Peter Denies Jesus: Discipleship Failure and the Glory of God

[66] And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, [67] and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” [68] But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. [69] And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” [70] But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” [71] But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” [72] And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
(Mark 14:66-72 ESV)



There is a lot that can be said about Mark 14. It's a long chapter, with a lot of things to tell us about the Passion Week of Jesus. Yet today, due to what's been going on in my life recently, I feel inclined to study this passage. This is a prime example of discipleship failure, and I want to see what this passage can tell us about how God deals with our failure.


First off, what this passage means to its original audience. For this, let's go verse-by-verse.

66 - Peter is close to Jesus, as close as he can come. He doesn't want to abandon his Master. Yet Jesus is on trial for His life; this is not what Peter had expected at all. He had expected Jesus to ascend to the Throne, to take control of Israel, drive out Rome, and rule with Peter and the disciples at His side. Instead everything is shattered.

Peter now realizes how greatly he failed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He likely didn't appreciate the gravity of the evening; when Jesus said He wouldn't drink of the vine again until the Kingdom, Peter may have had delusions that they were on the cusp of initiating the second Golden Age of Israel, and within a very short time, they would be feasting and drinking wine in celebration of their victory.

Instead, Jesus was falling on His face in the Garden, begging the Father to spare Him this cup. Peter and the others failed to pray; they didn't see the horrors approaching for their Messiah. So they didn't pray, and their Master was taken prisoner.

What regrets are going through Peter's head, right now? Is he thinking that if he had prayed harder and better, Jesus could have been spared from the arrest? If Peter had been on his guard, could they have escaped? Is this all his fault?

And then, Jesus already told Peter that Peter would deny Him three times this very evening. So if Jesus knew, then Peter wasn't to blame. Or was he? I can imagine all of this going through Peter's head, with much more.

One of the servant girls came up to him, and

67 - seeing Peter, she accused him of being with Jesus. At any other time in this Gospel Peter would have been proud of this association. Yet now he's terrified. They just arrested his Master, his Rabbi, and might put Him to death. They could do the same to Peter, if they realize who he is. The disciples ran away from the Garden to save themselves, to keep themselves from being arrested. Peter came back, in a fashion; he wants to be close to Jesus, to see what will happen to Him, maybe to help Him. Maybe Peter isn't even thinking clearly, but just knows that he wants to be close by. Maybe he's already feeling guilty and wants to be see if he can do anything to help.

But here this girl is calling him out. She knows who he is. From the Gospel of John, we know that John let Peter in this close, and the servant girl at the door recognized Peter. This is why she says "also" in v67. She sees Peter with John, and knowing that John is a disciple, she accuses Peter of being one.

68 - But Peter denied it. This night, he doesn't want to be associated with Jesus. This night it could mean his death. This night, he puts himself higher than Jesus, in terms of importance. He still loves Jesus; he's still here, as close as he can get. But he doesn't want to give up his life for Jesus. Peter isn't there yet.

And for the first time, a rooster crows. It's almost hard to imagine Peter not remembering Jesus' words right now, but it he was still drunk / hungover from all the wine at the last supper, and he's been up all night. Further, his entire world has been turned around and he has no idea what's going to happen to next. I suppose it is believable that his mind was on other things, and he only barely registered the rooster's crow.

69 - But the servant girl really thinks she knows who Peter is. So she goes around and tells everyone that Peter is one of Jesus' disciples. Maybe she is just being a loyal servant, identifying someone she thinks her bosses/owners might like to arrest, because of his association to the man currently on trial. Maybe she's telling the courtyard guards, in case they might want to arrest Peter.

In any case, it's dangerous. If he is positively identified, he could be arrested and tried, then killed. So Peter denies it. He doesn't want to leave, but he also doesn't want to be known as a disciple of Jesus. Not now.

70 - But the girl has caught the bystander's ears. Now they start to see the connection, and they hear his accent. They realize he's from Galilee, not Judea. He's probably the only Galilean in the courtyard at this hour, besides John. He stands out.

71 - But he's almost at the breaking point. He starts cursing himself and swearing not to know Jesus. He's making a scene desperately trying to deny any connection between him and the man on trial.

72 - And then immediately the rooster crows a second time, and Peter remembers. Jesus said this would happen. And Peter can't do anything but weep.




What does this tell us about us, about human nature?

Peter thought he was a disciple of Jesus' for a long time. He thought Jesus was his Master, and that he would gladly die for Him if the need ever arose.

Then Jesus was arrested, instead of ascending to the throne. Peter expected to march with Jesus to victory. Instead, association with Jesus can now mean an inglorious death.

So now, Peter denies Jesus with curses and swearing.

I don't think Peter's heart changed. I think the stresses of this situation revealed that Peter's heart had never been fully geared towards Jesus before. Peter loved Jesus, but he ultimately loved himself a bit more. When it came time to choose between death with Jesus and life with himself, he chose himself.

