6 Reactions to the Cross (Mark 15:6-47) | 4/14/19
Mark 15:6-47 4/14/19 | Will DuVal
Now at the feast Pilate used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked... saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 10 For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead.12 And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” 13 And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” 14 And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” 15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged[a] Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
16 And the soldiers... clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.
21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha... And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.[e] 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!”31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.
33 And when the sixth hour[f] had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.[g] 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he[h] breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son[i] of God!”
40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus... And Joseph[k] bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let’s pray.
CONTEXT:
This chapter is all about the CROSS. A historical event, THE central event in ALL of history, on that fateful Friday, 1989 years and 7 days ago today. We now call it “GOOD” Friday. Because the cross was essential to the GOOD news of our salvation. NO cross, NO forgiveness of sins. It’s THAT simple. NO cross, NO redemption, no reconciliation, no atonement, no justification, no pardon for sinners, no Heaven, no eternal life, no HOPE, no chance for you and for me.
So Mark 15 is first and foremost about JESUS, and the GOOD, albeit GUT-wrenching thing, that HE did for us on that cross. And we can’t lose sight of that this morning, and we’ll put even more explicit EMPHASIS on that this Friday night, but this morning, in this passage, we find that even in the midst of recounting that crucial event, Mark introduces us to SIX different groups of people – each of whom RESPONDS to Jesus’ crucifixion in a different way. And we’re going to see this morning that while the cross is absolutely CENTRAL, the way that we REACT to it is no less important. Let me say that again: the cross is EVERYTHING... And our REACTION to the cross, is EVERYTHING.
So let’s survey the SIX possible ways from Mark 15 that we can respond to the cross:
#1 - The first reaction is AMBIVALENCE. This is the response of Pontius Pilate in vv6-15.
Ambivalence is defined as: “uncertainty or fluctuation, especially when caused by inability to make a choice” (dictionary.com)
That’s the PERFECT word for Pilate’s reaction! He doesn’t know WHAT to do with Jesus. He interviews Jesus, and concludes “I find no guilt in him” (John 18:38), but the chief priests DEMAND he has Jesus crucified, so Pilate has him beaten as a compromise. And when THAT doesn’t appease them, LUKE’S gospel tells us that Pilate sends Jesus to HEROD instead. But HEROD finds him innocent and sends him right BACK. And by this time, the crowd is on the verge of all out insurrection. So Pilate tries one last time to PUNT: “Ah ha! We’ve got this tradition at Passover where I release to you one prisoner – I’ll release JESUS, and everyone goes home happy?” To which the crowd replies by “shouting all the more – ‘Crucify him! Crucify Him’”. So Pilate, in his AMBIVALENCE – his fluctuating to avoid making a difficult choice, because he KNOWS that Jesus is innocent, and yet from history WE know Pilate was already on thin ice with Emperor Tiberius because of his continual provocation of the Jews; Pilate NEEDS a political WIN, to gain the support of the people, so what does he ultimately do? v.15: “Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd... delivered Jesus to be crucified.” Matthew recalls that “he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood”” (27:24). A perfect picture of AMBIVALENCE.
Friends: I think AMBIVALENCE may be the most POPULAR response to the cross in 21st c. America. Pilate is NOT Annas or Caiaphas, the priests who hatch the plan to kill Jesus. Actually, Pilate would have preferred not to have had to deal with Jesus at ALL! He went to great lengths to try and avoid having to make any kind of decision about Jesus. And guess what: so do most unbelievers today.
Most non-Christians today AREN’T Jesus-hating, baby-killing, prayer in public schools-outlawing, gender preferred pronoun-mandating radical Crusaders; that’s a very small, very vocal minority.
Most non-Christians are MUCH more like Pontius Pilate. They would MUCH rather simply be left alone and not have to deal with Jesus AT ALL. They’d honestly rather you NOT invite them to Easter. Cuz it forces them to think about it, it forces them to make a choice. They’d DEFINITELY prefer you don’t follow UP with them THIS week with a personal phone call. Because they know deep down they ought to care more about Jesus, but truthfully, they’d really rather just AVOID the issue altogether. Because faith, TRUE faith, is costly.
