Daily Double: Markin MarkSample

Jesus, Pilate, Barabbas and Peter

By Abi J

We find ourselves in the middle of Jesus' trial. Here, we see that Jesus was on trial. He seemed to lose, but He won. His conduct at His trial showed His innocence and was all part of the plan of redemption – which we must receive as God’s gift.

This chapter in Mark should break our hearts a little. Picture Jesus as He stands here among the religious leaders while they insist that He is guilty. “The high priest tore his clothes… You have heard the blasphemy!” Essentially, he is saying "Jesus has offended God," so they reacted with abuse. They began to spit upon Him and beat Him. Understanding that Jesus endured such pain and humiliation for us should cause us to respond with praise and honor.

Then, moving along, we see Peter's denial. Mark wrote this as a flashback before Jesus's “beating”. We can see that Peter followed Jesus at a distance.

Have you ever felt that you are following Jesus at a distance?

We can clearly picture this moment in the courtyard around a fire. After all this time of walking so closely with Jesus, Peter found comfort in telling the servants that he never knew Jesus. These servants were the same people who beat Jesus. “And when he thought about it, he wept." Peter finally called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him, but he remembered it too late – it was after he had sinned. Then all Peter could do was to weep bitterly – but he will be restored. Peter remembered what Jesus had told him. After Peter denied Jesus for the third time, he wept. We are now in the last few hours of Jesus' life here on earth before he will be put to death.

“Crucify Him,” the crowd said. Pilate was convinced the public would release Jesus, but they chose Barabbas, a criminal chained up. The group kept yelling "Crucify him!" As the crowd rejected Jesus, they embraced Barabbas (whose name means 'son of the father'), a man who was a terrorist and a murderer.

They accepted a false son of the father. If anyone could say, “Jesus died for me,” it was Barabbas. He knew what it was to have Jesus die on his behalf, the innocent in the place of the guilty. Jesus was weak, beaten, betrayed and distraught. Last, we read the words "And they led Him out to crucify Him."

These passages remind us of the pain that Jesus endured to save humanity. It is always is so incomprehensible to understand that Jesus didn't just die for those who loved him at the time, but he died even for those soldiers who killed him.

Letting the soldiers hold and nail him down was so he could save them. This is a takeaway truth that changes everything. As Jesus was brutally beaten, he had you and I in mind. That is the actual truth.

We can all sometimes be like Peter, following Jesus at a distance, and when something hard comes up in our lives, we deny Him. Like Peter, we later regret ever denying that we knew Him. Let me encourage you with this. Peter denied Jesus by the fire, but Jesus forgave him.

I often wonder if Jesus was in a room somewhere looking down at the fire and hearing those words from Peter. It would have crushed him. Later in the gospels, we know that after Jesus' resurrection, he meets Peter for breakfast by the beach. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals and some bread with fish on it. (John 21)

Science says that memories are associated with smells. I think Jesus was intentional about having a fire with Peter, who probably would have smelt the fire as he arrived on the shore. That would have reminded Peter of the three times he denied Jesus and how he never expected to see Jesus again. Until he did! Jesus and Peter ate breakfast together. Now, Peter had a new memory with Jesus.

Do you ever feel like you sometimes forget what Jesus did for you?
Perhaps you deny to your friends that you are His follower? Or you may have just been following Him at distance.

Mark reminds us that Jesus died so He could be in a relationship with us daily. He defeated death so we would no longer fear it.

Jesus reminds us that we are worth every nail, every thorn and every bloodshed tear. Chase after Jesus because he is worth finding!