The Silence of the Lamb Mark 14: th April 2009 HPC Evening

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1 The Silence of the Lamb Mark 14: th April 2009 HPC Evening [Intro] Do you have expectations of God? What do you want from God? Has God ever disappointed you? Let me tell you a true story - last weekend, while Christine was in the early stages of labour, she received an that invited her to a funeral. She was very sad that she couldn t go because the funeral was on the same day that our son Caleb was born. It was for one of Christine s patients she visited as a chaplain. A girl in her early 30s, had just died. Christine had visited her many times while she was the chaplain at Prince of Wales. She had been very sick for a long time and had been in hospital for many, many months. She even had to stay in hospital on Christmas day. Something was wrong with her system but the doctors couldn t find any reasons. She had shared with Christine about her faith. Obviously, she had a tough life. Up to her death, she d never lived as a normal 30 year old girl lives - never dated, never worked, never been able to travel by herself, never had a chance to have children. She had spent a long time by herself in hospital. She asked Christine why God was doing this. It seemed that God had disappointed her with all her requests. She only wanted a normal life. But it seemed that God didn t give this request to her. But, she still held her faith till the last moment. Being a Christian was something she never challenged but she did have lots of questions. As I think about this very sad story I keep asking myself - what satisfaction did she have from God? How could she keep her faith in Jesus till the end? Maybe this is an extreme case. However, the question is equally valid for all of us tonight - what expectations do you have of God that sustains your faith? Expectations - this is one of the themes throughout the Gospel of Mark. The people s expectation of the Messiah vs. the reality of Jesus. From tonight s passage, when the disciples realized that following Jesus wasn t what they had expected, they all left Him. One betrayed Him. The rest fled. Tonight s sermon will be in two parts: 1) We will take a closer look at why Jesus disciples left Him. If they were so close to Jesus how come they all betrayed and abandoned Him? 2) We will look at the trial of Jesus and see how God s power and glory work in our world. My hope is that this will give us right expectations of God. 1

2 So, firstly, the betrayal and abandonment of the disciples. Again, tonight s passage has Mark s typical sandwich structure. It starts and ends with Jesus disciples abandonment (vv ; vv ), and Jesus trial in the middle (vv ) Jesus arrest is led by Judas. And he is introduced here as one of the Twelve (v.43). This is not the first time Mark introduces Judas as one of the Twelve. Why does Mark keep telling us that Judas is one of Jesus disciples? We don t exactly know. Perhaps Mark wants to remind his readers that Jesus is betrayed by one of his very own trusted followers. Noticed that v.44 Judas is referred to as the betrayer. This probably confirms Mark s intention. One detail worth noticing is that in this short paragraph, no one s name is mentioned except Jesus and Judas. Who is the sword-bearer? And who is that naked young man? Mark forces us to focus on the meeting between Jesus and Judas - the final and fateful event. After Jesus is arrested, Mark says in v. 50, Then everyone deserted him and fled. They all drank from the cup (14:23), they all pledged to die with Jesus (14:31), and then when Jesus willingly surrendered Himself to the authority, they all deserted Him! They all left him and fled. Remember how James and John expected Jesus to bring them victory as their Messiah? They wanted to share in Jesus glory by sitting next to Him on the throne. Jesus asked if they would drink His cup as well and they said Yes. Now, when they saw their leader arrested, they were disappointed, and they all ran away. (They may have been thinking: What s the point to bear the weight of His cross if He can t even guarantee our success? There s no way that we ll share His glory, so what s the point to take a risk against the authorities? ) Here comes my favorite part, in vv , a young man without a name is mentioned only by Mark here. No one knows who he is and how long he has been following Jesus. Here he is naked. I like the way Mark adds these vivid details. Why does Mark have this unidentified young man here? He probably is used to represent all who fled in desperation. In fact, I think Mark even invites us to examine ourselves. Will you abandon Jesus when He fails to meet your expectations of Him? Mark points out the application of the event. Mark closes chapter 14 by returning to Peter. The focus is on Peter s three denials (vv. 68, 70, and 71), as predicted by Jesus (v.30). Pay attention to the ways Peter denies Jesus. First, he claims that he doesn t know Jesus personally and doesn t understand what the girl is talking about. The second time Peter denies he has any association with the one who is under arrest. The third one is the worst. I donʼt know this man youʼre talking about. Peter doesn t even want to say Jesus name - this man? Remember Peter once confessed You are the Christ? Remember Peter once said Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you? But now, he openly denies Jesus. Peter wasn t the one who was facing the trial, he wasn t even questioned about his faith, yet he has already denied Jesus. He quickly abandoned Jesus out of fear. The abandonment and betrayal of the disciples has to do with how they associate the Messiah with power and glory. The disciples thought that Jesus would be someone to lead them against the Romans, someone like Moses who could provide national security, someone who had power to heal, to prophesy, to teach with authority and wisdom, and to 2

