The One Faithful Witness

THE ONE FAITHFUL WITNESS

An Exposition of Mark 14:53-72

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: October 31, 2021

Series: Mark: Knowing and Following God’s Son

Note: Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Turn to Mark 14, and I'm going to read verses 53-72. Jesus had just been betrayed and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. And now we pick things up in verse 53. Holy Scripture says:

⁵³ And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. ⁵⁴ And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. ⁵⁵ Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. ⁵⁶ For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. ⁵⁷ And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying,⁵⁸ “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” ⁵⁹ Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. ⁶⁰ And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” ⁶¹ But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” ⁶² And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” ⁶³ And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? ⁶⁴ You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death.⁶⁵ And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows.

⁶⁶ And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, ⁶⁷ and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” ⁶⁸ But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. ⁶⁹ And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” ⁷⁰ But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” ⁷¹ But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” ⁷² And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept. (Mark 14:53-72)

This is the Word of God and it is for our good, let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your holy Word. You have spoken clearly to reveal the majesty and glory of your Son. And Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit would be at work in our hearts this morning, illuminating this passage and showing us Jesus and communicating grace to our hearts. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.    

INTRODUCTION

It is a cold spring evening in April of perhaps the year 30 AD – although some say 33 AD. It is very early in the morning. In fact, it's probably just a little bit past midnight. Just two or three hours ago, Peter and the other disciples had concluded their Passover meal with the Lord in that large upper room where the Lord had taken bread and taken the cup and given them to his disciples as emblems of himself (Mark 14:17-25). That was just a couple hours ago. After that, Jesus had taken his disciples into the Garden of Gethsemane – and in particular he took Peter, James, and John further up with him. And there, the Lord Jesus poured out his heart before the Father and resolved to do the Father's will: to drink the bitter cup that was assigned to him (Mark 14:32-42).

Then, in verses 43-49, Jesus was betrayed by Judas. Jesus was handed over to the armed contingent that had come from the Jewish High Council. They arrested the Lord. And all of the disciples fled (verse 50). Now evidently Peter only fled a short distance. He was evidently torn, and he wanted to stay aware of what was happening with the Lord. And so, he was following the Lord at a distance, observing and watching what would happen. (verse 54).

In verse 53, they took Jesus to the house of the high priest. It must have been a somewhat impressive estate that the high priest had, with buildings around and a courtyard in the middle. And so, Jesus was taken into what must have been a large room in the high priest’s house, where the Jewish High Council – the Jewish High Court called the Sanhedrin – consisting of the chief priests and the elders and the scribes, had come together. They were convened – again, just a little bit past midnight – in order to put Jesus on trial.

Meanwhile, there's another trial that's taking place. That's why we want to look at all of verses 53-72 at the same time, because it is set up as a single passage. The trial for Jesus is being set up in verse 53, but the trial for Peter is being set up in verse 54. Peter comes into the courtyard and is “warming himself at the fire” with some guards and servants of the religious council. And so, verses 53-54 set the scene for these two trials that are going to be taking place at really the same time.

THE TRIAL OF JESUS (v. 55-65)

So in verses 55-65, we have the trial of Jesus. It says in verse 55 that “the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death”. That tells us right off the bat that this is not an impartial trial. The outcome is already determined in the minds of these several dozen men who make up this Jewish high court. In fact, at the beginning of Chapter 14, we were told in the middle of verse 1 that “the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him”. That was their clear intent. And yet, they themselves thought that they were doing what was right and they wanted to have a credible trial with concrete evidence against the Lord. So, they were seeking testimony.

There was a very high standard for testimony within the context of Jewish law. There had to be multiple witnesses who agreed in detail on the charges at hand. And so, that's what they were attempting to find – to find agreed-upon testimony by multiple witnesses that they could use to put Jesus to death on the basis of a capital offense. “[But] they found none” (v. 55). Then verse 56 goes on to explain the lack of sufficient evidence: “For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree.”

Now I don't think that these witnesses were making things up out of whole cloth. They were taking bits and pieces of what Jesus had said, or bits and pieces of what Jesus was reported to have said, and they were trying to build a case against the Lord. But these witnesses were unable to agree in detail on the particular allegations that were made.

