At the heart of Christianity is the conviction that the focal point of all human history
is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
Of course, we understand that.
That's why we gather today.
That's why we gather Sunday by Sunday.
It is to reflect particularly and foremost on what Christ has done for us through the
cross and the resurrection.
But the significance of this particular belief, this conviction, is not merely on the historical
reality of crucifixion, but it's on the atoning work that was accomplished by Jesus through
the crucifixion.
In other words, the cross is not important to us because it is the dramatic climax of
Jesus' life.
It's important because through it alone, we can actually receive forgiveness of sins
and eternal life.
Do you see that?
I'm not sure that the world around us understands that part of it.
People in our communities and people in our world and in our life are almost always going
to be familiar on some level with Christianity.
And when they think of Christianity, at some point, they're probably very early on in those
thoughts, going to be brought to the cross.
But for the most part, they see it only as a historical reality.
The fact that there's this man that we follow, this moral man, we have patterned our lives
after him.
And this is the dramatic conclusion to his life and that it is tragic.
And there is things that we learn through what he displayed, even in his moments of suffering.
And they think that really that that's why we care so much about this.
But that's not why we care so much about this.
It's not just about the reality of his suffering.
It's about what is purposed in his suffering.
It's the fact that in the cross, in his crucifixion, and in his crucifixion alone, we actually have
eternal life.
We have forgiveness of sin.
And we have been reconciled to God.
So this crucifixion is what it's called.
This conviction that the cross is really the focal point of all of history.
It's not a theological concept developed by Christians over time.
It's not like the first two or three hundred years after Christ's life, the people who were
following him looked back and in examining his life and maybe through their forms of philosophy
determined that this was important.
This was not a concept that was contrived by man.
The concept of the cross as the focal point of human history is actually revealed as a reflection
in the scriptures themselves.
beginning at Genesis all the way to Revelation, the Bible is a book about salvation, a salvation
that is promised by God and is fulfilled in his son, Jesus Christ.
So even as we look all the way back to the very beginning of mankind, and then we look ahead
to what will be the conclusion of mankind in the second coming of Christ, everything we read
in the Bible finds its focus here in this part of the Gospels and the crucifixion and resurrection
of Jesus.
That's the nature of Mark's gospel even.
Everything we've studied over the last two years in this gospel has been pushing us forward
to the cross.
As early as chapter 2 even, Jesus had detailed or revealed the fact of his murderous death
that he would be taken from the disciples and from his followers.
But then on at least three occasions, he's explicitly described it to his disciples and those who
followed him.
Everything in Mark is pushing forward, not just to show us the incredible things that Jesus did,
though those things are very important, but it's to eventually get us to this moment on the cross.
Of course, you'll remember in Mark chapter 10, Jesus plainly said all the things that we just read
would take place.
Mark 10 verse 33.
See, we are going up to Jerusalem, he told his disciples.
The Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priest and the scribes.
We read about that with Judas.
Judas delivers him to the chief priest and scribes.
They will condemn him to death.
We saw that in the kangaroo court in the midnight trial.
And they will deliver him over to the Gentiles.
We studied that last week.
They parade him to Pontius Pilate, where he stands trial there.
And what does he say to his disciples will happen after he has stood before the Gentiles or Pontius
Pilate, as we look back?
And they will mock him and they will spit on him.
They will flog him and they will kill him.
And after three days, he will rise.
Jesus has already told his disciples, this is going to happen.
And we get here to the verses we just read and we see it indeed happened exactly as Jesus said it would.
The crucifixion was no accident.
Jesus had not lost control.
He is in this predicament.
He is in this circumstance and in this position, particularly and specifically because he is in control in this moment.
That's why he's there.
So Christians view the crucifixion as the focus of human history because Jesus taught it as such.
And the scriptures affirm it as such.
But there are some inherent dangers to this, aren't there?
There are some inherent dangers to us having a complete focus on the cross in our faith.
On the one hand, we can become so distracted by the savagery of such an execution that we are guilty of a shallow sentimentalism.
You know what I mean?
You scroll through Facebook and perhaps as I saw the other day,
someone posts a portrait rendering, a painted rendering of what Jesus' deformed body must have looked like
as he endured the process of crucifixion, particularly the scourging and the flogging that he went through.
And we see that.
And we should see that.
But we see it and we gaze on it, we gaze on it, we gaze on it.
We never actually move beyond that to the purpose of it.
