Series

Shortly after Barbie and I moved to Loveland in 1978, we joined the Gourmet Club that was sponsored by the Newcomers Club. We would meet with different people in the club each month for a delicious, home-prepared gourmet meal and conversation. One evening, as Barbie and I were getting into the car after one of those dinners, she asked me, “Why do you always have to be right?” I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it was something like, “I don’t always have to be right!” –said in a tone of voice that meant, “and I’m right about that!”

I tried to brush it off, but that question haunted me for some time. I finally came to see that the reason I had an emotional need to be right all the time was because I felt so wrong inside. I had to do something to make myself feel more right.

Our passage today has to do with people who were terribly wrong, even though they thought they were right, and one who was in fact right, even though everyone else thought He was wrong.

Mark 14:43, “Just as [Jesus] was speaking [with Peter, James and John about their sleeping while He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane], Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders.”

The Jews had a deal with the Romans. We’ll keep our people in line, if you allow us the freedom to worship as we please. The Romans said OK, and they gave the Jewish authorities, whose power was concentrated in the Sanhedrin, the right to field their own police force. This was to keep the restless populace from becoming too unruly and bringing down the wrath of Rome on their heads. So when the Jewish authorities wanted to arrest Jesus, they had this police force at their disposal.

And they had Judas to guide them. Judas probably led them first to the Upper Room, where the disciples had celebrated the Passover Supper. But when he didn’t find them there, he knew Jesus’ habits well enough to guess that He would have gone to the Garden of Gethsemane.

Mark 14:44, “Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: ‘The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.’ [45] Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him.”

It was customary to greet a rabbi with a kiss on both cheeks as we see them do in the Middle East even today. It was a sign of respect and affection.[1] So the irony is truly bitter that Judas would use that symbol to betray Jesus to death. The kiss pretended to mean one thing, but it meant something completely different. It meant, I neither respect you nor love you; I am going to destroy you. It was wrong to betray Jesus; it was even more wrong to betray Him with a kiss.

Mark 14:50, “Then everyone deserted him and fled. [51] A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, [52] he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.”

Jesus’ three closest friends had just failed Him in the Garden, when He asked them to stay awake and pray with Him. Then Judas, a man He had invested Himself into for three years, betrayed Him with a kiss. And then they all cut and ran. Including an unnamed young man, who had apparently been following along either with, or just behind the disciples, when they went out to the Mount of Olives. Mark doesn’t name this person, leading us to believe that it was John Mark himself.

But here’s the point: When we are in trouble and under stress, that’s when we need our friends the most. When Moses went to face Pharaoh, he had Aaron with him. When Joshua had to lead the Israelites into Canaan, he had Caleb at his side. When King Saul turned against David and tried to kill him, Saul’s son, Jonathan, stuck by David and protected him. When Paul traveled around the Mediterranean region preaching the gospel and getting stoned and thrown in prison, he had Luke, and Timothy, and Barnabas, and others by his side. When I’ve been in dark times, Barbie has always been there for me—standing by my side, praying for me, encouraging me.

But when Jesus was in the worst situation of His life, He had nobody. Every last one deserted Him. Even Peter, who had boasted that he would never leave Jesus. Think of the terrible isolation that Jesus must have felt. He doesn’t have the band of friends around Him like He has had for the past three years. Jesus is all alone. Betrayed, deserted, alone. That was so wrong!

Mark 14:46, “The men seized Jesus and arrested him. …. [48] ‘Am I leading a rebellion,’ said Jesus, ‘that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?’”

Jesus—who taught that men should love one another as themselves, who said they should make peace with their neighbors, and that peacemakers were blessed by God; Jesus—who taught that we should forgive those who hurt us, and treat others the way we would want them to treat us; Jesus—who squashed every mention of an uprising against Rome, who resisted any notion of setting up His own political kingdom, who never said anything that could be construed as violent—this Jesus is about to be arrested, and they send a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs in the middle of the night. That was so wrong! They didn’t begin to understand Him.

Mark 14:53, “They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together…55 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any.” The authorities were determined to get rid of Jesus, but they had to get over two hurdles. First, they had to find something to convict Him of in the context of their religion, so that the Sanhedrin would condemn Him to death. I remember doing chemistry experiments in high school. We were supposed to do this experiment to demonstrate the chemical law we were studying, but we knew what we were looking for. If our results didn’t quite match up with what the textbook said, we’d just apply the international fudge factor, and voila! It came out perfect! Well, not too perfect, or the teacher would suspect something. But that’s essentially what the Sanhedrin did that night. They went looking for evidence that would require the death penalty. They knew the answer they wanted, and they were determined to get it, no matter what. That was so wrong!

