The King on the Cross

The King on the Cross

Mark 15:25-32

            The tittle of the message this morning is the King on the cross because that is what we are going to see in this story. Last week we talked about the cross of Jesus Christ and today we are going to climb Mount Calvary again. This is the epicenter of redemptive history. This is the eternal purpose of God.

Everything in the Bible points to this moment. All the Old Testament is building up to the cross. Everything in the New Testament points back to this moment, and everything in our Christian life is an expression of the Son of God hanging on a cross for the forgiveness of our sin.

            There is no other religion in the world like Christianity. The Bible says, God Himself came into the world and became a man to die so man could be forgiven and spend eternity with God in heaven. That is an amazing claim. No other religion in the world makes such an extraordinary claim. All other religions are about man working as hard as he can to be good enough for God, but Christianity is about a God who loves us so much He did the work for us. He sent His Son into the world so we could be saved. John 3:16

            That is the heart of Christianity. It is because of what Jesus did, He is seated at the right hand of power. And He has been given a name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, and every tongue confess, in heaven and in the earth that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

But how ironic it is, in our story today, Jesus is mocked and humiliated on the cross, for being a man who claimed to be a King, yet He is truly the King of all who put their trust in Him. (Mark 15:25-32)

  25      It was the third hour when they crucified Him.

  26      The inscription of the charge against Him read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

  27      They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left.

  28      [And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with transgressors.”]

  29      Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

  30      save Yourself and come down from the cross!”

  31      In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself.

  32      “Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him. (pray)

              By the time Jesus came into the world crucifixion had become the standard way of executing someone. In fact, in Jerusalem crucifixion was used as a deterrent to crime. They would make an open example of anyone who rebelled against Rome. That person would be made a public spectacle of.

            According to Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, After the death of Herod the Great, the Romans executed 2000 men to prevent any kind of Jewish uprising. That means in a single moment they nailed 2000 men to crosses.

Josephus also records for us that in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed the temple and burned Jerusalem to the ground, they crucified so many people there was no wood left in the surrounding area. They couldn’t even make another cross. It is estimated that in the days of Jesus, Rome crucified over 30,000 people in and around Judea.

            This was standard practice of the day. Crucifixion was so commonly performed in Israel the people became numb to it. They were so accustomed to seeing people die this way they learned to live with it. They learned to ignore it and disregard it.

I pray we have not become so familiar with the story of Jesus on the cross that we have learned to ignore it. I pray it would strike us to the core of our soul and we would remember when Jesus Christ was executed on the cross it was the Son of God who hung there for us. It was the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord’s.

Last week we began the message of the Cross, and we covered Vs, 22-24 and today’s message will be an extension of that message. So, I want to remind you of the headings. 1. Vs. 22 We saw the Place of the cross. It was a hill called Golgotha just outside of the city gates. The place of the skull. 2. We saw the refusal of the Cross in Vs. 23. They tried to give Jesus a sedative, wine mixed with myrrh to deaden His senses, but He refused.

3. We saw the cross itself. Vs 24 says, “They crucified Him.” This is the actual event of the executioners nailing Him to the cross and then finally, we saw the games of the cross in Vs. 24. The callous soldiers gambled for His clothes while He was dying above them.

That brings us to today’s scripture, where we see Jesus mocked and humiliated on the cross for being a man who claimed to be a King, yet He is truly the King of all who put their trust in Him.

The first thing I want you to see in this passage is the Time of the cross, Vs. 25. Everything in this scene is taking place right on time and according to God’s plan. Vs. 25 says, “It was the third hour when they crucified Him.”

This is time recorded according to the Jewish system. The Jews would count their hours beginning in the morning at 6 A.M. So, the third hour makes this 9 A.M. John’s gospel gives us time from the Roman perspective. John 19:14 says, “Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour, and he said to the Jews, “Behold your King.” So, Jesus was sentenced at 6 and crucified at 9.

