The Suffering of the Son

INTRODUCTION

What a fantastic week of worship we’ve had. We’ve been so blessed by each preacher/message.

You’ve probably already picked up on the fact that all of the sermons have been from Mark’s gospel.

Many NT scholars and theologians agree that the predominant theme of Mark’s gospel is that Jesus is the “Suffering Servant.” Mark presents Jesus as the One who came—not to be served but to serve. He also intentionally presents Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah 52 and 53—the suffering servant prophecy—who would give His life as a sacrifice for the atonement of sin—the God who comes to Suffer for Sin in the place of Sinners.

In 1945, a man named Elie Wiesel was imprisoned in Auschwitz. He recounted a harrowing moment when a child was hanged, and someone behind him asked, “Where is God?” Wiesel wrote: “And I heard a voice within me answer: ‘Where is He? He is hanging here on this gallows.’”

That moment of suffering reminded Wiesel of the presence of God in human agony.

And yet, far more than an analogy, Mark 15 takes us to the ultimate moment of suffering—not just a man hanging on a gallows, but God Himself on a cross. The darkness, the cry, the torn veil, and the confession of a Roman soldier point to something cosmic and eternal happening in those final moments.

This evening, we’re going to consider "The Suffering of the Son" in three parts:

In His Suffering, the Son Became Sin.

In His Suffering, the Son Became a Sacrifice.

In His Suffering, the Son Became Our Salvation.

Mark 15:33–39 ESV

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

In His Suffering, the Son Became SIN.

Mark records that at the sixth hour (noon), darkness covered the whole land for three hours. From noon to 3 PM—when the sun should’ve been brightest—the whole land is covered in darkness. Darkness, in the Bible, is representative of divine judgment.

The Light of the World was being judged.

Jesus wasn’t just physically suffering. He was enduring the wrath of God for sin. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin…”

“My God, My God” — Not “Father”

“Forsake” — in this moment, Jesus was experiencing the full weight of the penalty for sin. It was being cut off…abandoned.

Think about that: the perfect, holy Son of God was made to be sin—not a sinner, but sin itself—so that God’s wrath could be poured out on Him instead of us.

The one who knew no sin is, at this moment, becoming sin.

In His Suffering, the Son Became a SACRIFICE.

As in the OT when the sin of the people was symbolically transferred…

Jesus’ death wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t a tragedy. It was a sacrifice—a deliberate offering. When He breathed His last, He fulfilled what the lambs in the temple only pointed to.

The tearing of the temple veil is powerful. That curtain separated sinful man from a holy God. Only the high priest, once a year, could go beyond it. But now? Torn from top to bottom—God saying, “Access is now open.”

Illustration: Have you ever tried to enter a place that was off-limits? Flying economy vs. flying first class. You needed a pass—a mediator. At the cross, Jesus became our “all-access pass” into God’s presence.

No more sacrifices. No more separation. The curtain is torn.

Application: We don’t come to God on our own terms. We come through Christ. This is why the gospel is exclusive—not because it’s narrow-minded, but because it’s anchored in a specific sacrifice.

Church family, never get over the cross. Never move past it. Let it shape how you pray, how you worship, and how you live. Hebrews 10:19 says, “We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus.”

In His Suffering, the Son Became OUR SALVATION.

Jesus’s suffering is necessary for our salvation. There had to be a payment for sin that would fully satisfy the wrath of God. There had to be one who would bear that wrath and would be eternally acceptable to God the Father. There had to be one who was sinless, perfectly righteous, a spotless Lamb, whose blood could atone for all sin.

Luke 9:22 “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

This was the plan of God from all of eternity.

Hebrews 2:10 “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.”

A) THE CURTAIN

B) THE CENTURION

Billy Graham once told a story of a hardened criminal who attended one of his crusades. The man came forward at the invitation, and with tears said, “I’ve done everything wrong… but if Jesus died for me, I want to live for Him.”

That’s the gospel. Jesus didn’t suffer for perfect people—He suffered to save sinners like us.

Conclusion:

On the cross:

He became sin, so you could become righteous.

He became a sacrifice, so you could be reconciled.

He became your salvation, so you could be set free.

And now the torn veil beckons: Come close. Draw near. The suffering of the Son has opened the way.

Let me close with this thought: The cross was not the end—it was the doorway to life. And for all who trust in the Suffering Son, that doorway leads to forgiveness, peace, and eternal life.