Mark 15:40-16:8 ‘He was dead and he is risen—what are you going to do about it?

 

Gordon Bailey is a rather unorthodox evangelist and a poet who used to work around the area of Guildford.  One day he was doing some door to door work.  He went up to a house and knocked on the door.  A man opened and Gordon said, ‘If you have got a few moments to spare I would like to talk to you about Jesus.’

‘I am not interested in religion’, said the man.

‘Who mentioned anything about religion?’ said Gordon.

‘Well, you did.’

‘No I didn’t’, countered Gordon.

‘Well anyway’, said the man firmly, ‘you won’t get me to church.’

‘Who mentioned anything about church?’

‘You did,’ said the man ‘didn’t you?’

There was a moments silence and then Gordon suggested that the best thing to do was start the conversation all over again.  So they shut the door, Gordon rang the bell, and the man opened the door a second time.

‘Now listen very carefully’ said Gordon ‘If you have got a few minutes to spare I would like to talk to you about Jesus.’

The man looked at him, ‘well I am still not interested!’

‘What!  Not interested in the most famous man that ever lived?’

‘Well, I wouldn’t put it quite like that!’

‘What do you know about him?’ asked Gordon ‘Do you know how he died?

‘Yes, he died on a cross, crucified!’

‘Correct, but do you know that thousands of other people were crucified at about the same time?’

‘No, I had never thought about it!’

‘So don’t you think it strange that out of all those people who were crucified you’ve only heard of one?’

The man said ‘come on in’ and they talked about Jesus for more than a few minutes.[2]

If you have got a few moments I would like to talk to you about Jesus.  To be honest you do have a few moments because I am not going to finish this service until I have said what I am going to say.  It would be pretty rude of you just to walk out, so unless you can fain illness or get your hands on a crying baby, your stuck!  I believe, however, that it is worth your while listening  because we are going to look at some staggering claims Mark makes about Jesus—claims, that if they are true, present each of us with an immense challenge!

When it comes to reading any book of the Bible one of the things that we should be trying to do is to get inside the head of the writer.  So, when we read a passage in Mark’s Gospel we should be asking ‘what is Mark trying to tell his readers (initially the church in Rome in the first century) in choosing to record this incident and in how he records it?’  I think that Mark wants do two things with these verses: he wants to assure his readers that Jesus was really dead and really did rise, and he wants to challenge his readers to share this truth with other people! 

We will divide this passage in two obvious parts—15:40-47 in which we see Jesus’ burial, and 16:1-8 where we hear of his resurrection.

Mark wants us to be sure that nothing suspect happened Jesus’ body (Verses 40-47)

We have a lot of people in these eight verses: we have the women watching Jesus die from a distance; we have Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Jewish ruling council—the Sanhedrin; we have Pilate, the governor of Judea; we have the centurion who had been on duty that fateful afternoon; and we have Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses seeing where Jesus was buried.  As we are about to see these people will all be witnesses to something very important—that Jesus really was dead and placed in Joseph’s tomb!

Joseph of Arimathea, we are told in verse 43, was waiting for the kingdom of God.  In chapter 1 we read that the central point of Jesus’ teaching was that the kingdom of God was near.  Presumably Joseph had taken what Jesus had said on board.  Now this secret follower wants to give Jesus’ body a dignified burial.  It is late on the Friday afternoon, he will have to act promptly if he is going to have Jesus buried before the Sabbath—which began at sundown.

So Joseph does something very courageous—he goes to Pilate to ask for the body.  Being a follower of Jesus demands courage!  For Joseph it was a risky thing to be associated with someone who had just being crucified.  As a member of the Sanhedrin you can be sure that things were never the same for him once he had publicly associated himself with the Lord.  Identifying with Jesus can be scary.  Maybe in our school or workplace, amongst our family or neighbours, or simply as we rub shoulders with people every day we need to have the courage to put up our hand and say ‘I identify myself with Jesus!’

Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was dead.  The victims of crucifixion normally suffered for two, three, even four days before dying.  So Pilate summoned the centurion who had been on duty to confirm that Jesus really had died.  Now this centurion had probably supervised hundreds of crucifixions.  He is an expert witness.  He knew when the victim was dead and he knew that Jesus really had died.  Having being assured that Jesus really was dead, Pilate allowed Joseph to take the body.[3]

So Joseph brought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock.  Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.[4]  This large stone,[5] which was designed to protect against robbers or wild animals,[6] would have been rolled down a slope to bloke the entrance—once lodged in place it would have been very difficult to open again.

