Friday Mark
14:32-15:47
32 And they came
to an olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, "Sit here while I go
and pray."
33 He took Peter, James, and John with him,
and he began to be filled with horror and deep distress.
34 He told them, "My soul is crushed with
grief to the point of death. Stay here and watch with me."
35 He went on a little farther and fell face
down on the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour
awaiting him might pass him by.
36 "Abba, Father," he said,
"everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away
from me. Yet I want your will, not mine."
37 Then he returned and found the disciples
asleep. "Simon!" he said to Peter. "Are you asleep? Couldn't you
stay awake and watch with me even one hour?
38 Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation
will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is
weak."
39 Then Jesus left them again and prayed,
repeating his pleadings.
40 Again he returned to them and found them
sleeping, for they just couldn't keep their eyes open. And they didn't know
what to say.
41 When he returned to them the third time, he
said, "Still sleeping? Still resting? Enough! The time has come. I, the
Son of Man, am betrayed into the hands of sinners.
42 Up, let's be going. See, my betrayer is
here!"
43 And immediately, as he said this, Judas,
one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a mob that was armed with swords and
clubs. They had been sent out by the leading priests, the teachers of religious
law, and the other leaders.
44 Judas had given them a prearranged signal:
"You will know which one to arrest when I go over and give him the kiss of
greeting. Then you can take him away under guard."
45 As soon as they arrived, Judas walked up to
Jesus. "Teacher!" he exclaimed, and gave him the kiss.
46 Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested
him.
47 But someone pulled out a sword and slashed
off an ear of the high priest's servant.
48 Jesus asked them, "Am I some dangerous
criminal, that you come armed with swords and clubs to arrest me?
49 Why didn't you arrest me in the Temple? I
was there teaching every day. But these things are happening to fulfill what
the Scriptures say about me."
50 Meanwhile, all his disciples deserted him
and ran away.
51 There was a young man following along
behind, clothed only in a linen nightshirt. When the mob tried to grab him,
52 they tore off his clothes, but he escaped
and ran away naked.
53 Jesus was led to the high priest's home
where the leading priests, other leaders, and teachers of religious law had
gathered.
54 Meanwhile, Peter followed far behind and
then slipped inside the gates of the high priest's courtyard. For a while he
sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.
55 Inside, the leading priests and the entire
high council were trying to find witnesses who would testify against Jesus, so
they could put him to death. But their efforts were in vain.
56 Many false witnesses spoke against him, but
they contradicted each other.
57 Finally, some men stood up to testify
against him with this lie:
58 "We heard him say, 'I will destroy
this Temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another, made
without human hands.'"
59 But even then they didn't get their stories
straight!
60 Then the high priest stood up before the
others and asked Jesus, "Well, aren't you going to answer these charges?
What do you have to say for yourself?"
61 Jesus made no reply. Then the high priest
asked him, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the blessed God?"
62 Jesus said, "I am, and you will see
me, the Son of Man, sitting at God's right hand in the place of power and
coming back on the clouds of heaven."
63 Then the high priest tore his clothing to
show his horror and said, "Why do we need other witnesses?
64 You have all heard his blasphemy. What is
your verdict?" And they all condemned him to death.
65 Then some of them began to spit at him, and
they blindfolded him and hit his face with their fists. "Who hit you that
time, you prophet?" they jeered. And even the guards were hitting him as
they led him away.
66 Meanwhile, Peter was below in the
courtyard. One of the servant girls who worked for the high priest
67 noticed Peter warming himself at the fire.
She looked at him closely and then said, "You were one of those with
Jesus, the Nazarene."
68 Peter denied it. "I don't know what
you're talking about," he said, and he went out into the entryway. Just
then, a rooster crowed.
69 The servant girl saw him standing there and
began telling the others, "That man is definitely one of them!"
70 Peter denied it again. A little later some
other bystanders began saying to Peter, "You must be one of them because
you are from Galilee."
71 Peter said, "I swear by God, I don't
know this man you're talking about."
72 And immediately the rooster crowed the
second time. Suddenly, Jesus' words flashed through Peter's mind: "Before
the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times." And he broke down
and cried.
NLT Mark 15:1
Very early in the morning the leading priests, other leaders, and teachers of
religious law-- the entire high council-- met to discuss their next step. They
bound Jesus and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.
2 Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the King
of the Jews?" Jesus replied, "Yes, it is as you say."
3 Then the leading priests accused him of many
crimes,
4 and Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going
to say something? What about all these charges against you?"
5 But Jesus said nothing, much to Pilate's
surprise.
6 Now it was the governor's custom to release
one prisoner each year at Passover time-- anyone the people requested.
7 One of the prisoners at that time was
Barabbas, convicted along with others for murder during an insurrection.
8 The mob began to crowd in toward Pilate,
asking him to release a prisoner as usual.
9 "Should I give you the King of the
Jews?" Pilate asked.
10 (For he realized by now that the leading
priests had arrested Jesus out of envy.)
11 But at this point the leading priests
stirred up the mob to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus.
12 "But if I release Barabbas,"
Pilate asked them, "what should I do with this man you call the King of
the Jews?"
13 They shouted back, "Crucify him!"
14 "Why?" Pilate demanded.
"What crime has he committed?" But the crowd only roared the louder,
"Crucify him!"
15 So Pilate, anxious to please the crowd,
released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip,
then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to crucify him.
16 The soldiers took him into their
headquarters and called out the entire battalion.
