Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

We’ve prayed the Gospel of Mark for 45 episodes, from the first verse which says, “The beginning of the gospel” to the end which says, “He rose from the dead.” 

Time to ask, “What did we learn?” 

I learned four things. 

1. Jesus was not a rational or systematic sort of teacher. Not for him college degrees or workshops in logic and rhetoric. He didn’t write a book and do a promotional tour. Rather, he travelled randomly about Palestine, preaching, teaching, healing, speaking.

McLuhan famously said, “The medium is the message.” Jesus’ medium? Casual conversations, listener-friendly parables, stories about the weather and farmers and merchants and homemakers, arguments with Establishment Religion. But at the end, the cross he died on and the grave he rose from were his media, that still speak his message most clearly. 

2. Almost everybody who got close to Jesus spent a lot of time being confused. His family speculated that he might be insane (Mark 3:20), the religious leaders suggested he was demon possessed (Mark 3:22). To bewildered disciples, Jesus said, “Why are you so afraid? Don’t you have any faith?” (Mark 4:40). Pilate asked, “Are you really the king of the Jews?” (Mark 15:2). Did anyone understand Jesus?

3. Mark didn’t write to confuse. The strongest voices in his narrative proclaim faith. Like, Mark’s own voice that says, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). Like the voice from heaven at Jesus’ baptism, repeated at his transfiguration: “This is my son” (Mark 1:9, 9:7). Like the demon’s voice that said, “I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24). And Peter’s voice, his great confession: “You are the Messiah” (Mark 9:29). 

Voices from heaven and hell, voices from Peter and Mark richly endorse Jesus as God’s special messenger, his son, on earth. 

4. Finally, the bit players had an important role in Mark’s gospel. A leper cleansed, a blind man sees, a lame man walks, a woman with a life-long hemorrhage healed.  And more: children blessed, a widow’s small offering honored. No backstories, no names or addresses. After they receive Jesus’ gift, we never hear from them again. 

But they all point us to Jesus, offering hope he can meet our greatest needs too. 

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, I am a bit player in your story. I have seen you heal and restore and forgive and save. Do the same for me. 

O Jesus, I am a disciple in your story. Confused, I have followed your ministry years. Afraid, I have denied you at the crucifixion, and wondered at your resurrection. Teach this perplexed seeker to follow you, to receive your healing, to believe your message, to live as you did. 

O Jesus, I add my voice to the voices in Mark’s gospel. You are the Son of God, my Messiah, my risen one, my healer.

This is the gospel of Mark, full of the good news that I can live fully in you and you in all of me. 

Amen

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Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Two days after the crucifixion, two women took spices to anoint Jesus’ body. “How will we move the stone that seals the tomb?” they asked. 

But someone had already moved it. Instead of Jesus’ body, they found a man in a white robe who said, “Jesus isn’t here. He rose from the dead. Go tell his disciples to meet him in Galilee” (v. 6-7). 

Trembling and bewildered and afraid, the women fled, saying nothing to anyone.

And that’s the end of Mark’s gospel, in the earliest and best manuscripts.  

It’s an incredibly unsatisfying ending. Why weren’t the women excited that Jesus was alive? Who told the disciples about the change in plans? Did anybody actually see the risen Jesus? 

Mark’s ending has been a problem for Gospel scholars for 18 centuries. There are a couple popular endings that tell the rest of the story, but no one knows who wrote them.

Instead of trying to solve the problem of how Mark ought to end, I think I’ll just make some comments.

1. In spite of an abrupt ending, Mark’s gospel is never confused about who Jesus is. The first verse calls him “the Messiah, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). At his baptism, a heavenly voice says , “You are my son” (Mark 1:11). At the transfiguration, that voice again: “This is my son whom I love” (Mark 9:7). And after the resurrection, an angel in the empty tomb, “He is risen”. Mark trusts the voices that said Jesus was the son of God. 

2. Mark describes most of those who interacted with Jesus as confused. His family thought he was insane, the religious leaders saw him as a fraud, the disciples argued about who would be greatest, and Pilate? He didn’t care if Jesus was king or criminal. “Flog him. Crucify him. Next case!”

Many things Jesus did surprised and confused people. He rejected the Pharisees’ take on Old Testament law and practices, he drove money changers out of the temple, he walked on water like a ghost, he claimed to forgive sins. He was a complex character. Nobody really understood him.

So I’m not surprised that Mark’s story ends with confused women and a missing body. You would be confused too if you’d watched a brutal crucifixion on Friday and two days later found the body inexplicably missing. Too much information to process in one weekend.

