Brothers and sisters, it's time for the Gospel of Mark quiz, not a pop quiz, a promised quiz. If you open up your bulletin, you can see that there are seven questions. We're coming to the end of the Gospel of Mark. What a study it's been since April of 2025. So, it’s been a year and a half since we've been doing this, and so I want to ask you a few questions. Are you guys ready? Who's pretty sure you're going to get seven for seven on this quiz? Who's pretty sure you're not going to get seven for seven on this quiz? All right, let's see how you do.
Number one, what is a key word in the Gospel of Mark that comes from the opening quotation of Isaiah 40:3? Think about it for a moment. Okay, you got your answer. Okay, shout it out. What's the key word of Mark, everybody? Immediately, yes. Strong vibes over here. Great job. Immediately, all right. Number two, according to Mark 1:15, what is the reason to repent and believe in the gospel? Do you know what it is? The time is fulfilled in what, everybody? The kingdom of God is at hand. It's drawing near. So, the kingdom is a big motivating factor. The fact that the kingdom is coming. We've seen that throughout Mark. Number three, fill in the blank. When Jesus makes someone a disciple, he makes them think about it. Have you heard it said here at the church? He makes them to become someone they were not. Have you heard that line before in Mark? Yes, fishers of men would also be a good answer, he says. Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men, who they were not before. And then he makes them to be that way. Number four, this is the one that was promised. What is the original verse that says, “And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man.” Think about it. Okay, on three, shout it out if you know. 123. You guys could have been a lot stronger with that. Who knew that? Daniel 7:13-14. God bless all of you. Number five. What do we call it when Mark introduces one storyline, interrupts it with another, then goes back to his original storyline? We call it a what everybody, a sandwich. Yes, a Markan sandwich. We'll get to one of those here in a minute. Hope you're hungry. Number six. What is a theme verse from Mark about what the Son of Man came to do? I would say it's the highlight of the Gospel of Mark. Okay, on the count of three, shout out the verse if you know. 123. Mark 10:45. Whoever said that, you win. All right. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” And that's our question number seven. In that theme verse, it uses the word “many,” which is quoted from what famous prophecy, everybody? 123. Shout it out if you know. Isaiah 53:11-12 particularly have been quoted many times in Mark because he came for many.

So, I don't know how you did out of those seven questions, but if you did badly, we're going to learn more right now. So, open up your Bible with me to Mark 15, verses 40 to 47. Maybe you're going to feel low self-esteem. Maybe you feel good about yourself after that. I don't know, but I have really enjoyed going through the Gospel of Mark, learning its unique features, and we've come now towards the end. This is our 62nd sermon from Mark. Number 63 will be next week to wrap it up, and we're going to get to a sandwich where he's going to introduce some women, and then he's going to talk about Joseph of Arimathea, and he's creating an intentional contrast between these women disciples and between this member of the Jewish council. And so, let's really pay attention as we come to Mark 15:40-47. And out of respect for God's Word, I invite everyone to stand for the public reading of Scripture, and please follow along as I read. This is the Word of God.

There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. So, this is what Mark does, and hopefully you've learned this, or you’ve got a great chance to learn it here this morning. Notice, in verses 40 and 41, and you can pull your handout out. There's also a handout in your bulletin where you might want to take some notes as we go through these verses. But notice how he brings up these women, and he's been talking about the disciples, so these are familiar categories. But Mark actually introduces new characters at the end of his gospel, which is really an interesting thing. Why would you, at the very end of your story, introduce new characters? We've kind of just had the climax where Jesus breathed his last, and the Roman centurion who oversaw the soldiers executing Jesus, he, when he saw how Jesus breathed his last, he said, "Truly, this man is the Son of God,” and that echoed what the Father had said all the way back in Mark 1:10-11 when he had said from heaven, "This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.”

So, we've already had the bookends of the Gospel of Mark that Jesus is the Son of God, and then after that climactic moment, you introduce new characters. Very interesting, and in their familiar categories, but new characters. The categories one is the disciples, and all the other disciples have fallen away, or betrayed him, or denied him. But now we introduce the women disciples that have been there along the way. And as soon as we introduce them, we immediately transition to talking about Joseph of Arimathea, and he's from another category we're familiar with the religious leaders of the Jews, the chief priests, the elders, the scribes. He's a member of the council. And so, we have these female disciples and this one example of one of the religious leaders in the Jewish Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea, and what he does, and then you can see after he talks about Joseph and what he does, he goes back to the ladies, and then he's going to talk about the ladies into chapter 16 because they're the ones who witness that the stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty. He has risen; he is not here. But see, Mark could just tell you how Joseph buried Jesus, and then he could tell you how the women came and found the tomb was empty. But for some reason, in the style of Mark, he brings up the women first. Then he goes to Joseph. Then he goes back to the women. That's what we call a Markan sandwich.