17 They dressed him in a purple robe and made
a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it on his head.
18 Then they saluted, yelling, "Hail!
King of the Jews!"
19 And they beat him on the head with a stick,
spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship.
20 When they were finally tired of mocking
him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then
they led him away to be crucified.
21 A man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was
coming in from the country just then, and they forced him to carry Jesus'
cross. (Simon is the father of Alexander and Rufus.)
22 And they brought Jesus to a place called
Golgotha (which means Skull Hill).
23 They offered him wine drugged with myrrh,
but he refused it.
24 Then they nailed him to the cross. They
gambled for his clothes, throwing dice to decide who would get them.
25 It was nine o'clock in the morning when the
crucifixion took place.
26 A signboard was fastened to the cross above
Jesus' head, announcing the charge against him. It read: "The King of the
Jews."
27 Two criminals were crucified with him,
their crosses on either side of his.
28
29 And the people passing by shouted abuse,
shaking their heads in mockery. "Ha! Look at you now!" they yelled at
him. "You can destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, can you?
30 Well then, save yourself and come down from
the cross!"
31 The leading priests and teachers of
religious law also mocked Jesus. "He saved others," they scoffed,
"but he can't save himself!
32 Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come
down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!" Even the two
criminals who were being crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.
33 At noon, darkness fell across the whole
land until three o'clock.
34 Then, at that time Jesus called out with a
loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means,
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
35 Some of the bystanders misunderstood and
thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah.
36 One of them ran and filled a sponge with
sour wine, holding it up to him on a stick so he could drink. "Leave him
alone. Let's see whether Elijah will come and take him down!" he said.
37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and
breathed his last.
38 And the curtain in the Temple was torn in
two, from top to bottom.
39 When the Roman officer who stood facing him
saw how he had died, he exclaimed, "Truly, this was the Son of God!"
40 Some women were there, watching from a
distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and
of Joseph), and Salome.
41 They had been followers of Jesus and had
cared for him while he was in Galilee. Then they and many other women had come
with him to Jerusalem.
42 This all happened on Friday, the day of
preparation, the day before the Sabbath. As evening approached,
43 an honored member of the high council,
Joseph from Arimathea (who was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come),
gathered his courage and went to Pilate to ask for Jesus' body.
44 Pilate couldn't believe that Jesus was
already dead, so he called for the Roman military officer in charge and asked
him.
45 The officer confirmed the fact, and Pilate
told Joseph he could have the body.
46 Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth,
and taking Jesus' body down from the cross, he wrapped it in the cloth and laid
it in a tomb that had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone in
front of the entrance.
47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of
Joseph saw where Jesus' body was laid.
Good Friday! I have
wondered what was so good about this day.
Jesus praying for the cup to pass him by and surrounding to God’s
will. The betrayal of not just Judas but
all of the disciples. What it must of
have felt like to feel abandoned by one’s closest friends, those who you
thought you could count on? Beyond the
betrayal of Peter, the rest of the disciples scatter to not be heard from again
until after the resurrection. Those, who
just a few verses earlier, swore that they would stand by Jesus. Those who were to remain awake as Jesus
prayed fell asleep. Today how many of us
who claim Jesus as the Messiah are asleep in our lives? Too often I don’t see people, and sometimes
if I’m honest myself, acting in ways that are judgmental and unloving. Sometimes we act more like the Pharisees than
we do as Christians. Whenever we sin, we
betray Jesus. Thank God he is merciful.
To be tried illegally, alone surrounded by those who have
already made up their minds. They are so
convinced of his guilt that they would have people perjure themselves breaking
the commandment about bearing false witness.
His silence and finally his answer to whether or not he is the Son of
God and answers I am. Which statement
the high priest can use to declare him guilty of blasphemy. We hear often about trials that are biased
and the accused does not have a chance.
How often do we judge someone guilty regardless of the facts?
When morning came, Jesus is taken to Pontius Pilate. For it was only by Roman law could someone be
executed. The great irony is when the
people choose Barabbas over Jesus.
According to other gospels the first name of Barabbas was also Jesus. Barabbas might be more like what people
expected as a messiah. He was a warrior
and was involved in an insurrection that murdered Romans. Much like the choices we have to make in our
lives. Do we follow the path of the
world which is power and might, or do we follow the path of Jesus which is the
path of love.
It was not enough to sentence Jesus to the cross, but he was
tortured by the Roman soldiers. This was
more than their job. They took pleasure
in the torture which we have seen in many conquering armies. Finally about 9 am they crucified Jesus until
about 3. The women who followed Jesus
were the only ones there. Throughout all
the gospels it was the women who remain faithful. The symbolism of the curtain tearing that
separated the holy of holies in the temple signifying the both the judgment on
the temple and also opening access to God for the people.
Joseph of Arimathea willingness to get the body so close to
Passover and Sabbath was an act of courage and love. Such an action would make him unclean. What is interesting was that he was a member
of the Sanhedrin that condemned Jesus.
So in asking Pilate for the body was a sign of his devotion. Again the mention of the women who saw where
the tomb was is important for the day following the Sabbath.
What is so good about Good Friday? Everything!
For Jesus choose the nails, he suffered the humiliation and torture even
death on a cross, so we could have freedom from our sins and life eternal.
A word about Saturday is in order. Nothing in Mark, Luke, or John mentions
Saturday. Only in Matthew do we hear
about the leaders of the Sanhedrin wanting to post guards at the tomb to
prevent the disciples from stealing the body.