Mark tells us that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

It seems clear that Mark wants to underline for his readers that Jesus really was dead and that nothing suspect happened to his body.  It is as if he anticipates the doubts that people might have or explanations they may have heard.  ‘Perhaps Jesus didn’t actually die and was merely resuscitated later on’—the women saw him die; Pontius Pilate would not release the body until he had confirmation from the centurion that Jesus was dead.  ‘Perhaps someone stole the body’—the stone was placed in the entrance to make sure this could not happen.  ‘Perhaps it was the wrong grave that was found empty’—Mary Magdalene (who Mark records was there when they went to the tomb) and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid, along with Joseph they could confirm that it was the right grave!  Jesus died, no-one took his body, his tomb was found empty!  Those are facts that are relevant to all of our lives.     

Mark wants us to see that the resurrection presents us with a challenge (16:1-8)

Our second scene begins on that Saturday night—the Jewish Sabbath ended at sundown.  Then Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to buy some spices to anoint the body.  Very early the next day (the first day of the week—that first Easter Sunday), just after sunrise,[7] they went to the tomb.

On their way they asked each other, ‘who will roll the stone[8] away from the entrance of the tomb?’  This was a real problem.  It would have taken several strong men to remove the stone from the entrance.

But when they looked up they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.  So they entered the tomb, but they did not find what they were looking for.  The body of Jesus was not there.  Instead there was a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side.  Mark clearly wants us to understand this to be an angel.[9]  And they were alarmed.

The fact that Mark has women as his witnesses to the resurrection is striking.  In that society women were very much second class citizens and their testimony was inadmissible in a court of law.  If Mark was making this story up he would not have portrayed women as his witnesses to this amazing event.  The angel tells them “Don’t be alarmed.  You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.  He is risen!  He is not here.  See the place where they laid him.

 

Then there comes a wonderful word of mercy.  The angel commissions them: But go, tell the disciples, and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him, just as he told you’[10]  Have you ever looked at some failure and thought ‘I wonder could God ever forgive me for that?’  Undoubtedly the disciples were feeling great shame that they had forsaken Jesus, particularly Peter who had let him down so badly.  Yet here is a message for them, and for Peter—Jesus is risen, and he wanted them to come and met with him again. He had some wonderful plans as to how he was going to use them.  We may have let Jesus down many times and in many ways, but in his mercy he longs to restore us.  He longs to restore us and use us in his service again!

 

The women are given the command to ‘go tell’ but what do they do?  Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb.  They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.  

 

There is some confusion about the ending to Mark’ Gospel.  The words that we see in verses 9-20 were almost certainly added by someone else who thought this gospel can’t end at verse 8 and so gave it an ending that they thought was more appropriate.[11]  Some scholars think that the original ending to this gospel was lost.  However, it actually makes sense to end at verse 8.

 

In verse 8 the women were afraid.  Mark has shown that same reaction, at other times in the gospel, in the face of the miraculous.  So when Jesus calmed the storm and walked on water we read that the disciples were ‘afraid’, and when a man had a legion of demons cast out of him the people were ‘afraid’.  Mark underlines that this is another miraculous work of God as he records the same reaction, that of fear.  On each occasion the appropriate response should have been to act with faith, but each time the people responded instead with fear.  In faith the women should have gone out with joy to tell the disciples the great news that Jesus has been raised from the dead but in fear they said nothing.

 

Verse 8 is an appropriate ending because in it Mark is leaving his readers with a challenge.   Will we react to the amazing news that Jesus is had been raised from the dead with faith or with fear?  Will we keep silent, like these women did at that moment, or will we go and tell?  As one study book says, ‘Even if we’re afraid, it is still time to speak, because there is an empty tomb, Christ has risen, the kingdom of God has arrived.’[12]

 

Conclusion

In recording these verses in the way he does Mark wants us to be clear that nothing suspect happened to Jesus’ body.  Jesus really was dead and really has been raised from the dead.  This is of the utmost of relevance to each one of us hear this morning, whether we call ourselves a Christian or not.  For if Jesus has been raised from the dead then he lives today and as the risen Christ he demands our utmost allegiance.

 

And Mark ends this gospel with a challenge: are we going to respond to the fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead with fear or faith?  Are we going to keep this message to ourselves or are we going to share it with others?  Are we going to delight to tell people that Jesus has died for their sins and longs to bring them his forgiveness and restoration?  Are we going to point to the risen Christ who demands that all people serve him as their king?  May the Lord give us courage for this task!  

