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Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Cor Chmieleski
Hope Community Church - Downtown
For more resources or to learn more about Hope Downtown, visit hopecc.com/downtown.
A weekly message from Hope Community Church, located in Downtown Minneapolis, MN.
Morning. My name is Cor. I'm on the pastoral staff here at Hope Downtown. And I want to begin by sharing a short reflection because of our 30th. Steve tried to put the pressure on me by saying, I mean, 30th, getting up there to preach on the 30th, that's a big deal. And it's like, well, I've been around for 29 of the 30 years. And if I haven't messed it up by this point, it's clear that it's about Jesus and not about me or about any of us. So I started coming to Hope Downtown when it was met on the campus of the University of Minnesota. And I started here because, and I explained this in the extended cut of that video, but I could understand what the guy up front was saying. And if you've come to church and experienced confusion, and struggled to follow and make sense of the Bible and what they might be saying from on stage that was that was my experience prior to coming to this church just not, getting it not being able to make sense of these things and so I joke in the in the extended version that Steve used. One syllable words short sentences and I could follow him and understand. And he'd, you know, use movie references from The Matrix every Sunday for like four years. That was the illustration. What kept me coming back, though? I had the opportunity to serve as part of the treats team, the hospitality team. And then over time, I was invited to join the leadership team. And in this, there were confidential matters that were spoken of, decisions that were made. And the reality was those decisions and the conversation was to stay there. And in one specific instance, I didn't keep confidential matters confidential, and I went and spoke out of turn. And of all places, Steve came to me and he approached me on a softball field, in Little Canada and said, hey, I had heard of this thing happening, and I just wanted to follow up with you to see, did this happen? Did you speak out of turn, out of confidence? And I thought, this is it. This is where I get shown the door and I never come back. Because that was my experience with conflict. You just either ignore it or you cut it out, cut out that person. And so red-faced, I said, yeah, yeah. I did that. He said, hey, you remember, we want to keep those things confidential. Yeah, I'm sorry. And he says, I forgive you. Want to go play softball? That is what kept me coming back to this church. Not just preaching about God's forgiveness from on stage as a good preacher does but he showed me forgiveness and, That's why I'm here. That's why I'm still here. 29 years later. And so if you've not, I'm pretty good at softball too. So you kept me around for. We were so close to having a moment together. Didn't you feel like it was right? It was right there and now it's gone. That evaporated right in front of us. But I do want to, I want to extend an invitation to you. Maybe you're new to church, Christianity, the Bible, Jesus. If you've not experienced the relief that forgiveness brings, I beg you to stick around. The forgiveness of God is unmatched. There's nothing like it, friends. And some of you, you don't even know what you're looking for. I'm telling you, it's the forgiveness. It's the relief that comes from being forgiven, Not having your sins counted against you, but instead being loved, being welcomed in, being accepted. A little bit of a personal reflection. Let's now turn into the gospel of Mark because that's what we do. We open up God's word. We look for him and his gospel to bring relief. And we get to do that again. This is one of the four accounts of Jesus' earthly ministry and also captures his passion, his death, his crucifixion. And we have mentioned many times that Mark is broken roughly in half. It's 16 chapters long. Roughly the first eight chapters speak of just identifying Jesus as the Messiah. And the Messiah would have been an expected one, a coming one, one that they were hoping for, looking for to be a type of king, a victor, to bring an overthrow of authorities. And it's why this twofold healing right in the middle of Mark's gospel is so profound. Why? Jesus heals with a touch so many other times. One touch healing, one touch healing, one touch healing. Says the word and healing happens across the city. And so we get to a two-stage healing and we're like, Jesus, are you losing power? What's going on here? No, it's a metaphor. The first stage of the healing is them accurately understanding Jesus is the Messiah. The second stage of the healing is them actually beginning to understand that's going to require suffering. That's going to require death. That's going to require a cross. That was not in the works for them. And so Jesus, as a king, is going to wear a crown. And that's why the two-stage healing, really, until they get the spirit of God and the book of Acts, they're not going to fully understand and fully embrace all of these realities. And so we are nearing the end of Mark's gospel. We're not there. We're getting to the cross. There's still a number of stories for us to get to. But let me read our account for today. In your Bibles, you'll probably see it broken up into two different accounts. We're going to read it all together as one, beginning in verse 27 of Mark chapter 14. Jesus says to the disciples, you will all fall away. