Admonition Podcast

Good evening.

We are in Mark chapter 16 this evening as we come close to, and we might finish out the
Book of Mark, but I'm not uh overly optimistic that we'll finish it out tonight.

But by the end of July, I think we ought to be able to be done.

All right, let's begin with a word of prayer and then we will get into our study.

Gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day that you've
blessed us with, grateful for the life that you have blessed us with, the opportunities

that we have to serve you, to bring honor to your name, to glorify your name.

Lord, we pray and ask that you will forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory.

Help us to walk in the light as you are in the light.

We pray for this nation and we pray for its leaders.

We pray for them to have wisdom.

and discernment in the things which they choose to do and the things which they lead this
nation in.

We pray that they will enact your wisdom from your word, that they might seek justice and
mercy and tender kindness to those who are in need.

All these things that we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.

As we closed up last week, Jesus was being buried in Joseph's tomb.

And they brought the body in fine linen, took him down and wrapped him in the linen and
laid him in the tomb, which had been hewn out of the rock and rolled a stone against the

door of the tomb.

Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where he was laid.

Chapter 16 begins, now when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of
James and Salome brought spices, excuse me, bought, I'm gonna get the words uh right here,

bought spices that they might come and anoint him.

Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun
had risen.

So as the Sabbath concludes and as they are no longer under the restrictions of the law,
both from buying and selling and uh being able to work and do labor, they go first thing

in the text seems to indicate in the morning, early in the morning.

They weren't wasting any time.

They weren't waiting around until midday.

They were getting there as soon as they could.

And so they came on the first day of the week in the tomb to the tomb where the sun had
when the sun had risen, they said among themselves, who will roll away the stone from the

door of the tomb for us as they arrive?

And as they're approaching, it seems they're they're wondering.

how are we gonna get this stone out from the tomb?

Now, different depictions, know historically I always saw the artist's renditions where it
was somehow a cut solid flat stone that was round, that was rolled in front of the tomb

and that the tomb was always on a slight hill crest and the doorway was flattened.

I'm not.

quite so certain that that's exactly what we have here.

It is actually a little more likely that the tomb would have been, uh we know that it was
underground, but it would have been inset into some location and then a regular round

boulder would have been put down and the force of gravity, of course, would hold the
boulder uh in place and it would have required significant force.

uh not one or two people to move that boulder out of the blocking position in front of the
tomb.

uh The closing of the tomb with this particular stone also does not seem to be necessarily
the original design of the tomb.

If you think about it.

There's no indication that the boulder or the stone that was placed in front of the tomb
was there for any reason other than security.

It's just a square hole that goes back into the hillside.

But there's no stone around there that...

capable of being rolled or pushed or...

Right.

So this would have been intentionally brought in for the purposes of encapsulating,
closing, blocking the tomb from being accessed.

And as we mentioned before, there's motives on both sides, both the disciples and Pilate
and the Jews.

There's motives for wanting the tomb

uh secured during the Sabbath and during the feast to make sure that the disciples didn't
come and steal the body and also desire by the disciples to make sure that the uh chief

priests and elders didn't come and steal the body or do anything to it.

But fact of the matter is, as the women are approaching, they realize they have a problem.

Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?

But when they looked up,

they saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large.

uh When the scripture says something was very large, this wasn't the size of large
watermelon.

This was a large stone meant to impede uh access even by those who desired to get in.

And so they come to the tomb and they find the stone is already rolled away.

And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the
right side and they were alive.

What did they expect to find?

Jesus's body wrapped in linen, needing to be prepared for his actual long-term burial.

uh Without too much of a divergence, consider the lesson that, you know, sometimes we
worry about things that we will never actually have to deal with.

They were worried about how to move the stone.

They could have out of their worry gone, you know what?

Might as well turn around go home.

There is no way possible for us to move this stone on our own.

There's not gonna be anybody there who's gonna be willing to move it for us.

The Centurions certainly weren't going to move it for them.

So they could have determined that based upon their concern about the impossibility of
moving the stone to just turn around and go home.

Just forget it.

Sometimes we worry and we are overly concerned and sometimes we even change our choices
and our direction on matters that have never happened to us, that are not yet actually

realized and there's no real evidence that they will be a problem.

Now you say, well, Aaron, the evidence was the stone was put there to begin with and there
was no indication that they should believe the stone had moved.

