“Love Crucifixion”
Mark 15:1-47
1. today we are going to look at what for me is a staggering chapter in Mark’s gospel – Mark 15 – earth-shaking, earth-rattling, confounding, shocking. The account of Jesus’ death.
2. on February 28th I did Charlie Fischer’s memorial service at Lent’s Baptist Church in Portland. Charlie came to Christ here in the late 60s & married Fred & Goldie Flack’s daughter Kay. He went from surfer hippie to pastor of Conservative Baptist churches. He died suddenly of a heart attack at 60. The church was packed with grieving family & friends. Death was biting people really, really hard.
3. Friday afternoon this room was full of people who came to pay tribute to Hazel Knopp, St. Hazel. Though the mood was lighter than at Charlie’s service the bite was still present. Death always leaves grief, loss & tears in its wake. There is something about death that feels unnatural, that’s it’s an intrusion, a robbery, a cutting against the grain of life.
4. yesterday afternoon I sat down & watched the DVD of my brother Tom’s memorial service that took place almost 1 year ago. I listened to myself speak. I relived the last 11 weeks of Tom’s life. What struck me was a phrase from a song we played from the Gingerich Family CD – Steal Away. The song’s refrain is steal away to Jesus. Even in this great song of faith in the face of death, death is a ‘stealing away’ to Jesus.
5. Charlie Hazel & Tom died just like Jesus died. Or Jesus died just like Tom Hazel & Charlie died. Our Creator & Redeemer, Jesus, entered into the depths of our darkest human experience and died. God died in Jesus. Staggering & confounding. Absolutely true & absolutely real.
6. Mark doesn’t mince his words. He provides just gives the bare-bone facts. No sensationalism. No emotionally-laden description. No layer after layer of detail. Just he facts.
7. 1st I want to read through the complete chapter. 2nd I have some comments to make on the death of Jesus.
Mark 15
15:1-5 = Pilate’s failed questioning of Jesus
15:6-15 = Pilate’s failed attempt to release Jesus
15:16-20 = soldiers mock Jesus
1. purple robe of royalty, crown of thorns. Taunt him, Hail, King of the Jews! They hit him, spit on him, falsely bowed before him.
2. don’t forget who this is. He was in the world, and through the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
15:21-22 = Simon carries his cross
15:23-24 = division of Jesus’ clothes
15:25-27 = crucifixion between 2 robbers
3. they crucified him. this is, to my mind, the greatest understatement that has ever been written. Mark does not describe the details of the crucifixion:
§ flogging - The Romans used a whip called a flagrum, which consisted of small pieces of bone and metal attached to a number of leather strands. During the scourging, the skin was ripped from the back, exposing a bloody mass of tissue and bone. Extreme blood loss occurred. In addition to the flogging, Jesus faced severe beating and torment by the Roman soldiers, including the plucking of His beard and the piercing of His scalp with a crown of thorns
§ carry cross - After the flogging, the victim was often forced to carry his own crossbar to the execution site. This could easily weigh 100 pounds. In a weak and tormented state, it’s no wonder that Jesus needed help carrying his cross.
§ nailing to the cross – Once the victim arrived at the execution site, the crossbeam was put on the ground and the victim was forced to lie upon it. Spikes about 7 inches long and 3/8 of an inch in diameter were driven into the wrists. The spikes would hit the area of the median nerve, causing shocks of pain up the arms to the shoulders and neck. Already standing at the crucifixion site would be the 7-foot-tall post. In the center of the post was a crude seat to “support” for the victim. The crossbeam was then lifted on to the post, and the victim’s body was awkwardly turned on the seat so that the feet could be nailed to the post.
§ agony – At this point, there was tremendous strain put on the wrists, arms and shoulders, resulting in a dislocation of the shoulder and elbow joints. The position of the nailed body held the victim’s rib cage in a fixed position, which made it extremely difficult to exhale, and impossible to take a full breath. Having suffered from the scourging, the beatings and the walk with the crossbeam, Jesus was described as extremely weak and dehydrated. He was probably losing significant amounts of blood. As time passed, the loss of blood and lack of oxygen would cause severe cramps, spasmodic contractions and probably unconsciousness.
§ suffocation – Ultimately, the mechanism of death in crucifixion was suffocation. To breathe, the victim was forced to push up on his feet to allow for inflation of the lungs. As the body weakened and pain in the feet and legs became unbearable, the victim was forced to trade breathing for pain and exhaustion. Eventually, the victim would succumb in this way, becoming utterly exhausted or lapsing into unconsciousness so that he could no longer lift his body off the post and inflate his lungs.
