If you would open up your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, Mark 15, it's on page 1013 of your Pew Bible.
You know, in just a few days, many of us will be sitting down for a Thanksgiving meal.
And let's just pretend the host of that Thanksgiving meal, as the meal gets underway, asks this question.
What are you thankful for?
Now, I'm guessing that what comes right to your mind is probably, I am thankful for my family.
I'm thankful for my spouse, my children, grandchildren.
I mean, in our congregation, we have some young couples who just got married, and we have some young couples who are about to be married.
That's things to be thankful for.
But what happens if you don't have family to be thankful for?
Maybe you think of health, you just got through a health scare.
You're on the other side of it, or making progress.
You're thankful for that.
But what happens if you don't have anything to be thankful for, in terms of your health?
A job-related, something to be thankful for, a new job, a promotion, a bonus on the way.
You're just thankful to have a job.
But if you don't have a job?
If you're a Christian, this Thursday, you're going to have an opportunity to give thanks.
Can I just encourage you on the outset of the sermon, you have something to share, a thanksgiving to give, that is of most importance.
And it's got everything to do with the person and work of Jesus Christ.
It's more important than family.
It's more important than health.
It's more important than jobs.
And you can give thanks at any time.
We've reached the climax of the Gospel of Mark.
And Mark has been repeatedly showing us how extraordinary Jesus is.
I mean, just think about it.
At His baptism, in chapter 1, the heavens open up.
God the Father says, this is my beloved Son with whom I'm well pleased.
Who is this guy?
That God speaks of him like that.
We've seen multiple demons.
Jesus confess him as the Son of God and then He says, silence.
Who does that?
Jesus forgives the sins of a paralytic.
Only God can forgive sins.
Who's this guy?
Mark 4 and 5.
Jesus exercises authority over the deeps, over the demons, over the disease, and over the death of a 12-year-old girl whose father's name is Jairus.
He's transfigured.
Extraordinary.
He feeds the 5,000.
He feeds the 4,000.
He's transfigured.
Who is this guy?
Today in Mark 15, 1-39, we're going to see Jesus breathe His last on the cross.
And we're going to hear a confession.
A surprising confession.
Truly, this man was the Son of God.
Who is this guy?
By the end of the sermon, I'm hoping that you all have a compelling reason to give thanks this Thanksgiving.
Mark 15, 1-39 has a number of scenes with Jesus dying on the cross as the climax.
And here's what I want you to see.
Behold your crucified King, the Son of God, your salvation.
Behold Him.
Behold your crucified King, the Son of God, your salvation, and give thanks.
Okay, if we look at scene 1, it has to do with Pilate, chapter 15, 1-5.
Let me read it.
And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council.
And they bound Jesus and led Him away and delivered Him over to Pilate.
And Pilate asked Him, Are you the King of the Jews?
And He answered Him, You have said so.
And the chief priests accused Him of many things.
And Pilate again asked Him, Have you no answer to make?
See how many charges they bring against you?
But Jesus made no further answer so that Pilate was amazed.
The Sanhedrin, the chief priests, and the elders, and the scribes,
had no authority in the first century region they were in to execute anybody.
So they consulted and they brought Jesus, because they've just condemned Him to death, to Pilate.
Because Pilate, the Roman governor of the region, does have the authority to execute Jesus.
This is outside Pilate's palace.
It's early on that first Good Friday morning.
First thing that Pilate says is, Are you the King of the Jews?
To Jesus.
That's really interesting.
He must have already heard some of the accusations being made.
Jesus says, You have said so.
Which is a very interesting answer.
Non-committal.
It's neither yes or no.
I'm guessing that made Pilate a little uncomfortable.
We learn in verse 3 that the chief priests are making many accusations of Jesus.
Surely they are saying, He has blasphemed.
He's claimed to be God.
And the consequence is death.
They're pushing for execution by crucifixion.
Jesus must not have said anything.
Because, look what Pilate asks in verse 4.
Have you no answer to make?
See how many charges they bring against you?