 

 

Copyright note:

All Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE,

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Used by

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[1] There are a number of minor differences in the gospel accounts of the resurrection.  These are actually easy to reconcile and are to be expected from an authentic account of an actual event.  As Professor Sir Norman Anderson, the former Director of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London, writes,   ‘It is common experience for a lawyer to note how a number of witnesses will almost invariably give accounts which differ widely from each other, initially at least, about any incident at which they have all been present.  Each individual will see it from a different angle (both literally and metaphorically); will note some, but by no means all, of the relevant facts; and will usually be highly selective in what he actually remembers.  To a considerable degree, therefore, the minor differences in some of the resurrection stories may be regarded as actually strengthening the evidence rather than weakening it; for if a number of witnesses tell exactly the same story, with no divergences, it is nearly always a sign that they have been ‘coached’ as to what to say, or at least have conferred together on the subject.’ (N. Anderson, A Lawyer among the Theologians cited in P B-M The Message of the resurrection.)

[2] Adapted from Roger Simpson, preaching at All Soul’s Langham Place.

[3] It was an unusual thing for the body of someone condemned for high treason to be released, particularly to someone who was not a relative—perhaps he allowed this because of Joseph’s prominent position or perhaps Pilate was still feeling uneasy about his part in Jesus’ death.

[4] Matthew tells us that Joseph was a rich man, so it would be natural to assume that he was helped by his servants to take the body from the cross—he couldn’t have easily done it on his own.  John also tells us that Nicodemus helped him. Joseph, Nicodemus and their servants probably washed the body, certainly they anointed/embalmed it, they wrapped it in linen cloth, and they placed it on a stone slab in the tomb. 

[5] ‘This could be either a flat stone disc that rolled in a sloped channel or simply a large rock that could be rolled in front of the opening.’ Wessell.

[6] Barnett.

[7] John (20:1) writes that while it was still dark Mary Magdalene went to the tomb.  John may have been referring to when the women left home, and Mark when they arrived at the tomb.  Alternatively the women may have come to the tomb in groups.

[8] ‘A circular stone, though relatively easy to put in place usually was set in a sloped track, once established in place was very difficult to remove.  It would either have to be rolled back up the incline or lifted out of the groove and then removed.  Any other kind of stone placed in front of the tomb’s entrance would be as difficult or even more difficult to remove.’  Wessell.

[9] Matthew, Luke and John tell us that he was an angel—indeed Matthew tells us that there were two angels.

[10] In 14:28 he had told the disciples, ‘But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.’

[11] In the Greek the style and vocabulary of these verses are significantly different from the rest of the Gospel.

[12] Bolt and Payne, News of the Hour.

The Bruised Reed (Is. 42:1-9)

Richard Sibbes, one of the puritans wrote a lovely little book called 'The Bruised Reed' based on the verses that we are looking at.  If I am honest, I didn't get much from it the first time I read it, but I turned to it the weekend before my father died, and I found it a real reminder of God's love.  Here are some quotes:

    'There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us'.

    'It would be a good contest amongst Christians, one to labour to give no offense and the other to labour to take none.'

    'Christ loves to taste the good fruits that comes from us; even though they always savour of the old nature.'

    'Other princes can make good laws, but they cannot write them on the heart.'

    'The eyes of our souls cannot be towards him unless he has cast a gracious look upon us first.  The least love towards him is but a reflection of his first love shining upon us.'

Isaiah is speaking to a people whose neglect and rebellion against God have would cause God to send them into exile.  Now he is prophesying one hundred years ahead of his time to those exiles in Babylon.  God has not forgotten them, and he is going to bring them home.

In chapter forty-one he challenges them about their idols.  While we might not worship objects of stone and wood, there are many things that we build our lives on - the things that we look to for security and meaning.  We say we trust God alone, but we will move heaven and earth to ensure our comfort.  We say that we trust God alone, but we think that we need to be in control.  We say that we trust God alone - but we are obsessed with what people think about us.  If you want to know what your idols are, look at what makes you angry.  How do you react when people invade your space or treat you as nobody?  That is telling you about where you base your happiness.

They thought of those wooden and stone idols were gods, and God puts those idols to the test.  If they are God's they should be able to tell the future.  They can't!  In fact, it is laughable, because in verses twenty-three God says to them, 'do something, do anything.'  Then he points out that He can tell the future.  he is going to send the Persian king, Cyrus, to smash the Babylonians and issue an edict to allow God's people to go home to Jerusalem.

Now, as we turn to the opening of forty-two, I want us to see three words: behold, Spirit and justice.

Behold 

'Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights' (1a).

These verses are echoed by God the Father at the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:17).  As people who are 'in Christ' the Christian can delight in the fact that God rejoices in you.  

