Jesus Condemned to Death — Part Two

Father, as we turn to the Bible now, we pray that the instruction of your Holy Word may lead us afresh to Christ, the living Word, and then in turn to live in the truth of that which we have unfolded for us by the instruction of the Holy Spirit. Help us to this end, we earnestly pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Well, we’re going to turn back to the passage of Scripture that we were in this morning. This is becoming something of a pattern. It’s not really a design yet. It could become, I suppose, but it means that those who come in the evening have no real knowledge of what has gone before, and it certainly would be unkind to the people who were present in the morning to start working back through that material.

But I think it would be good for us just to reread the verses—that’s Mark chapter 14 and reading from verse 53. Mark 14:53:

“And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, ‘We heard him say, “I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.”’ Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, ‘Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?’ But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ And Jesus said, ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.’ And the high priest tore his garments and said, ‘What further witnesses do we need? You’ve heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?’ And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, ‘Prophesy!’ And the guards received him with blows.”

Amen.

Well, we pick up our study with the question, which is essentially the third question, that is posed by the high priest. You see it there in verse 61. The two previous questions have received no answer from Jesus. “Have you no answer,” he says, “to make?” Jesus has not responded to these trumped-up charges. The witnesses themselves are in disagreement with one another; there is nothing for him to answer. Now the high priest says, “Are you not going to answer this? Have you nothing to say about the things that they have testified against you?” And still, verse 61, “he remained silent and made no answer.” And we ended this morning thinking about the purposeful silences of Jesus. It is worthy of our further consideration, but not tonight. The priest then goes on and addresses him directly: “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And so we move from the confrontation, which was the focus of this morning, to the declaration which is now made by Jesus himself.

Jesus’ Declaration

R. T. France, who died this last year, was an excellent New Testament commentator. And in his lengthy tome on the Gospel of Mark, he refers to this as “the christological climax of the gospel.”[1] Here, he says, in this statement made by Jesus, in the Gospel of Mark, we have now reached the very christological zenith of all that is unfolding. And all that has been anticipated, all that has been veiled, shadowy, pointing forward, leading on, now is declared unequivocally by Jesus in answer to the question of the high priest.

What makes this quite so striking is the fact that Mark’s Gospel, in a peculiar way, has in it what theologians refer to as “the messianic secret.” What they are saying in that is that it is not difficult for even a fairly cursory reading of the Gospel to make it obvious to the reader that Jesus is at pains throughout this Gospel to make sure that people do not tell other people who he is. Now, we could go through and rehearse the whole thing—and we’re not going to do that, you may be relieved to know, but you can search it out for yourself if you choose. Let me just give you a couple of illustrations.

For example, in the third chapter of Mark, where Jesus has dealt with the demonic activity and the evil spirits have been cast out… The heading is “A Great Crowd Follows Jesus.” Mark 3:7. And this “great crowd” has followed Jesus because they’ve heard all that he was doing, and because of the buzz that has been created, they’re all coming to him. Then he had the disciples get the “boat ready for him because … the crowd, lest they crush him, for he[’d] healed” so many of them that they “all who had diseases had pressed around him to touch him,” says Mark. “And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You[’re] the Son of God.’” So the demons were aware of the identity of Jesus himself. And as a result, you will notice—verse 12—“he strictly ordered them not to make him known.”

Now, it’s interesting that he doesn’t want that to happen. We can talk about it at another time. Jesus is operating according to a set plan and purpose, and if you remember, on one occasion the people came to him and tried to make him a king by force,[2] and it says that he escaped through the crowd, and he was gone before they could even figure out where he was. And the reason was that he surely was a king, but he was not about to become a king as a result of their agenda, nor in the fulfillment of their expectations. And it seems perfectly obvious that until it was time for him to declare exactly who he was and what he’d come to do, then there would be that which was veiled, that which was enigmatic, about it.

In contrast to the treachery and the hypocrisy of those who have come to accuse him, Jesus here has a clarity and an authority to his words.

So even—and we can notice this in chapter 8—even after Peter has confessed Jesus as being the Christ, Mark tells us in 8:30 that “he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.” Okay? All the way through, by his testimony, by his words, by his miracles, he’s declaring his kingship. And when finally the declaration comes from Peter, “You are the Christ; you are the Son of the living God,”[3] it is of note, isn’t it, that he doesn’t say, “Okay, now that you’ve got this, I want you to go out into all the world and to tell everybody about it”?

Of course, as we follow the story of the disciples, we realize that it would have been a dreadful idea for them to have gone off in that way, because they were, frankly, clueless. And so it was very purposeful on his part to make sure that the secret about the fact that the kingdom of God had come in the person of Jesus, in his words and in his works, was still in some kind of messianic veiledness as the journey to Jerusalem continues.

