#63 The Crucifixion Of Jesus Series

#63 The Crucifixion of Jesus

Series: Mark

Chuck Sligh

February 27, 2022

NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chuckcsligh@gmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives.

TEXT: Mark 15:20-32 - "And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. 21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. 22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. 23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not. 24 And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. 25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. 26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 27 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. 28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors. 29 And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, 30 Save thyself, and come down from the cross. 31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save."

INTRODUCTION

Illus. – In his book, The Faithful Executioner, Joel Harrington tells the extraordinary story of a Renaissance-era executioner and his world, based on a rare and overlooked journal. In the late 1500s a Nurnberg man named Franz Schmidt began to do something unusual for his time: he started keeping a journal.

But what makes Schmidt even more interesting was his day job. For forty-five years, Schmidt was an efficient and prolific public executioner, employed by the state to extract confessions and put convicted criminals to death. In his years of service, he executed 361 people and tortured, flogged, or disfigured hundreds more. He recorded each day’s activities with dispassion and detachment as a dentist might record each of his or her day’s activities.

Fortunately, in our day, torture, flogging, chopping off digits, tongues, or limbs, and execution by horrific and ingenious ways to enhance pain and suffering are a thing of the past in the civilized world.

But things were even worse in Bible times. From the first slap on Jesus by the chief priest, to the gruesome beating by the Roman soldiers, to the execution of Jesus by the most horrific form of tortuous death known to man, the full weight of Roman brutality was meted upon Jesus. And He never swerved from His purpose to be our Savior. He took the full brunt of the physical suffering, as well as the spiritual suffering we’ll examine next week. Today we’ll look at the crucifixion of Jesus and next week—the death of Jesus.

I. NOTE WITH ME FIRST OF ALL THE CROSS IN VERSES 20-26.

Let’s start at the last phrase of verse 20, “…and led him out to crucify him.” Notice how tersely Mark speaks. After describing the awful beating Jesus experienced from the Roman soldiers, Mark does not belabor the details of the crucifixion of Jesus. He simply states, “and led him out to crucify him.”

The reason he’s so brief is because Mark wrote his gospel to the church in Rome. They needed no elaboration; they knew full well what a crucifixion was like. It was a common occurrence in Rome, and they did not need the gruesome details to shudder at the thought of such suffering Jesus endured.

Crucifixion was infamous for the pain and humiliation it inflicted and was usually reserved only for violent criminals of the worst sort, insurrectionists, and non-Roman citizens who were of the lowest and most defenseless classes of society, such as slaves and prisoners of war. Since no major arteries were severed during a crucifixion, victims did not bleed to death, but died slowly of shock, asphyxia, or heart failure—sometimes over the course of days.

Martin Hengel said, “in the death of Jesus of Nazareth, God identified himself with the extreme of human wretchedness, which Jesus endured as a representative of us all, in order to bring us to the freedom of the children of God.”

Mark goes on to say in verse 21, “And they compelled one Simon, a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.”

Normally, a prisoner condemned to be crucified would carry through the city streets the crossbeam of his own cross, which could weigh as much as 100 pounds. But after almost expiring from the emotional strain of Gethsemane, being up all night for the Sanhedrin’s court trial around 3:00 AM, having the trial before Pilate around 6:00 AM, followed by the cruel and inhumane flogging, beating, and mockery by Roman soldiers, Jesus’ strength gave out. So the soldiers grabbed someone in the crowd name Simon and forced him to carry the cross the rest of the way to the crucifixion scene.