MARK 14: "TRULY, I SAY TO YOU"

My wife and I have started to worship on-line with our friends in Anacortes and enjoy the preaching of all the staff there. I especially appreciate the sermons of their head pastor since he occasionally alludes to the literary patterns found in the biblical text.

For example, this week he was covering a portion of Mark 14 regarding Jesus' last hours before his arrest. He noted an ABA' organization formed by three occasions within the chapter of Jesus prefacing his remarks with the familiar words: “Truly (or Amen), I say to you.” All three refer to prophecies of future events.

        A. The woman who anointed Jesus by extravagantly emptying a jar of expensive perfume on his feet will be celebrated wherever in the world the gospel is proclaimed. (Mark 14:3-9)

                B. One of the twelve will betray him. (Mark 14:17-21)

        A'. Jesus will one day drink (with his followers) at the heavenly banquet table (Mark 14:22-25)

The preacher deduced rightly from this pattern that the Bible is demonstrating that there is no celebration without being accompanied by pain and suffering. Grace is not cheap. And, I would agree that this important insight is correct, in as far as it goes. But in fact, it goes even further than that in this case. Because there is actually one more “Truly, I say to you” present in Mark 14. It is found at Mark 14:29 where Jesus makes a final prophetic statement which extends the above pattern even more:

    A. We will celebrate the story of the woman

            B. Judas will betray Christ

    A'. We will celebrate with Him in heaven

            B'. Peter will deny Christ

Thus, the juxtaposition of joy and sorrow is expressed not just once, but twice in this chapter. And in addition, there are two more trends present in the above. Despite the ups and downs in this ABA'B' series, there is also a positive movement forward as well. A comparison of A and A' shows that today's celebration of the woman's story will pale in importance compared to the celebration awaiting us in heaven. Similarly, the out-and-out betrayal of Jesus of Judas which was unforgivable is much more serious than the slightly later repeated denials made by Peter, which were subsequently forgiven by the Lord. So both movements are in a positive direction.

We could also point to the narrative in Gethsemane which appears next in Mark 14. Now we see a type of our own behavior toward our Savior which continues the negative trend of B and B' but with each step being more subtle than the previous one. Judas betrayed Him; Peter denied Him; His three closest followers cannot keep awake with Him even in his greatest hour of need; and today we often relegate Jesus to a rather minor role in our whole life. So at best, we may not be accused of betraying, denying, or abandoning Him but we are all part of this common pattern of human failure and are in need of His grace.