And he wants to draw to your attention some kind of comparison, some kind of contrast. Like, notice what the women do. Notice what Joseph of Arimathea does. And notice the difference. Compare the two. This is how Mark writes. And once you start understanding the way that Mark writes, it adds a lot of insight. It really pops off the page.

So, we're supposed to see today something different between these women and between Joseph of Arimathea and so let's all pay attention so we can really get Mark's point in bringing up these two different people at the same time. Now you can see in verse 42, “evening had come.” So, we know Jesus breathed his last around 3 p.m. So now it's a little bit later. The sun is going to go down, and in the Jewish calendar, when the sun goes down, that's when the new day begins in the evening. So, Friday night, when the sun goes down, that's the beginning of the Shabbat, the Sabbath. So, wow! The Sabbath is now coming soon, and so Joseph of Arimathea, when he sees Jesus up there on the cross, and he sees the sun is setting, evening is coming. Joseph of Arimathea is activated after the death of Jesus on the cross, and he's like, we need to get Jesus buried. I don't know how much you've thought about the burial of Jesus with his death and his resurrection. It often can get overlooked in between, but there was a need to get Jesus' body off of the cross before the evening came.

Everybody, grab your Bible and turn with me to Deuteronomy 21. At the very end of Deuteronomy 21, there is a law about a man who hangs on a tree, and this would have surely been in Joseph of Arimathea's mind, and this is a part of why he does what he does for the burial of Jesus. So maybe you're not as familiar with the law of Moses. So turn with me to Deuteronomy 21, the last two verses, verses 22 and 23, and you'll see how this directly relates to Jesus, now being dead on the cross after he breathed his last, and it says in Deuteronomy 21:22, “If a man has committed a crime punishable by death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.” So, if you know the book of Deuteronomy, this idea of being cursed by God is a theme in this book. The idea is that God sets before you life or death, and if you obey God's commands, you will experience his blessings. But if you disobey God's commands, you will experience his curses, his judgment for your sin. And so, if a man has broken God's law, and it's punishable by death, which a lot of this law was, punishable by death, well, one of the ways they could execute them was stoning. You read about that in the law, but also now you get this idea of being hung on a tree, and that if someone's hung on a tree, people will know that they are cursed by God. They are judged by God. But the law says, don't leave them up there. Make sure you bury them. Make sure you take them down that same day. That's what Joseph of Arimathea is thinking.

And the Apostle Paul even writes about these verses in Deuteronomy in Galatians, chapter 3. Look at this. Galatians 3:13. He says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” And then he quotes Deuteronomy, “For it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’” And so, wow! What an amazing thing that we have all fallen short of the glory of God. We have all sinned. We have broken God's law, and therefore we should be cursed. We should be judged by God. But guess what? Jesus became a curse for us. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? You know, I've been really encouraged here at our church because as we're finishing Mark, I'm talking to a lot of people at the fellowship groups or in one-on-one conversations. People at this church are really thinking about Jesus more than they ever have before, and we should be. Let's just keep that going.

Point number one: “Thank Jesus for becoming the curse.” That's something we should see about him being hung on a tree is that if you're hung on a tree, that's because you're cursed by God. And even though Jesus didn't break the law, Jesus was cursed by God for us. He became the curse for us, the actual law breakers. And so, Jesus has taken God's judgment. Jesus is our substitute. Jesus died in our place; Jesus took the wrath that belonged to us. But he has taken it in full. So, we should all be so ready to thank Jesus for what he has done. But then, you can see what Joseph of Arimathea is thinking as someone who knows the law. We’ve got to get Jesus down from there, and this is a big moment in the life of Joseph of Arimathea.