Well,

Actually, there was indication that this stone should have been moved and would have been
moved if they had understood what Jesus had taught.

And it is the reminder that we should be humble enough to realize we don't have to
understand how God does everything.

We just have to trust that He will do what He has said He will do.

And in Jesus's case, Jesus made it clear that He was going to go down into the grave

for three days and is going to come forth.

somewhat of a parallel example of this.

You know, there was a time when there were some sailors and they were very worried about
what was going to happen to them if they took a particular prophet and threw him

overboard.

Weren't they?

They were concerned.

They almost didn't do it because they were concerned about their own safety and the
situation they would find themselves in if they had thrown over one who had paid for

passage.

yet Jonah convinces them, just do it, just throw me overboard.

Now Jonah, I am firmly convinced, does not know how God is going to deal with the
situation, but he does know that they're in peril because of his choice, and that the only

correct decision was for him to align his choices with God's.

And in both of these scenarios, you find that the correct answer is, do what the will of
the Lord would have you to do and let God deal with the rest.

These women were coming out of a sense of honor and repayment for all that Jesus had done

for them, had taught them in honor of who He was and what He had been while they were with
Him on the earth, and so they were living out in their acts of service the will of God.

even though to a degree they were entirely ignorant of, or at least somewhat ignorant of,
how God was going to accomplish His will.

We're challenged as we go through life to realize that we do not know what's coming in the
future.

We don't know what will happen an hour from now.

We don't know what will happen a day from now.

We don't know what will happen a month from now or a year from now, let alone 30 years
from now or 50 years from now.

And yet we are challenged continually by scripture to trust God and do His will.

not because we know how it will turn out, but because He told us to do it.

Jonah could have confidence to tell the men of the ship to throw him overboard knowing
that if for no other reason they would be better off with him overboard than with him in

the boat.

These women...

could have looked at this concern, could have worried over the potential of the
impossibility of completing the task they set out for themselves and they could have

turned back.

And the consequences of that is they would have missed the opportunity to see Jesus, which
Mary Magdalene did.

and also to witness the presence of God's angels and the actions and the miracles that had
occurred.

Now let's flip that on the other side.

Where are the disciples?

Where are the apostles?

Should they as the students of Jesus not been the first ones at the tomb Sunday morning?

Should they not have been the first ones looking to honor and bestow honor upon the one
who had been their teacher?

There's a reason why Jesus will say to them, oh, you of little faith.

because here are these women who are acting more in alignment with the will and the
responsibility and the position and the glory of His teaching than the apostles are.

So they enter the tomb, saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side,
and they were alarmed.

But he said to them, Do not be alarmed, you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.

He is risen.

He is not here.

See the place where they laid him.

But go, tell his disciples, and Peter,

that he is going before you into Galilee.

There you will see him as he said to you."

as the individual who is there in the tomb speaks to them.

He shows them the place where the body was laid.

He shows them the empty tomb.

He makes it clear He is risen.

This individual reveals to them, you didn't get here too late, somebody didn't already
take the body.

You got here too late because he's a lie.

as he instructs them to go tell the disciples, find it interesting that Mark includes the
and Peter.

uh They're likely, I think it's a good possibility based upon both scriptural evidence and
historical evidence, that Mark is related by marriage or blood to Peter.

And so, Peter is specifically mentioned here

We remember from the other text that Peter is going to be one of the two disciples that
runs back to the tomb after the women have come and told them that Jesus is risen.

He's going to run.

He and John are going to run back to the tomb and stop at the tomb and look into the tomb.

Actually, John's gonna stop, look into the tomb.

Peter's gonna run right in.

ah

But the instruction by this individual to the women is to go tell his disciples and Peter.

Why do you think it was Ann Peter?

uh I think there's some, whether the not being around anyone else or not, think Peter was
taking it hard that he...

He most likely would have been very retrospectively examining all the times and all the
situations and all the things and all the conversations and all the things.

said, no, absolutely, I'm going to go to death with you.

And then he denied it.

So likely because of Peter's struggle is the reason and not because there is some.

significance of Peter needing to know or that Peter wouldn't have been with the disciples,
the indication is Peter was with the disciples, but rather let Peter know.

Amazing that none of them understood the resurrection.

None of them expected it.