We get so distracted by the fact of his suffering that we develop this shallow sentimentalism
that is only attracted to Christ because of what he endured, not necessarily what he endured for us.
Are you with me on that?
So there's one end of this, one extreme of it, we would say,
where constantly looking at the cross actually might prevent us from actually going all the way to see the purpose of the cross
because we never actually get past the grotesque picture that we see there.
That's one side.
On the other side of that, we can become so desensitized to the sufferings of Christ
that we're no longer moved by the extent to which he was willing to go to save us.
That's a problem too.
To where we can come in even our daily Bible studies or maybe perhaps in,
even in our reading in our time of worship this morning,
as we come to the Lord's tables month by month and we reflect on these things.
We can reflect on it so often that we become desensitized to it,
to where we're no longer moved by the reality of what he has done for us.
Both are problems.
Not a problem with reflection, problem with our hearts,
problem with the way that we approach the scriptures.
Kent Hughes pointed out these two extremes.
He said,
as Christians, we must still ourselves against such desensitization.
Christ's passion was real.
Granted, we should not be overcome by a morbid preoccupation
with the gore of the cross or by shallow sentimentalism.
At the same time, Christ's agony must never become a matter of dispassionate interest.
It is the fact of Jesus's suffering that makes salvation possible.
It wouldn't have been enough for Jesus to have been strangled to death.
That wouldn't have done it.
Hebrews says,
without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
An honorable death wouldn't have worked either.
For a substitution to occur,
which was necessary in the death and in the suffering of Christ.
For a substitution to occur,
he had to have been treated as if he was truly guilty.
He himself says to his disciples in Luke 24, following his resurrection,
was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?
And he went back to Moses and the prophets and he interpreted to them in all the scriptures,
the things concerning himself,
the things concerning his suffering.
The fact that this was not an honorable death,
this was a criminal's death.
Furthermore,
it wouldn't have been sufficient for his death to take place in the privacy of a prison cell or an execution chamber.
Jesus had to face the full gamut of public scorn and humiliation to be our savior.
As we read in Isaiah 53 in verse 3,
he was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And as one from whom men hide their faces,
he was despised and we esteemed him not.
Keith and Kristen Getty wrote a Christmas song years ago called Fullness of Grace
that touches on this dynamic.
Fullness of grace,
the love of the Father,
shown in the face of Jesus,
stooping to bear the weight of humanity,
walking the Calvary road.
Christ,
the holy innocent,
took our sin and punishment.
Fullness of God,
despised and rejected,
crushed for the sins of the world.
That's what we see in this text.
Not only today,
but the text that we'll see next Sunday as well.
And I want us to take the next two Sundays to gaze fully at the cross of our Lord.
not to fall into a morbid preoccupation or a shallow sentimentalism,
but to duly consider the suffering and humiliation that Jesus willingly endured
to provide salvation for us.
salvation for sinners.
So what did he endure?
This text,
I think,
reveals three things he endured for us.
Number one,
he endured mockery.
Mockery.
Look at verse 16.
The soldiers led him away inside the palace,
that is the governor's headquarters.
And they called together the whole battalion.
So traveling to Jerusalem with Pontius Pilate,
as we saw last week,
is a battalion of soldiers assigned underneath his control.
This would have been equal to about 600 men,
a tenth of a Roman legion.
They were stationed in Caesarea,
but had traveled to Jerusalem due to the Passover celebration.
There were so many people in Israel descending upon Jerusalem at this time.
We've talked about that a number of times.
There were so many people in Jerusalem
that the battalion station in Caesarea would go to Jerusalem during these times
in order to make sure no riots unfold,
as from time to time they actually took place.
These anti-Roman crowds,
anti-Roman riots that would inevitably unfold,
they go there to make sure that they can control the people who are there.
So there's 600 men there.
They've traveled from Caesarea along with Pontius Pilate.
There's a fortress in Jerusalem that we read about in history,
had barracks there that the soldiers would have stayed in.
Pilate wouldn't have stayed in the fortress.
Pilate would have stayed in Herod's palace that was also located in Jerusalem.
It was also from this palace where Pilate would have overseen the morning trials,
pronounced his judgment against Jesus.
That's why we see it reflected in verse 16,
that the soldiers led him away inside the palace
that is also at that moment functioning as the governor's headquarters.
So the Jews wouldn't have risked, especially with it being the Passover,
they wouldn't have risked going inside the palace of King Herod
to appear before Pontius Pilate.
