Good Morning!! Today’s passage that we will be dwelling in is Mark 14:53-65. Read through the passage, observing all the details carefully. Try your best to picture the scene as it is described. Where is the trial held? Who is conducting the trial? Who is at the trial? Are there bystanders? People watching and listening to what is happening? Are any of the disciples there?
Now that you have the scene firmly set in your mind, observe the trial itself. What is happening in the trial? According to the passage, what is the agenda of the council? With an agenda like this would you describe this trial as a fair and just trial? What problem do the rulers find throughout the trial? What do they eventually decide to do? In the end what brought about Jesus’ condemnation?
It was a sham of a trial. The innocent condemned as guilty. Guilty of what? Guilty of nothing else but the true claim that He was indeed the long promised Messiah. The One sent from God. The Son of God.
For hundreds of years the Jews had been awaiting the promised Messiah. More than hundreds of years really. The promise began all the way back to the beginning. All the way back to the Garden of Eden right on the heels of the first sin. But when this One who had been promised came, they rejected Him. He was not the Messiah they expected. He was not the Messiah they wanted. And so as they looked in the eyes of the One God had sent to them to save them and condemned Him as guilty and deserving of death. The perfect Son of God. Sinless. Spotless. Condemned. “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” (Is. 53:3)
The perfect Son of God stands condemned. He is still shackled. He remains silent like a sheep being led to the slaughter he opens not His mouth. He doesn’t fight. He doesn’t argue. He simply stand there in silence receiving the judgment as they spit on Him, mocking Him and striking Him. “”He was oppressed, and He was afflicted...by oppression and judgment He was taken away...stricken for the transgression of my people.” (Is. 53:7-8)
Behold Him. Look at Him. See Him. The innocent stands condemned. And the realization dawns on me. I am guilty and deserving of death. But there is Jesus. It is in MY place condemned He stands! Oh what a Savior! Isn’t He wonderful?
Post a Comment