Notice the comparison between the opening of forty-two and the end of chapter forty-one.  There we read, 'behold they [the idols] are all a delusion; their metal images are empty wind' (41:29).  While idols are nothing, in verse 5 we read of God, the LORD (lit. 'the God, YHWH' or, 'the true God).  Our God creates the heavens and the earth.  While our idols are useless, the true God sustains us.

While the Persian king, Cyrus, came trampling or rules, Jesus comes quietly.  'He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street' (42:1c).  He also comes gently, 'a bruised reed he will not break and a faintly burning wick he will not quench ...' (42:3).  Matthew cites these words as he recalls Jesus healing the sick, forgiving the guilty and restoring the broken.

Spirit 

The word 'spirit' can also be translated 'wind'.  At the end of chapter forty-one we read that idols are empty wind (41:29), but now we read that God has put His Spirit in His servant (42:1b). 

Jesus comes to represent us in a new covenant with God, and having dealt with our sin He pours out His Holy Spirit.  He has opened our eyes to see the truth (7a).  God will bring freedom for those exiles in Babylon, but much more importantly He will bring us freedom from the penalty and pour of sin.

Justice

The key word in the first four verses of this chapter is justice.  It is repeated three times.  But justice in Hebrew has a broader meaning than what we mean in English.  In the Old Testament 'justice' means human society as it is meant to be.  It is human society as it will be when Christ returns.  In chapter 11 (11:4) we read that God will judge the poor - meaning that he will set things right for the poor.  We also read of a time of peace, when the wolf will lie with the lamb.  This is why we pray for our world, 'Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'  Indeed, it is the pursuit of vain idols that is responsible for so much of the violence and hate in the world.

Conclusion

Behold - the servant of God, Jesus.  Rejoice in the Spirit -that God has caused you to be born again.  Seek His justice - for He is the great saviour who is both just and justifies those have faith in Him.

The verses that follow (vv. 10-17) are a song.  'The enjoyment of God is the only happiness which our souks can be satisfied' (Jonathan Edwards).  Glorify Him by delighting in Him.    

 

            

The God who knows your name (Is. 43:1-7)

Keith Jones worked with the Mission Aviation Fellowship.  He served for two years in Chad, and as chief executive.  His wife Lynn was diagnosed with Leukaemia.  He went to visit her in the isolation ward, and she was skin and bones.  She looked at him and declared, ‘Keith, get out of my life.  I don’t want to see you again.’  He told her at the end of the visit, ‘I will see you tomorrow.’  ‘Don’t bother,’ she replied.  ‘But, I can’t leave you.’

Lynn died at the age of forty-three.  A few months later God spoke to him in his mind.  ‘Remember the time Lynn rejected you?  I felt something similar.  My Son was unrecognizable in his suffering, I wanted to embrace Him.  But I turned my back on Him.  I did that for you.’  Central to this passage is the cost God was willing to pay to redeem us.

1.       God’s love is rooted in grace

The history of this passage is a little complicated.  Isaiah has been warning God’s people in Judah that if they continue their sin they would receive His discipline.  They kept on sinning, and they were about to be sent into exile.  Now Isaiah is speaking, prophetically, a hundred years from his time, to the people in exile in Babylon.  There God sought to win them back for Himself.  Yet they continued to sin.  Look at the last chapter and see what they are like.  They are blind—refusing to look at Him, deaf—refusing to hear Him.  They had continued to sin against God, ‘in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?’ (42:24). 

To these sinful people God declares, ‘But now’ (33:1a).  He has created and formed them.  ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine’ (43:1b).  They have shown no interest in God, and yet He has moved in love towards them.

After speaking on these verses in another church, a young woman, who suffers from terrible health problems came and spoke to me.  She said that when she was a young Christian God had woken her in the night with these words.  ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.’  She had to look them up.  She holds on to them in the storms she passes through.

It was the people’s sin that caused them to be in exile, and yet God speaks some of the tenderest words ever spoken to these rebellious people.  God does not treat us as our sins deserve but according to His loving kindness.  He comforts in the midst of all our deep waters.  We are twice loved—both created and redeemed.  Redemption happened when a person found themselves in slavery—maybe because of a debt that they could not pay—and a relative paid the price to grant their freedom.  What price did God pay to redeem you and I from the punishment and grip of our sin?  He paid the price of His own Son, a redemption of infinite value.

No matter how far you have strayed; no matter what you may have done; God waits with open arms to welcome you home.

God will be with you in every circumstance

‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers; they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you’ (43:2).  Note that it is ‘when’ not ‘if’.  These people in exile in Babylon would pass through many difficulties before they returned home.  We are not promised an easy life as followers of Jesus.

