The Crucifixion and the Mockery

Introduction to the Crucifixion Narrative

0:07 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, February 4th, 1990, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to turn with me in your own Bibles to the 15th chapter of Mark's Gospel, the Gospel according to Mark and the 15th chapter, and follow as I begin the reading with verse 21 and read through to the end of verse 32. Mark 15, verses 21 through 32.

0:54 And they compel one passing by, Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear... His cross, that is, the cross of Jesus.

1:11 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is being interpreted the place of a skull. And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh, but he received it not. And they crucify him, and part his garments among them, casting lots upon them, what each should take. And it was the third hour.

1:39 And they crucified him. And the superscription of his accusation was written over the king of the Jews. And with him they crucify two robbers, one on his right hand and one on his left. And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying, Ha, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself.

2:10 Save thyself and come down from the cross. In like manner also, the chief priests, mocking him among themselves with the scribes, said, He saved others, himself he cannot save. Let the Christ, the king of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe that we're crucified with him. He approached.

2:44 Let us again pray and ask God... God, as we enter the holy sanctuary of this part of Mark's record, that God the Holy Spirit will take of the things of Christ and reveal them to us with clarity and with power.

3:00 Let us pray. Our Father, if you commanded Moses to take the shoes from off his feet, because he stood by a bush that burned as the symbol of your living holy presence, how much more do we feel? Like taking the shoes from off our feet and pressing our faces upon the floor when we stand before the mysteries of the cross.

3:38 We confess, Lord, that our frail spirits, your servant expound, and your people here spend an hour in intense contemplation of that, the very reading of which breath away and brings us to tears. Lord, help us in our weakness. Oh, send the spirit who testifies of Christ this morning to make every one of our heart. We add his name. It hardly seems possible that five successive Lord's days

4:42 have considered together Mark's leading to the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Path to Golgotha: Pre-Crucifixion Sufferings

4:58 Back into this profound section of Mark's narrative, let me very briefly remind you of the major steps leading to God's crucifixion. And to the actual crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. You will remember that all of this began in wrestlings in prayer.

5:28 And he has been bound by the Roman authorities after the kiss of betrayal by Judas Passover evening. Having been bound and entered into two major categories,

5:57 supposedly formal tools which in reality were shamed. There was the ecclesiastical trial. Before the Jewish authorities in its three-part civil trial. Before the combined dignities and physical trauma of the following struck with blows of the hand,

6:35 according to Mark 14 and verse 65. He had been spat. Dimension of the ecclesiastical trial. We read Luke 23, 8 through 12, that at the appearance before Herod, he was further mocked by the soldiers.

6:58 And then when back before, according to Mark, scourging left his back of torn flesh,

7:20 sometimes of its victims. At this point, the soldiers then had there,

7:35 for according to Mark 20, they gave him a mock,

7:47 constructing the crowns and giving him this mock as a king. And then proceeded to heap mock afferents upon him. As we read in chapter 15 and verse 19. The cross upon him.

8:12 And under the weakening of wrestlings with God, subsequent physical abuse, personal strength undeserved.

8:34 And it isn't long before the soldiers realize that they will be night and half the day making their way the short distance to Golgotha unless they gain some forced assistance out of the carrying of Jesus. And so they conscript a man named Simon from Cyrene, identified in Cyrene, to the city walls of Jerusalem. And there they are of wine.

9:21 This was a concoction intended to dull the senses and thereby menial to be executed more docile,

9:31 perhaps even with an ounce of pity,

9:37 crucifixion that was to follow. But according to Mark, our Lord refused.

9:45 And he refused it that it might be evident to all that in his crucifixion, he was acting in the full consciousness of voluntary obedience to the Father and with a determination that he would undergo the agonies of the cross.

10:11 He's deluded. Influence of drugged wine upon his brain. Free view that eases us back into passage. This morning to verses 24 to 32.