Go back now to Mark 15, and let's see two things about Joseph of Arimathea that are going to get you saying, "Way to go, Joe.” Okay, when you drive home today, one of you is going to say "Way to go, Joe!” And trust me, it's good. Anybody watch GI Joe growing up besides me, the violent cartoon for children? Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Right, GI Joe. It's going to be like that. “Way to go, Joe!” This guy becomes an inspiring example. All of a sudden, he just comes out. We didn't even know Joseph was a part of the council, and then here he is in verse 43 of Mark 15. Joseph of Arimathea. He's a respected member of the council, which means he's right in there among the elites of the Jewish religious system. All these terrible hypocrites that we've seen, who wanted to kill Jesus throughout all of Mark, and now they've had this trial with false witnesses. They've stirred up the crowd to shout, "Crucify him!” They've mocked Jesus while he's dying. Yeah, Joseph of Arimathea-he's one of those guys. He actually fits in with those guys, so this is not the place you would expect to get inspired. You're thinking the members of the council are the bad guys by this time in Mark, and now one of them is activated by the death of Jesus on the cross, and he sees his body there, and he knows his body can't stay there. So, look what it says: “Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, he took courage, and he went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.” Now, Pilate, he's surprised Jesus is already dead because we saw that Jesus gave up his life; he laid his life down, and so he died maybe sooner than expected. So, the centurion who just said that Jesus is the Son of God, he comes and reports to Pilate. Yes, he is dead. And then Pilate does say to Joseph of Arimathea, "You can go get his body.” And Joseph of Arimathea takes the body of Jesus and places it in a tomb that he already had access to. In fact, Joseph of Arimathea ends up fulfilling a part of the famous prophecy of Isaiah 53. We'll throw it up here on the screen. Isaiah 53, verse 9. It says, “About the man of sorrows, they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.” Jesus didn't deserve to be put to death. And even as he went through the trial, and even as they killed him, he did not revile in return. He did not lie. He did not say anything wrong, but they killed him, and he was buried with the wicked, with a rich man. Who's that rich man? It's Joseph of Arimathea, and he's the guy who puts Jesus in the tomb and brings the stone over it. And so, why does Joseph of Arimathea go from the council that decreed that Jesus should be killed to the guy who wants to make sure that he gets buried? Why does he take this step? Well, look at what it says about him. It says that “he was looking for the kingdom of God and that he took courage.”

So, those are the two things we want to see that are going to lead us to say, "Way to go, Joe!” Today he was looking for the kingdom of God. This is how, if you want to describe a godly person, you would say something like this: They're looking for or waiting for the kingdom. Go with me to Luke, chapter two. It's just a few pages over to the right. Luke, chapter two. We're going to meet two people here in the temple. Luke 2:25 is where we're going to meet a man named Simeon. Now, here's what's crazy about the gospel: the gospel begins with the parents of Jesus, whose names are what Joseph and Mary. We know about them. Did you know that the gospel of Mark actually ends with Joseph and Mary contrast, not the same Joseph and Mary we began with? No, now we've got Joseph of Arimathea, one of the members of the council of the Jews, and then we've also got two Marys, Mary Magdalene, and then another Mary, and Salome. So maybe you didn't realize that Joseph and Mary they are the bookends of the gospel. They're Jesus' parents, and there's also the people that Mark is contrasting at the end of the story. So, a lot of the same names going around, and so when you get here now, back to the original Joseph and Mary that we're more familiar with, they're taking their baby Jesus to the temple to make sure that he fulfills all the law, and when they go to the temple in Jerusalem, there's a man named Simeon. Look at this, Luke 2:25. “Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout,” look at this, “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” So just like Joseph of Arimathea is looking for the kingdom, write this down if you're taking notes. “Simeon is waiting for,” and notice how it says, “the consolation of Israel,” or you could translate it “the encouragement of Israel,” and the Holy Spirit was upon him. So, we meet this guy Simeon. He's a righteous man, and if you want to describe a godly person, how do you describe him? Well, he's waiting for something. He's looking for something. What is he looking for? Israel to be encouraged. We meet a woman here in the temple whose name is Anna. Look at verse 36, Luke 2:36. “There was a prophetess Anna. The daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher, she was advanced in years,” so she's an older woman, “having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was 84. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day, and coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

So, here's another lady who's introduced in a very encouraging way. Clearly, a woman who had a reverence for God, who is full of worship of God, and she's talking to other people she knows in the temple, and they're all excited about Jesus. Why? Because they're waiting for, write this down, “waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” So, this is something we're seeing in the Gospels. It's used to describe Joseph, Simeon, Anna. When we want to introduce a person and we want you to know they're with God, they're one of God's people. How do we describe these kinds of people? Well, they're looking for or waiting for the kingdom. And what is the kingdom? Well, it's the consolation of Israel, the encouragement of Israel. It's the redemption of Jerusalem. Go over to the book of Acts. Acts is the sequel to the Gospels. Go over to Acts, chapter 1 and look at what the apostles here, the disciples, after they've all fled from Jesus or denied Jesus, he rounds them all up again. So Acts one, this is after he died on the cross. This is after he rose from the dead. He's got his disciples back together, and now he's about to ascend. We looked at this on Ascension Day. We had our first ever Ascension Day service this year, and we looked at Jesus, how he went up into the clouds into heaven to be at the right hand of the Father, to have the name that is above every name, Lord. And notice what the disciples say in Acts chapter 1, verse 6.