I want to remind you this has already been an incredibly long day in the life of our Lord. It began just after midnight, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was betrayed, arrested, and abandoned by His disciples. Then He was taken to the palace of the high priest, where He was questioned through the early morning hours. At sunrise they brought Him before Pilate to stand trial. Then beaten and scourged, He was led on a death march through the streets of Jerusalem to a hill called Golgotha.

It is now 9 in the morning, and Jesus is crucified hanging on a cross. From a divine perspective this is a time that has been appointed for by God from the foundation of the world. God determined Jesus would not only die on a cross but when He would die on a cross. It was all predetermined, this was the day of the Passover, and the Passover lab is nailed to a cross, and He is shedding His blood for His people.

The next thing I want you to see is the charge of the cross, Vs 26. There is a sign placed at the top of the cross by Pilate. It is a notice of the charge against Him, but this is intended to mock the Jewish authorities and the claim that Jesus is a King. Written in large black and red letters it says, “THE KING OF THE JEWS”

It was their custom, as they paraded the prisoner through the streets of Jerusalem, to hang a piece of wood around their neck during the death march. Sometimes it would be carried by one of the soldiers, high on a pole like a banner, so everyone could read the charge against Him. Then as He was being crucified, they would have nailed this plaque to the top of the cross.

What is interesting to me is they don’t charge Jesus with a crime. They are essentially charging Him with the truth. They are admitting His innocence and crucifying Him for who He is. Now the chief priests went ballistic. They did not like this at all. John 19:19 tells us they wanted this charge against Him changed. They wanted it to say, “He claimed to be the King of the Jews.” But by this point Pilate was tired of them and he refused to change it. He said, “What I have written I have written.”

What this teaches us is, God is in control of even the thoughts of people in this lost world, and the charge against Jesus becomes a gospel witness for all time. They are proclaiming His kingship and they don’t even know it. Jesus of Nazareth is the King of the Jews, the Messiah the Son of God forever. But He is the King of the Gentiles as well and everyone throughout all of time who will surrender to His authority.

The question is, have you come to the place in your life that you acknowledge Him as King? Do you realize you have been bought with a price and your life is not your own? That it is through the death of Jesus Christ that the children of God have been purchased with His blood. Have you given Him that right and authority in your life? Because everyone who enters the Kingdom of God will have yielded to the authority of the King.

The next thing I want you to see in this passage is the companions of the cross, Vs. 27-28. As Jesus hung on the cross, He was hanging between two criminals. This is intended to add to the appearance of His guilt. But what is amazing to me is, this is an incredible picture of His life. Because even in His death He is surrounding Himself with sinners.

Notice Vs. 27, “They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left.”  It’s important we understand the word” robbers” here does not mean these were petty thieves. The word “robbers” should be translated insurrectionists. This could even say, they are terrorists because this word is intended to mean these are dangerous criminals. And by crucifying Jesus between them, it is insinuating guilt by association. Most people walking by would think that Jesus is one of them.

Isn’t it interesting that Mark records for us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit what is taking place at the right and the left of Jesus? I am reminded of Mark 10:37-38 when James and John ask for the privilege of sitting at His right and left in His glory. Jesus said to them, “you don’t know what you are asking for. Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism for which I am baptized?”

What is interesting to me is John is at the cross, standing beneath Jesus, and I can’t help but wonder if he looked and saw what was at the right and left hand, and I wonder if he remembered what he asked for. And just in way of application, I think it is important we understand, sometimes when we don’t get what we are asking for, and it is because we don’t understand the cost associated with it.

Notice Vs 28 in the NASB is in brackets. This is to indicate to us that this is not recorded in the oldest and best translations. This is merely an explanation, and it should be a footnote at the bottom of the page, but instead it has found its way into scripture. Mark doesn’t often refer to something as the fulfillment of prophecy because he is writing to a Gentile audience. This is something more appropriately found in Matthew’s gospel. Nevertheless, it is truth. This is prophecy from the Isaiah 53:12. Jesus would not die in the company of Godly men or angels. But His companions at the cross would be thieves and robbers.