The Act of Crucifixion: Basic Elements and Timing

10:30 And as we reverently take up these verses, notice, note with me, first of all, the act of crucifixion, crucifixion, 24a,

10:51 crucify him with a hissing tense that is intended to force the faculties of sanctified imagination and to picture him crucified before our affirmation 25. It's a different tense of the verb. The tense of the act having been accomplished. Statements, statements, secondary description is not unique fiction. The actual impaling the Son of God, human gibbet, is a firm simplicity as to the use.

12:13 One commentator having features of the scriptures are the records of the supreme events. One God's Son. One own fiction.

12:34 Resurrection.

12:45 In such an aston... This is one of the plain marks of divine in product itself.

12:54 Matthew, who uses only a principle as if the crucifixion were the minor act that was subsidiary to the apportioning of the clothes. Luke has a simple heiress to express the fact. John, likewise, marks the vivid description tense. The intention of all the evangelists is evidently not to destroy fiction.

13:34 The sentiments I that no man might to attempt to be wiser than God is written. Most all documents were written and spread in empire. The vast majority taken up the documents or heard them read by another would have known sight or by general knowledge what was bound up in the words of verse 24a pacifying him. I have wrestled deep agony of heart before God. On the one hand, fearful lest by being too regressing on that knowledge which every common peasant would have had therein find any common citizen throughout the empire. Fearful lest by failing to impart that minimum of description I undercut the grounds of appreciation and love for the Savior.

14:57 And yet fearful on the other hand that if I go beyond what is written and what is warranted that I should in any way cast aspersions upon the wisdom of God and disrupt that delicate balance of true vital piety which is not preoccupied with the physical aspects of the sufferings of Christ. Preoccupied and the spiritual significance of his crucifixion upon this instrument of execution and therefore I will stick very closely to my notes as I have tried to that middle course between my two fears and I ask you to bear with me as I direct your attention in opening up this simple affirmation of the crucifixion in terms first of all of its basic

16:01 elements and then its specific scripture it's to give us and then allow to flush out and validate when most light taken which was carried by Simon his arms would have been stretched and probably

17:11 tied upon that which would eventually be the would have been cross lightly tied soldiers would have taken an iron sit here in the wrist possibly in the center of the hand in the wrist part of the hand and would have of that Roman gibbet this would have been done with both hands and then as theologist Spade has affirmed one fight would have been driven over the overlapping feet fact the skeletons and some have been found with holes in both heels made by one common spike and one spike found that was even bent at the end as it hit a lot halfway through its being fixed to the vertical part of a cross at this point the victim then would have been lifted up upon his cross he would have rested down upon what I do not know how described in any other imagery then the seat of a

18:36 bike tilted forward that would have caught fleshy part in order that dressed neither upon the feet or upon the hands then the victim lived as long as death would generally be and in the case of nation is uttered at the day they've been so the Romans did what they had done many times of the thieves cruisers there would probably be increased bleeding through a compound fracture but it would take away the ability of the person crucified to push up upon his legs and the spikes in the feet in order to somehow suck in enough air to take the next breath it

19:56 would have left him sagging and ultimately suffocating upon us on which he was crucified so when Mark affirms the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus is what they did to him crucify him those are the basic elements of what they did now the precise time at which they did it verse 25 and it was the third crucified him and in the idiom in which mark uses it would not be wrong to translate it and it was the third hour when they crucified him the third hour would be according to the Jewish reckoning beginning at six in the morning the third hour

20:55 o'clock in the morning of execution by fiction and while I am with the time in John 19 14 again it is utterly irrelevant with respect to our concerns this morning and so I pass over it without comment now having noted the brevity of the use of the words and the simple affirmation of the crucifixion we now come to consider with much greater fullness of description in the text what I am couldn't circumstances of the crucifixion the crucifixion is a fur gravity and spying and it was the third I crucified him but now when it comes to the attendant circumstances of the crucifixion we are taken from verse 26 unto verse

