Mark 15:1-16:8
Everyone knows that there’s a problem with the world.
Sportspeople cheat. Politicians lie and cheat their way into power. Bureaucrats misuse their power for dishonest gain, or just because they like power. Lovers, “Samboer” argue and fight and hate the ones they’re with. Marriages end in divorce. I see lots of men spending so much time “working” or fixing their garden or tinkering in the garage – avoiding the woman inside the house. People don’t love the one they’re with. Why?
An older brother sexually abuses his younger sister. Children are neglected and not loved the way they should. Children are used as pawns in a power game between two divorced parents, bounced between houses like ping pong balls. A terrorist kills 77 people, mostly teenagers. A man chops the head off another man in Maxbo. Many suffer from depression. Many are addicted to drugs, to alcohol. Anything to dull the pain.
All this just in Norway, one of the best, safest, most moral, most wealthy, most educated, technologically advanced, with some of the best labour laws and the longest holidays in the world.
Never mind the horrors that go on in the rest of the world! War. Terror. Brutality. No freedom. No peace. Fear. Slavery. Abuse. Poverty. Horrible working conditions.
If we stop and think for a moment, open our eyes and look around, really look at what is going on. We cannot help but admit that there is a problem. Why can’t we all just get along. Especially here in Norway? We have every advantage under the sun and yet we still fail to love each other like we should. In my daughter’s class nearly all the parents have split up. Unable to love each other even for 10 years. Why?
There is a problem. And our problem is not lack of education. Education just makes us cleverer at making weapons to kill each other like machine guns mowing down kids at school. Or at manipulating people to subvert democracy – like the Facebook scandal. Or making nuclear bombs or chemical weapons.
Or using psychology to designing adverts to create needs in us and make websites and apps to distract us as much as possible because when they have our eyeballs they can suck the most money out of us.
Education can be used for great good. Or terrible evil.
Technology likewise.
Lack of education is not our problem.
Maybe it’s morals that we need. A moral teacher. If we just TELL people what is right and wrong and force them to obey… well that doesn’t work.
Because who watches the watchmen? Whose morals are the right morals. What if the enforces become corrupt. Because that’s happened every time we’ve tried moral enforcement.
And if you’re thinking “put the church in charge, then there will be peace.” Sorry, but church leaders become corrupt and people then join the church for power, not to serve Jesus, and history shows us the terrible consequences of church and government being too close. That’s why the US has separation of church and state. Not to protect the state from “religion” because that’s just dumb. No. It was to protect the church. To ensure there was no state religion where the church becomes just a wing of the state.
You know if the problem was lack of education, wealth, democracy, morality, or any of these other things then Norway would be a paradise. A problem-free haven filled with the happiest people on earth.
But we’re not. Something eats away at us and destroys us from the inside out. Like a cancer it rots our best efforts makes them fail.
And the Bible calls that sin. Sin is ignoring God. Rejecting him. Disobeying him. That’s sin. And it’s the root cause for all our problems. Sin is what causes us to self-destruct. Because we reject God we can’t work right, and we end up turning on each other.
And that’s why Jesus came.
If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor. But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a Saviour. – Don Carson.
I want to make just two points today.
1. Jesus died on the cross to solve the world’s greatest problem.
2. Jesus died and then rose from the dead - for you.
1. Jesus died on the cross to solve the world’s greatest problem.
Mk 15:22–24 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. 24 Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece.
The cross.
Why a cross?
Have you ever wondered about that. Crucifixion was the worst form of punishment the Romans could devise – perhaps the worst in all of history. So why did God choose that? Jesus could have died any way. Why such a brutal, horrible, cruel and degrading way?
I’m not sure of the answer. But I can think of two possible reasons.
One is that it reflects our nature as human beings. Our worst selves are there put on display. Our cruellest method of torture, where we nail someone to a cross of wood so that they eventually suffocate to death because they can’t lift themselves up. Strip them naked and watch them die over days, jeering and mocking them, until their strength finally gives out and they sink down to die. That is what we use our brilliant minds for. Cruelty. It is the worst part of us on display.
