Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday. Year B. Series

5. His is the “Name above every name,” and He is ruling, with His enemies as a footstool - and even those who said, “We will not have this king to reign over us” must submit to Him eventually; for “every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,” as Philippians 2:10-11 tell us in essence.

6. “Let this mind be in you,” Christian friends.

The “you” in the Greek of Philippians 2:5 is plural. Let this mind be in each one of you individually. Let this mind be in you all, collectively. Although we may never, need never, could never, do all that Jesus has done in His unique Person, yet we must learn to be “living sacrifices” for God. Without the Cross, there is no crown. Without holiness, there is no heaven.

If we want to be first in God’s kingdom, we must learn to be the servant of all. Why? Because “even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

“Let THIS mind be in you.”

(G) THE PASSION ACCORDING TO MARK.

Mark 14:1-72, Mark 15:1-47.

I). THE PREPARATION.

Mark 14:1-11.

1. The Plot to Kill Jesus (Mark 14:1-2).

The first thing that we notice as we enter into this passage is that it was the LORD who was setting the timetable for Jesus’ death. It was "the feast of the PASSOVER, and of Unleavened Bread” (MARK 14:1a). In other words, it was the commemoration of the deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt. Later, in interpreting and applying these events for us, the Apostle Paul could report: ‘Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7).

The second thing that we may notice is the manipulative plan of Satan that the LORD was using and overruling throughout. “The chief priests and the scribes” (MARK 14:1b) were making an unholy alliance (cf. Psalm 2:2), consulting how they might take Jesus by guile and put Him to death.

But, they said, “not during the feast, lest there might be a tumult among the people!” (MARK 14:2).

2. Jesus Anointed at Bethany (Mark 14:3-9).

Mark next describes an incident in Bethany, in the house of one “Simon the leper.” In a singular act of devotion, “a woman” approached Jesus having an alabaster box full of very precious ointment, and poured it upon His head as He sat (MARK 14:3).

“There were some,” we are told, who “had indignation within themselves” (MARK 14:4). ‘To what purpose is this waste?’ they argued:

‘For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor,’ they continued. And they “murmured” against her (MARK 14:5).

This must have upset the woman; whose humility and spirituality is apparent. Jesus came to her defence: “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? she has wrought a good work upon Me” (MARK 14:6).

When our work proceeds out of a devotion to Jesus, we will find ourselves criticised, sometimes even by our fellow-believers. Yet our heart’s extravagance is a sacrifice of a sweet savour to the Lord. What this woman did was accepted as part of her 'reasonable service’ (cf. Romans 12:1), because her motives and her motivation were sound.