                                                                       Email: Info@theox.org