MAN of ACTION

Notice how Mark presents Jesus as the Man of action, with so much happening immediately...

“For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many”  (10:45)

Now is not the time for action - Jesus just reclines for a meal (Mark 14:1-11)                                     

Watch what happens around Him in this obscure setting...                                                                     
In the home of Simon the leper, in the small village of Bethany, an unnamed woman breaks an alabaster box of spikenard to anoint Jesus’ head...Nardostachys jatamansi probably from Indian honeysuckle!                                                                                                             

Meanwhile the chief priests and scribes plot to have Jesus put to death thru trickery – only when it suits them – not with all the Passover crowds in Jerusalem likely to riot.  How convenient for them that Judas Iscariote, who thinks his master is a waste of this expensive spikenard (worth a year’s wages) agrees to betray Him....when it’s convenient of course.

Time is of the essence here – the alabaster is broken, Jesus’ head is now anointed for burial...                                                                 

Will they pull this off when it suits them?...or will Jesus reclining at table prove to be in ultimate control?

WATCH!

“What I say to you, I say to all: WATCH!”

Watch what?  Okay there was that strange ‘Abomination of Desolation’ that is meant to be a trigger to flee Judaea - goodness knows why.

Apparently one generation is going to see all of this – EVERYTHING!   

So what else will there be to see? (Mark 13:24-37)

• The heavens will be shaken; the sun and moon darkened
• The Son of man will come in power and glory
• The angels will gather the elect from every corner of heaven and earth.   Notice that the angels gather (Gk:episunagoge) and it is a universal gathering from earth AND from heaven. No, this is not the Rapture of the Church caught up (harpazo) in a   split-second at the shout of Christ himself.
• And there’s one more!...                                                                 

Yesterday Jesus cursed a fig-tree and it completely shrivelled. Today He is predicting the ‘fig-tree’ will one day grow leaves again.  These disciples know this speaks of Israel but they will not live to see Israel revive in 1948 - after 1878 years!

No matter what – we must... W A T C H !!