3 even give life to the dead. They expected a leader like this so they could eventually share His power. But unexpectedly, Jesus easily surrendered all of this at His arrest. Now letʼs look at the second part - Jesusʼ trial. Iʼve called this part - The Silence of Lamb. Jesus was taken to the religious authorities - the high priest, all the chief priests, elders and the teachers of the law. They were looking for evidence against Jesus. But the evidence they had disagreed with each other. Jewish law demanded at least two corroborating witnesses in capital cases. And so there was no way they could put Jesus to death. The only charge against Jesus, which Mark specifies, is that he would destroy and rebuild the temple (v. 58). This is a serious accusation. The high priest demanded Jesus to respond, Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you? (v. 60) But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. (v. 61) - Jesus silence shows His innocence. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7) The silence of the lamb fulfills Isaiah s prophecy - Jesus is the silent lamb who would be slaughtered for the sins of the world. Following this, comes the greatest irony. At the moment Jesus was silent, the high priest, the chief-prosecutor, confesses His name! Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One? Two things we must notice in order to understand this irony. 1) In the Greek text, the wording of this sentence is put in the form of a statement - You are the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One. The question is implied. 2) the Blessed One is the Jewish way to call God. So here is a double confession - Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the only one in the entire gospel, and this confession is out of the mouth of the one responsible for Jesus death!! Jesus remained silent up to this point. Now, He broke the silence, and openly affirmed the high priest s question, I am! said Jesus. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven. (v. 62) I am! - only God calls Himself in this way. And this becomes the basis for His death sentence. The high priest tore his clothes. Why do we need any more witnesses? he asked. You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think? They all condemned him as worthy of death. (vv ) 3

4 Here is the paradox - throughout Mark, we know that Jesus is the Son of God through His teaching, His parables, and His miracles, but Jesus has steadfastly silenced all claims of His divine Sonship. One thing is missing in order to fully see who He really is. And this is His suffering. Only when God gives up all his power, when He remains silent, when He goes to be slaughtered, only then is it the time He claims His glory - I am the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. The Son of God s power and glory are seen most clearly in His silence and suffering. Only when there is no possibility that crowds will rise up to crown him king, Jesus declares openly that He is the Messiah. This is totally unexpected. The disciples must completely rethink what they believe about the Messiah. They must readjust their expectations of the power and glory of the Son of God. The Messiah is not a strong warrior who leads a rebellion, but the One who passively submits Himself to death. Jesus as the Messiah is far less than many people expected. But ironically, as the Messiah, Jesus is far more powerful and glorious than anyone could ever imagine - He is the One who sits at the right hand of the Father and who is coming on the clouds of heaven. At the moment of the silence, the disciples gave up hope of sharing His glory on the throne, and saw nothing of His mighty strength, miraculous power, or startling prophecies. It s at this point that Jesus declares His power and glory - you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven! This is how Jesus shows His power and glory on earth. If we expect a conquering king, we will see nothing powerful and glorious. But if we expect a silent lamb, then we will see Him sitting on the throne riding the clouds. The heart of Mark s gospel can all be summarized by vv. 61 & 62. The silent Lamb declares I AM! This is the vision Mark intends to unveil for us. The puritans saw this vision well, and I can t help to read this to you again, through I know you have heard this many times. [from the Valley of Vision] Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. 4