That would have made them ceremonially unclean,
which would have removed them from any participation in the feast of Passover
and the unleavened bread that immediately followed.
So that morning as they come to Pilate, the Jews remain outside.
Pilate would go out to the front.
Perhaps there was a stairwell there.
Perhaps there was something there where many people could gather.
Pilate would address the Jews.
They would do their business.
And then Pilate would move inside the headquarters to carry out the specific trials.
So when we see the Sanhedrin crying out to Pilate,
we see that would have taken place outside.
And then when we see that Pilate is interacting with Jesus,
that would have actually occurred inside the palace.
And at some point in the trial, we're told,
Pilate handed Jesus over to the soldiers
who were present there to scourge him.
We see that in verse 15 right at the very end.
Mark's not writing chronologically here,
but that's where we see the scourging in particular.
So Pilate wishing to satisfy the crowd,
released for them Barabbas,
and having scourged Jesus,
he delivered him to be crucified.
Scourging or flogging was an intense form of discipline.
It almost always preceded crucifixion,
but it doesn't seem like it was in regards to crucifixion
that Jesus was scourged here,
especially when we look to John's gospel.
It was really being used, at least at this point,
as a punishment in and of itself.
A criminal would be tied to a post.
They would be tortured with their bareback exposed.
A flagellum is what was used.
It was a whip that had multiple thongs on it.
On the end of each thong would be a broken piece of glass
or bone or a ball bearing or some type of metal,
and it was designed specifically to rip into the flesh
of those who were suffering underneath the torture of it.
Some of these beatings were so severe,
we read historically,
that some criminals died before it was ever over.
Pilate has delivered Jesus over to this battalion of soldiers
to endure this particular scourging,
not to the point of death,
but to the point of perhaps releasing him back to the crowd.
And it's after Jesus endured this vile torture device
that the scene with the soldiers begins to unfold.
Look with me at verse 17.
They clothed him in a purple cloak,
twisting together a crown of thorns.
They put it on him,
and they began to salute him.
Hail, King of the Jews!
They were striking his head with a reed
and spitting on him
and kneeling down in homage to him.
Do you see what they're doing?
You see the mockery that is beginning to unfold.
Between the scourging and the earlier beating from the Sanhedrin,
remember, Jesus has already been through
quite a bit of suffering, physical suffering,
up to this point,
before the soldiers are ever beginning to mock him in this way.
He would have stood before these men,
swollen, bruised, bloodied,
fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy.
In Isaiah 52,
his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance,
his form beyond that of the children of mankind,
Isaiah wrote.
The soldiers were aware of the charges against Jesus,
which the charges brought to Jesus before Pilate
were not charges of blasphemy.
Remember, the charges brought before Pilate
were charges of insurrection.
He says he's the king of the Jews,
and he's amassing an army to take over Rome.
That's what they view.
And now standing before them is this frail man,
beaten and swollen and bruised and bloodied.
And what does that result in in the minds of these soldiers?
How could they possibly take him serious?
The idea of a true king in Jesus's position,
the way that they saw him, was preposterous.
So they made a game out of his suffering.
First, they found some purple material or scarlet material,
perhaps something they found lying around Herod's palace,
and they draped it over Jesus as if it was a royal robe.
Then someone comes in with a fake crown fashioned out of thorns,
and they force it on his head.
Someone else takes a reed or a stick,
and they put it in his hand as if it's a royal scepter.
Jesus, of course, at this point would have been too weary
to stand on his two feet and endure the treatment
that he's experiencing.
Surely they would have also provided a stool or a chair,
a makeshift throne from which they could cast their mockings.
And after the whole battalion had gathered
to see the charade that's unfolding in the palace,
some wise guy yells out,
hell, king of the Jews!
And you can imagine a wave of laughter
following and billowing through the hall
as they continue to mock the Lord,
one by one, taking their turn, spitting in his face,
beating him in the head with the reed
that they had earlier put in his hand,
kneeling before him to get a good laugh.
And when the laughter had grown old,
they stopped and they delivered him outside.
The God of all creation,
who created these men,
who gave them life,
sat silently before them,
enduring the fury of their scorn.
Verse 20,
when they had mocked him,
they stripped him of the purple cloak,
put his own clothes on him,
and they led him out to crucify him.
