In this Gospel of action, Jesus is no longer the one acting; He is now the focus of others’ actions—both friends and enemies. As we come into the shadow of the Cross, the reverent heart realises we are on holy ground. Some depths have not been plumbed and heights have not been scaled. The action of this moment involves the anguish and agony of His soul. His hour has come!
The time has come for Jesus to be delivered up to die. His earthly ministry is finished in the fulfilment of prophecy: “... he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter ...” (Isaiah 53:7). Through the events that follow, Jesus delivers Himself into people’s hands. Mary anoints Him, Judas betrays Him, Peter denies Him, and the Sanhedrin arrests Him. He delivers Himself to His Father’s will. Mark 14 and 15 record a strange agreement between heaven and hell. Light and darkness travel together in the same direction. Righteousness and sin head to the Cross, and God and Satan have decided Jesus will be crucified. People’s individual decisions converge at the Cross—the same as what happens today.
THE PLOT IS SET IN MOTION
The religious rulers had already decided that Jesus would be killed; the only question left was timing. They resolved not to move during the Passover season, because Jerusalem would be packed with visitors, and the common people loved Jesus—He had gladly heard them, fed them, and healed them. The last thing the rulers wanted was an uproar or a riot in the crowded city. So they decided to wait until after Passover.
LIGHT AND DARKNESS
While some plotted His death, others worshipped Jesus. At a dinner party early in the week Jesus died, a lovely thing happened right alongside the dark plot to betray Him. Both friend and foe are moving towards the Cross, but by different routes. Mary of Bethany comes the way of light and love; Judas is moved by foul and dark motives. In their coming together, we see the vivid contrast and conflict of light and darkness. Into the crowded room, Mary comes with an expensive bottle of oil. She breaks the seal, and a fragrance fills the room. She then begins anointing Jesus’ body, as one would prepare a body for burial. The room quietens, all eyes on Jesus. This was an extravagant gesture, and not everyone appreciated what was happening. Judas piously suggested that the proceeds from this oil could have been used to care for the poor—but sad to say, he simply wanted the money himself (he controlled the group’s money box). Jesus saw through the objection. There would always be opportunities to help the poor, He said, but He was with them only for another couple of hours. Mary was doing what she could to honour Him. That is all God ever asks of any of us. Mary showed a spiritual discernment sadly lacking in His apostles. Just think of it: this simple woman stood on the fringe of the events leading to the Cross, and she let the Lord Jesus know that she understood. None of the apostles sensed this, but she did. The fragrance of the box of ointment she broke that day has been carried across the centuries by the Holy Spirit into our own day. It still fills hearts with its sweetness even at the present hour. Here in the shadow of His suffering, there was one who understood.
Have any of us broken our alabaster box upon Jesus, so that there might be a fragrance in our lives that becomes a blessing to others? Now, right next to this lovely thing Mary did—the light of it, the love of it—Judas’ plan to betray the Lord is stirred up in his mind and set in motion.
JESUS IS OUR PASSOVER LAMB
As they got ready to observe Passover, the disciples meticulously followed the Mosaic Law. In a few hours, Jesus was to fulfil the meaning of the Passover. The Lord had already made arrangements for a place to eat their meal—He had asked a faithful follower to use his guestroom. Some loved Jesus enough to offer this kind of service, and this is what that follower did. So Jesus and His men came in the evening to this borrowed room, as Passover began at sundown. He came under cover of darkness so as not to force the religious leaders’ hand until He was ready. At the proper time, He would deliver Himself into their hands and they would crucify Him—but it would be according to His schedule, not theirs. And so Jesus enjoyed this important celebration in leisurely, informal fellowship with His disciples. The next meal He shared with them was breakfast on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, after His resurrection—but this one, the Passover meal, was a precious time of fellowship in its own right.
As the meal drew towards its end, Jesus revealed that one among them would betray Him. They became sorrowful and asked Him, one by one, “Is it I?” (Mark 14:19). They all knew, deep down, that they were capable of it. If you have not yet discovered that you are a sinner, thoroughly capable of turning your back on God, you do not know yourself very well. Each of us could ask that same question: Is it I?
The Lord, already aware of what Judas had planned, essentially told him to go and do what he had determined to do, and to do it quickly (compare John 13:27). The original plan had been to wait for a more convenient time, but now Judas must have rushed out to the religious leaders to tell them, in effect, that their plot had been discovered and that if they wanted Jesus, they needed to act at once, before He could leave town. So they gathered the guards and went out to arrest Him.
