2016 03 20 am Mark 15:21-32 The Gospel of Golgotha

(Old Testament Reading – Numbers 21:4-9)

Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Many people are fascinated by crime.  One of the most popular novel or movie genres is crime stories.  And whether they would say this out loud or not, newspaper or newsroom editors know for a fact that crime stories attract viewers and readers.  And when something like a murder is in the news or a murder trial is occurring, you can guarantee that people sitting next to each other on the bus or workmates in the lunch room or a group of friends or classmates sitting on the grass will be swapping opinions about DNA or the motive or the CCTV footage that was played for the jury in the courtroom yesterday.  One of the problems with such conversations, however, is that we can talk about truly awful things done to victims at the same time that we make comments about the traffic or the weather.  Our exposure to and our familiarity with the gruesome can make the whole thing a bit ho-hum.

And sadly, this can be true, also, in relation to the cross of Christ.  Our familiarity with the Easter story or our general familiarity with the gruesome can mean that the account of the crucifixion of Christ just doesn’t affect us at it should.  And yes, to be sure, it is also possible to make the equal and opposite mistake of getting pre-occupied with the gore of this scene.  And that too would not be right.  There is plenty more that Mark could have written about the detail of Jesus’ agony.  But he did not.  Nevertheless, this is the climax of the Gospel account.  Here in the death of Jesus, in His passion and agony, we finally and fully get to see Who He is and What He came to do.  So taking all this into account let’s try and feel what we read in these verses even as we think about the meaning of what we read in these verses.

For what we need to see today is that Every detail of the crucifixion of Jesus requires a faith response.

If you are not a believer, may it be that our consideration of the details of the crucifixion of Jesus prompts you to respond in faith.  I hope and pray that you will be convinced that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He came to die on the cross for your sins, so that you go from here ready to live for Him.  And if you are a believer, may it be that our consideration of the details of the crucifixion of Jesus enlarges your faith in Christ, your love for Christ, and your determination to live for Him. So we will simply walk through the verses of this passage taking note of how they either Compellingly Call for faith and beautifully bolster faith.  And to bolster is to reinforce or to strengthen or support.

1. The end of v20 tells us that Jesus was “led out to be crucified.” But we see from v21 that Jesus was unable to carry His own cross.
   1. Those sentenced to crucifixion would have the horizontal beam of the cross strapped to their arms for the journey from the palace to the place of crucifixion. The beam weighed in the region of 40kgs.  And 40kgs is about what your average 12-13 year old weighs, or 2 sacks of cement powder.  It was very heavy!
   2. And the journey to the crucifixion location was never the shortest route but a route that was very public in order to humiliate the one sentenced and to warn others of what would happen to them if they committed a similar crime.
   3. Jesus, as best as we can tell, had not eaten since the Supper He enjoyed with the disciples the evening before. He got no sleep that night.  He had been in earnest prayer such that “His sweat was like drops of blood.”  He was arrested and tried by the Jewish leaders, and then beaten by them in the wee small hours of the morning.  He was then taken to Pilate and we can sure that that He was roughly handled along the way.  v15 tells us that Pilate had Him scourged.  And we know that the scourge or whip used on such prisoners was called a flagellum.  It had pieces of bone and metal embedded in the leather straps so as to tear the flesh to shreds with each lash.  And Jesus then had a crown of thorns tear at the flesh of His head as the soldiers struck His head.
   4. And now He must carry the heavy cross-beam all the way to the place of crucifixion. It is no wonder then that He is simply too weak and bruised and exhausted to carry the cross Himself.

1. But if we stop there, we ignore another reason for Jesus’ weakness. You see, added to the physical burden of the heavy, wooden cross was the spiritual burden of carrying the sins of God’s people.  Isaiah 53 speaks about the agonies of Jesus; Listen to vv4-5, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows … He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed.”
   1. Way back at the very beginning of the Bible, God gave Adam a very simple command. He told Him that He could eat from every tree in the Garden of Eden except one.  And He warned Adam that if he ate from that tree, he would surely die.  Disobedience had to be punished.
   2. And then as you read through the OT Law, again and again you read about punishment, including death, that breaking any of God’s laws would incur.

• And that same principle is found in human society. There are rules and there are punishments when the rules are broken.  If Dad breaks the speed limit, he has to pay a fine as a punishment.  If son doesn’t do his homework on time, he loses his phone or computer access for 24 hours as a punishment.  If the tax bill is not paid by the due date, you have to pay a penalty charge.

1. So every lie, every angry word, every thought or act of sexual immorality, every act of violence, every act of stealing, every envious thought, every covetous desire, every selfish thought, every misuse of the Lord’s Day, every blasphemous word, every un-kept promise, every idol (idol) worshipped, and every idle (idle) moment in the life of God’s people must be punished or else God would be unjust and not true to His word.