Abraham Joshua Heschel says: “God is of no importance unless He is of supreme importance”, by which he means that by His very NATURE, God demands that we make a decision about him: he’s EITHER of NO importance at ALL, or he’s of SUPREME importance. INFINITE importance. If God DOES actually exist, He must by definition be the organizing principle of our entire lives and all of reality itself, and that is a REALLY inconvenient truth for someone who rather enjoys being in charge of their own life. Of their own future. Their own finances. Their own family. Their own Sunday mornings.
But the Bible makes it clear that there is no neutrality when it comes to Jesus:
He himself says: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Luke 11:23) The Message translation reads: “This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse.”
Jesus says, “Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory” (Lk 9:26) You either stand with me, or you have no share with me (Jn 13:8).
John 3:18 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” It’s really that simple, friends. Jesus doesn’t leave a lot of gray, wiggle room. He doesn’t have nuanced categories for DIE HARD Christians vs. just church attenders or hellishly rebellious apostates vs. generally good folks who would just say “church isn’t really for me”. It’s just not that complex for Jesus. It’s pretty cut and dry - 2 categories:
You’re either with me, or you’re against me.
You either trust in me and are saved, or you have faith in something ELSE and are condemned.
And friends, if you’re here this morning and you’ve been trying to balance on that fence, and AVOID having to make a decision and come down on one side or the other about Jesus, can I just tell you – “I can empathize. I was there too, for a long time. But he’s worth it. Jesus is worth it.” And I’d love to talk with you more about that after the service.
Pilate’s ambivalence is fueled by his desire, v15, to “satisfy the crowd”. Prov. 29:25 reminds us that “The fear of man lays a snare.” Pilate fell into the trap of fearing man more than he feared God. If the majority of the crowd had cheered “Release Him” instead of “Crucify Him”, Pilate would have FREED Jesus. And if “cultural Christianity” was still a thing in St. Louis, and most people still attended church because it’s just what you DO on Sundays, then so would your neighbors. They’re not “BAD people”; they just want to fit in. But truth is not democratic. And there is no neutrality with Jesus.
John MacArthur says: “Though it seemed as if Christ were on trial before Pilate, in reality, the Roman governor was on trial before the Son of God.”
And friends, every ONE of us... TODAY... is on trial. Who do YOU say, that Jesus is? That’s a question FAR too important, to remain AMBIVALENT on. Get off the fence. Come join us. There is no neutral ground.
#2 – Second response to the cross is DERISION. Derision. At least these people have picked there side.
In vv16-20 and 29-32, we see FOUR different groups, actually, the soldiers first, then the passersby at the foot of the cross, thirdly the chief priests and scribes who MOCK him, and finally even his fellow sufferers REVILED him.
DERISION is “contemptuous ridicule or mockery; scorn” (dictionary.com)
And some people today really do hate Jesus. Their rejection of him is overt, bold-faced, and unapologetic. The REASON for their contempt might vary:
Maybe they’ve never forgiven God for taking their mom away at a young age with cancer...
Or they hate the CHURCH for covering up sexual abuse and they see Jesus as an extension of that...
Or maybe they hate CHRISTIANS for hating them; they feel JUDGED and condemned, because they’re gay, or sympathetic to the cause, or who KNOWS what other reasons.
But WHATEVER the reason, I suspect that we all know SOMEONE in this category. Maybe it’s YOU. I don’t want to be so naïve as to think that everyone here this morning came because they LOVE God. You might be here because you’ve got a BONE to pick with Him. We’re glad you’re here. Be encouraged: even Jesus HIMSELF cries out in v34: “My God, why have you forsaken me?!” That should be comforting to those of us whose faith isn’t always as unshakeable as we’d like.