So, when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” See, how that is still their question. In their minds, godly people are waiting for or looking for the kingdom, and so, okay, Jesus, we see now that you came to die. We see that you've risen from the dead. We're still anticipating. We're still waiting. Are you going to restore the kingdom? And Jesus says to them, "Well, here's what's going to happen. The Holy Spirit's going to come. He's going to give you power, and you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.” He introduces to them this whole idea that we're living in of the church and how they're going to spread the gospel even to the Gentiles. But they're expecting the kingdom of Israel to be restored. That's their hope. That's that's the Jewish expectation. This is how the people of God thought. Even go over to chapter three, verse 21, when Peter is preaching, and you know Peter he starts filling Jerusalem with the name of Jesus. He starts saying, "You killed Jesus, but God raised him from the dead. You should repent and believe in the good news of the Messiah, and he's when he's preaching about repentance in Acts chapter three, and he's saying times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and he's going to send the Messiah. He's talking about Jesus is going to come back, and he says in Acts 321, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets long ago. Here's Peter, who's now beginning the church, but he's still saying that all the things the prophets said, the things about the consolation of Israel and the redemption of Jerusalem, and there's going to be a kingdom. Yeah, all the things the prophets spoke about, they're still going to happen. When Jesus comes back, there will be this restoration of the kingdom.

So, we've talked a lot about the kingdom in the Gospel of Mark, and I want to make sure as we come to the end, you have a clear understanding that the people in Mark are motivated by the fact that the kingdom is coming. That's why you should repent today. You should turn from your sin today because the King is coming, and you don't want to meet the King in your sin. In fact, if you want to know you're entering the kingdom? You got to enter the kingdom with faith, like a who everybody, like a child. Don't trust in your own works. Trust in God. And if you're going to enter the kingdom, make sure if you've got sin, whatever your sin is, cut it off. If it's your eye, tear it out. Deal with the sin in your life. In fact, it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, so don't get caught up in the things of this life. Store up your treasure in the age to come, and so this idea that we're waiting for or looking for the kingdom has been the driving motivation of Mark. But what kingdom is it? Is it just some spiritual kingdom in heaven, or is it the actual kingdom of Israel? And is something going to happen in Jerusalem? So you've got a little box there on your handout. Let's ask the question: Was the Jewish expectation of Messiah wrong or right? Okay, they're looking for a king, they want him to overthrow the Romans. They think that he's going to bring back the glory days of King David of Israel, and that Israel will become the great nation on the planet again. Oh, encourage Israel, redeem Jerusalem, restore it all. That's what the people are expecting. Were they wrong to expect this, or were they right to expect this? Well, in one way, we can see clearly they were wrong because they did not see the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. They didn't see how Jesus came to die because he wanted to address our greatest need, which is our sin, and he came to satisfy the wrath of God on our behalf, he came to save our souls. He came to save us spiritually, and we can see that the Jews weren't anticipating that.

