Mark 14:66-15:15. Yesterday I mentioned that I had basically skipped verse 54 where Mark informs us that Peter had tagged along and was warming himself outside with some of the guards.  In today’s reading we return to Peter out side by the fire.  Yesterday we saw Jesus being faithful to the job God had given him.  In the first part of today’s reading we see Peter and so did one of the servant of the High Priest and she recognized that he had been one of Jesus’ followers.  When she asked him about it he denied knowing Jesus and moved away.  Either she followed him or ran into him again on the porch and started telling the people around that Peter was one of Jesus’ followers.  Peter again denied being a part of Jesus group.  He must have done a lot of denying because pretty soon the people around him picked up in his Galilean accent and assumed that he must be a follower of Jesus who was from Galilee too.  At that point Peter wanted to make it very clear that he was not a follower of Jesus and asked to be cursed if he was lying.  Wow!  That’s a lot of fear going on there.  After denying Jesus the third time Mark tells us that a roosted crowed a second time and Peter remembered Jesus prediction.  One scholar pointed out how ironic it was that while the guards were inside asking Jesus to prophesy that one of his prophecies was being fulfilled outside.  I think this comparison is important and I’ll come back to it at the end of the post.

The next part of today’s reading involves Jesus’ trial before the Roman governor, Pilate. He was governor from 26-36 AD.  In the morning the whole Jewish council affirmed the decision they had reached in the night.  Under Roman law only the Roman government could execute a person, other types of punishment were variously allowed to subject peoples, but not execution.  Pilate was well know for being cruel and he dislike the Jewish people he governed.

It seems unlikely that Pilate would be particularly interested in executing Jesus for a blasphemy (literally that word means “to hurt a persons reputation”.  Specifically the Jewish leaders felt that Jesus had hurt God’s reputation by saying he and God were equal.  As I pointed out yesterday the High Pries had asked Jesus if he were the promised Messiah or chosen one.  To the Jewish people that would be synonymous with being the King of the Jews because that is the only picture of the Messiah that the Jews understood.  Jesus is the king of the Jews and ultimately will reign over them and the whole world but at that time he was here for a more important task; to be the suffering servant of Isaiah 52-53 and the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (see also Mark 10:45).  Jesus affirmed that he was the Messiah and would rule in power and that likely gave the religious leaders enough of a charge to get Pilate involved.  Certainly claiming to e the king of the Jews would be seen as rebellion, something no Roman governor could or would tolerate.

Pilate questioned Jesus about the charge but Jesus sort of avoided the question.  Although some translations translate Jesus response as basically a yes, Jesus answer is something more like “what ever you say” or “you said it”.  If the question was one of rebellion, Jesus wasn’t there for that.  Any trial for promoting rebellion should come back with a  “not guilty” verdict.  Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, not set up a physical kingdom.  The Jewish leaders grew impatient and kept pushing Pilate.  Although Pilate disliked the Jews and didn’t really want to be involved in their internal fights he was also a politician in the Roman Empire and was skilled at “playing” the people.  Pilate was amazed at how calm and quiet Jesus was in the face of such opposition.  Although Mark doesn’t make it as clear Pilate came to the same conclusion, Jesus wasn’t a political rebel or insurrectionist.

There is much more to this trial than what Mark tells us (See Matthew 27 and Luke 23) so we need to see what point Mark might be making for the readers back in Rome.  The main picture we see here is of the Roman leader being caught up in the movement of God’s plan.  Although he seemed to be in control the crowd and the leaders were really controlling him.  Or were they?  All of their intrigue and the outcome was just what God intended, on the very day God intended it.  The real Passover lamb was going to be sacrificed on Passover dealing with sin permanently (See Hebrews 7:27, 9:12, 10:10).  Although these people made their own decisions based on their own motives God blended their actions together perfectly to obtain the right outcome.  And so Jesus was delivered by Pilate to be beaten and then executed.

I think the contrast between Peter who was faithless and Jesus who was faithful is important.  Jesus is the only one who could die for our sins because he is both God and man.  It is important to know that Jesus will always be true to the plan; Jesus will always have our back.  Peter on the other hand is a different story, at the end of the day he’s just a guy, controlled at least in part by his fears like all of us.  I think this story would be good for the Roman believers suffering persecution because it teaches that we can have faith in the one we need to have faith in, Jesus, and we can take comfort that even the “best” of the followers of Jesus ran and hid sometimes.  Peter, James, John and the rest of the twelve (except for Judas) went on to tell the world about Jesus.  The believers in Rome were proof of that fact.  And all but John (and Judas) lived hard lives and wound up dying because of their faith in Jesus.  So Peter was a good example of just how forgiving God could be, I mean the guy actually asked God to curse him if he was lying about knowing Jesus.  That is amazing love on God’s part, and it is available to us all.

Finally I think it would have been important to those early believers to see that the government isn’t above God; God’s plan will be accomplished.  And that is not just his plan for Jesus but his plan for us too (remember that his plan for Peter was working out just as he promised, bumps in the road and all).  Good to know God has a plan for us and is working it out (see Ephesians 2:10).

God I’m glad you are in control.  I’m thankful that you died for me.  I’m sorry that Peter was unfaithful and I’m sorry that I am too.  Help me be more faithful.  Help me overcome my fears.  Let my life be pleasing to you.  I’m glad that you are always faithful and that your plan involves loving us.  Help us all be better at loving you in return rather that turning our backs on you.