But now we have reached the point for full disclosure. And in contrast to the treachery and to the hypocrisy of those who’ve come to accuse him, Jesus here has a clarity and an authority to his words. “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “Ego eimi”—“Yes, I am.”

He makes this declaration, also, in circumstances that are altogether paradoxical, aren’t they? That’s why I suggested this morning that I’m not so sure that the question posed by the high priest might not have been posed with a measure of sarcasm in its tone—in other words, not simply “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” but rather “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” For surely nobody looked less like a messiah than this individual—deserted by his friends, betrayed by one with a kiss, distressed and troubled in the garden, isolated from his loved ones, taken into captivity, hauled in before the Sanhedrin, subjected to this mockery of a preliminary hearing. And it is in that environment that Jesus says, “Yes, I am.”

It is a quite remarkable thing, isn’t it, that anybody ever believes in Jesus? Nobody ever, when they would see Jesus… As the Old Testament says, there was nothing about him that… He had “no beauty” that commended him to people. He was “despised,” and he was “rejected by men.” He was “a man of sorrows,” and he was “acquainted with grief.”[4] Only by faith could a person ever look on Christ on the cross and say, “Surely this man was the Son of God.” Which, interestingly—and we’ll come to that in later studies—that’s exactly what the centurion ended up saying. The centurion, who was responsible for the crucifixions—they did three and four a day under the Roman Empire. Three and four a day! But on this occasion, he says, “Surely this man was [and is] the Son of God!”[5]

And isn’t it remarkable that we, even today, you’re here tonight, and you’re singing all these songs about Jesus, and you’re declaring that his name is blessed, that he is King, that there is a higher throne, that he is Son of God, that he is glorious, he is wonderful? When did you become so bright? “Well,” you say, “Well, I didn’t become so bright.” No, what happened to you? Well, God opened your eyes. Amazing! Nobody would ever see this scene, observe the high priest, and conclude on the strength of the narrative evidence that what was before him here was actually the incarnate God.

But openly he declares it. And he collates Old Testament material, as he’s been doing all the way through—a little bit of the psalm from which we began reading this evening, Psalm 110, and then some from Daniel 7:13. And you will notice that he employs his own favorite self-designation in replying. He asks, “Are you the Christ?” and he replies, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man.”

Jesus uses this phraseology, “Son of Man,” all the way through. Remember? And that is exactly what happens in the passage that we’ve just referenced in chapter 8, where Peter has declared that he is “the Christ.”[6] And Jesus on that occasion says, “And let me tell you this: that the Son of Man must go up to Jerusalem and suffer and die.”[7] And on that occasion in chapter 8, he is explaining to the disciples that the Son of Man would be rejected. Here, now, he informs the high priest that the Son of Man will be glorified—that he will be glorified.

Now, we’ve tried to note in our studies that the Jewish expectation of messiahship had a strong national and had a strong political flavor. And so Jesus now is once again making it clear that the triumph, that his triumph, is one that is far and beyond anything that could be encapsulated by geography, by territory, or by nationality. That’s the significance of Daniel 7, which has been, I think, a favorite cross-reference for us now for a few weeks. And I want just to quote it again while I have it in front of me.

Daniel 7. It gives us that song by Kendrick that we like to sing. We’re not going to sing. And here it is: “I saw in the night visions,” writes Daniel,

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.[8]

Now, we’re not going to delay on this, but notice where it says that there was “one like a son of man” “with the clouds of heaven … and he came to the Ancient of Days.” It doesn’t say he came from the Ancient of Days. It says that he came to him, and he “was presented before him,” so that his coming was actually a kind of going.

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 [is] one
 that shall not be destroyed.[9]

It is this that Jesus is referencing in response to the high priest as he makes this declaration: “[Yes,] I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

Now, it doesn’t tell us how he’s going to see, or how the listening group confronted by Jesus here are going to see, this spelled out. But he tells them that they’re going to see it spelled out—that within their lifetime, the Messiah that they think they are about to destroy and deal with once and for all, they are going to see that Messiah vindicated and exalted. That’s what Jesus is saying. “You think that you are conducting a trial here of me? You think that this will be the end? I am telling you: Yes, I am the Christ. I am the Son of the Blessed. And you are actually going to see this for yourselves.”

Now, what happens in a little passage like this is that most of us have imbibed such an eschatological view that we immediately assume that this has got something to do with the return of Jesus Christ. I’m not about to argue that it has got nothing to do with the return of Jesus Christ, but I want to suggest to you that there is significance to it in a more immediate sense than in an ultimate sense that may be connoted in the prospect of the return of Jesus.

