MIDWEEK LENT 2 – March 4, 2021 – Mark 8:29-35
“JESUS: A WILLING CHRIST”
Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is from the Gospel Lesson, Mark 8:29-35. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- When Jesus was in the Garden on the night of His betrayal, on the eve of His crucifixion, He prayed: “Father, all things are possible to You. Take away this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.”
- This makes it seem as if Jesus was somewhat unwilling to endure what was coming up, suffering the unmitigated wrath of God for every single human sin that would ever be committed. You remember what this involved. Jesus declared it while suffering on the cross: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” [Matt. 27:46]
- However, what Jesus says in our text makes it very clear that He was “A WILLING CHRIST.” So we might look at His statement in the Garden as indication that He was no sadomasochist [one who enjoys suffering and pain], and that He was not going to anesthetize Himself in any way. Only God can fully grasp just how horrific this suffering must have been!
- We also face tasks that we dearly want to do and accomplish, but that take more energy and effort than we would prefer to expend. Perhaps it was this way with Jesus and our redemption. But in our text:
I. Jesus Makes It Clear That He Is Willing To Be The Christ, The Anointed Savior
Text: “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He spoke that saying openly.”
Statement: Peter had just correctly identified Jesus as the Christ. The Christ, or “the anointed One” is the “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah 53.
“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. . . . Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush Him; He has put Him to grief . . . When His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring; . . . Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied . . . by His knowledge shall the Righteous One, My servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities.”
Jesus then immediately explained that He would indeed fulfill this role as Christ, our Savior! Indeed, He stated that “the Son of Man MUST suffer many things.” Wherein does the necessity consist? Not external to Jesus, but internal – in His great love for us, His will for us to be saved! He is “A WILLING CHRIST.”
Further:
II. It Is Clear That Jesus Asserts His Willingness To Serve Us In His Call For Us To Follow Him And Serve Others
Text: “And calling the crowd to Him with His disciples, He said to them, ‘If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.’”
A. We Are To Follow Him In Self-Denial
Text: “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself.”
B. We Are To Follow Him in Suffering, Even To Death
Text: “If anyone would come after Me . . . let him take up his cross and follow me.”
C. We Are Give All For The Sake Of Jesus And Of The Gospel
Text: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
Statement: Jesus would not ask us to do what He Himself is unwilling to do. In fact, all that He asks us to do is “following” exactly in what He did first for us and for our salvation! Jesus is surely “A WILLING CHRIST.”
Application: And it is our distinct privilege and pleasure to come after Him and to serve as He has served – to follow Him in willing and loving service of the Gospel, the good news of God’s salvation of all mankind! We have no higher or nobler calling than to follow Jesus in these things.
Conclusion: So let there be no confusion about whether or not Jesus was willing to be the Christ, willing to be our Savior, in spite of all that was involved in redeeming us from our sin and guilt.
It is His great love for us that made Him willing to save us. And it is His great love for us that makes us willing to also serve Him.
May we grow daily in this willingness and eagerness to do all that we can to follow in the footsteps of our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The tasks He gives us are far less burdensome and painful! In fact, we are invited to emulate Jesus, “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.” [Heb. 12:2] We can have the same joy in all the burdens and serving that we do for Christ!
May He grant that we also then be “willing servants” of the Lord and the Gospel! Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.