Crucifixion and Burial: The King is Dead
Mark 15:6-39
“Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us.” John R.W. Stott
“Unless you see yourself standing there with the shrieking crowd, full of hostility and hatred for the holy and innocent Lamb of God, you don’t really understand the nature and depth of your sin or the necessity of the cross.” C.J. Mahaney
“But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
Jesus hung on the cross BECAUSE of you, and He hung on the cross FOR you.
Notice what Jesus endured for you and me:
1. Multiple Trials
2. Multiple Mockeries.
3. Multiple Tortures
4. A Singular Act
5. A Single Offer
“Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us.” ? John R.W. Stott
Mark 15:6-39 (put this slide up as I begin to read v.6 for 2 seconds, followed by the text, vv.6-39)
Next week is Easter. And like other followers of Jesus we will celebrate His victory over sin and death by walking out of the tomb that 1st Easter morning.
But make no mistake: without the cross there is no resurrection. Surprisingly, the balance of the New Testament focuses, not on the resurrection, but the cross. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:2, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” There are more references in the New Testament on the death of Christ, than the resurrection of Christ. In fact, the whole Bible points to the need of a sacrifice that will ultimately and completely atone for, pay for the brokenness of humanity.
The cross was on the heart of God from the moment Adam/Eve rebelled against Him. When you read the Bible you see this in every book in the Old Testament. It was the very reason God became one of us. The great John R.W. Stott wrote, “From Jesus’ youth, indeed even from his birth, the cross cast its shadow ahead of him. His death was central to his mission.” John R.W. Stott
Having stated the centrality of the cross, I want to impress upon you this morning that the reason Jesus died on the cross is because we put Him there. I put Him there. You put Him there. We can shake our heads at the crowd that day crying out “crucify Him; crucify Him, but if we had been there we would have done the same. “Unless you see yourself standing there with the shrieking crowd, full of hostility and hatred for the holy and innocent Lamb of God, you don’t really understand the nature and depth of your sin or the necessity of the cross.” ? C.J. Mahaney
Sin is certainly not a word that our contemporary culture likes or accepts. You won’t read it in any contemporary literature. Won’t see it on the small or big screen unless it is done so with derision. But it certainly is central in the Bible and is THE reason for the cross. Romans 5:8 says “ But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” It simply means to miss the mark; to fall short. Each of us here this morning have a moral standard we aim at, right? Not lying, not cheating, not speeding, not belittling someone because they are a different color or ethnicity or socioeconomic status. But I have yet to meet anyone who was able to hit their own moral standard. Then we you look at God’s moral standard of moral absolute and flawless perfection—well, no one can honestly say they have no sin. And this is why Jesus came. And this is why Jesus died on the cross.
So get this straight this morning: Jesus hung on the cross BECAUSE of you, and He hung on the cross FOR you.
In this passage we just read, we see what Jesus endured for you and me.
Notice what Jesus endured for you and me:
1. Multiple Trials
We read the final trial of Jesus before Pilate, but you might not know that Jesus was tried six times in the hours before His crucifixion. Three were before the religious leaders at that time: one before Annas, the former high priest, one before Caiaphas, the current high priest, and one before the Sanhedrin, the ruling Jewish body. Each time He was charged with blasphemy since He was claiming to be the Son of God and the Messiah, the Chosen One prophesied in Scripture. The religious trials showed the degree to which the Jewish leaders hated Jesus because they carelessly disregarded many of their own laws. Each trial was illegal according to their own Jewish law.
Three of the trials were before the Roman authorities: 1st before Pilate, who when he found out Jesus was from Nazareth sent him to the Jewish political leader of that region, Herod Antipas, who was in town at the time, and then back before Pilate. The charge here was not blasphemy: He was charged with inciting to riot, forbidding people to pay taxes, and claiming to be King of the Jews. All of these charges were obvious misrepresentations of Jesus’ teachings, and in fact, Pilate found Jesus innocent of these charges. But because Pilate was charged by the Roman emperor to keep the peace, he caved to the demands of the crowd.
Our world is full of injustice: slavery, racism, hate crimes, genocide, mass shootings of school children—the list goes on and on. But this, my friends, was the worst of all injustices. As to the charges that He claimed to be God’s son and the Messiah, guilty as charged. But in the face of all the evidence in the Old Testament scriptures that pointed to the truth of His claims, instead of hailing Him as the Messiah, they beat Him and dragged Him before Pilate as a blasphemer. As to the charges of claiming to be political aggressor against the Emperor, the evidence was so scant, that Pilate declared Him innocent—yet he sentenced Jesus to the cruelest of deaths.
