This is a devotional with my thoughts added to verses from the Bible. I highly encourage you to dig into the word with your own thoughts. The Daily Devotion series is one way to do this. However, I know that sometimes we want to read other people’s ideas about Bible passages, so I am starting the Everyday series. I hope and pray that these posts will draw you nearer to Jesus.
DAY 4–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 14:22-25 Communion with Jesus
As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had blessed, he broke it, and gave to them, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body.” He took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them. They all drank of it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many. Most certainly I tell you, I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it anew in God’s Kingdom.”
That night, Jesus transformed the Passover meal into the communion service. He only chose the bread and wine and not the lamb for communion because there would be no need for a lamb as a symbol anymore. There would be no more necessity for animals to die. Jesus was about to become the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Thus, there was no more need for a symbol that pointed to Jesus’ foretold sacrifice. There was only the necessity of a symbol to point to our acceptance of that sacrifice. Thus, the bread and wine became symbols of us partaking in the sacrifice that Jesus made by first becoming body and blood (the incarnation) and then giving up that body and blood for us (the crucifixion). The bread and wine were symbols that showed that God had become one with us and then had taken our fate upon Himself. Jesus so identified Himself with us that we, who had broken our relationship with God and could no longer connect with Him, might once again be one with our Creator. Without that connection, we cease to exist. With that connection, death cannot touch us. Our forefather and foremother chose death, but God chose not to let them die without fighting for them. God found a way that they might live even after they had severed their connection of trust with Him. He found a way to reconnect through becoming flesh and blood Himself and then leading us back through death to life eternal.
Communion is the sign of God’s new covenant with mankind. This new covenant is really a continuation of the old Mosaic covenant with modification. The old Mosaic covenant had an external law written on stone, but the new covenant is the law written on hearts. More importantly the old covenant looked forward to the moment of salvation, but the new covenant looks back on the moment of salvation. Thus, Jesus took an old Jewish ceremony that looked forward to his death while commemorating a past delivery from slavery by God and transformed it into the Last Supper to commemorate His soon death on the cross. The bread was broken as He would soon be broken. The drink represented His blood which would flow from Him. Ultimately, His physical body would die from blood loss as He let that life-giving liquid flow from His body. (It was sin that killed Jesus, but the physical symptom was blood loss.) The covenant that He was making with His disciples and ultimately all of humanity past and present was that He would be the sacrifice that ratified the agreement and that His death would resolve the judgment against all humanity because of sin.
Jesus blessed the bread before breaking it and sharing it. He gave thanks for the drink before passing it around. The power was not in the physical bread or wine, but in the blessings pronounced upon it. This is called communion today because it represents our communion with Jesus. However, this ceremony is also about Jesus’ communion with us. Jesus identified Himself with us so much that His death on the cross was our death and His resurrection was ours too. We are in Him and He is in us. This is what communion represents. This is why Jesus chose food and drink to represent Himself and His sacrifice. It symbolizes how God wants us to know Him in the deepest possible way.
DAY 5–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 14:26-31 The sheep scatter
When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ However, after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee.” But Peter said to him, “Although all will be offended, yet I will not.” Jesus said to him, “Most certainly I tell you, that you today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he spoke all the more, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” They all said the same thing.
There is a group of psalms called the Hallel, which were sung as part of the Passover celebration. This last hymn would have been the final part of the Hallel. The passage says a hymn (singular), but it would have included more than one psalm. They were most likely singing Psalms 115-118.
The Passover was usually eaten after sunset or even later. They had finished singing Psalm 118 and left the upper room, so it was probably after 9:00 at night. Judas was at another location in the city informing the high priests that he knew where Jesus would be and receiving his payment. He would then have been forced to wait as the priests contacted the Roman soldiers and made arrangements for a group to arrest Jesus. The Sanhedrin expected Jesus’ disciples to fight. They expected a battle, so they prepared for one. One of the reasons for Judas to kiss Jesus was to keep the disciples from reacting too quickly for the soldiers. If the disciples fought fiercely enough and made enough noise, other people might join in the battle, and the soldiers could have been defeated. Thus, the plan was to ambush the group and ensure that no one had the opportunity to put up resistance. However, Jesus already knew the plan, and as usual, God’s reactions were the opposite of those expected by violent humans.
As the disciples walked the peaceful streets of Jerusalem that spring evening, they were probably in a solemn mood trying to understand the instructions that Jesus had given them. They were most likely a little confused and a little worried, but they were still unaware that the calm still night was soon to become the storm of a nightmare. Maybe they enjoyed the warm breeze as they walked towards the Mount of Olives. This was a routine that they had participated in many times before with their Master. They expected a long wait under the stars as their Rabbi prayed. They were probably looking forward to closing their eyes and sleeping until their Master was ready to go on to His next task. However, when they reached the garden, Jesus continued His strange behavior of the Passover meal. Jesus stopped them, and when He had their attention, He gave them a warning that they could not, would not, accept.
