Mark 15:21-32

(No video this week due to technical difficulties)

The moment that Jesus had been working towards has finally arrived. Jesus Himself said in Luke 19, “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” He also said, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." This is why he came: to give His life as a payment for many. He came to die so that the “many” who believe in Him would not have to. This is the moment that we begin to encounter this morning, and we will finish next week. 

Big Idea: Jesus Endured The Crucifixion

Much like we have done over the past few weeks, we are going to work slowly through this passage together. There’s just so much that can get lost if we move quickly through. 

Read Mark 15:21-22

We have to remember here that Jesus has just had his back scourged, so his flesh was mangled and bloody, and the standard practice was the the criminal would carry the crossbeam of the cross. This beam weighed between 80-100 pounds, So, when placed on the open shoulders of Jesus, we can only imagine the pain being too much to bear. We also need to remember that scourging often left the criminal dead before he even faced the cross. The exhaustion that Jesus felt, with the loss of blood that he had already incurred, made it impossible for Him to bear the weight of the beam across his back. So they asked a man named Simon of Cyrene. 

We cannot miss that Mark names his sons, Alexander and Rufus. Remember that Mark is writing this book specifically to a Roman church, and calling out someone by name would imply that the readers would know who he was talking about. This is really cool. Flip over to Romans chapter 16 for just a moment, and look at verse 13. Paul writes Romans to the church in Rome. Read Romans 16:13. Most commentators believe that these 2 mentions of Rufus is the same man. That would mean that Simon, who carried the cross-beam for Jesus, placed His faith in Jesus, and went and told his family about Jesus, and that family became active members in the church in Rome. Incredible. 

So they lead Jesus down what is known as the Via Dolorosa, or the “Way of Sorrows.” It is a road that weaves through Jerusalem and out to Golgotha. The hill protruded upwards, giving it the look of a skull, which is what Golgotha means in Hebrew. Interesting fact, Calvary is the Latin word for skull. So Golgotha and Calvary are the same word in different languages. 

Look at what happens when He gets there. Read Mark 15:23.

This concoction of wine and myrrh was a common drink that would help to dull the pain of the crucifixion. Any sane man would have happily accepted this drug knowing what was coming, but not Jesus. We don’t know exactly why, but I agree with one commentator who suggests that “Jesus refused, and in doing so, chose ‘to endure with full consciousness the sufferings appointed for him.’

Read Mark 15:24-25

It’s interesting to note that nowhere in the Gospel accounts do we have any descriptions of the crucifixion. We see simply that He was crucified. To the readers of the gospels, this would have been enough, for they knew all too well what was involved. An estimated 30,000 people had been crucified by Rome in Israel alone up to this point. There is also mention in historical records that after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, “so many Jewish rebels were killed by crucifixion that the Romans ran short of lumber to make the crosses.” 

Cicero, a Roman orator, said this about the cross, “The very word ‘cross’ should be far removed not only from the person of a Roman citizen but from his thoughts, his eyes, and his ears…the mere mention of them, that is unworthy of a Roman citizen and a free man.” 

Unfortunately for us, over the last 2,000  years, things have changed dramatically. We see crosses everywhere, but the meaning of it does not resonate in our hearts like it would have back then. It’s become such a common symbol that it has seemed to have lost some of the depth of its meaning!

It’s now 9:00 in the morning, and Jesus is laid onto His back, and the Roman soldiers stretched out His arms. The placement of the nail is not a major issue, but evidence in Scripture would point to the nail being driven into His hands. Research suggests that proper placement would have ensured that the muscles in the hand would hold the weight. We have to remember also that His weight would have been supported by the nail that was driven into His feet, and most likely a small seat that was also attached to the vertical beam of the cross. 

A brief medical description of each breath that Jesus took states: “Adequate exhalation required lifting the body by pushing up on the feet and by flexing the elbows and adducting the shoulders. However, this maneuver would place the entire weight of the body on the tarsals and would produce searing pain. Furthermore, flection of the elbows would cause rotation of the wrists about the iron nails and cause fiery pain along the damaged median nerves. Lifting of the body would also painfully scrape the scourged back against the rough wooden stipes.”

With every breath, the most intense, excruciating pain. Excruciating, what a perfect word to describe the pain that Jesus felt. This word comes from the Latin word “excruciare (excrucharay), which means to torment or torture, all based on the Latin word crux, which meant, “a cross.” So this word “excruciating” is all built from the pain that a cross produced. As Jesus was physically enduring all of this, there was a lot going on beneath Him, beside Him, and even above Him.