3. I like an ending that leaves us with questions. Like, what happened next? Did the women get past their confusion and start talking? How did the disciples hear that Jesus was alive? 

I think Mark knew his readers would hear the rest of the story in their Christian community. And that they would experience the risen Christ in their own lives.  

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, Mark’s ending invites us into the story. The tomb that was empty for the women is still empty for us. 

Risen, you entered Mark’s life, inspiring him to write your story.
Risen, you entered the women’s confusion, changing their lives.
Risen, you found the disciples and inspired their witness.
Risen, you find me in my confusion and weave my story into yours.

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

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Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Mark 15 talks about Jesus’ crucifixion. After being tortured, he was forced to carry his cross to Golgotha, crucifixion hill. 

Beaten and whipped by Roman soldiers, Jesus was too weak and slow, so a passer-by was conscripted to help. 

Pilate nailed a sign to the cross that said “The King of the Jews”. What a sneering and cynical statement, expressing Pilate’s loathing for the endless religious and political squabbling in this backwater of the Roman empire. 

Jesus was not a real king like Caesar. He had no path to power, he showed no strength against enemies, he found no guards or wisdom to protect himself. 

Jesus’ trial and crucifixion was a public spectacle, a bit like reality television today. A chance for voyeurs to watch people scheming and arguing and airing dirty laundry. An opportunity to be fascinated and disgusted and entertained by human foibles and gratuitous cruelty. 

Some watchers said to Jesus, “Did you say you would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days? What’s your plan now?” (v. 29). 

The religious leaders said, “He posed as messiah and king. He saved others. Can he save himself?” (v. 32). 

The soldiers threw lots to decide who got his clothes. 

Jesus was naked and alone on the cross. 

Let’s pray. 

O father, Jesus’ story is full of irony. 

John’s gospel tells us that the temple Jesus would destroy and rebuild was his body. But after the crucifixion, that body was soon buried.

The religious leaders maneuvered the king of the Jews onto a cross, proving he had no credible claim as a religious leader, that he had no special relationship to God, burying any hope he had of starting a new religion. 

Despite coming to build your kingdom, God, Jesus perished under Jewish conspiracies and Roman politics. 

A few women who loved him and disciples who had abandoned him watched him die. What else could they do? 

O father, Pilate and the religious leaders are long gone. Jesus’ cross has turned to dust. Archeologists excavate Roman ruins and ancient Jewish garbage dumps. But Jesus lives.

The sign under which he died is the sign under which we live. We meet and serve him. We pray to him for forgiveness and salvation. We trust his kingship in our lives, our churches, our world. We wait as he builds your kingdom, O God.

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In Mark 15, the Passover didn’t pass over Jesus, it targeted him. Here’s what happened. 

The religious leaders had a problem with Jesus and wanted him dead. Since only the Roman occupiers could execute prisoners, they took Jesus and their complaints about him to Pilate, the Roman governor. 

Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you king of the Jews?” 

Jesus says, “If that’s what you want to call me, feel free.” 

Then the religious leaders pile on with their complaints and accusations. But Jesus doesn’t defend himself. Pilate exclaims, “Don’t you have anything to say?” 

Jesus didn’t. 

Pilate wasn’t keen to execute Jesus. He was leery of the religious rivalry and endless tribal arguments among the Jews. So he said, “Hey, every year I set a prisoner free to help you celebrate Passover. How about Jesus this year?” 

“Whoa, not him!” the religious leaders said. “How about Barabbas the murderer?” 

“Okay, if that’s what you want,” said Pilate. “But what about the king of the Jews?” 

“Crucify him!” they demanded. 

Some comments. 

1. Jesus didn’t look like a commanding king of the Jews. His followers abandoned him, the religious movement he started failed him, he sat silently through false accusations and unjust sentencing. 

2. Passover holiday celebrated the first passover, where God’s angel of death targeted Egyptian firstborn, and spared the Israelites. At Jesus’ New Testament Passover, Pilate is the angel of life and death. He offered to pass over Jesus. 

But the religious leaders desperately wanted Jesus out of the picture, so they convinced the angel of death to pass over Barabbas and target Jesus. It was a real Passover weekend for Barabbas. Not so for Jesus. 

3. The world Pilate and the religious leaders inhabited sounds like the world we live in. Corrupt religion making alliances with politics. Power protecting the powerful, and ignoring the weak. We see truth and human life sacrificed for religious and political outcomes. 

