Mark 15:1-38

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@Shield> Okay, let's get started:)
@Shield> glad to see you all here
kitty> :)
@Shield> everyone doing okay?
kitty is good
kitty> How is Shield today?
@Shield> I am well thank you
Aspros_Tigris is good :)
@Shield> feel free to invite your friends as I get us started on just a few comments
@Shield> I would like to point out that for those of us in the USA there is an election coming up in just about one month.
@Shield> I encourage all of us to be in prayer about how we will vote, and most importantly, to vote:)
@Shield> Nuff said on that:)
@Shield> I also want to let you know that things seem to be running very smoothly here on CCNet with our recent services changeover.
@Shield> If you ever have a question or concern, don't hesitate to email us your feedback at chatbot@christian-chat.net.
@Shield> There are additional exciting developments under way in the coming weeks and months.
@Shield> They will include extra measures to make the network even more secure than it already is.
@Shield> And they will make the overall user experience much more fun and dynamic.
@Shield> More to come on that in the weeks ahead:)
@Shield> I ask that you keep us in prayer as we work through those developments and introduce them.
@Shield> Would someone like to open us in prayer before we start our study?
kitty> I will
@Shield> thank you, go ahead:)
kitty> Dear Heavenly Father I would like to Thank You for this Time of sharing and fellowshipping in your word
kitty> I would ask that You open our ears and Hearts to listen
kitty> You Our Father Healer comforter Counselor I thank You Lord for Your wisdom and Love in each of our lives
kitty> I ask that You teach us and Guide us tonight In your word and I ask that if anyone here may have a need that You reach out and wrap your arms around them......Comfort them
kitty> I thank you for Shield and all the others that put so much time and effort into teaching Your word Lord I ask a special Blessing on them
kitty> In Your wonderful name I pray amen
Aspros_Tigris> Amen
@Shield> amen
@Shield> thank you kitty, I appreciate your prayer.
@Shield> And thank you again to all of you for coming tonight.
kitty> Your welcome
@Shield> The past few months have been interesting for me personally.
@Shield> Since July I have been involved in getting to know a group of kids and some of their parents in a low income housing complex near my church.
@Shield> They come from all walks of life.
@Shield> And from all over the world.
@Shield> Vietnam
@Shield> Russia
@Shield> Mexico
@Shield> Guatemala
@Shield> and many others to numerous to name.
@Shield> They speak many languages.
@Shield> Some have a religious background
@Shield> Muslim
@Shield> Roman Catholic
@Shield> very few Christian evangelicals
@Shield> most have no religious background
@Shield> Most do not know the gospel.
@Shield> These studies we have been undertaking in the Gospel of Mark have weighed on me as I interact with them.
@Shield> I have asked myself, how can I make it so that they understand, in simple terms, the gospel of Jesus Christ?
@Shield> it occurred to me, one way is simply to tell the narrative as it happened
@Shield> much like we have attempted to do over these past many weeks.
@Shield> everyone loves a good story
@Shield> how much more a compelling story about a compelling figure in history, from the perspective of people in the world
@Shield> of course, I mean Jesus
@Shield> Here we see Jesus, at the beginning of Mark 15
@Shield> He has been captured.
@Shield> the disciples have been scattered.
@Shield> Peter has just denied him yet again.
@Shield> it is as if all the characters in the story have taken a collective breath
@Shield> as have the readers, namely you and me
@Shield> think of what it would be like to be the person in the urban core of a large city who has never heard the gospel
@Shield> and who has come this far in the story, not knowing what is going to happen next.
@Shield> so many twists and turns of the plot already
@Shield> so many subtexts and misunderstandings as we have discussed often over the past months
@Shield> and here we see Jesus captured in the custody of the chief priests and scribes, the Jewish leaders
@Shield> we know by now they want him dead
@Shield> but will they take up the stones themselves according to Hebrew Law?
@Shield> will they cast the first stone?
@Shield> they showed no hesitation in attempting to stone a woman caught in adultery.
@Shield> surely they will not hesitate to stone the one whom the high priest identified as a blasphemer of Yahweh.
@Shield> the collective breath can only last so long.
@Shield> something must happen
@Shield> let's pick up the narrative as it spills out on the pages of Scripture, bringing us up to speed on what is about to happen....
@Shield> Mark 15:1 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
@Shield> please help me out here...what just happened?
@Shield> observations?
kitty> o/
@Shield> yes kitty?
kitty> Not sure just that all the elders and teachers of the law took Jesus and led him away
kitty> hmmm
@Shield> ok true, good observation
@Shield> and what is significant about that, in light of what I wrote above?
@Shield> anyone?
@Shield> okay:)
@Shield> They handed him over to the occupying forces of Rome.
@Shield> They handed him over the Pontius Pilate.
@Shield> They refused to get their own hands dirty, in short.
@Shield> let's continue
@Shield> 2 "Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate. "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
@Shield> 3 The chief priests accused him of many things.
@Shield> 4 So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of."
@Shield> 5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
@Shield> Note that Jesus only made one original comment in response to his interrogator, and that is, "Yes, it is as you say."