But if we dig deep enough in the heart of EVERY mocker, every scoffer, every hardened skeptic, I think you’ll find a PROFOUND woundedness. They have been deeply HURT. By the church. By a Christian. Maybe from their perspective, by God Himself. And OUR response, as believers, maybe the ONLY Christian influence in that person’s life, should be the very same way that Jesus himself responds to his OWN scoffers, in Luke 23:34, by praying – “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Brothers and sisters: they don’t know what they’re doing. I know it’s frustrating: you’ve prayed for them for YEARS and you’ve been NOTHING but kind to them, and it’s SO easy for you to see why God allowed them to go through that difficulty, because He wants to drive them to their KNEES so they can finally turn to Him; the only one who can help them – the very One they are rejecting... and YET: they don’t know what they’re doing.
Jesus looks on his scoffers with COMPASSION. Not frustration and anger, but SADNESS. Because he sees them as they are: utterly LOST. Like sheep without a shepherd. They don’t WANT to be miserable. They don’t want to live a life without hope, without eternal purpose; they just don’t KNOW any better.
Unfortunately, WE know that doesn’t EXCUSE their rejection. Scoffers must still ultimately answer for their derision, if they don’t first see the light and repent and turn to Christ in faith. But I want to remind us this morning that what they DON’T need from us is one MORE reason to oppose God, because we meet their hostility with our OWN anger and judgment and unhelpful Facebook replies; NO – we need to remember: they don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t TRULY know the One they are rejecting. That’s the problem - If they truly KNEW Jesus, knew Him like YOU and I know him, they couldn’t hate Him! They’d KNOW He’s not the problem; He’s the answer.
But the best way WE can help show them that, is by showing them the same compassion and LOVE that Christ HIMSELF showed His enemies.
#3 – The third reaction to the cross is SUPPORT. This is the example of Simon of Cyrene in v21: “they [The soldiers] compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene... to carry his cross.”
Now, church tradition has built up legendary addendums to Simon’s story, but all we hear of him, biblically, is that he was “COMPELLED by the soldiers” – read: at the tip of their spears – to help carry Jesus’ cross. And we don’t hear anything, in Mark or in any other gospel about whether or not Simon even cared about Jesus. We may run into Simon of Cyrene in heaven one day; we might not.
And similarly, I think there’s a third category of people today whose response to Jesus is that they’re generally supportive. They like MOST of what he taught – probably a little extreme on the financial stuff – but generally, “love your neighbor as yourself”, honor your father and mother, sanctity of marriage, these are good moral principles. And most of those around us would say they’re generally supportive of our faith, they would at least acknowledge its MASSIVE historical impact on today’s world – most of our schools and hospitals, the very notion of inherent human rights and dignity – ALL come from Christianity.
But I’ll reiterate here: Jesus makes it very clear it’s not enough to simply “SUPPORT” him. To generally approve of Judeo-Christian values. Jesus didn’t encourage people to be sympathetic to His teachings. He called us to come and DIE, to take up our CROSSES, DIE to ourselves, in order to follow Him. In fact, he said if we DON’T, then we aren’t worthy to be identified with him in any way.
Brothers and sisters: your non-Christian friends need to know that their support isn’t what Jesus is after, and it’s NOT enough to get them into heaven. Jesus doesn’t NEED our support. He wants our HEARTS. Our LIVES. Our FAITH.
Lewis said it best: Jesus is either a LIAR, a LUNATIC, or he was who he said he was: the LORD of the universe. So “You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” Amen?
#4 - The fourth reaction to the cross is SPECTATING. Gotta move quicker now.
We see in vv35-36, and we know historically that people would literally pack a lunch and come out to watch these gruesome crucifixions. This was before Netflix and Hulu. But here’s Jesus, bleeding to death on the cross, CRYING out in agony to the Father... And here’s these people literally at the foot of the cross watching on, and what is there reaction? “Ooh, I think he’s calling Elijah; let’s see if Elijah comes to save him”. Like they’ve got their popcorn and they’re just watching a movie waiting to see if the ending gets good.
