Mark 14:43-72, Are You Lonely?

Mark 14:43-52 — Judas’s Betrayal and the Disciples’ Flight

Mark chapter 14, starting at verse 43, be reading to verse 72. Hear the word of the Lord. And immediately, while it was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard. And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, Rabbi, and he kissed him, and they laid hands on him and seized him.

But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus said to them, Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me?

Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me, but let the scriptures be fulfilled. And they all left him and fled. 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.

Mark 14:53-65 — The Sham Trial Before the High Priest

And they led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together, 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.

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. 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. 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 remained silent and made no answer.

Again the high priest asked him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? 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.

And the high priest tore his garments and said, What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. 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. And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter worming himself, she looked at him and said, You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus?

But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. And he went out into the gateway, and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, This man is one of them.

Mark 14:66-72 — Peter’s Denial and the Rooster’s Crow

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. But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak.

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. May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his holy word.

Loneliness, Betrayal, and the Bandwagon Effect

Well, are you lonely? That's what some people fear the most, being lonely, being left out, being all by themselves. You must have done something wrong. If you're alone, right? That's what many people assume.

Something's wrong with you if you're alone. You don't want to be one of those who are missing out what everyone else is experiencing or has. You're a loser for sure if you're out there by yourself like that.

So Hulu advertises its services as enabling you to quote, catch all the shows everyone is talking about. You don't want to be that one person at work who doesn't know what Game of Thrones is about. I don't really know what Game of Thrones is about.

Or maybe House of Cards or whatever. You don't want to be that one that didn't stay up late last night watching a basketball game so you can't talk about the great comeback, the great buzzer beater at the end.

People will do all kinds of things just so they can avoid that lonely feeling of being the one who's left out. I think one main reason many runners take on the marathon is that they don't want to be the only runner who can't talk about his marathon.

Everyone else is talking about their marathon. They've got to be able to do it. So they make themselves run 26 miles. It's called the bandwagon effect. Everybody is on the bandwagon. Everybody is going that way.

Everybody is doing or watching or eating or drinking whatever. Don't be left out. After all, if you're left out, you'll be lonely. And you can't tolerate that. So women often will succumb to sexual immorality or put up with an abusive partner just to avoid being lonely.

Better being with a man who will beat you up every now and then than having no one at all, I guess, they think. We hate being alone. But the tragic thing is, we have an epidemic of loneliness in our culture.

We've told people that in their quest for happiness, do what you want now, whatever it is, don't be restrained by any commitments, any loyalties that might mean sacrificing some pleasure for the short term, that might mean even being alone for now for something that's supposedly long term.

So we find it strange, the story I've told before about the man who married a wife he loved as a young man, but within just a few years after the marriage, she became violently insane. And so she had to be put in an asylum.

And he would visit her when he could, tried a few times to bring her out, let her live at home, but it could never work. And he stayed married to her for over 50 years like that. Married, but mostly alone.

50 years. His nephew, Ronald Sider, a professor and author at Eastern College, said he once asked his uncle if he ever thought of divorce, so he could marry a normal woman and have a companion. He said no.

He hadn't thought of it. He had married her for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part. 50 years of married aloneness. Now contrast that with the idea being put out there like it's a virtue by some liberal professor, I forget which one, I think of ethics somewhere, that he wishes that if his wife ever concludes that he is not fulfilling her, if he becomes a drag on her, quote, self-actualization or whatever pseudo-sophisticated term he made up, that he hopes his wife will be brave enough to divorce him.

I kind of suspect he's looking for an excuse to do that to her. But never mind that. Now I think the man is as selfish as I find his ethics should be thanked for at least saying what he believes, for clearly articulating what many people deep down really think, what they really believe, how they live.

That if this commitment, whatever it is, isn't always going to be fun, especially if it means being lonely, even for any stretch of time. If my husband is going to go to Afghanistan and leave me for a year by myself, if my friends aren't going to go with me to church, if I have to be by myself, then I'm out.