Meanwhile, as the countdown continued, Jesus instituted a new feast on the dying embers of the old one. The Passover meal traditionally included four cups of wine, with the great Hallel Psalms sung between them. It was after this last cup that Jesus did not drink but instead instituted a new remembrance—the Lord’s Supper. The Passover had always looked forward to Jesus coming as the Passover Lamb; now the Lord’s Supper looks back to His death. The bread speaks of His body, broken for us; the wine speaks of His blood, shed for us. When we observe the Lord’s Supper today, we remember this night, and what He did for us on the Cross two thousand years ago. The Passover will be restored in the millennial Kingdom, where it will look both forward to His coming and back to His offering, bringing out the full meaning of the feast: “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).
THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE
As the Passover feast ends, they sing a hymn and head over to the Mount of Olives, across town. As they walked, Jesus tells them about His death—and then about His plans to meet them in Galilee after His resurrection. All this information must have felt overwhelming to the disciples. Peter is still thinking about Jesus’ betrayal and pledges his allegiance to Jesus. He was sincere, of course, but he did not know his own weakness. That is our problem, too. None of us knows the depths of the human heart; only the Word of God can show us what sinners we truly are. When we recognise that, we go to the Lord. He is the Chief and the Great Physician. By the way, He is also the Great Psychologist, and He alone truly knows us. In the final analysis, He is the only One. We have a Saviour Who loves us and waits with open arms. How wonderful to have someone we can go to.
When Peter boasts that he will never betray Jesus, Jesus prepares him for what is coming. He lets Peter know that He will stand by him, even when Peter denies Him. The Lord will also stand by you in times like this. He will be there in your most desperate and difficult hour, just as He was with Peter. The Garden of Gethsemane must have been a frequent spot for Jesus and the disciples, and a place Judas had gone to often with the Lord—which is how Judas knew where to lead the enemy.
There are only eleven disciples now. Jesus leaves the eight and takes His three—Peter, James, and John—a step closer to Him in this hour. He went to pray and faced an intense ordeal in the garden, described as a heavy, distressing time. Jesus faces a soul struggle as great, if not greater, than the suffering His body would endure on the Cross. Perhaps He faced Satan again here in the garden. There are mysteries in the garden we cannot fully understand; we can only stand at the edge and watch Him pray. He asked the Father that the hour might pass from Him. It was not death He dreaded, but rather the hour of the Cross—that moment when sin was to be put on Him, when He was made sin for us. (Read 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Hebrews 5:7-8 for more on this.) When He returns to the place where He had asked the three disciples to watch and pray, He finds them sleeping. He wakes them and asks them to pray. At the very moment He needs them, and they need to pray, their flesh is weak. A little while later, Jesus returns, and again they are asleep, with no explanation for their failure. We learn here that the flesh cannot be trusted. The third time Jesus returns after agonising in prayer, He again finds them asleep. This time He tells them to take their rest, for the hour has come. “The Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners” (Mark 14:41).
JESUS IS ARRESTED
And here comes Judas, leading a huge crowd of soldiers. The religious leaders had said they would not arrest Jesus during the feast days, but here they are. Judas had conspired with them that he would kiss the one they should arrest. Jesus, in His humanity, looked no different from any other man in the crowd—what treachery, that a kiss, a badge of love and affection, should be used to betray Christ. Jesus yields Himself “into the hands of sinful men” (compare Luke 24:7), on His way now to the Cross. He observes that they did not come for Him in the temple, but here, and now, so that Scripture would be fulfilled. If these people had truly believed their own Scriptures, they might have hesitated, or even changed their minds. Peter attempts to come to His rescue. He draws a sword and swings at one of Jesus’ captors—aiming for the man’s head, it seems—but manages only to cut off his ear. Simon Peter was a pretty good fisherman but a pretty sorry swordsman. The disciples all deserted Him and ran, once again in fulfilment of prophecy.
MIDNIGHT MEETINGS AND ILLEGAL TRIALS
“And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes” (Mark 14:53). They led Jesus away through the empty streets of Jerusalem, past midnight, and brought Him before Caiaphas, the high priest Rome acknowledged. Annas, his father-in-law, was the high priest according to the Mosaic Law. Some believe Annas was the real figure behind the plot to kill Jesus. This special midnight meeting of the Sanhedrin was illegal, and so was their method of hearing only witnesses against Jesus. Many were willing to bear false witness, but no two of them could agree; a charge had to be established on the testimony of at least two witnesses. Jesus did not defend Himself, again fulfilling prophecy: “... he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). His silence surprised and irritated the high priest, who wanted Jesus to condemn Himself. Finally, under oath, Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God—He could make no higher claim—and added that one day they would see it for themselves: “... ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62; He was quoting Daniel 7:13-14). The high priest understood exactly what Jesus meant. In a rage, he tore his robe—itself a breach of the Mosaic Law—and cried, “Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye?” (Mark 14:64).
