Mark 15:16-41
1. Welcome to Rock International Church! Church is a family: we are the family of God gathered to hear our Father’s word. Tonight we will be walking in the footsteps of the disciples, as they experienced what it cost for us to be God’s family. They saw how much our salvation cost as they saw Jesus being beaten and then crucified, as they heard Jesus’ cry, as they saw him die.
2. We will open together in prayer. Prayer is simply talking to our Heavenly Father. Let us pray, saying together…
ALL: Almighty God to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and no secrets are hidden from you. Please forgive us for ignoring you, for being selfish, for thinking that we are greater than you.
Thank you that, in your mercy, you accept us just as we are.
Prepare our hearts and minds by your Holy Spirit, that we may listen to and understand what you have to say to us today; through Christ our Lord. Amen
The reason Jesus died was so that he could accept us as we are. We are all sinners. As Jesus said in Mark 7:15,20-23 15 It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.” “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”
And that is why Jesus came. He came in order to die in our place. The perfect, righteous one, for us the unrighteous. So let’s confess our sin together.
3. Confession:. Sin is rebellion against God, saying “no” to Him, letting something or someone else take His place. Let’s pray together
ALL: (5) Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we have sinned against you in what we have done, said, thought, and left undone.
We repent of our sin. Have mercy on us, most merciful Father. Amen.
Mk 14:12–17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?” 13 So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions: “As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ 15 He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” 16 So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there. 17 In the evening Jesus arrived with the Twelve.
4. Communion is a visual reminder of the grace at the heart of Christianity.
Jesus died for us: his body, symbolised by the bread, broken; his blood, symbolised by the juice (wine), poured out, for his glory and our salvation.
And as we eat and drink together we are united in the communion of Christ, his body, his church, together, equal in Christ.
Mk 14:22–25 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many. 25 I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.”
Communion is for those who trust Christ for the salvation of their sins, and obey him as Lord. If you are not a Christian, or if you do not want to take communion for any other reason, just let it pass by.
We dip the bread, symbolising Jesus’ body, into the juice (wine) symbolising Jesus’ blood.
Minister: The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, broken for you. Feed on him in your heart by faith with thanksgiving.
Minister: The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, shed for you. Drink this in remembrance that Christ's blood was shed for you, and be thankful.
14:26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
So let’s sing a hymn of thanksgiving to our wonderful saviour! Beautiful Saviour
The Wonderful Cross
After singing a hymn, Jesus went up to pray for strength to face the coming day. Filled with the Holy Spirit’s strength, Jesus did not falter, did not stumble: he went out to meet those who came to arrest him. He did not run, did not hide, but went to meet them. At his trials he was seen to be innocent – the religious leaders wanted him killed because he said who he is: the Son of the Living God, the Messiah, the Son of Man given all authority in heaven and earth. Blasphemy! They said, because they did not want to believe it, did not want to bow the knee to this, this prophet from the North, a ragged preacher. God’s way of humility and service did not match up to their religion of power and prestige and performance. So they missed it!
Then the Roman governor Pilate sentences Jesus to death even though Pilate knew he was innocent! But this is what Jesus said would happen – remember he told his disciples three times that he would be arrested by the religious leaders, he would be put to death, and he would rise again. Because after sharing the communion meal that night he had been praying for strength to go to the cross. To drink the cup that makes men stagger – the cup of God’s judgment. He drank that in our place!
That is why he came. He came to show us what God is like. He came to tell us that we are sinners and need a Saviour. And he came to be that Saviour. He dies for his enemies, like you and me, to make us into his friends. Whatever the cost, he will pay it – and the cost for rescuing us is high, very high indeed. It started with a false arrest, then fake trials, and continues with beating, mockery, and ultimately, death by crucifixion
1. Mocking the suffering servant King
15:16–20 The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment. 17 They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. 18 Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” 19 And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. 20 When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.
