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Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Brian Silver
Hope Community Church - Lowertown
For more resources or to learn more about Hope Lowertown, visit hopecc.com/lowertown.
A weekly message from Hope Community Church, located in Lowertown St. Paul, MN. Pastor is Brian Silver.
All right, well again, welcome. I don't think I introduced myself. Those of you who don't know me, name's Brian. And glad to be here. Glad to be back in the Gospel of Mark. We've been here, this is week 46. So it's like, yeah, we're a new space, but you know, some things we're still gonna, still gonna keep doing what we're doing. Preaching about Jesus and excited to do that. I forgot in the, you know, thanking people. I forgot to mention Steve Treichler, my boss. He is a woodworker on the side and he built this pulpit and the cross behind me very talented very thankful for him, I told him I wanted it tall and he built it and he was like it's too tall I was like nope it's exactly what I want it to be I want to be able to hold on to this thing because it's going to get wild no that's not that's not true at all, All right. Again, this is week 46. It's impossible to try to catch you up on 46 weeks of preaching to the gospel of Mark, but just want to go back to the beginning. Verse one, this is the beginning of the good news. Good news is just gospel. So when we say the word gospel, this is what this is. This is good news about Jesus. We talk about, you know, you hear about maybe Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four gospels. They're not their gospels. It's the gospels about, the gospel is about Jesus. The good news about Jesus, the Messiah, this anointed one, One that's going to redeem God's people, the son of God. And he's just going to say, this is the gospel. This is the good news. This is who Jesus is. I asked that kind of weird community question about being alone for a couple of reasons. But one is the History Channel. Anyone who watch this show? The Alone? Alone? Anyone? Okay, a couple of fans. I'm a huge fan of the show. I don't know why. There's just something about it. It's very riveting. It's just raw. People are just literally dropped off in the middle of nowhere. And they see who can survive the longest. In the winter, you know, someone will survive 100 days of being in the wilderness. I mean, like in the, you know, Arctic Circle, they win like a million dollars. It's insane. And they do this. But when the season starts, everyone's all happy. They got all their gear. You know, they're freshly cleaned and showered. They're fed. And then by the end, not even that long, everyone's just weeping. Everyone's just sad. They're allowed to bring 10 items with them. And they're allowed to bring a personal item. And you can always tell immediately who's going to go home. It's the people who bring a personal item of a picture of their family. If they have a picture of their family, they're out. There's no way. There's no way they're ever going to win that. And I just was thinking, just on this passage, it was the longest I've ever been alone. I've done a couple of maybe silent retreats, but I don't know. But maybe in the lone-esque, back in 2008, I went hunting, believe it or not. And I was in Wisconsin, so I get a pass. I was going to school in Wisconsin. All my buddies, all my roommates, they all hunted. And I was like, I kind of want to do that with you guys, you know, and hang out with the boys. And they just took me out into the woods. And they made a little blind for me. And my buddy Cole said, I want you to just sit here and don't move until I come back. It was like four in the morning. And I sit there and I don't move. and as soon as the sun comes up, it's again, Wisconsin and it was public land and it sounded like World War III. It was just guns everywhere going off. Couldn't see anybody, but the guns were everywhere. I didn't see any deer. I didn't see anything. And I'm just sitting there and I'm sitting there and this is, I don't, you know, I don't have a cell phone. I don't have a book. I'm just sitting in the woods, right? And I'm just like, Cole's going to come back. I don't know how to get out of here. He brought me in the dark. I don't know where I am. I don't know what's going on? And I sit and I wait. And then, you know, I think maybe it was around lunchtime. It felt like lunchtime. I didn't pack a lunch. Why would I pack a lunch? No one told me to pack a lunch. And I'm just sitting there. I mean, just literally in the woods all day long with my thoughts. And then the sun goes down and I'm just sitting there in the dark by myself. And then finally I see a flashlight coming. And I was like, did I get abandoned? I got left behind. They forgot about me. And then he forgot. And he was like, oh, we left Brian in the woods. Let's go back and get him. So that was a long day. That was a long day. This was me. I did get a deer the next day. It was back in 2008. I don't know why I had to stand on the poor animal, but so I said my first deer, and then my sister commented on this, Palin would be so proud. This was back in Sarah Palin, you know, from a while ago. And then my mom said, poor Bambi. So you can tell my family family wasn't a big okay I'll get the death off the screen for now. Here's the point in this passage that we're going to be looking at we're going to see Jesus who's the creator of everything, And he, in his humanity of taking on flesh, of being a human being is gonna be utterly alone and abandoned by his closest friends, those who were closest to him, those who said, I love you, were going to say, yeah, not enough. And maybe that's you this morning. Maybe you do feel alone. What I love about this passage is Jesus gets it. He gets it. He sees you. A little bit of context. Last week, we