They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. ‘We are going up to Jerusalem,’ he said, ‘and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.’
Mark 10:32-34 NIVUK
Apprehension is an awful emotion. I remember feeling it when my wife and I headed to an Immigration office in Glasgow to extend her spouse visa.
Immigration is a necessary thing. Every country has the right to defend their people and protect their economy. But that doesn't change the knot in your stomach that you feel every time you have to experience it, particularly when it's a member of your immediate family and there are children involved.
That was the case with us. And what intimidated us even more as we arrived with our folder full of paperwork was applicant after applicant arriving with immigration lawyers. We could not afford something like that. Not even close.
The atmosphere grew to be even more tense as I listened to an immigration officer giving a Canadian woman a hard time for really complicating matters with her visas and technically over-staying.
Then it was our turn. We had not contemplated at all what would happen if the visa was rejected. We knew there was a slight flaw in our paperwork. We knew the immigration officer could ask us to pay for one month's visa and then come back again to get the full one year extension. There was nothing we could have said if he'd done just that.
Our hearts were pounding as we pushed my daughter's buggy to the kiosk and handed over our application.
We needn't have worried. Our interview was over in less than three minutes. My wife's passport was stamped. We were good for another year. She's now a UK citizen so we don't have to do it anymore.
And let me tell you: we are glad of that.
What the disciples are feeling here is clearly apprehension, mixed with fear, mixed with terror.
The penny has well and truly dropped. The reality has sunk in. They understand what Jesus has been telling them all along. Now they are beginning His final journey to Jerusalem. They know what lies ahead for Jesus.
And it terrifies them.
And no wonder. The cross was, and still is, a fearsome instrument of torture and terror. It's why the worse, the most inhumane, insurgents and dictators in the world freely use it as a means to exert control. It might terrify the population to shoot some people or to blow them up. But to unspeakably torture them in a bloodthirsty manner while hanging them naked on a piece of wood for everyone to see? That crosses a great multitude of lines.
That is what awaited Jesus.
And let's not beat about the bush here: it's also what awaited some of His disciples too. Tradition tells us that both Peter and Andrew met with a similar fate. Peter's was even predicted by Jesus (John 21:18).
But not yet.
Before then, they all had to face the dread of heading to Jerusalem, knowing for certain, as Jesus had been telling them for some time, that they were facing a terrible threat (John 7:1), and one Jesus had told them several times would lead to His death.
I would defy anyone to say that they were not within their rights to be afraid. In the same situation, I have no doubt that we would be afraid too.
We feel afraid when we see a threat against us and doubt that we have the resources or the wherewithall to deal with it. Jesus is providing teaching to His disciples to change this perspective.
In the middle of an awful situation, and one that was aggravating by the moment, Jesus gives them three powerful sayings. Each of them is linked to one word that more than adequately describes what they were facing: trouble.
And the word used for 'trouble' in two of these verses is already quite powerful. It means 'to be anxious, agitated, distressed; to cause inward commotion, to take away someone's calmness of mind; to disquiet, make restless'.
There could not be a better definition of what the fear and apprehension of needing to carry a cross feels like.
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God ; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
John 14:1-3 NIVUK
Jesus is reassuring them that they are facing a certain future. They will go to Heaven. He is going away, but He is going away to prepare a place for them, and then He will take them to be with Him there. This assurance is absolute. It is a hundred percent. There is no room for doubt or questioning or quibbling. Jesus is making a cast iron, dependable promise that they can trust in the midst of trouble.
And so can we. Our certain life after death ought to have a huge effect on our here and now. Often what causes our anxiety and disquiet is the fear that we are stuck in a situation we can never leave. That is why Jesus reassures His disciples - and us - that He will take us to be with Him in Heaven. There is a way out. It is guaranteed. We have nothing to be afraid of.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27 NIVUK
After talking to the disciples about the Holy Spirit, Jesus then assures them of a certain feeling - a feeling of peace. This peace is not the absence of war without. The disciples would face a level of turmoil and persecution that most western believers will never experience.