And so we have an epidemic of people feeling betrayed in our culture by spouses, they feel betrayed because they often are betrayed, by spouses, maybe by parents, especially by fathers who leave to go have fun somewhere else, maybe by friends who you thought shared your passions, who shared your commitments, your zeal for what's right, and you too would be loyal friends for a lifetime, you thought.

But then they betrayed everything you thought you shared together. As C .S. Lewis wrote, we laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. Being alone isn't the worst thing that could happen to you.

Far worse is being included, being accepted, being warmly accompanied by a band of traitors, of selfish people that you know, if you think about it, will abandon you just as soon as you're not fun anymore.

Far worse is being an intimate part of a fellowship of betrayers, of taking the bandwagon down that broad road to destruction. And we see that here in three major parts. First, the fleeing, then the trial, and third, the denial.

Sorry, Noah, I couldn't get them all to rhyme. I tried and tried, but there's just no way to get fleeing to rhyme with trial and denial. Well, just a few hours earlier, all of Jesus' disciples were pledging, remember how the story flows, they were pledging that even if they have to die with you, you know, they said it right to Jesus, if we have to die with you, Jesus, we will not deny you.

They were a band, so it seemed, of loyal, loving, inseparable friends, like the three musketeers. You know, all for one, one for all, except there were 13 of them, but one was away running some errand, whatever he was doing.

A kind of movie that Hollywood likes to put out, what they call a buddy movie. Two or more buddies going through some adventure together, which will sometimes try their relationship, sometimes maybe they'll you know, beat each other's throat, but then they'll always, at the end, by the end of it, stay together.

Maybe they're a fellowship of... whatever. Maybe a band of brothers going through war together, and in the long run, people will find the band of brothers more interesting than the war. People will pay to see friends stay together through thick and thin because they see so little of that in real life.

You'd like it. I think we'd love it here if this were a story of these disciples were those kind of buddies. I mean, if they really were willing to experience everything Jesus went through because they were just so loyal.

But Jesus tells his drowsy disciples, you know, rise, let's be going, see? My betrayer is at hand. There's this mob, probably with torches and weapons coming in their way, coming their way. The one at hand is that missing disciple out on some errand, except the errand was to betray Jesus.

And now he's here. We're reminded, you know, that first verse there, verse 42, that he's one of the twelve. And now that's not because we forgot. Why does Mark tell us that again? Not because we forgot, but because it's incredible.

It's incredible that anyone, especially Jesus, would be betrayed by one of his closest friends, his followers. That's just incredible, you think about it. It's as if Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated by one of his own cabinet.

His own treasury secretary had shot him at a cabinet meeting. That would be just incredible, instead of a stranger, an actor snuck up behind him. It's as if John F. Kennedy had been assassinated by one of his own generals, than by a communist sympathizer who defected to the Soviet Union and came back.

It's incredible. He means to say it like, Judas, one of the twelve, can you believe it, betrayed him. He's being followed by a crowd armed with swords and clubs sent from the Sanhedrin, the 70 rulers of Israel made up of chief priests and scribes and elders.

And so now in verse 44, Judas, one of the twelve, is, notice what he called now, he's the betrayer. Unlike today, they wouldn't have television or photographs, you know, posters in the post office saying, wanted, reward, with a mug shot there, or some kind of artist's rendition to show what the wanted man looked like.

Here they needed someone to point out which of these men was Jesus. And that's the service Judas supplied. Judas had chosen a sign, and it's the kind of sign that a betrayer would choose. You know, a betrayer is someone who appears like a friend, but he's really an enemy.

And here Judas comes to Jesus, appearing friendly, but is really betraying him with a sign, it should be a sign of affection, of a warm greeting, a kiss. Judas says, the one I kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.

Notice Judas' instructions. Judas expects Jesus to be defended. Judas especially instructs the men with him to lead Jesus away under guard. Notice that. Expecting that the other disciples would mount, or try to mount, some kind of violent opposition.

And one kind of half-heartedly did. But even Judas, the betrayer, even he overestimates the loyalty of the strength of the bond of the disciples to Jesus. Even the traitor himself expects more loyalty than they show.