Greater than Daniel

And – as a little aside – I would say that it is very difficult to find agreed-upon testimony against an innocent man. Just think about the prophet Daniel. Daniel was a sinner like us, but Daniel was in fact a good man who trusted the Lord and walked with God. And God favored him in the midst of foreign empires, and Daniel rose to prominent positions under various kings. And, as you probably know, at one point he drew the envy of the other bureaucrats. And these envious bureaucrats tried to find something wrong with Daniel that they could use against him, but they couldn't find anything. Daniel was above reproach. So, they ended up having to cook up a law that was contrary to Daniel's religious practice in order to catch him in an ‘unlawful’ act.

Daniel was a good man, but Jesus is a perfect man. He always did and said what was right. He always acted righteously from his heart. It is very difficult to find agreed-upon testimony regarding capital charges against the one holy and perfect man who ever lived. But they were trying, because he had rubbed them the wrong way, he had crossed their dearly held religious traditions, and he had critiqued their flawed interpretations of the law.

The Temple

And so, as we come to verses 57-58, we find one particular line of allegation that they made. It says in verses 57-58: “And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” Yet even about this their testimony did not agree.” Verse 58 is a great example of how they were trying to piece things together out of things that Jesus had said. As we've been tracking along here in the Gospel of Mark, we know that in Mark 11, Jesus pronounced judgment upon the temple. And at the beginning of Chapter 13, he stated very clearly that the temple was destined to become a pile of rubble. So Jesus had foretold the destruction of the temple. But he never said, ‘I will destroy it.’ He said that it would be destroyed.

Also, the statement of verse 58 sounds a lot like a statement that Jesus made in John 2. Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19) Do you hear the similarity between John 2:19 and Mark 14:58? But Jesus didn't say, ‘I will destroy this temple.’ Further, the fact is that in John 2:19 the temple that he was talking about wasn't the physical temple building, but was actually his own physical body (John 2:21). But the witnesses in Mark 14:57-58 were trying to piece things together.

Obviously, if someone really did threaten to destroy the most sacred building in a nation, that would be a very serious offense. Such a threat could, in fact, be a capital offense in some contexts. But “their testimony did not agree.” They couldn't agree on the details and on the meaning of what Jesus had said. And so their attempt to find agreed-upon testimony was a dead end.

Silence

This brings us to verses 60-61: “And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” But he [Jesus] remained silent and made no answer.” Where does your mind go when you hear that phrase “he remained silent”? Does it go to Isaiah 53:7? Scripture says:

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)

Jesus was not interested in getting into an argument or defending himself before these truth-suppressors. Jesus was not interested in defending himself before these corrupt men who had already made up their mind about him, that they wanted to destroy him. And besides that, Jesus was entrusting himself to his Father to vindicate him at the appointed time. So Jesus, for the moment, remained silent.

A Pointed Question

But then at the second half of verse 61, the high priest decided to ask Jesus a very pointed question: “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” The phrase “the Blessed” is a reference to God as the Blessed One. Now we know, if we've been reading through the Gospel of Mark, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. In fact, how does the Gospel begin? “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1) As we are reading the Gospel, we know that this is who Jesus is. But of course, they are living this out historically in the moment. And Jesus was very veiled about his identity, lest people misunderstand what he had come to do. So he wasn't out there telling people, ‘I am the Messiah; I am God's Son; I stand in a special relationship to the Father.’ He was much more subtle. We know that the Father spoke to Jesus when Jesus was baptized: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11) We know that when Jesus ministered to a demon-possessed man, that the demon cried out, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” In the parable that Jesus told in Mark 12, Jesus very subtly revealed that he was the beloved Son of God, for we understand that he is to be identified with the beloved son of the vineyard owner in the parable (Mark 12:6-8).

