DESPISED AND REJECTED OF MEN
Mark 15:16-21
Introduction: In the film Saving
Private Ryan soldiers are sent out to find Private Ryan and to bring him
home because his brothers had been killed in the war. It was an act of mercy
for his mother’s sake. Several of the soldiers who seek for him are killed –
and one whispers his dying words to Private Ryan, “Earn this.” The final scene of the film is of an old Private Ryan
in the cemetery of the war dead asking himself the question, “Did I earn it? Was I worthy?” There are
parallels to the gospel message in the sacrifice of his rescuers, but Jesus did
not say from his cross as he died for us, “Earn this.” He cried out, “It is finished.” We can’t earn our salvation. His
sacrifice was sufficient to save us completely. We can’t add anything—it is finished. This is why He came.
Through His blood, His supreme sacrifice for our sins—all who believe will be
saved. The Cross was God’s plan.
In addressing the troubled community of faith
in Corinth, Paul said in his first letter to them,
…but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to
Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and
the wisdom of God. 25 For the
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than
men… (I Cor 1:23-25).
A crucified Messiah was a stumbling block, a scandal,
to the Jews. Why would God allow the One who is to be their deliverer to be
nailed to a Cross? Adding to the offense was the scriptural idea that “…one who hangs from a tree is cursed by God…”
(Dt 21:23; cf. Gal 3:13). A crucified
messiah was a contradiction, an oxymoron, from the Jewish perspective. Likewise,
it was foolishness to the gentiles. The soldiers’ reaction in this context
illustrates that thinking: This is your
king? Look at him! Bloodied, humiliated, beaten, powerless, at their mercy
(or so they thought!). They thought it ludicrous that such a one should be
hailed as a king! Soon, at least one soldier, by the end of this chapter,
seemingly has his eyes opened to the truth (15:39). So, as the Jewish leaders
had mocked Him (14:55) so now the Roman soldiers amplify the cruelty,
ridiculing His supposed sovereignty. A
stumbling block to the Jews, and now, foolishness
to the gentiles.
Ironically,
the words that passed the lips of the soldiers were literally true. Though they
were intended as mockery, they said more than they knew. Jesus is in fact
the King, worthy of worship. They didn’t understand His nature as the
Passover-King, who willingly submitted himself to torture and the taunts of
men… to save us. The Scriptures predicted it would be so, we read in Isaiah 50:6 “I gave
my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I
hid not my face from disgrace and spitting…” Ironically, the cruelty of men
toward Jesus, by both the Jewish leaders and the gentile authorities, their
ridicule and abuse all served to confirm and vindicate His messianic claim, and
it was all laying the foundation for Him to complete the work He came to do: to
redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as
sons!
The Maine* Idea: The depth of human depravity was revealed in the
brutal mockery of the King, another aspect of the torture which Jesus willingly
endured, to save those who believe.
I. The Wisdom of God: The Depths of the Wisdom of God (15b-16).
…and having
scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. 16 And the soldiers led him away inside
the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they called together the
whole battalion.
Jesus
had predicted: “He will be delivered into
pagan hands” (10:33) and that is exactly what has happened. As John tells
us in his prologue to the Fourth Gospel, “He
came unto His own, and His own received Him not…” (Jn 1:11). The religious
leaders of His own people, who had been chosen, rescued, protected in the
wilderness, disciplined in exile, and regathered in the return, did not recognize
the Deliverer of whom their own Scriptures spoke. They had determined they would not have this man to be their king. And so, not having
authority to carry out a public execution, they have manipulated Pilate into
doing it for them.
“After
having Jesus flogged, he delivered Him over to be crucified.” As the
prophet Isaiah wrote in Isa 50:6, he “gave
his back” to those who strike. He silently took their abuse. The scourging
was torturous, but the Cross, and the Cup, lay still ahead. The language in
v.15b is straightforward, he had Jesus
flogged, and he delivered Him to be crucified. Slow, excruciating, and
humiliating death.
- The
Praetorium was the courtyard of Pilate’s headquarters. The governor’s
residence and the seat of Roman government was on the coast in Caesarea on the
Sea at that time (Strauss, Mark,
p.673). During the feasts however, Pilate would have resided in Jerusalem. Visitors
to Jerusalem today are usually pointed to the ancient foundation of the Fortress
of Antonia, overlooking the northwest corner of the Temple Mount, as the
location of these events. Scholars are divided as to whether Pilate would have
stayed at that rustic barracks or in Herod’s Palace on the southwestern
part of the city (Ibid). (Josephus mentions another governor residing there). The
contrast I want to focus on is that Rome was not in control. The One the
soldiers are mocking as king, is guiding this story according to the
predetermined purpose and foreknowledge of God. He is not a king like Caesar or
like the nations around them. His Kingdom is not of this world. He is
the Passover-King, a Servant-King, and He will set free those who the Father
has given Him.
