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 14:63-65 Choosing Darkness Over Light
The high priest tore his clothes, and said, “What further need have we of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?” They all condemned him to be worthy of death. Some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to beat him with fists, and to tell him, “Prophesy!” The officers struck him with the palms of their hands.
Caiaphas had been the high priest for about 15 years at this time. He would continue in that position for a few more years (A.D. 18 to A.D. 36). His confederates, the group who voted to condemn Jesus, did not include the full council of 71 members since it was in the middle of the night, but there were enough members present so that they could claim that they had held a trial. When Jesus confirmed His status as the Messiah who would someday judge the nations, Caiaphas, the high priest, tore his clothes. Did He do this for theatrical effect? Was it a normal part of a judgment? Or did Jesus’ words reach into his innermost being, and he needed to physically break something in order to keep the conviction of the truth of Jesus’ words away from his heart?
The council condemned Jesus–the Son of God, the great I AM, the Savior of their people both past and present, the very Being that they claimed to serve—to death. In so doing, they terminated their own nation’s covenantal status as the special people of God. They could have, as a nation, been at the forefront of those proclaiming the Messiah. They could have been the center of the world. Instead, they chose pride and self protection over God. They knew that Jesus was not deserving of death, but they had chosen to follow the politically expedient and power-hungry ways of the world rather than following the spiritual course that God had laid out for them repeatedly throughout their history. They were at a crossroads, and they chose the wrong path. Now, the Jewish nation would separate from the descendants of Abraham. Israel would simply become one of many nations like Edom and Moab, who had previously been rejected when they separated from God. Israel, Edom, and Moab all shared DNA with Abraham, but they were no longer counted as God’s special people. They had forfeited that calling.
Going through the mechanics of this mock trial was necessary because if the Sanhedrin killed Jesus directly without some form of official judgment, they would have trouble with their own people. On the other hand, if they directly killed Jesus, even with a trial, they would have trouble with the Romans, so they had to find a charge that the Romans would view as legitimate. The high priest figured that he could twist the admission of being the Messiah into a charge of rebellion against the emperor. As Messiah, Jesus was the King of the Jews; however, the political ruler of the Jews at that time was Caesar. Thus, anyone claiming to be a ruler of the physical kingdom was in rebellion.
The verdict was pronounced about three o’clock in the morning. Nothing more could be done until daybreak, so Jesus was left in the charge of the council’s servants and soldiers. Now, the physical abuse began in earnest. This cruelty would escalate until it reached its pinnacle on the cross. These so-called people of God spit on their Lord to show their disgust with Him. They hit Him repeatedly. Jesus could have stopped the abuse with a single word, but He did not. He could have killed anyone who disrespected Him, but that would have gone against His own character and mission. Ever since Eve believed the serpent’s lies about God, the Lord has repeatedly shown leniency and forgiveness for our abuse of Him. That night, the humans were not acting on their own. Like in the garden of Eden, there was another power behind this human rebellion against God. The violence that the devil was promoting in his followers had a purpose. Satan was attempting to use physical pain and humiliation to convince Jesus to abandon His mission. Also, it is likely that Satan just could not resist inflicting agony on the One whom he hated so much.
In His answer to Caiaphas, Jesus had been quoting Psalm 110:1, which is a Messianic prophecy about Jesus after His death. The council would have known the full psalm. The theme of the psalm is the judgment of the wicked. The psalm would have reminded Jesus that He could lift up His head above all the horror that was now surrounding Him. Through this psalm, Jesus was confident of the promises of what was to come after this dark time. In fact, we could say that He was claiming the promises of scripture to aid Him in this dark time. Through His knowledge of the Bible, Jesus knew that there would be more after the darkness of the tomb even though He could not personally see it at that time.
Jesus words also indirectly referred to Daniel 7:13. “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14). Jesus was warning the council that they should think beyond the politics of this world to see if He truly was the Messiah because if He was, there would come a time when the Father would give Him an everlasting kingdom, and this council would have to answer to Him for their actions this night. However, the council only saw a dirty helpless man not a king. They had already transferred their faith in the power of God over to a belief in the might of Rome. They did not fear God; instead, they feared the emperor and his soldiers. They did not care about the glory of the future. They only cared about keeping their tiny, insignificant political power. They had already chosen trash over treasure, so their answer that day was inevitable.
Unfortunately, when people stop believing that God is more powerful than the world, they become fearful of the world rather than remaining strong in the face of the seemingly more powerful forces around them. The actions of the council and their servants are a warning to all people who claim allegiance to Jesus. When we stop having faith in God’s promises and place our faith in the promises of government or family or friends, we will make the wrong decisions. When we put self-interest above God’s purpose in our lives, we will choose the same kind of self-destructive path that the religious leaders took. Like the Sanhedrin, we destroy ourselves when we give in to self-protective behavior. Instead, we need to look beyond the darkness of the moment to God’s shining promises and beautiful light. The only defense we need is to follow Jesus’ example of trust in God’s promises. The only way to know those promises is to study the scriptures so that when we are faced with trials, we can quote those scriptures to ourselves and remember to place our trust in them even though we cannot see past the darkness of the moment.
