GOSPEL MEDITATION on Acts # 2

Acts 1:1-5

(Also see Jer. 31:31-34, Ez. 36:22-26; & Joel 2:28-29)

1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
7. Volume 2 from Luke. First the account of Jesus’ words and deeds then the record or how part of the Church covered by Luke began to carry out the charge He gave that Church.
8. After the ascension Jesus appeared to the apostles, and a host of others for forty days from Passover, proving that He was indeed alive. The Greek word for “alive” in verse 3 is from zoe meaning life in its complete, fullest sense.
9. The chosen, hand picked, received His words. Today we are the chosen, and we still hear His words.
10. Jesus talked to His disciples about “the kingdom of God” during those forty days. What was He saying to them? is a question not easily answered. A best guess is that it is what we have Jesus saying as recorded in the Gospels.
11. Jesus gave orders, (verse 4) and so He will since He is Lord. Knowing this makes so much difference while living in such a confused world. The order was to wait for the “promise of the Father.” This promise is spoken of in the prophetic passages, among others, listed above.
12. Jesus had affirmed the empowering event of the Holy Spirit in Matthew 3:1-12. Soon (it would be in10 days) this promise would be made real—the Holy Spirit’s baptism.
13. Indeed, the apostles, and by extension we as well, will be baptized IN (not with as found in many translations), that is, plunged into and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 234

Pilate Delivers Jesus to be Crucified & Jesus is Mocked

Mark 15:6-20

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. At the feast of Passover Pilate had begun a tradition of releasing one prisoner selected by the people. There was a notorious “rebel” not robber as in most English translations, named Barabbas (Aramaic for “son of the father”).
7. At this time Pilate hopes the crowd/mob will select Jesus to be released. Pilate asks if they want the “King of the Jews” set free. But it was not to be and we are not privy to the machinations beyond the scenes.
8. Pilate goes so far as to ask what the crowd what they wanted to do with Jesus, perhaps trying to find a way out of the mess he was in.
9. “Crucify him” is the single shout; Pilate wants to know what evil he has done. Just more, “Crucify him.”
10. Pilate plays every inch the politician, and for unknown reasons orders Jesus to be scourged, which kills many.
11. This event takes place in the open air, but now the soldiers take Jesus out of view, into the governor’s palace, to be mocked by the whole garrison of Roman soldiers, and this after He had been scourged.
12. What evil lies within us that we, and we must say—“we”— could do such a thing. We do not understand neither the depths of our own depravity nor the influence of that “hideous strength”.
13. A purple cloak or gown, the color of royalty as a king would wear, is placed on Jesus. The soldiers knelt down before Him, as they will do again one day and that on the judgment day. Little did they know. Will they will recall that day? I suspect so.

Now Jesus is taken away, bloody and bruised, but not humiliated or defeated.

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 233

Mark 15:1-15

Jesus before Pilate

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. Friday morning early, the Sanhedrin is ready to proceed with the killing of Jesus. Bound once more, Jesus is taken to Pilate.
7. Mark cuts right to the critical question. Pilate asks: “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus quickly and assertively answers “yes.”
8. Why the chief priestly faction continued to accuse Jesus is not plain. But Pilate must have seen something so he asks Jesus if He has anything to say. Jesus, to Pilate’s surprise, remains silent.
9. It so happened that a tradition had developed, which Pilate may have initiated, that a prisoner would be released at the Feast of Passover—perhaps a good will gesture to appease the Jewish population.
10. Barabbas, meaning ‘son of the father,’ a notorious revolutionary who had failed in a murderous attempt to revolt against Rome, was a possible candidate to be freed.
11. Pilate saw a chance to escape having to hand Jesus over to be crucified, so in desperation because he did not want to see Jesus dead (see Matthew 27:19) wanted to grant the release of Jesus. The crowd would not have it and all the more demanded that Jesus be put to death.
12. The Mob mentality had taken hold and there might have been some of Barabbas’ followers amongst those shouting to have Jesus crucified, not mentioned in the text, and Pilate the politician gave in. We must wonder what we might have done.
13. The stage is now completely set—Jesus would die.

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 232

Mark 14:53-65

Jesus Before the Council

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. From memory, determine the central points.
7. After a brief stop at the house of Annas, the former high priest, Jesus is now taken to Caiaphas, Annas’ son-in-law.
8. All or part of the 71 member Sanhedrin is in place and ready to deal with Jesus. All done in secret for fear of the people.
9. Peter has recovered his courage and risks entering into the courtyard of Caiaphas’s house.
10. The Sanhedrin needed a list of charges against Jesus in order to then send Him to Pilate, who alone had the power to condemn Him to death.
11. Witness after witness, however prepared, did not produce enough substance that would convince Pilate of the need to kill Jesus.
12. The high priest, and we notice in this passage the name Caiaphas does not appear, is desperate to find something incriminating.
13. Some witnesses either lied or misunderstood the statement Jesus made as we find in Matthew 24:2 about the Temple’s destruction.
14. As predicted in Isaiah 53:7, Jesus remains silent and offers no defense.
15. What angered the religious leaders was Jesus’ not so subtle claim to being the Son of Man or Messiah—the King of the Jews. So the high priest asked Jesus directly who He was.
16. Whenever questioned about who He was, Jesus answered.
17. “I Am” Jesus said, and this is the English rendering for the Greek for Tetragrammaton, the four letters in Hebrew found in Exodus 3:14, and is very name of God, which we know now as Yahweh.
18. The high priest, either as a genuine gesture or as an act put on for the rest, tears his tunics, quite a feat really, to express his utter disgust. Blasphemy, here is a man claiming to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, indeed the God of Israel. The Sanhedrin now has no trouble sending Jesus to Pilate and His certain death.
19. Now begins the humiliation of the King of the Jews.