Now they had a charge: blasphemy. They condemned Him to die because He claimed to be the Messiah. They spat on Him, blindfolded Him, slapped and punched Him. Imagine spitting in the face of the Son of God. While this farce of a trial was under way, Simon Peter was undergoing a trial of his own, in a place of great temptation. He had stayed near the palace, wanting to be close to Jesus. But when a servant girl identified him as one of Jesus’ men, Peter denied even knowing Him. The girl would not give up, and Peter hotly denied it again.
If you have ever been in a similar position, you understand his shame. May God forgive our cowardice and weakness as He did Peter’s. Simon Peter loved Jesus and was sincere when he promised to be loyal to Him; he simply did not know his own weakness. But Peter could repent of his sin, and that is the real test of a genuine follower of Jesus. His were tears of heartbroken repentance. Years later, Peter told how the Lord Jesus had kept him.
Jesus is now in the hands of His enemies, and His own have scattered. One has betrayed Him; another has repeatedly denied Him. It is the night of sin. Jesus is now just hours away from the Cross, and about His work of saving us.
The Cross of Jesus Christ is one of the great paradoxes of the Christian faith—it is both the greatest tragedy of the ages and the most glorious victory of earth and heaven. We will not approach it with feelings of defeat, or with mere sympathy for the Sufferer, but will walk softly and reverently through these scenes, our hearts full of thanksgiving to God for providing so great a salvation.
On this night, sin is the issue in two very different ways: sin is trying to destroy Jesus Christ, and Jesus is paying the price for our sins. The inescapable, tragic note of these scenes is Jesus enduring cruel injustice and bitter suffering. But He does not want our sympathy—He wants our faith. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Read Romans 10:9-10.) As we know, Mark is the Gospel of action, and now we come to its climactic, crowning event—the Crucifixion. All of creation, and the purposes of God from all eternity, have been moving towards this moment. Jesus Christ is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The gospel is now translated into action. (Read 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.) The gospel is what Jesus did—it is His action, not anything we could do. Nothing we do could ever be acceptable to God, because our own righteousness is not enough. God must, and does, provide that righteousness in Jesus Christ.
WHEN THEY PUT JESUS ON TRIAL
Now in Mark 15, the Sanhedrin had condemned Jesus to die, but only Rome could carry out an execution. The trouble was, their charge of blasphemy was not a capital offence under Roman law, so they invented new charges to give a legal appearance to what had been an illegal process the night before. Pilate was a politician, motivated more by expediency than by justice; he looked for a compromise. He wanted to release Jesus once he discovered He was innocent, but Jesus would not cooperate—He would not defend Himself. So Pilate thought he could get off the hook by offering to release a prisoner. Surely, he reasoned, the crowd would choose Jesus over Barabbas, a murderer and an insurrectionist. But the religious leaders had stirred up the crowd, urging them to demand Jesus’ death. Pilate faced a dilemma: he knew the charges against Jesus were false, and he knew Barabbas was a hardened criminal.
Pilate, weak and vacillating, yielded to the mob and handed Jesus over to be crucified. Roman justice went badly crooked here—an innocent man was made to die. Tradition holds that the Lord Jesus may even have been crucified on the very cross intended for Barabbas. But wait—Jesus is taking our place, too. And we are not innocent.
THE BEAUTIFUL, WRETCHED CROSS
“And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band” (Mark 15:16). Jesus was turned over to brutal soldiers who could do as they pleased with their prisoner. They humiliated and tortured Him, treating Him as a plaything for their own cruelty. Jesus was a strong, fit man—years of manual labour had seen to that—but the flogging He endured was savage. Roman scourging was designed to leave a prisoner bleeding and weakened, sometimes fatally so, even before he reached the cross. Medical researchers who have studied the physiology of crucifixion note that this kind of blood loss and shock often left condemned men too weak to carry their own crossbeam, which is very likely why the soldiers pulled a man out of the crowd to carry it for Jesus. (See William D. Edwards, Wesley J. Gabel, and Floyd E. Hosmer, “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” Journal of the American Medical Association, volume 255, number 11, 21 March 1986, pages 1455 to 1463.) Yet even so, the soldiers kept striking Him and spitting on Him. This was no ordinary human hatred; it was brutal and cruel, revealing the sinful depths of the human heart. Their cruelty grew inventive as they mocked Jesus’ claim to be the King of the Jews, throwing a purple robe over Him and pressing a crown of thorns onto His head.