Now if we follow John's chronology,
if you want to write maybe in the margins of your notes,
John 19,
you can piece all of this together.
Pilate presented Jesus to the Jews one last time
before they removed the robe and the crown.
So they escort him out before the Sanhedrin
and the crowd that had gathered there,
not for Jesus,
but for Barabbas,
and he presents their king to the people,
arrayed in the fake robe and in the fake crown,
beaten now even more severely after a scourging.
And Pilate says in John 19,
look at the man.
Not so much,
I think in a sense of mockery from his own mouth,
I think in resistance
to what the crowd was actually calling for,
which was the crucifixion of Jesus.
He's essentially presenting Jesus before them
and essentially saying,
what more do you want us to do with him?
Look at what we have done to him already.
It's not that he felt bad for doing what he did.
He's presenting to them,
what more must we do to satisfy you?
And it's from that point
that they look on this fake form of royalty
and they say,
crucify him.
And they follow crucify him with,
we have no king but Caesar.
So that's what they did.
The soldiers removed the robe,
they replace it with Jesus' tunic
and they let him out of the palace
to be crucified.
What did he endure for us?
He endured mockery.
Number two,
he endured brutality.
Brutality.
And when describing the crucifixion here,
Mark broke from the narrative style
and he really fires off a series of bullet points
is what he does.
You can notice if the style of Bible
that you have is a verse by verse edition,
that is that the beginning of every verse
is aligned on the left side of the page,
you may have one like that.
You'll see this very clearly.
If not, you can write it out
on a piece of notebook paper
with each verse beginning a new line.
And what you'll see is
every one of these verses
begins with the word and.
Do you see it there?
Look first with me.
It really begins at verse 16,
but let's look first at verse 21.
And they compelled a passerby, 22.
And they brought him, 23.
And they offered him wine, 24.
And they crucified him, 25.
And it was the third hour, 26.
And the inscription of the charge, 27.
And with him, they crucified two robbers, 29.
And those who passed by derided him.
Do you see what Mark's doing?
He's pushing the story forward.
And this is consistent with Mark's style.
But what he's doing is breaking
from this narrative element,
and he's firing off these bullet points.
Now, why would he do that?
Part of it, I really actually think,
is just he's moving the story along
because that's what Mark does.
His book is one of action.
He's constantly moving things forward.
The other thing is we're reminded here
that Mark's immediate audience for this gospel
were Romans.
They didn't need a description of crucifixion.
They were well aware of that.
And it was actually so disdainful of a death
and such disdainful of a form of execution
that not even the Romans in general
wanted to talk about things related to crucifixion.
So Mark kind of passes over the details of it.
I think it's also true that Mark wasn't interested
in us fixating on the gory details of crucifixion,
a la Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.
We need to acknowledge the reality of Jesus's suffering.
We need to look into those things, and we will.
But we need to be careful not to get stuck
dwelling on his anguish
without ever genuinely moving forward
to consider its purpose,
which was to satisfy God's wrath against our sins,
to make an atonement for us.
We got to move forward to that.
And the gospel authors, I think all four of them,
none of them really get distracted
by the gory details of it.
And so let's work through the bullet points.
We'll note those things,
but we'll do it as quickly as we can.
Verse 21,
And they compelled a passerby,
Simon of Cyrene,
who was coming in from the country,
father of Alexander and Rufus,
to carry his cross.
Just as a side note,
Rufus, we know was,
according to Romans,
was one of the Christians
and perhaps even leaders of the church in Rome.
Perhaps the reason,
Mark's the only one that mentions Alexander and Rufus.
All the gospel authors mention Simon.
Perhaps the reason he's mentioning Alexander and Rufus
is because if they wanted to check the validity
of what he's writing,
they have eyewitness testimony
right there in their own church
that could confirm or deny the things
that are being written here.
And they brought him to the place called Golgotha,
which means place of skull.
So the place of Jesus's execution was Golgotha.
In Latin, that is Calvary,
named for its shape like a human skull.
The path between the palace and Golgotha
would have been very long and very crowded.
That was intentional.
The Romans intentionally paraded
their crucifixion victims through the streets
in order that they could strike fear
into the hearts of all who witnessed the procession.
This wasn't just about the shame for the criminal.
This was about a warning to everyone else.
If you do what he does or what she has done,
this will be your result as well.
This will be your destiny.
And so they would have paraded him through the streets,
long and crowded.
James Edwards said,
every totalitarian regime needs a terror apparatus.
