The Best Laid Plans
“I have always loved the saying, If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” It echoes the line from Robert Burns: “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” ¹
Today we finish the Gospel of Mark, reading chapters 15 and 16. The opening line sets the tone:
“Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans.” (Mark 15:1, NIV)
These spiritual and political leaders had sold out to Roman rule. Herod the Great had tried to kill Jesus as a baby (Matthew 2:16), and now Herod Antipas—his son—is ruling during Jesus’s crucifixion. An insurrection resulted in at least one murder (Mark 15:7), and they imprisoned Barabbas for it.
Barabbas and the Crowd
The Sanhedrin saw no threat in Barabbas, but they feared the growing faith in Jesus. They stirred up the crowd to manipulate public sentiment and prevent Jesus’s release (Mark 15:11). Pilate’s custom of releasing one prisoner during Passover (Mark 15:6) became their tool.
Jesus had committed no crime. They twisted his statement about rebuilding the temple in three days (John 2:19) to provoke the crowd’s affection for the physical temple. Like many today, they worshipped the place more than the God it represented.
The Cross and the Crowd
We cling to the cross, profess Jesus as Lord, yet often follow the world. We use grace as an excuse to break God’s laws, rather than a reason to keep them. The crowd, stirred by leaders, became bloodthirsty—projecting their sin outward instead of confronting it inward.
Jesus had not come to condemn us; we were already condemned (John 3:17). He came to save us. This moment at Calvary divided history: BC to AD. Satan planned to use it to defeat Jesus, but Jesus used it to win the victory for all of us.
Resurrection and Restoration
Jesus paid for the victory at Calvary, but he won it when he rose. When the women found the empty tomb (Mark 16:1–6), a young man in white stood on the right—symbolizing authority (Psalm 110:1). He declared, “He is not here.”
The women were told to go tell the disciples—and Peter (Mark 16:7). Why Peter? Because he had denied Jesus (Mark 14:72). Just as we deny Him when we refuse to obey His commands or drive Him out of our schools, courts, and government.
Yet Jesus specifically calls Peter out. He restores him to the inner circle. Peter, once broken, now becomes a bold witness. He shares what he saw firsthand with Mark, who records the first known Gospel around AD 60–70. Scholars think it happened before the temple’s destruction; they would have mentioned the event if it had occurred.
Worshipping the Church or the Christ?
God set it up this way so we would not focus on the temple, as the crowd did, but on Jesus. We must ask ourselves: Are we worshipping the church? Are we thankful for what Jesus has provided? Or are we worshipping Jesus because of who He is?
Tomorrow, we will read Luke 1.
Footnotes
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Robert Burns, To a Mouse, 1785.
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BibleHub Commentary on Mark 15:7, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/mark/15-7.htm
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Christianity.com–Who Was Mark?, https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/what-we-know-mark-in-the-bible.html
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LearnReligions.com–John Mark, https://www.learnreligions.com/john-mark-author-of-the-gospel-of-mark-701085
