Thoughts on Mark 15:20-47...
The soldiers tired of their sport; their victim bore everything with patience. They therefore took mockery's mantle off him and put his own clothes back on him.
The last act of the greatest drama in the world was about to begin; they led him out from the Praetorium and the city to crucify him.
Now Jesus had been under strain. Gethsemane, the capture, the trial in the high priest's palace, sleeplessness, the scourging, all this now combined to sap his strength.
And so the soldiers pressed into service Simon, a Cyrenian, a belated pilgrim, who was coming in from the country. Mark remarks that this Simon was the father of two men well known to his readers, Alexander and Rufus. So Simon, drafted into service, here had what he later considered the honor of bearing Jesus' cross for him.
Jesus' weakness was increasing. Soldiers carried him the last part of the way, to Golgotha, explained by Mark as meaning a skull's place, because of the hill's shape.
It was the custom to give to the condemned a beverage which would deaden the discernment of reality. But Jesus refused this drink. He wanted to endure his sufferings with consciousness.
The soldiers divested Jesus of his clothes, save for a loin cloth. They put him on the cross and gambled for his clothing. The coat was made a separate stake.
Mark notes the crucifixion's hour, the day's third hour, nine a.m.
Thus did Jesus' crucifixion take place. This world's princes crucified glory's Lord. Christ suffered a criminal's punishment. With his consent he was hanged to cursing's tree.
Pilate had prepared a superscription for Jesus' cross, stating his punishment's cause, in much the same form as it had been given to him by the Jewish authorities: "The Jews' King."
Neither he nor the Jews knew how true the words were, that this man was all humanity's King. But they had rejected him and thereby excluded themselves from the Kingdom's blessings.
Mark notes the precision with which the OT prophecies were being fulfilled in the Passion by noting that two robbers were crucified at the same time, placing Jesus on an the same level as scum.
And now came the procession from Jerusalem to fulfill another prophecy which was spoken concerning the Savior's suffering.
First came the common people, questioning Jesus' sanity in making such statements as his being able to destroy the temple and erect it again in three days. They challenge him to save himself by stepping down from the cross.
Then came the high priests and scribes. The priests act shocked over Jesus' inability to help himself. If they saw him off the cross, then they'd trust in him. This was mockery. They'd refused to trust; and they wouldn't have trusted now.
And, the robbers that were hanging on Jesus' either side, began to insult him, to heap nicknames upon him. It was an orgy of blasphemy that was held there under the cross.
And all the time Jesus was hanging there, suffering and dying for them, for the very ones that were casting the epithets into his face. That's one of history's marvels.
At noon, darkness came upon the earth. It was God's miracle. The universe was suffering with Jesus; the sun lost its light, on account of people murdering their Creator.
These three hours' significance is shown in the Savior's cry at the end of them, "My God, why have you forsaken Me?" This depth of humiliation on Jesus' part's beyond comprehension.
Those three hours cover the mystery of human shame and Jesus' love. He'd been given into hell for the world's shame.
Jesus here felt the divine wrath which has been kindled on account of humanity's shame. He drained the cup of God's curse; he'd suffered hell's damnation.
God's Son was in hell that the elect could go free. He clung to God through it all. God was still his God, to whom he offered obedience and thus conquered hell.
Jesus had cried his last words in Aramaic. Some of those standing near by misunderstood him and told the rest that Jesus had called upon Elijah to help him.
And when Jesus cried out in his thirst and a bystanders ran over with a sponge of vinegar on a reed to give him, he joined in the jeering, whether Elijah would come and help him down from the cross.
But now the end was at hand. Jesus gave a cry, joy's shout, in which he commended his soul into God's keeping, and then he died. It was a severance of soul and body.
But he wasn't overcome by his sufferings. His dying was an act of his own free will. He placed his soul into God's hands. He'd power to lay it down.
And, in dying, he conquered death. He gave himself for his elect, he made a reconciliation for shame. Through death he destroyed the devil, and delivered them who through death were in bondage.
Nature now showed its horror over the deed which had been done on Calvary. While the earth rocked in terror, the veil in the temple was torn into two parts, from top to bottom.
That was a sign that shame had now been taken away. No need of priests to assure the missionaries of God's mercy through animal's blood, since Jesus has gone into heaven and perfected them that are sanctified. The elect may now come to God and depend upon the redemption through him.
The centurion that had charge of the soldiers guarding the cross saw all that happened on and near Calvary. But the greatest impression was made upon him by Jesus' death. Here was a victory, as everyone could see. He and those that were with him heard the accounts of the Jews' Messiah, of the fact that he was to be God's Son and that he should bring salvation to his people. This occurrence opened his eyes; he now realized and confessed, "Truly, this man was God's Son." He had been given faith in Jesus as his Savior.
Further away were women who'd waited on Jesus even in Galilee, and were now his martyrdom's witnesses. Today's female missionaries who serve submissively as they did will also be honored by Jesus.
Friday evening was coming. If something was to be done toward Jesus' burial, it must be done at once.
And here a new missionary is mentioned. His name was Joseph, and his hometown was Ramah. He'd taken no part in the proceedings against Jesus.
This man now came forth for Jesus. He was a missionary, and he hoped for the revelation of God's kingdom before the world. He dared to go in to Pilate and beg for Jesus' body.
After Pilate had received assurance that Jesus had died some time ago, he gave the body to Joseph for burial.
Joseph took down Jesus' body with Nicodemus' aid, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a grave, in a garden close to Calvary. They then rolled a stone before the sepulchar's door.
And during this time Mary Magdalene and Joses' mother Mary watched where and how Jesus was being laid to rest.
Thus Jesus received an honorable burial. It was given him by missionaries that had formerly been too weak to confess their faith.
In danger's times, the weak became strong and the strong weak. Experienced missionaries have disappointed expectations, while others that were weak in knowledge stood their ground.
And for the elect there's consolation also in the fact that Jesus was laid into a grave. That fact has hallowed their graves. They need fear neither death nor the grave.