So Judas goes right up to Jesus calling him by a term of respect. Again, part of the facade of being a friend, rabbi. That's a respectful term, the title, master, teacher. He is keeping up the front of being a disciple right to the end.

So he kisses him, probably on both cheeks, like they do in that culture, as they would greet a friend. The soldiers and the guards with Judas then pounce and swiftly and violently grab Jesus, and the stunned disciples are just looking on.

Christ, the Son of Man, and the Scriptures Fulfilled

Now the ties that bind the disciples to Jesus are tried. Remember, not long before they were boasting, they were pledging, they were doing it vehemently, it says, they were passionate about it, that even if they have to die with Jesus, they will never leave him.

Now is the test of reality. Is that real? One of them in verse 47, John tells us it was Peter, but he draws his sword and he was going to put up a fight, it appears. He takes a swipe probably at the closest enemy to him, a servant of the high priest.

Now the servant dods, but didn't quite manage to get all the way out of the way, so Peter slices off an ear. Now remember, Peter is probably going right for the middle of the head. And here in Mark, Jesus puts an end to that by noting, in verses 48 and 49, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me?

Day after day, I was with you in the temple, and you did not seize me. In other words, you're acting by stealth at night without no one else around because of your cowardice, because you can't stand up to the people.

But let the scriptures be fulfilled, Jesus says. Scriptures like Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 53, were prophesied of the servant of the Lord who would be despised and rejected by men, someone from whom men hide their faces.

Again, despised and we esteemed him not. Someone who is going to be alone, in other words. That's what he's going to be like. Are you willing to be alone with him? If you think being alone is always a sign of failure, something went wrong with someone who's alone, then you're going to think he's a failure, and you're not going to go with him.

Let the scriptures be fulfilled, Jesus says. He is wounded for our transgressions, he's crushed for our iniquities, the chastisement that brings us peace is on him. With his stripes, we are healed. That's the scriptures that will be fulfilled.

Now, at least one of them will fight for Jesus, but that isn't what they said they would do. They said they would die for Jesus. It's a big difference. It's not hard to find people who are willing to kill for a cause, you know, to sling a sword or shoot a gun, or drop a bomb.

The hard part is finding people who love so much they're willing to die. These disciples said they would. They said it with passion, with all their emotion. Now is their chance. They could go with him through the wounding, through the crushing, through the stripes on the back from the flogging.

Now, they can't bear our sin, but they could at least keep him company while he does that. He doesn't have to be alone if only they keep their commitment. They said they would. They pledged it passionately, vehemently, oh Jesus, though none go with you, still I will follow.

Now, what about those ties that bind? The fellowship, the band of brothers falls apart because each of them loves something more than the fellowship, even more than Jesus, the center of the fellowship.

One of them loves money, and the others love their own skins. What do you love more than Jesus? What do you love that if you were faced with a choice between Jesus and that other love, you'd go with that other love?

Is it money? You've just got to make more money. And you have your reasons. You've got bills to pay, you've got a standard of living to keep up. You want to put your kid through college, and 30 pieces of silver will go a long way toward that.

Yeah. Or maybe it's a relationship. I mean, you can't be alone. You're not actually asking people to be alone for Jesus, are you? Sometimes, yes. A few years ago, we had a lady who was attending here with us for a while.

She even came on Wednesday nights. She was pleasant, a nice lady, but she was living with a man out of marriage, and she eventually met with Mary and explained that she knew it was wrong, but she said, I can't be alone.

Some Christians have to be alone because they're Christians. They got converted, maybe after they were married, and their husband or wife didn't. So they go to church by themselves for years, maybe for the rest of their lives.

There's no promise in Scripture that if you get saved, your husband or wife will follow right along behind you, and you'll just lovingly go to church hand in hand together until death do you part. Sometimes being a Christian means having to be alone, at least on the way to church.

We hope you don't feel that way when you're here. In this culture, it's even more complicated because in this culture, with so many false professions of faith, people that say they're believers but really aren't, unconverted church members, the unconverted spouse might actually go to church, actually might want to go to church somewhere, but probably not to where the Word is really preached, probably not where the Lord is at the center.