These ladies, who are real disciples of Jesus, when they go to the tomb, they're expecting the stone to be there. They're not even thinking Jesus is going to rise from the dead when they go there on Easter morning, and so they didn't see his death and resurrection. They didn't see that the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many, and so they were wrong in a lot of their expectation. But here's what we need to acknowledge. Tthey were also right that they saw the king of Israel. This was a part of their expectation that they had correct. That comes from many prophecies. It comes from even King David himself having a covenant with God that someone's going to sit on his throne. Where is the throne of King David? It is in what country? Israel. It is in what city? Jerusalem. If you told King David and the other guys that wrote the Psalms, Asaph, Ethan, Heman, all these guys tathan, all these guys, when the temple was built and they're there worshiping God, hey, you guys got it all wrong. It's a spiritual kingdom in heaven. There's going to be no kingdom here in Israel. Can you imagine the looks on those guys' faces if you said that? If you went to the temple where Simeon and Anna are waiting every day for the Messiah, and you told them, "Yeah, nothing's really going to happen in the future here in Jerusalem. It's all just a spiritual kingdom. There's no real kingdom in Israel. If you told any of these people that they would be like, what are you talking about? Because King David, he knows God's on the throne in heaven. He knows Yahweh Malak. God rules over all. David wasn't concerned about if God was on the throne in heaven. No, he knew about that. That set the tone for his life. But what was going to happen in Jerusalem? David was concerned about that, and so these prophecies about a literal physical kingdom in Israel, that's what all these people are expecting. And I don't think these people were wrong about that. I believe that we should all be looking forward and praying every day, Lord, let Your kingdom come. And where is that kingdom going to be? Is it just going to be in in spiritual, like no bodies somewhere else, or is it going to be a kingdom in Jerusalem and where Israel becomes the main nation again because Jesus is on the throne of David, and Jesus is going to show us what justice really looks like? Is Jesus going to show us what caring for people is really all about? Is Jesus going to establish the country that you want to be a part of the kingdom of God? So that is what these people are expecting, and because Joseph of Arimathea is looking for the kingdom, that's what motivates him to do what he does.

So, let's get this down for point number two. You need to “Wait for his kingdom to come,” a literal, physical kingdom in Israel that has not happened yet. That Peter is saying, oh, all the things the prophets said, that's still all going to happen when Jesus comes back. Are you looking forward to it? See, godly people are always defined as a faith that looks forward, not just a faith that believes in, a faith that is a forward-looking faith, because something is going to happen. Jesus is going to come back. Can I get an amen from anybody on this? Okay, there is going to be a restoration of a kingdom, a redemption of Jerusalem, an encouragement of Israel. They were expecting it, and Jesus is the one who's going to bring it. He just hasn't done it yet. And see, this is why. If you go back to Mark 15, verse 43, when we meet Joe, way to go, Joe! why does Joe do what he does? Why is Joseph of Arimathea now mentioned in all the Gospels as the man who buried Jesus? Because he was looking for what, everybody? The kingdom.

Now, he was a respected member of the council. He was a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea. He was elite. He was connected. He was probably set for the rest of his life. And if he wanted to blend in with what people and the popular public opinion, if he just wanted to mind his own business and do his own thing, he would not have stepped forward here. But because he cared about the kingdom of God more than he cared about what was happening in his life right now, that's what motivated Joseph to act, and that's what you need to see. You are either living for the kingdom to come, or you are living for your present situation right now. And based on which one you're living for, that's your matrix to make decisions. And Joseph makes a bold decision. In fact, look at the second thing it says about him. After it describes him as someone waiting for the kingdom of God, a guy who understands the motivation of the Gospel of Mark, then it says he is someone who took courage, that action step. And when it says took courage, you could translate it, he dared to go before Pilate. He dared to get the body of Jesus. This was something that was edgy. This was something that was putting himself out there. The moment that Joseph went up to Pilate and said, "I'm with Jesus. I'll take his body. I'll bury him. He no longer was probably the respected member of the council he was just moments before that.

What has this council done? They have done everything they can to drag down the name of Jesus, to kill Jesus, to lie about Jesus, to mock Jesus. They are filled with envy that even Pilate can see. They're envious of the popularity of Jesus, and so now one of the prominent members of the council comes out and says, I'm with Jesus rather than you guys. Oh, I bet they all hated Joseph after this. I bet this changed everything about Joseph's life when he went before Pilate and said, "I'll take the body, I'll bury him.” That was daring. That took courage. In fact, that was not consistent with how Joseph had acted up until this point. We haven't heard about him up until this point. We haven't heard about him objecting to the way they're talking about Jesus. We haven't heard him defending and saying, "I don't think we should do that about Jesus. We haven't heard anything from Joseph about this.