He was eager to go along with Jesus, to follow Him to victory. Yet this revealed that he was so eager, not because Jesus would be glorified, but because he himself would receive power, be in command, be recognized, etc. He likely wanted Jesus to be glorified, of course, and probably would never had said or even thought that what he was really after was his own glory. Yet this situation revealed how much he had been lying to himself, before.

Our capacity for self-deception is enormous. Peter was fully convinced he would die for Jesus, that Jesus was his highest priority. Then a few hours later, Peter can't deny how self-centered his heart is.

We should never think we know ourselves purely or perfectly. We often need others to show us our blindspots, to help us grow, to keep us accountable. We deceive ourselves far too easily. We want to be deceived into thinking that we are better than we are. We want to justify behaviors that are wrong. We want to cut ourselves some slack.

But without others in our lives to speak into our lives, to spot out this weaknesses, we'll be like Peter and realize after it's too late that we never really knew our own hearts. We thought we knew ourselves, but we were wrong. And now we watch our lives collapse around us.

We are far more selfish than we ever let ourselves realize.



What glory of God is this passage revealing?

In the first place, Jesus clearly knew the future. He prophesied exactly what would happen. Peter witnessed this many times before, and it was always a positive thing: my Master knows the future! How cool is that?

Yet now, it's painful. Jesus knew what was in Peter's heart, and He saw it coming with pinpoint accuracy.

Which reveals an even greater glory of God: He knew all of our failures before He ever called us to follow Him. Jesus knew He was calling a flawed, imperfect, impetuous, arrogant, selfish man when He called Peter to be his disciple. Yet Jesus still called him.

And after Jesus rose, He again called Peter. He didn't make Peter do penance, or do things to atone for his denial. Instead, Jesus simply re-states His love for Peter, and appoints him to care for His sheep.

God doesn't want us to atone for our failures. We don't need to hide ourselves from Him when we've failed. He already knew; He knew we would fail in that way long before we were ever born. And it didn't stop Him from calling us to be His.

We don't need to work to make things right between ourselves and God. We'll never be perfect; we'll always be stained by imperfection and failure. Yet Jesus already did the work to make things right with God. He already went to the Cross, taking our failures and sins and stains and imperfections on Himself, and dying for them, suffering God's wrath against them. He did this to make us clean, to make us perfect.

So when we fail, we don't need to beat ourselves up about it. We need only to admit it and move on. Jesus knows we fail; our failure can never surprise Him. That's the majesty of God: He works through us, despite our weaknesses. When we are weak, He is strong.

If anyone questions whether God exists, they have only to look at the frail, imperfect people God uses to change the world. Peter was not a genius, he wasn't uniquely talented, he was a standard blue-collar worker who was bold while being stupid and constantly missed what Jesus was saying. Peter is the biggest failure in the 12 disciples. And yet Jesus choses for him to lead them. Peter didn't accomplish these things by himself. All he can do by himself is fail and weep. Only by the grace of God can this traitor become the fearless preacher and evangelist of the book of Acts.

Perhaps Jesus elevates Peter to this office precisely because Peter has failed so much. Peter used to be stupidly bold, confident without cause. Yet here that implodes; the man who boldly declares he'll die with Jesus instead wets himself when confronted by a young servant girl. He realizes he's a fraud, and he weeps, knowing he has denied his Master, effectively ending his discipleship.

Peter is uniquely humbled by this experience. Jesus exposes his heart, and Peter sees the depths of his self-deception, his stupidity, his false confidence, his sin. And yet Jesus still calls him, still apoints him, still empowers him, still uses him. Peter, perhaps more than any other apostle, realizes that he is not being used because he's such a great guy. He doesn't deserve the position he's given. It is only by the grace of God, the completely undeserved gifting of Jesus, that sees Peter become anything more than a commom fisherman.

So after this night, and after the resurrected Jesus re-instates him, Peter lives and breathes humility. He realizes it's not about him.

It's all about Jesus.



This also means that Christians can never, ever view themselves as better than someone else. We did not deserve our salvation. We fail God constantly. The only reason we're saved is because God is giving us something we could never earn for ourselves.

The best of us are usually the worst of us. Peter because the leader of the 12 Apostles, yet he was the worst failure of them all. In human terms, he deserved that office the least. Yet God equipped him beyond himself, and Jesus called Peter to it specifically. Peter thought he had lost forever the opportunity to serve Jesus; that's why he weeps at the end of chapter 14. Denying your Rabbi meant that you were done as a disciple; your career in ministry was over from that point. Peter thought he would have to go back to fishing, which is why you find him fishing again at the end of the Gospel of John. Jesus restored him to the office he had forfeited willingly. He didn't deserve it, and he knows it. That's why Peter worships Jesus: Jesus is far better to Peter than Peter could ever deserve. The Master who forgives all sin and calls you to a life that transcends failure -- this Master is one worth serving!

This is how awesome our God is. He doesn't let our failures defeat us. He saves us, even from our imperfect selves.



And if I can interject a historical note, this passage is one of the reasons why we can trust that the Scriptures weren't editted and changed throughout the years. People often assert that the Bible was editted and changed constantly by those in power, to support their own power base.