Verse 24 also tells us that the Roman soldiers had taken His clothes and were gambling to see who got to keep what piece. There is some thought that Jesus was completely naked on the cross, others would say that He had been allowed to keep a loincloth. Typically the one being crucified was completely naked, but we don’t need to speak on that further. The point is, while Jesus is on the cross struggling to breath, there are people below essentially rolling dice for His clothes. I mean He is completely humiliated.

Luke gives us a crucial detail in chapter 23 of his gospel. With all of this in mind, everything I’ve just shared with you, you must know that it was at this point that Jesus turned His attention to His Father and pleaded with Him, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they are doing.” It’s unbelievable.

Read Mark 15:26-27

Depending on the translation that you have, you might notice that verse 28 is missing. This isn’t an error, but a disagreement on this verse based on the dating of early manuscripts. Some early manuscripts do not contain this verse, while others do, suggesting that it was added at a later time. Some translations have the verse in brackets, while others have it in the footnotes. The verse in question says, “And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.” It isn’t heresy or inaccurate. We see this mentioned elsewhere in Mark, but I just wanted to make mention of it so that there isn’t any confusion as to why it may not be included in your translation.

The inscription above Jesus’ head has layers. Pilate probably meant it as a jab to the Jewish leaders. He could also use it as a warning against anyone who tried to overthrow him. In a sovereign turn of events, the religious leaders wanted Pilate to change the inscription to read, “This Man said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’” They didn’t like that it appeared like this was the official title of Jesus. “We don’t believe that He is! His crime is that He claimed to be!” But Pilate says, “what I have written, I have written.” And so the final and most important layer is that this sign that all the passers-by saw revealed the true nature of the Christ. He was the King of Kings, and He will one day establish His kingdom and rule. But not yet. 

We see also that there are 2 criminals on either side of Jesus. We’ll get back to them in just a minute. 

Read Mark 15:29-32

We have Roman soldiers gambling for His clothes. We have a sign above His head that is meant to insult Him. And while He is in His final moments of life, people are mocking Him, with sarcasm and personal insult. 

“You would destroy the temple and rebuild it would you? If you are that powerful, come down from the cross! Prove your power! Oh might King that you are.” I just imagine people laughing at the thought. There is even prideful private conversations happening: “He saved others, He healed others, He restored life, but He can’t even save Himself. If He was the Christ, if He was the true King, all He would have to do is come down from that cross, and we would believe!” 

Think about this statement! 

Satan is terrified. When tempting Jesus in the wilderness, he was trying to get Him to step out of the will and mission of God. Just do what’s best for you, Jesus! And then in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is facing a similar temptation to do what’s best for Him. “If there is any other way, Father! Anything but this!” And now, the temptation to just be done with the pain, the mockery, the humiliation. “Just come down off the cross!” Satan wants nothing more than to throw Jesus off His mission of the cross. But Jesus would not cave. Jesus knew what He had to do. And if all of the enduring that we have seen over the last few weeks hasn’t proved to all of us the deep love that Jesus has for humanity by enduring in the ways that He did, I’m not sure what will. 

Let’s get back to these 2 criminals on the right and left of Jesus. The very last line of our passage says that they both reviled Him as well. But one of them had a change of heart that Mark doesn’t mention. During the insults, look at what happens from Luke 23: 

“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Jesus, hanging on the cross, struggling to breath, pleading with the Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him! Jesus, hanging on the cross, struggling to breath, saving the man that was dying next to Him! His mission was the redemption of humanity to the Father! To His dying breath!

Application:

We are going to finish the story next week, and talk about the moment that Jesus gave up His final breath. We’ll talk about what happened in creation, what happened in the temple, what happened in the heavens. But for this morning, I want us to focus in on 1 verse in response. Romans 5:8 says that “God showed His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

The tense of the phrase “still sinners” has a present and ongoing implication. While you were currently and presently in your sin, Christ died for you. How is this possible if we weren’t even born yet? Because God knew that you would be, and when Jesus became sin, that was your sin, that was my sin, and that was the sin of all of humanity. While Jesus was being sinned against, while humanity had effectively turned their backs on Him, Christ died for us. While we were considered enemies of God, Scripture tells us, God gave His only Son to die for the enemy so that we might be reconciled into relationship, and turn from enemy to His children. I mean theologically insane does that sound! 

Jesus endured the crucifixion because that is what was necessary. God loved us so much that even in our sin, He sent Jesus to die for us.