Mark 15:33-41
If I were to ask you what some of the most world altering events in human history were, we would probably get a lot of similar answers. Somewhere around 1440, Johann Gutenburg invented the printing press, transforming communication and the dissemination of information on a global scale. In 1492, Columbus “sailed the ocean blue.” The discovery of the “New World,” even though there were already people living here, would eventually shape global industry and culture. The industrial revolution that lasted about 80 years totally transformed manufacturing and transportation. Maybe you’re mind goes to more tragic turning points like World War II, which included the Holocaust and atomic bombs.
No matter what event you think of in terms of history altering moments, none has more significance than the moment that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, breathed His final breath.
Big Idea: The death of Jesus opened the door to salvation.
Read Mark 15:33-39
During the final hours that Jesus hung on that cross, as well as the moment that He died, we see so many incredible, miraculous things happen. We’ll talk about the implications of His death spiritually as our last point, but let’s talk about some of the things that happened during this time.
1.. The Darkness (33)
In the midst of these verses, we see a timeline presented. We saw in chapter 25 that it was the 3rd hour when they crucified Jesus, when they lifted Him up on the cross. That would have been 9:00 am. Now, we see that at the 6th hour, which would have been noon, there was a intense, supernatural darkness that covered the land. This darkness lasted until the 9th hour, 3:00 pm, which is when Jesus breathed His last. 3 hours into Jesus hanging on that cross, the land became dark. Some would argue this away as a solar eclipse, but this would not have happened because the Passover always took place during a full moon. We also see this as a fulfillment of prophecy. God said in Amos 8:9, “On that day I will make the sun go down at noon and I will darken the earth in broad daylight.” The sun was shining, and moments later it was not. There is no explanation other than an act of God as a sign of what was happening.
There is an interesting connection to this moment when we look back on Exodus at the 10 plagues that God unleashed on Egypt. The 9th plague was a darkness over the land of Egypt, so dark that Scripture says you could feel it. That darkness lasted for 3 days, and then the 10th and final plague was a spotless lamb being killed, one whose blood would save the Israelites as the Angel of Death passed by. In our text, darkness descends onto the land for 3 hours until the spotless lamb dies and His blood saves us from eternal death.
2.. The Death (34-37)
What a heart-breaking moment. Nowhere else in Scripture does Jesus refer to His Father as God. This cry was out of a moment that Jesus had never before experienced. In eternity past, Jesus enjoyed perfect fellowship with His Father. While Jesus was on Earth, He had fellowship with the Father through intentional prayer and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But in this moment, for the first time, fellowship with His Father was broken because He had fully become sin, and sin is separation from God. The Father was not calling from heaven, “this is my Son with whom I am well pleased.” The Father had effectively turned His back on His Son, and Jesus felt the spiritual chasm that was now between He and His Father.
Jesus hung there, completely alienated and alone. One commentator described it as a “picture of hell, in which the full fury of God’s wrath is ever present, but the comfort of His love and compassion is utterly absent.” As Jesus is in His last moments, some standing by thought that He was calling out for Elijah. Perhaps it was because Eloi can sound a bit like Elijah. Many believe that this whole interaction was making a mockery of Jesus. Those standing by would have known well that prophecy mentioned that Elijah would come back before the Messiah came. This drink that they offered Jesus was meant to refresh Him, almost as a means to hydrate Him. Maybe if He drank it, His strength would be revived just long enough to see if Elijah would in fact come down. Whatever the reason is, it doesn’t really matter, for what comes after this moment is the most important moment in all of history.
Re-Read verse 37
The loud cry that Jesus uttered is found in John 19:30. “It is finished!” The mission of redeeming humanity to the Father had come to completion. We don’t know how this all works spiritually, but at this moment Jesus had fully and effectively become sin. The mission by which He had been sent to the earth was done. There was nothing left to do. And I want you to see the language that is used here, it’s phenomenal. “Jesus breathed His last.” I’ve said this before, I’m not a grammatician, but the word breathed here is the Greek word “expneo.” It has what’s called the active voice. What this means is that Jesus chose to breath. This means that Jesus chose when to take His last breath. It wasn’t because His body had had enough and didn’t have the strength to live anymore. It’s because at the moment that Jesus fully became sin, the mission was complete, and He chose His last breath. That is incredible.
