“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.
No comments:
Post a Comment