The World Meets Jesus
Mark 14:53-65
• When I was student minister, I love to show the old 35mm movies. Only youth retreats we would routinely show to old movies. The opening night of youth retreat we would see a movie entitled “Without Onions,” and the closing night we would see a movie entitled “A Thief in the Night.” For those who don’t remember, the 2nd movie was a depiction of the 2nd coming of Christ.
• However, many times I would show movies just for fun. One of my favorite movies for fun was entitled “Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein.” However, there are many movies where someone needs somebody.
• When Jesus was born in Bethlehem very few people were even aware. His parents, the animals, a few shepherds, and later a few wise man were all that were in the know. Even when Jesus was 12 and went to the temple, still only few even had encountered him.
• At age 30 when he came to John the Baptist and was baptized, still there was a limited crowd who saw him. However, over the next three years Jesus attracted quite a crowd. The operative word is “crowd”, because as their history will prove they were not ‘of Jesus’, but simply wanting something from Jesus. This is a stark reminder for us today of the words John the Beloved wrote, “Those who went out from us was not of us because if they had been of us they would not have gone out from us.” Still, inside of the band of disciples, Judas was only a part of the crowd. He never became a part of the congregation or the core.
• Believe it or not, Judas hands Jesus over to the world. Scripture calls it a betrayal. Jesus is put in front of the leaders. For the next minutes, let’s contrast two truths about this happening.
• We will contrast Jesus standing before the world and the world standing before Jesus – for I believe we can see both pictures in our text.
1. Jesus before the World – Have you ever stood in a court room with a presiding judge? Everyone is at the mercy of the judge. While you might not have ever thought about it this way, the Gospels tell us that Jesus was before the Council and the judges of the day. Consider our text.
a. They Led Him - Verse 53 says, “They led Jesus to the high priest.” This means that Jesus was taken from the garden into the presence of his enemies. He was bound and chained and probably led by one of those chains. As I read this story, it seems to me, that the soldiers, the high priest, the chief priest, the elders, and the scribes are all afraid of Jesus. It is interesting that these enemies are all religious people and should be on the side of our Lord, yet our Lord shows no deference to the religious. I submit to us today that there is a tendency to bind Jesus and make him less what he really is. This can be done or we can do this by how we live, or talk, or interact with people. These soldiers led him away in front of his enemies because they wanted to control him because;
b. They Loathed Him - The 1st part of verse 55 tells us that they (all of them) “Were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death.” You see because Jesus showed them no deference they were ready to exterminate him, they hated him, and wanted to do something about him. Can you blame them? After all, most of the time we don’t see Jesus in a true biblical light, rather we see him as we desire to see him-as a baby in a manger or perhaps a sweet little lamb. If most of us are honest, we had trouble with the picture of Jesus taking up a whip and forcibly clearing the temple. We had trouble hearing Jesus speak the words recorded in Matthew 23 where he calls the religious leaders hypocrites, blind guides, blind fools, blind man, and self-indulgent. This is not the Jesus most people like to see, want to see, or even believe in. Yet, this is the biblical Jesus and this is to Jesus the religious leaders hated. It is also the Jesus that is hated today.
• In his book, Vertical Church, James McDonnell writes, “Jesus is reviled as mental illness by politicians on the left and randomly revered on the right by those who wish to ride His coattails. Derided by the news media and denied by the moral left, Jesus Christ seems batted about by everyone at times.”
• Candidly, Jesus is a divisive word today because the world hates Jesus. When Jesus stands before the world today just like when he stood before this crowd, He is loathed.
• One of the reasons He is so hated is that He is King!! Nobody in our culture wants anybody in their life to call the shots and say what is right and wrong.
• This group of religious leaders had Jesus led before them because they are loathed him so much;
c. They Lied About Him - To say that this group simply lied about him is the understatement of the day. They didn’t seek honest testimony about his case which would’ve been normal, they sought testimony which would confirm the verdict that they had already arrived at. As is the case most of the time, they could find witnesses, false witness his mind you, the problem was that because the witnesses were lying they couldn’t get their stories straight. Verse 59 says, “Their testimonies did not agree.” Now we get to the crux of the matter. When Jesus stood before these leaders who represented the world, their one desire was to get rid of the one who they thought was causing the problems. They were willing to lie to get rid of Jesus.
• Throughout history people have attempted to get rid of everything that God sends them. I think of the Old Testament and God sending Moses. Do you remember that Pharaoh tried to kill the deliverer? How similar to when Jesus was born and Herod tried to kill baby Jesus? And now, Jesus standing before the world, what will happen? He is actually standing before them for us. But that is not the end of the story. The rest of the story is seen when they asked him a question. In verse 61, they finally asked him a question which you responded to. “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” With that question, the scene shifts to;
2. The World before Jesus - Up until now the picture has been little distorted for me because it just doesn’t seem right to have Jesus (my Savior and Lord) standing before the wicked world to receive their judgment. With that question in a Subtle Way, Jesus takes control of the conversation.. They asked him if he is, in fact, the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One and he replies, “I Am!” It is at this point that the world now stands before Jesus. Look at the 3 strong, spiritual, and necessary points that he speaks. He begins;
a. He’ll be seen - Jesus says, “You will SEE the Son of Man.” Jesus often referred to himself as the Son of Man. We know that he was the Son of Man but was also the son of God. This truth would be echoed by the apostle Paul 25 years later when he wrote to the church at Philippi that one day “Every need will bow and tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” Also, John the beloved wrote in one of his epistles, “Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” The world stands before Jesus and the world will see Jesus and there is nothing they can do about it. He will be seen by every man, woman, boy, and girl. To his enemies He is saving, “You don’t have the last word because one day you’ll know me.” But He’ll not only be seen,
b. He’ll be seated - Jesus continues with this startling truth when He says, “You will see the Son of Man SEATED at the right hand of Power.” This is a great picture of heaven and the kingdom of God with God the father on the throne and immediately to his right, Jesus his Son. In the context of this day and time, a picture of the throne was a picture of power and the right side like the right-hand like the right arm were symbols of power. In Matthew 25:64 Jesus is recorded saying to this same group, “In the future you’ll see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power.” Seated in such a place is strong position of authority & power. Quite honestly, these words probably threatened the religious leaders of the day and made them more determined.
• There is more here but let us consider the last thought and close with our thoughts on Jesus.
c. He’ll be sovereign - Now don’t get theological on me, I know that Jesus will become sovereign because he already is sovereign, but the truth is the world don’t know it. At least, they don’t recognize it, but one day they will. We see Jesus building this case for who he is one step at a time. First, Jesus says he’ll be seen. Next, he’ll be seated (which means he will have taken his place as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords next to the Father). Finally, he completes the thought with these words “coming with the clouds of heaven.” What a great picture of the scene return of Jesus Christ. As the world stood before Jesus, as the world stands before Jesus, they will finally see, know, recognize, and bow before the one who came to salvage and to save their sin sick soul. Sadly, when the world finally meets Jesus face-to-face, it will be too late for many.
