The burial of Jesus Christ, Mark 15:40-47

Death is something that is inevitable, it comes to everyone sooner or later.  And yet I suppose, for something that is so universally common, considering it on a personal level is studiously  avoided.  At the risk of sounding overly morbid, the reality is that all of us are dying.  When we are young, death seemed like such a distant, otherworldly concept, that it scarcely concerned us.  We live like we will live forever.  But as we get older, as we see more and more of death, and as we see considerably more of the sands of time in the bottom of the hourglass than is left in the top, the reality of death becomes something which seems more inevitable.

Still, I think most people try to avoid thinking of death right up to the bitter end.  There is no other reason that explains why people live the way they do.  Right up to their last breath, it seems many people continue in their amusements and enterprises as if they will live forever.  

Funerals are a mechanism which can cause people to stop and think about death and dying.  However, I think there is even a tendency today to do away with funerals because people don’t want to face death.  A big trend today is to cremate someone and then at a more convenient time have something like a celebration of life, but without a body to remind us that they are dead.  

But I would suggest that death is something we need to think about, and even embrace, to a certain extent.  I suggest that the scripture talks a great deal about death and burial because it is a vital part of the sequence of life.  Physical death is a vital part of our existence, and it’s a vital link in our salvation.  For this reason I believe we are given details of the burial of Jesus Christ.  In fact, I think that God deliberately planned for the burial of Jesus Christ, that He might teach us certain important principles.  There could have been other ways in which Jesus could have died, and satisfied the wrath of God, which would not have included a burial.  But the burial of Jesus Christ is an essential link in our salvation, which God orchestrated down to the smallest detail. 

As we look then at the death and burial of Jesus Christ, we need to understand the necessity of His death.  As I said a moment ago, in reality all of us are dying.  Ephesians 2:5 and Colossians 2:13 says that we were dead in our trespasses and sins.  This sin nature that we are born with we inherited from Adam.  1Corinthians 15:22  “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”  The curse of death began at the fall, and it came upon all of creation.

Adam and Eve sinned, and as a result, they incurred the curse of death which was passed on to all men.  But you should remember that even as God pronounced the curse, He also promised there would come One from the woman who would break that curse.  Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

Satan bruised Christ on His heel, by nailing Him to the cross.  But through the death of Christ, God crushed Satan’s head, by taking away  the sting of death.  1 Cor. 15:54, says, It is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This victory over death was accomplished in the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In life He was innocent, He was the spotless, righteous Lamb of God.  In His death He took the punishment for sin that was meant for us by offering Himself as our substitute.  And in His burial He fulfilled the penalty for sin that was due to all men.  “For the wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23 

Isaiah 53:8 says, “By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.”

Now I want us to consider more fully the theological implications of His burial, but let’s do so within the context of the details that Mark gives us here in this passage.  Note first of all vs40 “There were also [some] women looking on from a distance, among whom [were] Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome.  When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him; and [there were] many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.”

It’s interesting that these women, who themselves were far from home,  were in Jerusalem with the Lord, and though all of His disciples had deserted Him, yet they stuck with Him.  These women were witnesses of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We see them here at the cross, then at the end of this passage in vs47 we see them watching to see where Joseph buries Jesus, and then in the next chapter, we see them as the first to visit the empty tomb, and the first to tell the other disciples that He had risen. Their  faithfulness and testimony was critical to the faith of His disciples.  God gave them the opportunity to witness everything concerning Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection firsthand.  And I believe that was because of their faithfulness. 

And I think that there is a possible lesson in that for us here today.  God rewards faithfulness in the little things by giving you greater faith to do greater things.  And we could also say that God confirms your faith when you are faithful in little things.  Being stedfast, persevering even in the face of persecution is promised a great reward.  Jesus promised a reward to the church of Philadelphia because of their faithfulness. Rev. 3:8 “I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.” In being obedient to what you have been shown to be true, God then reveals to you greater knowledge or revelation.