Essentially what Pilate is saying is,
You do realize that they're making a case to me against you so that I kill you.
You do understand the weight of these things.
Jesus responds in silence to him.
It's Isaiah 53.7 playing out again.
He is a lamb being led to the slaughter.
And he's silent before those who will kill him.
Pilate's amazed.
He's not amazed that Jesus is the Son of God and bows down and gives thanks.
Not that kind of amazement.
He's amazed that Jesus isn't making a defense.
He's amazed that Jesus seemingly is allowing himself to be condemned.
The thing I want you to notice is twofold.
This is a step towards the cross.
And second, did you see the title?
Are you the King of the Jews?
We're going to see that title show up multiple times in this passage.
It's for a reason.
Second scene.
The crowd.
In verses 6 through 15.
Let me just summarize it for you.
Again, we're outside of Pilate's palace.
It's early that first Good Friday morning.
A Jewish crowd arrives.
We see that in verse 8.
They came and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did.
And that brings us to verse 6.
Here's what's going on.
Pilate had this great PR gig going on.
Public relations.
He is a Roman governor occupying a Jewish land.
And so he, who knew who thought it up?
But he's like, every year I will go to the Jewish people.
And I will say, who would you like me to release from my prison?
And he will present them to him.
It's just great PR.
So they come.
They ask him, hey, can we do the kind of prisoner exchange thing?
And Pilate says in verse 9,
do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?
Yes.
And him asking that, he's zinging.
He's getting under the skin of some people.
He knows the chief priests have delivered up Jesus out of envy.
And envy is evil.
Those chief priests in verse 11,
they stir up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead.
Who's this Barabbas guy?
Look at verse 7.
Barabbas was a murdering insurrectionist.
And so what the chief priests are saying,
hey, okay, everybody,
request Barabbas, not Jesus.
It's very ironic
because Barabbas is a murdering insurrectionist
and Jesus is an innocent King of the Jews.
Pilate asks in verse 12,
well, what should I do with this man you call,
Zing Zing,
the King of the Jews?
That's the second and third time now we've seen that title.
What do I do with him?
Crucify him!
Yells the crowd.
Brutal way to die.
Humiliating way to die.
It is intentionally horrifying way to die.
14, Pilate says,
why, what evil has he done?
It gets to the innocence
of this one being called the King of the Jews.
In contrast to the chief priests
who are envious.
Why?
What evil has he done?
And they don't give him a reason.
They just shout all the more,
crucify him!
And because he's a consummate politician
who wants to keep his,
you know, contingency happy,
he falls like a cheap suit.
Wanting to satisfy them.
He doesn't want them wrathful at him.
He satisfies them,
releases the murdering insurrectionist,
and has Jesus scourged.
I'll explain that in a little bit.
Another step to the cross,
and what I want you to see
are those two titles,
the King of the Jews.
Do you want me to release to you?
Want me to release you,
the King of the Jews?
What shall I do with this man
you call the King of the Jews?
And that brings us to scene three.
Scene three and four
are both having to do with Roman soldiers,
but they're having to do in different places.
Look at scene three.
It's in verses 16 through 20.
Let me read it for you.
And the soldiers led him away inside the palace,
that is, the governor's headquarters,
and they called together the whole battalion.
And they clothed him in purple cloak,
and twisting together a crown of thorns,
they put it on him,
and they began to salute him,
Hail, King of the Jews!
And they were striking his head with a reed,
and spitting on him,
and kneeling down in homage to him.
And when they had mocked him,
they stripped him of purple cloak,
and put his own clothes on him,
and they led him out to crucify him.
Okay, so these are Roman soldiers.
Jesus has been handed over by Pilate to them
to get them ready for crucifixion.
They're going to scourge him.
And what that means is,
there is this whip.
It's called the cat of nine tails.
It's got nine lashes on the back of it.
And at the end of the lashes,
there were like bits of bone,
bits of rock,
bits of glass,
bits of metal.
And the design is,
you whip someone,
and rake it across their back.