There are many problems with this idea, one simply being that there is absolutely no historical evidence of it. The earliest manuscripts we have, dating all the way back to the 1st century, are the same as the rest we find throughout history. They haven't been altered in any substantial way (there are a few scribal errors, misplaced punctuation, etc., but those are easily spotted and fixed).

A second argument against this is to realize how often the disciples fail. Peter became a prominent leader in the early church, easily one of the most powerful men. Yet he didn't change these stories at all. He didn't use his position and influence to make himself appear better in these stories. He left the painful truth there for all to see.

It would be so easy to simply delete this passage, because the entire point of it is to show how Peter deceived himself and failed. You could just remove this part, remove the line about the disciples running away when Jesus was arrested, and suddenly you have a story where Peter doesn't fail so much. With a few careful deletions, you can make it seem like Peter knew what was happening all along, trusted Jesus, and after Jesus rose from death, it would make perfect sense why He would appoint Peter as leader, if Peter seems to be faithful through it all. Instead Peter appears as the worst of all the disciples.

This would be akin to a presidential candidate writing an autobiography describing how their life is nothing but a series of failures, and they are actually the worst qualified candidate in the race. That would undermine their position and destroy their authority. Yet that's what Peter does. He's not building a power base through politics. He's not creating a facade of him being a super Christian. If people know anything about him, they know him to be a failure, a bad disciple.

Yet Jesus still loves him. Jesus still calls him. Jesus still appoints and equips him. Jesus still uses him to lead the early church through some of its hardest times.

Not because Peter is amazing. Because Jesus is glorious. Because our God does not judge as humans do, and He calls us to be more than we ever could amount to, ourselves.

We know we can trust the Scriptures, because they're honest. These people aren't fake. They're exactly as real as we are, right down to their hidden sins and failures. So when Jesus loves even the worst of failures, we can have absolute confidence that He can love us.



What should we change in our lives?

If we don't have people like this in our lives, we need them. Find them, make sure they're trustworthy. Give them access to your life, to really know you, and to speak openly to you about your strengths and weaknesses. It might be painful, but it's necessary.

Also: when they speak, listen. Peter had this guy: Jesus. Jesus told him exactly what would happen, how selfish his heart really was. Peter didn't listen. It didn't feel right. They were on the cusp of victory, he thought; how could he possibly deny his Master, his King?

But Jesus was right. Peter's heart was still selfish. If Peter had listened, how much pain could he have avoided?

We should also stop trying to hide our failures, or pay God back for them. He already knows. He knew before He ever called us. And it didn't stop Him from calling us in the first place.

We should finally, fully trust in the Gospel of Jesus: He took ALL of our sins upon Himself, removing them from us forever by suffering their just penalty on the Cross. We'll never be stained by our failures again. Even when we fail, we can know that we are already washed clean and forgiven by the blood of Jesus. We don't do good deeds to pay God back for our sins, to make penance; we do good things in sheer gratitude for the grace that God has given us.

The Fear of God is the Beginning of True Community

The Fellowship of the Believers

[42] And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. [43] And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. [44] And all who believed were together and had all things in common. [45] And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. [46] And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, [47] praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

(Acts 2:42-47 ESV)

I almost brushed past this passage.  It's kind of "Oh that's nice, everything's going well.  Let's move on to something interesting, something that can teach me how to do ministry."

This passage has a great deal to teach us about ministry, specifically about how to have a church this healthy.

It moves sequentially.

Start with verse 42: They all devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  They didn't just listen to a sermon, enjoy a few donuts, and say a quick prayer.  They devoted themselves to these things, like we devote ourselves to video games, or to football, or to shopping, or to gossiping, or to the pursuit of sexual pleasures.  They were consumed by the desire to have more teaching, more fellowship, more prayers, more communion.

Then verse 43: Awe and fear came upon every soul.  This is key.  They didn't just commit to a church gathering; they were consumed by awe and fear of a God who is bigger than themselves.  They weren't worshiping themselves in church, serving their own need for spiritual things.  They were in awe of a God so great that He is deserving of all worship and praise.

In other words, they weren't selfish.  They weren't concerned first and foremost with themselves; they were concerned first and foremost with God.  This is absolutely essential to a healthy church, and it's something many churches don't have.

Many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.  This undoubtedly increased the awe and fear of God, but notice that the awe and fear did not start here.  First, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to communion, to prayers.  Then awe and fear came, and it was reinforced through signs and wonders.

Granted, one could say that a sign began it all, with Jesus rising to Heaven and tongues of fire landing on all the apostles.  But the point is that the signs were not their substance.  Their substance, their day-to-day spiritual subsistance, was teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, prayers.  Signs and wonders were the icing on the cake.

Consider it like food.  Signs and wonders are like sugar, or energy drinks.  They are great ways to begin a meal; they kick your metabolism into over-drive.  But if that's the only food you have, you won't be healthy.  You may have spurts of energy and passion, but then you'll crash, and have nothing to fall back on.  You need a healthy diet full of breads, meats, veggies, fruits, dairy.  That food sustains you, so that when these bursts of miracle energy drinks come, you can fully enjoy and appreciate them.

