Gospel of Mark #58 ~ (Mark 15:1-15)

[Al Moak]

Mark 15:1-15
Partaking Of His Trust

Do you find in yourself a need to trust your Lord more than you do? Of course you do! We all do. But how can we actually have that kind of trust? Can we "work ourselves up" to it?  I believe the answer is in the passage before us in Mark 15:1-15.

"The powers that be" - the "leaders" in this world - naturally expect to have everything their way. And they often do! But even when they do, and even though they may care nothing for God, they nevertheless unknowingly fulfill the Word of God. That was true even of Jesus' arrest and of His trial before the Sanhedrin and before Pilate. The Jews wanted to put Jesus to death, and they intended to get it done, even though they didn't have the authority to do it themselves.  Yet when it was done it fulfilled God's sovereign plan and accomplished our redemption!

See how. The Jew's lack of authority is spoken of In Genesis 49:10. There we read, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people." God's Word is simply telling us that lawgiving and authority, including the authority to put anyone to death, wouldn't depart from Israel until Messiah was on the scene, and then such authority would no longer belong to Israel. These Jews had to bring Jesus to Pilate to have Him put to death, because Scripture was being fulfilled! In the coming of Jesus authority had departed from Israel – even putting to death the same Jesus! What the Jews wanted to do was under the control of the sovereign God!

We would do well to remember at all times and in all events this principle of unknowing fulfillment of God's ultimate plan through the actions of the world. When people make cutting remarks about us, for instance, and say to us, "There you go with that religion stuff again! What foolishness," we need to remember that Peter said, "Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts." The scoffing of men was long ago foreseen and predicted, and it will only fulfill God's ultimate design.

We also notice here in Mark that Jesus didn't even answer His accusers. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews described that attitude.  He says, "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls." (Heb. 12:2, 3)

Jesus wasn't moved by the hostility of those around Him because He knew His Father's hand in all that happened. He knew because He had faith. He trusted His Father, and He knew His Father was in control of all events. It would be good for us to have the same kind of faith our Savior had concerning the events in our own lives.

But today I want us to see the immense contrast between that wonderful attitude of our Lord and the very different attitude of an earthly judge who had no Father in Heaven. I'm speaking of Pontius Pilate, who acted as judge at our Lord's trial.

Pilate's habit as Roman governor was to try to be and do all that was expected of him. He tried to please those above him in Rome by avoiding any hint of trouble in his province, and, in order to accomplish that aim, he tried to keep the people he governed happy as well. He would do anything he had to do to reach that goal. That goal in fact became his god. He worshipped it and it alone, believing that it would bring him prominence, security, and happiness.

Are we so different? In our jobs we might be given a little authority over a few people. We want to please our bosses, and we know that means getting those under us working well together and keeping them happy with our leadership. But we can get so entirely captivated by that aim that the aim itself becomes a god. But there's a problem with that. We find, over and over again, that we're aiming at a moving target. Our bosses may be fickle on the one hand, but it's hard to keep the people under us all happy all the time too. What's the problem? The problem is that we've chosen the wrong god. If we could redirect our loyalties to the will of our Father in heaven, if we tried to please Him alone, then we wouldn't have a moving target. His righteous will never changes. Furthermore, His will is also best for those under us and for our bosses as well. If we aim to please our God, we won't have to change our approach all the time. The same is true of family relationships and church relationships. We need to keep our eyes on the Lord, not on people's fickle concerns.

Notice that Pilate couldn't please those above and below him at the same time. He knew that those above him in Rome would expect him to show the people under him who was boss, to make them aware of Rome's absolute authority. He also knew they expected him to keep Roman law - a very fair and just code that had successfully kept the peace throughout the empire for many years. But now those under him wanted him to be unfair to Jesus. Pilate didn't know which way to bend. Not only that, but his conscience told him the people's wishes were wrong, that this Galilean was innocent. So he tried to persuade the people to have Jesus released instead of Barabbas. He vacillated. He wavered. He probably lost any respect he still had among the people. Worse than that, he ignored the Holy Spirit's prompting in his conscience. Finally, when He condemned Jesus, he pleased only the Devil, though even then his actions perfectly fit the sovereign plan of God.

Contrast the attitude and actions of our Lord. When the chief priests accused Him of many untrue things, He didn't answer at all. Why? He didn't need to defend Himself, because He had His eyes upon His Father above instead of on the world beneath. He didn't have to justify Himself as long as He was already just before the Father. He knew He was guiltless before His Father. He knew He must serve His Father's will and not that of people. So He said nothing and awaited His Father's will - even when a notorious criminal was released instead of Him, and even when crucifixion was the sure result. He showed no anger toward the chief priests, nor toward the people they influenced. He trusted His Father to bring about the right results.

How should this wonderful contrast affect us? How can it affect our lives? First of all, we need to be in His Word daily to become more and more acquainted with Him and to discover His will for us, so that we can keep our eyes upon Him and upon His will instead of upon the world. But I also want us to see how our Lord's wonderful attitude can affect us by actually becoming our own!

It's beautifully illustrated whenever we observe the Lord's Supper. Whenever any of us partake of the bread, the symbol of our Lord's broken body, we need to see that He offers to us in that symbol His own victorious life, the life in which He always kept His eyes on His Father. He wants us to take the offer of His own perfectly righteous life, broken and distributed to each of us.

So also with the cup. In it He's offering us that which symbolizes His shed blood - His life given for our forgiveness. As we receive it, therefore, we are receiving His forgiveness – even forgiveness for our faithlessness!

So we see is that we can have His life in ourselves, His faith in our hearts - and His forgiveness whenever we fail to have that faith. We can have that absolute faith that He had in the face of awful threats from the world. We can have it because we have HIM - because He can supply it by His Spirit within us. Do you want to trust Him, to have HIS trust in yourself?   He offers it to you.  Not only that, but He's willing to forgive all your failures - all the times you haven't kept your eyes on your heavenly Father.