So, we land in the burial of Jesus. We have seen his suffering. We've seen his death. And now here we have this verses 42 through 47, so five verses explaining his burial. And there is really a lot of detail, isn't there? We're told that it's the day before the Sabbath. We're given the name of Joseph of Arimathea, say that ten times real fast, and we find out who he is. He was a respected member of the Council. But we find out that this Joseph of Arimathea is looking for the kingdom of God. This is a way that Mark is telling us that he was a believer, that he was looking for the kingdom of God in such a way that he was hoping for the salvation that Jesus was bringing.

And so, we finally arrive, after all the drama building up to the betrayal, the crucifixion, we finally have the death of Jesus. An important moment, obviously, because we understand that his death was sacrificial for us, that he paid the price for our sin in this death. And so, as we look at this passage, there are some things that we see here. And one thing I want us to look at real quick is, they are thinking that he's calling for Elijah. Why is that?

As we look at this part of the story of the crucifixion, it's really a difficult thing to read because Jesus is mocked in every possible way. They make fun of him for allegedly being the King of the Jews. They mock him, they strip him. They do all kinds of things. They heap insults upon him, and then they use his own words against him. Jesus is saying things when he is teaching about the temple and rebuilding it in three days, and they say, You're going to rebuild the temple? We'll come down off the cross. They're saying things like, He saved others. Let him save himself. And Jesus takes it. Jesus had the power to step away from the cross. Jesus had the power to come down from the cross, but He stayed there, even amidst the mocking, even amidst those things that were being said that were just absolutely terrible.

As I've said many times, we are coming to that part of the Gospel of Mark that we know the stories really well. It's one continuous story, but the different little stories we encounter are ones that we have heard so many times because they come up all the time around Good Friday and Easter. Here, what do we have? We have Jesus delivered to Pilate, and Pilate asks him questions. The chief priests accused Jesus of things. There's all this stuff going on. Finally, it comes to a head, and Pilate usually would release someone who had been arrested for a crime. In this case, it was Barabas who had committed murder.

As we finish up Chapter 14 today, we come to a very familiar story. This is one that we know. This is a part of our discussion. When we think about the events leading up to the crucifixion, we rarely miss this one, because it's a big deal. Jesus had his disciples turn away from him after he was arrested. Before that, Judas betrayed him. This is just an act that we don't understand. It is heinous to turn on someone that you care about so deeply, someone who has cared for you. But Peter sticks around a little bit longer than everybody else.

The story of the betrayal and leading to the crucifixion of Jesus continues to pick up as we come to our passage today. Today. They have taken Jesus. We saw that on Monday. They've taken Jesus.

They arrested Him in secret and now they are performing a trial. Now, what they're looking for is some reason to convict Him. But there were all kinds of problems here. First off, Jesus hadn't really done anything that they could convict Him of. They're looking for all these things.

As I've been saying the last couple of days, business is picking up. We are to the betrayal and to the arrest of Jesus. This is really a sad event. Most of the time we focus so heavily on the betrayal by Judas, which is a sad event, but the events just keep going. Yes, there's this one who is willing to betray him, but ultimately they all fell away. They all left. They ultimately all betrayed him because they wouldn't stay with him. And so, as we look at this text, we see that Judas is coming and he is identifying Jesus. And it's interesting for us. We live in a world where you can find a picture of anybody. In fact, our technology knows our faces.

As we progress through Mark, we keep getting to stories that we know, don't we? It's interesting the way that Mark tells this story because it starts out with them singing a hymn, Everything seems fine. Yes, Jesus has talked about the betrayal, and he instituted the Lord's Supper, but everything seems to be pretty good. They're walking around freely, they're singing. They're not in hiding or anything. Well, Jesus is going to let them know that it's time. This betrayal that he's been talking about, this suffering that he has been anticipating is now upon them. And so, Jesus says to them, Hey, you're going to all fall away. You're all going to do it.

As I've been saying, the last few of these Dwell in the Word episodes. Business is picking up. We know the story. We know where it's going. We are seeing the development of the crucifixion. Last time we saw that one of the 12 was going to betray him. Judas made the plan, but now they are at table. They are preparing. They prepared for the Passover. And then quickly, we're right there. They're at the table. And Jesus is going in a little bit of a different direction, right? Because he has said that he is going to suffer and die, and he has said that someone's going to betray him. But now what is he saying?