In other words, it's usually not true that if people only saw a miracle, then they'd believe.  It certainly works this way with some; they saw Jesus heal, so they believed.  But others saw Jesus heal and said He had a demon.  Miracles by themselves aren't as important as we make them out to be.  It is far more important to be devoted to true teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayers.  Only with a solid foundation in these can you properly be in awe and fear of God.

You can be in awe of something you don't know, but after that initial wonder fades, what's left?  Usually nothing.  We move on, change the channel, or find something else to amaze us.  For awe and fear to support a healthy relationship, we have to know the One of whom we are in awe.  For awe to truly sustain us, we have to have a relationship to fall back on when the high of wonder fades.  

Notice that verse 44 comes after 42 and 43.  In other words, you can't strive for unity directly.  You can't have sessions to promote unity, to bring people together.  It might work for a weekend, but not for a lifetime.  To truly achieve this level of unity, Christians must be devoted to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and to prayers.  We must be truly in awe of God, truly fear Him.  Only then can we actually be united.  Only then can we gladly sell everything we have and give the money away.

Can you imagine a selfish Christian selling everything they have and gleefully giving the money away?  By definition, it's impossible.  To unlock this kind of generosity and joy, a Christian must be devoted to the things of God and in true awe and fear of Him.  

To sum it up, you don't have an amazingly healthy church by focusing on having a healthy church.  You get a healthy church as a by-product of being devoted to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayers, and most importantly, of being in awe and fear of God.  Without that, you can never have a healthy church.  You might have a healthy social club where people greet each other with smiles, but you won't have a place where people joyfully sell their possessions to take care of all the needs around them.  At best, you'll have a gathering of selfish people who enjoy each other because they're already like each other.

Glad and generous hearts do not come about as a result of catering to the whims of congregants, of designing a church specifically to please its members.  Glad and generous hearts only come about when the people are so captivated by Jesus that He is more important to them than they themselves are.  And I think you should know how to get there, since I've already repeated it about a dozen times.

Look at verse 47.  These people were praising God even when they were selling away all of their possessions and giving the proceeds away.  When is the last time you saw this happen in an American church?  We can praise God; we have amazing worship services.  But can we praise God when our lives suddenly are not centered around ourselves?

These Christians had the favor of all the people.  It's not hard to see why.  Even in American culture, people who sell their riches just to help those in need make the front cover of TIME magazine.  It's engrained in our souls; we celebrate sacrifice that helps other people, especially those in dire need.

Contrarily, no one celebrates a social club that is so selfish, it's members rarely give more than 1-2% of their income ot help others.  No one celebrates a church that builds a $7 million new sanctuary while people in their city are starving to death.  No one celebrates people who gleefully run to the store to buy the latest fashion trends or video games, yet cannot spare a few dollars to buy medicine for children who will die without it.

If a church truly looks like this Acts 2 church, then it should be no wonder that God will add to their number daily those who are being saved.  On the other hand, if a church looks like most churches in America, then it's no wonder that God is not adding people to it.  

It almost feels like I'm being too harsh, but I think the text warrants this.  If people are in church because they love God and want to worship Him in true awe and fear, then that church is usually growing, and it's usually healthy.  If people are in church for any other reason, then it usually isn't growing or healthy.  These other reasons can be nearly anything: it's what you've always done, it's where you hang out with your friends, you want your kids to be brought up right, you want to take care of your nagging spiritual conscience, you want to be served a good religious experience, you're dragged by a family member or friend, you feel guilty for sin and want to atone for it by doing "good stuff", you really like the music, the pastor is funny, the youth group is entertaining, there's a hot girl there that you want to hit on, etc.  

It seems weird to our modern ears, since everything in American culture screams that life is all about us, and we have a right to be selfish and take care of ourselves.  Yet that's not the message of this passage.  In this passage, the Christians aren't being selfish.  They're self-less, giving away everything.  And notice that every need is being met, with glad and generous hearts, in true community that sincerely cares for everyone.  

And it didn't happen with government initiatives, or food-for-the-hungry programs, or cute commercials on TV.  It happened by people drawing near to God, knowing Him, and being in fearful awe of Him.  

To make it simple: if your church is primarily about you, then you are what's making your church unhealthy.  If your church is primarily about God, then amazing things will happen.

Biblical Genocide

A Brief Word About Genocide in the Bible

People often rage against the God of the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, because God commands and condones genocide against entire ethnic groups.  They are furious, wondering how in the world a God of love could do such despicable acts.

These situations certainly need to be dealt with.  But I caution a modern person against picking up the Bible, flipping straight to these passages, and then raging against God.  You don’t know the full story.  And just to illustrate the folly of that, consider the United States.

Suppose you knew nothing about the U.S., but just casually flipped on the TV on the night President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed by Navy Seals.  You might be outraged.  How could a modern, enlightened government condone assassination?  Are we that bloodthirsty?  How could America spend billions of dollars just to hunt down and kill one man?  He probably didn’t even deserve that!  How corrupt is this government?

