Mark Chapter 14 Verses 27 – 29

•Jesus quotes Zechariah 13 verse 7 which clearly speaks of the Christ and how He will be pierced and struck down and when that happens, all of the sheep will be scattered. And that will be the case…

•Pretty soon here we will see Jesus arrested and when they take Him, the disciples scatter. Now, it’s interesting and important for us to consider this as well for ourselves. Something that I think about a lot. And I encourage you today to take inventory of those in your life who rely upon you. (Now multiply that by 10! – because there are many that you do not consider…but should)

•Certainly your children, your little ones. Your friends. Maybe your employees at work. Your cousins, sisters, brothers…your wife, your husband…your church. If you think of yourself as an individual contributor, that what you do and if you fall, that only will affect you, you’re clouded man…jaded!

•Consider yourself a captain! (All Christians are! How can you be Christ-like and not?) They need you. They rely upon you. And as you are tempted and follow after your flesh, they are scattered! This isn’t the same circumstance as Jesus…He takes my fall…but a fall it is none the less…just simply one He doesn’t deserve…but still, He is the captain, they rely upon Him, He is taken out and when they scatter, which they always do…where to they go? Into the night…

•Zechariah 13 says, “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” Here is the strategy of the devil. Revealed to us here concerning Jesus but also concerning you! “Strike the shepherd,” it reads there in Zechariah, “and the sheep will be scattered…then I will turn my hand against the little ones…” That’s what will always happen man…WE MUST stay the course. We must! Because we ARE ABLE to…(How? By being good little boys and girls? – Negativo!) but by getting close to the Lord man…pressing in…suffering a little bit…man pushing past our lusts and our wants and our selfishness and making a real walk with God a real reality in our lives…not just some Sunday morning story book fantasy where we hope we get into heaven…what a waste! But finding out the reality of Him and THEN we are able to overcome and WE MUST because we ain’t fighting for us! (Or we shouldn’t be!!)

•But Peter argues! And my heart feels his…He can’t stand this thought. This is a hard scripture for him and so he denies it…and in that he has gone terribly wrong. Notice, Peter asserts “I” over the truth of the Word. We do that so often as well. Mixing our emotions or our circumstances with how we will receive the Word of God when it is so very clear…God has been so very clear with us…and man just as often as we do that is as often as we are wrong…and scattering is about to happen…the little ones running scared.

Mark Chapter 14 Verses 30 – 31

•Peter gets more sincere…more and more passionate about his position…doesn’t make it right! He is sincerely and passionately wrong because what he is saying is contrary to the Word of God! And here’s the danger, “They all said likewise.” See the scattering beginning? Peter has stolen the sheep!!! See that? “They all,” man, what! All perspiration and no inspiration. We must lead in direct accordance with the Word of God or we lead to loss of hope! Scattering! We lead away from Jesus! And so here’s the implication…to lead in accordance with the Word, we must know it…and we must know HIM!

Mark Chapter 14 Verses 32 – 36

•This is a beautiful and eternally profound scene and if you watch it in your mind’s eye just for theatrics, just the drama, you may miss what’s really going on. Something I missed for years.

•“Father take this cup away from me. Nevertheless not what I will, but what You will.” Not I, You. (The very undo-ing of what Adam did – RIGHT THERE!) This is hard to even unpack because it’s just so deep! God gave Jesus the authority! John 5:22, “The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son.” Matthew 11:27, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father…” The point…Jesus has the authority! The authority to do as He wills!

•Remember Matthew 26:53? Same scene. Garden of Gethsemane. Peter strikes Malchus as the guards go to take Jesus…and Jesus says, “Get that corn out of My face!!!! Sheath that sword! Do you not know that I can pray right now to My Father and He will provide Me with more than 12 legions of angels!”

•So know this! Jesus can, He has the authority, He can tell the Father to take this cross away! This betrayal! This beating! This shame! This death…He CAN take it away!!! YET, Jesus, His free will as a man, He submits to the Father’s heart. Why? What’s happening here? Does the Father love the Son? Yes! But the Son knows…He knows man how much the little ones mean to the Father. How much the Father aches because the world is lost. And so Jesus, all the authority, all the judgment, all things…because of love and love and love…He powers up…and loves…He surrenders Himself to the heart of the Father!