Similarly, today, you probably know people, again, maybe it’s YOU, who love a good drama. A good debate. These people often get MIS-labeled as “seekers”, but they’re NOT. They are NOT Joseph of Arimathea, in v43, who was actually seeking the Kingdom of God. These people just want to be entertained. And whether they come to church because the band rocks or the pastor’s hip, or they always have a lot of input in theological discussions because they find the Bible incredibly INTERESTING, I’ll just remind us again: Jesus isn’t after our INTRIGUE. Our FASCINATION. He wants our hearts. Jesus is not interested in being a thought-provoking topic of discussion for us, or a service that we passively attend once a week; He said, “I’m the Way the Truth and the LIFE. No one comes to the Father but through me.” I’m everything. I desire, and I DESERVE, your whole heart, mind, soul and strength. And I will settle for nothing less.
Quit spectating. There are people living and dying all around you who don’t know Jesus and they’re going to Hell. Quit spectating. Get off the bench, and get in the game.
#5 – The fifth response is ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
This is the soldier in v39: “the centurion... said, “Truly this man was the Son[i] of God!””
We’re getting CLOSER now, to our proper response to the cross, and perhaps you’ve been taught that the centurion here offers the first true profession of faith in Jesus, and maybe he did; again, maybe we’ll bump into the centurion in Heaven. I don’t know. But the REASON I’m not sure, is because all I see him do, in Mark 15, is offer an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of who Jesus was. He simply recognizes Jesus accurately, as “truly the Son of God”.
But friends, I would just remind you of James 2:19 “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”. All THROUGHOUT the gospels, Jesus casts out demons who acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God... And. They. SHUDDER. Satan knows EXACTLY who Jesus is. And he’s TERRIFIED.
And brothers and sisters, our unbelieving friends need to know... No, scrap that. Someone here this MORNING needs to hear this. I don’t presume to know your hearts like God does, but I feel like I can say with confidence, that we have REGULAR attenders here at West Hills who ACKNOWLEDGE Jesus as the Son of God. If I gave you a “true or false” test on the gospel – Is God Holy? Are you sinful? Did Jesus die to save us? – you would PASS. You’d ACE it!
But I NEED to remind you this morning that God is not after your ACKNOWLEDGEMENT any more than he’s after your fascination or your support. God wants so much MORE than your mere intellectual assent to some abstract theological doctrines. Friends, can I tell you in LOVE: that is not faith.
And that is not what the Bible means when it uses the word “believe”. “God so loved the world that He gave... that whosoever what? [BELIEVES] in Him...” We’ve cheapened that word in our English translations. Pisteuw is so much more than mental acceptance of facts; it means FAITH. TRUST. Betting your LIFE on something. Your WHOLE heart mind soul and strength.
Faith isn’t a “true – false” doctrine test, friends. It is a death-to-life heart transformation by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
And if you’re here this morning and you’re realizing you’ve signed off on all the right Sunday school answers but you’ve never actually surrendered your LIFE to Jesus, I pray that you would have the courage to admit that to yourself this morning, and to God. He is WAITING. He is READY. Today could be the day of your salvation.
#6 – Because the sixth and final reaction to the cross, that I’ve run myself out of time to discuss, is DEVOTION. It’s DEVOTION.
It’s the example of the female disciples in vv40-41, who stuck with Jesus when it could have cost them their LIVES to be identified with him. The example of Joseph of Arimathea in vv42-46, and Nicodemus as well, John 19:39, who risked it all to pay a DECEASED Jesus the honor of a proper burial. It’s Mary of Bethany, who anointed Jesus BEFOREHAND for burial, who I preached on 3 weeks ago.
Beyond Ambivalence, Derision, Support, Spectating, or Acknowledgement, Jesus wants our DEVOTION. And friends, he DESERVES it. Because He WAS the Son of God. Who lived to be our Lord, Died to be our Savior, and Rose to be our King, to the glory of God the Father. He GAVE his life for you; will you give your life to Him? How will YOU answer Pilate’s question from v12: “What shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?”
Let’s pray.