The second person that we see here is Joseph of Arimethea.  Mark tells us that he was a prominent member of the council.  That means he was a member of the Sanhedrin, perhaps a leader.  This is the same institution that arrested Jesus and put Him on trial and condemned Him to death.  Luke tells us though that he did not consent to their plan.  Either he wasn’t at the trial, or he abstained from the proceedings. Mark goes on to tell us that he was looking for the Kingdom of God.  That means that he was looking for the Messiah.  That implies that he believed that Jesus was the Messiah. In fact, John’s gospel describes Joseph as a secret disciple.  And the other gospel writers also tell us that Joseph was a rich man. 

So Jesus died about three o’clock on Friday afternoon, and this secret disciple, knowing that the Sabbath is quickly approaching at sundown, wants to ask for Jesus’s body so that he might give Him a proper burial.  In fact, he gives Him a burial fit for a king.  He puts Jesus’s body in his own tomb, in which no man had laid. A more common tomb would have held multiple bodies in holes in the walls, or a series of holes in a cliff face. So this would have been a very expensive tomb.  It’s big enough for people to stand inside, it’s big enough for angels to sit down inside of, and Mark tells us in the next chapter that it had a very large stone rolled across the opening.  This was a burial vault fit for a king.  And I think that is an indication of Joseph’s faith, in that Mark says he was looking forward to the kingdom of God.  I think that Joseph was looking forward to Christ reigning in His kingdom.  

I think we see the same idea conveyed in the answer of the thief on the cross to Jesus.  He said in Luke 23:42 "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”  Jesus is dying on the cross, and the thief is confessing his faith that Jesus will come back in His kingdom.  That’s pretty incredible faith when you think of it.  Though he was watching Jesus physically die, yet he believed in the resurrection of Jesus, that He would come back as the King of His kingdom.

And perhaps Mark indicates that Joseph believed that as well.  Because if he believed that Jesus was the Messiah, as is indicated by the gospel writers, then he would have also believed the prophecies concerning the eternal reign of the Messiah.  He may not have understood the timing, but I think he believed the promises. But perhaps something in the manner in which Jesus died, made Joseph move from secret discipleship to being willing to take up his cross and follow Jesus.  You know, the Lord doesn’t want us to be secret disciples.  That’s why we are to confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord. That’s why we have public baptism.  The Lord wants us to step out and follow Him, as a testimony to others.

So Joseph steps out from the shadows and makes his faith known. Mark says that Joseph gathered up his courage and went to ask Pilate for Jesus’s body.  Like the centurion who also saw the manner in which Jesus died, he decided that surely this was the Son of God, and so whatever position he had as a member of the Sanhedrin, whatever gain he had because of riches, he counted but loss, for the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ as His Messiah and Lord. 

Undoubtedly, this public confession of being a disciple of Jesus Christ would have resulted in his being excommunicated from the Sanhedrin.  Quite possibly, it could also have meant that he would be barred from attending the synagogue.  So for Joseph to publicly proclaim Jesus in this manner would have meant his social, political and eventual financial ruin.  I wonder if we would make public our faith in Christ if we knew it would ruin our career.

There was another secret disciple, and that was Nicodemus.  You will remember Nicodemus who came to see Jesus at night in John 3.  Jesus called him the teacher of Israel, indicating he was an important rabbi.  John tells us that Nicodemus accompanied Joseph in burying Jesus, and he brought a great wealth of myrrh and spices to anoint His body for burial.  So ironically, we see the women and the fearful, secret disciples becoming bold at His death, while the ones who were closest to Him had abandoned Him.

At crucifixions, it was a common practice for the soldiers to either leave the criminal’s bodies to rot on the cross, to be eaten by birds, or to dump them on the nearby garbage heap which was called Gehena.  It was a place of continually burning garbage outside the town, which the Lord alluded to in a sermon about hell.  But the law of the Jews required that the bodies of one hung from a tree be taken down before dark, and the fact that it was also the evening before a high Sabbath, meaning during the Passover, they wanted the bodies taken down.  Joseph and Nicodemus were the only friends that were willing and able to see to it that Jesus was buried.  