As Jesus gazed at His disciples, some of them for the final time before His resurrection, He felt the need to reach out to them one last time. He wanted to tell them that He knew that they were going to run away and scatter to hide from the Romans and Jewish leaders. He wanted to tell them that He understood and that there was hope for them after the nightmare of the next few days. He wanted them to understand that this was not the end and that He would return for them. He was going away but not forever. He looked at them intently, willing them to comprehend what He was saying, and told them that they would scatter like sheep from the wolves, but that it was okay. He told them that He would rise again and meet them in Galilee.
It is interesting that while Jesus eventually did meet up with the disciples in Galilee on the day of Peter’s fishing trip, He reconnected with them even before that in Jerusalem. Could it be that God’s original plan was not to appear in Jerusalem and that He modified it out of pity for His loved ones’ fear, distress, and lack of faith? Or was it simply that Jesus as a man was not omniscient and the only meeting that the Holy Spirit had shown Him was the meeting on the shore of the lake in Galilee? Remember, Jesus was not all-knowing at this time. He knew information through His connection to the Father just as prophets of earlier times had been told of the future through the Spirit. However, He did not foresee every future possibility as He would have before His incarnation. Much of His knowledge was through the enlightenment that came as He studied the scriptures. Even here, He quotes a scripture to demonstrate where His knowledge came from. Thus, Jesus could be sure that He would meet with His disciples again through a vision of the Galilee reunion and possibly through scriptures, but He may not have foreseen all of His interactions with His followers following His resurrection. Later, after the resurrection, angels told the women to remind the disciples of Jesus’ promise to meet them. “But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you’” (Mark 16:7).
The Bible only describes representative samples of human experience to us so that we might learn, so it is tempting to think only of Peter’s overconfidence that night. However, there was more to Peter than his arrogance. Peter loved Jesus with all his heart. Peter trusted Jesus. There was only one person that Peter trusted more than Jesus—his own self. That was going to change in the next few days. It is important to remember that Peter was not the only disciple maintaining that he would never deny Jesus. All of the disciples claimed that they would die with Jesus, yet they all ran away rather than stay with their Rabbi. They seem to have had only two reactions to danger—fight or flight. When Jesus would not let them fight, when they woke in confusion to armed soldiers, and when their Master performed no miracle to escape, their drowsy minds reverted to instinct, and they fled. They were all sure that they would die for Jesus, but the death they pictured was a glorious one where they died fighting at the side of their miracle-making Master. The ignominious death that began by meekly following soldiers to the grave was not the loyal sacrifice that they were promising. This night would break not just Peter, but also the rest of the “brave” disciples who ran away. Earlier in the evening, Jesus had told them that they would be ashamed of Him, and they were. However, the joy is that the disciples would learn their lessons and redeem themselves as they later bravely and with joy proclaimed their Master’s death and resurrection and meekly accepted their own deaths for Jesus.
We can look at this night from two perspectives: the failure of humans or the love of God for His weak-willed children. We will fail. It is inevitable, but God has compassion on us and wants us to not fear or hurt. He does not blame us for failing. He only wants us to know that He will be there to meet with us, and there is hope. For our part, we need to learn not to have faith in our own abilities and courage, but to strive to trust Jesus. We should not be overconfident in our own “goodness” and ability to serve Jesus without failing. When we do fail, Jesus understands what is happening and is there to dust us off and hold us upright, so we do not keep falling down. It is only when we stop trusting Jesus to keep us standing and start trying to stand on our own that we will fall again.
DAY 6–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 14:32-34 Among the Olive Trees
They came to a place which was named Gethsemane. He said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I pray.” He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be greatly troubled and distressed. He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here, and watch.”
Gethsemane has become synonymous with suffering and betrayal, but before that night it was a beautiful refuge that Jesus frequently visited when He wanted to be close to His Father and away from the distractions of the city. It was His place of prayer and meditation. It was peace and tranquility. Gethsemane was on the Mount of Olives which means that there were a lot of olive trees around. At night, the sound of the rustling of the leaves as a gentle breeze blew through them would have been a calming influence. As the sins of the world began to be laid more and more heavily upon Him, Jesus came to this place with its peaceful memories. Maybe, He was hoping that the natural beauty and serenity surrounding Him would strengthen Him as His transformation into the snake-on-the-pole—into sin—occurred.
The passage says that Jesus became greatly troubled and distressed. The original word is “ekthambeō”, and the definition in the Thayer dictionary is: “1) to throw into terror or amazement 1a) to alarm thoroughly, to terrify 2) to be struck with amazement 2a) to be thoroughly amazed, astounded 2b) to be struck with terror.” Thus, this word means that Jesus, the King of Kings, God Himself, was terrified. The original word is very negative and very strong. “Greatly distressed” just does not seem strong enough, and the King James translation of “amazed” while strong does not have the negativity this word is expressing. Most Christians emphasize the physical suffering of Jesus in His trials and on the cross while lightly passing over Gethsemane. However, it is in Gethsemane that the beginning of the real torture commenced. The physical torture was not the worst of what was happening to Jesus at this time.
