24 Hours that Changed the World Session 3: The Condemned by the Righteous

Icebreaker: Please share your name along with the answer to this question, “Would you rather betray a friend or be betrayed by a friend?” (i.e. Betrayer or Betrayed)

John Wesley's “Covenant” Prayer (From Session 2)

I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by you, or laid aside by you, exalted by you or brought low by you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are mine, and yours. So be it. And the covenant, which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

Opening Prayer (Volunteer)

Lord, you are the God who saves me; day and night I cry out to you. May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry. I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like one without strength. (Psalm 88:1-4)

And all God’s people said… “Lord, hear my cry. Amen.”

Our Biblical Foundation – Mark 14:53, 55, 61-72 (4 Volunteers)

* All scripture citations are from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise specified.

53 They took to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law came together.

55 …The chief priests and the whole were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any.

61 …But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

62 “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Page 1 63 The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. 64 “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”

They all condemned him as worthy of death. 65 Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him.

66 While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. 67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.

“You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.

68 But he denied it. “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway.

69 When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” 70 Again he denied it.

After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”

71 He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.”

72 Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

24 Hours (Adam Hamilton) Video Segment and Discussion

• Imagine what it would have been like to walk barefoot for twenty minutes up to where you were then lowered into a pit, hands shackled above your head for several hours. As the “betrayed” and knowing what was before him, what do you think Jesus may have been thinking or feeling at that time? • What would you be thinking or feeling? • Recall the image of the statue of Peter that depicts his three denials. What aspects of Peter and his betrayal do you think the sculptor wants the viewer to consider? • Get into the mind of Peter for just a moment. How could he do what he did? How might his earlier statement to Jesus regarding the fact that he would leave Christ’s side represent “good intentions” and nothing more on Peter’s part? • Agree or disagree? “So often we think we can follow Jesus in our own strength. Peter thought this way. The truth is, even though we think we would do better, we are just like Peter.”

Page 2 • How are the Christian “masses” just like Peter so to speak when it comes to still denying Christ today? What does this denial look like? • The statement is made at the end of the video segment that “if there is hope for Peter, there is hope for us.” To what extent has that been true for you in your faith experience? How has this realization encouraged you in the past?

24 Hours (Adam Hamilton) Book Segment(s) and Discussion

[From Chapter 3 of 24 Hours that Changed the World]

We need to step back from this scene for a moment to recognize its full import and appreciate its tragic irony. Christians believe that in Jesus, God walked in human flesh on this earth. He was in that sense like an emperor who so desires to know his subjects that he dons ordinary clothes and lives among them, with no one recognizing or understanding him. The God of the universe chose to walk in human flesh as an itinerant preacher, teacher, carpenter, healer—and pauper. He came as one of us. He healed the sick, forgave sinners, showed compassion to the lost, and taught people what God was really like. We must not miss the irony here: It was not the “sinners” who arrested God when he walked among us. Those who took him into custody and tried him were the most pious and religious people on the face of the earth. The God they claimed to serve walked among them in the flesh, and they could not see him. They were so blinded by their love of power and their fear of losing it that they missed him (page 48).

• In what ways would you say Jesus is still a threat to the way of life of people today? • To what extent do you think people’s resistance to Jesus and his message is motivated by fear? Pride or self-reliance?

No one spoke up in the Sanhedrin. No one asked, “Is this really in keeping with our faith?” How many times in recent history has the same thing happened—during the Holocaust, in Jim Crow America, in South Africa, at Abu Ghraib, and in your life and mine. How many times have we known something was wrong but were afraid to speak up? I am not talking about simply pointing out other people’s sins. We all know Christians who freely point out the sins of others; they are not being courageous, just obnoxious. I am talking about those times when you are part of a group about to do something that is clearly wrong or when you see injustice being done to someone and all it would take would be one person speaking up, but everyone remains silent. What would have happened if one or two or three of those Sanhedrin members had simply said, “this isn’t right, regardless of what we think about this man. It’s not in keeping with what God teaches us” (page 52).