1. So, already here, as Jesus cannot carry this cross, the Holy Spirit through Mark wants you to see that Jesus is weak because He is carrying every one of your sins and mine – and they are heavy. “He was crushed for our iniquities.”
   1. And as Jesus stumbles under the weight of the cross, unable to carry it, physically and spiritually, you are being asked a question: Do you see that all human beings are guilty law-breakers who deserve the punishment of God? Do you see that Jesus chose to take sin and guilt on Himself and endure the punishment that sinners deserve?  If so, that is good, but it is not yet the response of saving faith.  For it only becomes saving faith when you believe that this is so for you – that Jesus took your sin and guilt to Himself and endured the punishment of God that you
      1. We are usually told that Me, Myself, and I are the ‘unholy trinity.’ But they are actually the necessary pronouns in the language of faith – Jesus died for me, Jesus paid the price for my sin, Jesus endured the punishment that I
   2. So if you came to church today not yet a follower of Jesus, I hope you can see that His inability to carry the cross is a compelling call to faith.
   3. But if you came to church today already a follower of Jesus, I trust that the scene described here beautifully bolsters your faith, as it did for Isaac Watts who was moved to write these words in his lovely hymn, When I Survey: “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
2. Well, next we are told about Simon of Cyrene being compelled to carry the cross for Jesus.
   1. Cyrene was a place in North Africa known to us today as Libya.
   2. And the most obvious reason for Mark’s naming of Simon as the father of Alexander and Rufus was that these people were known to the original readers of Mark’s Gospel account. And while we cannot be 100% certain that it is the same people, these names are mentioned elsewhere in the NT.  So many commentators believe that Simon was probably one of the wider group of Jesus’ disciples at this time and that he and his sons later became a part of the NT church.
   3. And if that is the case, it becomes more obvious why the mention of Simon also demands a faith response. You see, you might remember that previously Jesus said to the crowd and to His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  So with that statement in mind, Simon here becomes a very plain parable or illustration of what Jesus said then; Simon becomes a prototype for all Christians; a kind of living sermon.
      1. At the beginning of the day, Simon’s intention was to go into Jerusalem, just as many others were doing that day. But instead he encountered Jesus in the centre of a group coming out of Jerusalem, and he was compelled to turn around and carry a cross because of Jesus.
      2. And there are many people who think that this life and this world is all there is. They live an earth-focused life.  You get up, you earn money so you can spend it, and one day you will die, end of story.  And perhaps today this includes you.
      3. What the Bible reveals is that this life is not all that there is; after this life comes eternal life, either in heaven or in hell. And Jesus says that the way to eternal life in heaven is by believing in Him and then living this life as a pilgrim who is heading towards heaven ‘carrying a cross.’  A decisive encounter with Jesus will radically change the shape of your life from that moment on.
   4. That is the sermon preached here by Simon. Simon carrying the cross is a compelling call to believe in Jesus as the Christ.  But if you are already a follower of Christ and you know from personal experience that the way of the Lord is a narrow path of self-denial and sacrifice and serving others, then Simon carrying the cross is another way that your faith is beautifully bolstered.

3. Well, in v22, we are told that the place where they brought Him was “Golgotha (which means the place of the skull).”
   1. So why are we given the name of this place? Well, given the amount of archaeological exploration and commentary pages devoted to Golgotha’s precise location, you would think that we are told the place so that Christian tourists can make a pilgrimage to the exact spot where the cross was and be moved to tears as they take a selfie there.
   2. But nothing, congregation, could be further from the truth. Golgotha is an Aramaic word, which was the language of the Jews of that time.  Mark translates it into Greek so that the Gentile Christians he wrote to could know the place he was referring to.
   3. And most commentators agree that it was called the place of the skull simply because it was shaped like a skull – it was a smallish mound or hill. It was not Sinai or the Acropolis or the Coliseum, which would be useful for our GPS locators.  It was essentially a geographically anonymous spot that was suited to public executions because its raised-ness meant that those executed there could be seen by a decent sized crowd.
   4. You see, earlier in Jesus’ public ministry, He referred to that episode we read earlier from Numbers 21, about a pole with a serpent on it being lifted up so the people could look at it and be healed. He said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”  And later on, He also said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”  He said this to show by what kind of death He was going to die.”
   5. The reason we are told that Jesus was crucified at Golgotha is because this location made it possible for a crowd of eye-witnesses to see that He was crucified.
      1. Just two weeks ago, John Tully was found guilty of murdering two women in the Work and Income office at Ashburton last year. Why was he found guilty?  Because lots of people saw him do it and it was captured on CCTV.  There is no doubt about what happened.
      2. Well, Golgotha is Mark’s CCTV footage. Mark’s readers could have spoken to anyone in the crowd at Golgotha and they would have confirmed all that Mark said.  And you can be certain that many did.  Wouldn’t you have done that if you could speak to someone who witnessed this with their own eyes?

