Mark 14:1-10

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@Shield> Okay, let's get started tonight.
@Shield> Glad you all are here.
@Shield> A couple of items of interest before we move into our Bible study.
@Shield> Next week is a very special panel chat.
@Shield> We are holding a Bible Q and A session
@Shield> Our guests are the users Corky and seekHm1st
@Shield> both very seasoned students of the Bible
@Shield> They will join me in answering some of your questions.
@Shield> Now, some of you have already submitted some great questions.
@Shield> But it is not too late to submit more
@Shield> shield@christian-chat.net with Bible question in the subject line
@Shield> Email me and we will consider responding to it.
@Shield> If you email it, than we have more time to prepare our responses:)
@Shield> But you can also ask me in pc during that session next week
@Shield> 9 pm, next Thursday here in #thechapel
@Shield> second item
@Shield> in another month or so we will be having a special forum chat on singleness and singles
@Shield> kinda like we did with the marriage and family chat
@Shield> but this is specifically focused on singles
@Shield> married folks are welcome to attend
@Shield> we will also do a q and a format for that session
@Shield> stay tuned for more info in the next few weeks.
@Shield> I can tell you we are going to have at least one very special guest with unique expertise:)
@Shield> so you won’t want to miss it
@Shield> third,
@Shield> the admins of CCNet have been hard at work behind the scenes developing some very cool things for the network
@Shield> No details can be disclosed just yet
BJ> :)
@Shield> something to do with satellite imagery, a lost ship at sea and high tech wizardry
@Shield> or not
@Shield> in any event it WILL be very cool
@Shield> and soon you will be hearing a lot more about it
@Shield> with specific details on how it will affect your user experience on CCNet
@Shield> so, be prepared :)
BJ> wooohooo :D
@Shield> and be praying for those who are working around the clock to make it happen
@Shield looks at BrianB
@Shield> anyway:)
@Shield> Let's open in prayer.
@Shield> Would anyone like to lead out in prayer?
@Shield> Okay, I will:)
@Shield> Lord, thank you for this day and for your touch on our lives.
@Shield> I ask that you will minister in a special way to each one here, and also to those reading this log on the forums later on.
@Shield> We thank you for your ministry in and through us.
@Shield> We ask that we will have ears to hear what you are saying.
@Shield> in Jesus name amen
BJ> amen
angelbaby> amen
starfish> amen
Deacon> Amen
dodi> amen
igloo> amen
Jenjen> amen
@Shield> Tonight we will be launching in to Mark 14
carol> Amen
@Shield> I want to review a few things which have informed our method over these last months of walking through the gospel of Mark
@Shield> We have been attempting to view the gospel inductively.
@Shield> Making observations of what the text is saying for itself.
@Shield> viewing it as a cohesive story
@Shield> but also digging deeper into its background
@Shield> and the details it provides
@Shield> One of the major things we have noticed is that there is a quick pacing to Mark
@Shield> Mark urgently rushes us from one scene to another, almost breathlessly.
@Shield> Often the term immediately is used to indicated a change in situation
@Shield> also, there is quite at bit of contrast at play
@Shield> Mark shows us the subtle, and not so subtle, conniving of the religious leaders
stupidfresh> 0/
stupidfresh> is this bible study?
@Shield> yes
@Shield> I am giving some background on Mark 14
stupidfresh> k
@Shield> and then we will post and make observations
stupidfresh> sorry
@Shield> thank you for raising your hand first:)
stupidfresh> I’m use to bjs
@Shield> :)
@Shield> so anyway
@Shield> the religious leaders have been witnessed plotting in the privacy of their own counsel
@Shield> Jesus often perceived it and called them on it.
@Shield> later we also witnessed the elderly widow
@Shield> who gave all she had
@Shield> two small coins of little value
@Shield> yet in God's economy, she gave more than all the rich people
@Shield> and she did so willingly
@Shield> sacrificially
@Shield> so, we see a contrast between her attitude and that of the Pharisees and other religious leaders, plus that even of some of the disciples, not least Judas Iscariot
@Shield> now, you might be wondering why I go into all that yet again
@Shield> enter chapter 14
@Shield> let's read
@Shield> be prepared to make observations when I ask, please:)
@Shield> Mark 14:1 Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him.