‘For I am the LORD your God, the Holy one of Israel, your Saviour.’  The reason we need not be afraid is because He is the LORD—YHWH.  That was the name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush.  God told Moses, ‘I am who I am’, or, as one commentator puts it, ‘I will be who my people need me to be in their situation’ (Dale Ralph Dais).  He is our Saviour, who has proved His love to us through the death of His Son.  He has paid the infinite ransom for us and so we are His.  He loves us, by name.

Think of some of the waters Christ’s people have to pass through.  Jesus told His followers, ‘You will be delivered up by parents and brothers and relatives and friends.  Some of you will be pit to death.  Not a hair on your head will perish’ (Luke 21:16-18).  How can He say that they might die for their faith and yet not a hair on their head will perish?  He can say that because He will keep them spiritually safe.  At the end of Jude, we read of the one ‘who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before God’ (Jude 24).

He has paid the ransom of infinite value

‘I will give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you’ (3b).  There is a little bit of uncertainty about this.  He is saying, ‘I will move history for you, to bring you home’, but what is the reference to Egypt?  It could be a look back at the Exodus, where God brought punishment on the wicked people of Egypt in order to set His people free.  Or, it could be a reference to how He is going to free them from exile in Babylon.  The Persian king, Cyrus, would sweep through Babylon and down into Egypt.  All the pain associated with that expansion God was willing to happen in order that His people could be free.  ‘I give men in exchange for you, peoples in exchange for your life’ (4b).  In fact, He gave a man, Jesus in exchange for our life.

‘Because you are precious in my eyes, and honoured, and I love you’ (4a). 

In Deuteronomy He had warned them that if they persistently rebelled He would send them into exile, but if they repented He would bring His scattered people home.

Note that our passage ends with a reference to His glory.  How do we glorify God?  We glorify Him by being open about our brokenness.  We were not rescued because we were deserving.  We were rescued in our sin.  He is a gracious God who loves us, even though we break His heart. 

Conclusion

When I heard that illustration about Keith Jones and his wife, Lynn, I actually thought of it a different way.  I say ourselves being like his wife saying, ‘Keith, get out of my life, I don’t want to see you again.’  And God is the one who says, ‘I can’t leave you.’  We break His heart all the time, but He goes on loving us.

How do we know ourselves to be one of those God knows by name?  I am helped here by a little book, by a puritan called Richard Sibbes, called ‘The Bruised Reed’.  There Sibbes explains that, ‘the least love towards him is but a reflection of his first love shining upon us.’  It is not a natural thing to even want to love the Jesus of the cross, so if you are being drawn towards Him don’t resist.  Let Him keep showing you His love until you become sure you belong to Him.    

‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.’    

What does the cross tell us about Jesus? (Mark 15:21-29)

A woman wants to stab you with a sharp object.  Will you let her?

A man knocks on your door, and when you open it he demands that you answer his questions.  What will you do? 

A truck drives up behind you.  It is travelling at speed.  When you look in your rear-view mirror you can see the driver waving at you to get out of the way.  What should you do?

I suppose the answer to the above questions depends on whether you recognise that the woman about to stab you is a medic holding a syringe, that the man at the door is a policeman, and that the truck on your tail is a fire-engine! 

Recognising who someone is enables us to respond to them in an appropriate manner.  This is certainly the case when it comes to Jesus.  To respond to him appropriately we need to recognise who he really is and know what he is about.    

Mark opens his gospel by telling us who Jesus is, the beginning of the gospel of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (1:1).  He then shows Jesus acting in ways that point to his true identity—including doing things that only God can do, such as forgiving sin and calming storms.  Sadly, because of the hardness of their hearts, his own disciples fail to grasp that this is God’s promised king.  But then in 8:29 we see that their eyes have been opened.  In response to Jesus’ question “Who do you say I am?” Peter replies, “You are the Christ.”  This response marks the turning point of the gospel.

Immediately Jesus tells them that he will be killed and after three days will rise again.  Peter objects.  The disciples’ eyes have been opened to see that Jesus is God’s promised king, but they do not yet see clearly; they have not yet grasped what sort of Messiah he is.  From this point on the issue changes from who Jesus is (He is the Christ) to what sort of Christ is he (He is the suffering servant who lays down his life for his people).

In this morning’s reading we see someone who grasps these two things.  And when the centurion, who stood there in front of the Jesus, heard this cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surly this man was the Son of God.”  This is the climax of Mark’s Gospel.  Here is the man who sees the connection between the Christ and the cross.  He realises that Jesus is the Son of God as he lays down his life for his people.  