And as we will see, it served God’s purposes that Jesus be buried.  There are a lot of questions that could be raised concerning the death and burial of Jesus Christ.  For instance, why did God choose to crucify Jesus?  Why not some other death?  Why did God choose to torture Jesus on a cross as opposed to a more normal death?  Why did God choose to bury Jesus for three days?  And there are even more questions that could be asked.  

Well, concerning the method of death, ie, crucifixion, it satisfied the wrath of God towards sin.  Hebrews 2:10 “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.”  Isaiah 53:10 says,  “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.” 

God’s judgment against sin, His wrath against sin, is measured by the affront of sin to a Holy and Righteous God.  As I said last week, We have too small a view of sin, and too mild a view of God’s wrath against sin.  When we understand the affront of our sin, then we can understand God’s wrath against sin. Crucifixion was the Roman government’s harshest punishment for the vilest offenders.  And so God satisfied His wrath against sin by crucifying Christ.

The second question is why the burial of Jesus?  Why not raise Him up immediately upon death? Why was He buried and in the grave for three days?  Well, again let’s look at Hebrews chapter 2, this time in vs9, “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”

First of all, His burial attested to  the certainty of His death.  He was reported as being dead by Joseph to Pilate.  Pilate couldn’t believe that He was already dead, and so he sent for the centurion.  The centurion attested to His death.  We have already seen that the Jews attested to His death, and also that the women from Galilee witnessed His death and burial.  So God made sure that He was dead, and that everyone knew that He was dead. Pilate then gives the body to Joseph.  And when he does so, Mark records that he uses the Greek word, ptōma, which means a corpse.  So the death of Jesus was witnessed, certified by Roman soldiers, and attested to by many people.

What the author of Hebrews tells us though is that Jesus tasted death for everyone.  Now that gets to the theological underpinnings of the burial.  Hebrews again, this time in chapter 9, tells us that Christ was manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and then in vs27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,  so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”  

What that means is that we are appointed to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ died on our behalf, so that we might escape judgment, having been justified by faith in what He accomplished for us.

And what did He accomplish for us through His death and burial?  One thing we know for sure, He satisfied the wrath of God in fulfilling the complete punishment for sin, but also He was considered righteous before God, and thus God delivered Him up from death through the resurrection.

In the Apostle’s Creed, which some of you might be more familiar with than others, there is the following statement. It is not scripture, nor inspired, but it is a synopsis of the doctrine of the apostles as recorded in about the third century.  It is an early Christian statement of faith.  And in it, we read, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary,

Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.”

Now notice that phrase concerning the burial of Jesus Christ, “Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead…” That raises an important point.  Jesus’s body was buried, His corpse was buried, but His Spirit was not dead, and neither was it in the tomb.  The Apostle’s Creed said He descended into hell.  Now a lot of people are offended by that, or don’t know what to make of it.  

Let me try to explain.  Remember when Jesus was on the cross, He cried out with a loud voice, “it is finished!” and then Luke 23:46 says, And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT." Having said this, He breathed His last. 

Now “into your hands” simply means into your care, and then notice that Jesus commends His Spirit to pass out of His body, signaling death to His body. He had the power to lay down His life, and He entrusts His Spirit to the care of the Father.

Now remember also that just previous to this, He told the thief on the cross who confessed faith in Him, in Luke 23:43 And Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." 

Jesus Himself described Paradise by using the familiar phrase “Abraham’s bosom,” in telling the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and Lazarus was being comforted in Abraham’s bosom, while the rich man was being tormented in flames.  And Abraham said to the rich man, that between them was a great gulf which no man could cross.  Jesus was giving a picture of Hades, called Sheol in the Old Testament, which the Jews understood to mean was in the center of the earth, with an upper and lower chamber, and in between a great chasm which separated the two, being Paradise and Hell.

Now the Apostle’s Creed gets that idea of descended into hell, from 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;  in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”

Now I could preach a message or two on these verses but we don’t have the time this morning, so suffice it to emphasize that Peter says, “having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;  in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison…”  What he is saying is that though Jesus’s body was in the tomb, His Spirit was alive and went to what he calls prison, and preached to those who had died during the days of Noah. So Jesus’ Spirit was not in the tomb, though His body was.