And the design is just to fillet somebody's back.
Just to open it up.
It's horrific.
And so as part of this mockery,
certainly that happened.
We're going to see its effect in just a little bit.
So they're inside the palace,
and they call for an assembly.
Who's been to a school assembly?
All the teachers and students come together.
Hoorah, rah!
These Roman soldiers are calling the battalion of 600 together
for a mock assembly.
A mocking assembly.
Look all the mockery.
You ready?
They strip him naked
and put on him clothes of purple.
It's the color of royalty.
Do they think he's royal?
No.
This is mockery.
They crown him with a crown of twisted thorns.
Press it on his head.
It's mockery.
He's climbing.
They...
Him a king?
Huh?
Crown of thorns.
They salute him,
shouting,
Hail, King of the Jews!
Do they mean it?
Absolutely not.
This is mockery.
They strike his head with a reed,
and they spit on him.
And then they kneel down in homage to them.
Do you think they really reverence him?
No.
They're mocking him.
Who knows how long?
But what happens in this scene
is the fulfillment of Mark 10.33
when Jesus says
he's going to be handed over to the Gentiles
and they will mock him.
Spit on him.
It's exactly what happens here.
It's right according to plan.
And after all this mockery,
they strip him again.
Naked in front of 600.
And then clothe him back with his garments.
And then they lead him out to crucify him.
Another step towards the cross.
Did you see the title?
Hail, King of the Jews!
Scene 4.
Another scene with the soldiers.
Part 2.
It's in 21 through 26.
And they compelled a passerby,
Simon of Cyrene,
who was coming in from the country,
the father of Alexander and Rufus,
to carry his cross.
And they brought him to the place called Golgotha,
which means place of a skull.
And they offered him the wine mixed with myrrh,
but he did not take it.
And they crucified him
and divided his garments among them,
casting lots for them
to decide which each should take.
And it was the third hour
when they crucified him.
And the inscription of the charge against him read,
The King of the Jews.
So these soldiers are now on their way out
to Golgotha.
We also call that Calvary.
And what's going on here is
they're bringing him to be crucified.
Now did you notice
they commandeer Simon of Cyrene
who's coming in from the outskirts
minding his own business
and they force him to carry Jesus' cross.
Do you wonder why?
Why would they need someone
to carry Jesus' cross?
It's because
Jesus is physically incapacitated.
He's at the end of his rope physically.
He is barely able to walk himself.
He's been scourged.
He's been beaten.
This has been the longest all-nighter ever.
He is just at the end of his rope.
He's not going to be able to carry his cross.
So they say,
Hey, Simon, come.
You bring it to Golgotha.
Now there's two things about this
you need to know.
The first one is this.
It's...
Jesus is a bloody mess.
He can't bear the weight of a cross.
And then you're left asking,
Wait, Simon, Simon, that rings a bell.
Where's Simon Peter?
Here.
And it reminds you that he's been abandoned.
They bring him to Calvary.
Golgotha.
Mark translates it.
It's the place of a skull.
It would be like when you see a pirate ship
and you see the cross and skull bones
or the skull and cross bones.
And it's like floating death.
When you would hear Golgotha,
you would think death place
where people die.
Where Jesus will die.
They offer him mixed wine with myrrh.
It was a narcotic.
It was designed to take the edge off the pain.
He refuses it.
He wants to have all of his faculties about him.
In verse 24,
as a matter of fact,
Mark records they crucified him.
They don't go into the details.
We know from the other gospels
they nailed him to a cross.
What we're shown is
the dividing of the garments.
Also in verse 24.
And that is an allusion
to Psalm 22.
This is the first of three in this passage.
In Psalm 22.18,
we read,
They divide my garments among them
and for my clothing they cast lots.
This is right according to plan, gang.
This is God's will being carried out.
In verse 26,
we read of a plate
that they inscribe with a title,
nail it to the cross above its head,
the King of the Jews.
That's the fifth time
we've seen this title.
And then we're given a time stamp
in verse 25.