If you have no idea who bin Laden was, or what he had done, or what kinds of things he would gladly do if given the chance, you have no understanding of why an assassination was ordered.  Yes, normally it is despicable to kill people.  But in this case, bin Laden was responsible for the deaths of thousands of U.S. citizens.  They weren’t soldiers trying to kill him; they were civilians, simply going about their day, probably having no idea of who bin Laden was.  Bin Laden hated America and would gladly keep up his attacks if given the time, resources, and personnel.  

There may even be a few Americans who think the assassination was still deplorable, that no modern nation should resort to such things.  Yet consider the alternative.  Would you rather let him live and work freely, arranging further attacks and killing thousands more Americans?  This is a man who is unwavering in his contempt for America.  Would you really let him roam freely, knowing that thousands of your fellow citizens, or even your family and friends, may pay the price with their lives?

In this situation, most people today would acknowledge that we had to pull the trigger.  bin Laden was an enemy committed to killing us; it was literally us or them.  We realize the assassination was necessary, and we accept.  Most of us even cheered when we heard the news!

So we do admit, at some level, that killing can be justified.  Yet when we open the Bible, we automatically assume that none of the killings were justified and that God is a homicidal maniac, gleefully ordering thousands to their deaths.

If we did our research, we might realize how bloodthirsty these cultures were.  When Israel invaded the Promised Land, the tribes there were not innocent hippies, loving peace.  They were sacrificing their children in fires, worshipping their pagan gods.  They delighted in attacking and destroying people groups they didn’t like.  Worst of all, they cared nothing for God, the One who had created them and blessed them with every good thing they ever had.  Instead of worshiping Him, they worshiped demons, declaring rebellious, murderous spiritual beings as more worthy of praise than the very God who created them.  Their sins stank to high Heaven; God was fully just in killing them.  Yet even so, God is more gracious that any human.

Consider that when the Patriarchs were living in Israel, these same people groups were already living there.  Yet God did not wipe them out then.  In Genesis 15, as God is speaking to Abraham, He tells him, “And they [Abraham’s descendsnts] shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”  Instead of wiping them out when they first sinned, God allowed them hundreds of years to change their ways.  They had priests telling them the ways of God; Melchizedek, the priestly king of Salem, lived on the current site of Jerusalem, knowing and proclaiming the words of God to the surrounding peoples.  Yet the Amorites refused to listen.  They persisted in their sins, their rebellion.  

Imagine the United States having an enemy, a culture that literally fed their babies to fires, and who completely hated us.  They would destroy us in an instant if given the opportunity.  Any President would be justified in declaring war against them and defending the country by removing this threat.  Yet imagine the United States instead allowing this country to live.  Not only that, but the U.S. keeps giving it gifts.  Presidents keep open dialogues, constant communication, trying to resolve a peace with this people group.  This goes on for 400 years.  Yet despite all that the U.S. can do, this country still hates America and will do anything to destroy us.  

That’s the situation Israel was in when they went in to take the land.  Remember that Israel is the people of God; He is their leader.  He has been immensely merciful to the Amorites, to the peoples who lived in the Promised Land.  He kept preaching His word to them, kept lavishing blessings on them, kept giving them life and health.  He gave them century after century after century after century to turn to Him, to stop rebelling against Him, to accept His peaceful solution.  Yet they persisted in their rebellion, in their hatred of God.  So after all this time, God finally said enough is enough.  Because of their continual, willful, unrepentant rebellion, God destroyed them.

Still, do not think that Israel has a special place of being able to kill whomever they want.  God warned them, saying that if they followed the example of the Amorites, He would eventually kill them and drive them out of the land for the same reasons that they destroyed the Amorites.  Israel didn’t listen.  They became exactly like the Amorites, even worshiping the same pagan deities and sacrificing Israelite children to the flames.  The valley of Gehena, just outside Jerusalem, was well known as a place where the fires never died and the worm didn’t cease.  The screams of babies burning to death could frequently be heard from its depths.  It is no wonder, then, that Jesus later used Gehena as a frequent illustration of what hell was like.

Yet even then, God was patient.  He wanted centuries, almost a millennium.  He sent prophet after prophet, messenger after messenger, all warning Israel to repent or face the same judgment they dealt to the Amorites.  They didn’t listen.  They killed the prophets.  They continually spurned God, ignoring Him to whore themselves out to whatever pleasures they desired, not caring that they were killing children and letting the poor starve.  After centuries upon centuries of rebellion, God eventually did raise up a foreign power to slaughter Israel and drive them away from the land they had covered in blood.

God is not cruel.  He is not bloodthirsty.  He continually pleads with people to turn to Him, to repent of rebellion, to know His peace and love.  Only after their continual rebellion, after having countless chances to settle the matter peacefully, does God finally use violence.  

God is far more patient, graceful, and understanding than the best world leaders Earth has ever known.  He loves His enemies even to the point of pouring out blessings on people groups who hate Him, and He does so for centuries, pleading with them to repent of rebellion and turn to Him.  No human being is that good.  No human people group is that good.  