But also note vs 22, where Peter says that He is at the right hand of God having “gone into heaven, AFTER angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”  So sometime between the crucifixion and the ascension, the angelic powers and authorities, which is how Paul refers to demonic powers in Ephesians 2, are subjected to Him.

Paul also refers to this ascension and descention in Eph. 4:8-10 “Therefore it says, "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN."  (Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?  He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) Paul says that Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth, which is a reference to Hades.

Now we cannot be dogmatic about all of that happened to Jesus during those three days when His body was in the grave.  But I do know that Jesus fulfilled all of God’s wrath against  sin, and He fulfilled all righteousness so that according to Psalm 16:10 “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”  God punished Jesus unto the full extent of the law, even unto Hades, having been made sin for us, but God also raised Jesus because He was innocent of any sin, being righteous in all things and having fulfilled perfectly the punishment for sin.

Going back to Isaiah 53 again, looking at vs 9 “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.  But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.”

Most commentators believe that vs 9 is speaking of Joseph of Arimethea’s grave, in the phrase, “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death.” So Jesus’ burial was an incredible fulfillment of prophecy made 700 years before His death.  But another aspect of the grave is that it establishes the doctrine of the resurrection. Without the grave the certainty of the resurrection would be in doubt.  But the resurrection is vital to proof of the divinity of Christ,  the doctrine of salvation and the promise of new life in Christ. Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection, which is promised for all who believe in Him.  But for there to be a resurrection, there must first be a death,  being in the grave, though the spirit is alive in Paradise awaiting the call of God.

Well, we must leave this for now.  But I want to impress on you one last aspect of the burial of Jesus Christ that is for our application.  The burial of Jesus Christ speaks to the mortification of the flesh.  Putting to death the flesh.  Paul says in Romans that baptism is a picture of dying to the flesh. Romans 6:4 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Christ died for sin, so that we might die to sin.  Christ overcame sin through death, so that we might have life through His righteousness.  We now walk in the Spirit, by putting to death the passions of the flesh.

The flesh and the Spirit are diametrically opposed to one another.  Repentance is recognizing the need for dying to the flesh, so that we might live in the Spirit.  That’s what it means to be conformed to the death of Christ.  I said earlier that Joseph was an esteemed member of the Sanhedrin, a rich man, a man of social standing in the community.  Yet those things which were of great earthly value to him, he counted as loss for the sake of knowing Jesus as Lord.  

The apostle Paul was also once greatly esteemed by the Sanhedrin.  And yet he came to know the surpassing value of counting such things as dead, that he might have life in Christ.  He said in Phil. 3:7-11 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;  in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

May we have the same attitude as Paul, and be conformed to His death, that we might be raised to walk in newness of life in the Spirit.  And that life we have in Christ is everlasting life, because as He lives, so we will live.  Jesus said in John 11:25-26 "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,  and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"

The King Crucified, Mark 15:21-39

I believe that the greatest pivotal event in the history of the world is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  The Old Testament saints looked forward to it, and the New Testament church looks back to it.  But not only is it central to Christians, the cross of Christ is the centerpiece of the history of the entire world.  Even our calendar reflects the fact of Jesus’s life and death.  I know, AD does not mean “after death.” It means “anno domini”, which means “in the year of our Lord.”  However, even though some historians now use BCE or CE, meaning “before common era,” and “common era,” the determining crux of the eras is still the life of Jesus Christ.

Jesus whole life purpose was to come to offer Himself as our substitute, to be crucified on the cross for our sins, that we might be made righteous by the grace of God and be given spiritual life.  But in order to accomplish our salvation, He also had to be God incarnate, He also had to be the Messiah, He also had to be the Son of God, and He also had to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

I believe that as Mark describes the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, he is recounting for us a  tragedy of errors, as the world fails to accept Jesus Christ as it’s King.  In fact, they scorn Him and ridicule Him for claiming to be the King of the Jews. If this event were a fictional work of literature, then this story would easily best the greatest Shakespearean tragedies.  The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, rejected, despised, scorned by His own people, and to add injury to insult, they crucify Him, having failed to recognize His rightful claim to the throne, nor His mission of mercy towards the very ones that assaulted Him.