Time stamps are important
in your Bible
because they start to slow the story down.
It starts to kind of raise
the tension a little bit.
And the time stamp is
the sixth hour,
which is 9 a.m.
And so what I want you to see
is that
Jesus is now
nailed to the cross
and the horizontal beam of the cross
has been dropped into a hole
on the top of Calvary
and up on top
is inscribed
the King of the Jews.
There's that title again.
And now we come to scene
scene 5.
Scene 5
is we're introduced
to three groups of spectators.
Let me read it
and you will see them.
And with them
they crucify two robbers,
one on his right
and one on his left.
And 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
and come down from the cross.
So also the chief priests
with the scribes
mocked him to one another
saying,
He saved others.
He cannot save himself.
Let the
quote-unquote
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.
This was a
reviling group
of spectators.
We were at Calvary.
It's now
just after
9 a.m.
And the first group
are these robbers.
Verses 27 and 32.
They are reviling him.
We know from Luke
that they are saying,
If you are the Christ,
save yourself
and us.
We know one of them
is going to change his mind.
But there's two things
you need to know
about those robbers.
The first one is this.
One's on the left,
one's on the right.
That should ring a bell.
Because if you flip back
to Mark chapter 10,
Jesus is pulled aside
by James and John,
the sons of Zebedee,
and they ask him,
grant us to sit,
one at your right hand
and one at your left,
in your glory.
Here is Jesus
in his glory
on the cross.
And neither are there.
Amen.
What also is going on here
is Isaiah 53, 12.
It's the suffering servant
is to be numbered
with the transgressors.
And he has been numbered
with two robbers
on either side of him.
Which means this is
all according to plan.
We go from verse 27
to verse 29.
And if you notice
in your Bibles,
there's no 28.
And you're like,
what?
What's going on?
There's nothing to fear.
What is happening there
is verse 28
was believed to be
put in by scribes.
It's not in the earliest,
most reliable manuscripts.
In verse 28,
that showed up
in later manuscripts,
just simply said
that this is the fulfillment
of Isaiah 53, 12.
But in verse 29,
we're introduced
to the second group
of people,
of spectators,
passerbys,
and the deriding Jesus.
Look what they're doing.
They're wagging their heads.
And those who pass by
derided him,
wagging their heads.
If you flip back,
if you're just in Psalm 22,
it's on page 540.
This is the second allusion
to Psalm 22,
verse 7.
All who see me,
mock me.
They make mouths at me.
They wag their heads.
It's all according to plan.
Psalm 22 is about
an innocent man
who suffers
and then is vindicated
by God.
Well, they're saying something.
They're saying something
with an earshot of Jesus.
They're saying,
uh-huh, see?
See?
You who would destroy
the temple
and rebuild it
in three days?
It's what he was accused of
in chapter 14.
They have no idea
what they're talking about.
Because Jesus was referring
to his body
being raised
on the third day.
They totally miss it.
They see,
but they don't perceive.
They're kind of like saying this,
hey, if you're all that,
like,
if you were able to do that,
save yourself, buddy.
Come down from the cross.
And they're missing it all
because
he's not going to come down
from the cross.
He's not trying
to save himself.
He's at the cross
and will remain on the cross
not to save himself
but to save others.
Totally missing it.
He's on the cross
as a ransom for many.
In 31 and 32,
the chief priests
get in the mocking.
They're mocking him
to one another.
It's almost
self-congratulatory.
It's like,
you don't mess
with a Sanhedrin.
If you mess
with a Sanhedrin,
that's what happens.
He saved others.
He cannot save himself.
We know otherwise.
He cannot save himself.
If he wanted to,
he could call upon
legions of angels
to come and deliver him.
But he doesn't
because he's unwilling
to come down
from the cross.
Out of love,
he has gone to the cross.
Out of obedience
to his Father's will,
he's on the cross
because he's giving himself
as a ransom for many.
Not to save himself
but to save others.
What they say
contains the sixth reference
to king.