Our God is.

Mark 1:16-20

Jesus Begins His Ministry

[14] Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, [15] and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
[Jesus Calls the First Disciples]
[16] Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. [17] And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” [18] And immediately they left their nets and followed him. [19] And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. [20] And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

(Mark 1:14-20 ESV)

Asking what this meant to the original audience is a surprisingly difficult question.  If you read Mark straight though, there doesn't seem to be a problem, here.  But if you read Mark in parallel with Matthew, Luke, and John, and start asking questions about the timeline, then the importance becomes clearer.  

What we don't realize at first blush is that this scene happens many months into Jesus' Galilean ministry.  The clue is in 1:14, which indicates that Mark skips over everything that happened before John the Baptist was arrested, which doesn't happen until after the first few chapters of John.  Mark skips over the Judean ministry of Jesus, including Jesus' first meeting with Peter and Andrew in John 1,  the cleansing of the Temple, the night-time conversation with Nicodemus, the meeting with the woman at the well, and the gathering to Himself of all of John the Baptists' disciples, whom John was gladly giving Him.  

If I remember correctly from listening to Doug Bookman talk about this timeline, Jesus returned to Galilee through Samaria (John 4) and sent the disciples to go and call all they knew from their home town who had been baptized by John.  While they waited for Jesus to meet up with them, they went back to fishing with their families.  When Jesus shows up to claim them, He speaks the words of Mark 1:17.  And of course they leave their nets immediately; they already know this man, this is what they want!  (Side note: they probably don't sell their boats, since their father and hired servants still need them to make a living, and because they are using them again in John 21).  

So what's the point talking about an obscure point like the timeline of the Gospels?  Because it makes a substantially different point.  Reading Mark 1:16-20 in a vaccuum makes it seem like a strange man calls Jesus shows up, calls out to some strangers "Follow me," and they immediately do, without knowing anything about Him.  Preachers who don't know any better might be tempted to teach about faith at this point, trusting Jesus even if we can't see the future.  But this is not a call to blind faith!  The disciples do not follow Jesus out of some spiritual notion of blind trust; they don't follow Him because He glows or has a halo; they don't follow Him because He looks magical; they don't follow Him because He mystically draws them and they have no control over themselves.

They come to Jesus because they know Him, and they want to be with Him.

By this point in the story, He has already cleansed the Temple, which instantly made Him famous throughout all of Israel.  He has already been baptized by John, where John's disciples met Him for the first time, including Peter and Andrew.  Jesus has already turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana.  He has already talked with Nicodemus and said the famous line of John 3:16.  Jesus has already read from Isaiah in Nazareth, fulfilling the text and angering the townspeople up to a murderous rampage.  Jesus has already demonstrated who He is.  They know Him.

Jesus is calling each of us.  So why should we respond to His calling?  Hopefully, because we know Him.

Some of God's commands may seem harsh, or difficult to implement.  Give 10% of ALL my money?  etc.  But the more we know Jesus, the more we see who He really is, the easier it is to obey Him.  The more we realize how much He loves us, how gloriously captivating He is, how wise He is, how powerful He is, the more we are willing to lay down our all for Him.  And not begrudgingly, but delightfully.  If you get to know Jesus well, then you'll be eager to get to be with Him, like the disciples are here.  

But this isn't supposed to make you feel guilty.  It's to invite you in.  Take this time to study Jesus, to really get to know Him deeply.  The more you do, the more you fill find yourself captivated by Him.

So what glory of Jesus does this passage reveal?  That He is worthy of being followed, that when people see who He really is, they can't help but follow.  And further, that He doens't expect blind devotion.  He proves who He is to the disciples, after which they gladly follow.  This is why we have four Gospels.  We can get to know Jesus very well in these pages, and as we do, we can gladly follow.

Why does Mark record this incident without mentioning the earlier Judean ministries?  Hard to say for sure, but my guess is that this is the moment that was most prominent to Peter.  It was this moment, with the words "fishers of men," that really stuck with Peter and defined his calling.  It summarizes so perfectly the life of a disciple.  First, Jesus calls - it's His initiative.  Second, we follow Him - we are responsible to follow, to obey, to submit, to change.  Third, He makes us fishers of men - by His Spirit He equips us with everything we need to do the work He has called us to do.  [I'm pretty sure I took these three stages from someone, but I can't remember exactly who.]

Also realize from Luke that by this point Jesus has already healed Peter's mother-in-law from her sickness.  So perhaps Peter and Andrew met Jesus with John the Baptizer, who gladly gave his disciples over to Jesus.  They followed Jesus around to the Judean ministry.  But when did the Temptation in the Wilderness happen?  If immediately after Jesus' baptism by John, then it doesn't much play into this timeline, but if it was after the Judean ministry, then it could explain why the disciples go back to fishing.  If Jesus takes off for 40 days alone, the disciples needed to do something, so they went back fishing.  Maybe they never expected to be full-blown talmidim (full-time disciples belonging to a specific rabbi); maybe they were only following Jesus like the crowds.  Maybe they never thought they could be talmidim, because they lacked the academic requirements.  It's only here, when Jesus specifically calls them to follow Him, that they become truly committed as talmidim. Now they finally leave their nets, and don't return to them until the end of John, after the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Mark 1:1-8

Mark 1:1-8: John the Baptizer Prepares the Way


[1:1] The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.