I think it’s noteworthy that Mark gives merely four words to describe the actual act of the crucifixion; “and they crucified Him.”  Mark does not tell us all the gory details of crucifixion.  He leaves out  many of the events that the other gospel writers include. Mark obviously wants to focus our attention on this event, but on what exactly?  Volumes of books have been written on the crucifixion.  Movies have been made, poems written, songs composed, and yet Mark, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, gives us four words.  What gives?  If not the torture of the cross, then what should we be considering here?

Well, I suggest that what Mark wants us to consider the humiliation of Jesus the King.  He is humiliated in that He has put aside HIs robes of glory, His heavenly splendor, and for our sakes became poor, for our sakes became clothed in human flesh, and yet He was despised for it, He was ridiculed for it, He was flogged for it, and then  hanged for it.  Paul says in 2Cor. 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” 

Mark emphasizes again and again that Jesus was the King of the Jews.  Notice how many times the phrase turns up in this section of scripture.  Notice in vs2, Pilate questioned Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And He *answered him, “It is as you say.”  Then notice vs9, Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” Then vs12 Answering again, Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” Next, listen to the words of the soldiers in vs18 and they began to acclaim Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!” Then notice the charge they crucified Him under; vs26 The inscription of the charge against Him read, "THE KING OF THE JEWS.”  Notice next they join the title Christ, which is Greek for Messiah, with the King of the Jews, in vs32 "Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” 

Now that’s a very important insight on the crucifixion, I believe. Jesus claimed to be the King of the Jews and the Son of God. Jesus was condemned, crucified for being the King of the Jews.  He was ridiculed and scorned and beaten for being the King of the Jews.  He was taunted to come down from the cross if He was indeed the Messiah and the King of the Jews. 

Now to be clear, to claim to be the Messiah was to claim to be anointed as King of the Jews by God Himself.  The Messiah, according to prophesy, was to be a descendent of David, in line to the throne of David, who would restore the kingdom of Israel. So as we saw in the last chapter, when Jesus is brought before the High Priest in a midnight trial, they ask Jesus pointblank, “Are You the Christ (that is the Messiah), the Son of the Blessed One?” And Jesus said, “I am; and you shall see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.”

So Jesus claimed to the religious leaders of the Jews that He was the Messiah, that He was the Son of God, and that He would be sitting on the throne of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.  That’s a pretty heavy claim.  He is claiming not to be just the King of the Jews, but the Supreme Ruler of all the Earth.   And then to Pilate, the Roman governor, who asks  “Are you the King of the Jews?”  Jesus answers, “it is as you say.” 

Now I want us to consider the rest of His remarks because it’s reported in John 18:36 Jesus continued to answer Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

What Jesus is claiming is pretty clear; His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, not a geopolitical one.  Not limited to the physical, material world.  It is a kingdom of the spiritual world.  And those who are spiritual are part of His kingdom.  Though Jesus had every right to claim the physical, material benefits of being the King of the Jews, the Messiah, He was not setting up a physical throne in Jerusalem but He is claiming spiritual sovereignty over the world.  And so as Paul would make very clear later in his epistle to the Romans said in chapter 2:28-29 “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.  But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”

Now that death of the flesh, which Paul says is pictured by circumcision, is described for us here as the cross.  The cross is the means by which the flesh is put to death, and righteousness is revealed, so that sinners might be made spiritually born again. Folks, there is something missing today in modern Christianity.  And that is the cross.  Not the historical details of the crucifixion.  I think we are all well familiar with them.  But taking up our cross and following Jesus.  We have to take up our cross, we have to crucify the flesh, or die to the flesh, so we may be reborn, transformed, converted, so that we have new life.  Gal. 5:24-25 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

I’m afraid for the church today because we have millions of people who are claiming to be Christians, claiming faith in Christ, but many cannot be characterized as having been reborn, they cannot be described as all things becoming new, they cannot be thought of as having been converted.  As a result of their Christianity, they may be able to make the claim that they are improved. but not changed.  I’m afraid it is because they have been taught a watered down gospel, which says you can retain all the corruptness of the flesh and still have salvation. 