Let the quote-unquote
Christ,
the king of Israel,
these are Jews speaking,
so they're not saying
king of the Jews,
they're saying
king of Israel,
come now now
from the cross
that we may see
and believe.
Again,
the irony is so thick
that they're calling him
Christ,
king of Israel
but they obviously
do not believe that.
And they're saying
if you would come down,
we'll believe.
But he's not going
to come down.
The king
is not coming down.
The king is going
to stay on the cross
and breathe his last.
Not to save himself
but to save us.
They do not see it.
Now,
if they did see it
and believed,
they didn't.
They didn't.
They are looking
at God's salvation
and they don't
see it.
So,
all of these
spectators
are deriding Jesus
while he's on the cross.
And there's that title,
the king of Israel,
the Christ.
And now,
we've come to the climax.
Scene six.
The crucified
son of God.
We've seen Pilate,
crowds,
soldiers,
spectators,
all interacting
with this Jesus,
all calling him
the king of the Jews.
But they don't see him
for who he is.
We've got another
time stamp
in verse 33.
And when the sixth
hour had come,
there were darkness
over the whole land
until the ninth hour.
So,
the sixth hour,
well,
that's noon.
The ninth hour
is 3 p.m.
What's all this darkness?
This is God
showing up
in a particular way.
It's like
when God,
the plague of darkness
on Egypt
of judgment.
This darkness
is God's judgment.
It's just
judgment.
gathering
over
Jesus,
filling the whole
land with darkness.
All of God's wrath
is being gathered here
to be poured out.
Do you know
on whom?
The one on the cross.
Do you know who for?
For all who would believe.
Verse 34,
we have another time stamp.
And at the ninth hour,
Jesus cried
with a loud voice.
Again,
so at 3 p.m.,
Jesus cries out.
Now,
Jesus,
Mark has recorded
Jesus saying nothing
since he was with Pilate.
And he said,
you say so.
Jesus has said nothing.
He's been like
a sheep
before being led
to a slaughter.
And here we have it.
Jesus from the cross.
This high point
in the book,
3 p.m.
on that first
Good Friday.
And Mark
records what Jesus
says
in the original
language,
in Aramaic.
And it's to
emphasize
what he said.
It's to sear
in your mind
what Jesus
actually said
at this moment
from the cross.
Eloi, Eloi,
lame sebechtani.
And then he translates it.
He says,
my God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
From the cross,
darkness gathered,
nailed,
the King of the Jews
above his head.
This is the
third
reference
to Psalm 22.
It's actually
verse 1
of Psalm 22.
My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
It's all according
to plan.
It was the will
of the Lord
to crush Him.
It's the word forsake.
My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
Jesus is experiencing
something at this moment
that all of us,
all of us need to understand.
Jesus is experiencing
at this moment
the wrath of God
for all sin
of all who would believe.
He's experiencing
all of God's wrath
for all of your sin,
for all of my sin.
He's experiencing
that in full
on the cross.
My God,
my God,
why have you forsaken me?
It registers
as forsakenness.
And He grabs hold
of Psalm 22.1
to express it.
This is the only time
in the eternal existence
of the Trinity
in which the Father
was wrathful
towards the Son.
Unbelievable.
My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
We know the answer.
Jesus,
the second person
of the Trinity,
the Son of God,
willingly bore God's wrath.
He was forsaken
so that we would be forgiven.
All of God's wrath
for your sin and mine
poured out on Jesus
on that afternoon.
In verses 35 and 36,
there are more bystanders
kind of there listening.
They hear Jesus say,
Eloi, Eloi,
and they think
it's Elijah, Elijah.
They think He's calling Elijah.
Totally misses it.
They have eyes
that do not perceive.
They have ears
that do not understand.
Blessed,
they turn
and be forgiven.
Isaiah 6, 9.
They do not understand
that immediately before Him
is salvation
being accomplished
by the Son of God.
Verse 7,
Jesus utters a loud cry.
The Gospel of John
records it as,
it is finished.
Payment made.
He breathes last.