In fact, go over to John 19. Everybody, turn over to John chapter 19, verse 38. Because, like I said, Joseph of Arimathea, he becomes famous in the Gospels for burying Jesus. But John gives us this detail about him. And in the Gospel of John, he even says that Nicodemus worked with Joseph of Arimathea. But John's the only Gospel that mentions Nicodemus. All of them mention Joe. Way to go, Joe! Way to step up and be daring to bury Jesus. But look at what it says. That's not the way Joe was before. When it says it here, it just says it in one verse, John 19:38. After these things, what? After Jesus died on the cross, there is something about the death of Jesus on the cross that activates people. The Roman centurion is all of a sudden believing Jesus is the Son of God, and Joseph of Arimathea, the religious leader among the Jews, he's all of a sudden ready to bury Jesus. People are activated by the death of Jesus, and it says, “After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus,” but look at this, “secretly,” he's a secret disciple. Why? For fear of the who's everybody, the Jews, the rest of the council. So, you're telling me that in all these backroom meetings where they're slandering Jesus and expressing their hate about Jesus and making their plans with the Herodians how they're going to kill Jesus, Joseph actually believes that Jesus is the way the whole time. But he keeps it a secret because Joseph lives in what, everybody? In fear. He is afraid of what other people will think about him if he speaks up or acts in the name of Jesus, and so he is a secret Christian. Do you know any secret Christians? Maybe we've got some secret Christians here at the 9 o'clock service. Oh, I believe it, but I'm not going to talk about it. I'm not going to do anything daring about it. I'm not going to kind of step out into a territory that might bother other people or offend someone.

So, Joseph, he was that kind of guy who lived by fear? He was that kind of secret Christian. But after Jesus died on the cross and he saw his body hanging there on the tree, and he realized he took the curse for us. We can't leave him hanging on the tree. You can't leave him there till night. Somebody needs to get Jesus down, and that was the moment that Joseph of Arimathea stopped being afraid.

Have you had the moment where you stopped being afraid of what other people were going to think about you, and you were bold for Jesus? Because that's what Joseph of Arimathea does. This is different than how he's been acting. Something is changing about this man. He's not going to be a secret Christian. He's not going to be afraid of other people. He's going to go and do what he knows is right. He's going to do it for Jesus. So, this daring here is meant to get our attention. It's we would not expect one of the members of the council to stand up in the name of Jesus, but that's Joe. That's what he does. And now go back to Mark 15 because not only does Mark want you to see how Joseph of Arimathea steps up, but Mark wants to also show you what the women do. See, he wants to create the contrast. Joseph, a member of the council who you would not expect to do something daring for Jesus. Well, then also we have these women, and these women. Look at them again. Go back to verses 40 and 41 because it's three different women: Mary Magdalene, and a lot has been said about Mary Magdalene. A lot of people have developed this whole legend about her life. Really, the thing we know about Mary Magdalene is Jesus cast demons out of her, and then we've got a Mary who's not the mother of Jesus; she's the mother of these other guys. And then we've got Salome. So, Mark mentions these three ladies, but he wants us to know in verse 41 there were many other women. Hey, we've got some disciples of Jesus that we haven't been talking about. The lady disciples in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 8, it also describes these ladies. In fact, Luke describes them more throughout his gospel. Mark hasn't mentioned them until now. He introduces them at the very end because all the other disciples have fled away. But he's now going to bring up the lady disciples, and he says two things about them in verse 41, that they followed him. That means like deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus. These ladies they were acting on their faith. They were really showing it by the way that they lived. And it says they were ministering to him or they were serving him. At the beginning of Luke 8, it even says some of these ladies were funding the ministry of Jesus and the disciples. They were giving money to support it, and so we're supposed to see these ladies as genuine disciples of Jesus Christ, just like the twelve. But when these ladies figure out where Joseph buried him, and that's what it says in verse 47 with the two Marys.

So again, we've got Joseph and Mary squared here now at the end of the gospel, and then you can see in chapter 16, verse 1, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, these same three ladies that he introduced in verse 40. Well, now let's see what happens with them in verse 1, and this is a story we'll get to next week. A story that's the most famous story, perhaps in human history. That they went to the tomb, and they're saying to one another as they go to the tomb, "Who's going to roll away the stone? And then they see that the stone is already rolled away, and Jesus isn't there. It's some man in a white robe, and when they see this man, they are alarmed because he is an angel, and he says to them, "He has risen. He's not here. Remember what he told you.”

And these ladies are the first witnesses of the greatest thing that's ever happened, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the proof that all that he paid for in his death, it all worked because he is alive, and he has power, and he will reign, and your sins can be forgiven, and you don't have to be afraid of death, and you'll never be. Because look at what Jesus did when he rose from the dead. These ladies, these precious disciples of Jesus, they are the people who get to hear it first, the original witnesses. And what do they do with the good news after they hear it straight from an angel, what do they do with the good news that Jesus is alive? Look at verse 8. This is Mark 16, verse 8, “And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said” what, everybody? They said nothing to anyone, for they were what? They were afraid. Do you see what Mark has done with his final sandwich? Do you see the last bite that Mark wants to leave in your mouth? Is a guy you would not expect a member of the council? He dared to stop being afraid and to stand up for Jesus. But the ladies that you would expect to go and spread the good news about Jesus, they told nothing to anyone because they were afraid of what people might think, or just afraid of the whole situation with the angel. They were overwhelmed and they were silent.