The transformation had begun. Jesus was becoming sin for us. Paul describes what happened as “God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that God’s righteousness would be produced in us” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Mark tells us that as this process began Jesus (who as God had experienced an infinite number of other experiences that would not have included fear) became terrified at what was happening to Him. As He was transformed from sinless to sinful, He suffered. Sinful at its basic meaning is separation from God. Thus, this process was separating Jesus from the Father, from the Spirit. Jesus described what He was experiencing as “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful to death,” yet Christians have glossed over this mental anguish as being less important than the physical anguish of the cross. Like with many mental and emotional issues, we pooh-pooh this as just a slight problem or exaggeration. However, Jesus was not given to exaggeration. If He said that mentally He was so sad that He was dying, then He was dying from the oppression in His mind. Jesus was undergoing something overwhelmingly negative. It was terrifying and caused grief and was actually killing Him.
The sorrow of Gethsemane and the cross resulted from God’s love for us. We cannot imagine the agony that Jesus endured because of that desire to keep us close. His love is “amazing” in a positive way. He is beautiful beyond our comprehension. Because we have tendencies to forget Jesus’ infinite love, we need to pray and request help from God so that we can comprehend the depth of His love with more and more clarity. Just as importantly, we must communicate who God truly is to others so that they can share in the wonder of Jesus’ amazing love for us.
DAY 7–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 14:35-42 Watching and Praying
He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him. He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Please remove this cup from me. However, not what I desire, but what you desire.” He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you watch one hour? Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again he went away, and prayed, saying the same words. Again he returned, and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they didn’t know what to answer him. He came the third time, and said to them, “Sleep on now, and take your rest. It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Arise! Let’s get going. Behold: he who betrays me is at hand.”
The wait is over. The time that has been predicted since the fall of Adam and Eve has finally arrived. Jesus is becoming the true Savior of the world. When He became human, He was as the first Adam without sin. He became one of us as we were meant to be in the beginning. However, that was not enough. He needed to so identify Himself with us that we could be one with Him. He had to become us, the sinful us, with a shattered relationship to God. In order to reconnect us to the power of God, Jesus had to take our broken connection into Himself. Then when His bond to the Father was restored at His resurrection, He brought us back into full unity with the Father. Now, the only barrier to our linkage with God would be whether a person chose to be joined to Jesus through the Holy Spirit. This then is the Holy Spirit’s job—to live in us and connect us to Jesus and through Him to the Father.
The passage says that the contamination with sin that Jesus was undergoing was so overwhelming that He fell to the ground. He did not kneel to pray or calmly lay down. He collapsed because He could not maintain His ability to stand under the pressure of His transformation. As Jesus received our sins, the procedure was unbearable. We are told that Jesus sweat great drops of blood as this process happened. “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). Whatever was happening to Jesus at this time was overwhelming with physical effects that almost killed His physical body then and there. An angel was sent to come and sustain His body just to keep it alive. “And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him” (Luke 22:43). The whole time this was happening, Jesus was crying out in agony for the Father to find another way to stop the conversion, if possible, but only if the Father decided to, not from Jesus’ own decision. Jesus kept repeating this entreaty over and over to the Father. Out of His fear and agony, He cried out for release from His mission. When Jesus told the disciples “The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak,” He may have been speaking of Himself.
The disciples’ only instructions had been to watch and pray so that they would not be tempted. They were not told to pray for their Rabbi but for themselves. As they watched their Master’s weakness and terror, they must have been terribly afraid. They would have felt confused and worried about what they saw happening, yet there was nothing they could do. The three disciples watched and prayed and worried and became emotionally exhausted. We blame them for sleeping, but part of their problem was how much they loved Jesus and worried about Him. This anxiety was physically exhausting. Their experience can be compared to a person sitting up with a sick loved one but falling asleep because there is nothing physically active to do for the other person.
In addition, Satan’s minions were there to try to entice the disciples to sleep. Satan must have been watching Jesus’ agony with worry and confusion. He knew that God was making His big move although the process would have been beyond the comprehension of such a selfish being. Despite not understanding everything that was happening, Satan was still working to counteract whatever God was doing. Satan and his angels were there in full force, and they must have been influencing the disciples. Maybe, that was why Jesus wanted the disciples to pray not to be tempted. He knew that there would be many enemies that they could not see surrounding them. The three disciples’ sleep was not natural. They were susceptible to the suggestions from the evil around them.
The final time Jesus came to the disciples and woke them there was a difference. The aura of something very negative still lay heavy on Him, but He seemed to have a new focus. He roused them and told them that betrayal was at hand, and they were going to go meet the betrayer. Earlier, Jesus had begged to be released from His mission, but when the moment of decision arrived, Jesus did not run away but turned to confront His destiny head on.