@Shield> Jesus did not attempt to defend himself against the unnamed accusations.
@Shield> Imagine how our friends and acquaintances who have never been exposed to the story would see that.
@Shield> "You mean he didn't stick up for himself?"
@Shield> "Even when the accusations were false?"
@Shield> Nope, on both counts.
@Shield> And the plot thickens...
@Shield> 6 Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested.
@Shield> 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising.
@Shield> 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
@Shield> "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate,
@Shield> 10 knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.
@Shield> Even the pagan Pontius Pilate saw through the motives of the chief priests
@Shield> there is no small amount of irony that he was able to detect the hypocrisy of these religious leaders
@Shield> 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
@Shield> especially when they were the biggest rabble rousers
@Shield> remember, through it all, there is no indication that Jesus spoke out in his own defense, or that he spoke at all, other than when indicated in the text.
@Shield> 12 "What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them.
@Shield> Pilate was using their own words against them by using the term king of the Jews in reference to Jesus, again an ironic moment which they likely did not perceive as such.
@Shield> How could they?
@Shield> they were incited
@Shield> 13 "Crucify him!" they shouted.
@Shield> Even Pilate was incredulous.
@Shield> 14 "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
@Shield> 15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
Kit> *sniff sniff* it's sad
@Shield> While it seems at first that Pilate was sympathetic to Jesus, make no mistake, he likely was more interested in his own political needs, notwithstanding his being impressed with Jesus.
@Shield> 16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorian) and called together the whole company of soldiers.
@Shield> This likely was about 80 to 100 warriors.
@Shield> Think of it.
@Shield> 17 They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him.
@Shield> All of this was done to mock him.
@Shield> Crucifixion is many things, not least humiliating.
@Shield> 18 And they began to call out to him, "Hail, king of the Jews!"
@Shield> 19 Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him.
@Shield> 20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
@Shield> notice, no resistance.
@Shield> no cries for them to stop
@Shield> no pleas for mercy from Jesus to the soldiers
@Shield> 21 A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.
@Shield> 22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).
@Shield> 23 Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.
@Shield> this mixture was thought to provide some relief for the suffering, helping the crucified person to last longer.
@Shield> It was not given out of mercy.
@Shield> it was given for sport
@Shield> a further mockery
@Shield> Jesus saw it for what it was and refused to partake.
@Shield> perhaps his one bit of resistance, not in defense of himself, but to show that his purpose was true and determined.
@Shield> 24 And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.
@Shield> They did this in full view of him, a further mockery meant to shame him.
@Shield> 25 It was the third hour when they crucified him.
@Shield> 26 The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS.
@Shield> 27 They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.
@Shield> verse 28 is not included in the earliest manuscripts and thus is not included in this translation
@Shield> Mark 15:29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days,
@Shield> thus the taunting began while he hung on the cross, in pain, weak, abandoned by all but his mother and the disciple whom he loved.
@Shield> and even that disciple had abandoned him at first in the initial capture
@Shield> Mark 15:30 come down from the cross and save yourself!"
@Shield> and finally, the perpetrators of this course of events, the religious leaders spoke out
@Shield> 31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself!
@Shield> notice that they said it among themselves
@Shield> apparently they did not want Jesus to hear.
@Shield> Isn't that the irony of all ironies?
@Shield> 32 Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
@Shield> 33 At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.
@Shield> 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-- which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
@Shield> meditate on that for a moment
@Shield> the ultimate sense of abandonment
@Shield> God, where are you?
@Shield> in dying for us, Jesus not only laid down his life.
@Shield> he not only endured torture and heinous acts against him
@Shield> he not only endured false accusations and humiliation and embarrassment and mockery
@Shield> he was not only abandoned by his disciples whom he loved, even the one who betrayed him at the end with a kiss
@Shield> he took on himself the sins of the world, becoming that sin, and thus enduring the chastisement for our wickedness
@Shield> he did this on OUR behalf
@Shield> willingly
@Shield> and in so doing, for a time, endured the severance in relationship with his Father
@Shield> thus he implored, why have you forsaken me?
@Shield> 35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."
@Shield> 36 One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said.
@Shield> 37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
@Shield> 38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
@Shield> and thus, direct access to the Father through Jesus Christ our Great High Priest, was granted by virtue of his sacrifice, and his forthcoming resurrection.
@Shield> But we will get into that next time.
@Shield> Let's pray
kitty> ok
@Shield> Our Father,
@Shield> It is because of your Son Jesus, that we may pray directly to you.
@Shield> You have made him our Great High Priest
@Shield> and with that, you have made each of us who believe on his name the royal priesthood.
@Shield> we have access to you
@Shield> because of Jesus
@Shield> thank you Lord
@Shield> may we meditate on this in the coming days, never forgetting the terrible price Jesus paid
@Shield> and the wonderful victory you brought about, as we will be reminded next week.
@Shield> in Jesus name amen
kitty> amen
Aspros_Tigris> Amen
kitty says Jesus is amazing :)
@Shield> thanks for coming everyone
Kit> AMEN
@Shield> have a great night
kitty> Night Shield
@Shield> come again next week:)