Yet back in chapter 10, he told them a third time.

none of them apparently expected it.

So uh in view of that uh fact that none of them expected it, it is somewhat of a reminder
to us as we teach others.

If we teach somebody something and they don't get it and then we teach them again later
and they don't get it and we teach them later and they don't get it, that's a human trait.

And Jesus faced the same thing with the apostles and we need to be careful to not be too
hard on the people we know because the apostles have the same problem.

And you know, it's interesting that you have Mary Magdalene who got

the fact that he was going to die and not the fact that he was going to be buried because
Jesus said she's come to anoint me before.

But didn't get the resurrection.

ah again, we have the benefit of uh hindsight and looking back at these things.

But what does he tell the women to tell the disciples?

that he is going before them to Galilee.

I don't know that anyone else is like me but sometimes I remember thinking and growing up
thinking that after Jesus was resurrected he spent all of his time around Jerusalem before

ascending into heaven.

It's not the case.

ah He doesn't dwell in Jerusalem or remain in the Jerusalem area after he is resurrected.

He goes back to Galilee and the disciples go to Galilee and there will be journeys between
Galilee and Judea during the time of this period and the 40 days that he is on the earth

after his resurrection.

So notice verse 8 says,

So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed, and
they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had cast seven demons.

Now Mark includes a detail about Mary's history.

and some context in this that, you know, helps reveal a little bit of the central role
that Mary has played in these events.

Mary was not just someone who had heard the teaching of Jesus.

She was not just someone who had believed the teaching of Jesus.

She is someone who previously had

had seven demons dwelling in her and had had them cast out by Jesus.

So you grasp in this the difference and why she was so close to Jesus.

She was so focused on hearing what Jesus had to say and on being there and showing him the
honor that he was due and all of the things that you find

revolving around Mary as the actions that she participated in is because she had perhaps,
shall we say, more indebtedness to Jesus than many who were just simply taught by him.

I think it's also interesting to point out that while Mary is mentioned and is described
in different scenarios throughout the different gospels,

The introduction to Mary isn't with her healing, isn't with the casting out of the demons.

It's rather just, she just pops on the scene.

And uh Mark only mentions this in passing at this point.

So he rose early on the first day of the week.

He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven demons.

She went and told those who had been with him as they mourned and wept.

And when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

Mary and these other women are the ones who first and foremost focused on honoring Jesus.

Then they're the first to witness the angel at the tomb.

Then they're the first to be confronted and actually speak to Jesus, though the other
women were already gone when Mary sees Jesus there in the garden.

And they're going to go and going to tell the disciples what it is that they saw, what it
is that they had heard, what they have been told.

And in spite of the fact that all of those things were true about these women, they're not
going be believed.

It is.

In this text that we should be reminded that we're maybe a little too harsh on Thomas.

As Thomas wasn't the only doubting disciple.

All of them were.

Because all of them denied the very first time they were told that he was risen.

They denied the testimony of the women.

Thomas denied the testimony of the other ten and the women.

The fact of the matter is all of them doubted that which they were being told.

Verse 12

After that, he appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the
country.

And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.

It's not just the women they didn't believe.

The two that Jesus met on the road to Emmaus and as he was speaking to them, they did not
understand who he was.

They did not understand who was in their presence.

And so as they're going, they're talking, they're telling Jesus about all the events that
have occurred and the one who has been crucified.

And then he turns around and tells them concerning all the things that the prophets had
said concerning the one who was crucified.

And all the way down the road until they arrive at Emmaus, they don't know who he is.

At what point in time do the two disciples realize who he is?

They beg him to come in and to eat bread with them.

They sit down and he takes the bread and blesses it.

And it is that moment at which God allows them.

And I think that is the correct way to understand it.

It is that moment which God allows them to know who is in their presence.

Now Mark uses a terminology to say that he appeared to them in another form.

ah How much that is accommodative to he looked different or they didn't recognize him.

I don't know.

ah We know in the text, I believe it's in Luke as he records it, that the text says that
their eyes were open.

It say that he changed forms.

It says their eyes were opened to understand who he was.

ah But as they come back, you remember Luke?

describes the events, describes the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, describes the
events as they discussed the things with Jesus, describes the blessing of the bread, and

that the moment that they realized who he was, he disappeared from their sight, and then
they traveled back to Jerusalem.