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, you were hated by religious leaders and abandoned by friends.

The Jewish religion that nurtured you turned its back on you. 

You were targeted and imprisoned during a celebration of freedom.

You were silent before your accusers. 

You were a puppet in the religious leaders’ machinations and a pawn in Pilate’s game. 

You were wrongly convicted and harshly sentenced. 

But somehow in the disaster, you were king. King of the Jews, ruler of creation, savior of the church, judge of the world. 

Help us not to be like the religious leaders. May your strong name demolish our narrow ideologies, our questionable religious views, our corrupt political systems. 

Help us see the truth, and speak the truth, and worship you who are the way, the truth, and the life.

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In Mark 14, vigilantes kidnapped Jesus and dragged him to the religious leaders for trial–a kangaroo court ready to pervert justice. Mark’s gospel says, “Many people testified falsely against him, but their testimony did not agree” (v. 55). 

Finally, the high priest asked “Are you the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One?” (v. 61).  

“I am,” Jesus said, “and one day you will see me sitting at the right hand of God and coming on the clouds of heaven” (v. 62). 

The high priest immediately pronounced a GUITLY verdict, saying, “You blasphemer!” 

The crowd spit on him, blindfolded him, and hit him saying, “Prophesy! Tell us who hit you!” The guards took him away and beat him. 

Meanwhile, Peter was hanging around outside, trying to blend in. But a servant girl asked him twice, “Weren’t you with Jesus?” (vv. 66-70). Peter denied it. 

Someone exclaimed, “Hey! You have a Galilean accent, just like that guilty man. You must be his disciple!” But Peter cursed and said, “I don’t know him. Back off!” (vv. 70-71).  

Then a rooster crowed, and Peter remembered that Jesus had predicted his denial. Peter broke down and wept (v. 72). 

Some comments. 

1. That’s what the prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane were about. Jesus expected the bad times, but Peter didn’t. He wasn’t ready for Christ to become a hapless victim in a court that cared nothing for justice. 

If I were Peter, Jesus’ helplessness would surprise me too. Jesus had skills. He upended the money changers’ tables. He walked away from a crowd trying to push him off a cliff. Couldn’t he shut down the kangaroo court? Or walk away? But something changed, and Peter didn’t get it.    

2. The witnesses at Jesus’ trial produced nothing but lies and confusion. So when the high priest asked Jesus if he was the Messiah, why did Jesus bother answering? Did he need to testify against himself to help the court find him guilty?

3. What a huge claim from Jesus, saying he would sit at God’s right hand and come on the clouds of heaven. But after that bold statement, he remained silent. Why didn’t he back up his words with proofs or miracles or or even by escaping? 

Let’s pray. 

O father, Jesus was silent before his accusers, except to confirm that he was the Messiah. Is this the strong Jesus who cast out demons, excoriated the Pharisees, walked on water, and raised the dead? 

Why is Jesus unaccountably weak . . . silent before his accusers, mocked and beaten, meekly accepting a guilty verdict?  

O father, we want to imitate Jesus’ ministry of healing and teaching and preaching. We want to be his light in dark places. But we don’t want to follow him into the heart of darkness, into condemnation, torture, and death. 

O father, help us be faithful disciples in the sunlight and in the dark night, on paths of serving and paths of suffering, when we are strong and when we are weak. 

Jesus is our Messiah, seated at your right hand. We welcome his presence on our journey, and we for his appearing in the clouds of heaven. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

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Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In Mark 14, Jesus said to his disciples, “You will all abandon me, but when I rise from the dead, meet me in Galilee” (v. 27). 

Peter said, “I won’t abandon you. Even death threats don’t scare me” (v. 29, 31). 

Jesus replied, “Whatever! Within 12 hours you’ll disown me. Three times” (v. 30).  

In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus asked Peter, James, and John to keep watch, praying their own prayers while he prayed his. But they fell asleep, not once, nor twice, but three times while Jesus prayed.  

Jesus prayer was, “Father, please, don’t let me be tortured to death. But I will follow wherever you lead, even there” (v. 35-36).

Then the police came to arrest Jesus. Or were they vigilantes? Mark calls them “a crowd armed with swords and clubs.” Not exactly a proper arrest, but an extra-judicial kidnapping that spirited Jesus away to a kangaroo trial. 

That spirited him away all alone, because all the disciples, even Peter abandoned him.