The unconverted church attender much prefers the shows, either the old-time religion shows, you know, with the sentimental hymns from their childhood, talking about walking in the garden with a rose, and the dew on the rose, and all that stuff, and the King James Version, or the new kind with the lights and the band and the brief positive talk.

But if for you the kingdom of God is a great treasure, a pearl of great price, worth selling everything for, you'll still have to be alone going where you find that treasure. Jesus had prepared his disciples for this crucial choice.

He had prepared them, he had told them, he told them clearly that if you were to be my disciple, you had to, quote, hate your own fathers, your mothers, your children, even wife or husband. Now that didn't mean hate, he didn't mean have a revulsion toward them, just find them so disgusting you don't want to have anything to do with them anymore.

It meant that when that crucial choice came, and you had to decide between Jesus, following Jesus, even if it brought problems in the family, even if it made, even if it required being alone, or not being alone, having the companion, making him or her happy, but you've walked away from Jesus.

Being a disciple means you choose Jesus alone. That's taking up your cross and following him. So Jesus has told his disciples already, probably many times, that if they're really going to be his disciples, it will mean doing precisely that.

Maybe they were people, like in this culture, you know, just so much religious talk that they think it's just all talk. So when the time comes to actually do it, they kind of evaporate. Blessed be the tie that binds, but there's no tie holding them together if it's just about staying together with Jesus, as long as he's convenient.

As long as the bandwagon is going that way. You know, just a few days earlier when they were throwing palm branches in his way, shouting, Hosanna, oh yeah, it was easy to be with Jesus then. The bandwagon was going with Jesus, it looked like.

But here, when it's going the other way, they flee. Even a young man, perhaps Mark himself, the writer of this gospel, since this little story in verses 51 and 52 is only in Mark, probably rushing out of his home, that's why he only has a linen cloth on, kind of like, you know, going out with your t-shirt.

He's in a hurry to see what's going on. He first wants to be near, he wants to support Jesus, to be with him so Jesus doesn't have to face this trial alone, but when they sees him, he realizes, whoa, I could get what Jesus is about to get.

He realized that all that talk that Jesus said, you know, about taking up your cross, that was for real. It wasn't just an exaggerated metaphor about having to endure overly long sermons. That Jesus really does call us to share his sufferings, the fellowship of his sufferings.

And so, this young man, whoever he is, like the disciples, flees. He wiggles free, leaving them holding on to his garment, running away naked, like Adam in the garden. Naked, ashamed. Nakedness in scripture, a sign of shame and defeat.

So he flees, defeated, leaving Jesus alone. Are you willing to be alone with Jesus? How about if it means being alone with him on trial? Jesus, the judge of the whole world, is on trial, starting in verse 53.

They take him to the high priest, where the chief priests and the elders and the scribes and all the leaders then of Israel are gathered. Now, they technically weren't supposed to have a trial at night.

It was a sign of doing something sneaky, which they were. But they'd probably get around that by doing it unofficially, while it was still dark. Get their evidence together, their story straight. And then when the first light of dawn appears, declare the court officially in session.

He's guilty. Slam down the gavel and then announce the verdict and it's over. Now, Peter followed at a distance. He was, basketball term, I guess, on the bubble. Was he in? Was he out? Not quite sure.

Part of him still wanted to make that stand that he said he would make. He was willing to kill for Jesus, but not sure yet if he's willing to die for him. He'll see what happens. He follows Jesus right into the courtyard of the high priest, so he now is literally surrounded by the enemy.

He even huddles around a fire with the same guards who had just apprehended Jesus. Nearby, inside, Jesus is on trial. Of course, it's not really a trial. Trials are supposed to be about seeking justice.

They're supposed to be looking for the truth, to be open to evidence. This is a show trial. This is a sham. They had already, in verse 55, decided that Jesus should be put to death. They had their verdict already.

Now they're looking for justification for it. But they aren't able to find anything against him. They're having problems. Many bore false witness against him. Notice that in verse 56. Many, many were against him.

There's no shortage of men that they could find to accuse Jesus of this or that, whatever they wanted him accused of. If you think being alone and being despised is a sure sign someone has done something wrong, you're going to think Jesus did something wrong.

