March 10, 2026
“Jesus said, ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.’” (Mark 14:62 ESV). In the Gospel of Mark, he recorded that during Jesus’ trial before the Jewish council, the high priest asked Him directly if He was the Messiah,
March 9, 2026
“You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’” (Mark 14:27 ESV). In Mark’s gospel, he described how Jesus warned His disciples on the night before His crucifixion that they would all fall away. Jesus spoke these words as they walked toward the Mount
March 8, 2025
“And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Mark 14:9 ESV). On the Wednesday of Passion Week, Jesus and His disciples took a day of rest a short distance from Jerusalem in a town called Bethany. While
March 9, 2024
“And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives” (Mark 14:26 ESV). On the Thursday night before His crucifixion, Jesus and His disciples sang a hymn together after finishing the Passover meal. O what joy it must have been to hear His voice sing praises to God! How wonderful
March 9, 2022
INVITED TO PRAY WITH JESUS Jesus invited Simon Peter, James, and John to keep watch and pray with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was the night of His betrayal, the day before His trial and crucifixion. He wanted them as prayer partners. They were willing, but their flesh was weak. It had been
March 8, 2022
ONLY WHAT’S DONE FOR CHRIST WILL LAST On the Wednesday of Passion Week, Jesus and His disciples took a day of rest a short distance from Jerusalem in a town called Bethany. While eating a meal at Simon the leper’s house, a woman anointed Jesus’ head with an expensive perfume worth a year’s wages. This
March 9, 2020
WHAT HYMN DID JESUS SING THE NIGHT BEFORE? On the Thursday night before His crucifixion, Jesus and His disciples sang a hymn together after finishing the Passover meal. My first observation is that Jesus sang. O what joy it must have been to hear His voice sing praises to God! How wonderful to have been
March 9, 2019
HAS JESUS INVITED YOU TO PRAY WITH HIM? Jesus invited Simon Peter, James, and John to keep watch and pray with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was the night of His betrayal, the day before His trial and crucifixion. He wanted them as prayer partners. They were willing, but their flesh was weak
September 16, 2018 | Mark 14:3-11 |
How can we express our love and worship with all heart, soul, mind and strength? It’s only possible because God has first loved us.
How has God loved us first? He created us. He gave us everything we have and everything we are. And even though we have rebelled against Him in sin, He loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus to redeem us. And to those of us who believe in Him, He has given us His Spirit to live in us, making us His children, and promising us eternal life with Him forever in glory. That’s how He has loved us!! So what gift can you give to the Lord to express your love and worship to Him? In the gospel according to Mark, Jesus commended the extravagant gift of worship given by the woman who anointed Him. We can learn to express our worship by giving to the Lord from this woman’s example.
March 10, 2018
WHY WAS JESUS ACCUSED OF BLASPHEMY?
The high priest asked Jesus, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” (Mark 14:61). Why was it blasphemy for Jesus to answer the high priest’s question in the positive? The question itself revealed the first century expectation that the Messiah would also be called the Son of God. It has been well documented from the Dead Sea Scrolls that many first century Jews and rabbis thought the Messiah would be called the Son of God. So, why was it blasphemy for Jesus to reply, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62)?
They called Him a blasphemer because they rejected His claim. They saw Him as a challenger to their position and power. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, they were so concerned with the great crowds following Jesus, that they called a special council meeting, concluding, “If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation” (John 11:48).
Yet, calling him a blasphemer was a stretch. The law concerning blasphemy states, “Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death” (Lev. 24:16). Notice that the law concerning blasphemy makes no mention of claiming to be the Messiah or Son of God.
Jesus was not a blasphemer because He did not “blaspheme the name of the Lord,” nor did He make a false claim by answering the high priest in the positive. I can find no other instance in history when Jewish authorities accused and executed a so-called Messiah. And there have been many. Jewish author, Jerry Rabow, wrote a book entitled, “Fifty Jewish Messiahs.” None of them endured the rejection and accusation that Jesus did. Why?
It was always God’s plan for His Son to come as Messiah, to be rejected and killed and on the third day to be raised again, so that we might be saved.