What Jesus Did

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, Peter — this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me."

—Mark 14:30 NLT

Key Thought​

"I tell you the truth ..." Ouch! "You can't stand the truth!" is the old movie line delivered by Jack Nicholson. I'm afraid we might not be able to stand the full truth of our own weakness. Yet because of the forgiveness of the Lord and power of the Holy Spirit, we can be resilient and useable to the...

 

Peter said to [Jesus], "Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will."

—Mark 14:29 NLT

Key Thought​

Peter, seemingly always wanting to be better or more important than the other followers of Jesus, overstates his faith. Peter initially backs up his words to Jesus by drawing a sword, ready to defend his Lord when Jesus is arrested. Then, Peter runs away with the other followers when Jesus won't fight. Later, he follows Jesus at a distance (Mark 14:50, 54). Eventually as the night...

 

[Jesus said,] "But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there."

—Mark 14:28 NLT

Key Thought​

Facing the desertion of his friends and his own death, Jesus' faith was strong. He trusted that God would raise him from the dead and bring him back to his disciples to finish his work of preparing them for the future. Jesus' faith in the face of death and his victory over death in the resurrection have reassured Christians for centuries that...

 

On the way, Jesus told [the Twelve], "All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say,
'God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'"


—Mark 14:27 NLT

Key Thought​

Jesus knows that he will face the horrors of the cross alone. He has no illusions about what will happen. Scripture has foretold it. His heart knows it. He lies on the verge of experiencing it. In Ray Overholt's hymn, "Ten Thousand Angels," the truth of Jesus' words are powerfully recognized...

 

And [Jesus] said to [the Twelve], "This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many. I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God."
Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.


—Mark 14:24-26 NLT

Key Thought​

Some debate what Jesus means when he says, "I drink it new in the Kingdom of God." Some believe he is referring to sharing in the...

 

And [Jesus] took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to [the Twelve], and they all drank from it. And he said to them, "This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many."

—Mark 14:23-24 NLT

Key Thought​

Jesus' blood, remembered in this last supper with his followers and continually celebrated by his followers today, seals a new covenant between God and Jesus' followers. This is a covenant of...

 

As [Jesus and the Twelve] were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take it, for this is my body."

—Mark 14:22 NLT

Key Thought​

For Jesus and his early followers, bread was the "staff of life," the essence of food and nourishment to people in Jesus' culture in his day. Jesus had already taught his closest followers that he was the bread of life (John 6). Now, Jesus was providing these followers with a...

 

[Jesus continued,] "For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!"

—Mark 14:21 NLT

Key Thought​

The fact that God planned for Jesus' death to be the atoning sacrifice for sin and that Jesus died willingly for us does not mitigate the sin of those who orchestrated his murder. Both God's plan and the plot of evil men placed Jesus on the...

 

[Jesus] replied, "[The one who will betray me] is one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with me."

—Mark 14:20 NLT

Key Thought​

How sad Jesus' words must have been to the apostles when they first heard them. How sad these words must also have been later as they remembered them. What a powerful reminder to us of our ability to falter and to let our Lord down. Our church, our fellowship of believers, will often have a "Judas" in our midst — someone who betrays Jesus and his...

 

Greatly distressed [when Jesus said one of the Twelve would betray him], each one asked in turn, "Am I the one?"

—Mark 14:19 NLT

Key Thought​

This is exactly the question we need to ask ourselves: "Am I the one?" Pride should never be a part of our spiritual character, because we fail and we fall. Instead, we need to examine ourselves and put ourselves to the test, and then take those results back to the Lord and pray for his power and grace.

Today's Prayer​

O Father, I...