And crucifixion was Rome's terror apparatus ad horrendum,
infamous alike for its infliction of pain
and disgrace on the victim.
Quote,
whenever we crucify the guilty,
the most crowded roads are chosen
where the most people can see
and be moved by this fear,
which was a statement of approval
by a noted Roman orator from the first century.
Well, Golgotha was located just outside the city gates.
It was itself on a busy thoroughfare.
It was equipped with vertical posts
fixed into the ground.
So when we picture Jesus carrying a cross,
it is not the full cross that he's carrying.
The vertical posts are already fixed into the ground
outside of the city.
They were used multiple times for multiple crucifixions.
The portion of the cross that criminals were to carry
was the cross beam,
known as the patibulum in Latin.
Jesus was too weak to carry even this piece.
So the execution squad forced a passing spectator
named Simon to carry it for him.
It's quite a fitting picture of discipleship, isn't it?
We don't know the nature of Simon's faith
at that particular moment.
Perhaps he became a believer later.
We don't really know anything else about him.
What we do know is that as he picks up that cross
and begins to follow Jesus on the path of suffering,
Jesus's earlier words from Mark chapter eight
really come alive in a unique way.
That if anyone will come after me,
let him deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me.
Soldiers nailed Jesus's hands to the cross beam
carried by Simon.
Then they would have together lifted the beam,
Jesus's body suspended in the air,
and fastened it to one of the vertical posts.
Final step was to nail his feet,
probably one on top of the other.
Then the soldiers took a seat nearby
to wait and to watch.
Crucifixion was notoriously painful.
It's undoubtedly one of the most torturous forms
of execution the world has ever known.
Most victims ultimately died of either exhaustion
or asphyxiation.
As they were hanging on a cross,
their bodies slumped over,
it was difficult for them to breathe.
And the only way for them to grab a breath
would be to force themselves up
in order to gasp for a breath.
So you can imagine for the hours
that Jesus is on the cross,
time after time,
to breathe or to make one of the statements
that he said to have made
would have required some type of physical effort
just to get a breath
in order to say the things that he said.
And eventually,
the people being crucified
just became so exhausted
that they could no longer push themselves up
and they would have suffocated to death.
We even have an English word
that reflects the brutality of crucifixion.
Excruciating is the word.
Literally means out of crucifixion.
So even when we describe
an excruciating experience
that maybe we have gone through,
we're speaking of the realities
of the devastating,
torturous moments
that Christ went through
in physical suffering
to provide salvation.
It was a disgusting form of death.
So disgusting
that it was illegal
to crucify a Roman.
Crucifixion was reserved
for the people
that the world considered
to be the most despicable
and deserving of shame.
And again,
that's the death
Jesus suffers for us.
And it's necessary
that that's the death
Jesus suffers for us.
verse 23.
They offered him wine
mixed with myrrh,
but he did not take it.
Historians say
it was customary
for the Jewish women
to prepare wine
mixed with myrrh.
It functioned really
as a narcotic,
as a reflection
on a proverb of Solomon
that talks about giving wine
to those who are suffering.
They would have
had this prepared
for victims of crucifixion.
It was a show
of compassion.
And Jesus was offered
this mixture
to numb the pain
in his final moments
of death,
but he refused it.
He refused
to accept anything
that would mitigate
his suffering.
But why?
He didn't rely
on a narcotic
in his final act
of obedience.
He willingly
embraced
the Father's plan
in a fully
conscious state
necessary
for Jesus
not only
to go through
what he went through,
but to feel
every part
of the pain,
to feel
every part
of the separation
from God
as we'll get into
in the next passage
next Sunday.
Necessary
for him
to endure it
in that way.
Again,
Keith Getty
and Stuart Town
and help us here.
What took him
to this wretched place?
What kept him
on this road?
His love
for Adam's
cursed race,
for every broken soul.
No sin
to light
to overlook.
No crime
too great
to carry.
All mingled
in this
poison cup,
and yet
he drank it
all.
The Savior
drank
it all.
Every part
of the pain,
every part
of the torment,
every part
of God's wrath
poured out
on him
in this cup,
and no drop
of the cup
was left.
He drank
it all.
That means
that in
every sin
that you've
ever committed,
there's never
been a sin
so badly
that Jesus
refused
to suffer
for it.
And there's
no sin
too small
that didn't
require
the same
effect
as Jesus
displayed
on the cross.