They had one problem, even with their show trial. In order for testimony to be accepted, two witnesses had to agree. Their testimony had to match exactly. So all the made-up accusations weren't corroborated.

You know what they say, it's easier to tell the truth because you don't have to worry about making up your excuses. But they weren't telling the truth. A few did remember Jesus saying something like, I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build up another not made with hands.

But they, because they mangled that, they still couldn't agree. And Jesus had actually said in John chapter 2 verse 19, destroy implicitly as a command, you destroy, he didn't say I will destroy, he said you destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

He was talking about his body. So they are at a dead end in this show trial. They got nothing. They can't get their false accusers to corroborate each other and they have nothing to charge him with. And so the chief priest, the high priest himself, Caiaphas, stands up, decides to try to elicit something from Jesus that will allow them to kill him.

And in verse 60, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But Jesus just remained silent. You know, there's no reason to comment about false accusations that they can't get to match.

And so they can't even use them against him. Now the chief priest is probably just exasperated, doesn't know what to do. The high priest asks Jesus directly in verse 61, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed?

Now imagine, they haven't been able to find anything to pin on Jesus. This sham trial is about to fall apart. Would they have to let him go? So a last desperate question. Are you the anointed one? Are you the king from the line of David who brings in God's kingdom on earth?

What if he just stays quiet? Or what if he thinks of some clever, evasive answer? You know, I'll answer you if you tell me about the baptism of John. He's outmaneuvered them all week long before this as they tried to trap him in question after question.

All these trick questions they brought. He just clever answer, he found his way out. And he could do it again here. Easy. But instead he says point blank in verse 62 I am and you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.

He says yes. He says that he is the one in Daniel chapter 7 who receives God's authority on earth to rule, who is worshipped as God. He says you high priest putting me on trial will see me seated on a throne judging you.

Here's the crucial decision. Is he telling the truth? It doesn't matter whether everybody believes it or no one does. Is it true? Is Jesus really the Lord who rules? If he is, he's worth everything you have to endure now to live with him then.

But the high priest won't hear of it. His mind is already made up. He tears his clothes. It's this demonstration a sign of being outraged, appalled, shocked at the blasphemy he calls it. Notice how pious his language sounds.

Calling God the blessed, acting as if he were so zealous for God's glory that he can't even tolerate his tender ears hearing God's glory besmirched when in reality he is presiding over a sham trial that even he must know is about murdering an innocent man and whether he knows it or not is about killing the son of the blessed.

But he declares, the priest does in verse 63, what further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision? Be serious. Are you really? What is his pretense? Can't you be honest with yourself in seclusion?

They already knew their decision before the sham trial even started. But his hypocrisy just knows no ends. So in verse 64 they all condemned him as deserving death. That's where the bandwagon has led.

So to show how they despised him, they spat on him, some covered his face and played a game. Name that puncher if you're really a prophet. The guards led him away with punches and wax of the baton over his head.

Jesus himself provided the only evidence they had to justify their condemnation. Meanwhile, as this was going on inside, Peter is in the courtyard of that same building on the bubble, willing to kill but unsure if he's willing to die.

Like people today are willing to work hard for Jesus. There's a lot of people out there willing to work hard for Jesus if they can succeed. They can have a megachurch and a following and popularity or maybe be part of the bandwagon following someone like that.

Sure, there's a lot of people to sign up for that, but they're unsure if they're willing to be like a William Carey laboring for years in India with nothing to show for it for the first seven years except a grave for your son and wife and a few books and a Bible translated into the native language.

You know, I'm not really impressed by the faithfulness of some celebrity pastor who's made millions of dollars selling his books and growing a huge church. I mean, if his doctrine is sound, I guess that's good and God's used it.

He's blessed him and given him all this stuff. Fine. But I'm not really impressed by that. I'm not impressed by Peter willing to take a whack at a servant. That's not really impressive. I am impressed by the William Careys, the Adoniram Judsons, missionary to Burma, America's first missionary to Burma and who, like William Carey, lost a wife and children and even worse than Carey, suffered imprisonment there and still stayed in Burma as a missionary and there are many Christian Burmese to this day because of his ministry.

