October 1, 2024: Tuesday Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 14:17-21
Blessings and Peace to you this morning in the Name, and by the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Today please keep Pastor Kurt in your prayers. He is suffering from a muscle locked jaw. He spent time in the ER and is now healing. He celebrated his birthday last week. His call to serve the Gospel is at Sierra Ev. Lutheran Church in Sierra Vista. Reminder - Gospel Music Sunday Oct 6, and Monthly carry-in dinner after worship with an Italian theme.
Today, I am going to move forward quickly with the Bible Study, because I have a lunch engagement with Pastor Kurt.
Yesterday we talked about how Jesus may well have prepared in advance for the Passover meal. His planning made it possible for He and His disciples to be together. Next, we are faced with the meal itself, and how Jesus, in the midst of the meal, talked to all of the disciples about what was coming, and that there was at this Passover meal a person who would betray Jesus, and set in motion the events which would get Jesus arrested, tried, and crucified. Today we know that person was Judas. Jesus offers to Judas the opportunity to reset his choice and their consequences, but Jesus also makes it clear to his disciples that the person at the table who chooses to act against the will of God, especially when mercy has been offered and yet rejected, will suffer consequences far worse than they could ever think would happen. I think that in some ways, Judas never had a chance, but here when we have Jesus offering him a way out, Judas continues to move forward with his betrayal of the Lord. However, we do learn some important things about Jesus in this passage.
Jesus knew in advance what was going to happen, but like you and me, Judas also had free will and chose very poorly. It is hard to imagine, Jesus knowing in advance what was coming, still had the courage and faith to offer mercy, while understanding that the burden of bearing the sin of the world must take Him to His enemies, so that he could indeed become the Savior of all of creation.
He was able to see into the heart of Judas, just as He was able to see Nathaniel under the tree before Christ would meet him in person. Nathaniel was a man of compassion and was more moral and ethical than anyone else Jesus had selected. All too often we forget that Jesus knows our hearts too, even when we have hidden our own sin and brokenness. So, He knew Judas. What a burden of sin Christ was already holding in His Holy Grace-filled person.
In this passage Jesus appeals to Judas out of His love for him and knows full well how Judas will suffer because of this choice that he has made. Jesus does not act with compulsion toward Judas. If He needed Judas to be prevented form this act, Jesus could have called on the other disciples to restrain him. However, this is not the way of God. Adam and Eve were warned about the fruit of that tree in the garden, yet in their free will God did not place an impassable barrier around it. He left it up to free will. The very same thing is true for you and me. God has given us the Word, the Living Word, Jesus, and the Scriptures that we read. Every person has free will. God awaits the choices that we will make, and when they have been made, the Spirit calls us to return to our Savior with humble confession and open hearts to receive the fullness of Christ's forgiveness.
God bless you always, with Love in Christ, Pastor Kim
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