Verse 24,
and they
crucified him
and divided
his garments
among them,
casting lots
for them
to decide
what each
should take.
each crucifixion
is carried
out by
an execution
squad,
has four
soldiers
and one
centurion.
The squad
is so callous
to what
they're doing
at this
point
that they
pass the
hours as
they wait
for these
men to
die
by casting
lots
to distribute
the
prisoners'
belongings.
William Lane
helps us
here.
Roman
legal texts
confirm that
it was the
accepted right
of the
executioner
squad
to claim
the minor
possessions
of an
executed
man.
In the
case of
Jesus,
this was
limited to
his clothing
which probably
consisted of
an under
and outer
garment,
a belt,
sandals,
and possibly
a head
covering.
And the
significance
of this
note is
that it's
a fulfillment
of a portion
of Psalm
22 that we
read earlier
in the
service.
John 19
24
specifically
refers to
it as
a fulfillment
of Psalm
22.
We read
it a moment
ago.
Verse 17,
I can count
all my bones.
They stare
and gloat
over me.
They divide
my garments
among them
and for
my clothing
they cast
lots.
Reminder
that no
portion of
scripture
left
unfulfilled
by Jesus.
Verse 25,
it was the
third hour
when they
crucified him.
The inscription
of the
charge
against him
read,
the king
of the
Jews,
and with
him they
crucified
two robbers,
one on his
right and
one on his
left.
So Mark
provides three
final bullet
points about
the process
of crucifixion.
We're not
going to dig
into the
details of
these.
We'll just
take a moment
to mention
them.
The first
one is that
they began
the process
at the
third hour,
which is
about nine
in the
morning.
We'll find
out next
week that
Jesus dies
at about
the ninth
hour,
which is
three in
the afternoon.
So perhaps
about six
hours from
beginning to
end is how
we see this
unfolding.
The second
bullet point
Mark gives
is that
those being
crucified
had a sign
on the
cross describing
their charges.
Jesus'
sign simply
said,
King of the
Jews.
Fitting.
Third note,
we're told that
Jesus wasn't
the only one
crucified that
day.
Two others,
probably
insurrectionists
along with
Barabbas,
were also
executed,
one on
Jesus'
right hand,
one on
Jesus'
left.
Now as we
read through
the gospel
accounts,
we know that
there was
only one
disciple that
was present
at the
cross.
It was
John.
Do you
remember
earlier in
Mark's
gospel,
as they're
on the
road from
Jericho
to Jerusalem,
John and
James had
a question
for Jesus?
Do you
remember the
question?
Lord,
would you
let us
sit in
your kingdom,
one on
your right
hand and
one on
your left?
They wanted
seats of
power.
They wanted
authority.
They wanted
honor.
They wanted
position and
they thought
they deserved
it for what
they had done
in following
Christ in
those moments.
And do you
remember Jesus'
response?
Can you drink
the cup that
I'm prepared
to drink?
And they
didn't understand
what they were
saying, but
they said,
yeah, we'll
do whatever
you want us
to do.
And in that
moment,
you can imagine
for probably
the reality
of what
Jesus was
saying, truly
settling in
on John's
mind.
As to be
on Jesus'
right hand
and Jesus'
left hand
in his
ultimate
moment of
glory is
to suffer
with him.
It is to
walk the
true path
of discipleship,
the true
path of
denial and
self-abandonment
in order to
follow Christ
and to
follow Christ
alone.
So we see
Jesus endures
for us,
mockery,
he endures
brutality and
finally he
endures
blasphemy.
Blasphemy.
Look at
verse 29.
Those who
passed by
derided him,
wagging their
heads and
saying,
aha,
you who
would destroy
the temple
and rebuild
it in three
days,
save yourself,
come down
from the
cross.
So also
the chief
priest with
the scribes
mocked him
to one
another,
saying he
saved others,
he cannot
save himself.
Let the
Christ,
the king of
Israel,
come down
now from
the cross
that we
may see
and believe.
Those who
were crucified
with him
also reviled
him.
It's another
fulfillment of
Psalm 22,
isn't it?
We just read it
in verse 7.
All who seek
me, see
me, mock
me.
They make
mouths at me,
they wag
their heads
and they
say,
he trusts
in the
Lord,
let him
deliver him,
let him
rescue him,
for he
delights
in him.
Mocking
tones.
Mark's
focus is
on the
shame and
rejection
of Jesus
here.
