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Intro
Do you remember learning about the parts of the story line in high school literature class?
How many have good memories?
How many still struggle to enjoy reading?
I still recall reading Great Expectations by Dickens at Hackensack Christian Schools and learning about foreshadowing and complicated multiple plot lines that all wove together into one big story line.
It really helped me learn how to study the Bible better and identify the sub plots that made up the great redemption story that God unfolded throughout history and His Word.
Because God chose to reveal himself through the written Word, even if you are not a literature fan, you should be a reader and you should work to become a better reader.
This isn’t an English lesson, but can you identify the parts of a plot or story line?
Story Line
Exposition: Characters and setting are established and the conflict, or problem, is introduced.
Rising action: The conflict begins to affect the characters - heroes & villains, complicating their lives.
Climax: The conflict is faced during the main and most dramatic event of the story.
It is often a confrontation between the hero and the villain.
It is the moment the main character reaches—or fails to reach—their goal.
Falling action: The story begins to slow down, showing results of the climax.
Resolution: The story is tied up and concluded.
Mark does this within his Gospel to tell the reader Jesus’ story.
But his story is also fitting into the bigger redemption story.
Most Important Book: the Bible
The Bible is the most important book of all time.
It still remains the most copied and best selling book ever.
People dedicate their lives to reading and understanding it, even those who might not believe in the God who wrote it.
THE BIBLE HAS TRANSFORMED THE WORLD
PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO DIE FOR THIS BOOK
IT’S THE MOST ACCURATE BOOK OF ANTIQUITY
IT CONTAINS A LIFE-CHANGING MESSAGE OF FREEDOM
IT CONNECTS YOU TO HISTORY’S MOST IMPORTANT FIGURE
In today’s passage in Mark 15, we reach the crucifixion of Jesus, the climax of the Gospel narrative.
Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the author, Mark is telling this historical story because he wants the reader to come face to face with Jesus and respond.
It is not just a bunch of facts and opinions.
Mark wants us to see the pain and loss the disciples experienced when Jesus was crucified.
They thought the story was over.
Series
We are continuing our sermon series from the Gospel of Mark - called The Crown & The Cross.
Mark shows us Jesus as a man with a clear message and mission, and the reader is called to actively response to the message.
Jesus’ life on earth helped us all better understand God’s heart and what His kingdom is like.
In the first half of Mark the emphasis was on seeing Jesus revealed as Messiah - the King who deserved the crown.
The second half’s focus is on Jesus in Jerusalem fulfilling His life’s mission to suffer and die on the cross - and to rise from the dead.
In last week’s sermon, we saw Jesus rejected by the religious leaders who should have recognized the Messiah; rejected by the crowds; and rejected by the Romans.
He was sentenced to death by crucifixion.
Today as we continue in Mark 15, Jesus will be crucified with two common criminals.
The promised Messiah, the Son of God, will be brutally nailed to a cross.
But God had a plan for it all.
Our parallel passages are in Matthew 27, Luke 23, and John 19.
You can find notes and watch the rest of this series on our website or YouTube page.
PRAY
READ Mark 15:21-32
Carry the Cross
Mark was writing to people in Rome, so they were well-versed in understanding crucifixion or execution on a wooden cross.
And maybe for this reason he doesn’t go into a lot of detail.
His bare bones retelling really helps direct our focus on Jesus being rejected and alone.
Crucifixion was possibly the most painful death developed by mankind.
Our word excruciating comes from the same root word meaning slow, agonizing, suffering and tortuous.
The earliest historical records show the Persians (modern day Iran) executing people on crosses starting as early as 400-300 BC.
That’s 300-400 years before Jesus was born.
It was not new but it was brutal.
Ancient historians Cicero and Josephus called it the cruelest most terrible punishment and the most pitiable of deaths.
Crucifixion was the ultimate shame.
It was designed to humiliate and dishonor the victim through a tortuous death while also serving as a very public warning to all who witnessed it.
Execution on a cross was so horrendous that it was reserved for the worst offenders - especially traitors and zealots.
Hebrews 12:2 says Jesus endured the cross and disregarded the shame it brought.
Many Jews struggled with the possibility that Jesus could be the Messiah because anyone hanged on a tree was seen as cursed.
After a near-death flogging or scourging, the victim was forced to carry the large wooden cross beam through the public streets to the execution site.
It was further humiliation and kind of like digging your own grave.
Jesus must have been so weak from the scourging that the soldiers forced a man in the crowd to carry the cross beam for him.
Mark tells us the man was Simon from Cyrene and he was the father of Alexander and Rufus.
Cyrene is in northern Africa past Egypt in what is now Libya - it’s very close to the modern day city Benghazi.
There was a large Jewish settlement there, and the name Simon is traditionally Jewish - so he may have been Jewish and possibly darker skinned.
Some church histories believe Simon became a Christ-follower after seeing Jesus’ death first-hand.
In Romans 16:13 Paul sends greetings to someone named Rufus and his mother who was kind to Paul.
Since Mark mentions these men by name, it’s very possible they were known to the original readers in the church at Rome.
Imagine the impact on these boys - watching their father get pulled into this brutal drama.
Anyway, Simon carried the cross for Jesus.
Back in Mark 8:34 Jesus used this very illustration to describe discipleship.
Was this foreshadowing?
That’s very possible.
“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
If we are going to be faithful, effective disciples of Jesus - we must also be ready to take up our cross.
That means sacrificially loving others like Jesus.
We deny our rights, accept pain, endure shame and suffering to share the love of God at any cost.
Nothing Left
v. 22 They led Jesus outside the city to the place called Golgotha an Aramaic name for the execution hill.
It most likely resembled a skull in some way.
The Greek name was “Krania” where we get our word cranium.
Later when translated into Latin the word “Calva” was used which means skull.
This is where our term Mount Calvary originated.
It’s clear from the name in any language: this is a place of death.
The executions happened outside the city on public roads so people could see and be warned.
Especially those going out or coming in to the city.
Jesus is a picture of the scapegoat in the OT - which had all the sins of the people ceremonially placed on its head and then was sent out of the city in to the wilderness to die alone.
Being outside Jerusalem was also symbolic of being outside God’s blessing and protection.
Again as followers, we are called to endure some form of the shame and suffering Jesus endured.
v. 23 They offered Jesus wine mixed with myrrh, possibly to revive him or deaden the pain, but Jesus refused.
At the last supper (Mark 14), he told his disciples he would not drink wine again until he drank it in the kingdom.
In Matt 2, the wise men from the east presented baby Jesus with gold, frankincense and myrrh.
God’s redemption story is incredible from start to finish.
In literature that’s called foreshadowing.
One of many OT prophesies was fulfilled:
Psalm 69:21 (ESV)
They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
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