But overall Jesus was not proactively and publicly revealing his Sonship and Messiahship. He had asked the disciples in Mark 8, “Who do people say that I am?” (Mark 8:27) And then he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:28) And Peter said, “You are the Christ.” (Mark 8:29) Then Jesus immediately ordered them to be silent and not to tell anyone (Mark 8:30). It wasn't the time. Jesus much preferred to speak of himself as the Son of Man, which is what he does here again in Mark 14. But for whatever reasons, the religious High Council and the high priest knew that Jesus assumed an authority and a power that was very atypical. He spoke with authority. He had credible healings and miracles. He had a following, and in many cases people hung on his words. And so the high priest asked the question: “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus replied, “I am” (v. 62). When Jesus said, “I am,” he meant ‘Yes, I am the Christ, the Son of the Blessed.’ And then Jesus immediately talks about his exalted status as the Son of Man: “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (v. 62)

What Jesus says in verse 62 comes right out of the Old Testament – out of Psalm 110 and Daniel 7. We talked about Daniel 7:13-14 when we looked at Mark 13:26. But both of these passages – Psalm 110 and Daniel 7 – talk about our Lord. Daniel 7 refers to “one like a son of man” (Daniel 7:13). And Psalm 110 tells us about Adonai (Lord). This special someone – Adonai, the Son of Man – stands in an absolutely unique relationship to the Father, to Yahweh, to the Ancient of Days. And God Almighty entrusts universal sovereignty and authority and judgment to this Son of Man (Daniel 7:13-14). And that's what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is saying, in essence, that even though I am here under trial by this religious tribunal, you need to understand that in due course, you will see and know and understand that I stand in an absolutely unique relationship to the Father. And you will see and know and understand that he will entrust to me all authority, all sovereignty, all lordship, and all right of judgment, over the entire universe. How would you like to tell that to a religious High Court?

The Charge of Blasphemy

The high priest immediately makes a statement by tearing his garments (v. 63). And then he makes a literal statement by saying, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” (v. 63) Here's the deal: if you claim to be the one promised Messiah, the absolutely unique Son of Man, the Adonai who is exalted at the right hand of God, the One who comes before the Ancient of Days on the clouds of heaven to receive sovereignty over all nations – if you make that claim, it is blasphemy unless it is a true claim. Do you understand? Because if it's not a true claim, then you are claiming that you have God's backing and you have God's commissioning and you have God's authorization and that you represent God uniquely – but if that's not true, then you are blaspheming God.

Of course, Jesus is speaking the truth, but his accusers do not believe him. And so, they regard what he says as blasphemy. And at the end of verse 64, “they all condemned him as deserving death.” In the Old Testament, the sin of blasphemy was in fact to be punished by death, by stoning. Now, there was a particular problem here in the first century because even though the Sanhedrin was very powerful over Jewish religious and political life, nevertheless their political authority was not absolute. They were under the overlordship of the Roman Empire, and except in very limited exceptions the right of execution was reserved to the Roman political authorities. So they “condemned him as deserving death”, but in short order (as we will see in Chapter 15) they will be taking him over to Pontius Pilate for Rome to enact their decision.

Notice, as we come to verse 65, that they treat Jesus with contempt. They don't condemn him with tears. They don't condemn him with broken hearts. Contrast their contempt with the compassion of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus came to Jerusalem and he looked over the city, and he was about to speak the reality of judgment against the city and against the temple, and what did he do? He wept. He wept over the city. He proclaimed judgment with a heart of tenderness. (Luke 19:41-44) But what came out of the religious leaders was scorn and contempt and vitriol, which is very typical of what is in the heart of sinful man. Isn't it remarkable that the Christ is scorned? The Son of the Blessed is condemned and treated as one who is cursed. The One who will sit at the right hand of Power is seemingly weak and powerless. The One who comes with the clouds of heaven – the One who possesses all heavenly glory – is treated with contempt and shame on earth. This is the mystery of the gospel: that he who was rich became poor for our sakes so that we through his poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).

THE TRIAL OF PETER

Now while this formal trial has been taking place in a large room in the high priest’s house, another trial – an informal trial, but a trial nonetheless – was taking place with the apostle Peter in the courtyard below. We recall that Jesus had said that if anyone would be his disciple, that would-be disciple must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Jesus, and that would-be disciple must be willing to lose his life for Jesus’ sake and for the gospel’s sake (Mark 8:34-35). True disciples must endure all kinds of discomfort and shame in order to faithfully follow Jesus on the path of discipleship.

