Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Lies Beneath the Surface? | Mark | Mark 14.66-72

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. If this podcast has been helping you in your walk with God, would you take five seconds to help us? Hop onto Twitter and follow our new Twitter account at TMBT Podcast. If you go there, you can see our latest episodes. You can also follow Keith and I and send us messages. We'd love to follow you back and see what's happening in your life.

Starting point is 00:00:34 Right now we are asking, who is Jesus? Excavations in the old city of Jerusalem uncovered a first century residence, which they actually think belonged to the high priest at the time of Jesus. So according to the Gospels, the religious leaders, they held a mock trial of Jesus actually inside of the high priest residence. And meanwhile, Peter and John, they're waiting outside nervously in the attached courtyard. And there's a crowd of people there around them, probably. servants of the high priest. I am people who were probably the ancient equivalent of ambulance chasers. They just want the hot gossip and they see that something is afoot. It's out in that residence that Peter denies Jesus. It's inside of that residence that Jesus is put on trial and

Starting point is 00:01:22 convicted of blasphemy. Now, these excavations of the high priest residence that are actually inside of Jerusalem today, it includes a lot of different spaces. There are bedrooms, ritual cleansing baths and a lot of open courtyards. What makes the entire site bizarre is that it's entirely underground now. That's just the nature of things. People build up. And so over the centuries, new buildings were erected on top of the old high priest's house. So when I visited this residence in Israel, I walked through many of the spaces, the courtyards. And I tried to imagine them open to the sun and open to the moon. And they must have been beautiful. There's colorful, geometric mosaics lining the floors, fine stones cut from nearby quarries make low and high walls,

Starting point is 00:02:11 and there's lots of places to sit. But now it's all underground. It's only visible to people who know where to look. And then it struck me that I wasn't really imagining the most poignant things that took place in those ancient courtyards. Yes, they were beautiful at one point, but something dark happened where I was standing. I looked down at my feet and standing on that ancient pavement. I wondered, did Peter stand here? Was this the courtyard where Peter denied Jesus not once but three separate times? We know that the denials took place right here in these courtyards. Let's read the story, Mark 1466. While Peter was below the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came to him. When she saw Peter warming himself,

Starting point is 00:02:59 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, those standing near to Peter said,

Starting point is 00:03:22 surely you are one of them for you are a Galilean. They're obviously recognizing his particular accent, just like in the United States, there's a southern accent, and then there's Midwestern accents. Same thing back then. And they're saying, look, we recognize your accent. You don't sound like one of us southerner Jerusalemites. You sound like someone from the north. You're Galilean, Mark 1471. He began to call down curses, and he swore to them. I don't know this man who you're talking about. Immediately, the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the words Jesus had spoken to him.

Starting point is 00:03:58 before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times. And he broke down and he wept. I realized that in a strange way, Peter's disloyalty to Jesus was a lot like this underground room that I was standing in. On the surface, Peter made bold proclamations. Jesus, I'll never portray you. Jesus, I'll never deny you. I can easily imagine the other disciples around him. They're all nodding their heads in unison. They'd come this far.

Starting point is 00:04:28 They weren't turning back. And anyone looking at this rag-tag band of followers, on the surface at least, would have to agree with that assessment. Many disciples had already abandoned Jesus because he said things that upset the religious establishment on both the right and the left. He'd said things that drew the ire of the politicos and power brokers. And so people were leaving him in droves. But these 12, these 12, they stuck with him, despite it all.

Starting point is 00:04:56 Why? Well, maybe it's because they loved the crowds more than they loved Jesus. Or maybe it's because they truly loved Jesus. But at least on the surface, to the watching world, it was obvious, these people are Jesus people. What about you? On the surface, are you a Jesus person? I mean, I'm a pastor, so there's hardly anybody who's more of a quote-unquote Jesus guy on the surface, at least, than me. But if you ask people why, how do they know that I'm a Jesus guy or that someone else is a Jesus gal? Well, they're going to look at the surface because people can't really see beyond the surface. Someone might say about you, well, you go to church. So you're a Jesus person.

Starting point is 00:05:43 You go to a small group. You serve. You read your Bible. You post Christian things on social media sometimes. You try not to cuss or be a total jerk or gossip. So yeah, you must be a Jesus person. And these are all good things. But as the disciples learned, being a Jesus person on the surface isn't what really matters most. On the last night of Jesus' life before his crucifixion, Mark carefully details betrayal after betrayal after betrayal. It's as though he's

Starting point is 00:06:15 forcing us to see that building beneath the surface, the true heart beneath the surface. Just like the high priest house that was buried out of sight today, the disciples, their true loyalty to Jesus, it was also buried and out of sight. They might look on the surface like they would never be disloyal, but the reality turns out to be something different. Judas fell first, Mark 1443. Just as Jesus was speaking, Judas, one of the 12, appeared, and with him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs. This crowd with Jesus' once follower, Judas, they approach Jesus. And Peter, he takes out his sword. He fights back violently. He cuts off the high priest's servant's ear. But Jesus tells his disciples to stop the violence. And it's at this point that the entire house of cards crumbles.

Starting point is 00:07:10 Verse 50. Then everyone deserted him and fled. And after that, we get this bizarre story of another denial. Verse 51. A young man wearing nothing but a linen garment, which was pretty normal back then, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind. Many scholars think that this is a firsthand account from Mark himself. Mark is inserting himself into the story to say that even he was among those who denied Jesus. And then of course there's the story of Peter, which we've already read. So what was hidden beneath the surface? Well, it turns out for the disciples, there was an entire building of betrayal, denial, and disloyalty.

Starting point is 00:07:57 And no one could have seen it. I'm saying this to sober you up. I'm saying this to sober myself up. Because it's not just other people who get tricked by our surface-level Jesus stuff. You get tricked by yourself. I get tricked by me. Just hours before Peter and the whole gang abandoned Jesus. Jesus, they're swearing left and right that they would never do something like that. I can't imagine

Starting point is 00:08:22 the cognitive dissonance they felt when they did actually deny Jesus. Well, maybe I can, because I know what it's like to sin, to swear to Jesus. I won't do that again. I'm not going to give into that temptation. I'm not going to resist your will. I'm not going to deny you by treating other people and kindly, by gossiping, speaking maliciously, lust, by telling big lies or small lies, by being greedy or selfish. I won't deny you, Jesus, by doing those things. And then I do it again and again and again and again and again and again. And over time, you don't just want to trick others. You want to trick yourself. You want to trick yourself with your own surface-level Jesus stuff, because it becomes unbearable to see the truth.

Starting point is 00:09:13 Don't allow yourself out of that underground room without seeing the truth. Because Peter, he's not the only one who's down there. You, in your own denials, you are not the only one who is down there. Jesus is there too. And even though his disciples abandoned him, he never abandoned them. within hours of their denial he would be dying on a roman cross to forgive their sins he died to forgive all of their sins all of them even the denials so don't live in denial about yourself you don't have to hide that denial from jesus you don't have to hide it from others you don't have to hide it

Starting point is 00:09:55 from yourself bring it to jesus confess to him the ways that you've been disloyal the ways that you hid that disloyalty from yourself and from others and know that he forgives and he transforms. It may be a process, but his blood covers the process, whether it takes minutes or decades. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps other people find this podcast more easily.

Starting point is 00:10:26 Also, ask yourself, who could you share this podcast with? Texting an episode to a friend or a family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Lies Beneath the Surface? | Mark | Mark 14.66-72

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