MARK SERMON XII –TRAVESTY TO TRAGEDY – MARK 14:53---16:8
Series Within A Series
PART SIX – THREE O’CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON – “WHY?”
MARK 15:33-39
From the travesty of a trial to the tragedy of being nailed to a tree, Jesus died at three in the afternoon, but not before He had cried out to God the Father, asking “Why” - Mark 15:33-39 . . .
Why do you suppose Jesus questioned God? Would you agree he did so because of his humanity? After all, we have learned from years of Bible study that the Son of God was also Son of man.
Our Lord’s divine nature was evidenced by the power of God at work in His birth, His life and ministry, and later His resurrection.
Our Lord’s human nature was essential for being birthed by a woman as we all were, the difference being that his mother was the virgin Mary . . . for His being tempted in every way that we are, the difference being that He never sinned . . . for going through life’s valleys like we all do . . . in order for him to experience physical death, which is the only door through which any of us can depart this life and enter into the glory of heaven – the exception being those who are here when Jesus comes again.
In his humanity, therefore, Jesus cried out and asked God why. It’s a question we all have asked from time to time when it seemed that, due to a tragic event or debilitating illness, God had abandoned us - and we asked, “Why?”
All of us have gone through those nightmarish experiences - when the dark clouds of gloom and doom hung over our heads. We wondered if we would ever again see the light of God’s love, let alone the light of a new day.
Yet, eventually we began to realize that all was not lost and that by and by, whether here or there, things would turn out okay for true believers.
Jesus had endured all that one man could possibly endure. He had suffered the failure of friends . . . the hatred of foes . . . the malice of his own people. He had gone through experiences of that no criminal, let alone an innocent man, should ever go through.
Hanging on that Cross of shame, with a crown of thorns piercing his head, blood gushing from a wound caused by a spear thrust into his side, legs broken, skin stretched and torn by spikes through his hands and feet, the divine yet human sacrificial Lamb of God, Savior of mankind, breathed his last breath as he uttered, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”
At that very moment, we are told that the large temple curtain that separated ordinary people from the Holy of Holies – an off-limits sanctuary that, in Jewish worship, represented the actual presence of God - was ripped down the middle, symbolizing in a most dramatic fashion the opening of direct access of all people to the throne of God.
Observing all of this was a Roman centurion - one of the soldiers who had participated in the crucifixion of Jesus.
Realizing that the man they had nailed to the Cross was no ordinary being and that a supernatural power was at work, the centurion issued a statement that every person on the face of God’s earth must take note of and make it their own – IF they expect to receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, God’s Son and our Savior: “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
The insight of this hardened military veteran into what had happened at Calvary, and the conviction that led him to a personal confession of the true identity of Jesus represents the effect that the crucifixion ought to have on everybody who hears about, or is confronted by, the Christ of the Cross.
In our humanity, though, we cannot help but ask, “Why did Jesus have to die - for truly he was the Son of God!”
When the Apostle Paul came face to face with the reality of who Jesus really was, he was converted from chief persecutor of Christians to the chief propagator of the gospel which he summed up in one statement:
“Jesus the Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, he was buried, and on the third day he was raised from in accordance with the Scriptures.”
From Genesis to Revelation, the Scriptures tell us at length why all of this happened: Because God is holy, He could not condone His creation’s willful disobedience. Because God is just, sin had to be reckoned with; thus, death – both physical and spiritual – became a reality, “for the wages of sin is death.”
Yet, because God is love, He did not leave His creation without hope! God would make a Way for sinful humanity to be forgiven and restored to that perfect fellowship intended in the beginning – but not without a cost. So, who would pay the price?
No ordinary human being could atone for the sins of the world simply because “All have sinned.” One sinner dying for other sinners would not be sufficient. So, there could be no way other than God’s way – the offering of a perfect sacrifice. Thus, in the words of Paul the Apostle, “God made Him (Christ), who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Please understand that God did not have to make a way. “God so loved the world that He gave” . . . Jesus did not have to die. His love sent Him to the Cross. In his humanity he asked why; in his final words from the Cross, he declared his atoning work “finished” and his readiness to return to the Father . . . we do not have to believe in Jesus and receive Him as our personal Lord and Savior. It’s all a matter of personal choice.
God chose to make a way to redeem our souls from the penalty of sin. Jesus chose to accept His role as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. Each one of us chooses to accept or reject God’s Way of salvation.
As we join Christians the world over to commemorate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, let us take it seriously; see ourselves as sinners in need of forgiveness; see God’s love, manifested in the Cross of Christ, as the only solution to our sin problem; and let us never forget.
For this very reason – that we should never forget – Jesus instituted an observance by which believers could remember him who died for them.
The Apostle Paul, confronted by the Christ of the Cross, and thereby converted to Christianity, instructed all Christians to observe The Lord’s Supper (Communion) in the manner that Jesus prescribed when He met with his Disciples in the Upper Room the evening prior to his crucifixion:
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is (represents, symbolizes) my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me.
“In the same way, after supper, he took the cup, saying, this cup is (represents, symbolizes) the new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. Then Paul added this explanation:
“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s sacrificial death until he comes.”
In remembrance of our Lord’s body - beaten, bruised and broken as a sacrifice for our sins - and in remembrance of our Lord’s blood that was spilt for the remission of our sins, Christians should participate in the observance of The Lord’s Supper as instituted by Jesus and proclaimed by Paul.
It is said that Jesus and his Disciples concluded their commemoration of his sacrifice by singing a hymn. be glad for the blessedness of fellowship with God and with one another as we prayerfully meditate on the words of a parting hymn that Christians the world over are familiar with:
“Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love, the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.”
“Before our Father’s throne we pour our ardent prayers; our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, our comforts and our cares.”
“When we asunder part, it gives us inward pain; but we shall still be joined in heart, and hope to meet again.” Amen.