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. Peter declared, even if all fall away, I will not. Truly I tell you, Jesus answered, today, yes, tonight before the rooster crows twice, you yourself will disown me three times. But Peter insisted emphatically, even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. And all the others said the same. They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, sit here while I pray. He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, he said to them. Stay here and keep watch. Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible, the hour might pass from him. Abba, Father, he said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. Simon, he said to Peter, are you asleep? Couldn't you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Once more, he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him. Returning the third time, he said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Enough. The hour has come. Look, the son of man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go. Here comes my betrayer. So two accounts. We get the kind of declaration, the dramatic declaration of Peter in the first account, and then we get this, second account in the Garden of Gethsemane, each of which I think has items, elements, details that express historicity, that show a degree of legitimacy that if you're just making this stuff up, you don't include them. And if we go back to this first scene here, this idea that you would strike the shepherd and the sheep would be scattered is not a detail that you would want included. This idea of the unfaithfulness or the abandonment or the cowardice, the falling away of the disciples is not a detail that you are likely to include. And yet, yet, Jesus foresees this. And not only that, it's prophesied in the scriptures. We go back to Zechariah 13, 7, and it says this, Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me, declares the Lord Almighty. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones. Observe the first two words there. Awake, sword. The Lord Almighty is talking to the sword and says, awake. You have a responsibility. You are called to strike the one to which I direct you. And clearly, this is Jesus, the shepherd over the sheep, taking the strike of the sword, going to go to the cross. Mark's account says, on account of that strike, you, the closest disciples, you sheep will all be scattered. Their falling away is predicted. And eventually we'll see that it comes to fulfillment. James Brooks says, This text emphasizes that God smote, not a verb we use often, smote the shepherd in accordance with his will, and that the shepherd was not smitten by men contrary to divine providence. This was under God's control, this whole thing. Sometimes the quotation of a brief passage of Zechariah, in this case, is intended to recall a larger one. And that may be the case here. Zechariah 13 tells us about a coming cleansing from sin and reform of existing religious institutions. As a result of being smitten, Jesus affected such things. That's a bit of the theology of the background of what is going on, not just this week and in this passage, but throughout the weeks to come. After Jesus gets done saying that the shepherd will be struck and the sheep scattered. He gives a bit of hope. He says, but after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. So two items to note. There's a clear expectation being put forward here of resurrection. Jesus knows the things that are to come. And he has made that clear from the moment that they identify him as the Messiah. He says, okay, I'm going to die. I'm going to suffer. I'm going to die in three days I'll be raised and here again he prophesies he predicts the resurrection and so, As we're reading this, we just can't believe that the disciples didn't see this coming. Jesus told you so many times, and yet for them, they miss these things. They don't consider these things in the ways that Jesus intends. And yet for us to read this, a reassurance that after the scattering, there was going to be a gathering. There will be Jesus saying, no, I'm going to build my church. This is not the end. It might feel like the end, but it's not the end. I will build my church. I'll gather you together and you'll be given the Holy Spirit. The passage continues with Peter's bold declaration, even if all fall away, I will not. Oh, Peter. So bold, so courageous until he's not. It's interesting though, because he doesn't just declare about himself. It could just be like, no, no, no, Jesus, I'm with you. But he separates himself from the other disciples. Like he's got this attitude towards the other disciples of like, I understand why you picked me, but I've always kind of wondered about this other 11. They don't seem to have what I have, right? He's like, even if they all abandon you, which I think they might, which they could do, because they're kind of a motley crew, but I won't, right? And you just see this pride. Inability to understand his weakness, his folly. He is bold in his declaration, and yet we will see in coming weeks that he, as Jesus predicted, denies him. What does it mean, as it's described here, to fall away? What does that mean? It doesn't mean, it does not mean to lose faith permanently. Peter is going to fall away and then be restored by Jesus. Instead, it is to temporarily lose courage, to lose trust, hope in that moment. And we've seen this idea expressed in one of Jesus' parables that we preached on about a year ago. It says this, others are like seeds sown on rocky places, talking about people, their faith. Are those seeds sown in rocky places? That seed falling on a type of heart condition. Who hear the word and at once receive it with joy, but