15:29-32 = mockers of Jesus
4. 29-30 – those who passed by
31-32 – chief priests & teachers
32 – those crucified with Jesus
15:33-41 = Jesus’ death
5. 33 – darkness
34 – Jesus’ cry
35-36 – Elijah
37 – loud cry
38 – temple curtain split in two
39 – confession of centurion
40-41 – women who witnessed hid death
15:42-47 – Jesus’ burial
6. at the end, Joseph of Arimathea + Pilate + centurion + Mary Magdalene, Mary BUT no Peter, James, John & disciples!
Love Crucifixion
1. what is the greatest need of your life? the need which dwarfs all others, towers over all others?
§ safety & protection?
§ to have a cause to live for?
§ to be successful?
§ to make a difference in the world?
§ to make money, amass power?
§ to see the Ducks beat Florida today?
2. your greatest need, my greatest need is to know that we are loved by God. To know that we are loved by God. That we are loved by our Creator. That we are loved by the Eternal One behind everything. To know that we are loved by God.
3. seems simple enough but many of us spend a lifetime trying to come to grips with how God could unconditionally love a stiff like me. Consciously or unconsciously we try to build a life that God can be pleased with. We want to demonstrate to him that we are lovable. Consciously or unconsciously many of us are driven by a need to gain God’s attention & show him how well we are doing.
4. this is why the books of Brennan Manning have struck a chord with so many. Manning eloquently writes of the unconditional love of our Father, or Abba. In Ruthless Trust, The underlying premise of his book – the splendor of a human heart which trusts that it is loved gives God more pleasure than Westminster Cathedral, the Sistine Chapel, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, the sight of ten thousand butterflies in flight, or the scent of a million orchids in bloom.
God is loving us – you and me – this moment, just as we are and not as we should be. There is nothing any of us can do to increase his love for us and nothing we can do to diminish it.
5. the one word above all words that should be slapped on the cross is the word love. If you doubt God’s love, look at the cross. Look at what Jesus went through. Look at Jesus’ suffering. Meditate on his flogging, the spiting, the ridicule, the crown of thorns, the taunting, the agony of the cross. All for love’s sake.
6. listen to the talk of Scripture:
Romans 5:8 – but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us
John 10:17-18 – I lay down my life. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord
John 15:13 – Greater love has no one that this, that he lay down his life for his friends
I John 3:16 – This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers
7. Jesus died, laid down his life, demonstrated his love for us when we were at our worst. The cross shouts out at us that love is of God, God’s love is unconditional, and there is absolutely nothing we can do to earn his love.
Mark 8:31-37; 9:30-32; 10:32-34
1. sat 9am prayer meeting
2. building going up
3. with thanks to Eugene Peterson’s Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
1. I came across this quote in some reading I was doing this week – we’re entering the third age of the human race. The first was ‘orality,’ where people communicated primarily by oral, spoken language. The second was literacy, when suddenly after Gutenberg, the printed page became the main means by which culture was shaped and imaginations were formed. Now we’re entering a third age: the age of ‘visualcy.’ Today we are visually attuned. Photos, videos, graphics, artwork have become more and more expected and essential (Andy Crouch).
2. the Church has been into visualcy for almost 2000 years. What we call the gospel of Jesus Christ – the good news of Jesus’ life, death & resurrection for the forgiveness of sin – is visually portrayed for us by means of a cross.
Early Thursday morning in the dark I was driving to my favorite coffee shop in Boise – the Flying M. Hovering over the skyline of the city was a large lighted cross sitting atop Table Rock – a symbol of Jesus’ death for the forgiveness of sin, the visualcy of our Christian faith.
pivot time in Mark’s gospel
1. we’ve been in Mark’s gospel for 23 sermons. Today we come to the hinge-point of the book. Chapters 1-8 show Jesus bringing in the kingdom of God by teaching, healing, delivering, discipling, loving, feeding, praying…
2. but this all changes in chapter 8. 3xs in 3 successive chapters Jesus is explicit – he is going to suffer and be killed and rise again (8:31; 9:31; 10:33). The whole thrust of the narrative pivots & Jesus’ story is now told under the shadow of the approaching cross:
8:31 – suffer, be rejected, be killed, rise again
9:31 – be betrayed, kill, will rise
10:33 – be betrayed, condemn, hand over, mock,
spit, flog, kill, will rise
3. Mark’s telling of Jesus’ death is the most detailed part of his gospel. We know more about Jesus’ death than we do his life. In all 4 gospels a disproportionate amount of space is given to the last week of Jesus life.
nature of Jesus’ death on the cross
1. there are 3 aspects to Jesus’ death on the cross that I want to share with you this morning – 3 different windows into understanding the cross.
1st voluntary
1. Jesus didn’t ‘have’ to go to the cross; he ‘chose’ to. He went not out of obligation but of love. The ‘cross’ accounts in all 4 gospels make it plain that Jesus was on a mission & the cross was his mission.
2. love is what birthed the cross – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). The cross is nothing less & nothing more than an act of love.