DAY 5–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 14:66-72 The cock crows
As Peter was in the courtyard below, one of the maids of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him, and said, “You were also with the Nazarene, Jesus!” But he denied it, saying, “I neither know, nor understand what you are saying.” He went out on the porch, and the rooster crowed. The maid saw him, and began again to tell those who stood by, “This is one of them.” But he again denied it. After a little while again those who stood by said to Peter, “You truly are one of them, for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it.” But he began to curse, and to swear, “I don’t know this man of whom you speak!” The rooster crowed the second time. Peter remembered the word, how that Jesus said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” When he thought about that, he wept.
It had been a long exhausting twenty-four hours for Peter. During the day, he had been busy preparing the Passover meal. Then at the meal, he had been disappointed about the seating and worried about Jesus’ accusation that one of the disciples was a traitor. Later, Jesus had acted as if Peter himself was not loyal. In the garden, Peter had been worried as he watched something terrible happening to his Master. He had slept but not restfully as Jesus kept waking him up and warning him to pray. His final awakening had been to the adrenaline rush of fear as Jesus announced that the betrayer was coming. When the mob arrived to arrest Jesus, Peter had come out fighting with his sword only to be halted by his Master’s voice. Then since he was not allowed to fight, he had fled when the soldiers tried to capture him. After eluding the soldiers, he had circled around with John to follow Jesus but had been too slow to catch up when they reached the gate. John had scurried forward in his quick way and slipped in behind the crowd leaving Peter skulking outside the wall trying to figure out how to get in. However, shortly after that, the gate had opened, and John motioned for him to enter. Once inside, Peter had not joined John, but had instead slipped over to the fire trying to blend in. His adrenaline rush was declining and shock was settling in. With it came chills, and he could not seem to get warm.
As Peter was warming himself by the fire, a servant girl began staring intently at him, but he did not pay much attention to her at first because he was straining to hear what was happening on the other side of the courtyard. As he listened to the trial of his Master, it seemed that he was in a nightmare that would never end. He was without any mooring as his trust in his Master’s competence and guidance was pulled out from under him. In this state, he returned to his old methods of handling problems—push your way through and use loudness to overpower objections—but those habits did not seem to work when the servant girl started accusing him. With each denunciation, Peter reverted more and more to his old reactions until he heard himself swearing by the Father in heaven that he did not know his Master. The next sound that he came to his ears was the crowing of a rooster for the second time and suddenly what he had been doing was brought full force to his attention. He saw Jesus turn and look at him with love and forgiveness in His eyes, and it was too much. Peter was already in the entryway, so he opened the gate and rushed outside. When he stopped running, he simply slumped down where he was and cried.
Peter cried for his lost dreams. He cried for his beloved Master’s humiliation, but most of all he cried because he had failed his faithful Rabbi when it counted the most. He cried for himself, and he cried for Jesus. He cried because he was lost and without any of the self protections he had developed over the years. The nightmare had still not ended, but now he was not just living in a nightmare; he was one of the monsters; he had become the nightmare.
Peter’s lack of faith in his Master had broken him. His miracle-working confident leader seemed to have become a powerless victim. However, appearances are deceiving. We must learn that even when it appears to us that Jesus has failed us, He has not. We need to be like John never denying who we are and who our Master is, but we also need to be like Peter, who even when he was broken and crying, somewhere in his heart still knew that his Master loved him and forgave him. Like John, we must remember that even when the nightmare surrounds us, our Master is worthy, and our love for Him will sustain us. However, we also need to follow Peter’s example and remember that even when darkness overcomes us, our Master still cherishes us, and His love surrounds us to cushion us from the world. The adrenaline may flow; we may be terrified; we may be exhausted and hurt, but we can have faith that our Master loves us.
DAY 6–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 15:1-5 King of the Jews?
Immediately in the morning the chief priests, with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate. Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered, “So you say.” The chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer? See how many things they testify against you!” But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate marveled.
This passage confirms that the meeting in the night where Jesus was condemned did not include the whole council. That initial mockery of a trial took place somewhere between 3:00 and 5:30 in the morning. However, sometime between 6:00 and 9:00 that day, the official trial took place, probably closer to 6:00 a.m. A Roman official’s working day was supposed to start at daybreak, so the Sanhedrin needed to bring their complaints to Pilate by that time.