Why would the soldiers mock him so? Were they just cruel, bloodthirsty men? Is this how they treated all their prisoners? Well, maybe. We do know that Israel was not the best place to be sent. There were continual uprisings and rebellions, soldiers faced danger all the time. It wasn’t a posting people wanted. So maybe these soldiers were a bit rougher than the others.
But the mock worship goes deeper. Jesus’ claim to be the king made a mockery of their Emperor, Caesar. And their treatment of him is to put him back in his place. Notice in verse 16 how the entire regiment is called out (that’s around 600 men!). “Insult our Emperor would you? Raise yourself up would you? How dare you? King! Ha! Hail O King.” they shout as they push thorns into his head, and beat him and spit on him as they bow and laugh at him in mock worship.
Isn’t that ironic? Jesus is the true King, and deserves all worship. It is the Emperor, Caesar, who is the false king, trying to claim worship and authority that is not his. It is he who should be mocked, should be brought low.
But instead Jesus goes to the cross in our place.
21 A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.)
Look again at v21. Because Simon, who carried Jesus’ cross, is well known to the church. Mark points out this is Alexander and Rufus’ father. Simon carried Jesus cross – but Jesus carried Simon’s sins!
22 And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). 23 They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it.
Remember he said 14:25 I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.” He is still fully in control. Beaten, battered, he goes willingly to the cross. The Passover Lamb. Our Passover Lamb,
24 Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross.
Pick up the nails there in the centre of the table. Feel them. Imagine those going through your hands or wrists. Imagine the pain as your ankles are crossed together and the nail driven through. Incredible pain. No wonder Jesus prayed for strength. He went willingly. At any moment he could have said “enough”. It was love, love for us, love for his father, his own glory, that kept him there. It is the character of our God that kept him there.
But as we will see in a few moments, the physical pain was not the worst of it.
24 They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece. 25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26 A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.
He died for who he is: the King of the Jews. The promised Messiah.
And we hated him for it. It’s not just the Roman soldiers who mock Jesus. v29 The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. 30 Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!” 31 The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.
Everyone, laughing and hollering and pointing as Jesus is hammered naked onto the cross, beaten, bloodied, humiliated, exposed. The soldiers laughing as they beat him and pretend to worship him. 600 men spitting and hitting and making fun. Passersby mocking and jeering. Religious leaders, priests who represent the Almighty, gleefully slapping each others backs at their own cleverness, and laughing at this Jesus who hangs naked before them. “We showed him”, they would have been thinking.
Now it’s easy for us to see how wrong these people for mocking and abusing Jesus, especially because we know who he is- the God who created all people everywhere. But then point the finger back to ourselves, because we treat God the same way! How?
Maybe we ignore his words when we want to sin sexually – perhaps pornography in front of the computer, perhaps an adulterous affair, perhaps sexual intercourse with our girlfriend – but it’s ok because we “love” each other. Really? We mock the living God and his claim over our lives, and raise ourselves up as king in that situation. I will decide what is right for me. I want to sin sexually. I will do it.
Or maybe it’s not sex, but gossip, saying horrible things about other people, allowing bitterness to rise. Or perhaps its jealousy – thanklessness lies at the heart of jealousy. It’s when I’m not grateful to God for what he HAS given me, and all I can see is what he hasn’t! And we mock him and spit on him with our attitude, saying “I can be a better God than you. I can make better decisions than you about my life and my needs.”
How often are our thoughts about me, me, me. Who’s the King there? Instead of being filled with the glory of God, wanting to worship him and see his name exalted, we want to exalt ourselves. Ugh.
But he died, for us! He has done the unthinkable, and swapped places with us. He has taken the punishment and shame that our sins deserve, and taken it upon himself. We mock the King, but he is responds by being the suffering servant King
2. Jesus takes our place as a sinner
33 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. 34 Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Darkness. In the Bible darkness means judgement. Divine judgement. Remember the Exodus: when Moses led the great rescue of people of Israel out of Egypt? The people of Israel, cowering in slavery to the evil Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God raises up a rescuer: Moses. Moses the miracle-worker, Moses who brought the word of God! See any similarities? Moses pointed to Jesus, the greater miracle worker, the true Word of God. But Moses brought judgement 10 plagues, each worse than the last, fell upon Pharaoh and all those who refused to obey the Living God. And the final two were the worst: darkness covered the whole land of Egypt; and the death of the first-born son of each Egyptian family.
