Following Jesus: Mark 15 Series

Following Jesus (15)

Scott Bayles, pastor

Scripture: Mark 15:16-39

Blooming Grove Christian Church: 4/9/2017

I want to thank you for joining us today and, if you’ve been here the last fifteen weeks, I want to thank you for joining me on this journey through the Gospel of Mark. I hope that this series has been both insightful and inspiring as we’ve attempted to draw near to the heart of Jesus by examining his life and the lessons he taught along the way.

We last left Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. In Mark 14, as Jesus wrestled with soul-crushing grief, he sought a place of solitude away from the crowds and chaos of life. He sought the support of those closest to him including an angel from heaven. And he submitted to God the Father in heartfelt supplication.

Once Jesus finished praying, he rose triumphantly; ready to face his betrayer. Judas led a band of men armed with swords and clubs to arrest Jesus and bring him before the Jewish High Council. The council paraded out one false witness after another to testify against Jesus, but they couldn’t get their stories straight. Finally, Jesus spoke up and declared himself the Son of God. To the council this was blasphemy worthy of death.

Meanwhile, Peter was in the outer courtyard warming himself by the fire. Three times, someone recognized him as one of Jesus’ followers and three times he denied it. Finally realizing what he’d done, Peter ran out of the courtyard weeping bitterly.

As Mark 15 begins, the entire Jewish High Council ties Jesus up and leads him to Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate questions Jesus, finds no guilt in him and attempts to set him free. But the angry mob of priests and religious zealots cry out for his crucifixion. The story of Christ’s crucifixion is one we’re all familiar with. The image of Christ on the cross is burned into our collective consciousness. But if we look closely at the specifics of the story perhaps there’s something we missed.

Many years ago, Max Lucado wrote a book title He Chose the Nails in which he writes, “Much has been said about the gift of the cross itself, but what of the other gifts? What of the nails, the crown of thorns? What about the garment taken? What about the garments given? Have you taken time to open these gifts?”

Throughout the book, Max highlights fourteen seemingly insignificant details surrounding Christ’s death and draws out of them some powerful and poignant points. I’d like to do the same thing this morning, except I just want to focus on three of these gifts. As we unwrap these gifts of grace—perhaps for the first time—I want you to listen as they tell you what Jesus did to win your heart.

In the order that Mark mentions them, the first of these elements is spit—the spit of the soldiers.

• THE SPIT

When the mob demanded Jesus’ execution, Pilate tried to satisfy their bloodlust by having Jesus flogged. The legionnaire’s whip consisted of leather straps with lead balls on each end. His goal was singular: Beat the accused within an inch of his death and then stop. Under Hebrew law a punishment was limited to forty strokes. However, there was no such numerical limitation imposed by the Romans. One writer has said that when the Romans scourged a Jew, they struck at least forty-one times out of spite for the Jewish law. Regardless, Jesus was no doubt near death when his hands were untied and he slumped to the ground.

The whipping was the first deed of the soldiers. The crucifixion was the third. We don’t fault the soldiers for these two actions. After all, they were just following orders. But what’s hard to understand is what they did in-between. Here’s Mark’s description:

The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment. They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. 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. (Mark 15:16-20 NLT)

The soldier’s assignment was simple: take the accused to the hill and kill him. But they had another idea. They wanted to have some fun first. Strong, well-rested, armed soldiers encircled an exhausted, nearly dead, Galilean carpenter and beat up on him. The scourging was commanded. The crucifixion was ordered. But who would draw pleasure from spitting on a half-dead man?