Now let's be honest: right now (referring to the events of Mark 14:43-65) was not a very good time to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. It looked like Jesus’ movement was falling apart. And Peter was falling apart. No doubt, Peter was very torn. We know that he had really come to believe that Jesus is the Christ (Mark 8:29) and that Jesus has “the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). We know that Peter really had come to love the Lord, and yet he really didn't want to be uncomfortable or vulnerable or disrespected in this moment. He really just wanted to watch what was going on, and he wanted to be left alone. But the world doesn't leave us alone. And in any case, we're called to bear witness to the world.

And so, a servant girl of the high priest recognizes Peter, as Peter is warming himself by the fire on this cold spring night. And the servant girl says, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” (v. 67) She is basically saying, ‘You were with him, you are associated with him, you are one of his followers. “But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” (v. 68) Peter is saying, ‘I have no idea what you're talking about.’ Then “he went out into the gateway [or the forecourt]” – perhaps to give himself a little space away from the scrutiny and away from the observers who might recognize him – “and the rooster crowed” a first time. (v. 68) The rooster’s first crow is just background noise at this point.

The passage continues:

“And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” But again, he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”” (v. 69-70)

Apparently those from Galilee had a particular accent that gave them away. Jesus was ‘the Man from Galilee’, and his followers were from Galilee, and Peter spoke like a Galilean. Thus: “Certainly you are one of them”!  

At this point Peter began to get violent in his denial – invoking a curse, swearing, upping the ante, insisting on the truthfulness of what he was about to say: “But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” (v. 71)

The Larger Context of Mark 13-14

Now I want to pause right here and go back to Mark 13. In Mark 13, Jesus said:

“But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 13:9-11)

I want to make two comments about those verses. First of all, Jesus himself is blazing the trail by living out this very reality. He has been delivered over to the Jewish High Council. He has begun to be beaten and mistreated, and he is about to stand before Governor Pilate. Jesus is standing firm in the truth, in fellowship with his Father and with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is trusting his Father and is speaking only what is true and right. And Jesus calls his followers into the same kind of costly discipleship and suffering and bearing witness. Indeed, Peter and the other apostles are going to go through similar experiences. And here in Mark 14, Peter gets a miniature preview of the suffering to come, and it is not going well for Peter here in Mark 14.

Notice what Jesus said in Mark 13:9 – “be on your guard.” What did Jesus say in Mark 13:33? “Be on guard, keep awake.” What did Jesus say in Mark 13:35? “Therefore stay awake”. What did Jesus say in Mark 13:37? “And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” But what did Peter do? Jesus invited Peter and James and John to come with him into the Garden of Gethsemane – in order that Peter might watch and pray, and stay awake, and be on his guard, and be in fellowship with the Father and with the Spirit, and gain strength, and remain faithful under trial. But what did Peter do? He fell asleep – not once, not twice, but three times (Mark 14:37-41). You're supposed to have complete preparedness, thus the command to stay awake three times. But in fact Peter had complete ill-preparedness, as he fell asleep three times – which set the stage for a complete and utter failing in denying Jesus three times.

Now I want you to understand that Peter's denial – even his violent denial in verse 71 – was not the denial of a hard-hearted man. It was the denial of a man who was anxious, afraid, scared, and stubborn. Peter lost his nerve. We need to identify with Peter without overidentifying with Peter. And here's what I mean: I was reading a book about a missionary to Matthias and Keziah. Back in the 1940s, there were these 200 brave young Christians who stood before their Communist persecutors and, one by one – on the pain of death – stood firm and confessed their faith in Jesus and were subsequently beheaded.[1] But these brave Christians had an advantage over Peter. Remember, Peter at this point in his life – here in Mark 14 – did not yet have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Peter didn't receive the Holy Spirit until Acts 2. Now in this post-resurrection age, every believer receives the Holy Spirit at the moment of conversion. So don't overidentify with Peter, because we are not in the same position as he was in. But do identify with Peter in this way: what Peter did here represents what you and I will always do if we are depending on our own resources. If we are depending on our own resources, then it won't be the Holy Spirit speaking through us, but it will be us speaking in order to manage our fear, anxiety, and discomfort.