But this time the darkness is not for the wicked. This time the judgement is not falling on those who deserve it, but on Jesus. Because Jesus is carrying our sins – all of our sins. He is taking our place to be beaten by the Roman soldiers like the Israelites were once beaten by the Egyptians. He is taking our place as a slave to experience the full extent of sin. Only sinners can treat other people the way we do. Only sinners can order babies to be taken from their mothers’ arms and slaughtered. Only sinners can beat another human being and feel pleased about it. Only sinners can enjoy another person’s suffering and humiliation.
Because to be a sinner means to have a broken relationship with our Creator. And when that relationship is broken, all our relationships break.
And so we have divorce and abuse and slavery and abortion and murder and theft and genocide and fraud and corruption and greed and deceit and so on. Watch the news: it’s a massive message saying we have abandoned God and we can’t fix our broken relationship.
But Jesus steps into this gap. His relationship is perfect. Ours is broken. So he becomes our representative – born as a human being, fully human, fully God; starts his ministry by being baptised as a sinner; experiences hurt and pain and frustration and joy and gladness and friendship as we do; and all the time with his goal in mind: the cross, where he would pay the ultimate sacrifice of death, a sinners death, and a sinners experience of the wrath of God, of the broken relationship, of being abandoned by God.
34 Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
He who knew no sin became sin for us. Jesus took on our sin. He goes into the darkness for us. He takes the judgement we deserve, and gives up his life, the Son of God, in order to rescue all of us in slavery to sin. He’s leading the great Exodus from slavery to sin, to freedom in Heaven. He is carrying our sins – all of our sins. He has taken our place.
If you are a Christian this is the moment when all your sins were dealt with. God is not bound by time, he stands over it, he commands it, and he looked down at your life and all the wrong things you have done, all your regrets, all your dark secrets, those things nobody knows about, your darkest private thoughts which fill you with shame – all that is poured out on Jesus in this moment. And all the sins you will do! All our sin is upon his shoulders – not just half of it until now then, good luck on your own! No, Jesus’ sacrifice was not half-way there – he carries us through to the gates of Heaven. It’s the true Exodus, the Big Rescue, from the gates of Hell to the gates of Heaven and inside. It’s guaranteed, underwritten by the blood of Jesus. If you trust in Jesus as your Saviour, and follow him as your King, you can be sure of your salvation.
Hallelujah! A shout of Thank you Jesus! Hooray for Jesus!
Jesus takes our place as a sinner.
I just want to make one more comment on verse 34 because some people have spread misunderstandings about this verse. God abandoned Jesus because Jesus is not God, he’s just an angel or a good man, and now he’s failed, so God has left him.
Well, we already know it’s exactly in line with what Jesus has been saying – he was going to take our place. But Jesus also isn’t just crying out something random: it’s a direct quote from Psalm 22, the Psalm of the suffering King. In Psalm 22 King David, the King of Israel, God’s King, is under an attack so fierce he describes it like crucifixion – hundreds of years before crucifixion even existed! And Jesus, the true King, God’s King who is enduring the ultimate suffering, quotes that Psalm with his last breaths, declaring to the world “I am the King”.
35–36 Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. 36 One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”
Of course Elijah would not come. This is Jesus’ whole mission. Through the darkness, through hell, through abandonment, our King opens the way to God!
3. Jesus opens the way to God
37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”
Crucifixion normally took days – but Jesus dies within a few hours. He gave up his own life, breathing his last. He was totally in control. This was a deliberate act of love, planned from before the creation of the world. And what his death achieves is immediately clear: 38 And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
The curtain in the Temple was a massive, thick piece of cloth 20m high, 20m wide, and 10cm thick. It was more like a wall than a curtain. Behind the curtain was the Most Holy Place, and that was where God “lived” as a symbol of living with his people. If anyone went behind the curtain without going through a lot of rituals to cleanse them of their sin, they died instantly! God is holy, we are not – and unholy meets holy is like darkness meets light: it is destroyed. The curtain in the Temple separated God and man.