read this. Jesus has the Lord's table. He just says, hey, I'm going to set up this meal, and this juice, this cup is going to represent my blood of the new covenant and this bread is going to represent my body, which is broken for you. And I want you to do this every time you get together in remembrance of me. Because when it was evening, when he came with the 12, as they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me. And they began to be sorrowful and said to him, one after another, is it I? Surely it's not me. And then he doesn't really answer the question. He says, well, it's one of you. It's one of the 12, one who's dipping bread in the dish with me. But every single one of them, there's no way I would abandon you. Surely it's not me. And that's where we pick up this morning, just titled The Cup. We're going to be looking at Mark chapter 12, or sorry, Mark chapter 14, 27 through 42. This is where we say, put ourselves in the disciples' shoes and we say, not me. I would never abandon Jesus. I would never leave him alone. I mean, if I were there in the garden, I would have been right there with him. I would never fall asleep. The truth is we fail to keep watch. I fail to keep watch I say not me. But Jesus says not my will be done with thine so let's get into this let's look at this cup, most of us if not all of us in this room don't need me to stand up here and tell you how you've failed God how you've abandoned God at some point in your life how you've let God down, maybe checking out Christianity or checking out hope and like yeah yeah yeah yeah okay, I'm a sinner. We get it, preacher. Same all, same all. I don't need to remind you of how alone or how you've abandoned God or how you've abandoned somebody else because you remember that. You remember when you did that. You remember when you did that to God. You remember when you did that to a loved one. You remember when you made a promise to somebody and you didn't keep that promise. You went back on that promise. You remember those moments. This is not a sermon to beat you up. This is a sermon about the good news of Jesus and how he was beaten up for you. You are okay in Jesus. That's the point of this text today. Verse 27, And Jesus said to them, You will all fall away, for it is written, and that's why I had Ben read that Zechariah quote. Jesus here is quoting this passage from the prophet, saying, This is about me. You will all fall away for it is written, God, from his perspective, God will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. God's going to punish me. He's going to punish the anointed one and you're all going to scatter. But after I am raised up, after I rise from the dead, I will go before you to Galilee. And Peter says to him, even though they all fall away, I will not. God will strike the shepherd. What's interesting here, though, is that Peter doesn't listen to the second part. He doesn't even hear Jesus say, after I'm raised up, he only hears, Peter, you're going to abandon me. He goes, no, no, no, no. No, I would never, ever do that. He only hears the first part. He starts playing the comparison game. I'm a better disciple. I'm a better Christian. You might be thinking the same thing. I'm okay. I get it. I already know this passage, Brian. I've heard you preach a million times. I already know what you're going to say. Let me let you in on a little preacher secret. I already know what I'm going to say. I need to hear this. These are the words of life. This is the good news of Jesus. Going back in Mark chapter eight, we see Peter do the exact same thing. Jesus is telling his disciples, he said, he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. And after three days rise again. Again, Peter only hears the first part. No, no, no, Jesus, we're not going to abandon you, you're not going to be killed. I'm not going to let that happen to you. He says, and Jesus said this plainly, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Maybe just a little aside, a point of application is that this idea of self, you can fill in the blank, self-sufficiency, self-determination, thinking that I'm in control of my situation. We never wait to hear the promise of restoration and redemption and resurrection because it doesn't ever plan on ever needing it. I don't need that. I don't need to be saved. I don't need to be restored because I don't need to suffer. I've prepared for that. I only need a savior if I'm suffering and I'm not planning on suffering. Everything I do is according to my plan. I don't need help. And in essence, we say, never me. Never, Lord. I would never do that. That's not going to be me. I'm not going to have to depend on your resurrection. I got this. And functionally, we become atheists in our hearts because we think we have it under control. And we don't listen to Jesus who says, I'm going to be resurrected and I'm going to go before you. Verse 30, and Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you this very night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me But he said, Peter here says emphatically, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same. None of them died with Jesus. None of them. All of them abandoned him. All of them leave him utterly alone until he fulfills his promise and rises from the dead. And when they see Jesus as resurrected, well, then they all die for him. Except John, that's a different sermon. Second point, not my will. Verse 32, and they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, sit here while I pray. And he took with him Peter and James and John and began, and he began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful even to death. Remain here and watch. These three, Peter, James, and John, these are the closest friends to Jesus. They've seen Jesus in his glory, what Mark calls a