Attendant Circumstances: Garment Distribution and Superscription

22:16 32 spirit of God who's in to be much more full in giving us facts that otherwise we would never know and as I have pondered these attendance circumstances is set before us in the text I see at least four categories of activity described under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the first is the distribution of his garments first 24 and they crucify him and his among them what each should take you do not part a man's garments and distribute them until first of all you have stripped them from all his person and it was common practice to a man naked before crucifying him and while there is a debate among commentators and historians as to whether or not there was some concession to Jewish feelings in the matter,

23:33 there is nothing in the Word of God to indicate that any exception to order, practice, and crucifixion was made in the case of our Lord. And so the prejudice of the silence of Scripture points to our Lord. In the midst of all these indignities, the shame and the indignity of total nakedness as He is impaled upon the cross, apparently those who were willing to undergo this sordid task of executing criminals by crucifixion, part of their extra remuneration by the Roman authority was the privilege of dividing, taking His clothes and making them their own. And so the blood-soaked garments of our Lord, His outer cloak, His inner cloak, His sash, what we would call His belt and maybe His sandals, are taken and the soldiers by one means or another, whether breaking off sticks of different length and saying,

24:57 the shortest is the stick that belongs to His outer garment, the next belongs to His sandals, and shaking them up in one of the helmets and reaching in, by what means He cast the lot or drew the lot, we do not know. But in record of Mark we are told that they parted His garments among them, casting lots upon them, what each should take. Greater details with reference to their desire, the garment woven of one piece would not be torn and rent, but those details, add nothing substantial to this horrible sight of the impaired. Joking as to who will get the slippers or sandals and who will get the outer garment. Then the next detail that is set before us regarding the attendant circumstances, after the distribution of the garments, there is secondly the placement of the superscription at the head of this cross. Verse 26.

26:13 And the superscription of His accusation, was written over the King, whose title that is written in languages, Hebrew, the accusation of this one impaled. Matthew describes it as an accusation. Luke and Mark read into the matter, and it's amazing how sanctified minds have been willing to present as accurately as possible, precisely what took place. One who has looked into these matters, responsibly has written as follows. On the way to the execution site, a delinquent wore or had carried before him, a wooden board whitened with chalk, on which letters were written in ink, or burn in specifying the victim. After the execution,

27:37 this summary statement was fastened to the cross above of the crucified. And then the historical sources are cited, and I will not weary you with that more academic information. The notice attached to the cross, on which the tortured body of Jesus hung, bore in black or red letters, on the white ground or background, the inscription. It declared that Jesus had been sentenced to death, as politically subversive of the authority of Imperial Rome.

28:17 The wording was designed, to convey assault to Jewish pretensions, and to mock all attempts to assert the sovereignty of a subject territory. The detail concerning the inscription, which conforms to Roman penal procedure, and must reflect eyewitnesses report, is a solid historical fact. It provides the unimpeachable information, that Jesus went to his death, as the Messiah. The superscription had written his accusation, the King of the Jews.

29:00 Remember God owed the disposition of the Jews, who wanted it changed, to read as follows. This is, he read as follows, this is he who said, it said, what I have written, I have written. And God used that unprincipled godless man, to give this proper identification, to Jesus, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, with the placement of this superscription above his head, the King of the Jews. The next attendant circumstance, crucifixion of the two criminals, verse 27a.

Attendant Circumstances: Crucifixion of Criminals and Widespread Blasphemy

29:44 And with him, crucified before the thought, not that these men were perfectionists, who in supporting their guerrilla activity, pillaged and murdered, because, capital punishment was not warranted, for mere thievery under Roman. And so the fact that these two men were executed, with the Lord Jesus, indicates that they had committed crimes, worthy of capital punishment. And so these two criminals are taken, and executed at the same time, our Lord Jesus is placed upon his cross. Significance this much is clear, that our Lord was indeed numbered, among the transgressors.

