The God Who Gets Uncomfortably Close
Mark 14:10-21 ESV
Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him. And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
1. God gets uncomfortably close because of His grace
Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 1:18 ESV
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
2. God gets uncomfortably close because that has always been part of His plan
Mark 14:21a ESV
"For the Son of Man goes as it is written of Him"
John 10:14-18
"I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
3. God gets uncomfortably close because he wants to give us an opportunity
Mark 14:21b
Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
Malachi 3:10 ESV
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
1 Peter 5:10
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
Mark 14:6b ESV
"She has done a beautiful thing to me."
Mark 14:18b
"One of you will betray me."
Mark 14:8 ESV
"She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial."
Mark 14:21b ESV
"Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!"
Mark 14:9b ESV
"Wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
Mark 14:21b
"Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