I'm impressed by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor who wrote in The Cost of Discipleship when Christ bids a man, he bids him come and die and who did that very thing. That's impressive. I'm not impressed by emotional pledges, how much someone loves his church or how I praise, maybe how I teach the Bible, but I'm impressed by faithful people who stay true to their covenants, by people who put the word into action who live it, even if it means losing money on a Sunday morning or coming alone.

Peter is on the edge. He's waiting to see what his own decision will be. He's willing to kill but he doesn't know if he's willing to die for Jesus. All it takes is a little servant girl to answer that.

She looks at him and says, you also were with the Nazarene, Jesus? He denied it. I neither know nor understand what you mean. Oh, he protests too much. Surely everyone there knew who Jesus was. So he moves away from that crowd though.

They're probably looking at him weird. That's not believable. Rooster crows. That should jog his memory, shouldn't it? That should be a warning that he's sliding away into desertion. The girl begins to tell the others in verse 69, this man is one of them.

No, no, no. Probably trying to look cool. Don't know anything about it. Never heard of it. Sham trial grinds on inside. False witnesses are coming and going. There's so many. Remember that? There's many arrayed against him, against Jesus.

Peter can see now where the bandwagon is going. Finally, a bystander says to Peter, certainly you're one of them, for you are a Galilean. He can tell by his accent. And now he's going to get act annoyed.

He's going to pour all his fear into a display of outrage. Identifying me, associating me with this criminal that I know nothing about. I just happen to coincidentally be standing around in the courtyard while he's on trial, minding my own business.

I don't know this man of whom you speak. And he adds a curse to it to prove himself. But the rooster crows. Now, again, one more time, and reminding him, he remembers Jesus had said before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.

He's not on the bubble anymore. He's out. He's deserted Jesus and denied him. He wasn't willing to be with Jesus if it meant suffering. Not here. Not yet. He's not the man he thought he was. And seeing that, he breaks down and weeps.

And now, he's alone. Does it fit in the world? Well, but he has denied Jesus. He's alone with the thought of his failure. You know, if he had our songs back then in the garden, back in the garden when Jesus was praying, he would have been singing passionately, though none go with me, still I will follow.

He would have blessed the tithes that bind him to Jesus. He vowed to die with Jesus rather than deny him. But he didn't. He failed. He failed when he was alone in a courtyard surrounded by the enemy. The bandwagon was going the other way, and he couldn't stand up against it and say, yes, I'm with Jesus.

If I have to die with him, I will not deny him. He said that when he was surrounded by friends, but he couldn't do it when he was alone. Meanwhile, Jesus is alone, too. He's alone, facing false accusations in a kangaroo court.

He's being spat upon and mocked and used as a punching bag, battered by rods, and he, too, hears that rooster crow and knows that that means that one friend who had just told him, just told him a few hours before with passion and love, though all fall away, if I must die with you, I will not deny you.

Now he knows with that rooster crowing that he is utterly and completely alone. In our place, alone he stood. Following Jesus is not following the crowd. The bandwagon is going the other way. If you think you can follow Jesus through anything, through giving money, through sacrificing time, going to church, driving a bus or van for years, sacrificing this or that, but the one thing you won't do, you can't do, is be alone.

You haven't begun to follow him. The fellowship of his sufferings may mean the fellowship of his aloneness, but you can be alone and not lonely, because even if you have to taste the fellowship of his aloneness, you have fellowship, and so you're not alone.

In the end, we will all stand before God alone. We don't get into his kingdom on a bandwagon. We're not admitted by families, not judged by families. It's not like the lady who begged that her non-church attending husband be allowed to stay a member of the church, because that way, she reasoned, they could be buried beside each other in the church cemetery, and that way they'd be in heaven together.

No. We get in because we point to Christ and say, in my place, alone, he stood. We get in because of Christ alone. And one way we show that, one way we show that we really believe that, is that like Christ, we are willing to stand with him, for him, here and now, alone.