30:59 In the eye was just another at the will, and then the significant attendant circumstance, according to Mark's record, and all the other gospel records as well, is the blasphemy gathered about his cross. 28 is not supported and attested, by the best manuscripts here in Mark presence, in Luke 22, 37 is unattested, so it is clearly the word of God. It is my judgment, one which I share with the majority of, that it should not be here in the text of Mark, but that we move immediately from verse 27 to verse 29. And they that passed, blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, a word from Mark,

32:21 ha, the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross, the chief, and then the end, 32, they that crucified, statement of Luke 23, 36, and we find, mockery. So the fourth attendant circumstance of this, initial period of our Lord upon the cross, that which focuses upon the blasphemy, the taunting and the mockery, of gathered, us. Notice the detail. First of all, general, versus 29 and 30. And that's an excellent translation of the word in the original.

33:25 And they that were passing by festive season, as the description of their, and then of the actual verbal, and that's a very significant touch of description concerning body language. In Psalm 22 in verse seven, this, theology is used of those who wag there. It is found in Psalm 109 verse 25, Jeremiah 18, 16, Lamentations 2, 15, and other parts of the Old Testament. And whatever the peculiar significance may have been, we can relate to this. We use this body language all the time. Someone comes to us and makes a statement and we wag our heads.

34:34 Word you're saying. Us. Someone does something. And we wag the head and say, that's ridiculous.

34:47 But the wagging one, so taken up in the thoughts of his mind that there is a reflexive body language, issuing from the disposition of the mind and the words that are about to issue from the mouth. And so with the wagging, as they pass by, they then break out in these verbs, which Mark calls blasphemy. Ha! The destruction.

35:19 Thus, blasphemy. Blasphemy is an act of blasphemy that is Tarot card. There's a major place in each part that has God's message on them. And it's a.

35:52 EA番 county. It's not C 어디. It is. We heard him say, this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.

36:05 And not even so did their witness agree together. So perhaps these passers-by were those who had stood there before the high priest and before the Sanhedrin and had heard the accusation. And so they figure they will pick up the strain and once again throw it into the face of the Son of God. And so with the wagging of their heads, indicating again that not hung upon a cross that they did him five or ten feet above the ground as far as where his feet were.

36:41 The crosses were elevated barely above the level of the ground. And in the case of our Lord, the little stump of a piece of hyssop was all that was needed to take a sponge and soak it with sour wine and put it to his mouth. So passing by within a matter of minutes. A matter of what?

36:59 Four or five feet from the very face of Jesus. Mere creatures of the dust created by the incarnate God that destroys the temple and builds it in three days. You have such supernatural power.

37:32 Take your hands from the bands and the nails. Your feet, ropes and the nails.

37:42 Yourself. Then you can do such a mindful which it took decades.

37:55 Interpreting his words. Interpreting his words with a crass literalism concerning Herod's temple. They taunt our Lord with body language and with blasphemous verbal abuse. But then Mark concentrates in the second place upon the members of the Sanhedrin.

38:13 Verse 31 and 2. In like manner all the chiefs mocking him among with the stride said. He said. Notice how detailed the description is.

38:34 He says. By me directly into the Lord's face. Members of the Sanhedrin. Antiphonal choir.

38:54 Know it an antiphonal choir in which one part sings a part of the anthem and another sings another. As though they answer one to another. And they form a devilish antiphonal choir. And the text is very clear.

39:12 In manner that is wagging of the within self. They did not look to the Lord. But they shouted one to another. This.

39:34 Acknowledgement of the. Of his miracles. It was the miracle of. From the dead.

39:55 Midly precipitated their final determination to get rid of him. They said. Though his resurrection has upset everything. We kissed him.

40:08 I.

40:11 Oh they shout one to another. But the wagging of their. Using all the force of their body language and their foul verbiage. And they too taunt the son of God.

40:26 But then in the third place we see the crucified criminals. Join in. I'm sorry. In carrying on words of the Sanhedrin the beginning of verse 32 let the Christ the king of Israel now.

40:49 You see they go a step further. They say if he is such a miracle we will believe. Then in the third place there is the taunting crucified criminals. And they that were crucified with him reproached him.

