Our Champion - Mark 15:16-20 Series

Mark 15:16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called to-gether the whole company of soldiers. 17 They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. 18 And they began to call out to him, "Hail, king of the Jews!" 19 Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

Introduction: Shame

When was the last time you felt shame? Maybe your answer is, “I can’t remember the last time not feeling shame.” We all have it to some degree. Shame about your past. Shame about something you’ve done recently. Your failures.

Some shame is deserved; some is undeserved. It’s hard to say which is more painful. They both have their unique sting.

In our next study we’ll learn from Jesus about how to handle undeserved shame… —embarrassment you feel when people look down on you, even though you didn’t do anything mor-ally wrong. If you struggle with worrying about what other people think of you, disapproval… , shame you feel because of your body… , your looks, your habits, social clumsiness… , dumb things you said or done… , if that’s you, you’ll want to be here next time because we’ll cover that then. But for today the focus is on those times when we deserve to feel shame.

It’s an important topic because whether it’s deserved or undeserved, is there an emotion that’s more painful and debilitating than shame? It’s a gnawing, aching burden that saps your strength, your confidence, your motivation, your joy. It’s like walking around in a dark cloud where you’re experiencing yourself as defective or ruined. Damaged goods. And it can prevent in-timacy with God because you feel like you have to keep your distance. What can be done about unrelenting shame?

King Shaming

The Whole Company

We’re in Mark 15 and we left off last time at verse 15.

Mark 15:15 … Pilate had Jesus flogged.

That’s all we’re going to hear about the flogging, but if you’ve seen The Passion movie, you know that at this point Jesus is half dead. Flesh hanging off in ribbons, blood everywhere. Pilate hoped that would satisfy the crowd, but they’re bloodthirsty now. So Pilate finally gives the order, “Okay. Take him outside the city and crucify him.” He says that in v.15; they don’t do it until the end of v.20.

20 … Then they led him out to crucify him.

What happens between v.15 when Pilate gives the order and 21 when it actually begins? In-stead of leading him out of the city to crucify him, they lead him in … to the palace!

16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace.

This is Herod’s extravagant royal residence. Why take him in there? What are they going to do? Whatever it is, it’s going to require a lot of men.

16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers.

It took 4 soldiers to do a crucifixion. But here they call the entire company—probably hun-dreds of men. They needed everyone there in order for to accomplish what they wanted to accom-plish, namely, the absolute, utter humiliation of Jesus. From here all the way to v.20 the only thing that happens is mockery.

Shame Above Pain

When we talk about the cross, we usually make much of the physical torment.

The scourging, the spikes, the torture—preachers will give us unending detail on all that.

But look at how much detail Mark gives us.

We already everything Mark says about the scourging.

Mark 15:15 … Pilate had Jesus flogged.

That’s it. And what about the crucifixion itself?

24 And they crucified him.

Zero detail. That’s Mark’s style. The transfiguration—one of the most astonishing, spectacu-lar events of human history, gets one verse. Jesus’ baptism less than that. Stilling of the storm—one verse. The crucifixion—two words.

But the mocking of Christ takes up most of a chapter. We already saw the mockery in the Jewish trial and the trial before Pilate. Now here’s our passage (this is what they do inside the pal-ace):

Mark 15:17 They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. 18 And they began to call out to him, "Hail, king of the Jews!" 19 Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.