And He dies.
And so in verse 37,
Jesus is dead
on the cross.
On the Passover.
The greatest sacrifice
ever made
for human sin.
And what happens
in verse 38 and 39
are two immediate results.
Jesus breathes His last
and then something happens
to a curtain
and then someone
makes a confession.
In verse 38,
the curtain in the temple
is torn in two.
The curtain in the temple,
there's actually two.
They separated sinful people
from being in the presence
of a holy God.
He breathes His last
and the curtain
is rend in two.
Torn apart.
And what it's a picture of
is God has made
access available
to all sinners
through the death of Jesus.
Salvation accomplished.
Did you notice
it was from the top
to the bottom?
This is God's doing.
Not our doing.
God has made a way.
The second result
is in verse 39.
Standing across
from Jesus,
watching Him
suffer
is a Roman centurion.
Most likely a Gentile.
Most likely an officer.
He is charged
over the kill squad.
In verse 39,
we read,
and when the centurion
who stood facing Him
saw that in this way
He breathed His last,
He said,
truly this man
was the Son of God.
And He means everything
by that.
Truly this man
is the I Am.
Truly this man
is God in the flesh
dying for humanity.
truly,
surely
this man
was the Son of God.
Of all the human beings
that we've seen,
of all the human beings
we've seen
in the Gospel of Mark,
all the chief priests,
all the disciples,
everyone healed,
everyone raised
from the dead,
there is only
one human being
that confesses
Jesus to be
the Son of God.
Surprise, surprise.
it's one of the Romans
who killed Him.
In His death,
in His glory,
He's revealed
as the Son of God.
What's the point?
What's the point
of Mark 15,
1 through 39?
It gets us
facing the cross,
doesn't it?
Just like that centurion.
Behold your crucified King,
the Son of God,
your salvation,
my salvation.
Behold your crucified King,
the Son of God,
our salvation.
salvation.
This passage,
it makes that point
in three ways.
It uses irony.
Do you remember
that Jesus,
that Barabbas
was chosen
in front of Jesus?
Do you remember that?
That's irony.
Do you remember
these kind of
allusions
to His missing disciples?
but the irony
that stands out most
is
person after person
calling Jesus,
referencing Him
as the King of the Jews,
but not meaning it.
And the irony is
He is the King of the Jews.
He's the King of all.
They're saying it,
but not meaning it.
He is
the crucified King.
Behold Him.
It uses irony
to get that out.
But there's also
fulfillment.
Throughout Mark,
we have allusion
after allusion
to Isaiah 53,
three references
to Psalm 22,
not to mention
the fulfillment
of Jesus' own words
in 831
and 931
and 1033
and 34
in Mark
where He's saying
I will be rejected,
killed,
and on the third day
raised.
All of these
are addressing
suffering Messiah,
forsaken.
it was God's plan all along.
It was the will
of the Lord
to crush Him.
It's fulfillment.
This is God's plan.
And not just irony,
not just fulfillment,
there is surprise.
The only human being
to confess Jesus
as the Son of God
is a Gentile
centurion
who's been overseeing
his killing.
Surprise!
Mark,
the narrator,
says this
at the beginning of Mark.
In the beginning
of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God.
So Mark is arguing
that Jesus,
he wants to show us
that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God.
God says,
this is my beloved Son.
Twice,
baptism and transfiguration.
Demons call Jesus
the Son of God.
Even a chief,
the chief priest
comes so close
in 1461.
Are you the Christ,
the Son of the Blessed,
the Son of God?
But the only one
to confess
and believe
that Jesus,
only human,
is the Son of God,
is the centurion
facing the cross.
seeing Jesus
in his death
as the greatest king
who has done
the greatest act
of love ever.
Dying
for his rebellious people
to make him their own.
Through irony
and fulfillment,
surprise,
behold your crucified king,
the Son of God,
your salvation.
salvation.
This passage
has two ways
to respond.
Response number one,
see Jesus
but not believe.
See Jesus
but not believe.