41:24 Imagine. Pick up the words and these vicious murder. Murder religious leaders and pastors. And they cast into the face.

42:04 Into the ear. And into the heart. Now we know for 23 one of them didn't go on. But was marvelously transformed.

42:16 But then according to Luke 23 and verse 36. The Roman soldiers then picked up the chorus. You see it's as though no one wanted to be left out. If the in this sight.

42:31 Of the son of God. With the contusions. Upon his. Face.

42:36 The blood. Spit. One after another picks up the chorus. Until we read in Luke 23 and verse 36.

42:52 And the soldiers all coming to him. Him vinegar and saying. If they thyself. The soul.

43:15 In powerless. That he does not even revert with one word. Defense. Let's join in.

43:22 It's perfectly safe fun.

43:26 So the blasphemy. The taunting. And the mockery. Of those gathered about his cross.

43:32 Is the element of this dimension. Of the sufferings of Christ. That is highlighted. Above all.

The Glory of Christ in His Suffering: Self-Giving and Self-Restraint

43:42 In summary then.

43:50 Crucifixion is affirmed. The attending circumstances.

43:57 Next week. We will notice how the focus shifts. Treatment at the hands of men. To his treatment at the hands of God.

44:07 The focus will shift. From the horizontal. In the immediate surroundings of the cross. And to a cross.

44:21 Lips. Not directed to his taunters. But to his father. But having come this far.

44:29 In this morning. And it remains. What are some of the great lessons. God would have us learn.

44:37 From this part of the narrative. Well as I meditated upon that question. I found myself on the one hand.

44:51 Focus our attention upon several. Profitable. Of the absolute. Supernaturalness.

45:05 Infallibility of scripture. They pause as it was prophesied. In Psalm 22 7. He was numbered with a malice.

45:18 As was prophesied in Isaiah 53. Again. In fulfillment of scripture. Both on the other hand.

45:37 Revelation of the depths.

46:04 Members of the Sanhedrin have known who he was. And have dared. The blindness of the human heart. Heartlessness of man.

46:22 What forever conceive. Of a method of excellence. Persecution. So utterly sadistic.

46:30 And without compassion.

46:36 The other hand. I said surely this is an amazing love of God for sinners. Mark could never have had his life. Nervous and suffering.

47:04 But give him up even to the death of the cross.

47:09 Not his own son. But for us all.

47:18 Sinners. Christ.

47:21 And surely these things are all there. The passage. The strong nation. Of the nature of scripture.

47:29 The sickening revelation of human depravity. The way of divine life. I desire to focus on that which the spirit himself has focused upon. And with me.

47:47 That the holiness of the cross has given us. When it comes to the act of crucifixion. Only one word. And they cry him.

48:15 But when it comes to all of the various groups. Joints of blasphemy. Verduce and denigration of the son of God. There ends why.

48:34 And I'm convinced the answer is this. That at this point.

48:42 Amidst all the gorelessness.

48:46 Sickening. The revolting.

48:53 Behold. The glory.

48:59 But you say pastor in what sense is the glory. And the majesty.

49:10 The wickedness. Of the human heart. Well I say. His glory and his majesty is seen particularly in two facets.

49:22 Passage the glory. The majesty of his total health giving. Is it not of the cross.

50:16 To the cross. And when they want and say. Act of being ducting himself in a pass. And leave himself for us.

50:52 Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. And himself up for the church. Commandment have I received of my friends too. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.

51:22 Who being in the form of Christ. Who being in the form of God. Thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But emptied himself upon himself.

51:30 The form of a servant. And being compassionate as a man. He humbled himself. And became obedient unto death.

51:39 Now I hope the words have more meaning. Even the death.

51:57 Crucified. He continually told Jerusalem. And crucified.

52:13 To the nature of that horrible death. He deliberately. Willingly. To his father.

52:21 And I say it reverently. He deliberately. In giving love. Laying his life.

52:40 For us. And when you ask the question. Why did he subject himself to all.