Until now. Now Jesus gives up his life to open the way to God, to make the unholy holy, and the Temple curtain is torn from TOP to bottom. God Himself has torn down the barrier between us! He has done the impossible, and made a way for unholy people to live with a holy God. And it’s not through a Temple, some special building, some special rituals – but through a person, his Son, the Lord Jesus. Christians don’t have Temple, we don’t have holy places. There is one holy place, and that is Jesus himself.
Jesus has opened the way to God, torn down the barrier. It’s his work, his action, his power which holds the door open. So do not be afraid. You are secure in Christ.
Jesus has opened the way to God. Immediately, IMMEDIATELY, we see the effects of Jesus’ opening the way.
39 When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”
The statement in verse 39 is utterly incredible: “This man truly was the Son of God!” What is it that turned this man around – from abusing Jesus to worshipping Jesus? V39 says when he “saw how [Jesus] died”. I wonder what he saw? Perhaps he saw in Jesus’ eyes, through the spiritual and physical pain, the love that drove him to the cross? Perhaps Jesus looked at him with eyes so filled with forgiveness it pierced even this rough Roman soldier’s heart? Perhaps it was something else. We don’t know – but it was the death of Jesus that brought him new life, as it has been for every Christian since.
I love how God does things. He chooses this man to be the first one to declare the truth about Jesus! Isn’t that amazing? Here’s the man who nailed Jesus to the cross! He is a Gentile, he is an enemy of the Jews, a soldier of the oppressors – and he’s the first one who declares the truth about Jesus. Not Peter, not John, not the priests, none of the crowd – but an enemy Roman soldier. There is no-one beyond the reach of Jesus, not even you. Not even me. If he can save a man like that, a man who moments before was spitting at him and hitting him and mocking him and nailing his hands to the cross – well, he can save anybody.
The Roman soldier. Simon from Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, most probably a black man, a North African (Cyrene is now Libya). And in v40-41 we read Some women were there, watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joseph), and Salome. 41 They had been followers of Jesus and had cared for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come with him to Jerusalem were also there.
In those days women were second-class citizens, unimportant, not to be taken seriously – a woman could not be a witness in a court case as her testimony was considered unreliable! But Jesus accepts even women(!), takes them seriously, loves them even to death on a cross.
Even there at the cross: the church. The Roman soldier, the oppressor at the top of society; the black tourist or trader, a foreigner; the women, unimportant, nothings in society; and, finally, even a religious leader of Israel! 42–43 This all happened on Friday, the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath. As evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was an honoured member of the high council, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come.) Here is the church! Even at this dark moment, like little glimmers of light, we see a group of people around Jesus from different nationalities, different social status, different political backgrounds, different genders, different religions, just like here – all welcome at the cross, all being given new life as Jesus gives up his life.
This is the hope for the non-Christian: that Jesus has opened the way to God for them. So pray for your friends and family and colleagues and tell them about Jesus. And if you’re not a Christian here today, today turn to him and give up your life to receive his.
This is the hope for the Christian. The cross is just as much for the Christian as the non-Christian, if not more so. Remember you are secure. This is where your sins are carried, taken, dealt with. No guilt in life, no fear in death – this is the power of Christ in me! You are safe. Remember the cross! Let’s live like it! Amen.
Let’s pray our prayer of absolution together:
Absolution: ALL: Our Lord Jesus, thank you that through your death on the cross you swapped places with us. Thank you that you took the punishment of death that our sins deserved.
Thank you that you absorbed the righteous anger of God. You offered yourself once for all, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice.
Thank you that you have forgiven us, set us free, made us your sons and daughters, and given us a place in your eternal Kingdom. Amen
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