transfiguration that he transforms in front of them as if he's going to be in his full glory in heaven. And they see that. They see the same Jesus that they've seen in glory now coming to them in anguish. And he says, my soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and watch. This is the strong one, the truly human one who is out in the wilderness, who is tempted in every single possible way that could be given to mankind. And he successfully defeats temptation. That strong one here, he sees him on his knees and in anguish. He says, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Why? What's going on here? Not that long before this, we had a guy named Socrates who took some poison and it ends in his own life. And he said this about it before he died. He said that he greeted death as a friend and as a liberator to a better life. So Plato writes about it. The Stoics preached a serene resignation to fate. Jesus, we already know based on Mark. that he resolutely set his face towards Jerusalem. He said, I'm gonna march to Jerusalem. I'm gonna march to my death. And he does that. He acts on that. He walks toward Jerusalem willingly, knowingly that he's about to die. And then now here he is in the moment and he's weeping. What's going on here? Why the struggle? Why grieve here? Our friend James Edwards in his commentary, I think sums this up very well. He says, the answer must be that Jesus is aware of facing something more than simply his own death. In Mark 10, 45, he spoke of the purpose of the Son of Man, that's Jesus' favorite title for himself, to give his life a ransom for many. That was the objective description of his purpose, that he's going to die for a ransom for many. And now we hear the subjective experience of it. In Gethsemane, Jesus must make the first payment of that ransom and to will, to become the sin bearer for humanity. Jesus stands before the final consequence of being the servant of God, pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, not his. It's a quote from Isaiah 53. It is one thing, fearful as it will be, to answer for God, for our own sins before a holy and almighty God. Who can imagine what it would be like to stand before God to answer for every sin and crime and act of malice and injury and cowardice and evil in the world? In acquiescing to the Father's will of bearing the sin of many interceding for, transgressors, Jesus necessarily experiences an abandonment of darkness of cosmic proportions. He's taking on the sins of the world. Says this at the end of that verse 40, 34, he says, remain here and watch. In the end of chapter 13 or all of chapter 13, he shows up, Jesus, the disciples, they're looking at the temple in Jerusalem, this magnificently huge building. And the disciples say, look at these stones. This place is marvelous. And Jesus says, yeah, this is all gonna be destroyed. And the disciples say, well, tell me about that. Right, tell me a little bit more. When is this gonna happen? What's that gonna look like? And Jesus says, don't worry about it. Don't worry about dates and times and trying to figure all this stuff out. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to watch. I want you to be vigilant. I want you to remain faithful. And right here, Jesus is saying, I want you to practice what you've heard me preach. Remain here, watch, be vigilant. And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and he prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he says, Abba, Father, Abba, just Aramaic for dad or father. He says, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. This is beautiful. We just read Peter says, I will not. If everyone I don't abandon you, I will not. And here we have just the direct same words, but in a different order, Jesus says not my will. What's with this cup? Why does Jesus say remove this cup? I'm not going to read all these passages, but in the book of Psalms and Isaiah, Jeremiah 25, Ezekiel 23, Habakkuk 2, this cup that Jesus is referring to all over the Old Testament is a cup of God's wrath. This is wrath being poured out against sin. Our sin. In our culture, maybe in our day and age, we hear the word wrath and the alarm bells go off. God is wrathful? I don't know about that. Some of us, we think wrath and we think, dad flying off the handle because I called my sister a name. Not speaking from experience. Maybe a little. We think this wrath of just some, this rage, it's not what's happening. It's not the wrath of God. This is justified wrath against injustice. He demands, God demands that all the rights be, all the wrongs, excuse me, be made right. And therefore, for true justice to happen, there has to be a penalty for the injustices. And so Jesus here takes the cup of God's wrath and he drinks it on our behalf and he does it alone. Skipping ahead a little in this storyline in Acts chapter 4. Read this. For truly in this city, this is now Peter. Peter abandons Jesus here. He's going to do it again. And he's going to say, hey, do you know this Jesus guy? He's going to flat out go, never heard of him. No. After he just said, I'll die, I'll die for you. And then he sees Jesus risen from the dead. And everything changes for Peter. And he's praying this. He says to God, and he says, For truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles, this ethne, all ethnicities, all nations, and the people of Israel. He's saying everybody, everybody was against Jesus. Why? To what end? What purpose? To do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. The betrayal of Jesus that we're reading here and of next week leads to the crucifixion. But this was always God's plan. That the greatest evil in the world, the murder of God himself on the cross, brought about the greatest and the greater good for the world. True justice. And Jesus isn't passive here. He submits to the will of the Father, full well knowing that his sacrifice was the only way, the only way that you and I could be redeemed from the wrath of God against injustice that it could be satisfied, as I was studying this on Thursday just this this old hymn popped in my head, I hadn't thought about this we've never sung it here but I did text Rebecca and was like can we sing this she's like yeah let's do it, because I stand in the maze in the presence let me just read this. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned unclean. For me, it was in the garden. He prayed, not my will, but thine. He had no tears for his own griefs, but sweat drops of blood for mine. It's a line from Luke verse four. He took my sins and my sorrows. He made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. How marvelous, how wonderful. And my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. He was abandoned and drank the cup of God's wrath on our behalf. So here we have the good news, the gospel here again. In Mark chapter 14, he came and found them sleeping. And he said, Peter. He said to Peter, but then he calls him Simon. Jesus changes Simon's name to Peter early on in the gospel. It's the only time that Jesus doesn't call Peter, Peter. He calls him Simon. He's saying, you're no longer the rock. You're not acting like the rock. You're not my foundation that I need right now. You're Simon again. You've abandoned me. You've fallen asleep when I'm in my hour, my deepest hour of need. Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour, watch and pray that you may not enter in temptation? The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. I think Peter has good intentions. I'm sure we've all had good intentions, but we still fail. So now let's see Jesus say, let us go. Verse 39, and again, he went away and prayed, saying the same words, and he came and found them sleeping again, for their eyes were heavy and they did not know what to answer. Jesus shows up, you're sleeping again? And they just, yeah, I got nothing. I don't even know what to say. And he came a third time and said to them, are you still sleeping and taking rest? It is enough. The hour has come. The son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. Let us go. Three times they let their friend who is in distress down. We've done this. We've done this to friends. We've done this to loved ones. We've done this to one another. We've done this to Jesus. And then Jesus says, let us, let us rise. Let us go. Just like last week of looking at the Lord's table, he says, hey, you're all going to abandon me. You're all going to leave me. Now come and eat. Come take and eat of my body and my blood. You're all going to abandon me. But this is what grace is. This is why I'm doing this for you. You're going to betray me. You're going to leave me alone. Let us go together. This is the good news. In 1 Corinthians, we read this. What a transformation because of what Jesus did. 1 Corinthians 10 says, the cup of blessing that we bless. Is it not a participation, the blood of Christ, the bread that we break, not a participation in the body of Christ, because there is one bread. We who are many are a one body and all partake of the one bread. This now, this cup, we don't need to drink the wrath of God for our sins. Jesus already did that. And now this cup has become a cup of blessing. And we get to remember this. This is, there's one, you know, as you've been going to church for a long time and as a pastor, been doing this for a long time, some things can kind of become business as usual. But there's something about this table that just isn't business as usual. This is a cup of blessing. And we get to remember the finished work of Christ on the cross, that he drank the cup of wrath. He was betrayed. He was abandoned so that we will never be abandoned ever again. So an application, rise. Let's go to the table. Let's drink this cup of blessing together. And Isaiah 51 says, God has taken the cup from his people's hand and they will drink of it no more. Now it is a cup of blessing. Maybe you need to just examine yourself. Are you too self-sufficient, too independent to need? I don't think I need this. I don't need the cup. I can do this on my own. Do you think you're far too gone, too broken? Jesus to every single person says, rise, let's go. Come to the table freely. You feel alone. He knows what that's like. And he says, join me, join me. The worship team's gonna play two songs. And as they're playing those songs, I would invite anyone here who wants to take of these elements, who says, I want to remember the cup that represents the new covenant that is in Christ. For the forgiveness of my sins, to take the wrath that I deserved, I want to remember that. I would invite you to do that with us. The bread that represents his body that's broken for us. There's a gluten-free option here if it's a dietary restriction. Take these elements as we're playing these songs. Feel free to sit back down, pray, take those elements. And then as you see fit, we will stand and sing together and then we'll be dismissed. Let me pray and then we'll worship together through communion. Father, thank you for this time. I thank you that, we get to do this. That we get to go to the table of the one who was abandoned. The one who gets us. The one who knows what it's like to be left behind. God, I thank you that Jesus didn't stay there. He didn't stay on the cross, didn't stay in the tomb, rose from the dead. And so we get to remember that. We get to remember that sacrifice now. So God, I just ultimately thank you. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for your ultimate purpose and plan that led Jesus to the cross. For your honor and your glory and our joy. We love you. And it's in the name of Jesus I pray, amen.