SERIES: Mark — The Cross-Shaped Life
TEXT: Mark 15:1-20
MESSAGE: “Jesus and the Crowd”
“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’” — Mark 8:34
“When archaeologists dig through the ruins of antiquity, they have one certain way to identify a place of Christian worship. They look for a cross. When they find it painted on a wall, carved into stone, or even worked into a floor plan, they know they’ve found a church. Since the beginning, Christians have identified themselves with the cross on which Jesus died. And whether it’s carved in wood or etched on our hearts, the cross is the chief symbol and defining reality of the Christian faith.” — Philip Ryken
Q: What do we learn from today’s text about Jesus’ path to the cross?
TEXT: Mark 15:1-20
“It is early Friday morning. Our Lord has been betrayed, abandoned, interrogated, beaten, spit on, and denied throughout the night with no rest. He will soon be beaten nearly to death by Roman scourging (15:15) and crucified. He will die around 3:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon (15:33–37). What sinful man did to the Son of God can only make us weep. What the sinless Son of God did for man can only make us shout with joy for a “Savior King” who would suffer everything He suffered for you and for me.” — Daniel Akin
“The idea seems to be that although we are reading accounts of what men are doing to Jesus, behind it all we must also be aware of the guiding hand of God.” — Donald English
Q: What do we learn from today’s text about Jesus’ path to the cross? We see…(1. The Silence 2. The Spectacle 3. The Significance)
1. The Silence (v. 1-5)
And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. 2 And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” 3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” 5 But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” — Isaiah 53:7
“The irony of the situation is overpowering…Jesus refused either to plead guilty or to defend himself.” — Handley Moule
“I know men, and I tell you Jesus Christ was not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and other religions the distance of infinity. Alexander, Cæsar, Charlemagne and myself founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon sheer force. Jesus Christ alone founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men will die for Him.”— Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
2. The Spectacle (v. 6-15)
Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. 7 And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. 8 And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. 9 And he answered them, 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 Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
“Without knowing it, the religious leaders and Pilate and Barabbas were all part of a tapestry of grace which God was weaving for sinners. Their actions spoke louder than their words, louder than the cries of the crowds for Jesus’ blood. Jesus was not dying for His own crimes, but for the crimes of others; not for His own sins, but the sins of others. He did not die for Himself, he died for us!” — Sinclair Ferguson
3. The Significance (v. 15-20)
“And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they 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.”
TAKEAWAYS: How does this apply to our lives?
- Rest in His silence
- Recognize the great exchange
’Learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to pray to him and, despairing of yourself, say: “Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am thy sin. Thou hast taken upon thyself what is mine and hast given to me what is thine. Thou hast taken upon thyself what thou wast not and hast given to me what I was not.”’ — Martin Luther
“…by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” — Colossians 2:14-15