I want to suggest to you… And I suggest it to you as sensible people who read the Bible for yourselves and figure this out for yourselves. I have many, many friends whom I respect greatly in the gospel who would not appreciate my interpretation of this. That doesn’t prevent me from interpreting it as I do or even telling you about it. But I do so with a caveat.

I think that it is safe for us to assume that at least Jesus has in mind this when he makes this declaration: he is referring to his resurrection. They think they’re going to bury him in a Palestinian tomb and it will be over. They’re about to find out that that is not the case. They are going to be confronted by the fact that in the period of time immediately following the resurrection, the reports of the presence of the risen Jesus of Nazareth will be just so extensive in the experience of believers that the word would be incapable of being kept trapped. And so the word would’ve been out on the street. The Pharisees themselves were so concerned immediately after the resurrection that they had lied about things—they gave orders to say that the disciples had come and stolen his body away[10]—because even in the immediacy of things, there was the inevitability of the fact that this Galilean carpenter could not be shut away.

No, by his resurrection, by his ascension, and then by the proclamation of the gospel itself—that in the day of Pentecost, here are these people: one in particular, whom we’re about to consider next time, who is down below in the courtyard, who has really nothing very good to say for himself at this point, but he is going to be the point man in the streets of Jerusalem, saying to many of these same people, “This Jesus whom you crucified he has made both Lord and God.”[11] In other words, he is out there proclaiming the exaltation and the vindication of Jesus on the strength of his resurrection and on the strength of his ascension.

And as I said to you this morning, some who were present on that occasion—that is, on this occasion—perhaps became some who are then described by Luke in his second volume, when, in Acts chapter 6, it says, “And the word of God continued to increase.” And this is prior to the stoning of Stephen. “And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.”[12]

Now, we’re going to have to wait till we get to heaven to check this out, but I’m going to try and find one or two of them and say, “Hey, listen. You know when Jesus said to the high priest, ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man’? Were you one of the ones who realized that he was actually alive, and…” “Yeah, I was. We thought we’d finished him off completely. We washed our hands of him.”

But no:

Go ahead, drive the nails in my hands,
Laugh at me [while I die] …

[But] I’ll rise again
[’Cause there] ain’t no power on earth can tie me down.
… I’ll rise again.[13]

That’s what Jesus is saying to the high priest. Certainly the great arrival of Jesus in all of his power and majesty and might, in the fullness of things, is there. Consider it for yourselves.

What I find most interesting, as I come to my closing point, is this: that there is absolutely no indication that the high priest even for a moment took time to consider the possibility that what Jesus had just said was true. That amazing? That is largely the case. People say, “I’ve made up my mind. Just don’t confuse me with facts.”

A gentleman said to me and my wife just a few weeks ago—we were eating dinner together—he said, “Well, at this time I’m an avowed atheist.” And so we began to talk about things, but it was very clear, as soon I began to say anything, he just—that was his position. “Please, you’re just wasting your time. It’s an absolute waste of your time. I’m totally convinced, and I will not be put off by any kind of annoying arguments against my position.” Well, presumably, that was where the high priest was.

Jesus’ Condemnation

And so we come to our final word in our close, and that is the word condemnation. Because what happens as a result of it is that the high priest then does a little drama for everybody present, and he “tore his garments.” The tearing of clothes was originally “a sign of grief.” But, says Cole, “it had become strangely warped into a sign of savage joy at a wicked purpose well-nigh accomplished.”[14] This is a very good line, isn’t it? “It had [been] warped into a kind of savage joy at a wicked purpose well-nigh accomplished.” Tearing his clothes.

Church history is replete with the inhumane, brutal treatment of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth by those who hold themselves to be the exponents of true religion.

Just as his followers had “all left him”—verse 50—so now his accusers all agree with the position. “What further witnesses do we need?” What a funny question that is! We haven’t had a good witness yet. The only good witness we’ve had, the only one who told the truth in the whole thing, is Jesus himself. He is the only good witness. He is the only one who’s told the truth. Maybe there is an irony in that as well, eh? “What further witnesses do we need?” Well, you don’t need any witness other than the witness of Jesus himself. And he’s told the truth.

“[Now] what is your decision?” “Well, we already made the decision before we started the preliminary hearing.” “And they all condemned him as deserving death.” They obviously concluded that it was absolutely ridiculous for this friendless Galilean preacher to have made these outrageous claims. And so the notion of blasphemy is not so much in the terminology as it is just in the whole notion that is conveyed here that this Galilean carpenter somehow claims a special relationship with God, which so obviously cannot be true.