And they come back that very night, and the text seems to indicate here that they went
straight to the disciples.

to tell them Jesus is risen, Jesus is alive.

We talked with him on the road to Emmaus, he's alive.

They still didn't believe.

later, verse 14, he appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table and rebuked their
unbelief and hardness of

Why do you think they didn't believe when they were told?

every day that you see.

All right, so being raised from the dead, not exactly a common thing though, they had
witnessed Lazarus raised from the dead just a few weeks before that.

their vision, their mental clarity to see.

But would it have been grief if Jesus then rebuked them for unruly and heartless heart?

oh I believe a lot of it has to do with that idea, Rebecca.

These apostles all the way up until Acts chapter 1, Jesus is about to ascend back to the
Father and they're going to ask him, are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

You remember just a few days ago they were asking who's going to be the great, they were
arguing who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom.

They had one pair of them whose mother was coming and saying, when you come into your
kingdom, can you give the right hand and the left hand seat to my kids?

They're not thinking about a spiritual kingdom.

They are not comprehending what Jesus came here to build.

They're stuck in a mindset of what their teachers and their traditions and the Jewish
doctrines had framed up as what God was going to do.

And it is no surprise that the prophets will reiterate over and over and over again that
God would do something in the future on a day and the people would marvel at the thing

that was done.

because they didn't expect it.

They didn't comprehend it.

They didn't even know what they were looking for.

So go over if you will.

help a little bit because when he appears to them...

They don't still understand that that's who's standing before them.

And both Luke and John record that they did not understand that it was Jesus.

And then after he gets food from them, verse 45 of Luke 24 says, and then he opened their
understanding that they might understand scripture.

And it's after that point when he opens their eyes to that, that they understand now that
this is Jesus, that this is who he said he was, that this is

because he says thus it was written and then he's going to basically repeat what he has
said that Christ would raise himself or that he would be raised on the third day.

So maybe that's part of it is that it fits with what Rebecca was saying.

They still don't understand to the point that he has to open their eyes to actually see
what is right in front of them.

That they are so, you know when you're not looking for somebody or expecting somebody, you
couldn't pick them out of a crowd, but you put them in the right situation, in the right

setting, and now you recognize them.

They wouldn't have recognized them if they weren't looking for that because they were
convinced.

it didn't happen.

He wasn't there.

Does that make sense?

Here's where I want us to maybe bring some of this home by way of application.

Turn to Hebrews chapter 10 verse 32.

The Hebrew writer has been talking and writing to these Christians about having boldness
to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, verse 19, by a new and living way which he

consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh and having a high priest over the
house of God let us draw near with a true heart.

in full assurance of faith.

Now, set that phrase and that terminology in contrast in your mind to, oh you of little
faith and being rebuked for your unbelief.

This is their disposition in that moment of time and here's the Hebrew writer saying,
here's what you can know, here's what you can have assurance of, here's how you can

operate in your life, in your salvation.

incomplete and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast the confession of our

hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful." Now you go down to verse 32 and he
says, but recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great

struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made aspectable both by reproaches and
tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so

Question, was there ever a time in which the apostles were companions together with those
who were being mistreated and treated poorly by their brethren?

their brethren being the Jews.

Absolutely.

The apostles were present when Jesus was nearly stoned, when they desired to take Jesus
and throw him off the top of a mountain.

The apostles were present when the chief priests and the others wanted to arrest him.

The apostles were present when the soldiers were sent to go arrest Jesus at the temple.

The apostles were present and witnessed all these things.

They had suffered, they had gone through, and they had been faithful through all of these
things.

Now, I understand the text here is talking about these Christians, but I'm pointing out
they had operated just the same way these Christians had.

they had operated previously after they had understood the truth in a way that said, know
what, it doesn't matter what comes, we're going to be faithful.

But then he says,

For you had compassion on me and my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your
goods, knowing that you have a better and enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.

Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.

You can use that to sum up what the disciples had done since Friday.

They had cast away their confidence.

until the events in the Garden of Eden.

you would not have been able to find one of those eleven who had a doubt about Jesus,
about who He was, and about what He was going to do.

What did I say?

Okay, yep, that'd be the other garden.

Not a gardener, I wouldn't know the difference, but anyway.

think I would know the difference.