And every
group in
this text
despised
him.
The people
passing by,
the chief
priest and
the scribes,
even the
two criminals,
even the
two criminals
who are
dying,
show no
humility
at all.
Right here.
They show
no humility
at all.
All of
them
revile
him.
All of
them
blaspheme
him.
And again,
we're reminded
of Isaiah
53.
He was
despised
and rejected
by men.
So they
taunted
Jesus as
he suffered
on the
cross.
If you're
really the
Messiah and
Son of
God,
save
yourself.
But they
had it all
wrong.
Jesus
didn't need
a Savior.
Do you
see that?
A thought
of saving
himself,
a thought
of coming
off the
cross was
never,
ever a
part of
Jesus'
mind.
He
didn't need
a Savior.
He was
there for
that very
purpose.
As he
said on
another
occasion,
he could
have called
10,000
angels to
come and
deliver him
if he
wanted to,
but he
didn't do
that.
Why?
Mark's
purpose is
not just
to reveal
him as
the one
who suffers,
but as
the one
who saves.
He's there
on purpose.
He's not
the one
needing a
Savior.
He just
needed a
cross so
that he
could be
the Savior.
The soldiers
in Herod's
palace mocked
Jesus out
of ignorance.
The Jews
outright rejected
him in
unbelief.
The Sanhedrin's
charge against
him was
blasphemy,
but in
reality,
they were
the blasphemous
ones.
The Roman
soldiers,
they hadn't
been around
to witness
the miracles
of Jesus.
They hadn't
sat underneath
the authoritative
teaching of
Jesus,
but the
Jews were
given every
possible proof
of Jesus'
identity,
and yet
they rejected
him still.
Says Edwards,
the thought
that God's
Messiah could
suffer a
cross of
shame was
so scandalous
that some
25 years
later,
Paul confessed
that the
preaching of
a crucified
Messiah was
a stumbling
block to the
Jews and
foolishness to
the Gentiles.
He's quoting
there 1 Corinthians
1.22,
for Jews demand
signs,
Greeks seek
wisdom,
but we preach
Christ crucified,
which is a
stumbling block
to the Jews
and folly to
the Gentiles,
but to those
who are called,
both Jews and
Greeks,
it is Christ
the power of
God and the
wisdom of
God.
in unbelief,
they refused
to receive
Jesus for
who he
truly was,
and they
committed the
greatest act
of blasphemy
in history.
And here's
the point of
that.
Every single
one of us
sitting in this
room today
have been so
privileged.
We have not
sat on a
hillside to
see Jesus
healed,
but we have
read it in
the scriptures.
scriptures.
We know
the truth
of it.
We've seen
it in the
pages of
God's word.
We haven't
sat in a
room and
listened to
Jesus himself
out of his
own mouth
speak the
words that
he taught
to those
people,
but we
have read
what he
taught.
We have
read what
he saw.
We have
read all
the things
related to
his life
that are
necessary for
us to
know.
We are
just as
guilty as
the Jews
if we walk
away from
the word
of God
in unbelief.
It won't
be out of
ignorance.
it will
be in
unbelief.
So what
did Jesus
endure for
us?
Well, he
endured
mockery,
brutality,
blasphemy,
but the
impact of
Jesus'
crucifixion
is not
found in
the
suffering
itself,
but in
the reality
that God's
son submitted
himself to
such suffering
to bring
us salvation.
Can I remind you
of Philippians
chapter 2?
I know we
quote this
often.
Paul says,
though he
was in the
form of
God,
did not
count
equality
with God
a thing
to be
grasped,
but he
emptied
himself by
taking the
form of
a servant,
being born
in the
likeness of
men,
and being
found in
human form,
he humbled
himself by
becoming
obedient to
the point
of death,
even death
on a
cross.
You see,
the scandal
of this is
not the
crucifixion
itself,
it's not the
suffering itself.
Lots of
people were
crucified in
history.
Lots of
people have
suffered
physically in
the same way
that Jesus
suffered.
It's not
just about
the physical
torment that
he went
through,
it's the
fact of
who he
was.
God's
son,
co-equal
with the
father and
the spirit
who willingly
steps away
from the
glory that
is in
heaven,
and he
comes and
he takes
on flesh,
and he
is crucified
and mocked
and brutally
beaten and
blasphemed
against,
for the
very people
that he
came to
save.
That's the
scandal of
it.