• When have you chosen to be silent rather than speak up on behalf of truth? • Is it easy to get “carried away” by friends and do things you know you should not do? Can you recall a time when you went along with the “crowd” and did what they did even though it was wrong? How did you feel after you took part

Page 3 in the activity? On the flipside, can you recall a time when you did stand up to the “crowd?” What did they do? How were you treated? How did you feel?

[Optional – If time] Finally, they looked at Jesus; and the high priest said, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” (Mark 14:61). All Jesus had to do was to keep silent, and there would have been no grounds for conviction; instead he replied in a manner deemed blasphemous for Jews and traitorous for Romans.

Jesus’ response to this question of his identity brings together three Old Testament allusions, each of which assured his conviction by the Sanhedrin. Let’s consider each of these. Jesus’ first statement is easy to read as a simple, literal answer to the question, “Are you the Messiah?” Mark records it as two Greek words: “Ego eimi,” or “I am” (Mark 14:62). , though, realized this was not a simple declarative. The straightforward answer would have been, “I am he,” “I am the Blessed One,” or even “I am the Messiah.” But a simple “I am” in the Greek seems to point toward something much more profound… (page 53).

• The Greek words Ego eimi (“I am”) contain a powerful proclamation about who Jesus is. Imagine Jesus speaking those words directly to you. What might he say to you in completing that thought: “I am ?”

The incident [Peter’s denial] is one of the few that is mentioned in all four Gospels, so all four writers must have considered it important. It was not included in order to embarrass Peter. The Gospels were written, in fact, after (tradition tells us) Peter had been crucified upside down for his faith. The Gospel writers knew the story because Peter must have regularly told the awful truth of that episode himself. None of the other disciples (except John) was there. Peter must have told it when he went to preach. Peter would surely have said, “I know you’ve denied Jesus. I denied him myself. I denied him in a way that I am deeply ashamed of, and yet I have to tell you: I betrayed the Lord, but he gave me grace. He took me back. And if you’ve denied him, he will take you back, too.” Peter wanted to reassure others that, despite the fact that there are times when all of us deny the Lord, he will continue to take us back and use us to accomplish his work. From that moment forward, Peter would never again deny Jesus (page 58).

• If you are able to share: When have you experienced the shame of realizing that you had denied Christ and longed for the assurance of his forgiveness? • How have you “owned up” to your own “Christ denials” and used them to encourage others?

Page 4 Reflection from God’s Word

Exodus 3:1-14

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”.

• Because Jesus’ suffering and death did not conform to the conventional messianic expectations of the day, the Gospel writers frequently appealed to the Old Testament to make sense of Jesus’ mission and messiahship. How does the burning bush story in Exodus 3 help make sense of Jesus’s response to Caiaphas in Mark 14:62?

Page 5 Psalm 110:1-4

The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” 2 The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!” 3 Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb. 4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

• How does the allusion to Melchizedek give meaning to Jesus’ role as God’s Messiah (i.e. was he the priest, the sacrifice or both)?

Hebrews 5:7-9

7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

• Reflect on the scene of Jesus’ trial in light of these verses from Hebrews. How is it possible to hold to the claim that “God is love” and also hear Jesus anguished plea, “Abba, Father…; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want but what you want…” (Mark 14:36)

Putting Things in Perspective [Optional – if time]

Imagine that you are Peter, slinking about the courtyard outside the house of Caiaphas. You linger near the edges among the flickering shadows because you are trying to hear what is going on inside the house and to avoid any contact with other people at the same time. Go inside Peter’s heart to sense his pain as he hears himself deny knowing Jesus. Listen with Peter’s ears to what you hear happening to Jesus inside the house. How do you reconcile the mixed feelings you are having at this moment?

Closing Personal Prayer and Benediction

Our Prayer Requests:

Page 6 Benediction (Volunteer)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. Amen (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

For Next Time

In preparation for next week: • Read over Mark 15:1-15 a few times and record (or take mental note) of any observations, questions or thoughts that come to mind. • What was it that made Christ so determined to save us despite the suffering he knew he would face? • What is your personal understanding of how the death and suffering of Christ can bring personal salvation for us? How does this concept humble or perhaps even baffle you?

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