In John 10:18, Jesus Himself says, “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
Again, we’ll talk about the spiritual implications of this at the end, but look at what else happened in this moment.
3.. The Temple Curtain Tearing (38)
This has so much significance. The purpose of the curtain was to keep the God separate from the people. There were 2 main parts of the temple. There was the Holy of Holies, and essentially the rest of the temple. The Holy of Holies is where God dwelt in the Old Testament. The High Priest was only allowed to enter the Holy of Holies once a year to bring a sacrifice on behalf of the people. So the curtain represented separation between God and man.
When Jesus died, He provided a way for us to have direct access to God. He was the way. So when the curtain was torn from top to bottom, it was as if God was taking the old covenant and ripping it up. The symbolism is so beautiful here. That which kept man separated from God in the temple is no longer. That which separated us from God spiritually is no longer. Jesus took for us and granted us direct access to the Father.
At the same time, Matthew gives us details of 2 other events that Mark doesn’t mention.
4.. The Earthquake (Matthew 27:51)
“And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” We don’t know much else about this, except that when Jesus took His last breath, the earth shook so violently that rocks were splitting in 2. All of this will lead us into our final moment. We see something else really bizarre in Matthew.
5.. The Dead Raised (Matthew 27:52-53)
“The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” Why don’t we talk about this more. I mean this is just crazy. And those are the only details we have! Did they look like zombies? Did God cause their skin, muscles, organs to grow back? Did people recognize them? We don’t know, but we know enough to know that these were dead people that had been resurrected back to life and were walking through Jerusalem. People saw them, and recognized that they were supposed to be dead!
Curtain torn down the middle. Violent earthquakes. Dead people walking around the city. All of this happens, and look back at verse 39 of Mark 15.
6.. The Confession (39)
“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!”” Matthew gives us a little more detail and says “When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
This Roman soldier, a captain of 100, had been with Jesus most likely since the trial before Pilate. He saw Jesus’ resilience as he was beaten, scourged and mocked. He saw His courage on the cross. He heard everything that Jesus said. How He had asked the Father to forgive the Roman soldiers. How He had granted forgiveness and salvation to the criminal being crucified next to Him. His passion and strength as He took His last breath. The darkness over the land. The earthquakes. And after all of this He looks at Jesus’ now dead body, hanging on the cross, and he is in awe.
This moment, the confession of the Roman centurion, is not brought on by Jesus performing a miracle, or bringing someone back to life. This soldier sees something in Jesus, what we call HIs “passion,” and it moves him to confession.
Mark notes in the last part of our passage that there were others there as well.
Read Mark 15:40-41
Spiritual Implications
When Adam and Eve ate the fruit in disobedience to the Lord, sin entered the world and all of creation was cursed. As human beings, we are all born into sin. We are born separated from God. There is a great chasm between us. We can do nothing to gain access to the Father. We cannot earn a relationship with Him. We cannot earn our salvation.
So God set up a sacrificial system in which animals were killed to atone for the sins of Israel. Blood was shed for forgiveness to be given. However, forgiveness from sins was never permanent. There were always more sacrifices, more blood being shed, until God the Father told Jesus it was time. And so Jesus came to the Earth in human form, as a baby. And very early on we learn that His mission was to “seek and save that which is lost.” The way that He would do that was to die a sinner’s death. See, because of our sin, what we deserve is eternal separation from the Father. That separation is what Jesus experienced on the cross. We were dead in our sins, and deserved to remain there. But Jesus died in our place.
And in that moment, the exact moment that Jesus willingly took His final breath, He became the last and final sacrifice. Through His blood, forgiveness is offered for all of eternity to every human being. The great chasm between us and the Father had been done away with, and like the curtain being torn in 2, Jesus provided a way for us to come to the Father. And it’s not complicated.
Romans 10:9 tells us that if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. Like the Roman centurion witnessed the passion of Jesus on the cross, and confessed in that moment that He was the Son of God, so we are faced with the passion of Jesus this morning, and the only right response is to confess that Jesus is Lord.