since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. That is same language, same word used there in both accounts. So So in this, we have kind of a opening of a door that we'll need a couple of weeks to actually see the end of. So let's now turn to the second account. Let's move from this into Gethsemane where it says, they went to a place, a garden in Gethsemane and Jesus said to his disciples, sit here while I pray. He takes kind of this inner ring, which we've seen over the course of the time that of the 12, we get this three and of the three we tend to see Peter stand out from the crowd either by bold declaration or because of his correct identification of Jesus as the Messiah. And it says, he began, Jesus began to be deeply distressed and troubled. He says to them, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. What are we supposed to take away from that? How are we supposed to comprehend that? What should come to mind? What should we feel with that regard? And it's a little bit tough to fully grasp. Here it's Jesus expressing a type of fear that I think legitimizes the historicity of this, right? There's so many times where if maybe a fictionalized hero or even actual accounts of people going to their death, do so with like a degree of stoicism and somehow that's to be higher esteemed, And Jesus is kind of, I don't know, unraveling, staggering, expressing just a deep emotion. Like, is this a lack of courage? Like, what's going on here? David Garland in his commentary says, Mark used a word to suggest the greatest possible degree of horror and suffering. He boldly allows us to see Jesus suffering psychological anguish before his physical suffering, before he goes across. Jesus is in the grip of a shuddering horror as he faces the dreadful prospect before him. But again it's like is the prospect that's before him death death of crucifixion death on a cross is that other people went to the cross other people went to their death and so is that it. Seems to be something more and throughout church history and theologically we see there's there's something specifically going on here, in our next section it says going a little further he fell to the ground, prayed that if possible, the hour this hour might pass from him. Abba Father, he said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from And that reference, this cup, has been described and processed and worked through to just better understand what is he referencing there. Last week, Pastor Steve shared an account of the Last Supper. In that story, the cup was different. The cup was a cup of wine that Jesus says, this is my blood poured out for you. This is my blood shed for you. As you gather together and you remember my work on the cross, take this cup to show that you are of me, with me, that you're trusting in my cross. That's not the cup that Jesus is going to drink from. The cup depicted here is a different cup, a unique cup, a cup that only Jesus will drink from. Theologians have called it the cup of wrath. Tim Keller says, remember that in the Hebrew scriptures, the cup is a metaphor for the wrath of God on human evil. It's an image of divine justice poured out on injustice all his life because of Jesus' eternal dance with his Father and the Spirit. Whenever he turned to the Father, the Spirit flooded him with love. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, he turns to the Father and all he can see before him is wrath, the abyss, the chasm, the nothingness of the cup. Jesus began to experience the spiritual, cosmic, infinite disintegration that would happen when he became separated from his father on the cross. Jesus began to experience merely a foretaste of that and he staggered. When you see the emotion, and the agony that Jesus is in, is it about the cross? Yeah. But also the cup and also this abyss, this chasm, where he has so often been comforted by the presence of the Father and the Spirit. And all of a sudden, it's not there. He's on the precipice looking at this reality. And that comfort's not there. Elsewhere, it says he sweat, sweat, sweat, no sweat, blood. The horror of the abyss, the disintegration of the comfort with his father. Amidst this staggering, clearly and definitively, Jesus says, yet not what I will. Not what I want. Not my desire to be spared from this hour and this cup. Not my will, but yours be done. Continuing on, it says, then he returned to his disciples, found them sleeping. Simon, he said to Peter, are you asleep? Couldn't you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so you're not falling into temptation. The spirit's willing, but the flesh is weak. Maybe even as a non-Christian, I knew that expression. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, not knowing that it was biblical. Once more, he went away, prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping. Eyes were heavy. He did not know what to, you don't even have an excuse. Like, what do I say, right? Returning the third time, he said, are you still sleeping? Not gonna spend too much time here. I do chuckle that Peter is not referred to as Peter. So if you go back in the accounts of the gospels, Peter initially is Simon. And then he makes this amazing declaration, Jesus, you're the Messiah. And in Matthew's gospel, Jesus says, yes. And you are now Peter. Simon, you're now Peter, Petrus, rock. And upon this rock, I'll build my church. Here, he doesn't call him by Peter, right? And every child that's disciplined by their parent, when you hear that middle name, right? This is like the equivalent. It's just like Simon. And Peter's like, who, me? Don't you want to call me the rock? And Jesus is like, no, Simon, you're