All I have to say is it was a good thing that I wasn't the one told not to eat of the tree
in the midst of the garden because I can't tell the difference between one fruit and

another and one tree and another.

it's just not my talent.

Yeah, I know.

All right.

But notice he says, for you have need, verse 36, of endurance.

So that after you have done the will of God.

you may receive the promise.

The Hebrew writer is speaking to these Christians who were dealing with a crumbling
confidence.

and he admonishes them to go back to what they knew to be true and operate on the
confidence that they had previously until their assurance could be had by their faithful

obedience.

When we as individuals start to struggle with our understanding, start to struggle with
scenarios that cause us to doubt things, start to struggle because times are now hard and

we always imagined by this point it would be easier.

I cannot express to you how many times I have talked to people who were in their

50s and 60s and 70s who thought that back in their 20s and 30s that by the time they got
to this age it's going to be so much easier.

And lo and behold, it's not!

And the Hebrew writer is confronting these Christians and he is telling them, go do the
will of God.

and stop trying to figure out all the things that don't belong to you to figure out.

He says, verse 37, for yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not
tarry.

Now the just shall live by faith.

But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving
of the soul.

Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for.

The evidence of things not seen.

Hebrew writer goes, stop operating on your knowledge.

start operating on God's promises.

because God doesn't fail to deliver on His promises.

So when we go back to the text and we go back to Mark, we go back to what Eddie mentioned
about what Luke tells us, how he opened their eyes to what the prophets had already said.

we are to be reminded, you know what?

If we would spend less time trying to discern for ourselves what it is God wants us to do,
and instead just do what He told us to do.

We could leave the area of doubt and go back to the area of confidence and trust in His
promises because He's faithful.

The entire chapter of Hebrews chapter 11 is just one iteration over another about people
who didn't have an explanation of why God said to do what He said to do, but they still

did it.

because they trusted the promise without understanding all the details.

Verse 14.

concludes with, because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

They're going to be among the people who will see Jesus.

But is it not interesting that in spite of their doubts, in spite of their lack of
confidence, in spite of their refusal to believe, Jesus didn't choose them?

to be the ones that he appeared to first.

You know, so much of scripture revolves around the act in the New Testament revolves
around the actions of the apostles in one form or another.

But it is not the apostles Jesus appears to first.

He's going to appear to Mary first.

He's going to appear to two disciples

who are on the road.

Could Jesus not have just shown up there with the eleven?

Clearly He could have because the angel knew where to send the women to go find the
eleven.

The women knew where to find the eleven.

Jesus could have just shown up and met them there.

Why, we have to ask, why go through all of this of sending person after person after
person back to the apostles before appearing to them Himself?

My answer is always, he's teaching them something.

It would have been easy for him to just show up.

He's teaching them something.

it would have been easy for them to be the obvious choice of the first ones to see Jesus
are clearly his inner circle.

And yet it's not John and it's not James and it's not Peter, it's Mary.

There is.

There is a very distinct struggle to describe the humility difference in the apostles from
the end of the book of Mark and Luke and John and Matthew to Acts chapter 2, 3, 4.

the humility difference from before the cross and before the resurrection and even after
the resurrection to the institution of the church.

They are getting an accelerated learning, an accelerated course.

on God accomplishing His will.

and that they...

are not the most important thing to God accomplishing His.

Days before, they're arguing who will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus's answer was what?

He who be greatest will be servant of all.

And as they were nearing that final week and in that final week and the events that
transpired, while they were all bickering about who would be the greatest, which woman was

serving Jesus?

And Jesus said as she anointed his feet,

This will be a memorial to her everywhere, forever.

and then he appears to her.

my opinion, this would be extra biblical.

I think Jesus is teaching them humility.

I think Jesus is teaching them that they must faithfully believe and obey God, and if they
don't, God will still do His will.

God will do it without them.

Same thing that Esther was taught by Mordecai.

Mordecai tells her, whether you do this or not, God's going to save His people.

But know this, if you're not going to go in before the King, your family won't be saved.

I think that is the lesson that the apostles are needing to learn.

That they are God's tools as long as they're willing to submit to God.

And they're willing to believe God.

And they're willing to operate on trust in God.

But if they're gonna try and do it their way, they're gonna get it wrong.

And God doesn't need them, they need Him.

Okay, thank you for your attention.