Alright, as we land here in chapter 14, business is picking up. We know where the story is going. This has been leading to the crucifixion of Jesus for a while, but now we're getting to the heart of the story, are we not? Well, here we have Jesus two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleaven Bread, and we read that the chief priests and the scribes, they're seeking to arrest Jesus by stealth. Why? Because they're concerned with all these people who have come and these people who follow Jesus, that there will be an uproar and there will be a problem. So, they want to do this by stealth. Now, that's going to play in as we get down to the end of this passage today.

All right, we come to a rather difficult passage of scripture to interpret here, because if we go back to the context of what this passage is sitting in, we are understanding that Jesus is talking about the destruction of the temple, and it's the temple that was sitting there right in front of him. And as I've mentioned before, Jesus prophesied that that temple would be destroyed prior to its destruction, and it did happen within a generation. Now, there are some people who come to this passage, and they say that this tribulation, this is what is being talked about here, the coming of the son of Man, is in the future for us.

As we look at this second part of the Olivet discourse, it's important that we remember the first part, because what is Jesus talking about here? He is saying that the temple is going to be destroyed. The disciples have said, Hey, Jesus, look at this building. And Jesus says, Well, you think this is great. It's going to be destroyed. And he prophesied that it would happen. And as I mentioned, it did happen in the year '70, when the Romans came and sacked Jerusalem. Well, so what is Jesus talking about here? He's giving further warnings to his disciples and to his followers about how they should react when they see this happening.

For the fast pace that we have seen so far in the Gospel of Mark, we're to that point in the story that Mark is telling that is seeming to slow down quite a bit because it feels like a really long time ago that we saw Jesus and the triumphal entry, right? And we're not to the crucifixion yet. But we come to Mark 13 here and we have something that's known as the Olivec discourse. So Jesus is walking away from the temple and his disciples are like, Look, teacher, look how awesome this building is, how amazing and how great it is. And it took a very long time to build the temple.

As we finish up Mark 12 today, we are seeing two very short stories. And you'll notice here that the uninspired part of our scripture, the headings that are put in after the fact, have it in two little different stories. But really, as you read it, it is one story, right? They complement each other. And so, Jesus sees the scribes. He is talking about how they like to do their religious show. He's talking about how they like to have all this honor for themselves, but yet they go around and they devour widow's houses and they make long prayers. They make a scene out of all these things. And then immediately, where does the Gospel of Mark go?

So, as we land in this short passage today, we see a very well-known verse quoted for us. Psalm 1:10-1 is what Jesus is quoting here. The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right-hand until I put your enemies under your feet. ' Now, this is the most quoted Psalm from the Old Testament. There is no other verse in the New Testament more than this one. It is alluded to, it is quoted directly. It just isn't even close as far as verses that are quoted from the Old Testament in the New Testament. And it's important that we understand the significance of this. It not only tells us about who Jesus is, but it also lets us know that the ultimate goal here is that Jesus ascends to the right-hand of the Father, that if this is Messianic, then he is arriving someplace. He is going to arrive at the Father's right-hand, and he's going to stay there until his enemies are made a footstool.

And so, we get another opportunity to see Jesus answering a question. So a scribe sees them debating, sees them weighing back and forth and talking about these different topics, and he has a question himself. It's an important question, which commandment is the most important of all? Jesus goes back to scripture. The first thing he says is, Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. This is known as the Shema. In Hebrew, the word Shema means here. This is a confession of who God is, that the Lord God, He is one. He is not many gods. He is not all these different deities all over the place. No, he is one. He is God. He is the only true God. Then Jesus answers with more scripture, and it's a summary of the law. You should love the Lord God with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your mind, and all your strength.

Many times when we come up against the religious leaders in the Book of Mark, it reminds me of the old 1960s Batman television show. Remember when the Riddler would be on there? Riddle me this, Batman. Many times the religious leaders, the Sadducees and the Pharisees come to Jesus and they're scheming and they're like, Let's come up with something, some scenario where we'll trick him. And every time Jesus gets the best of them, doesn't he? Well, here we have them giving this ridiculous scenario. Now, of course, this scenario could theoretically happen. There's nothing keeping this from happening, especially in a day and age without antibiotics and modern medical care, having this many people die when all these people are having many more children, more than likely.

Here in the Gospel of Mark, there's always something fun going on. Obviously we're going to get to some things that aren't so fun. But this is a fun story to me, because once again they're trying to trick Jesus. They are sending in their best. They got people ready to go.

They are going to get him. We finally got him. We're going to get him on whether or not you should pay taxes. All right, so let's see what Jesus did. Well, they come to him and they butter him up.