•For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…yes…but know this…for the Son so loved the Father, He gave Himself back! Hard to unpack but a glimpse into the awesome interaction between God. God to God and an awesome example for us…a target, a goal, a destination…whatever...that’s the heart! “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible. Greater is He that is in you…therefore you can overcome. Greater works you will do.” Here is the holy recipe man! Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and stremffffff!

Mark Chapter 14 Verses 37 – 42

•Captain…the little ones sleep. They don’t have the strength that you do…do you see that? Jesus converses with the Father. If there is any way that man can save himself, I mean if there were any other viable options, then at this moment…Plan B would be auctioned! But He comes back and the sheep, the little ones, the disciples, representing mankind…are unconscious. Vulnerable. Motion-less. Unable. And we see this awesome truth pattern. That as Jesus surrenders His will to God, He is strengthened…He is quickened…emboldened…power is downloaded and He is made ready! “Rise, let’s go…its time!”

Mark Chapter 14 Verse 43

•HA! Swords and clubs! Please! Where were they in the temple when Jesus had a reed driving folks out? Where were they in the streets when people were screaming out “Hosanna, Hosanna,” calling him “Lord” and asking Him to “save now!?” Clubs and swords. You’ve got to be kidding me right? Against God? You are so dumb, for real! The point is, the implication is that He won’t be taken unless He wants to be taken!

•It’s John 18 that shows us this awesome fact more clearly! Check out what happens between verses 45 and 46 of Mark…but we’re not there yet…

Mark Chapter 14 Verses 44 – 46

•John Chapter 18 verses 4 – 7 fit snugly between Mark Chapter 14 verses 44 – 46 and John tells us that between the kiss and the capture there was a brief convo between Jesus and the lynch mob. John tells us that Jesus asked them, “Whom do you seek.” And they responded, “Jesus of Nazareth.” And Jesus responded, “I am!” BOOM. Let’s go back…ALL THE WAY BACK! Moses asked God, “Who should I say sent me?” God replied, “Tell them I AM sent you!” Now that’s back…let’s go ALL THE WAY BACK…

•Jesus said to the Jews in a conversation earlier in His earthly ministry, “Before Abraham was, I AM!” BOOM! Jesus is who? The Great I AM! And John tells us that the minute, the second, the moment He said this…all of the them drew back and fell to the ground! BAM! Clubs and swords, might as well have brought pool noodles and cheetos! Power just pouring out of Jesus!!!

Mark Chapter 14 Verses 47 – 50

•We know from John that this is Peter and Jesus turns to him and says, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?” Wow! What love for you and for me…what love for the Father…what love for you and for me not only by Jesus but also by the Father in that Jesus says that this cup is His…His burden, His heart, His broken heart, His sorrow…this cup of the New Covenant…this consequence of sin…God has found a way to take it from man! It was mine/mans…we poured it!!! And yet God sent His Son and asked Him to carry this cross…and Jesus responded!!!

•And so no longer is it a burden. Consider this. See this. No longer is it a weight upon Jesus…He is One with the Father. Their hearts are together and Jesus sees what the cup will bring…by Him taking it and bearing it for all men…that it will bring an end to the suffering of the Father and an end to the suffering of the children and an end to the slaughtering by Satan and Jesus says, “My Father has GIVEN this to me…” Wow. Like a gift. Not because it’s easy. Not because it’s even enjoyable in any way, shape or form…but because it heals the hearts of the Father and of the creation! WOW.

•That is how much the Father loves you. That is how much the Son loves you…that He would look upon the penalty of sin and take it as a dag-on GIFT from the Father! WoW! And man when your heart melds with the very heart of God through the indwelling power and presence of the Holy Spirit…YOU will find not the physical strength to go through the trials ahead but the eternal love to forge forward and to bless GOD in it all!!!!

•How can you not come to the Lord knowing this? How can you not give you heart and life and trust and hope into the hands of the One who would not refrain from giving you all things? Man…I want to know this kind of love…I want to know more this kind of hope, this kind of bond between man and God…and I pray you will as well…it all begins with a handshake…a greeting…meeting Him face to face with all of it all on the table…and being held maybe for the first time by the arms that were stretched wide so that you could even be held…