Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
We return to Mark 14:41 today: “And He cometh the third time, and saith unto them, ‘Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.’” Chapter and verse divisions are not found in the original Greek manuscripts from which we have translated the New Testament. Such sunderings were created by men – good, godly men – to make it possible for us to find Biblical information more quickly. Such scholarship is admirable, but occasionally the divisions are unfortunate, as here in verse 41. Our translation gives the impression that Jesus tells the disciples to sleep and then immediately awakens them. No, there is a period of time between the two. Our Savior is not rushed; He is in control of these unfolding events. He knows that Judas is the betrayer (John 12:26-30) and that he is bringing a large band of armed men to arrest Him. Jesus then leads His disciples to meet this malicious multitude: “Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth Me is at hand” (verse 42). He does not run away; He confronts His evil enemies and challenges His faithful followers to do the same. I think of the Christian’s armor in Ephesians 6:10-18. Three times in this passage, we are enjoined to “stand” (verses 11, 13, 14), to meet the enemy without fear or flight. When we see our Savior facing down His foes, we are emboldened to do likewise.