SERIES: Mark — The Cross-Shaped Life
TEXT: Mark 15:21-41
MESSAGE: “The Cross”
“…what is it that we want when we elevate the love partner to the position of God? We want redemption—nothing less. We want to be rid of our faults, of our feelings of nothingness. We want to be justified, to know that our creation has not been in vain. We turn to the love partner for the experience of the heroic, for perfect validation; we expect them to “make us good” through love,” Needless to say, human partners can’t do this. The Iover does not dispense cosmic heroism; he cannot give absolution in his own name. The reason is that as a finite being, he, too, is doomed, and we read that doom in his own fallibilities, in his very deterioration. Redemption can only come from outside the individual, from beyond, from our conceptualization of the ultimate source of things, the perfection of creation.” — Earnest Becker
“And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.”
“Their jeers underscore Mark’s point. He saved others—the disciples in the midst of a sea storm, the woman with a hemorrhage—and he truly cannot save himself. Were he to save himself, he could not save others from something more deadly than storms or illnesses. The nails do not hold him fast to the cross, the love of God constrains him.” — David Garland
2. The Curtain (v. 33-38)
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
“When Jesus Christ starts crying out, he doesn’t say, “My friends, my friends; my head, my head; my hands, my hands; my feet, my feet …” He says, “My God, my God …” He’s losing God. What is this darkness? What is coming down on him? I’ll tell you what’s coming down on him. Our judgment day! Our judgment day is coming down on him!” — Timothy Keller
What’s the impact? Look at v. 37: “And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”
3. The Centurion (v. 39-41)
And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” 40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
“The dreadful appearances of God in His providence sometimes work strangely for the conviction and awakening of sinners. This was expressed in the terror that fell upon the centurion and the Roman soldiers. Let us, with an eye of faith, behold Christ and Him crucified, and be affected with that great love wherewith He loved us. Never were the horrid nature and effects of sin so tremendously displayed as on that day when the beloved Son of the Father hung upon the Cross, suffering for sin, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. Let us yield ourselves willingly to His service.” — Matthew Henry
TAKEAWAYS:
- Cling tightly to the cross
- Never graduate from the cross
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.”
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”— John 3:16-17