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Apr 03, 2022

Where is the place for a weak man in a world like this?

Where is the place for a weak man in a world like this?

Passage: Mark 14:29-31

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Follow: Learning from Mark about Jesus’ Most Misunderstood Command

Keywords: courage, deny, know, public, weep, testify

Whatever our personal beliefs or convictions, we find ourselves less inclined to publicly identify with them–so the analyses trickle in. We’ve seen what befalls someone who aligns themselves openly, and so we opt-out. The apprehension may have increased in the last two years but it’s not a new impulse. On every hill we plant a flag, we take a risk–including the choice to follow Jesus. And we see the struggle associated with that risk on full display in Peter. Let’s consider his and our struggle to identify with Jesus.

 

Readings & Scripture

PREPARATION: Psalm 130:3-5
LEADER: If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.

ALL: I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;

CENTRAL TEXT: Mark 14:29-31; 53-54; 66-72
Mark 14:29 Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” 30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” 31 But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.

Mark 14:53 And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. 54 And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.

Mark 14:66 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.

BENEDICTION: 1 Peter 2:9
LEADER: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own,

ALL: so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Psalm 40:9, 10
  • Psalm 130:3-5
  • Mark 8:38 / Matthew 10:33
  • Mark 9:23-24
  • Luke 4
  • Romans 1:16-17
  • Romans 5:8-10
  • 1 Corinthians 1:18-30
  • 1 Corinthians 10:13
  • Hebrews 2:17-18, 4:15-16
  • 1 Peter 2:23

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Can you name a time when your courage has failed you? Did it ever have to do with loyalty to another? Share if you’re willing.
  2. What do you think motivated Peter’s denials–his refusal to identify with Jesus–in that hour? What from Paul or other writers of the New Testament would explain why someone in that day would be ashamed–embarrassed or reluctant to identify–of Jesus? Now fast-forward: what are several reasons we might feel embarrassment, or at least reluctance, to identify with him? 
  3. Wrestle with this one: how shall we reconcile what we hear Jesus say in Mark 8:38, about anyone being ashamed of him shall Jesus be ashamed of when he returns, with how we see him handle Peter’s expression of shame in the latter’s denial of Jesus?
  4. Sit quietly before the last verse. Imagine. Reflect. What do you see? Mark does not elaborate on the reasons for Peter’s weeping, so we can only speculate. But what all might have prompted them?

ILLUSTRATIONS:

4.03.22 Album, InView Media

QUOTES: 

  • To believe that the one pre-existent son of the one true God. . .had appeared in very recent times in out-of-the-way Galilee as a member of the obscure people of the Jews, and even worse, had died the death of a common criminal on the cross, could only be regarded as a sign of madness. Martin Hengel
  • . . .people are passionately concerned with “the praise and blame of our fellow-men”. . . obsessed with their reputations. Charles Darwin
  • If a man perceives himself by means of the opinions of others, it is no wonder if he sees in himself nothing but the opinions of others!  Frederich Nietzsche
  • Where is the place for a weak man in a world like this? Kichijiro, Silence
  • Jesus was sent to reveal the glory of God in a world whose intoxication with its own glory is well expressed in the gaining of the world. He can accomplish his mission only if his own glory means nothing to him and the Father’s glory means everything. William Lane
  • Christ did not die for the good and beautiful. It is easy enough to die for the good and beautiful; the hard thing is to die for the miserable and corrupt. Rodrigues, Silence
  • Eighty-six years I have served him, and he has done me no harm. How can I blaspheme my king who has saved me? Polycarp before the Roman magistrate demanding the bishop swear to the Roman emperor’s divinity (AD 156)
  • Obedience comes as a result of what is given; it is the search to find adequate ways of showing gratitude, allowing the gift to . . .fill the whole of human identity. Rowan Williams, Christ on Trial

BOOKS / DOCS

  • Christ on Trial, Rowan Williams
  • The Crucifixion, Fleming Rutledge

SERMONS