And still the Cross stood before Jesus, in a place called Golgotha, “the place of a skull.” No Gospel writer records the physical details of the Crucifixion; we are given only snapshots. God drew a veil over the scene, as if to say, “It is too horrible.” It was nine o’clock in the morning when they hung Jesus on the cross. The charge for which they crucified Him was written above His head: “The King of the Jews.” Strange as it sounds, this was true—though not as they meant it. He led no rebellion against Rome; He simply offered Himself to Israel, and they rejected Him.
People passing by mocked Him, saying, “He saved others; himself he cannot save” (Mark 15:31). And that, too, was true—He could not save others and save Himself at the same time. So He gave Himself for others; this is the great principle of redemption. Mark gives us the Crucifixion by the clock. The first three hours were from nine o’clock in the morning until twelve noon; the second three hours were from twelve noon until three o’clock in the afternoon. In the first three hours there was physical light; in the second, physical darkness. In the first three hours there was spiritual darkness; in the second, spiritual light. In those first three hours, man did his worst: they hated and crucified Him. The criminals hanging beside Him reviled Him, and His enemies marched beneath the cross, wagging their heads and ridiculing Him. In the second three hours, God was at work. Jesus suffered at man’s hands in the first three hours; He suffered for man in the last three. In the first three hours, He was dying because of sin; in the second, He was dying for the sin of the world. In the first three hours, sin did all it could to destroy Him; in the second, He made His soul an offering for sin. He paid for the sins of the world by becoming sin for us. He was forsaken of God, and yet, even then, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. (Read 2 Corinthians 5:19.) What a paradox!
Then, when our salvation was complete, Jesus cried out and gave up His last breath. He did not die because His bodily organs simply failed; He dismissed His spirit. This made His death different from ours, even in a physical sense. Medical researchers who have studied the physiology of crucifixion note that victims typically grew too weak from blood loss and exhaustion even to speak clearly, let alone cry out, in their final moments—which makes the loud cry Jesus gave immediately before He died (Mark 15:37) so striking. It supports exactly what Mark’s Gospel testifies here: Jesus’ life was not slowly taken from Him; He laid it down, by His own will, at the moment He chose. (See Edwards, Gabel, and Hosmer, “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ.”)
At that moment the temple curtain was ripped in two, from top to bottom. The priests serving in the temple that day saw it happen; it was three o’clock in the afternoon, the hour of the evening sacrifice. Later we learn that many of these priests came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (see Acts 6:7). According to the book of Leviticus, the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies represented our separation from God. That veil spoke of the life of Christ, which had shut us out from God—His sinless life shows how sinful our own lives are. The moment He died, the veil was ripped in two, opening our way to God. It is Jesus’ death, not merely His life, that brings us to God. When the Roman captain standing guard in front of Jesus saw that He had stopped breathing, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39). This centurion’s confession revealed real faith; he acknowledged that Jesus is God’s Son. He did not have all the details of theology worked out, but he knew enough to take his place beneath the Cross of Christ. That is all God has ever asked any sinner to do—to come to Him in faith. Next we learn of the women who were still with Jesus at the Cross. His disciples had scattered, but the women were faithful to the very end.
FOR DISCUSSION AND REFLECTION
The lesson calls the Cross of Jesus Christ “both the greatest tragedy of the ages and the most glorious victory of earth and heaven.” In your own words, explain how it can be both at once. Which side of that paradox—the tragedy or the victory—do you find yourself thinking about more, and why?
If you keep notes in your Bible, you might want to write this outline next to Mark 15:
- Nine o’clock in the morning to twelve noon: Jesus suffered at man’s hands; He was dying because of sin; sin did all it could to destroy Him.
- Twelve noon to three o’clock in the afternoon: Jesus suffered for man; He was dying for the sin of the world; He made His soul an offering for sin.
On the cross, Jesus paid for the sins of the world by becoming sin for us. He was forsaken of God, and yet, even then, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. Read 2 Corinthians 5:18-21. Which half of those three hours means more to you personally right now, and why?
Peter promised he would never betray Jesus, and meant it—yet within hours he denied even knowing Him, three times over. Jesus already knew this would happen, and still told Peter He would stand by him. Have you ever broken a promise to God that you were sure, at the time, you could keep? What does Peter’s story tell you about what happens after we fail?
Mary gave something costly and deeply personal to honour Jesus, even while others in the room criticised her for it. What is something costly to you—not necessarily money, but perhaps your time, your pride, or your comfort—that it would mean something for you to give to Jesus this week?
The Gospel of Mark is sometimes called the Gospel of action because it moves so quickly from one thing Jesus did to the next. Before He returned to heaven, Jesus told His disciples, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Thinking specifically about what you have just studied in Mark 14 and 15—Jesus willingly betrayed, arrested, and put to death in your place—what is one specific, concrete way you could share that good news with someone this week, whether in words or in how you treat them?
—End of Lesson 7—