The truth is, that the flesh and spirit are diametrically opposed. Rom 8:5-8, 12-14 “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,  because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,  and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ... 12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--  for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

I’m sure you have all seen the products which have become familiar in the grocery store, and then they come out with a new color scheme on their packaging, and they write in bold letters, “New, Improved!”  Yet when you taste it, it tastes the same as it ever did. I’m afraid that is what a lot of Christians are like.  They claim to be new and improved, but what’s inside still seems to the same.  The problem is perhaps that they have never been converted.  They have just changed some things on the outside, but not the inside.  

Now that change comes from recognizing that you are a sinner in need of changing, number one.  It is an appeal to the One who is able to change you to forgive you of your sins, and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.  To make you into a new creature. And that conversion can only come from the One who has the authority to give life, and to take it away.  It comes when we renounce our will and bow down and worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone has the power and authority to forgive sins, and to give new life.  

I think there is some difficulty in recognizing what it means to be a King in today’s culture.  We live in a culture which celebrates independence, a government which recognizes an individual’s rights.  We live in a time when democracy claims to be the rule of law.  The rule of the people.  But that’s the opposite of what a King or a kingdom represented in history.  A King had complete authority over life or death.  A King owned all the land, and all the people of the land.  Everything was under His dominion.  The King granted land to certain nobles.  He appointed certain people to certain tasks.  He gave permission for people to do various things.  Everything existed by His decree.  Now that is not a popular form of government today.  But it was pretty much the only form of government for the first 6000 years of the history of the world. And that kind of sovereignty is what is referred to in the title King of the Jews.

Now Mark presents for us several kinds of  of people that are at the cross during the crucifixion.  And the overwhelming response of them all towards the idea that Jesus was the King of the Jews is that of scorn and ridicule.  But not all of them. I want to briefly address each of these groups as they are recorded as encountering the Lord Jesus as He suffered, and in the process we will see how they came to see the cross and it’s significance for them.

The first person we see after the sentencing by Pilate and the scourging by the soldiers is a man called Simon of Cyrene. As Jesus is being led to the cross, He is forced to carry Christ’s cross.  And the scourging Jesus has already endured, and the loss of blood has undoubtedly severely weakened Him.  As Jesus carries His cross, Mark tells us that the Roman soldiers pressed into service a passerby, who was coming into Jerusalem from the country, to carry the cross of Jesus.  

Tradition tells us that Simon actually became a Christian as a result of witnessing the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.  We don’t know exactly how it happened, or when it happened, but the act of taking up the cross and following Jesus must have caused him to recognize Jesus as the Lord who was sacrificed for his sins. Notice that Mark tells the reader that Simon was the father of Rufus and Alexander.  The point being that they were known to the church in Rome at the time of Mark’s writing, presumably because their father Simon had first become a Christian, and then led his sons to become Christians.  Many believe that Paul writing much later to the Romans mentions Rufus as a leader of the church of Rome in Romans chapter 16.

The next group we see in this passage is the soldiers once again.  They brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull.  There are a variety of explanations why it was called the place of a skull, we are not sure which is the real reason.  But that definition is not the point of this lesson.  We see the soldiers offered Him a drink mixed with wine and myrrh, which was a form of narcotic that was given to help those being crucified to lessen the pain somewhat.  But Jesus refused it.  As I said last week, He had no desire to escape the cross, nor even it’s suffering.  He willingly suffered and died for sin, because that was the penalty that was due to us.  

You know, the cross is a terrible way to die.  But it may not be the worst possible way to die. I don’t know what is, and I prefer not to think of it.  Thousands of people have been crucified, however, down through the centuries.  However, God chose the torture of the cross as a just recompense for the affront of our sin. A Righteous Judge must give an adequate punishment suited to the severity of the crime.  And the agony of the cross illustrates for us the severity of our crimes against God.  We may think our sins are not really that bad, but to a Holy God, they deserve not only the horrors of the cross, but the whippings at the trial, and the terrors of Hell.  We have too small a view of sin, and too mild a view of God’s wrath against sin.  