5 [Applications] Do you have expectations of God? What do you want from God? Has God ever disappoint you? Many Christians today still expect God to deliver them from trials and tribulations. Some think that being a follower will lead to success in a material sense - my life will be better, I ll be happier, more successful, wealthier, even not here on earth, then someday in heaven. Such expectations impacts us subtly in a spiritual sense as well. We d love to see our church growing stronger, with more people. But when things don t turn out this way - if we have no new people, no visible growth or fruit do we then find that our spiritual life becomes very dry? Do we feel like God is far away from us? When things don t turn out as we expected do we find it hard to even pray to God? Today, most churches are like this, small, dim, and old. Nothing exciting. Some churches think that by changing their evangelism strategy, they can convince people to buy the message of Christianity - if you do this for God, God will reward you... - if you give this amount of money, it will return to you thousand times... - Salvation is our eternal reward to come... - Faith is about getting into paradise... - We are climbing up to heaven with our hard work on the road to glory... When we look at the culture in Sydney, where people wholeheartedly pursue prosperity and security, it s not hard to see why the church tries to promote a health and wealth gospel. Nobody likes to suffer. The world in every way tries to convince us that only a god who can make us stronger is the true God. It s only this strong god who can sustain our faith. Such a false worldview has actually been around for centuries. Martin Luther was against what he called the theology of glory. This theology taught that those who believed in God would receive a heavenly reward. It was a theology that never mentioned God s suffering. With this kind of theology, people tend to look for a strong church leadership who can lead the movement and increase church attendance. People who are working hard on evangelism would be rewarded in heaven. But the danger is that if the church stops growing in numbers, they will leave the church and look for other churches with stronger leaders. Because of this, lots of people today do church-hunting on Sundays. For this reason, Joshua Harris even wrote a book, called Stop dating the church. Other modern philosophies also deeply impact the way we expect glory from God. For example, at school, your teachers always encourage you by saying, Good job, you are making progress. In this society, we believe that things will always get better if we work hard. Behind this, there is a belief that this world is essentially good. When God created the universe, He left us behind to make the world better. Does this sound familiar when we talk about personal improvement, moral regeneration, or environmental protection? When it comes to faith we ve gradually pushed Christ out. If we can make progress, there is no reason for Christ to suffer for us, and so, it s also not necessary for us to join Christ in His suffering. 5

6 Again, I think about Christine s patient. If we see things through the lens of the theology of glory, for her, we can t find any glory. She was the least on earth. So does this mean that her God was powerless, helpless, glorious-less? During the week in hospital after Caleb s birth, Christine and I were surprised by the visit of her parents. Shortly after their daughter s funeral, they came to celebrate the new life of Caleb with us. Even though I don t know this family well enough to say how strong their faith is in Christ what I did see is the assurance and joy they have as they celebrated the new life of Caleb with us. They have hope. They are comforted by Jesus, the silent lamb, who died for the sake of their own sick daughter. Nothing glorious about this patient, but everything is glorious when we fix our eyes on the cross. I believe this is what sustained her faith. Instead of the theology of glory, Luther taught a Theology of the Cross. And when I think of this patient, I can see the truth in this theology. The theology of the cross calls us to be faithful to Christ, regardless of the cost. Being a Christian will not necessarily make our life successful in a worldly sense. But, when Jesus calls us to take up His cross and follow Him, when He calls us to go and make disciples by proclaiming the gospel of the suffering Christ, we will see God s glory as we faithfully serve Him. The disciples believed the theology of their own glory, and they ran away from Jesus at the moment of Jesus suffering. Tonight, as we read this passage, let s honestly examine our expectations - how do we expect to see God s power working in our world? What kind of expectations of God do you have which sustains your walk with Jesus everyday, even when there is no fruit, no joy and no obvious success? Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! The light of the world, the Son of God worthy is the Lamb to receive our praise glory and honour and power. Let s respond to tonight s bible passage by singing Behold the Lamb of God together. 6