GOSPEL MEDITATION #231

Mark 14:41-50

Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. From memory, determine the central points.
7. In Gethsemane, late at night, so Friday, the Sabbath.
8. Peter, James, and John still with Jesus when Judas arrives with what was probably the temple guard, a detachment of Roman soldiers assigned to the Temple and under the authority of the high priest.
9. Present with the soldiers are members of the family of the high priest, scribes (mostly belonging to the party of the Pharisees), and elders (tribal leaders of whatever religious party), thus the leaders of the Sanhedrin.
10. Judas had given the contingent a sign — a kiss. A kiss would not have been unusual but customary when meeting a leader. (Such is still done today and widely.) Judas, what a bum!
11. “Why the need for a sign?” is a legitimate question. An answer may be that Jesus did not look different from other men, not different from Peter, James, John, or any of the other disciples. An ordinary looking man. (The image on the Shroud of Turin, which I think is Jesus, is that of an ordinary looking middle eastern man.)
12. After the kiss, Jesus is seized, to prevent escape. It was likely rough handling.
13. Someone, and John (18:10) tells us it was Peter, draws a sword and cuts the ear off the slave of the high priest. Was the devil busy here as such an aggressive, murderous attempt, might have resulted in the slaughter of the four right then and there — thus no cross?
14. Luke (22:51) informs us that Jesus heals the ear injury.
15. Jesus’ question in verse 48 may be variously understood. Is it an accusation, sarcasm, a seeking actual information, a rebuke to the religious leaders, or something else?
16. Perhaps it is that Jesus lets them know He is not a victim, surprised like a criminal would be. No, He is ready and He is in control.
17. Scripture will be fulfilled. Now the disciples flee.

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 230

Mark 14:32-42

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. From memory, determine the central points.
7. Late Thursday evening, following the Passover meal, Jesus crosses the Kidron Valley and winds His way up the slopes of The Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane, or the Garden of the olive press.
8. Leaving 8 of the disciples, Jesus brings Peter, James, and John a little further on and asks that they wait while He prays. And Jesus does not hide the fact that He is very disturbed.
9. Perhaps due to too much of the dinner in them and the lateness of the hour, the 3 cannot stay awake.
10. The disciples had likely never seen their Master so troubled and may not have known how to comfort Him.
11. Jesus’ prayer is not like anything He had ever prayed before. How the 3 knew what He was praying is a mystery. Some say one of them, maybe John, overheard. But however it was, we can only guess.
12. Jesus is truly grieved, which the language in all the Gospels makes abundantly clear. Here is a man in pain.
13. Perhaps never before have we seen a reminder of the compete humanness of Jesus, the Word become flesh.
14. His prayer begins with, “Abba, Father.” “Abba” from the Aramaic and means something close to “Daddy.” “Father,” and is pater in the Greek. (Some commentators suggest pater is added for Mark’s Greek reader. Neither Matthew nor Luke have Abba.)
15. Jesus prays the same prayer each time, essentially that if it be possible may the hour pass and the cup removed from Him.
16. The “if” as to the hour passing is a first class condition meaning that Jesus knew the Father could do that—let it pass. But He knew that was not the Father’s will as the whole of salvation would collapse.
17. Taking our sin upon Himself, that separation from the Father, was the crux of the agony in the garden. This is very far beyond our comprehension. We can only read of it and catch a glimpse only of what full fellowship with the Triune God will be like.