Peter Remembered and Wept

In any case, Peter’s denial was not the denial of a hard-hearted man. This becomes very evident in verse 72: “And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” Do you understand the grace of Jesus in preparing Peter for this moment? Jesus prepared Peter for this moment by telling him beforehand that he [Peter] would deny him [Jesus] three times (Mark 14:30). And yet, Jesus had already promised: “But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” (Mark 14:28) Jesus had told Peter about his failure ahead of time so that when it happened, Peter would remember that Jesus knew about it all along, and this would set in motion the process of repentance and restoration. Perhaps Peter remembered not only what Jesus had said to him (“Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times”), but also his own wrongheaded self-confidence when he had said, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” (Mark 14:29). And he had repeated this self-confidence again in Mark 14:31 – “But he said emphatically, If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” In light of all that happened, we recall what Jesus said in Mark 14:38 – “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

As Peter remembered, he broke down and wept, thus showing us his tender heart for the Lord, and his grief over his sin. And, of course, the rest of the story will come in John 21, when Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” (John 21:17) Thus Jesus restores Peter and renews his apostolic commission: “Feed my lambs.” (John 21:15)

THE ONE FAITHFUL WITNESS

Now, as we're finishing up here, what is the point of this passage? Many passages give us principles for living – and that's a very good thing. But this passage really isn't that kind of passage. The heart of Christianity is fellowship with Jesus, and the heart of fellowship with Jesus is knowing and seeing and loving Jesus. And I want you to see Jesus clearly in these final moments. I want you to see him as the one faithful witness.

Do you see how Mark has unfolded this for us? In verses 55-59, what's going on? They are seeking testimony. False witnesses rise up, but all they get is faulty, inadequate, or inconsistent testimony. And then, finally, Jesus speaks the truth. And then what happens in verses 66-72? Peter is the false witness – not against Jesus, but Peter is a false witness about his relationship with Jesus. He doesn't just deny Jesus. He's actually lying. Then what happens after Peter denies Jesus and lies about his relationship with Jesus three times? What happens is in accord with what Jesus said would happen. For “Jesus had said to him, Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”” (v. 72) And that’s what happened: the rooster crowed the second time after Peter had denied Jesus three times. Jesus had spoken truth. Jesus is the one faithful witness.

Jesus is the one man who deserves life. He came rescuing the demon-possessed, healing the sick, raising the dead, feeding the hungry, forgiving sinners. But they all condemned him as deserving death. Jesus’ face reflected the glory of his Father and his mouth spoke gracious and life-giving words, but they spit on him, and covered his face. Jesus’ hands had touched the lowly ones, and the leprous ones. With his hands, he had taken the bread and the cup and given himself to his disciples. The bread represented his flesh that he gave for the life of the world. But the religious elites used their hands to strike him. “And the guards received him with blows.” (v. 65) And they mocked him, saying, “Prophesy!” – as if to say as they’re covering his face and hitting him, ‘Tell us who hit you, since you’re so smart! Surely you know!’ They mocked him as a messianic pretender and as a false prophet. But here's the thing: he had rightly prophesied and foretold this very moment. Jesus had said in Chapter 8, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes” (Mark 8:31). Jesus had foretold this very moment in the high priest’s house. And he had foretold this very moment of what happened in the courtyard when earlier in Mark 14 he had prophesied the spectacular fall of Peter. Be sure of this: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words [the words of Jesus] will not pass away.” (Mark 13:31)

And one day this Jesus, rejected and scorned by men but loved and vindicated by his Father, will sit in judgment on every human being. As he said in Mark 8:38, “for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” And the Father's message to the universe is: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” (Mark 9:7) Listen to him, love him, trust him. “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” (Psalm 2:12) “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36)

Is Jesus lovely and beautiful and trustworthy to you?

Let's pray.

Despised and rejected in the sight of men, but in your sight, Father, he is precious, the beloved Son, the choice cornerstone. I pray that you would raise our affections and our love and our trust in this Messiah, the Son of God, in whose name we pray, amen.

ENDNOTES

[1] This story is recounted in Gladys Aylward: The Adventure of a Lifetime (Christian Heroes: Then & Now) by Janet and Geoff Benge. YWAM Publishing, 1998.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark (The New International Greek Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.

William L. Lane, The Gospel of Mark (The New International Commentary on the New Testament). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974.

Eckhard J. Schnabel, Mark (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries Vol. 2). Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2017.

Ben Witherington III, The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001.