Mark 14 60-72

I don’t know if you ever watch courtroom dramas on tv or not, but they are much more exciting than a real courtroom trial. There is much more license taken by the writers of the tv shows, so I guess that makes sense. The shows can be so dramatic when the witness stands up and says “I saw the defendant murder the victim through a back window” or something like that. You know that witnesses are important in any trial. Without witnesses the truth becomes much harder to figure out in a court case. If a witness can take the stand and say, that man robbed the bank, or that defendant did so and so, a conviction becomes easier. The truth doesn’t have to be discerned from finger prints, from hair fibers left behind and so forth. Likewise, a witness can free a defendant by saying, there is no way the defendant could have committed the crime because he wasn’t there, he was with me. There was an interesting case of this recently in LA. The defendant was charged with murder. His life was on the line. Convicted, he’d spend the rest of his life in jail. But in fact, the man hadn’t done it. In fact, during the murder, the defendant was at the Dodger game, but couldn’t prove it. That it, until he remembered that some filming was happening during the game for a tv show. His attorney contacted the film studio, looked in the background of the some of the shots they took, and there was the defendant. His witness was the camera crew, and the film they took.

We too are witnesses in our lives. People’s lives are on the line if we witness, or if we don’t. We are called to be speakers of the truth we have seen and experienced. Witnessing comes in many different forms, one of which we’ll look at today. But we can also shy away from witnessing, and we get to see that in today’s text as well. Let’s take a look at the text. Please stand.

Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

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

“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.”

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

They all condemned him as worthy of death. 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.

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

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

But he denied it. “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway. When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” Again he denied it. After a little while, whose standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”

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

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.

Let’s pray.

As you hopefully recall, we’ve been looking at Mark for a little while now. We have followed Jesus through the early aspects of His ministry; the calling of the disciples, the healings and the other miracles. We have read about Jesus traveling slowly to Jerusalem in order to celebrate the Passover, but also to be the new Passover, the new covenant God makes with humanity. We have read the events of the last week of Jesus life; the arrival, the events at the Temple, the arguments, and finally, the prophesy. We come today knowing Jesus has been captured, at night, by the guards doing the bidding of the chief priests. Judas has kissed Jesus and been given his 30 pieces of silver. The disciples have abandoned Jesus, running scared off into the night after a little bit of a scuffle.

False witnesses have been paraded before the chief priests and the whole council, but their statements about Jesus have not agreed. Their witness of the events of that last week is not credible, even to the chief priests who are actively looking for something to hang on Jesus so they can convict Him of something to shut Him up, and get Him out of the public eye. Jesus has declined to answer up until this point, but now He is given the opportunity to witness to the truth, to stand up and witness to the truth that is Himself, the Son of God, the Messiah, the way the truth and the life. As you know already, His witness is going to cost Him something. It will cost Him, in fact, His life. We worship a God who bore witness to the truth and was killed for it, like many early Christians were, and many Christians still are. Jesus is going to bear witness to Himself.

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

“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.”

Finally, after all the false testimony, we get to truth. The second time the high priest ask Jesus a question, Jesus answers. I think Jesus didn’t want to dignify the accusations against Him with a comment. When the statements don’t agree, the accusations are ridiculous, Jesus doesn’t feel compelled to answer that sort of nonsense. But then the high priest asks the right question. Who are you really? Jesus begins to testify to these men who He really is. They won’t believe it, which Jesus knows, but He testifies anyway to Himself.

Jesus answer is interesting. When Moses speaks to God in the burning bush, what name does God give Himself? God calls Himself “I am”. Yahweh. Jesus, I think purposely, uses this title for God in His response to their inquest. Who are you? I am God, is what the chief priests would have heard. Not only “I am”, but a further definition of who Jesus is is offered to them. He is the Christ, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah”, which means “Anointed One”. Further, Jesus quotes Daniel 7:13 as He has before. Daniel 7 is and was considered to be a messianic vision of the Son of Man, which seems to be one of Jesus’ preferred titles for Himself. So not only does Jesus witness to the chief priests and the counsel that He is the Christ, the Son of God, but He is also the Messiah, and He is Yahweh, I am. He and God are the same.

As you may have picked up, Jesus is a number of things all at the same time. He is fully God, and fully human. He is one being with both a divine and human nature. He is part of the Trinity, fully God. He is a priest to us, a prophet and our King. He is our sacrifice, and our Savior. He is our teacher, leader and friend. He is all of those things. I wanted you to be clear on all the things Jesus is. He is the Jewish Messiah, but He is so much more than that. Here Jesus touches on some of those things, and I just wanted to point them out to you.

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

They all condemned him as worthy of death. 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.

The high priest certainly understood what Jesus was saying. They clearly understood that Jesus was claiming to be God, Him appearing to be a mere man, and this was blasphemy, at least in their minds. It wasn’t blasphemy because it was the truth. Jesus witnessed to the truth, but the high priest chose to believe what he believed about Jesus, contrary to the evidence. In a courtroom drama like this one, the evidence Jesus had been providing through the past few years of His ministry were ignored. The people He healed were not allowed to testify to the truth. The miracles He performed were not recounted as a way to testify to the truth of Jesus words. All the evidence of Jesus life was discounted, so in a real way, this was not a trial, but a setup. They didn’t believe Jesus, and that was the end of the trial. The truth was presented, and it was not believed.