Now you'll notice that after verse 8 in the Gospel of Mark, there are these other verses. But look at what it says. Do you have like a bracket or something that says this in your Bible? Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include Mark 16:9-20. Can everybody see that right there? What that means is that Mark 16:9-20 is not written by Mark. It's not inspired by the Holy Spirit. What one of the things we're supposed to do with Scripture is we're supposed to never add to the Scripture, and we're supposed to what? Never take away from the Scripture. Scripture is very serious business. Well, guess what? Mark ended his writing with these ladies saying nothing to anyone for they were afraid, and some scribe later on thought that was a lame ending to Mark's gospel, because Matthew's got this epic like go and make disciples of all nations, and Luke's got this like Jesus opening the eyes of the disciples to show them all the things in the law and the prophets and the psalms, and you're going to go preach to everyone repentance and forgiveness of sins in my name. And at the end of Matthew, you're like, yeah, Jesus. And at the end of the Luke, you're like, woo, let's go. And at the end of Mark, these ladies are saying nothing to anyone because they're afraid. Mark, that's not how you end a gospel. And so, some scribe comes along later, and he gives some lame summary of the Book of Acts, and it gets tagged on to the end of Mark. But I don't know how much you've studied textual criticism that there are more manuscripts of the Greek New Testament than any other ancient document in history, and some of these manuscripts are from early dates, and they are full and complete manuscripts. And guess what? When you look at some of the best manuscripts of the Greek New Testament, get guess what verse Mark ends at? Verse 8. There are no other verses after that.

So, what I'm telling you is, someone tried to add to the Scripture, and we got them. They got busted. We can see that they added that. That's why that's there. Usually, they don't even put those verses in when it's just like one or two verses. Have you ever been reading the Bible and it goes from 27 to 29, and you're like, where's verse 28? It's because somebody added verse 28, and they're saying that's not real. That's not in there. We caught him. Well, we caught him here at the end of Mark, but for some reason, the publishers to this day leave it in there like it's Scripture when they know it's not. Mark ended his gospel at verse 8, Mark wanted to drop you off a cliff. This is what made me want to preach the gospel of Mark at our church, was when I realized I had the wrong view of Mark because I read the fake ending when Mark, he's not writing, Matthew and he's not writing, Luke wants you to see that the disciples didn't do what you would expect them to do. And if you've been with us through Mark, you've seen this as a major theme that the disciples regularly misunderstood the teachings of Jesus. They regularly responded with little faith, even after Jesus revealed himself to be God by walking on the water, even after he fed thousands with just a few loaves of bread. Do you remember when the disciples were in the boat with one loaf of bread, wondering, "Do we have enough bread?”

The disciples have denied him, betrayed him, and fallen away from him. And even these lady disciples who have ministered to him and followed him even in the moment now of his resurrection. Yeah, they're not doing it. The first witnesses didn't witness. That's what Mark wants you to know. They said nothing to anyone because they were what? They were afraid. And Mark is not writing to pump you up. Mark is writing to bother you. He's writing to leave you hanging. Have you ever read a book or watched a TV show or seen a movie and it has what we would call a cliffhanger ending, and you're like, oh, I guess there's going to be a sequel. Oh, I guess I have to subscribe for a whole another season or something now. Why can't a story just tell me the end of the story? Why does it have to string me along? Has anybody ever been there before, right? So, where's Second Mark? Where's the next part? Because why would you leave me there with these ladies saying nothing to anyone because they were afraid?

But this is the beauty of how Mark wrote his gospel. This is what makes his gospel unique, because you are the sequel. You are the next season. Hey, Jesus died on the cross, and when Jesus died on the cross, it was so awesome that even the Roman centurion is like “He's the Son of God,” and even the enemy of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea on the council, he started being bold for Jesus, but some of his own disciples, they were afraid and they said nothing. What are you going to do about Jesus? That's how Mark is supposed to end. It's supposed to bother you that people would be afraid and not talk about Jesus when truly the death and resurrection of Jesus is the most important thing for anyone to know.