2. Multiple Mockeries.
This was the Son of God. In supreme irony, the rulers and crowds cry out for Barabbas, a known terrorist and murderer. This degradation of Jesus has been going on for the 3 years of His public ministry but now it comes to a head.
The passage we just read mentions the Roman soldiers mocking Jesus. They put a purple robe on Him, signifying royalty. They put a crown of thorns on His head. They got down on their knees and mocked Him as a king.
Crucifixions were normally in a very public place; many times at a crossroads so that the most people could see the spectacle. People who were walking by mocked Him. The Jewish leaders who had convinced Pilate to crucify Jesus mocked Him. Even the thieves crucified on either side of Him mocked Him.
He is hung on a cross, the ultimate insult, completely naked without anything to cover His private parts, there for all to see. A sign hung above his head in mockery: The king of the Jews. Meanwhile, his enemies, “the chief priests, along with the scribes,” gloat and make derogatory remarks. The Son of God, Creator of all that is, a spectacle of derision and contempt.
3. Multiple Tortures
The torture began in the middle of the night while He was in custody of the religious leaders. At first they just slapped Him. But they got so frustrated as the night wore on that they began to beat Him with their fists, and in mocking tone, ask who it was who hit Him.
Then He was handed over to the Roman authorities. He was beaten with fists and sticks repeatedly by multiple of Roman soldiers, who knew how to inflict pain on a prisoner.
Then the flogging began. The Roman scourge was a terrible whipping designed to remove the flesh from the back of the one being punished. The prisoner was stripped, often tied to a post, and beaten on the back by several guards using short leather whips studded with sharp pieces of bone or metal. As the chunks of flesh were torn away, some of the internal organs would be exposed, even pierced and damaged. Often this punishment was fatal.
Barely alive, they took Jesus outside the city walls to Golgotha which means
The Place of the Skull. Golgotha or Calvary is the Latin word, was a rounded, rocky knoll vaguely resembling the shape of a human skull. Those of us going to Israel next month will stand and look at this rock outcrop where Jesus most likely died.
Explain death by crucifixion
And all of this was prophesied centuries before it happened. Jesus tried to get them to see that up until His last breath. He cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” Which is of course the opening line to the 22nd Psalm. They didn’t have the Psalms numbered then. The way they would reference something was calling out the 1st line of the Psalm. Jesus is saying, “Look it up! What’s going on right now on this hill was prophesied 1000 yrs ago.”
When you read the 22nd Psalm, you see a perfectly accurate description of this fateful day.
“Everyone who sees me mocks me; they sneer and shake their heads: 8 “He relies on the LORD; let him save him; let the LORD rescue him, since he takes pleasure in him. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me. 15 My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You put me into the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones; people look and stare at me. 18 They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.” Psalm 22: 7-8; 14-18
Multiple trials. Multiple mockings. Multiple tortures. But a singular act.
4. A Singular Act
v.38 says the curtain in the temple was torn. The temple was the center of Jewish religious life and the place where animal sacrifices were carried out. The temple had an outer court, then an inner court, and finally the Holy of Holies, considered the dwelling place of God. This is where the sacrifices were made to appease God. There was a veil or a curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. The curtain represented the separation between sinful man and a holy God. Once a year the high priest would enter go behind the curtain into the Holy of Holies to slaughter the Passover lamb and make atonement for their sins. The curtain was close to 60’ high and about 4” thick.
Verse 38 says that the curtain was torn in two—not from bottom to top, but from top to bottom. The moment Jesus gasped His last breath, the curtain symbolizing the separation between God and humanity was removed. This is important for us to grasp: the separation is removed not by human ingenuity or effort, but by God Himself. When Jesus died, His blood was the ultimate, eternal, singular sacrifice that atoned for, paid for my sin and your sin.
Three years earlier, John the Baptist had declared the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry with the proclamation: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus repeatedly declared that He would suffer and die for our sin. At His last supper He told His disciples that His body would be broken for us and His blood shed for us. And now all that had been foretold had come true in this singular act of love.
“It was not nails that held Jesus to that wretched cross; it was his unqualified resolution, out of love for his Father, to do his Father’s will—and it was his love for sinners like me.”
? D.A. Carson
5. A Single Offer
In what is probably the most recognizable verse in the Bible, yet undoubtedly the most ignored, Jesus said “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Look at that word ‘everyone”; one translation says, “whoever”; another says “anyone”. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone, anyone, whoever believes in Him will not perish, that is continue to be separated from God, but be united with Him, not just in this life, but the life to come.
Will you take Jesus up on that offer? You nailed Him to the cross. You’re the reason He was tried and mocked and tortured. He died because of you. And He died for you. He offers the gift of eternal life. All you must do is accept it and take Him to be the redeemer and boss of your life.