1. A comment on Peter’s confidence. As Satan said to God about Job, “Job only serves you because you make him rich. Take away his money and his good times, and he’ll curse you to your face” (Job 1:9-11). Peter followed Jesus in the good times: miracles, healings, story-sermons, feasts. How will Peter behave in the bad times? 

And what will we, comfortable western Christians, do when bad times come for us? 

2. A comment on Peter’s sleepiness. Jesus said, “Watch and pray so you won’t fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” (v. 38). 

I think I share weak flesh with Peter. Do I pray enough, and at the right times? Should I stay up late to pray? How can I overcome my weak flesh? I am often too tired, too much in love with cozy comfort, too strongly attached to food and sex, too distracted by trivial news and social media. 

3. A comment on Jesus’ prayer in the garden. He knew his future held torture and death. What gave him the courage that Peter didn’t have, to face the worst and keep on believing? 

Let’s pray. 

O father, this story takes us to the edge of human prayer and motivation. Jesus prayed his way into a future full of torture. Peter slept his way into a night full of denial. 

Show us where the trajectory of our lives will take us. Are our prayers sufficient to help us through difficulty and temptation? Are our spirits strong enough to overcome the weakness of our flesh? 

O father, renew in us the spirit of Jesus, that we may pray with him, and stand with him, and die and live with him. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

The first Passover was celebrated when Pharaoh set his Israelite slaves free. Nine plagues against Egypt didn’t convince him. But the tenth did. An angel of death killed the firstborn in Egyptian families, while passing over Israelite families. That was the “pass” . . . “over”, the death angel sparing Israelites. 

Mark 14 tells how Jesus celebrated a Passover meal, his Last Supper before he was crucified. 

Moses’ instructions for the Passover meal specified roast lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread (a tortilla-like flatbread you might buy at Superstore) (Exo 12:8-9). 

At Jesus’ passover meal, he didn’t emphasize celebrating freedom like Moses did. Jesus said to his disciples, “One of you will betray me” (v. 17). An ominous allusion. Will the death angel from Egypt show up in Jesus’ Passover story? 

During Passover dinner, Jesus passed pieces of bread to the disciples, saying, “This is my body” (v. 22). A human body isn’t normal food. Do you think the disciples heard what Jesus said? Did they find it strange that Jesus wanted them to eat his body?  

Later Jesus passed the wine, saying, “This is my blood” (v. 24). Moses’ law instructed Jews not to consume blood (Lev 17:10-12), so drinking Jesus’ blood was a strange, strange Passover symbol. 

There is no mention of roast lamb at the Last Supper. Instead, at the end of a sobering meal, Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn and went out into the night.

So what do we make of the Last Supper? Here are some thoughts. 

1. It was a difficult evening for Jesus. He knew his crucifixion was near. He knew the disciples didn’t believe he would die. Perhaps he found comfort in a traditional meal with his followers, in believing that God would see him through the next 24 hours. 

2. l find Jesus’ symbolism shocking. Eat someone’s body and drink his blood? 

And yet . . . these graphic symbols express something close to my heart. My flesh-and-blood journey through life is shared with Jesus who also made a flesh-and-blood journey. He encourages me with reminders of his 33 years living in a human body. 

Much of following Jesus is a spiritual and mystical exercise. But the bread and wine served at communion encourages me to live in my body as Jesus lived in his, to let his life-blood flow in my veins, to let his broken body be bread that nourishes my aging body. 

3.  The symbolism reminds me that Christianity is a religion of sacrifice. As a modern, civilized person, I could be offended by symbols of Christ’s tortured body and bloody death. Is there something there for me to eat and drink?

Maybe Christ didn’t come to make me civilized. Perhaps he came to deal harshly and realistically with out-of-control evil, in a world choking on violence and death. Perhaps redemption required the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross.

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, the bread and wine we take at communion reminds us of your body and blood. We eat and drink, barely knowing what it means. But we trust that you, who lived in flesh-and-blood, will guide our lives, and that you who died will carry us through the soon-coming darkness of death. 

O Jesus, we remember you, your stories and healings, your life and crucifixion. Though you were God’s son, yet you learned obedience by what you suffered, and you became the author of eternal salvation for all who obey you (Heb 5:8).

Teach us to obey you. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

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Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In Mark 14, Jerusalem is abuzz with preparations for Passover weekend. The religious leaders have decided to get rid of Jesus. But maybe not during the holiday, because his fans might riot. 

Meanwhile, Jesus has been predicting his death, but only he and the religious leaders who hate him believe he will really die.