The next thing I want you to see in this passage is the Mocking of the Cross, Vs. 29-32. As Jesus hangs on the cross He becomes the victim of vicious verbal attacks from everyone.

Once again, this story doesn’t focus on the suffering of Jesus on the cross but the humiliation that takes place. Notice how He is being mocked. 1. He is being mocked by the public. Notice Vs, 29-30 it says, “Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ha! You who were going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross.”

There was a steady flow of traffic leading into Jerusalem because this was the Passover. The verb tense and the phrase “They were hurling abuse at Him” means they were slandering Him, and they were doing it repeatedly.

There is no other reason for this other than the depravity of the human heart. We love to see people fail. We love to kick people when they are down. And that’s what they are doing here, they are wagging their heads at Him with contempt, and making fun of His agony. This is the height of arrogance in the face of God. This is nothing but the voice of Satan taunting Him on the cross.

I recently read a story about a man who stood atop a building trying to get enough nerve to jump to his death, while a crowd on the street dared him to jump. In another case a drunk man was killed while struggling to get out of the way of a subway train as a crowd taunted him. That was spirit of the people who passed by Jesus

They mocked Him. They wagged their heads, and they wagged their tongues and say, “save yourself, come down from the cross.” What they don’t understand is it wasn’t the nails that were holding Him to the cross anymore. But it is His obedience to the will of God, and His love for mankind. He is hanging there to save us.

Next, we see He is mocked by the religious leaders. These are just professional religionist they have no genuine faith they are just going through the motions of unbelievers. So, they mock Him. Notice Vs. 31, “In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, “He saved others He cannot save Himself.”

They are just standing near the cross trying to inflict more pain and suffering on Him in any way they can. Notice they are not speaking directly to Him but to each other, but loud enough for Him to hear. They are adding insult to injury.

Interestingly though, notice they acknowledge the miracles. “He saved others.” They have witnessed the power of God working through Jesus. They have saw the sick healed and the dead raised and yet their hearts were dark, and their jealousy was deep, and they wanted Him dead.

Notice Vs. 32  they say, “Come down from the cross that we see and believe.” They have been shown the evidence already and they still do not believe. Isn’t it interesting that the sinners in our story are begging Jesus to do the very thing that will mean their eternal damnation. They are encouraging Him to come down from the cross. The one thing that will seal their fate and send them to hell forever.

Finally, we see Him mocked by those who were guilty, Vs 32. “Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.” Isn’t that amazing? Men who are speeding toward their own death, hanging next to the Son of God join in the mocking. They are reviling Him.

But you know what is important about this for us? It means that He was being mocked for most of the day by one who would eventually be saved by Him. One of them begins a mocker but ends a believer. Luke 23:39-43

              39        One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”

            40        But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

            41        “And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

            42        And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”

            43        And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

            Even as the Son of God is dying on a cross His innocence is on full display for the world to see. No one can deny it. You might deny Him as your Messiah, but you cannot deny Him as the innocent condemned to die by a sinful world.

Jesus was innocent before the Sanhedrin. They couldn’t find any testimony against Him. Pilate declared His innocence and wanted to set Him free. And now even the one who hangs beside Him condemned to die on a cross recognizes His innocence and says, “Remember me.” And Jesus says, “you are remembered.”

            What mercy, what grace, that you could begin by slandering the Son of God and when you realize who He is you can be saved. We see the thief on the cross come to faith in Jesus Christ because his heart was humble, he confessed his sin, and he was redeemed. What we learn from this story is even knocking on the doorway of death Jesus saves.

             Jesus was mocked and humiliated on the cross, for being a man who claimed to be a King, yet He is truly the King of all who put their trust in Him. The question is, have you put your trust in Him?

He endured all that was shameful to remove our shame. He embraced all of the guilt to deliver us from guilt. Everything He went through causes us to recoil, yet He did all of that to save us.

            Romans 13:14 “Rather clothe yourself in the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. We have all done things we regret in life, but we can be clothed in Jesus Christ and we can be set free. We can stand before God clothed in righteousness, unashamed, and fully forgiven. He is the King on the cross.