Mark 14:1 After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.

I play chess and sometimes I think of things in chess terms. The chief priests and scribes wanted to be crafty and force Christ into a position where he could be put to death and seem blameless. In chess a crafty player will try and force the opponents king to make moves to avoid checkmate.

Here in His last days, Jesus sees the whole board, understands how things will play out, and knows exactly how and when His death would come. He knew the end from the beginning, it was for this reason Jesus was born.

Verse 10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them.

Seems like Judas is a major player in the game but he is nothing more than a pawn. Pawns can be powerful if used properly but as in all things chess, they are expendable and easily discarded. We all knows his end.

Pawns have no agenda of their own but as humans we want to understand why Judas did this and we look to every hint of why he betrayed Jesus and when. Timing can be just important as the actual move. So why at this time? No one can know the heart of another unless you are God. So the timing was one where the ointment of spikenard had been poured over His head and He announced His own death was coming soon.

We don’t know how long Judas had been thinking along these lines but this announcement might have forced Judas into acting in the moment before it was too late for his personal plans to come into play. Why doesn’t matter anymore once the move has been made.

I’ve made moves I’ve regretted because things didn’t pan out as I had planned. Judas isn’t alone in that aspect. My motives matter not, it is done and there is no taking it back.

Mark 13:24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,

After what tribulation? Now I have to reread all of Mark 13 to see if Jesus identifies a tribulation or if not which tribulation is He talking about?

Nothing within the reading refers to any tribulation and the warning given to Daniel’s prophecy is about the abomination leading to desolation, no tribulation is mentioned. Checking Jesus speech as to great tribulations I find He references one in Matthew 24:21. That one comes after all the warnings given here in Mark 13:15-20, so that doesn’t match up.

The more and more I read the more convinced I am about not getting hung up on specifics.

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

This reminds me of earth quakes. Having lived in California for a time, the first earthquake shook me up, but it was a 3.1 magnitude. After many I could ride one out to the point I didn’t even notice. As they would say back then, “That ain’t the big one.”

If we are here for “the big one” don’t you think we will know it? All the signs and wonders which Jesus speaks about would surely be seen.

Why bemoan the possibility of the “great tribulation” that may never happen in your life time? Being a doomsday prepper is not going to help anyone. If your soul is right with God, you’re covered under the victor’s banner.