Ryle on Mark 14:53-65

Imported boundary: J. C. Ryle's Expository Thoughts on Mark from the Internet Archive DjVu OCR for the 1858 Robert Carter St. Mark volume. Title pages, preface, contents, running heads, page numbers, OCR boilerplate, and indexes are not mirrored. The source includes Ryle's printed Scripture text and exposition; this scan-derived text remains needs-verification.

Primary passage: Mark 14:53-65.

Source Text

53 And they led Jesus away to the High Priest : and with him were as- sembled all the Chief Priests and the elders and the Scribes. 54 And Peter followed him afar off, even unto the palace of the High Priest : and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire. 55 And the Chief Priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death ; and found none. 56 For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together. 57 And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying, 58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build an- other made without hands. 59 But neither so did their witness agree together. 60 And the High Priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, say- ing, Answerest thou nothing ? what is it which these witness against thee ? 61 But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the High Priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? 62 And Jesus said, I am : and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." 63 Then the High Priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses ? 64 Ye have heard the blasphemy : what think ye? And they all con- demned him to be guilty of death. 65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy : and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands. Solomon tells us in the book of Ecclesiastes, that one evil he has seen under the sun, is when " folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place." (Eccles. x. 6.) We can imagine no more complete illustration of his words than the state of things we have recorded in the which the disciples were, and to make it plain that they saved their lives only by their flight One eminent divine regards the whole event as strongly figura- tive. He sees in it an antitype of what took place on the day of atonement, and at the cleansing of a leper. He considers the young man escaping to represent the goat let go free, and the bird let loose ; while our Lord represents the goat offered up, and the bird slain. See Lev. xiv. 7, and xvi. 22. I offer no opinion on any of the above explanations, excepting that I look on the last as eminently fanciful and unsatisfactory. Bullin- ger remarks sensibly, " It does not interest us much to know who this young man was, and it would not bring any very great fruit to us, if we did know. If it had been useful and wholesome for us to know, the Spirit of God would not have been silent, seeing that He is often marvellously diligent in relating very minute things. passage before us.

We see the Son of God, " in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge " arraigned as a malefactor before " the chief priests, and elders, and scribes."

We see the heads of the Jewish nation combining together to kill their own Messiah, and judging Him who will one day come in glory to judge them and all mankind. These things sound marvellous, but they are true.

Let us observe in these verses, how foolishly Christians sometimes thrust themselves into temptation. We are told that when our Lord was led away prisoner, " Peter fol- lowed Him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest : and he sat with the servants, and warmed him- self at the fire."* There was no wisdom in this act. Hav- ing once forsaken his Master and fled, he ought to have remembered his own weakness, and not to have ventured into danger again. It was an act of rashness and pre- sumption. It brought on him fresh trials of faith, fur which he was utterly unprepared. It threw him into bad company, where he was not likely to get good, but harm. It paved the way for his last and greatest transgression - his thrice-repeated denial of his Master. But it is an experimental truth that ought never to be overlooked, that when a believer has once begun to back-

* In the expression "warmed himself at the fire," it is worthy of remark, that the Greek word which we translate " fire," is not the same as that translated " fire of coals," in John xviii. 18. It would rather bear the meaning of " light," or a fire so blazing as to give light. The remark is not without interest, as it explains how easily Peter was recognized and discovered by those who sat around him as one of Christ's disciples. The bright light of the fire shining upon him made concealment impossible. slide and leave his first faith, he seldom stops short at his first mistake. He seldom makes only one stumble. He seldom commits only one fault. A blindness seems to come over his understanding. He appears to cast over-board his common sense and discretion. Like a stone rolling down-hill, the further he goes on in sin- ning, the faster and more decided is his course. Like David, he may begin with idleness, and end with com- mitting every possible crime. Like Peter, he may be- gin with cowardice - go on to foolish trifling with temp- tation, and then end with denying Christ. If we know any thing of true saving religion, let us ever beware of the beginnings of backsliding. It is like the letting out of water, first a drop and then a torrent. Once out of the way of holiness, there is no saying to what we may come. Once giving way to petty incon- sistencies, we may find ourselves one day committing every sort of wickedness. Let us keep far from the brink of evil. Let us not play with fire. Let us never fear being too particular, too strict, and too precise. No petition in the Lord's prayer is more important than the last but one, " Lead us not into temptation."

Let us observe, in the second place, in these verses, how much our Lord Jesus Christ had to endure from lying lips , ivhen tried before the chief priests. We are told that " many bare false witness against Him ; but their wit- ness agreed not together." We can easily conceive that this was not the least heavy part of our blessed Saviour's passion. To be seized unjustly as a malefactor, and put on trial as a criminal when innocent, is a severe affliction. But to hear men inventing false charges against us and coining slanders - to listen to all the malignant virulence of unscrupulous tongues let loose against our character, and know that it is all untrue - this is a cross indeed ! " The words of a talebearer," says Solomon, " are as wounds." (Prov. xviii. 8.) " Deliver my soul," says David, "from lying lips and a deceitful tongue." (Psalm cxx. 2.) All this was a part of the cup which Jesus drank for our sakes. Great indeed was the price at which our souls were redeemed ! Let it never surprise true Christians if they are slandered and misrepresented in this world. They must not expect to fare better than their Lord. Let them rather look forward to it as a matter of course, and see in it a part of the cross which all must bear after con- version. Lies and false reports are among Satan's choicest weapons. When he cannot deter men from serv- ing Christ, he labors to harass them and make Christ's service uncomfortable. Let us bear it patiently, and not count it a strange thing. The words of the Lord Jesus should often come to our minds : " Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you." " Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." (Luke vi. 26. Matt. v. 11.)

Let us observe, lastly, in these verses, what distinct tes- timony our Lord bore to His own Messiahship, and second advent in glory. The high priest asks Him the solemn question, " Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed " He receives at once the emphatic reply, " I am : and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." These words of our Lord ought always to be had in remembrance. The Jews could never say after theso words, that they were not clearly told that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ of God. Before the great councils of their priests and elders, He declared, " I am the Christ." The Jews could never say after these words, that He was so lowly and poor a person, that He was not worthy to be believed. He warned them plainly that His glory and greatness was all yet to come. They were only deferred and postponed till His second advent. They would yet see Him in royal power and majesty, "sitting on the right hand of power," coming in the clouds of heaven, a Judge, a Conqueror, and a King. If Israel was unbelieving, it was not because Israel was not told what to believe.

Let us leave the passage with a deep sense of the reality and certainty of our Lord Jesus Christ's second coming. Once more at the very end of His ministry, and in the face of His deadly enemies, we find Him asserting the mighty truth that He will come again to judge the world. Let it be one of the leading truths in our own personal Christianity. Let us live in the daily recollection that our Saviour is one day coming back to this world. Let the Christ in whom we believe, be not only the Christ who died for us and rose again - the Christ who lives for us and intercedes - but the Christ who will one day return in glory, to gather together and reward His people, and to punish fearfully all His enemies. 331