During the trial, Mark 14:56, “Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. The authorities know that they have to have at least the semblance of a fair trial for Jesus, so they had previously searched out people who were willing to testify against Him. The Law said that no one could be executed unless the accusations against him were supported by two or three witnesses (Deut. 17:6). But the people who came forward to accuse Jesus couldn’t agree with each other, so the authorities didn’t even have two who said exactly the same thing. Moreover, these people consistently perjured themselves, by reporting things that were not true. For example, some said Mark 14:58, "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.’” But of course, Jesus never said He would destroy the temple; He was referring to His own body when He said, John 2:19, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."

The high priest doesn’t seem to be troubled by the witnesses’ contradictions and their perjury; he just wants to get to the pre-determined outcome. So he approaches Jesus and demands Mark 14:60, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" as though their testimony amounted to something. That was so wrong!

Mark 14:61, “Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’” The trial is going badly; the witnesses can’t agree, and the high priest is getting flustered. He needs this conviction. So Jesus helps him out: Mark 14:62, “‘I am,’ said Jesus.” And just in case that wasn’t enough to tip things over, He added, "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

That did it! A claim to sit on the right hand of God was certainly blasphemous (unless it was true.) (And it couldn’t possibly be true.) Mark 14:63, “The high priest tore his clothes. ‘Why do we need any more witnesses?’ he asked. [64] ‘You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ They all condemned him as worthy of death.”

William Barclay points out that in this “trial”, the Sanhedrin broke all of its own laws.[2] The official meeting place of the Sanhedrin was the Hall of Hewn Stone, which was inside the temple grounds; the decisions of the Sanhedrin were not valid unless reached at a meeting held in that place, but this trial was in the High Priest’s house. The court could not meet at night (this was the dead of night) or at any of the great feasts (remember, this was the night on which the Passover started). When evidence was taken, witnesses were to be examined separately, and their evidence had to agree in every detail. (That didn’t happen.) They could not ask questions that would make the accused incriminate himself (such as, “Are you the Christ?”). Each individual member of the Sanhedrin had to give his verdict separately, beginning with the youngest. (They didn’t do that.) If it was a verdict of death, they had to wait a night before carrying it out, so the court could have a chance to change its mind.

On this night, in this trial, the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court composed of supposedly godly and wise men charged with overseeing the religious affairs of the people of God, broke all of its own laws in a rush to judgment, and wrongly convicted an innocent man. That was so wrong!

Next, we see just how much the leaders hated Jesus. Mark 14:65, “Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, ‘Prophesy!’ And the guards took him and beat him.”

Try to imagine what it would feel like if someone came up to you and spit in your face. Few things are as demeaning and degrading as being spit on. It’s a universal sign of contempt and disrespect. But that’s what they did to Jesus.

Then they blindfolded Him, and hit Him with their fists (not a slap, you understand—they are trying to hurt him) and demanded that He tell them who hit Him.

Then they turned the Sanhedrin guards loose on Jesus, and they beat Him. Guards were not usually chosen for their fragile physique; these were big, burly men, who could knock a man down with one blow, and who had plenty of practice being physically intimidating with the riff-raff.

Jesus was the only-begotten Son of God; He was the Lord of glory, the Good Shepherd, the Savior of the world, and they beat and mocked Him. It was all so wrong!

So the authorities had gotten over the first hurdle, albeit with some difficulty, but now they had to get past the Romans. The Roman governor wouldn’t care if Jesus was a blasphemer. Since the Romans reserved the right of capital punishment for themselves, the authorities now had to find something to accuse Jesus of that would get Pilate’s attention.

Mark 15:1, “Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.” This was actually going to be a lot easier, because they didn’t have to have witnesses; they just had to come up with a charge that Pilate wouldn’t like. Even though Jesus had never made any suggestion that He was here to set up a kingdom on earth, He did talk a lot about the kingdom of God. In fact, that was the central message of His preaching. And while He never said right out that He was the King, He certainly implied it many times. So they had Him there. They would just tell Pilate that Jesus claimed to be the King of the Jews. The Romans would tolerate no one who presumed to set himself up as a competing authority to the Emperor, so that would be enough to turn Pilate against Jesus.

So Pilate asked Him, Mark 15:2, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.

Just in case that wasn’t enough to convince Pilate, Mark 15:3, “The chief priests accused him of many things. [4] So again Pilate asked him, ‘Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.’ [5] But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.” Earlier, to help the Sanhedrin along, Jesus had told them what they wanted to hear—something that would be blasphemous, if it were not true. But now, in order to assist Pilate toward the God-ordained end of this sorry affair, Jesus remains silent. In case Pilate was at all unsure of what he should do with Jesus, the chief priests added a lot more accusations to the one of treason and sedition. But Jesus refuses to rebut them or even answer them in any way.

But even so, there is something about Jesus and this whole situation that makes Pilate suspicious. He knows that the chief priests are jealous of the popularity of Jesus, so he suggests, Mark 15:9, "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" … [11] But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

[12] "What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them.

That was so wrong! Barabbas was, in fact, guilty of trying to overthrow the Roman government; Jesus was not. Barabbas was a murderer; Jesus was not. But Barabbas was set free instead of Jesus. It was all wrong!