- “The whole cohort…” – possibly a
tenth of a Roman Legion, gathered! In the full sense that would be 600 men. It
may have included that sub-group that was on duty, but still likely would have
been close to 200 men. Why did they need so many? Were they afraid the crowds
would suddenly have a change of heart and try to set Him free? Had they heard
that there were some zealots among His followers, and did they fear they would
rise up and try by force to rescue Him? It could be, but the impression I
get from Mark’s account is that those who were guarding Jesus called together
all they could, to join in the fun of mocking this pathetic excuse of a king.
Think about that, roughly the seating of our sanctuary upstairs, packed full?
All circling and taunting Jesus. He submitted to their hostility – He could
have called a legion of angels – he could have walked through their midst and
left – He could have said “I AM,” and flattened the whole lot. But the plan was
determined, and He would complete the work He came to do.
These
soldiers, however, did not simply carry out their duties. Like a mob of bullies,
they insulted and humiliated the One who came to offer salvation to all who
would believe. The depths to which humans can fall! The Psalmist says in…
Psalm 36:1, “Transgression
speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.”
We read in the prophet…
Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can
understand it?”
The mob mentality, brutalizing one that they view as
helpless… oh the depth of human depravity is revealed here in the brutal
mockery of the King. He willingly endured it, and much more, to save those who
believe!
II. The Foolishness of Men: The Rulers of Israel had rejected Him, now the Roman
soldiers join in ridiculing the King (17-20a).
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.
These men
had no idea – the One they were ridiculing as King of the Jews, and treating so
brutally, is in fact the King of the Universe! All things were made by Him and for Him, without Him nothing was made
that has been made. And He holds it all together by His power. One day,
every human will stand before Him and give an account. It was Passover, the
time when the Jews remembered their deliverance from Egypt, and how God had
spared the firstborn in the homes of the Jews because of the blood that was
over the door and on the doorposts. The One they mocked as the King of
the Jews, is the Passover-King, the Servant King, the Lamb on the
Throne. Their only hope in that day--and ours—will be if we are covered by the
blood of the Crucified One, if by grace we are in Christ. Nothing else will
matter. Do you know Christ, have your trusted Him as your only hope of
salvation? These soldiers are only looking at Jesus as a source of
entertainment.
First, as he is brought in, naked and
bleeding they mock him as they put a “Purple
robe” over Him. The color of royalty, this is the first step in ridiculing
the idea that this man is the King of the Jews! As Isaiah had written (Isa 53:3), “He was despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…” and then,
“…He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth” (53:7). Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility
against himself!
They
weren’t done yet, someone must have gotten the idea that a king needed a crown,
so they wove together, out of thorns, a mock crown, a crown of the thorns, and pushed it down on His head. And then, having
dressing Him in their royal attire, they continued their mockery, crying out, “Hail, King of the Jews!” The reed they stuck Him with was probably the
mock scepter they put in His hand as we read in Matthew’s parallel,
Matthew 27:29-30 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on
his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they
mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 30 And they spit on him and took
the reed and struck him on the head.
No resistance, no words of rebuke, He remains silent,
like a lamb led to the slaughter (Isa 53:7). He gives them his back, as the
servant in Isaiah 50:6. He took it all because He came, as the Last Adam, the
Son of Man and Son of God, to undo the Fall, and to make it possible for humans
to be reconciled to God. In fact, it was not because of our love for Him, but because
of lostness as depraved humans—like we see here—that He chose to give
himself for the ransom of many. God
showed His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us.
Finally,
they stripped him of the purple robe, and put his own clothes back on him. This
was probably a concession to Jewish sensibilities, especially during the Feast.
As a further act of humiliation, the Romans would usually leave prisoners naked
as they carried their cross to the place of execution. They had had their fun humiliating the King
of the Jews. They wanted to appease the rulers of the Jews, not have them turn
against them. They were content to carry out their orders, marching Jesus
outside the city to the Place of the Skull, Calvary. The depth of human
depravity was revealed in the brutal mockery of the King, another aspect of the
torture which He willingly endured, to save those who believe.
III. The Path of Discipleship (20b-21). We are reading between the lines here, but
note some details and draw your own conclusions…
…and they led him out to crucify him. 21 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.