2nd sacrificial
1. the Jews, Greeks & Romans of Jesus’ day understood the word ‘sacrifice’ in a manner that we don’t. These 3 cultures regularly offered sacrifices – animals, grain, wine, incense & the like. These people ‘got’ the notion of sacrifice.
2. then Jesus steps into the picture. He speaks: for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (10:45). It is simply impossible to understand Jesus without understanding his life as a sacrifice.
3. Jesus didn’t die for himself; he died for us. He offered his life as a sacrifice for ours. His righteousness for our sin.
3rd temporary
1. each of Jesus’ 3 explicit death announcements conclude with a statement of resurrection. Jesus died but only temporarily. 3 days later he rose from the dead.
2. resurrection. This is what gives us hope. Death is not the end. Sin does not triumph in the end. Satan is not victorious. The death & resurrection of Jesus defeat all 3 for now & forever.
the meaning of the cross
1. Jesus’ was a carefully defined death – it was voluntary, sacrificial & marked by the resurrection.
2. get this, Jesus’ death is a means to life. The cross is a means to salvation. As stated in the Nicene Creed, Jesus died ‘for us and for our salvation.’
3. the only thing we contribute to salvation is sin. Sin makes salvation a necessity.
4. there is nothing, absolutely nothing we can do to earn our salvation – either to save ourselves or obligate God to save us. We can’t do enough, be enough, serve enough, give enough, pray enough, love enough, be nice enough, help enough, smile enough, work enough, or be smart enough to warrant salvation.
5. we contribute nothing to our salvation But we are invited to participate in it.
6. in Mark 1-8 all sorts of people are drawn into the life of Jesus, experience his compassion, his healings, his deliverance, his call, his peace. After Mark 8:31, Jesus becomes more explicit about what it means to participate in his life & mission.
7. If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (8:34). Notice the 4 verbs – come, deny, take up, follow. These define our participation.
deny & take up (2 negatives)
1. two verbs leap from the sentence and pounce on us. It feels like an assault, an attack. We recoil (EHPeterson).
2. deny himself. Jesus issues a command to renounce ‘the self’ that is me, you. Take up his cross. Jesus issues a 2nd command to die to ‘the self’ that is me, you.
3. the focal point of Jesus’ work of salvation is a sacrificial death on a cross. As Jesus sacrificed his life, he calls us to sacrifice ours. To follow after Jesus is to go to the cross with our own lives.
4. EHPeterson, For a people like us, trained in a culture of getting things done (pragmatism) and taking care of ourselves (individualism), sacrifice doesn’t seem at all obvious; neither does it seem attractive.
5. Annie Dillard, a life without sacrifice is an abomination.
6. personally I think this is the hardest part of the gospel to move off the pages of Scripture and into our daily lives. What do we know about sacrifice? What have you sacrificed for the sake of Christ?
7. to deny ourselves; to take up our cross is to say ‘no.’ Saying ‘no’ is the pathway to freedom. Only humans can say ‘no’; animals can’t. Animals live by instinct & training.
8. but we – the human race – can say ‘no.’ ‘No’ is a freedom word. I don’t have to do what my glands or my culture tells me to do. The art of saying ‘no’ sets us free to follow Jesus.
9. what are you saying ‘no’ to in order to follow Jesus?
come – follow (2 positives – same Greek words)
1. Jesus is going some place. He invites us to come along. He’s moving, acting, doing something. He invites us to participate.
2. this is a whole life following of Jesus. Daily. 100%. 24/7. At home. In the marketplace. In the community. Morning, noon, night. At school, play practice, baseball practice. Filing your tax return. Meeting with your financial planner. Flying to Boise. Buying a house. Selling your car. Driving to work. The internet, email, blogs, websites. When you’re alone. When you’re with others. When you vote. What you buy. How you treat your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends, your boss, your enemies.
3. come is an invitation. Follow is a command. If we’re going to come after Jesus we’re expected to follow him. No half-hearted commitment.
temptation
1. to think that you can save yourself. For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works so that no one can boast (Eph 2:8-9). Grace – God giving us what we don’t deserve. Faith – our embracing intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, whole-lifely Jesus’ life, death, resurrection & Lordship over our lives.
2. saying “yes” to Jesus – I’m a sinner, I need your forgiveness, be my Savior, come into my life, take control, help me to live for you!
3. to make your salvation about you and not Jesus. This is a huge temptation. Robert Webber in his book the Divine Embrace calls this spiritual consumerism. The danger of treating God as a means to get what I want out of life – happiness, joy, success, passionate marriage, trophy-case kids, the good life, etc.
4. what is your life focus – getting Jesus into your story so he can help you live your life? Or being drawn up into Jesus’ story so he can live his life through you and change not only you, but your world?
5. If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