Mk 15:17–20 [The soldiers] 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.
The cross is the worst part of humanity on display.
And it is the best part of God on display. Because he takes the worst part of us, our brutality, our violence, and turns it to good!
The cross cries out that there is hope even for the worst of us, hope of redemption.
And the cross shines out in glory for those of us who have suffered, those locked in the darkness – we are not beyond God’s reach. Even our suffering can be redeemed, turned to good, in God’s hand.
Look to the cross! Rampant hatred and cruelty which God turned to the greatest act of love the world has ever seen. The cross is emptied of its hatred and cruelty and is now a beacon of hope. That’s power. That’s love. That’s what we celebrate at Easter.
Mk 15:37–39 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!”
The Temple was were you went as a Jew to get forgiveness for your sins. You had to bring an animal as a sacrifice. That animal was killed in your place, a substitute. Its blood was splashed on you to symbolise that you were covered by its blood – it died in your place. It was a powerful picture of the seriousness of sin – rebellion against God, saying no to God, ignoring God. Sin means death!
But also a powerful picture of redemption and forgiveness. There was way out. You could come to God through the sacrifice.
And all that only pointed the way to Jesus. That’s why Mark tells us about what’s going on in the Temple at the moment of Jesus’ death. The camera suddenly zooms from the Cross on Golgotha, outside Jerusalem, and into the city centre, right into the Temple – and then back again. Because the “curtain” in v38 And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. was a massive, thick piece of cloth 20m high, 20m wide, and 10cm thick that blocked off the “Most Holy Place” where God symbolically “lived”.
Torn down when Jesus died.
Why? Because God is no longer found at the Temple. Sacrificing an animal there is no longer needed. That just pointed to Jesus. He is where we find forgiveness of sins now.
It also means that the way to God is now open. And open for everyone. Not just the Jews, or the priests, or the High Priest – but everyone. The way to God is open. No barriers.
And we see that immediately. Camera zooms back and
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.
Our world can be dark and brutal. Our lives can be filled with pain. But in that dark the light of God’s love displayed on the cross shines all the brighter. And in our pain we hear him say “I am with you”. He knows our pain. He has been through it. He is with us. And he will bind up our wounds and heal us – partially now, and completely on the great day when he returns.
And we know this because of today. Easter Sunday. Resurrection Sunday. The day in history when a dead man rose again to life, just as he had predicted, and blew the minds of everybody involved.
2. Jesus died and then rose from the dead – for you
Mk 16:6 but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!”
He is risen. Amen. He is risen indeed!
But this was not what the women going to the tomb expected. We do. We know the story. Perhaps so much that it loses its impact. But what did they expect? A corpse. Probably starting to smell. It wasn’t -10!
Because what were they carrying to the tomb? 16:1 tells us they went with burial spices! Not party balloons, whistles, streamers and a banner saying “Welcome back Jesus!”. There was no band coming with them to say tadaa! as Jesus came out.
You know, Jesus’ closest followers did not believe that he would rise from the dead – even though he’d told them. They probably thought he meant in some kind of spiritual way. “I will live on in your heart”. Not actually die in front of their eyes and then physically come back to life. Who does that.
So the women are going to anoint the corpse. The men are so depressed and defeated they can’t even bring themselves to see the body. After all, they thought Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the Great Rescuer – and then he DIED!
So their discussion on the way to the tomb wasn’t A Great Discussion of Faith and Belief “oh won’t it be good to see the risen Lord Jesus again. How wonderful”. 3 On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”
Some people foolishly claim that “it wasn’t Jesus on the cross” or “he didn’t die, he just fainted”. But that’s nonsense. The religious leaders hated Jesus so much they got him crucified. The Roman soldiers were experts in crucifixion. They wouldn’t be fooled by someone fainting, and they wouldn’t crucify the wrong person because if Jesus had escaped their own life would be forfeit. Jesus really died. Everyone knew he was dead. Pilate even double-checked his death because people normally took days to die on a cross – Jesus gave up his own life after a few hours. So he double-checks with the Roman officer in charge – is he really dead? Yes, says the officer.