Now, was it a sense of elation, was it a sense of frustration, that gave rise to the inhumanity and the brutality conveyed in verse 65? What a nice group this is. Here’s the highest ruling court of the Jews, seventy of them. These are university men. These are the scholars of the time. This is not a rabble here. These are people who have their credentials. These are people who are standouts in the community, representing the cause of religion itself in all of its formal elements. It just shows you what hatred for Jesus can do. And church history is replete with the inhumane, brutal treatment of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth by those who hold themselves as being the exponents of true religion. It’s going on tonight as we speak. It goes on in our world.

Spitting is a universal sign of contempt. In fact, you find it judicially in the Old Testament, around the time where people are taking off their sandals and so on. You can go and look for it yourself. You’ll find it in the book of Deuteronomy.[15] It is also found in the Servant Songs, which lead us up eventually to 53. But in 50—that is, in Isaiah 50—speaking of the servant of the Lord:

The Lord God has opened my ear,
 and I was not rebellious;
 I turned not backward.

Says the servant,

I gave my back to those who strike,
 and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
 from disgrace and spitting.[16]

What a nice group.

And they blindfolded him. And then they said to him, “Prophesy!” It just says “Prophesy!” here in Mark. He’s always quicker on the move. In Matthew and Luke, it records that they said, “Prophesy! Tell us who it was who hit you.”[17] So they blindfold him, and then they play a game with him: “If you know everything, if you’re so clever, if you’re the Son of God, if you’re the Messiah, then you go ahead and tell us who it was that hit you. Prophesy!”

What an irony it is that what is actually happening is fulfilling his earlier prophecy: “The Son of Man must go up to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of cruel men, who will beat him and kill him.” “Prophesy!” “I did prophesy.”

And his prophecy concerning Peter is now about to unfold in the scene that follows. And the final sentence of verse 65 prepares us for the scene to which we’ll come, God willing, next time. You will notice that it says, “And the guards received him with blows.” The only other reference to them is in the verse that we’ve left for next time, verse 54, which says of Peter that “he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.” You need to go to verse 66 to close the loop: “And as Peter was below in the courtyard…” Okay? So Peter is “below in the courtyard.” This scene is taking place upstairs. He’s seated with the guards by the fire, and the guards now are going to receive him “with blows.” So presumably, they said, “And you’re going to go downstairs now.” And as he goes downstairs, he just comes under a barrage of physical abuse. And what a tragedy that all the boldness of Jesus in the honesty of his “I am” is about, now, to be set in the context of all the weakness of Peter in his “I am not.”

Father, thank you. Thank you that we can never get to the point where we’ve unearthed it all. We can never plumb the depths of the wonders of your Word. We’re like children grasping at things. Even with the help of the Holy Spirit, even with the work of illumination, even with our best endeavors in our study, we ultimately “see through a glass, darkly.”[18] But we thank you that we see enough to see ourselves and to see you as our Savior. And we pray that our study of the Bible this day—in this context, and in others throughout the building, and in other places, too, at home—may serve us in good stead to become the faithful followers of Jesus; to become, along with our children tonight, the “fishers of men.”[19]

Help us, Lord, particularly with friends that we have who seem—sometimes family members—who are just so vehemently opposed, and we almost tire of trying to speak, trying to pray. Help us, Lord, not to give up, just in the same way as you didn’t give up on Peter when he made such a royal hash of things in the section to which we are coming. Here was your great chief proponent, crumbling at the questions of those who met him round the fire.

Thank you that you bring to completion the good work that you begin in us.[20] And this is our hope and our confidence as we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

[1] R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, The New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 599.

[2] See John 6:15; 10:39.

[3] Matthew 16:16 (paraphrased).

[4] Isaiah 53:2–3 (ESV).

[5] Mark 15:39 (NIV).

[6] Mark 8:29 (ESV).

[7] Mark 8:31 (paraphrased).

[8] Daniel 7:13 (ESV).

[9] Daniel 7:14 (ESV).

[10] See Matthew 28:13.

[11] Acts 2:36 (paraphrased).

[12] Acts 6:7 (ESV). Emphasis added.

[13] Dallas Holm, “Rise Again” (1977).

[14] R. A. Cole, The Gospel According to St. Mark: An Introduction and Commentary, The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961), 230.

[15] See Deuteronomy 25:9.

[16] Isaiah 50:5–6 (ESV).

[17] Matthew 26:68; Luke 22:64 (paraphrased).

[18] 1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV).

[19] Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17 (ESV).

[20] See Philippians 1:6.