When you get to the end of Mark, you get some of these brackets here. You can see them here in the middle of the screen if you're watching a video. It says some of the earliest manuscripts do not include verses 9-20 of Chapter 16. Well, what has happened here? Well, the earliest manuscripts we have, so therefore, the ones that are closest to when it was written, they do not have this information about the appearances after the resurrection. Now, there is some questioning whether or not they were meant to be there, whether they were added by copies after the fact, because if you look at the end of Mark that we have in the oldest manuscript, the last verse is different, right?

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.