The action here was probably not so
unusual. Condemned criminals were required to carry their own cross (probably
the crossbeam from which they was hung) to their place of execution. However,
in cases in which someone would be scourged beforehand, the trauma of that
torture and the physical damage that would be inflicted would be so devastating,
that it would be unlikely they would be able to carry a cross very far. More than likely, Jesus began to do so, but
then faltered on the way, and a foreigner, Simon of Cyrene, probably coming
into the city for the feast, was conscripted and forced to carry the Cross… In
your outline I put the question: The
beginning of African Christianity? (Acts 11:20). That is pure
speculation. As far as I can tell, Simon of Cyrene is not directly
mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. Here Mark does include a couple of details
that pique our interest, 1) a place, Cyrene, and 2) his sons, Alexander and
Rufus.
Why is
Cyrene significant? First, it is interesting that Matthew, Mark, and Luke
all identified Simon as being “of Cyrene.”
When all three synoptic gospels include an apparently incidental detail like
that, it draws our attention. We know that Luke reports in Acts 2 that among
the pilgrims in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost were Jews and proselytes
from all over the world, including those “…from
the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome…” (Acts
2:10b). We get the idea that some Cyreneans were converted to faith in Christ
because after the scattering that resulted after Stephen’s death, while others
were preaching Christ only to Jews, “…some
of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists
also, preaching the Lord Jesus…” (Acts 11:20). The church in Antioch
that was planted became the missionary sending church of the second part of the
book of Acts. It was the church that sent Paul and Barnabas and then Paul
and Silas on the first and second (and third) missionary journeys. But was
Simon eventually converted? Was he perhaps there on Pentecost when Peter
preached the Gospel of Christ and called the hearers to repent and trust in Him?
It is certainly a possibility. We don’t know for sure, but…
He is
called, “…the father of Alexander and
Rufus…” Why is he identified in this way? It seems pretty clear that
these men, Alexander and Rufus, were
known to Mark’s readers. Mark is saying this man from Cyrene, you don’t know
him, but you know his sons, Alexander and Rufus, this is the guy that carried
Jesus’ cross! We’ve seen some clues, and tradition tells us, that Mark was
writing to a group of believers in Rome who are suffering for their faith. There
are a few Alexanders mentioned in the NT, none in Rome as far as I can see.
Rufus, however, is only mentioned twice in the entire New Testament. Here, and
in Romans 16:13. In the middle of a series of greetings Paul says, “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, also his
mother, who been a mother to me as well…” Same Rufus? We don’t know for
sure, but it could be. Simon isn’t mentioned in Romans. Was he unknown to the
Roman believers to whom Mark was writing, perhaps having returned to Cyrene or
elsewhere with the message of Christ? Had he by then, twenty years or so after
the Cross, either passed, or been martyred? All we know for sure is this scene…
“they compelled him to take up his cross…”
(15:21; cf. Mk 8:34). Maybe here I am crossing from sanctified imagination to
pure speculation, but I couldn’t help wonder if Mark wants us to hear a kind of
historical parable here. Jesus had said, back in Mark 8:34, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross and follow me.” Here, as Jesus is on His way to Calvary, the Roman guards compel Simon to take
up his Cross. The same verb is
used. I think Mark wants us to think about the cost of discipleship. We see the
world’s hatred of Jesus, we see what He endured. We are not promised that
everything is going to be easy if we follow him. In fact, don’t be surprised if the world hates you… He
said, “…it hated me first…” There is
a cost to following Jesus. There is a sense in which we will share in the
sufferings of Christ (2 Tim 1:8). We don’t earn salvation, Jesus paid it all.
But if we follow Him, we must surrender all. As we live and carry out His
mission in a fallen world, a world that lies in the power of the evil one, we
will encounter resistance, we will face persecution. In view of what He has
done for us, will we take up our cross and follow Him?
What is God
saying to me in this passage? The depth of human depravity was revealed in
the brutal mockery of the King, another aspect of the torture which He endured,
to save us. Jesus didn’t come because we were good… He came to call sinners to
repentance, and to save those who believe.
What would
God have me to do in response to this passage? This is a difficult passage to read and to hear… to
imagine that the holy and righteous, good and gracious, Creator and Sustainer
of the universe, would not only condescend to take a human nature and to live
for a while among us, but that He would do so knowing that He would be
rejected and tortured and treated with such cruelty. In allowing this story to
unfold as it did, divine justice was satisfied, and God’s love was
demonstrated. In view of what He has done for us, for you, are you moved to
love Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength? Unlike the dying soldier’s words to Private
Ryan, we can’t earn our salvation. To try to do so is the diminish the fact
that His sacrifice was sufficient, HE paid our debt—it is finished. However, surely our response to his cross is to trust
Him, and to honor God in the way we live our lives – not to “earn this” but
because He is worthy to be praised—Because of who He is and what He
has done, as Paul said, I urge you… to walk
worthy of the calling with which you are called (Eph 4:1). Think about
that. AMEN.
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