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 229

Jesus Foretells Peter’s Denial & Peter Denies Jesus

Mark 14:26-31, 66-72

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. From memory, determine the central points.
7. The hymn sung, perhaps from Psalm chapters 115 to 118, the Hallel Pslams. Like to have recorded that one.
8. Thursday evening, Jesus would be in the tomb in a. 20 hours.
9. The last ‘full disclosure’ from Jesus to His disciples.
10. “All” would fall away! How does Jesus know this?
11. Peter underestimates his friends and overestimates himself.
12. The “rooster” – a real critter or a watch in the night, it will come twice before Peter denies Jesus three times. Very shocking.
13. Peter strongly rejects Jesus’ statement and insists that he is above it all. The others have little course but to assert the same.
14. Peter apparently was known to Caiaphas, the high priest, (see John 18:15-18), and once inside the grounds of the high priest is recognized by a maid who accuses Peter of being a companion of Jesus. Here is the first denial. Peter blatantly lies.
15. In verse 68, the words, “and the rooster crowed” are not in the best manuscripts and should be ignored.
16. The same servant girl once again, but this time more vigorously points Peter out as being one of Jesus’ followers. Peter, for the second time, lies about knowing Jesus.
17. “Bystanders” are certain Peter was a part of Jesus’ party and are assured of this by Peter’s being a Galilean. Now to more than a servant girl, but before a group of people, Peter places a curse upon himself if he is not telling the truth and swears, maybe upon the temple or the altar, or some other sacred place, that he does not know Jesus. This, the third and final denial.
18. At that moment the rooster crowed a second time, just as Jesus had stated would be the case.
19. Peter now can only fall on his face and cry.

GOSPEL MEDITATION #228

Mark 4:22-25

The Institution of the Lord’s Supper

(see: Ex. 24:3-8; Jeremiah 31: 31-34; Matthew 26:26-29; John 6:30-35; 1 Cor. 11:17-26; Rev. 19:6-9)

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. From memory, determine the central points.
7. In the Upper Room, in Jerusalem, Thursday night, the

beginning of Passover, Jesus is alone with the Twelve.

8. Jesus leads the memorial supper, and at some unknown

point in the meal, Jesus takes the unleavened loaf, gives

thanks to God, breaks off a piece for Himself, and hands it out for each to do the same.

9. He then says the bread is His body. He is likely pointing ahead to His own body being broken on the cross.
10. The same with the cup (likely the 3^rd cup in the Passover

Seder), He gave thanks for it, as was the custom, passed it around, and said it was His “blood of the covenant.”

11. Perhaps looking back to Exodus 24 and Jeremiah 31:31-34, Jesus explains the startling truth that His blood spilling or shedding would usher in a new covenant, not Law keeping or the old covenant, but a new and unilateral covenant or agreement.
12. Jesus clearly states that His blood is poured out for many and thus, not all. Matthew’s account has “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mt. 26:28)
13. Jesus will not drink of the cup again until the kingdom

has come. We look forward to this supper. (Rev. 19:6-9)

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 227

Mark 14:12-21

The Passover with the Disciples

(Also see Exodus 12:1-14, 43-51 & Leviticus 23:4-8)

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. From memory, determine the central points.
7. Jesus was an observant Jew all His life & ministry.
8. On Thursday of the last week, will less than a day away from His crucifixion, Jesus celebrates Passover with His disciples.
9. Jesus has obviously arranged the place for the Passover dinner, maybe in Mary’s home in Jerusalem, the mother of John Mark.
10. Likely Jesus needed to be careful about the whereabouts of the Passover to prevent an attempt of capture by the authorities.
11. It was a large “upper room” or a roof top room partially enclosed that wealthy people’s home might have with outside staircase.
12. In John’s Gospel, 13:1-11, Jesus’ washes the disciples feet first.
13. When it was dark, after 6pm, Jesus arrives at the large home in Jerusalem, and probably carefully.
14. In the midst of the meal, about the time of the third cup, Jesus announces that someone at the table will betray Him.
15. Psalm 41:9 might explain why Jesus knew what was about to happen: “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”
16. The wording of the Psalm of David perhaps reflects the wording of Genesis 3:15 where God says to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
17. Each of the disciples responds, “Not I?” But it is to be one of the Twelve, and all this appointed for the Messiah.
18. Indeed “woe” to that one to whom it had been appointed.

GOSPEL MEDITATION #226

The Plot to Kill Jesus, Jesus Anointed at Bethany, &

Judas to Betray Jesus Mark 14:1-11

(Also see Matthew 6:1-16 and John 12:1-8)

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. From memory, determine the central points.
7. Tuesday, Passover and Unleavened Bread, beginning, and the plot to kill Jesus had reached a ‘fever pitch’. Prudently, those who feared Jesus knew better than to act in the open.
8. Mark back-tracts four days previous. 6 days before Passover (see John 12:1) to a celebratory dinner in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper/Lazarus.
9. A woman appears, Mary the sister of Lazarus (see John 12;3), and pours a flask of expensive perfume (nard) over Jesus’ head (body in verse 8).
10. Some of the apostles (Judas leading the charge, see John 12:4), complained that the costly oil should have been sold and the money given to the poor.
11. Jesus orders quiet and wonderfully honors what Mary had done. The poor, not be ignored, but something of greater value just occurred. Mary had anointed Jesus’ body for burial, thus Jesus, again, points to His coming death.
12. Then verse 9, one of the most important in the Bible, Jesus explains that what just took place will be spoken of until the end of the age as a testimony to the anointing.
13. Here Jesus assumes the publication of the event to the whole world. And of course, His words fulfilled here and now.
14. For reasons not entirely understood, Judas now goes to the religious rulers (maybe not for the first time) and is ready to betray Jesus. He was warmly received, so much so, money is offered as a reward.