52:49 He was moved.

52:56 For your salvation. And for mine.

53:04 And gave himself.

53:11 Only the glory majesty. Of his self.

53:18 But there is also the glory self restraint.

53:28 Restraint. Lenski the Lutheran. Commentator. When their reasoning would require that Jesus should never have placed himself in their power at them bring him to the cross.

53:49 It's noteworthy that the derision uttered beneath the cross on the power of Jesus. His power replaced the sanctuary. His power to step down from his powers. And thus to save himself.

54:08 That power is mocked. As being nothing but sham and pretense. Because Jesus does not use. As they dictate.

54:17 He ought to use it. These mockers know. First of all. Mercy that care only for others.

54:31 At the complete expense of self. They know nothing. So their mockery recoils. Only upon themselves.

54:40 If you're a Christian and you have listened. With even half an ear this morning. Surely you've asked yourself. How could the Lord Jesus.

54:48 That indignity. Any one faceted. If it was enough. That was enough to from his word.

55:17 I am sent one. But he says no such word. No word directed to either of those men. Until there is the indication.

55:27 That his grace. Is working repentance in one of them. And then the word he speaks. Is not one of self justification.

55:37 Not one of condemnation. But one of pardon. Unto thee today. The glory of his self.

55:50 Restraint. No word. This antiphonal. Except for some of those.

56:22 Gracious words that are recorded. In the other gospel records. Father forgive them. For they know not what they do.

56:32 The first Peter two. Have taken on new significance to me. In my meditations on this passage. For here Peter says.

56:40 Of our Lord Jesus. In first Peter two twenty one. For here unto where ye. Because Christ suffered for you.

56:49 Leaving you an example. That you should follow his steps. Who did no sin. Neither was gone in his mouth.

57:00 Now look into these words. He was reviled. Categories. The passers by.

57:22 And from the futures. All of them reviled. He reviled not again. When he suffered.

57:31 He threatened not. He called him. Who judges. Righteously.

Application: Imitating Christ and Finding Salvation

57:44 The total self giving. Joy stood here. And my final word is. We would have no hope this morning.

58:02 For the scripture says. That if he were to fulfill. His God given role. In the name of God.

58:11 He must as a lamb. Before its shearers is done. Not his mouth. So in the midst.

58:36 He might never say. You don't know. The tauntings. Who can say that.

59:00 We are but sinful creatures. Who deserve to be taunted. And haunted. And mocked by devils and demons.

59:09 For all eternity anyway. But here is the sinless son of God. Who did not be reviled. O child you are called upon.

59:21 To imitate him. Follow and let taunting. The words of retaliation. And self defense.

59:35 From your lips. That you are called. To imitate your savior. Who when he was reviled.

59:46 Not again. And my sinner friend. Boy or girl of whatever age. Who has never seen any beauty in Christ.

59:57 Do you see a beauty in Christ. Crucified this morning. Do you see something in the cross. You have never seen before.

60:12 Is your only hope. Salvation. Because he did no sin. He was suffering the just for the unjust.

60:20 And if God spares us. And keeps us in the land of the living. And in the land. That we might gather again next Lord.

60:30 We will see what he underwent. In the theater of heaven. And in the court. Where God deals with human sin.

60:38 But suffice it to say for today. That that death. Was not for his sins. The mockery and the jeering.

60:46 Were for no sins of his own. But he was bearing. Our sins. In his body.

60:54 Up to the tree. That we might have a just. And righteous grounds. Of pardon and forgiveness.

61:03 And I urge you. If you have never fled to Christ. For pardon and forgiveness. Go to him this morning.

61:11 Go to him now. Jesus I do for the first time. See glory. In your self giving.

61:22 In your deliberate willing. To lay down. The likes of me. I see a glory.

61:33 That restrains. That you would not sin. That you might be the spotless lamb of God. That I might have a perfect savior.

61:41 Go to him. Go to him as you are. Go to him now. And find in him.

61:50 The promised mercy.