Then after the soldiers had crucified Him, Mark says they divided among themselves His garments.  This is all in fulfillment of prophecy found in Psalms 22:16-18 “For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet.  I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me;  They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.”  Written roughly 1000 years before Christ, this is an amazing fulfillment of prophecy.  That He was crucified, and that they cast lots for His clothing.

The illustration though that needs to be seen in this event, is that the soldiers are men in their natural condition, and consequently are blind to the spiritual.  Thus they crucify the King of the Spiritual Kingdom of the whole earth, and focus only on His clothes. They completely miss the point of the crucifixion, that God has prepared a righteous robe for them to wear through the death of Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews. Instead, they are focused on the physical parts of His clothing.  How many people come to Christianity today looking for the physical benefits to Chrisitanity, and completely miss the spiritual blessing.  The prosperity gospel that glosses over the blessing of new life in the Spirit, while emphasizing your best life now, is but a caricature of what we see these poor blind soldiers doing.

These callous men who are gambling over Jesus’s clothes, are the very ones of whom Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” They are looking down at the garments and the dice on the ground, when they should be looking up, where above Christ’s head is the inscription written in Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.  The Creator of life, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the source of true riches, hangs above them, while they focus on material things.

The next group that Mark shows us at the cross is the robbers who were crucified with Him.  Mark doesn’t give us the details that the other gospel writers do concerning these men.  He seems content to say in vs.32  that they were also insulting Him.  But Mark does tell us that this fulfills the prophecy that He would be numbered with transgressors which is found in Isaiah 53:12 written about 700 years before Christ.

Luke tells us that one of the robbers in particular was hurling abuse at Jesus, but the other rebuked him and then said, Luke 23:41-42  "And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong."  And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”  Jesus answered Him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” One robber despised Jesus as a victim, saw only a convicted man dying upon a cross, the other saw a King, dying to give men life.

Then there are the passersby’s.  It was typical of Rome to crucify criminals beside the main roads, in order to be a warning to others.  And as it was the Passover, many people were passing by to enter into Jerusalem before the Sabbath.  And those who passed by were blaspheming Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuilt it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross.”

The tragedy that these passersby’s failed to recognize, was that Jesus was intentionally hanging there to save them.  He had no interest in saving Himself.  He would not come down from the cross to try to save Himself.  He went to the cross to save them. Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.” The Lion of Judah became a lamb that was slaughtered for the sins of His people.

These scoffers are fulfilling prophecy again from Psalm 22:6-7 “But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people.  All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,“Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.”

There is another group of scoffers that Mark describes, which are the chief priests and the scribes.  The very ones who demanded that Pilate crucify Him.  The ones who arrested Him and demanded that He be killed for the charges of blasphemy and treason.  Now they come to the cross and say, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” 

Notice first of all, they recognize that Jesus has saved others.  They cannot dispute His miracles.  But what they do is just add more requirements in order for them to believe.  The problem is that they don’t want to believe.  They will not believe.  Notice also that they call Him the King of Israel, the Christ, or the Messiah.  They are saying it in sarcasm, of course.  

But by their words they condemn themselves.  “Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!”  They are saying that if they see, they will believe.  But salvation is by faith, and faith is the evidence of things not seen.  I’m afraid that a lot of people today, even many so called Christians, are guilty of making this charge against Christ.  “Manifest yourself and we will believe!  Show us a sign and we will believe.  Why doesn’t God reveal Himself?  I would believe if He would show Himself.” Jesus said God is Spirit, and we must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. The Bible tells us that the just shall live by faith, not by sight.  Jesus said concerning Lazarus and the rich man, that even if a man were to come back to earth from the dead, they will not believe.  And even if Jesus was to have come down from the cross, these men would not have believed. 