Pilate,
soldiers,
crowds,
robbers,
passerbys,
chief priests,
bystanders,
they see
but they don't believe.
Do you know
what this means?
It's possible
to be real close
to Jesus
even to use
the right titles
but not believe.
It's possible.
And if you're not
a Christian in the room
and you've been giving
Jesus lip service
but you know
you're not a follower
of Jesus,
you've got to ask
the question this morning,
is this true?
You need to face
the cross.
You need to face
the one hanging
on the cross.
And you need to ask
the question,
is it true?
Is he God in the flesh
hanging on the cross
for your sins?
Is it true?
And for us Christians,
here's what this reality
says for those
who see Jesus
but don't believe.
There will be people
in our lives
that we love dearly
who see Jesus
but they don't believe.
They will be our children
and our grandchildren.
They will be parents
and friends,
fellow workers,
even spouses.
What this does
is it ends up
tempering us.
heartache
lies ahead
followers of Jesus
for those people
we love
who see
but don't believe.
We pray,
we speak boldly,
and we wait
on our Lord.
The second response
to seeing
and not believing
is seeing
and believing.
Face the cross,
you see the one
hanging on it
and you believe.
You see Jesus
mocked by Pilate
and you realize
he endured that
for me.
You see Jesus
rejected
by the crowds.
They chose
a murdering
insurrectionist
over
the innocent king.
He endured that
for me
and for you.
Jesus mocked
by soldiers.
Hail
king of the Jews!
He did that
for you
and for me.
crucified,
reviled
by passerbys.
For you
and for me.
We believe it.
But as we face
the cross,
what is most striking
is that Jesus
would bear
God's wrath,
breathe his last
for you
and for me.
We believe it.
He was forsaken.
God's wrath
poured out on him
to have all
of our sins
forgiven.
When we see
this crucified
Messiah,
we believe
he's our salvation.
When we hear
Golgotha,
we hear
place of the skull,
dying place,
and it's
good news.
this is what's
of first
importance.
So if you
believe,
confess him
as the
son of God.
Confess it
to him.
You are the
Christ.
You are the
son of man.
You are the
son of God.
You are the
I am.
You are my
king.
Confess it
to him.
Not just
confess it,
follow him.
If he's done
all this for
us,
deny yourself,
take up your
cross,
and follow
him.
We proclaim
him.
We proclaim
a crucified
king.
For some,
it's utterly
scandalous.
It's
disgusting.
To others,
it's just
ridiculous.
But for those
who like us
are being
saved,
it is the
power of
God unto
salvation.
Let me
close by
saying this.
This
Thanksgiving,
Christian,
you're going
to have the
opportunity to
share what
you're most
thankful for.
And when you
face the
cross,
and you see
what this
king did
for you,
oh,
you've got
more than
enough to
share.
And it
doesn't limit
it to a
feast this
Thursday.
You've got
something to
share all
the time.
Despite your
circumstances,
you have
something that
God has
done for
you.
So,
this
Thanksgiving,
when you've
been given
the opportunity
to share
what you're
thankful for,
here's what
you can say
without apology
and without
qualification,
I'm thankful
that Jesus,
my king,
died for me.
I'm thankful
that I'm
forgiven.
Behold your
crucified king,
the son of
God,
our salvation,
and give
thanks.
Next Sunday,
we will
behold our
risen king
who's reigning.
Let's pray.
God in heaven,
thank you so
much for
Mark 15,
1-39.
Thank you,
Father,
for giving us
a line of
sight once
again to
face the
cross of
what you've
done.
Father,
thank you for
making a way
through the
death of your
son for us
to come into
your presence.
Thank you for
forgiving us of
all of our
sins,
past,
present,
and future.
At that
moment,
he paid it
all,
and we are
so grateful
so thankful.
Lord,
we confess
you as the
Son of God,
and we
recognize
Golgotha as,
yes,
a killing
place,
but our
place of
salvation.
In your name
we pray.
Amen.
Let's grace
see you as the
peace
of you as the
holy
communities.