quite ordinary. Just like every other human, there is a weakness, a fleshly reality here. And not just him, James and John as well, and friends, truly us, right? I empathize with the disciples. I do think in a room like this, there's two types of people. The first type is a person that lies down and falls asleep. That's the normal people in the congregation here, right? That's me. That's me. The rest of you though, you lie down and you don't go to sleep. Something happens, something's triggered and it's like a going horizontal is a cue for your body to activate and for your brain to start firing on all cylinders. What is that? I don't understand this. There are times that. I wake in my bed and I don't actually ever recalling going to bed. Like, have you ever had that? Like some of you, right? Like I was on the couch and then it's the morning and I'm in my bed. How did I even get here? Early in our marriage, Jill learned about this. We were praying before going to sleep and mid prayer, mid sentence, I fell asleep. And we were so newly married that she gave it some time. I'm like, maybe he's just really caught up in the moment. Maybe he's just really connecting to God. Maybe he's feeling something. And I was, I felt tiredness in my body. And so as I remember, I think she woke me up to tell me that we're done praying, we're gonna go to sleep. Like, I'll wake you up, to send you back to sleep. Maybe that's why Charles Spurgeon said, short prayers are long enough. Is this about prayer? It is, but it's not. It's far less about prayer, their prayers, my prayers, your prayers, and I think far more about things that are beyond our strength, beyond our capacity, beyond our ability to stay watchful, to stay alert, to remain prayerful or faithful, to stay alert. Each of us tires, fades, fails, falls, right? Each of us is weak. That's the human condition that is put on full display. Jesus will rise to the challenge that is in front of them, and we don't. Spiritually speaking, throughout the Bible, at every turn, there is a human inability to do what's required, what's asked. And I guess I want to ask each of you, can you admit that? Do you feel okay, safe to admit that? Can you admit to yourself and to God that these things are too great for us? What are these things? I don't know. Everything. Life. Relationships. Work. Following Jesus. Engaging your neighbor. These things in my life are beyond my strength. Can you say that? Are you okay? Do you feel a freedom because of what God has done to be able to acknowledge that, to admit that you're not okay? God, I don't have the capacity. I don't have the energy. I don't have the strength. I have an inability to stay watchful, to stay alert, to stay prayerful. I need you. I need you. Our passage concludes, enough, the hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go. Here comes my betrayer. In so many ways, this is just kind of a significant domino that's going to fall over, that's going to kind of get us to the rest of the realities of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. It's really just the beginning. And yet Jesus, faithfully staring down the cup, staring down his betrayer, staring down our sin, staring down wrath, staring down the cross. And unlike today's passage, in the verses and the stories that come, he will not stick. He is faithful to save us. As I start to wrap, I want to put forward five considerations, five thoughts of like, if we lost these two accounts from all the gospels, like what would be lost? What would be missing if we didn't have these accounts in our Bibles? Just five things for us to consider here before we close in a couple songs of worship and communion. First one. A recognition that God is not shocked. God is not surprised ever. There was a failure foreseen. No, no, no. The shepherd will get struck and you're going to scatter. And yet grace was promised, right? Upon my resurrection, I'll meet with you in Galilee. We will get the band back together. We'll get the group back together. My death is not the end of the story. It's just the beginning of the church. Peter's collapse, our collapse, isn't a surprise that throws Jesus' plan off course. It's predicted. The tiredness or weakness of the disciples in the garden and other times and other ways is well known by Jesus. John's Gospel, chapter 2. Jesus didn't entrust himself to you and to me because he knew we were of dust. He knew what was in us. He knew there would be a failure of watchfulness, alertness, prayerfulness. And I think without this section, the disciples' desertion would read as a disaster maybe. Just kind of this unexpected twist in the story that Jesus didn't anticipate. But with it, having this account in our Bibles, their failure is held inside of God's purposes. And restoration is guaranteed ahead of time. Knowing that they would be scattered, Jesus says, yeah, I'm still gonna love them. Knowing that despite Peter's bold declaration and sometimes our declaration, God, I won't fail you. And he says, yeah, you will. And then he says to you and to me, but just so you know, I'll never fail you. And he hasn't. The good news for anyone who can admit what Jesus already knows, that we're weak, that we'll fail, that we need help. Can you admit that? A second consideration is just the clear contrast of the first Adam, Adam and Eve, and Jesus, who is referenced as a second Adam at different times in our Bible. There's a clear contrast. There's parallels, but there's this clear contrast. Interestingly enough, both doing life in a garden, talking to God. What did Jesus say to his father? not my will but yours be done. What did Adam say when he was in the garden? Not my, my will be done, not yours. Do you see the contrast? I won't speak for you, but I'll speak for me. How often do I say, my will be done, God, not yours, not what you want, not what you might be calling me to. I want what I want. And these accounts bring that forward for us. The ways that Jesus stands in contrast to us. Praise God for his faithfulness, his obedience. Not his will, but the Lord's be done. I think these accounts give us clear evidence that the cross was chosen. From John 10, 18, this is confirmed. No one takes it from me. No one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, authority to take it up again. This command I receive from my Father. Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon titled Christ's Agony, says this. In Gethsemane, Jesus had then a near view of that furnace of wrath into which he was to be cast. He was brought to the mouth of the furnace that he might look into it and stand and view its raging flames and see the glowing of its heat that he might know, where he was going and what he was about to suffer. There are two things that render Christ's love wonderful, that he should be willing to endure sufferings that were so great. And secondly, that he should be willing to endure them to make atonement for wickedness that was so great. But in order to its being properly said, Christ of his own act and choice endured sufferings that were so great, it was necessary, that he should have an extraordinary sense how great these sufferings were to be before he endured them. This was given in his agony. Clear evidence that Jesus knew what awaited him and he chose it. He chose it in love for you and for me. Fourth, an afraid savior. Luke 22, I referenced this earlier, but being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood, falling to the ground. Without this scene, it would be easy to imagine Jesus kind of floating through this, kind of maybe limited impact or not moved in emotions, just kind of serenely floating above it all. We have indication that Jesus feared, that he staggered, that he labored. Why is this good news for us? it's good news if you are in the place of experiencing fear. Are you staggering in life right now? Are you laboring? Some in this room might be facing a diagnosis, an unexpected, unplanned for diagnosis. To any of you that are struggling with grief, with dread, with a loss, if you're feeling overwhelmed and you wonder, God, do you get it? Do you at all understand what I'm going through? This, friends, this account, these verses say yes. Jesus understands. He gets your fears. He's been there. Additionally, Gethsemane gives you and I permission to pray, God, take this away. It hurts. It's too much. And that doesn't mean we're unfaithful. It means we recognize there's just certain things that we're gonna encounter in this world that Jesus didn't initially intend. But it gives us confidence in a Savior who knows firsthand what fear and suffering are like. And we can have confidence that he'll bring us through. One more. That there's a cost to drinking a cup of wrath. We're gonna sing these words in a moment here. When Satan tempts me to despair, and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look. And see him there who made an end of all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied to look on Christ and pardon me. Jesus drinks the cup. He drinks the cup of wrath. He takes away my sin. He takes away our sin. And we're forgiven, friends. We're free. I want you to experience the relief, of forgiveness this morning. There is a cost to drinking the cup and Jesus drinks it on our behalf. Without Gethsemane, the cross could easily be read as martyrdom or a moral example, a brave man dying well for his convictions. Gethsemane rules that out. There was a cup that he knew full well what it would mean to drink it. And he did so. A couple questions for us to consider. And as we do, I'll invite the worship team forward. Number one, can you admit, maybe unlike Simon, unlike the disciples, that these things are beyond your strength? These things, all the things, friends, you got a thing. I'm putting it in that category. It's beyond you. It's beyond us. How proud we are, right? No, I got this. No, no, Jesus, I don't need you. I'm fully capable. I'm intelligent. Do you know my Myers-Briggs? Can we just be okay? Not being okay. And admitting it. God, these are beyond us. I need you. Without you, God, I don't want to go forward another day. And how about as a church? We'll hope downtown for the next 30 years remain a people. who are okay, admitting they're not okay. When Satan tempts us to despair, tells us of the guilt within that we're not okay, upward, upward, we'll look and see him there who made an end of all of our sin. He drank the cup to make us okay. That's the good news of the gospel. Believe it, friends afresh this morning. Will you pray with me? Abba, Father, we confess that we are more like Peter than we want to admit. We are confident of our own strength, until that moment comes. When we sleep, we scatter, we fall away. But in the garden, your Son, our Savior, did not sleep. He looked into the cup and he planned to drink the cup. And his faithfulness, not what I will, he said, but what you. He was struck so that one day we'd be gathered in. Jesus, thank you for drinking that cup, for taking the wrath. Amidst fear, you moved forward. Jesus, you marched toward that cross, not away, and we were pardoned. We experienced the relief of forgiveness that our sins were not counted against us. Thank you, God, for your faithfulness to your sheep and to this place called Hope Community. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.