The same is true for us. We testify, we witness to the risen Christ. It is not our job to make people believe. We cannot. We are simply called to witness to Jesus in our lives; what a difference He makes, the peace we have, the changes we have seen in ourselves and others. We present Jesus words, “I am the Way, the Truth and the life and no one gets to the Father except through me” and “I and the Father are One.” And then we offer the evidence of our lives. Some people will listen; others already think they know the truth and will respond negatively. But that doesn’t matter. Our faithful response to the gift of salvation, the sacrifice of Jesus as He held onto our sins and was nailed to the cross, is that we witness to Him. Can you do that? It seems like such a little thing, to witness to the God who loves you so much that He went to the cross for your sins. One response to that love has to be to witness, to testify to the love you have received. I know you think you need courage, but it took courage to go the cross too.

Then the retribution begins with spit and fists, mocking voices asking for more proof of Jesus begins to die for us.

As we see Jesus witness to Himself, we get to see Peter do exactly the opposite. We get to see Peter deny Jesus, deny His rabbi and friend, deny the God who loves him.

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

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

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

Jesus had told Peter, “You will deny me.” And, as we remember, Peter said, now way. There is no way I will deny you, same as all the other disciples said to Jesus. But in the moment, Peter is faced with danger, possibly he can see the trial, see that Jesus is being set up, see that it won’t go well for Jesus. Peter at least is still following Jesus, but he isn’t willing to witness to Him. Boy does that feel familiar, doesn’t it. We feel like we are following Jesus, but not really witnessing to Him. Peter, the closest to Jesus, or at least one of the closest, is doing the same exact thing. Following Jesus, but when things get tough or hard, he is backing off, not witnessing, not standing up for Jesus.

Peter is going back on his word, he is going backward in the call of Christ to deny himself. Peter wants to follow, but isn’t willing to pay the price of following. He doesn’t know what it will cost him if he admits to being Jesus’ disciple. Will Jesus’ punishment become his as well? What would happen to him? Would he be spit upon, get punched in the face, would he get whipped? What are the drawbacks of standing up and witnessing? We think about that too…what if I get someone mad, or offend them? What if they ask a question I can’t answer, or what if they think differently about me, think that I’m a religious fanatic? I think we have look at it like we are trying to save someone’s life when we witness to them. We are trying to tell them the truth; there is a heaven and a hell, and heaven is infinitely better. We are trying to witness to Jesus words, that there is life eternal in Him alone. If they ask a question we can’t answer, then we’ll have to go and look up the answer. And I can help with that. If they think differently about us, maybe that’s not a bad thing. We witnessed. We testified. The results of the testifying are left up to God, but at least we were faithful.

When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” Again he denied it. After a little while, whose standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”

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

Peter gets another chance to witness to Christ. He blows it again. And again. He blows it big time; not only does he deny knowing Jesus, but he swears to them. Peter lies to protect himself. Peter lies on the witness stand. The people give Peter another couple chances to witness to the truth, and he blows it. Time after time, Peter is called, under some duress, let’s be honest, to witness to the truth, to testify for Christ. And Peter fails. I have always had the image of God as a God of second chances, and third chances, and fourth chances…God knows that humans are fallible. Paul says in Second Corinthians that we have this treasure in clay jars. The treasure being the hope of Jesus, in our lives. The trouble with clay jars is that they crack, and they leak. Peter cracks here. He knows what he should be doing, but he fails, he cracks under pressure. Oddly, this failure is the last time we see Peter in the Gospel of Mark. Even in the extended ending of Mark, which we aren’t going to look at, Peter is not mentioned. This failure is the final word in Mark about Peter.

In fact, it is John who records Peter being restored by Jesus, recommissioned as it were, to feed Jesus’ lambs and tend His sheep. You can read about it all in John 21, along with a very successful fishing trip. Jesus restores Peter to his place in charge of the disciples, but also tells Peter that his witnessing will cost him his life. Peter, this time, is not deterred. It is on Peter that the church is built, and his following of Jesus does eventually cost him his life. Peter does not fail, like this, again. Peter witnesses to Jesus, just as Jesus did. It cost Jesus His life, and it cost Peter his as well.

We are called to witness to Christ. It may cost us our lives, like Jesus and Peter, but I doubt it. We live in one of the safest countries in the world. There is no overt persecution of Christianity in this country, although we do see a continually degradation of the Christian values this country was founded on. I think our witnessing costs us a little in reputation, a little in pride perhaps. But in the long run, that isn’t much. To get to play a part in saving someone’s life through our witness, that’s a wonderful thing. To help a friend get the protective covering of Jesus on judgment day, that’s a great thing. Jesus invites us to respond to His love by witnessing as He did, as Peter did, as the generations of Christians have done since the humble beginnings of the Church.

I want you to think of witnessing as a spiritual discipline. It is something we need to do in order to grow in Christ. Even though it might be a little intimidating, give it a shot. Step out in faith to witness to what God has done in your life. I believe you will be surprised at what happens.

Let’s pray.