[2] As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, [3] the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” 


[4] John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. [5] And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. [6] Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. [7] And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. [8] I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 


(Mark 1:1-8 ESV)




What did it mean to the original audience?


v1 - Anyone seeking information about Jesus can find it here.  And just to clarify: this Jesus is the Son of God.


v2-3 - This is the fulfillment to the ancient prophecies.  This is the Messiah the Jews were waiting for, the Lord.  And John is the messenger, the one preparing the way.  For the Jews, this will perk the ears up, one way or the other.  For Romans or other Gentiles, it means that some ancient prophecies are being fulfilled, which should grab your attention, even if you haven't believed these ancient things up until now.


v4 - Jews needed to kill animals to be forgiven of sins.  Now John comes offering baptism for the forgiveness of sins.  That's got to be attractive!  Instead of buying and killing animals, you just get dunked?  Of course, baptism for Jews meant initiation into a way of life, so it was a life change (after all, it was a baptism of repentance; you get baptized because you are changing the course of your life).  But still, being washed with water to forgive sins?  Sweet!


the Jordan River has great meanings for Israel.  They crossed the Jordan to enter Israel, to enter into God's rest and promise.  So now they are entering into the Jordan to enter a time of peace, forgiveness of sins, rest, healing.  God was calling people back to Himself, and they were coming.


v7 - John is humble, the coming Messiah worthy of extreme honor.  John is baptizing the entire nation in repentance, yet he is not worthy to do the task of the lowliest servant to Jesus.  This is highly exalting Jesus, even before He has been revealed to the people.  He must increase, John must decrease.


v8 - Baptize with the Holy Spirit - fulfillment of OT prophecies.  This is Yahweh coming to be with His people!  Great news for Jews.  What would Gentiles have thought?  Clearly a divine blessing, a good thing. 



What does it mean for us, today? 


This same Gospel message calls us to repentance, to the forgiveness of sins.  It's not just a historical story about a guy who lived 2,000 years ago.  It calls us to repent of our sins, be baptized into new life in Him, and be baptized with the Holy Spirit, filled with divine power.  This is about life transformation. 


And we can have confidence in this message because it was prophesied from ancient times.  Jesus came in complete fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.  Even in today's world of technology and skepticism, that has to make us take notice.  Jesus fulfilled prophecies that were hundreds and thousands of years old, and we can verify them historically.  If we're going to verify historical claims, this is the best way to do them.  Not just verifying that something happened, but verifying that it was predicted from ancient times and happened exactly to the letter. That makes this unique out of all history.  Thus we should believe it.


If we are baptized by the Holy Spirit, we should be living like it.  We should be living in the power of the Spirit, exercising the gifts of the Spirit, demonstrating the fruits of the Spirit, praying with the Spirit (Romans 8), worshiping God in spirit and in truth. 


Yet to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, we need to repent of our sins and be baptized (commit our lives to Jesus, responding to the call to initiate a new life in Him).  (This doesn't mean we have to be physically dunked in water before the Holy Spirit can descend; baptism is the outward sign of what's happened inside.  The inside piece needs to happen before the Holy Spirit fills us). 


This passage also should motivate us to model John in lessening ourselves and glorifying Jesus.  It's all about Jesus, and we should live like it is.  He is always mightier than us, always God, while we are always mortal humans.  We should be humble before God.  We are not worthy of Him, yet He loves us and has always loved us, and so He comes to us and gives us new life with Him.  This is why we love Him!


So this passage announces to us the arrival of a Messiah predicted from ancient times, who calls us to repent of our sins, be baptized into new life, recognize that we are humble before Him, and live in the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is intense!




What does it call us to do? 


Renounce anything keeping us from doing what's above.  Repent of any sins we cling to.  Die to the old life and live in the new.  Truly live in the power of the Spirit, carrying out the mission of the Spirit, to preach the Gospel and bring the loving, fulfilling worship of Jesus to the entire world. 


If you haven't already, trust in Jesus!  Be baptized into new life in Him!  Repent of your sins, and open yourself up to this amazing new life!


For me, to realize that the power I have isn't mine, it isn't limited to my abilities.  I have the Spirit in me.  I can do anything through Him!  I am a vessel, a channel for His power.  The dead will rise, the sick be healed, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the oppressed will be liberated, the lost will be found, the dying will be saved.  All by the Spirit's power!  This is all about Jesus! 




What does this teach us about ourselves? 


John is weird.  Most of us aren't like this, devoting our lives exclusively to the Gospel.  Most of us cling to our own special little things, keeping parts of our lives back from God.  Our nature is to be "normal," not to be the fundamentalist freak but to try to retain some aspect of a life that our culture deems as "normal."  I won't say this is entirely bad, but it does mean that few of us are operating at the level John did, baptizing entire nations in repentance for sins. 


