Mark 14:53-72

Before the Sanhedrin

53They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together. 54Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.

55The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. 56Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.

57Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: 58"We heard him say, 'I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.' " 59Yet even then their testimony did not agree.

60Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" 61But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"

62"I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

63The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. 64"You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?"

They all condemned him as worthy of death. 65Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, "Prophesy!" And the guards took him and beat him.

Peter Disowns Jesus

66While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. 67When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.

"You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus," she said.

68But he denied it. "I don't know or understand what you're talking about," he said, and went out into the entryway.

69When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, "This fellow is one of them." 70Again he denied it.

After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean."

71He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, "I don't know this man you're talking about."

72Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." And he broke down and wept.

BACKGROUND READING:


Psalm 110


Matthew 26:57-68



Dig Deeper

Often times maintaining your dignity and righteousness comes with a price. This is the very concept that Mark will demonstrate in contrasting the actions of Jesus and Peter. Jesus maintains his integrity at the cost of his life, while Peter loses his integrity to save his life. Mark has already described Jesus’ words about the fate of those who would want to save their lives versus the fate of those who would be willing to lose them. Now we have another example of Mark demonstrating in the living color of life what Jesus has already taught.


Peter’s denial of Jesus only highlights the aloneness of Jesus in his final hours. He has come to do for Israel and the world what they could not do for themselves. While he is doing this, those closest to him fall by the wayside, unable to stand up to the task that he now faces. Of his twelve apostles, one has betrayed him, ten have scattered, and Peter, his closest friend will deny him not once, but three times. This is how it had to be, though; there are certain things that only the Messiah can do, and he must do them alone. There is a major bit of irony here: While Jesus is being beaten and mocked for claiming to be a prophet, Peter is outside denying him, proving his prophetic ability.


As Jesus is brought before the high priest alone, there are several things going on at once. The first is that the primary crime with which Jesus is charged is that of being a false prophet that would lead Israel into blasphemy. Jesus had surely done miraculous and amazing things but the authorities had never bought into the fact that he was a true prophet from God (see Mark 3:22 for example). The problem was that the Romans, who had ultimate authority, didn’t really care about a prophet, whether he was true or false.


The second thing going on here is the issue that really got the goat of the high priest and the other authorities, Jesus attitude and teachings about the Temple. Mark stresses in chapters 11 and 12 that Jesus had claimed some sort of authority over the Temple, and had clearly warned that he was using that authority to judge and would ultimately destroy the Temple. The witness that is brought up gives a distorted version of what Jesus actually said, but the point is clear. What Jesus had done in the Temple and said about was the primary cause for his arrest.


Neither of those charges would get them anywhere with Rome, however, so they latch onto the Messianic aspects of Jesus’ teachings. If Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah, then there was a certain claim to ultimate authority and kingship wrapped up in that. Claiming to be the Messiah, though, might have been dangerous and even laughable, but it certainly wasn’t against any Jewish law. The chief priest knew full well, however, that the Romans would have no mercy for someone claiming to be king. Crucifixion was the only reward for someone claiming to be the king of the Jews.


In affirming that he is indeed the Messiah, Jesus does several things. First, he answers, I am, in a clear echo of the ancient name for God, YHWH. He then ties together two passages that he has already used to define the true meaning of his type of Messiah: Psalm 110 (Mark 12:36), and Daniel 7:13 (Mark 13:26). Once Jesus affirms that he is the Christ, the Messiah, his fate is sealed, for they now have a charge that they can bring before the Romans. It is ironic that the very thing Mark wanted us to see about Jesus, that finally culminated in 8:29, is now the very charge that will lead to his death.


In that one sentence Jesus is saying that he is the Messiah, he does have authority over the Temple, what he said about it will come true, he will be vindicated as the true Messiah by that act of judgment on the Temple, and he will share the throne of YHWH. The time has come when all of the parables and cryptic sayings are gone. The cards are on the table and things are moving quickly toward the climax.



Devotional Thought

When situations get uncomfortable are you more like Jesus, maintaining your loyalty to God and giving up the importance of your own life and reputation, or are you more like Peter here, selling out your integrity to save embarrassment or repercussions of being a Christian? Remember that Jesus said that one day he would be ashamed of those who are ashamed of him and his words.