Now, two days before Passover, Jesus is feasting at the home of Simon the Leper. Unnoticed and uninvited, a woman slips into the feast, breaks open an alabaster jar of high-end perfume, and pours it on Jesus’ head. 

The feasters are annoyed, and heap abuse on the woman. Why, they demand, are you wasting a whole bottle of expensive perfume? 

They point out that she could sell the jar for 300 denarii, about a year’s wage. Like $25,000 if your McJob pays minimum wage. Why didn’t the lady do something useful, like giving the money to the poor, instead of using her perfume to make a scene?  

Jesus rebuked the rebukers. “Leave her alone,” he said. “She anointed me to prepare me for burial. You can give to the poor whenever you want. But her gift is special.” 

Comments. 

1. First, it’s weird that this woman would so publicly demonstrate love for Jesus. When I go to church, I don’t pour perfume on our preacher. Do you think this passage suggests I should?  

2. What magnificent symbolism. Most scriptural anointings commission kings, priests, or prophets. But here’s Jesus, whom God has already anointed and commissioned, getting a second anointing. This time in an inappropriate situation, by an unnamed woman, in a strange, public display of affection, using a whole bottle of perfume, reminding Jesus he will soon die. Awkward!

3. Third, Jesus’ response to her extravagance tells us how God calculates return on investment. God didn’t order a cost-benefit analysis on the best use of an expensive gift. Jesus accepts a woman’s perfume, as he earlier accepted a widow’s gift of pennies.

Let’s pray. 

O father, how strange is this woman’s action. Did she think interrupting a feast was a good idea? Did she understand she was anointing Jesus for burial? 

Or was she motivated by something else entirely? Perhaps love for Jesus with no limits and no boundaries?

Unlike her, we calculate the value of our giving. We do the math on our tithes and claim tax benefits with the receipts. We hoard our alabaster jars and our bank accounts. They are piggy banks for a rainy day, not funds to spend lavish gifts.  

O father, grant us freedom of heart to count less and give more. To value relationships more than money. To exchange our hoarding ways for extravagant love and spontaneous generosity.  

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

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Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In Mark 13, Jesus describes the coming apocalypse. Unfortunately, he didn’t provide timelines and prophecy charts. 

Here’s what he said the future looks like. 

International politics and the created world will be disrupted with:
– Wars and rumors of wars
– Earthquakes, famines, and chaos
– A sinister and terrible abomination of desolation, but he doesn’t explain what that is.
– And there will be days of distress worse than anything since creation. 

Sounds like 2025, doesn’t it? Wars, earthquakes, desolations. It’s all here.

Then the disruptions extend from earth to the heavens. Sun and moon darken, stars fall, and heavenly bodies are shaken. 

Astrophysicists concur. As the sun ages and cools, our solar system disintegrates. Unlike Jesus, the astrophysicists provide a timeline. Their take: a billion years from now. Are you ready? (When will the sun die? | Space)

Jesus continues his description of the future. Personally and spiritually: 
– People will hate Christians. Families will be divided. Brothers, fathers, and mothers will betray each other to death.
– Christians are arrested, tortured, and brought to trial. 
– False prophets and false messiahs flourish. 

Then, finally, Jesus comes in the clouds with power and great glory. His angels gather Jesus’ disciples and transport them to the next chapter of their existence.

Fifty-five years ago, in 1970, a prophecy preacher I heard got more and more excited as he explained that almost everything Jesus predicted was already happening. Wars, earthquakes, famines, false messiahs, political upheaval, celestial disturbances–1970 had it all. Then he said, “We’re not supposed to set dates, but I don’t think the world can last past 1986. It’s time for Christ to come.”  

I held that thought for 16 years, wondering if he was right. Then 1986 came . . . and went. The preacher’s prophecy flopped. 

Let’s pray. 

O father, we are fascinated by end-of-the-world predictions. But we quickly forget Jesus’ instructions. 

Jesus said, “Watch out that no one deceives you” (v. 5). O father, help us know the truth and recognize false prophets and deceivers.

Jesus said, “Do not worry” (v. 11). Deliver us from anxiety about the present and the future. 

Jesus said “Be on your guard” (v. 9, 23, 33). O father, teach us not to obsess on politics, wars, demonic forces, or the future. May we trust Jesus to shepherd us through life and death. 

Jesus said, “Keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will return” (v. 35). O father, help us be faithful in all our work for you, our neighbors, and creation. Help us to always watch for Jesus’ return. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

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