The Sanhedrin officials must have sent messengers beforehand informing Pilate of the charges and probably trying to influence Pilate’s decision. They charged that Jesus was leading a rebellion against Caesar by claiming to be the king of the Jews. Pilate asked Jesus about the accusation that the Jews had leveled against Him and urged Jesus to defend Himself, but Jesus only answered the question about whether He was the King of the Jews. He did not respond to any other accusations.
Jesus’ decision to only answer the “king” question and no others may have been so that Pilate would have the opportunity to avoid the guilt of killing the Savior of the world. It seems that God went to extraordinary lengths that day to give Pilate a chance to be innocent of Jesus’ blood. Jesus answered the one question that Pilate needed to react to in his position as Rome’s representative. All the other questions could be ignored. In addition, God sent a dream to Pilate’s wife, and she sent a warning to him. Despite these opportunities to avoid condemnation, Pilate chose his own guilty destiny even though God had attempted to protect him.
Christians should pick and choose their battles. Jesus’ example shows us is that it is acceptable to ignore extraneous accusations. There is no problem with not responding to other people’s silly beliefs. The only answer that needs to be given is to clarify the central truth of identity. We must always admit that we are loyal to God. However, we do not need to defend God in foolish situations like questionable Facebook posts. How do we know when to respond and when to hold our peace? We must pray for the wisdom to know the best moment to speak and when it is appropriate to remain quiet. Only through the Spirit will we have the words that will best represent who God is to others who do not know Him. In short, we need to ask God’s guidance so that we can always see the difference between what is truly important and what is simply a distraction of the devil.
DAY 7–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 15:6-15 Crucify Him!
Now at the feast he used to release to them one prisoner, whom they asked of him. There was one called Barabbas, bound with his fellow insurgents, men who in the insurrection had committed murder. The multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do as he always did for them. Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” For he perceived that for envy the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the multitude, that he should release Barabbas to them instead. Pilate again asked them, “What then should I do to him whom you call the King of the Jews?” They cried out again, “Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they cried out exceedingly, “Crucify him!” Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them, and handed over Jesus, when he had flogged him, to be crucified.
Pilate attempted to silence the conviction in his mind by passing the buck. Mark’s gospel leaves out a lot of details like Pilate sending Jesus to Herod to be tried. Mark also does not mention Jesus’ private interview with Pilate. What Mark focuses on is that instead of taking the responsibility of simply pronouncing Jesus innocent and freeing Him, Pilate endeavored to convince a crowd of Jews to liberate Jesus. Unfortunately, Pilate had been forcing himself into a corner each time he tried to avoid making the right choice, and in the end, his hands were tied because of his attempts to sidestep his responsibility. Once he had given the Jews the power to decide whether to free Jesus, he had to accept the crowd’s verdict that Jesus should be crucified and Barabbas released.
Barabbas had rebelled against Rome and in the process murdered people. He truly was guilty of the very crime that Jesus was being accused of. The people chose the guilty criminal over the innocent Savior. This demonstrates the depravity of mankind. Our natures incline us to do wrong. On the other hand, this process where Jesus was convicted of a guilty man’s sins gave us a powerful symbol of the salvation process. We are Barabbas. We are rebels. We are murderers filled with anger and hate. We are guilty of crimes that deserve death, but God chose to take our punishment and set us free. Jesus was innocent, but on the cross He took our place so that we might live freely. He did this for everyone. Did Barabbas use his freedom to choose to live a righteous life serving God, or did he continue with his rebellion? We are not told. The same question could be asked of every human being. God has set you free. Have you chosen to go back into subjugation to Satan or have you chosen to live in freedom?
Pilate made a serious blunder when he decided to go against the Jewish leaders by appealing to the Jewish people. The Jewish people had been trained to follow their leaders like sheep and to hate the Romans. Thus, the religious leaders could simply spread throughout the crowd as they gathered and tell the people what they should say. For the most part, the assemblage would follow through automatically. Once enough people in the crowd were of one mind, a synergistic group attitude would form that would demand its own way. The people who originally came to the square had no intention of calling for Jesus’ death, but by the end of their time there, they were passionately screaming for Jesus to be crucified.
The lesson of the shouting mob is that we must be aware that even our good intentions can be manipulated towards evil. The people who came to the square that morning never anticipated crying out for the crucifixion of the Savior of the world. They simply thought that they were going to celebrate the release of one of their own from a death sentence. They never believed that they themselves would end up guilty of murder. Instead, they assumed that they would be working towards a good cause in calling for the release of a fellow Jew. However, their unsanctified ideas and cherished biases allowed the religious leaders to manipulate them and turn them into a screaming pack of murderers. We must be careful because the same potential lies within each of us. With our sinful nature, it is too easy to react in ways that hurt others. We must be aware that we need to daily connect with God and focus on Jesus, or our natural tendencies will burst out. Loving Jesus is the only treatment that will restrain our evil predispositions. Only by being filled with the love of Jesus can we avoid being hateful and hate-filled.