No, this is peace within: an absence of inner conflict and the presence of an inner surety and security.
And if you think for a second of the absolutely mindless ferocity of the persecution they faced under Emperor Nero in particular, this would be nothing short of miraculous.
Yet is was this inner peace and security and surety and confidence that led them to praise God while in jail (Acts 16:25), to be unafraid of death (Acts 7:59-60) and to openly and fearlessly defy those who persecuted them (Acts 4:13-20).
And what causes that peace? The presence of the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-26), who, apart from being their friend, counsellor and comforter, also guides them into all truth (John 16:13) and gives the words to say when they are questioned by the authorities (Matthew 10:19-20).
Let me tell you something. The forces of evil in our world live to terrorise and intimidate. They live to make you afraid. Every attempt to con you out of your money through misrepresentation, every threat, every frightening article in the media, every attempt to panic, every violent video on the internet... all of it. All they want to achieve is one thing: to steal your peace, your well-being and your emotional equilibrium.
You win against all of that by receiving the deep, unassailable peace of the Lord your God through the ministry of His Holy Spirit. As Isaiah explained in the terrifying times in which He lived:
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord for ever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.
Isaiah 26:3-4 NIVUK
Those hostile forces absolutely despise it when you are calm, rational and at peace, with a strong and focused mind. And do you know why? Because their hold over you is broken.
They have already lost.
So don't give them the victory. Don't give them the satisfaction. Divine, unflappable peace is there and it is yours. All you have to do to receive it is to believe in God and receive His Holy Spirit.
But there is a third powerful saying:
‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’
John 16:33 NIVUK
This is Jesus' last teaching for His disciples, and it is about a certain fight. And who was that fight against?
It was against the world.
But what did Jesus mean by this?
Let's see firstly what He meant by 'these things'. He obviously means His teaching. But what teaching in particular does He mean?
Perhaps these:
Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no-one will take away your joy.
John 16:20-22 NIVUK
And the 'trouble' they would face in the world? The Greek word used here means 'tribulation' - the same word as used in Matthew 24:21 and Revelation 7:14. This isn't just any old trouble. This is trouble squared.
Do you understand what Jesus is doing here? He is preparing the disciples for His departure - the time of grief - and for His resurrection - the time of irrepressible joy.
And why is He doing this?
So that they might have peace. This peace, as we saw earlier, is gained from God the Father by faith in Him and through the Holy Spirit. This peace comes from the calm assurance that the God who loves you infinitely more than you could ever imagine is working out all things to your good (Romans 8:28), even when you can't see or understand how.
Jesus is giving them this teaching so they realise that yes, seeing Him condemned to die on the cross will cause them immeasurable grief. However, the joy that will come from the resurrection will eclipse this by a factor of infinity.
And yes, there will be those who celebrate His demise. But Jesus is telling the disciples to block out the mocking and the jeering and the whooping and hollering, because the joy the disciples will feel at the resurrection will be far, far greater.
Jesus is trying to encourage them with words similar to this psalm:
Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
Psalms 30:4-5 NIVUK
Whenever we must bear our cross, we can remember these tremendous words. Our certain future and our residence in Heaven gives us inner strength to face the troubles of each day. The certain feeling of peace from the presence of the Holy Spirit takes away our fear and panic and allows us to think clearly when we must. The certain fight reminds us that life can be struggle sometimes, but it is a struggle we have already won through Christ.
Even in the darkest of storms, there is no better place to be than in the hands of the Almighty. Our situation and our detractors may conspire to make us afraid, but we do not need to give in.
Even our heaviest cross need hold no fear for us, because in Christ we know we will be victorious.
Questions
1) 'We feel afraid when we see a threat against us and doubt that we have the resources or the wherewithall to deal with it.' Have you ever felt a fear like this? How did God help you through it?
2) Do you think that it's possible for someone to face a serious threat such as this and not be afraid?
3) How do the three sayings help us when we feel afraid?
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