Let’s look at what he heard and saw so that we might know who Jesus really is and so be able to respond to him appropriately! 

The crucifixion as proof that Jesus had failed[1] (verses 21-32)

One of the encouraging things about Mark’s Gospel is how authentic it feels.  Look at verse 21: A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.  Why does Mark include this little detail that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus?  Presumably because those that Mark was writing to knew of Alexander and Rufus—‘you know Alexander and Rufus, well this man Simon was their Father.’ 

It was customary for men who were being crucified to carry the beam of their cross to the place of their crucifixion, however Jesus had been so weakened from his flogging that he was not able to.  So Simon was forced to carry it for him.

They brought Jesus to Golgotha. There he was offered wine mixed with myrrh.[2]  It was formulated to numb the pain.  But Jesus refused.  He would have his senses fully intact as he endured the agony of the cross.  Then we read what must be the most understated words in the gospel—and they crucified him.[3]  Mark doesn’t describe the nails that were driven into Jesus’ body or the blood that would have surrounded his wounds.  He doesn’t need to.  Those that he was writing to, the church in Rome, knew what took place at crucifixions.  They knew what an awful way it was to be put to death. 

Look at the reactions of those who are witnessing these things!  There are the soldiers who cast lots for his clothing.  They are entirely indifferent to Jesus’ suffering.  There are people who pass by and hurl insults at him.  There are the religious leaders who mock him among themselves.  Those being crucified with him heap abuse on him.  Jesus endured this shame for you and me!  Indeed as we speak of the crucified Jesus today we can expect that many will respond to him in a similar fashion—there will be those for whom it just doesn’t matter, those who like to view the message of Christianity as ridiculous, and those who respond with hostility to the mere mention of our Saviour!

To those who viewed Jesus with indifference and hostility the cross must have looked like proof that Jesus had failed.  Here hangs a man who had once attracted large crowds and amazed people with his words and deeds.  Now he has been deserted and is about to die!  Yet these verses point us, not to failure, but to victory.  There is irony in this account!  The charge above his head, mockingly, read THE KING OF THE JEWS.  That is who he is.  Indeed in his death this king is establishing his kingdom.  Those passing by challenge him to come down from the cross and save yourself, the religious leaders mock him among themselves saying “He saved others . . .  but he cannot save himself—but the truth is he will not save himself in order that he may save others.  This is not failure, as the people had presumed.  This is the greatest of victories!

The crucifixion as a demonstration of who Jesus is (33-39)

At the sixth hour (noon) darkness came over the land until the ninth hour (3pm).[4] In the Old Testament darkness during the day was a sign of God’s judgement (Amos 8:9; Ex. 10:21-22).  Jesus is being judged!  Why?  For sin!  But not for his sin, for he was the only truly innocent person who has ever lived, but for our sin.  On the cross Jesus experiences God’s righteous anger.  On the cross Jesus experiences separation from the Father’s love.  On the cross Jesus experiences these things that we deserve so that we, the guilty ones, might know forgiveness and eternal life!

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  The crowd thought that he was calling Elijah.[5]  He was actually quoting Psalm 22.  Like many of the teachers of those days by quoting the first verse he may have been referring his people to the rest of that psalm.  These words are a real cry of anguish.  Here is the depth of Jesus’ suffering.  Here is Jesus feeling forsaken by God.  And here is a pointer to how Jesus viewed what was happening!

Psalm 22 is one of the clearest pointers in the Old Testament to the cross.  Listen to the following verses and see if you can see the connection with the crucifixion:

                        All who see me mock me and hurl insults, shaking their heads (verse 7)

                        They have pierced my hands and my feet (verse 16)

They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing (verse 18)

Jesus knows that he is undergoing what the Old Testament had said would happen to the Messiah.  He knows that he is carrying out the plan of the Father.  Indeed if you read to the end of that psalm you will see that it speaks of the deliverance God would bring to his people—Jesus knew that this is what he was achieving.   This is not failure, this is God’s promises being fulfilled.

As Jesus dies something remarkable happens on the other side of the city, in the temple the curtain is torn from top to bottom.  This curtain, which was as thick as a man’s hand, was the barrier to the Holy of Holies[6] (where God was thought to dwell).  It demonstrated that it was no easy thing to come into God’s presence: only one man, once a year, could go beyond that curtain—the High Priest on the Day of Atonement.  It was a reminder that because of our rebellion and sin there was a great barrier between people and God.  But now because Jesus has dealt with sin that barrier has been broken down.  Now there is nothing to prevent us from enjoying a relationship with him.  Because of the cross we can be accepted into God’s presence.