And Pilate was wrong to give in to them. Mark 15:15, “Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them.” Palestine was a notoriously difficult place to govern. The Jews were perhaps more restless under the Roman rule than any other people, and there were frequent uprisings, such as the one Barabbas had been involved in. The Roman governor of Palestine had to be cautious in how he handled the populace, lest things get out of control. Ultimately, he had the backing of Rome, and the military might to put down any nationalistic movements, but it was better for the governor if he didn’t have to ask Rome for help too often. So Pilate, even though he believes Jesus is innocent, and even though he knows Barabbas is guilty, gives in to the crowd and releases Barabbas as a sort of olive branch the to Jews. Pilate compromised his own conscience and what he knew was right—he released a guilty man and condemned an innocent man, in order to keep peace. That was so wrong!

Mark 15:15, “... He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.” We have debates today about whether the electric chair or lethal injections are cruel and unusual punishment. I guess they didn’t have those debates back then. The attitude was, “We’re going to kill you, but we may as well beat you to within an inch of your life first.” You’ve heard the gory details, and if you’ve see The Passion of the Christ, the portrayal of that beating was pretty realistic. The whip had nine lashes, with bits of bone and lead tied into the ends of each one, so as to inflict maximum damage to the victim. Isaiah 52:14 had prophesied of the Messiah,

That was a very accurate description of what they did to Jesus. If you love Jesus, you can’t think about this without screaming inside, “That was so wrong!”

But the soldiers weren’t done with Jesus yet. We know from our own Army’s sorry history in Iraq that when men have unlimited power over others, their sinful natures come out more quickly and more brutally. Mark 15:16, “The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. [17] They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. [18] And they began to call out to him, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ [19] Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him.”

I don’t know which is worse: the additional beating and pain they inflicted on Jesus, or the mocking. Mocking is the polar opposite of worship. Jesus deserves worship more than anyone in the entire world; but they spit on Him and mocked Him instead. They made fun of Him. They were the ones in charge here, they were the ones in control, and they were going to grind that fact into His face in the cruelest way they knew how. “King of the Jews, huh? What kind of king are you? You don’t seem very kingly to us. You are nothing in the face of our power—we are the power of Rome! You are nothing!” They spit on Him, and bowed down to pay Him false honor. That was so wrong!

Mark 15:20, “And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.”

· It was wrong of Judas to betray Jesus, who had never done him any harm—and to do it with a kiss!

· It was wrong of the disciples to all desert Jesus when He needed them most for emotional and spiritual support.

· It was wrong of the chief priests to send a mob of armed men to arrest the Prince of Peace.

· It was wrong of the Sanhedrin to go through the sham of a trial when they already knew the answer they wanted.

· It was wrong of the high priest to sidestep the problem of the witnesses who lied on the stand and contradicted each other.

· It was wrong of the Supreme Court of the Jews to violate so many of its own laws in a rush to find Jesus guilty.

· It was wrong of the Sanhedrin to mock and spit on and beat Jesus, and to let their guards beat Him up.

· It was wrong of the chief priests to stir up the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas, a convicted murderer and insurrectionist, instead of innocent Jesus.

· It was wrong of Pilate to release Barabbas and condemn Jesus, especially when he knew what was right.

· And it was wrong of the Roman guards to mock and humiliate Jesus, the Lord of glory.

But then, that’s why Jesus died—for all the wrongs of all men throughout all time. For all the wrongs of those who dealt with Jesus in the last nine hours of His life, and for all the wrongs of you and me. Because the Scripture is clear that Jesus died for the sins of everyone, including us (1 Peter 2:24). We have to acknowledge that we are no better than those men who did so much wrong to Jesus that night.

· We have ignored the facts when they didn’t line up with what we wanted to hear

· We have broken our own moral code of conduct, and hoped no one would call us on it.

· We have made fun of people, and belittled them, in order to make ourselves feel strong and superior.

· We have defended people we knew were wrong, because they belonged to our group, and the innocent person didn’t. (Think political parties here.)

· We have intentionally hurt people we didn’t like, either through our words, or our silence, or our actions.

In fact, we’re just like those Jews and those Romans. So we killed Jesus, just as surely as they did.

But that’s why He came—to make atonement for all of us, to set us right with God, even though we are so wrong. This “rightness” with God comes through putting our faith in the death of Christ, not through being more right than the next guy, or having more right things than wrong things in our lives.

The deal is this: Jesus took all our wrongs on Himself, and got punished for them, so that now God can make us as right as Jesus was (2 Cor 5:21).

If you can see how wrong you are today, I want to encourage you to go to God, and ask Him to make you right. He’ll give you Jesus’ rightness in place of your wrongness, and the result will be a relationship with God that is full of peace and love and joy—forever.

[1] William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975), p.345.

[2] Barclay, p.349f.