That’s why when Jesus rose from the dead it shook the world. The ripples of that one event spread around the world like a shockwave. This year we call 2018 because of Jesus. Because of his resurrection we claim his birth as year zero. That is a massive shockwave.
We are here because something enormous happened 1986 years ago, something so big that it totally transformed the Roman world and continues to affect the whole world. Like ripples in water, we see that something happened in Jerusalem in 33AD and within 30 years it had spread through the entire known world, even to the Emperor. With no internet. No phones. No army. No political power.
Just a testimony: I saw and listened and touched and knew Jesus. He did amazing miracles, he spoke truths that we had never heard before - and then he died. And we all thought it was the end. And then he rose from the dead!
A likely story! But history revealed that something happened Easter AD33 in Jerusalem. Something massive. Something so incredible that it sent shockwaves throughout the world.
And if it wasn’t the resurrection of Jesus – what was it?
Because it must have been just as amazing, just as astounding, just as incredible. And for that we have NO EVIDENCE.
History forces us to consider the unthinkable: that Jesus of Nazareth, wise man, ethical teacher, miracle-worker, guru, a man of love and peace, was really something much more. Saviour. Lord. God Almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth, with power over all things, including death.
The ripples in the water call out to us. The tomb is empty. Jesus rose from the dead.
Difficult to accept? The disciples would agree with you. His closest followers didn’t believe it. How do the women react in today’s passage when confronted by the empty tomb? Happy? Overjoyed? Vindicated? No. Shocked v5. Frightened v8. Trembling v8. Bewildered v8. And every meeting with Jesus went the same way. “I don’t believe it!” until they saw him. And they believed. And gave their lives so that we might believe.
Now, maybe you’re a believer today, maybe you’re not. If you’re not, make a decision right now, between you and God, to find out the truth. Not to say “yes I believe” but “I want to fin the truth”. And keep coming, keep asking questions.
And if you are a believer? Keep looking to the cross. Because too many who call themselves Christians these days are anything but. The media likes to paint Christians as prejudiced, hateful people without joy and bound by rules – and that’s all too true of Christians who don’t know Christ. But Jesus said, “Come to me, as you are, anyone - the way is open. The price is paid.”
We celebrate today that Jesus' death has set us free from rules and given us an eternal joy that bubbles up inside us because we know God!
Of course, there are other choices you can make.
Perhaps you’d like to take a dip in the river Ganges during an eclipse? “Taking a holy dip during the solar eclipse is a very pious act. It is very auspicious, it is very fruitful and it can get one salvation,” the words of Hindu priest Babu Ram Sashtri to Reuters television.
Or maybe you think that’s nonsense and you’d prefer cold hard science. Then make sure you know what you’re in for. Alex Rosenberg in “The Atheist's Guide to Reality” makes it clear what you’re signing up for.
- Is there a God? No.
- What is the nature of reality? What physics says it is.
- What is the purpose of the universe? There is none.
- What is the meaning of life? There is none.
- Why am I here? Just dumb luck.
- Is there a soul? Is it immortal? Are you kidding?
- Is there free will? Not a chance!
- What is the difference between right and wrong, good and bad? There is no moral difference between them.
- Why should I be moral? Because it makes you feel better than being immoral.
- Is abortion, euthanasia, suicide, paying taxes, foreign aid, or anything else you don’t like forbidden, permissible, or sometimes obligatory? Anything goes.
- Does history have any meaning or purpose? It’s full of sound and fury, but signifies nothing.
Or perhaps you could look at the evidence for the resurrection. A powerful statement of God’s redemptive power and his love for… yes, even you. Like ripples in the water, the cross echoes through history and calls on you to respond. Will you stand and say “Truly this man is the Son of God”?
May this Easter Sunday be the start of a new life for each one of us as we accept afresh, or perhaps for the first time, the power of the resurrection life of Jesus to wipe away our past sins, to fill us with joy even in the darkness and difficulties of life, and lead us safely to the Glorious Day when we will see him face to face.
He is risen. Amen. He is risen indeed!
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