@Shield> observations?
@Shield> what is happening here?
dodi> o/
@Shield> yes dodi?
dodi> its Passover and they need a sly way to do their deed
dodi> :)
dodi> done
@Shield> okay...
@Shield> good observation
@Shield> anyone else want to make one?
@Shield> or add to that?
dodi> o/
@Shield> yes dodi?
dodi> he is actually the Passover lamb
dodi> done
@Shield> who is?
@Shield> :)
dodi> Jesus is the last one
@Shield> yes
@Shield> but, does the text say that?
dodi> nope
@Shield> we know that from our vantage point
@Shield> but here we are making direct observations on what the text is actually saying in its context
@Shield> I appreciate what you are saying, but we cannot infer it from this specific verse
Red> 0/
@Shield> yes Red?
Red> they were looking for a means of killing him before the feast took place done
@Shield> that is an interesting point,
@Shield> although it doesn’t directly state their desired timing
@Shield> it is notable that the writer would point out the onset of the feast two days hence
@Shield> so...
@Shield> we know that were looking for a sly way to arrest Jesus
@Shield> a deceitful way
@Shield> because frankly,
@Shield> they knew he had done nothing wrong
igloo> o/
@Shield> and this is exactly what they had been trying to prove all this time leading up to this moment
@Shield> they had been trying to catch Jesus in the wrong but they couldn’t
@Shield> so now they had to resort to lies!
@Shield> yes igloo?
igloo> I think that if you look back at mark 13
@Shield> ah context, good
@Shield> go on
igloo> you will see reasons for why they want to kill him'
igloo> they did not like the blasphemous words he was using
igloo> cone
igloo> *done
@Shield> what, from their perspective, was blasphemous?
@Shield> anyone?
igloo> I think it was the fact of who he was saying he was
igloo> done
@Shield> thank you igloo, with that I would agree
@Shield> now moving on
@Shield> 2 "But not during the Feast," they said, "or the people may riot."
@Shield> this goes back to the point someone made earlier as for timing
@Shield> I should have posted it with the first verse
@Shield> so it is possible they wanted to do it beforehand, on the basis of this verse
@Shield> now we move to another scene
@Shield> keeping in mind what just occurred in the text
@Shield> 3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
@Shield> observations?
@Shield> let me add verse 4
@Shield> 4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume?
@Shield> 5 It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly.
@Shield> now, observations on verses 3-5?
dodi> o/?
@Shield> yes dodi?
dodi> is that the kind they used generally for funerals? I forgot if it was
@Shield> it is one use, yes
@Shield> that is a very good question by the way
@Shield> let me give a little background on the perfume and the alabaster jar
@Shield> I did some research, specifically using Ben Witherington III's commentary on Mark
@Shield> a very fine NT scholar
@Shield> he mentions that this was a breathtaking gift
@Shield> typically something like this is in the home as an heirloom
@Shield> sometimes it was used to settle debts
@Shield> the jar itself might not have been actual alabaster, it might simply have been a reference to its shape
@Shield> but in any event, the fact that it was worth more than a year's wages is telling
@Shield> and note the response of those present
@Shield> they rebuked her
@Shield> consider the situation
@Shield> Jesus is in a home in Bethany.
@Shield> at the home of Simon the Leper
@Shield> there is some talk that he was a former leper, which is likely
@Shield> but
@Shield> he was still, socially speaking, considered an outcast
@Shield> yet Jesus was in his home
@Shield> and
@Shield> he, as was his custom, was fellowshipping with the leper and with a woman of unknown name, who gave him this marvelous gift
@Shield> it was almost on a par with the widow's gift
@Shield> because it quite possible was all she had.