• By any standard of historical reliability then, what you are reading here really happened.  It is a compelling call to faith in Christ and it beautifully bolsters faith in Christ. Listen to Jesus again, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”  Don’t go and look for Golgotha  Instead, believe that he truly died for your sins “that you may have eternal life!”

4. Well, next we are told that Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrhh but He refused it. Proverbs 31:6 says, “Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress.”  History tells us that it became a custom for Jewish women, as an act of kindness, to offer this morphine like drink to those being executed.  But Jesus chooses instead to feel every ounce of the bitter agony of God’s wrath against sin that should have been felt by you.

5. v24 says, “And they crucified Him.” He wasn’t hung or stoned or drowned or burnt; He was crucified.
   1. And that means, congregation, that nails were driven into his hands on the horizontal cross beam and then that beam was fixed to the standing vertical pole and nails were then driven into His feet. But it was not the nails and the resulting blood loss that killed the one crucified.  As you hung there your lungs would be constricted by the weight of your body, so you would have to prop yourself up to take a breath.  Most often the soldiers would eventually break the legs of the person so that they could no longer prop themselves up and they died of suffocation.  And that is what happened with the two robbers we are told of in v27, as John explains in his Gospel.  But this was not done to Jesus because when they came to do it to Him they discovered that He was already dead.  Crucifixion was a terrible agony.
   2. In Galatians 3, the Apostle Paul deals with why it was necessary for Jesus to be crucified. He explains that it was because at the centre of God’s relationship with the Jews was His covenant.  And the body of covenant breakers who had been stoned to death had to be hung on a tree as a public demonstration that this person was a covenant breaker under the curse of God.  And every time you and me sin, we break covenant with the God to whom we owe perfect obedience.  So we deserve the curses of the covenant – death and eternal punishment.  But, says Paul, “Christ redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”
   3. And the use of the word ‘tree’ to describe the cross should remind us that the original sin of Adam, as we have already mentioned, involved a forbidden tree. And you boys and girls will remember that Adam was then forced out of the Garden of Eden so that he would not eat from the Tree of life.  You see, if he had done that, he and all human beings would have been eternally ‘locked in’ to the estate of being a sinner without any hope of rescue and redemption.  That’s why the way to that tree was barred.  God wanted the focus of Adam and sinful humanity to be another tree – this tree – the cross of Jesus Christ.  For the fruit of this tree is eternal life by Christ and with Christ.
      1. The hymn-writer said, “Beneath the cross of Jesus I gladly take my stand, the shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land. O blessed shelter from the storm, the sinner’s sure retreat, O glorious place where heaven’s love and heaven’s justice meet.”  And we shall sing these words very soon.  But will the second stanza be your profession of faith?  “Upon the cross of Jesus my eye by faith can see, the very dying form of one who suffered there for me; and from my stricken heart with tears, two wonders I confess: the wonder of His glorious love and my unworthiness”?

6. Well, there is more faith-compelling and faith-bolstering gold that could be mined from the casting of lots of His garments in v24, the inscription of v26, and the fact that He was crucified with two robbers in v27. But we have said more about some of those things in the past, and we will return, God willing, to consider them in the future.  Today though let us end with the mocking words of those who passed by and the chief priests and the scribes, as we find them in vv29-32.
   1. When Jesus was tried by the Jewish leaders, ch. 14:27 tells us that a false witness accused Jesus of threatening to destroy the temple and rebuild one in three days. And in vv29-30, this false accusation is again thrown at Jesus as He hangs there on the cross, together with an ‘Aha!  Save yourself, and come down from the cross!’
   2. And the chief priests and scribes take up this mocking also as they say, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.”
   3. So the passers-by and the Jewish leaders are mocking Jesus because He cannot save Himself. But Jesus has already told us in Mark 10:45 why He came to earth.  He said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”  Jesus went to the cross and stayed on the cross in order to save His people from their sins.  He came to endure God’s wrath against your sin so you could enjoy eternal fellowship with God in heaven.  He came to die that you may live!
   4. John 2:19 tells us what Jesus actually said about the temple. It was, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  And we read, “He was speaking about the temple of His body.  When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”
   5. But how about you? Do you believe this?  Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins?  Do you find the crucifixion of Jesus to be a compelling call to faith?  Or has the crucifixion of Jesus beautifully bolstered your faith, again?

If so, then remember what we read earlier from Romans 6: “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin … Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.  Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.”  May God make this the response of loving hearts to His amazing love to us revealed on the cross of Golgotha.  Amen.