Deathbed Confessions!

In 1975, Alice Mock, a white woman, was drinking with Wayman Cammile Jr., a black man. After several drinks, she invited him to her apartment and had consensual sex. When he passed out, she stole some money from him. She was afraid that Wayman would find out and be mad, and the landlord would evict her if he knew she slept with a black man. So she called the police and complained that Wayman had raped her and stolen her money. Wayman was arrested, and the district attorney gave him two options: confess to the crimes and receive 15 years or go to a trial and get 45. Wayman admitted to a crime he didn’t commit. Right before her death, Alice Mock called her neighbor and wanted to clear her conscience. She told her the lies she had spoken. Then she died. The neighbor went to the police, and Wayman was released after serving twelve years innocently.

Deathbed confessions can be alarming when they contradict something someone believed. They can be life-changing.

The disciples have been with Jesus for years now. They had seen him win debates with religious leaders, heal the multitudes, chase away evil spirits, walk on water, calm winds and waves, and feed thousands with few loaves of bread. He had been proclaiming that God’s rule was near and was previewing it with his powerful demonstrations. But now, all they expected of him would change with his “deathbed confession.”

Taking the twelve disciples aside, he taught them,

“I will be handed over into the hands of people, and they will kill me. After being killed for three days, I will resurrect.” (Mark 9:31)*

This was the second time he had said this. Earlier, he mentioned that he would suffer much and be rejected by people (9:12). But he said nothing about getting killed. What would happen to them when he was captured and killed? Would they have the same fate?

As believing Hebrews, they knew God would resurrect people in the last days. But nothing in the Scriptures told them their king would die and be resurrected in three days! What was Jesus talking about? They were completely ignorant of what he was saying, yet they were terrified to ask him for an explanation (9:32).

The Lord had taken the disciples through a short journey. He said that he would suffer much. They would have expected sometime like the debates and insults he faced, but surely not his death. He said that people would reject him. They had seen several people reject him, including the entire city of Genesenes (5:1). But now, he said that he would be handed over (a legal term for conviction) and killed! What? Yes, killed. They were so surprised by this that they didn’t hear the last one: “After being killed (or dead) for three days, I will resurrect.”

Christianity would have looked glamorous and appealing if it had a powerful king, a world conqueror, like Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Darius of Persia, Alexander the Great of Greece, or Julius Caesar of Rome. Instead, it had/has a king handed over, killed, and hung on a cross. But unlike all those leaders, his death was short; he rose to life on the third day.

People can’t understand Jesus or the Christian faith until they see the significance of the resurrection. Even for us, the resurrection alone gives hope!

*Mark replaced “I” with the title he regularly used for Jesus – the son of man – and presented the quote in the third singular to match the title.