Daily Meditations: Journey with Jesus to the Cross (Day 6)

Today let us look at Mark 14:22-31. Read through the passage.

 Throughout the Passover Jesus is teaching. He is teaching His disciples. He is showing them who He is and what he came to do. As he holds up the bread - the bread which is called the Afikomen (meaning “I came) which is broken, hidden, found, and then brought with a price and eaten at the end of the meal - as He breaks the Afikomen He tells His disciples this Afikomen is HIS body, broken for you.

Then he holds up the cup - the third cup of the Passover Seder - the cup of Redemption - the cup of HIS blood poured out for many. He connects the Passover to Himself - and what would happen in just a few hours. I wonder what the disciples were thinking. I wonder if they understood. Or if His words were just words that didn’t quite register. The belief that the Messiah - the Christ - the anointed One had come to re-establish Israel as an earthly kingdom was their understanding of who Jesus was and what He came to do. And this would surely not end in HIS death!

 They move from the upper room to the Mount of Olives. Time is running out but Jesus is still thinking of the disciples. He still is shepherding His disciples, teaching them and preparing them for what is about to come. The apostle John gives us great detail about these last moments that Jesus is spending with the disciples to prepare them. I would encourage you to read John 13:31- John 17 recognizing that these are some of Jesus’ last words before He lays down His life.

 As He speaks with them about what is to come, He is also seeking to prepare them for what they will do. What is coming is so intense that they will all fall away. Surely not they think! We will not fall away!! We will remain faithful to the end! Do you see how our perspective influences our expectations? Their perspective was from a human thought process. We have the Son of God on our side - we cannot lose. To the victor goes the spoils and power. Rome will no longer rule over us.

What expectations about the Christian life may you have that may/do not align with God’s design of how life should go? Rome continued to rule for years to come and in the moment the disciples did fail in their endeavor to remain faithful. However, in the grand scheme of things the disciples did not fail. These men were used by God to fulfill His plan for them to be “ambassadors for Christ,” (2 Cor 5:20). But for us in today’s world, as the verse goes on to say “God making His appeal through us” are we living with God’s perspective? Our life is not our own. Are we making God’s appeal to the world or living for our best life now?

Let us behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.