"Christianity is not a system that will be tried and found insufficient, but it will be a system that is left untried."  Something like that.  Few of us are willing to be this radical.  Is it any wonder, then, that few of us are operating in this power?  We give God only small pieces of our lives, so we shouldn't be surprised when God only does small things through us.


This passage also tells us that people want to be healed and forgiven.  They want this.  No one wants to live life feeling guilty or ashamed of all they have done.  They want to be clean, to be free, to be forgiven.  Many people recognize they are messing up their lives, and they want a new way.  They eagerly cling to a baptism into a new way of life, if it is preached clearly to them.  We don't have to wrestle people into wanting this; the desire is there.  They are made to worship Jesus.  But there is a lot we have to clear away, including misconceptions, lies, ignorance, the desire to be gods ourselves, emotional attachments to sinful things, etc.  That's where the battle lies.  When people see God truly, they want Him (providing that their sins aren't killing them, like Isaiah 6). 




What glory of God is this passage revealing? 


He really knows all of time, to be able to prophesy all these things through prophets centuries and millennia ahead of time.  This is a God who speaks, who lets us know what He is doing, and who announces His coming clearly, so that we cannot have any excuse for missing Him.


God really does care about our lives, both about us individually and about how we live our lives.  Otherwise He would never ask us to repent, to live life as He intended it to be lived.


It also means that God designed our lives for a purpose, for glory.  There are things God designed us to do, purposes for which He created us, and He calls us to repent of the things that are holding us back from them.  He calls us to give up everything that's keeping us back from Him, from the enjoying the life of pure love and joy that He offers freely.  This is a tremendously good God!


And God is coming to us.  Jesus doesn't leave us alone, trying to struggle our way to Him, having no choice but to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.  He comes to us and does the work for us.  He meets us where we are and gives us new life in Him, empowering us with His Spirit.  He doesn't leave us to puzzle and philosophize and guess at who He is; instead, He reveals Himself to us through Scripture, through Old Testament prophecy and New Testament fulfillment.  Ultimately, He reveals Himself through coming down from Heaven and living as a flesh-and-blood human, who lives the perfect life, fulfilling the Law, and then attributing that life to us through His death and bodily Resurrection.  How awesome is that?

F1|25t P057!!! (That's "First Post," for those of you who don't read l33t).

Greetings!  


So this is a blog.  It's called The Imperfect Church Blog.  There's a reason for that.


But I'm not quite ready to reveal what that reason is just yet.  I assure you, when I talk about it, it will be filled with great wonder and glory, and will surely become one of the most talked-about blog posts since some guy named Steve incorrectly used a punctuation mark in a blog post and all the grammar sticklers descended on him in a rage of perfectly-typed English.


Still, I'll let you in on a little bit of what this blog will be about.  I'll post on a lot of theological topics, but for the most part, I'll approach it all exegetically.  Meaning that I'll post up a passage from Scripture and just talk about it, verse-by-verse.  Generally, I'll do this by asking five questions of each passage:


1)  What did this passage mean to its original audience?  (This can include both the people in the narratives/letters/etc., and the audience the author wrote the piece of literature to.  For example, in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, this question could talk about John the Baptist and the people he baptized, as well as the audience who read the first draft of the Gospel after Mark penned it around 60 A.D.)


2)  What does this passage mean for us, today?  (Sometimes it means exactly the same thing; sometimes we have to account for all the cultural and temporal distance.  For example, how does "do not steal" apply to a world of digital content, where downloading is simply making a copy, instead of removing the original item from someone's possession?)


3)  What does this passage call us to do?  (Despite some people insisting that church is only a matter of the heart, Scripture actually does call us to do things, from time to time).


4)  What does this passage tell us about ourselves?  (Scripture is the only perfect book that has ever been written.  As such, it perfectly and accurately describes the human condition in its many books.  So what is it telling us about ourselves in each passage?)


5)  What glory of God is this passage revealing?  (Every page of Scripture is about Jesus.  It is written to His glory; He is the main character.  So what is this passage uniquely contributing to this revelation?)


I'll post later today on Mark 1:1-8, where I simply ask these five questions and wrestle with the text until it gives me the answers.  


For the boring purposes of copyright issues: everything I write in these posts are my own thoughts, unless I indicate otherwise.  Given that I've attended Wheaton College for a major in Bible in Theology, then Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for a Master of Divinity degree, I've got a lot of sources pouring ideas into my head.  As such, it's possible I may unintentionally refer to someone else's ideas.  I will endeavor my hardest to avoid this, and I'll cite whenever I take a thought or quote from someone else.  But for the most part, the content of these posts is coming just from little ol' me.  Which is to say, it's all the result of the gifts God gave me, so all glory should go to Him for anything good that I write.  And as for anything wrong... well, I'm still an imperfect person, and this is an imperfect blog.  So if you see anything imperfect, just let it spark a longing in your heart for the New Heavens and New Earth, when all imperfection fades away and we are left with the perfect beauty of God dwelling with us.