Remember that coming into God’s presence is not the result of anything we do.  It is not the result of fervent singing or prayer—we don’t work our way into God’s presence!  Coming into God’s presence is the result of what Jesus has done for us on the cross.  When we put our faith in Christ God makes his dwelling in us through his Spirit.  As his people we live in his presence and are invited to approach his throne of grace with confidence.  We have been brought into God’s presence simply because Jesus has dealt with our unworthiness to be there!     

And when the centurion who stood in front of Jesus, heard the cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”  These words are surprising.  For a Roman crucifixion was an unmentionably shameful way to die.  Yet as this Roman watches Jesus die he sees him as the Son of God—a title Romans only applied to the Emperor, who was associated with power and triumph.[7]  As this man witnesses the manner in which Jesus accepts his death his eyes are opened to see that here is the true Son of God.  While the religious leaders of that day refused to accept that Jesus was the promised Christ and his own disciples would not accept that the Christ must suffer, this Roman—a Gentile—recognises Jesus through his suffering.  Indeed this man is the forerunner of many Romans, including many of Mark’s first readers, who, as the gospel is brought to all peoples, would declare that the crucified Jesus is indeed the Son of God.

Conclusion

Do you remember at the start of the sermon I said that we need to recognise who someone is in order to respond to them appropriately?  This is the case with Jesus—we need to truly understand who he is if we are to respond to him as we ought!  We see who he is when, with the centurion, we recognise two things!

Firstly, we need to see that Jesus is God’s promised king—the Christ, the true Son of God.  This was the main point of the first half of this gospel.  If we think that Jesus is just one of many religious leaders we are sadly mistaken.  If we think that Jesus only wants to be our best friend we haven’t fully grasped who he is.  Jesus comes as God’s promised king who demands our utmost allegiance.  He is to be served above all others.

Secondly, we need to recognise what sort of king the Christ is.  The centurion saw the connection between the Christ and the cross.  The second half of this gospel focuses on what sort of Messiah Jesus is—he is the suffering-servant who lays down his life for his people.  Our response to this is to take up our cross and follow him.  Following a suffering saviour is a demanding thing, and we are to follow his example of service as we serve each other.

Here is God’s promised king, who comes as a suffering servant to lay down his life for his people.  As we pray let’s spend a few moments thinking about what our response to him should be.

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[1] Heading adapted from Kim Swinthinbank preaching at All Soul’s Langham Place, on website.

[2] Apparently compassionate women from Jerusalem made this drink for condemned criminals. 

[3] In verse 25 we read that it was the third hour when they crucified him (9am).  This seems to contradict John’s account, which says that the trial before Pilate was not quite over by the sixth hour.  Some of the suggestions that have been suggested to this problem are (1) John was using Roman time (in which the sixth hour was 6 am not 12 noon), (2) this is an error of a copyist (the letter that stands for three is similar to the letter that stands for six), and (3) that verse 25 was added by an early copyist.  Wessell suggests that the second explanation is the most likely. 

[4] ‘The Christian chronographer Julius Africanus (A..D. 170-240) writes about the crucifixion.  He reports the remarks of Thallus, a Roman or Syrian who wrote about the history of the eastern Mediterranean c. A.D. 52.  The work is now lost, but Africanus tells us about Thallus’s third volume.  There he comments on the crucifixion of Jesus and the accompanying earthquakes and darkness.  Thallus simply explained that this darkness was an eclipse of the sun.  This explanation Africanus took as irrational because if the crucifixion occurred at Passover there would have been a full moon, which would prevent such an eclipse.  Even if coming from Christian sources, Thallus’s remark is significant because it shows that details about the crucifixion were widespread enough that a non-Christian writer wanted to refute them.’  Bock (2002) Studying the Historical Jesus, Apollos. p. 52.

[5] Thinking that Eloi, was ‘Elijah’?

[6] There were two curtains in the temple.  There was an outer temple that prevented gentiles entering the inner temple and there was the inner curtain which separated the inner temple from the Holy of Holies.  I think it is more likely that Mark wants us to understand this verses as referring to the inner curtain.  Hebrews 9:8-10, 12; 10:19-20 tells us of the barrier being broken down between ourselves and God.

[7] Barnett, (1991) The Servant King, Aquila. p. 298. 

The tender God (Is. 40:1-11)

 

Your problem is not so much that you don’t love God (although none of us love Him as we should), but that you don’t know how much He loves you.  He calls people to be free.  He wants to bury our guilt in the sea of His love.  He wants to change us.  He wants us to feel secure and at home with Him.

We are going to look at an amazing few verses in Isaiah 40, and point out that:

1.       God wants you to know that you are forgiven.

2.       God enables us to change.

3.       God’s promises are forever sure.

God wants you to know that you are forgiven (1-2)

Look at the emotional intensity of these words.  The word ‘comfort’ is repeated for emphasis.  Speak tenderly (lit. ‘to the heart) of my people.  The kindness of God leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4).  ‘God’s deepest intention towards us is comfort’ (Ortland).  ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who comforts us in our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God’ (2 Cor. 1:3-4).

Notice that God addresses them as ‘my people’ and that He is ‘your God.’  This is amazing grace.  At the end of the last chapter judgement was announced.  Because of the people’s persistent idolatry and injustices, they were going to go into exile under the Babylonians.  These verses are addressed to people a hundred years after Isaiah’s time, who are in exile.  Yet despite their wickedness God has not given up on them.  They may have abandoned Him, but He has not forgotten them.

God says that their iniquity has been pardoned and that they have received a double for all their sins.  There is a bit of debate about it, but it would seem that the double portion refers to a folding over.  Like you might fold over a piece of paper on itself (see Exodus 26:9).  The point is being made that God, in His justice, has punished them with an exact correspondence for their sin.  Our God does not ignore sin and He does not sweep it under the carpet.  He deals with it!

But who has He dealt with our sin?  He deals with it Himself.  In a few chapters we will be introduced to a servant, who we know is Jesus, who is pierced for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities’ (Is. 53:5).  Jesus is the one who has taken the exact payment for all our guilt.

God changes us (3-5)

God Himself did come to those in exile and bring them home.  Verse three is used in the New Testament to talk of John the Baptist.  Note that the one in wilderness prepares the way of the LORD.  That is YHWH, God.  Yet in the New Testament the one who comes is Jesus.  That is because Jesus is God the Son, He is Immanuel (7:14), ‘God with us.’

How do we prepare the way for His coming?  The valleys have to be lifted up and the mountains smoothed.  It is a metaphor for repentance.  For example, we flatten our pride and admit, ‘nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.’  Repentance is an attitude that not only wants sins to be forgiven, repentance wants to know and love God. 

But my love for God is so shallow!  I have been helped by something the great Welsh preacher, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, said: ‘the desire to love God is love for God.’  Ask Him to increase your love.  How do we change?  We change as we look at Jesus and the Holy Spirit transforms us (2 Cor. 3:18). 

‘And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.’  ‘And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in the Lord Jesus, in order that he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus’ (Eph. 2:6-7).  Imagine, in heaven people will look at you, with all the messes and moral failures of your life, and declare ‘isn’t God so kind that he would forgive someone like that, and someone like me.’

For all eternity heaven will be full of songs of the glory of God.  His perfect justice will have been seen in how He brought judgement on those who refused to turn and be forgiven; His perfect love, justice and mercy in how He dealt with the sins of those who allowed themselves to be swallowed up in His love.

God’s promises are certain (6-11)  

Remember that these words have in view those in exile.  We don’t know who these individuals are.  They lived, died and were forgotten.  But over two-and-a-half thousand years later we still have the promises made to them.  ‘The word of the LORD stands for ever’ (8).

Martyn Lloyd-Jones explained that as a pastor people would often come to him about ‘that one sin’ that they were scared God had not forgiven.  He would get then to read First John one verse nine: ‘If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’  Then he would ask, ‘where are the exceptions?’  There are none!  ‘As big as your sin is, that promise is as big.’  He would explain, ‘your problem is not that sin you have committed, your problem is that you are refusing to take God at His word.’  Think of the great promises of the Bible.  Jesus will never drive away anyone who comes to Him (John 6:37).  He will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5).

Our passage ends by telling us of the God whom we are to behold.  He is a mighty king, a generous benefactor and a kind shepherd.  ‘He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those who have young’ (11).  Jesus is the good shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep (John 10:14-15).

Conclusion

How do you feel?  Look at verse twenty-seven.  The people in exile, who were suffering the consequences of their sin, felt that their way was hidden from God.  But He still addresses them as my people.  God has not forgotten you.  He wants you to know the blessing of knowing His forgiveness.  He wants you to know he loves you.  He wants you to know that there is no sin he cannot forgive.

So, what do we do if we struggle to feel God’s promises?  ‘Wait/hope’ in the Lord (31).  Look to Him with eager expectation.  Preach this gospel to yourself—ask God for the strength to believe God’s promises.  Confess your sins to each other (James 5:16)—not the same sin over and over, but share your struggles with someone you trust, and then allow them remind you that our God is a God who delights to show mercy.