Now there would come a time when it says in Acts that many priests came to faith.  But I think it was because of the preaching of the Word of God, in conjunction with the working of the Holy Spirit. And that was poured out on the church with power after Pentecost.  Acts 6:7 “The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.”

This speaks volumes of the grace of God towards sinners, that after the resurrection, Jesus did not send the apostles to hunt down and put to death or condemn to death the priests, but to preach the gospel so that even the very ones who persecuted Christ to death, might live in the Spirit by faith in the gospel.   What a great testimony to the patience of God when we are living in rebellion against Him.  God is continually wooing us, and seducing us by His mercy and grace that we might turn to Him.  The gift of salvation is available to everyone, even to those who hammered the nails in His hands.  Even to those who cheered His crucifixion.  Even to those who deserted Him at His trial.  Christ came to save sinners, even the chiefest of sinners.  The only people that cannot be saved, are those who will not be saved.

Well, Jesus had been crucified at about 9am.  For three hours He endured not only the torment of the cross, but the ridicule and scorn of His people.  But then at high noon God caused darkness to come upon the land for three hours.  Luke says the sun was obscured.  I believe it was a supernatural event, symbolizing the Light of the World dying for sin. 

For three hours of darkness God’s judgment rained down upon Jesus in a way that we cannot imagine. But it obviously caused great torment and a sense of desolation to Jesus.  Vs.34 At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" which is translated, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”

Once again, this is a direct fulfillment of Psalm 22, which says in vs 1, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.”  We have already seen the disciples forsake Jesus, the Jews forsake Jesus, and now it seems even God the Father forsakes Jesus as Christ becomes sin for us.  2 Cor. 5:21 says, He who knew no sin,    became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Sin separates us from God, and Jesus became sin for us, being forsaken by God until He had made atonement for sin.

But some bystanders hearing Jesus, seems to misunderstand Him as asking for Elijah.  And so they say, “Behold, He is calling for Elijah.” Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down.”  Perhaps they referred to Elijah, having been familiar with the prophecy that Elijah would come first before the Messiah, to prepare the way for Him.  So they are sarcastically saying that maybe Elijah will come and help Him come down from the cross.  Right up to the end they are slandering Christ.  

And you know, the same is said to be true of the  generation of the last days. 2Peter 3:3-4 “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts,  and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”  I believe we are living in the last days, in dark days of spiritual blindness and hardness of heart.  And the Bible teaches that God will bring judgment upon the world during that darkness, but men still will not repent.

Right up to the second coming of Christ, men will curse God, and ridicule Him, and mock God. 

Mark then tells us in vs37 after this one last mockery that “Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last.”  We know from the other gospels that He cried out, “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit.  It is finished!”  Jesus gave up HIs Spirit to the care of the Father, as His body died hanging there on the cross.  And Mark tells us at that moment, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  This veil being torn from the top to the bottom is another supernatural occurrence by God showing that the way to Him was made possible to all men.  Up to that point, the chief priest had been the only one allowed in to the Holy of Holies, and that only once a year.  Now that the veil of separation was rent in two, the high priests office is no longer necessary, as our Great High Priest fulfilled the role of both the mediator and the eternal, perfect sacrifice for sin. The curtain that separated the natural from the spiritual was opened up through the death of Jesus Christ, that we who were condemned in the flesh, might be given spiritual life.

Finally, there is one last person that we will look at today.  We see the centurion, who witnessed the entire proceedings, from trial to the darkness, to the way that Jesus gave up His Spirit to die, and who seeing all of that comes to the conclusion, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

This centurion, who took part in the torture and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, suddenly sees in the death of Jesus the evidence of Christ’s divinity.  He who had participated in nailing Jesus to the cross, now confessed Him as the Son of God, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.  And by such faith, he was given forgiveness, he was given repentance, he was given new life by faith in Jesus Christ.

Listen, what we need to take away from the crucifixion is that regardless of your rebellion, or how grievous your sin might be, or how horribly you may have blasphemed against the Lord, He died to save you.  He died to change you, to make you a part of His kingdom.  Repent and be converted.  Call upon the Lord to save you, to forgive you of your sins, and give you a new life.  Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and be saved today.