9/3/18 – Leviticus 19, Leviticus 20 – Mark 14:43-72 – Proverbs 6:30-35

Lev 19:17-18

“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbour, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the LORD.

When Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment, part of his answer was this – “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”.

Jesus wasn’t rewriting the Law when He said that: Here is that exact same phrase in Leviticus.

There are so many rules here – but Jesus takes the heart of all those rules and talks about love. But when He does so, He’s not saying anything they should not have already known.

When you look for it, there’s real gold here in Leviticus.

Mark 14:51-52

And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.

Only the book of Mark mentions this little incident. It is mentioned because it clearly left an impression on some of the disciples, certainly Peter. Which it would… it’s not a sight you’d forget in a hurry.

Who was this guy? Some have suggested that it’s Mark himself.

It’s one of those little details that adds to the authenticity of the gospels. It serves no point when it comes to advancing the narrative of Jesus – it’s the sort of detail that makes it in there simply because it happened and someone remembered it, exactly what you’d expect with a true story.

Mark 14:55-56

Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree.

In the Law at least two witnesses had to agree to establish a charge when putting a person to death. (Deut 17:6). They couldn’t even do that when it came to Jesus.

He was condemned before the evidence, they’d already made up their mind – but still they could not find anything to convict Him of.

His life was so pure, so right that they couldn’t bring anything against Him. Even the liars failed.

All they had was His confession to be the Christ, the Son of God. That was not specifically against the law, but rather counted as Blasphemy – more of a spiritual issue. Even that was tricky when it came to the death penalty. What they had to do was more away from their law altogether and have Him under Roman law, tried for treason through claiming to be king.

Jesus never broke the law in that sense. He never sinned… so even His conviction had to be based on false accusations.