Let's get this down for number three: “Dare to stop being afraid.” That's what Mark wants to leave you with. Why is he introducing new characters? Why is he creating this last sandwich? Because Mark wants you to see that one guy who was a secret disciple for fear of the Jews, all of a sudden dared to stop being afraid, and then these ladies who were faithful disciples following Jesus to Jerusalem, they all of a sudden said nothing to anyone because they gave in to fear. And so, what are you doing with the fear? What are you doing with pleasing people? What are you doing with fitting in with popular opinion? Are you really looking to the kingdom and daring to speak up for Jesus, or are you just not wanting to rock the boat?

See, I was really encouraged this week when I went to the fellowship groups around here, when I talked to some of you, because people told me I'm thinking about Jesus more than I have. And here's what happens when people really think about Jesus more: they talk about Jesus more. And one guy at our fellowship group the other night, he said, "You know, I really had to ask myself a question.” He said, "Am I offending enough people about Jesus?” And when he said that, you felt it in the entire room. That is the reason many of us don't speak his name. The reason many of us don't dare to do what is right for Jesus is we have a fear of what other people will think of us if we are bold for Jesus, if we witness for Jesus. And so, who's going to dare to stop being afraid? Who's going to dare to not care what people think because I care about the king, and he's coming back. And in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, you will care what the King thinks. You will care about the master saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant.” You won't care about what the people around right now are thinking. You'll want to please Jesus. What are you living to do? Please the people in America today, or please the King who is coming back? Who do you really fear? Because we need to stop being afraid of what people around here are going to think about us. Can I get an amen from anybody on that?

Maybe you think you've made some other excuse as to why you don't talk about Jesus, but if you could really be honest with yourself today, it comes down to the primary thing of either you're afraid of people, or you're daring to be a witness of Jesus. And we have some secret Christians at this church. We have some people who don't talk about Jesus because they are afraid. And the death of Jesus is meant to activate you. That you would be like Joe, and that you would start speaking up because you've been silent for too long. And some of you who are being bold witnesses, don't be like the ladies and stop talking because you're afraid. Speak his name because someday, those of us who believe in Jesus will be in a kingdom, and someday we'll go to Israel, and we'll see the redemption of Jerusalem. We will see Jesus reigning on the throne of David, and we will worship Jesus not just like we're doing by faith here today, but we will worship him in his presence. And maybe when you and I are walking through the streets of Jerusalem, Joseph of Arimathea will walk by, and we won't think of him as a member of the council. We won't think of him as a secret disciple. We won't think of him as a man who was afraid. But we will say, "Way to go, Joe,” because he dared to say, I'm with him and I don't care what anybody else thinks about it. I don't care if I lose my prominent place in the council. I don't care what it costs me financially. I'm with Jesus. That's the man who buried Jesus Christ, and that's what Mark wants to leave you with. Are you going to be afraid, or are you going to talk about Jesus? Let me pray for us right now.

Father in heaven. I thank you that we could come together this morning and we could get what Mark was really saying, that one of the enemies stood up, and some of the disciples stayed quiet, that we could see Mark's intentional contrast. And I pray that all of us would be bothered about the idea of people who saw Jesus die and saw that he was risen and said nothing because they were afraid. Please let us all be bothered by that idea that we, as Christians, could know the good news, that our sins can be forgiven through his death. We can have new life by the power of his resurrection. That Jesus came to save us all from Satan's power when we had gone astray. We can know the good news of great joy that's for all people, and out of fear of those people, we keep it secret. We stay quiet. God, I pray that we would see that that is an unacceptable response to the gospel. The only thing that makes sense to do with good news is to tell it to everyone, and so I want to pray for the people in this room right now that are afraid of what other people will think about them if they say what they really believe about Jesus. And I pray that they would dare to be like Joseph of Arimathea. I pray that they will live for the kingdom to come and not for popularity right now. And I pray for some of the people in this service, God, that they'll speak in a way they've never spoken before. I'm with him. He died for me. He rose from the dead. He's coming back. I'm with him, and I don't care what anybody thinks about me. God, I pray that we would all consider: Am I offending anybody? We know that the message of the cross is foolishness to some, it's even a stumbling block. But for us who are being saved, the message of the cross, the fact that Jesus died, it is your power to save us from our sins. And so, I pray that the message of the cross would be heard in Huntington Beach, that it would spread in North Orange County, and that we would dare to stop being afraid of people because we know the King is coming. Prepare us for the return of the King. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen