Love displayed

Love in the Shadows of the Cross

Bible Passage: Mark 15:15-39

Summary: In Mark 15:15-39, we witness the intense suffering of Jesus during His trial, crucifixion, and death. This passage reveals the extent of God’s love for humanity as Jesus willingly endures pain and humiliation for our sake.

Application: This message illustrates God's profound love for us, calling us to reflect on our own response to His sacrifice. It encourages us to deepen our understanding of God's love and inspires others to seek that love in their own struggles, reminding us that we are never alone in our pain.

Teaching: This lesson teaches that God's love is demonstrated powerfully through the sacrificial act of Jesus on the cross, showing that love is often most profoundly expressed in moments of suffering and sacrifice.

How this passage could point to Christ: In this passage, Christ embodies the ultimate sacrifice, fulfilling the prophetic scriptures and revealing God's redemptive plan. His death is a pivotal point in the story of salvation, highlighting the love and mercy of God towards humanity.

Big Idea: God's extraordinary love is most clearly revealed in the suffering of Christ, calling us to embrace that love and live in response to it.

1. Mocked but Merciful

Mark 15:15-20

reflect on how Jesus, though innocent, accepted the mocking, beating, and humiliation by the Roman soldiers.

Jesus Realize this this morning Jesus was absolutely innocent and is God almighty in flesh

He allowed himself to be beat

He allowed himself to be spit upon

He allowed himself to be mocked and ridiculed

He allowed himself to be scourged

explain scourging

Flogging was a legal preliminary to every Roman execution, and only women and Roman senators or soldiers (except in cases of desertion) were exempt.  The usual instrument was a short whip with several single or braided leather thongs of variable lengths, in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones were tied at intervals.  For scourging, the man was stripped of his clothing, and his hands were tied to an upright post.  The back, buttocks, and legs were flogged either by two soldiers (lictors) or by one who alternated positions.  The severity of the scourging depended on the disposition of the lictors and was intended to weaken the victim to a state just short of collapse or death.  As the Roman soldiers repeatedly struck the victim’s back with full force, the iron balls would cause deep contusions, and the leather thongs and sheep bones would cut into the skin and subcutaneous tissues.  Then, as the flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh.  Pain and blood loss generally set the stage for circulatory shock.  The extent of blood loss may well have determined how long the victim would survive on the cross.  After the scourging, the soldiers often taunted their victim.

See Jesus took all of this willingly because he loved you and me so much and this wasn't even all of what he was going to take part in

His love was demonstrated through His willingness to endure physical and verbal abuse for our sake, showcasing the depths of God's sacrificial love.

The seriousness of Jesus’ suffering invites us to consider the magnitude of His love and challenges us to love others selflessly, even amidst ridicule and scorn.

2. Bearing the Burden

Mark 15:21-26

We find here that at first Jesus was going to carry his cross

See often times with roman crucifixion they would make the condemned carry the cross beam section of their cross to their death place

See Jesus at this point is going to be physically exhausted

a writer once put it this way

The trip from Antonia to Golgotha is about a half a mile. The road was unpaved, bumpy, and studded. Since Jesus was going outside the city, this was an uphill climb. The weather would have been hot and dry, causing further irritation to Jesus’ lacerations and open wounds.

Extreme pains would have radiated across his face and scalp every time he tripped and fell from exhaustion, compounded further in his muscles and joints from having to get back up again and again.

His cloak would have been virtually glued to his body by the clotted blood in the open wounds caused by the scourging, and it’s no doubt that it was yanked off, sending jolts of pain throughout his entire body.

All of this, and Jesus still had to face the most horrific of all- the crucifixion.

We find that Simon a cyrenian was called out to carry Jesus Cross and to me this is something that us Christians should understand

Others around us may be having hard times and we might not know exactly what those people are going through but we need to be willing to carry other peoples burdens and we need to help others

3. Crucified Among Criminals

Mark 15:27-32

Now we come to the point where Jesus is nailed to the cross

The hand placement of the several inch nails

the position of the feet

The problem with being able to take to much air in but having to lift up to breath out

and the pain it would cause to do so

but while he is hanging here he is being mocked by the crowds

the people are gambling for who is going to take his garments right just below Jesus

while all of this is going on Jesus is hanging in between two criminals

this magnifies God's love, showing that Jesus was numbered with the transgressors.

Jesus an innocent man hangs with two criminals whose punishment was just

we know the famous story of these men on the cross

on mocks Jesus but the other recognizes who he was

And he simply requested that Jesus would remember him when he entered into his kingdom

And Jesus said he would be with him today in paradise

even to the final fleeting moments of his life Jesus was working on the hearts of those around him

then we see the people requesting him that if he was who he said he was to bring save himself

and Jesus does not do this

His refusal to save Himself from the cross highlights a selfless love focused on the redemption of humanity.

This moment calls us to pursue humility and forgiveness, echoing His deep compassion for those who scorned Him.

See Jesus at any moment could have come off that cross being fully God and legions of angels could have came and slew humanity of the face of the earth but instead God of the universe chose to endure unimaginable pain, to bleed, and to ultimately die for me and you because his love was so great for us

4. Veil Torn, Love Unveiled

Mark 15:33-39

And lastly here this morning we see the fleeting moments of Jesus On the cross

We find in the sixth hour there was a darkness among all of the lands

Then we see how in the ninth agonizing hour on the cross we find Jesus say some pretty interesting words in verse 34

These are some very interesting words indeed and to explain what is going on an author once put it this way:

There must be a depth of love between the members of the Trinity at which we can only wonder, for Each loves the Other with a divine love that always has been and will continue to exist forever. It is a godly love that will reach into the eternal ages to come, a deathless love that will never end, for God is love.

And yet, that continuously existing communion between Father and Son was broken at Calvary's Cross, as the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for you and for me. The sun hid its light as three hours of oppressive darkness shrouded the blackened sky, until Christ screamed in horror as He met the deepest point of suffering possible - separation from the Father.

The price of sin had to be paid by the One and Only Sacrifice for sin, and it demanded that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit pour out the wrath of God upon the holy Son of God, by turning their face away from the One Whom They had loved for an eternity.

No wonder that the Son cried out in anguish: "My God! My God!" to the other Members of the triune Godhead as the accumulated sin of the entire world was thrust on His sinless shoulders, and the full force of the wrath of the most high God was poured out in fullest measure on the unique Son of the Highest.

Mortal mind cannot conceive of the intense bitter anguish and pain that must have descended on the innocent Sacrifice, for in bearing the sins of humanity that holy Man was made sin for us as the floodgates of God's wrath were poured out upon Him in all its holy fullness. No wonder He screamed, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?"

Then as we continue on Jesus cries out with a loud voice and we know what he says because its recorded for us in Johns Gospel where Jesus utters the famous words of it is finished

This was the moment where the mission of Jesus on this earth was complete where he would come to this earth to live a sinless life and to die a sacrificial death so that you and I could be forgiven of our sins

Then as its creator bows his head in death the earth shakes and quakes and the veil of the temple

And this was no average run of the mill curtain your mom would hang up in her home

this veil was 60 feet high and 30 feet wide and was roughly about 4 inches in thickness

but this veil was torn in two at the moment of Jesus’ death signifying that no longer did we have to go through a man to get to God but we have direct access to the very throne room of God.

Truly how great of a God we serve this morning and what great love he demonstrated for you and I truthfully we cannot comprehend the depth of Gods love and we cannot begin to comprehend the great pain and loss that was found at the cross.

But all we need to know is that Jesus took it willingly for you and me because he loved us he love me and you that much.

The words of this song really hit me this morning when reflecting on this lesson and the words read like this

How deep the Father’s love for us, How vast beyond all measure, That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure. How great the pain of searing loss – The Father turns His face away, As wounds which mar the Chosen One Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the man upon a cross, My sin upon His shoulders; Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished; His dying breath has brought me life – I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything, No gifts, no power, no wisdom; But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer; But this I know with all my heart – His wounds have paid my ransom.