@Shield> possibly
@Shield> so it was extravagant
@Shield> hence the shocked response from the others
@Shield> but watch Jesus’ response to them
@Shield> 6 "Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
@Shield> 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.
@Shield> 8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.
@Shield> this speaks to dodi's question
@Shield> it also speaks to the fact that Jesus knew, even far away, what the religious leaders were up to, with their secret plots to arrest and kill him.
@Shield> 9 I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."
@Shield> 10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.
@Shield> I wonder if Judas was one of the protesters?
carol> o/
@Shield> I wonder if this was the final straw which persuaded him to betray Jesus?
@Shield> yes carol
carol> Yes He was
@Shield> can you point to that fact in the text?
carol> yes
@Shield> please do
carol> John 12:7
carol> That Jesus addressed
@Shield> ah, ok
carol> Himself here pointedly
carol> to Judas
carol> done
carol> :)
igloo> o/
@Shield> there is only one problem
@Shield> it was a different house
@Shield> and a different day
@Shield> that was in Lazarus's home
@Shield> six days before the Passover
@Shield> we have already seen that this situation occurred in Simon the Leper's home, two days before
@Shield> make sense?
@Shield> however
@Shield> your point is well taken as to Judas's motive
@Shield> yes igloo?
@Shield> btw I am not trying to be disagreeable with you folks. I am just trying to stick with what the text actually says.
dodi> o/
@Shield> waiting on igloo to post...
@Shield> yes dodi?
dodi> well it says some present objected, Jesus rebuked them
@Shield> uh huh
dodi> and then--it used the word then
@Shield> in which text, back in mark?
dodi> so that means in reference to
dodi> yes right there where u posted it
@Shield> ok
dodi> Some of those present
dodi> there
@Shield> yes I see your point and that definitely is relevant
Red> 0/
@Shield> I am just saying it is likely there were two separate events noted by the two evangelists
@Shield> yes Red?
Red> Judas went to the chief priests after Jesus spoke of his coming death
@Shield> yes
Red> which shows he had hoped for a payoff of some kind of reward
@Shield> yes indeed
Red> done
@Shield> thank you
@Shield> let's wrap it up here
@Shield> we will not finish this chapter tonight
@Shield> but I want to reflect something related to what we have seen in the text
@Shield> the contrast between the woman who gave this extravagant gift
@Shield> quite possibly depleting her inheritance or her wealth
@Shield> and the religious leaders, and even the disciples, especially Judas, who had their own agendas
@Shield> which were not Jesus’ own agenda.
@Shield> we contrast the social outcasts who welcomed Jesus
@Shield> with the elite who plotted to kill him
@Shield> we contrast the humble, with the proud
@Shield> and we ask ourselves, how might the Lord be wanting to work in our hearts as we respond to Jesus ourselves?
@Shield> do we respond with pride?
@Shield> or with humility?
@Shield> Do we give our all to him
@Shield> or do we plot, seeking advantage, and angle, a way of turning things in our favor at the expense of others
@Shield> I don't know your hearts
@Shield> I scarcely grasp my own
@Shield> but God knows us
@Shield> what is he saying to you about your heart?
@Shield> how might he be encouraging you?
@Shield> how might he be challenging you?
@Shield> Let's pray
igloo> o/
igloo> sorry Shield I was distracted by phone before and then you dealt with what I was going to say
igloo> done
@Shield> Father, we ask in this moment that you would indeed encourage hearts here.
@Shield> We ask you to make application where necessary.
@Shield> May humble hearts be encouraged.
@Shield> May proud hearts be challenged by the example of the leper
@Shield> the woman who gave everything
@Shield> by Jesus himself, who paid the ultimate price for our sins
@Shield> but allowing himself to be captured
@Shield> tortured
@Shield> crucified
@Shield> yet, raising up again victorious over sin and death three days later
@Shield> Thank you Lord
@Shield> Like you pursued Saul, who later became Paul
@Shield> may you pursue those who doubt that they need you.
@Shield> in Jesus name amen
carol> Amen
Deacon> Amen
Phil> amen
igloo> amen
dodi> amen