And if it's
true that
Jesus is the
son of
God who
willingly
subjected
himself to
such suffering,
then we
must consider
the why
of all of
it.
Why would
he do
that?
What does
it have to
do with
us?
And the
simple answer
to that
question is
love.
Love.
He did
it willingly
out of
his
measureless
love
for us.
And so
I want to
conclude with
John 3.
Would you
flip there
in your
Bible?
I don't
know if I
put this
on the
screen,
so just
look at
it in
the pages
of your
Bible.
That way
you know
I'm not
saying
something
that's
not
true.
John
chapter
3.
Look at
verse 14.
As
Moses lifted
up the
serpent in
the
wilderness,
so must
the Son
of Man
be lifted
up,
that whoever
believes in
him may
have eternal
life.
Now do
you remember
the story
that Jesus
was referring
to there?
You'll find
in the Old
Testament,
you can read
it on your
own,
but you'll
find in
the Old
Testament
there was
a time
where God
sent a
judgment
on the
people of
Israel
because of
their unbelief,
their
hard-heartedness.
It was God's
judgment.
He devised
it,
he sent
it.
But along
with the
judgment,
God sent
an element
of mercy.
The judgment
were fiery
serpents.
They would
bite the
people and
the people
would die.
So God
had Moses
make a
serpent out
of bronze
and wrap
it around
a post
and would
display it
among the
camp of
Israel.
So if
anyone were
bitten by
the fiery
serpents,
they could
look up
and looking
up as
an act of
faith in
God's promise
that he would
heal them if
they would
look up to
what he had
provided.
As they
looked up,
they would
become healed.
And Jesus
looks back
on that
and he
says to
Nicodemus
in John
3,
just as
Moses lifted
up that
serpent,
so must
I be
lifted up
because
every one
of us
have been
bitten by
the fiery
serpent of
sin.
God
sends the
judgment.
The judgment
is devised
by him
and it is
sent by
him.
It is the
judgment
of death,
eternal
death.
But then
he also
sends an
act of
mercy and
grace in
the person
of his
son and
lifted up
on the
cross quite
literally,
lifted up
on the
cross.
Jesus
says,
all who
look to
my cross
and believe
will be
saved.
And then
he continues
on in
verse 16.
This is the
explanation of
it.
Why would
the son of
man have to
go through
this?
Why would
God do
this?
For God
so loved
the world.
For God
so loved
the world
that he
gave his
only son
that whoever
believes in
him should
not perish
but have
eternal life.
For God
did not
send his
son into
the world
to condemn
the world
but in
order that
the world
might be
saved through
him.
And whoever
believes in
him is not
condemned.
But whoever
does not
believe is
condemned
already because
he has not
believed in
the name of
the only
son of
God.
Do you
see?
The
crucifixion of
Jesus was
not a
historical
coincidence
that Christians
through history
have twisted
to look back
on and
fashioned it
into some
type of
religious
scam to
help us
cope in
life.
If the
cross is
supposed to
help us
cope,
it's not
much of a
coping
mechanism.
The cross
was always
God's
plan.
That's the
point.
It was
always God's
plan.
It was
always his
purpose to
forgive sins
and reconcile
sinners.
The cross
was his
initiative.
And in
his
indescribable
love,
he invites
us to
receive
eternal
salvation
through the
sacrifice of
his son,
Jesus Christ.
Just as he
told the
Israelites,
if you get
bit, look
to what I've
provided in
faith.
So he
tells sinners
now.
If you are
bit with
sin, and
you are all
bit with
sin, it's
in your
very nature,
you need
only look
to the
cross.
You need
only look
to what I
have provided
in my
son, and
believe in
him, believe
on his
work, believe
on his
sacrifice, and
you will
receive life.
What love
my God
could hold
you to the
tree, to
bear that
overwhelming
debt for me,
the son
of heaven
leaves the
father's
side, the
healer
bleeds, the
life was
made to
die.
Why?
For love.
We sang it
at Christmas,
thou who
art God
beyond all
praising, all
for love's
sake became
his man,
stooping so
low, but
sinners
raising
heavenward
by thine
eternal
plan, thou
who art
God beyond
all praising,
all for
love's sake
became his
man.
He provides
his son, and
he says,
believe my
son, and
all who
will believe
his son
will receive
eternal
life.
That's the
significance of
the cross.
God
will
have
son
to
him.
He
will
his
!