Mark 15 & 16

Philippians 2:6-11 is called the Carmen Christi or the Song of Christ. It dates back to between 40-50 AD. Why is that important?

It is important because somewhere between 10-20 years after Christ, Christian communities were already saying that Jesus was God, that He emptied Himself and took on humanity, that He died on a cross, and that He is Lord. This hymn predates any gospel account by about 30 years.

Paul when he includes this in his letter to the Philippians in about 60 AD is sharing with them something Christians are already saying.

The hymn is arranged like a mirror. The beginning matches the end, the second part matches the second-to-last part, and everything points to the center. In Hebrew writing, the center is often the author's main point.

It looks like this:

A - V6 Jesus is God

B - V7 Jesus Emptied Himself

C - V8 Jesus Obeyed and Died on a Cross

B’ - V9-10 God Exalted Jesus

A’ - V11 Every Tongue Will Confess

The point of the Carmen Christi is that Jesus Christ obeyed God and died. The thing in the center of a chiastic pattern is the main point of the song.

Philippians 2:6–11 CSB

who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Why is all of this important if we are going to talk about Mark 15 & 16? It is important because the Carmen Christi is, in part, a summary of what we find in Mark 15 & 16.

Eutheōs

We mentioned at the beginning of this series and in the companion book that Mark is an action packed Gospel account. He uses the word eutheōs (you they ous) which means immediately or right away. Mark is trying to tell a story and he wanted to move quickly. Maybe it was a style preference or maybe he only had so much parchment to write on. Either way it moves quick and then slows down just as fast as he moved.

Chapters 1-8 cover about a 3-year period

Chapters 9-13 cover about 6 months

Chapter 14 covers 2 days

Chapter 15 covers 1 day

Chapter 16 covers 1 day

Mark has been driving this bus somewhere and now we are reaching our destination. It is not that the trip was not important or that we did not learn and experience things along the way but now we are reaching the destination.

Carmen Christi in Mark

Let’s take what we see from the Philippians song and look at Mark with it.

Mark 15:1-20 We have Jesus, the God man, emptying Himself.

Mark 15:21-47 We have Jesus God on the Cross

Mark 16:1-6 Jesus is raised from the dead, Raised and Exalted. He was dead and now He is alive again!

Mark 16:8-19 We have Jesus the Name worth Repeating, we are told to go announce this to the world.

Jesus - Self Emptying and Humility

Mark 15:1-20 covers the self-emptying and humility of Jesus.

Mark 15:1–5 CSB

As soon as it was morning, having held a meeting with the elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin, the chief priests tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” And the chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate questioned him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? Look how many things they are accusing you of!” But Jesus still did not answer, and so Pilate was amazed.

Here Jesus is before the religious leaders and Pilate. He is being accused of what He is but not in the way they think. They were afraid of a political rival but Jesus is so much more than they could imagine. He is God with them.

He is God but He does not rely on it. He does not hold on to it, instead He lays it aside and empties Himself. This the Kenosis of Christ or His self-emptying. He is intentionally laying aside His divinity like we talked about last week. He is choosing not to use it to His advantage. He never stops being God but He does not rely on it.

This is one of the most important doctrines or teaching in Christianity. It is that Jesus Christ is God and yet chose to live as a man. He choose to be hungry, dirty, tired, beaten, and crucified. He choose this. It was intentional. He did not have to do this. This is His humility.

We so often cling to our power or rights or position but Jesus laid His aside.

We take on the same attitude as Christ. Paul introduces The Carmen Christi with the phrase idea that we are supposed to have the attitude or mindset of Christ. How often are we angry if someone has attacked our pride when we should have humility.

How often do we not follow Jesus’ example here? How often is our frustration, our anger aroused because someone said something mean to us, cut us off in traffic, and did something to make us feel small. Here we have the Creator, the author of life being held in a mock trial and He chooses humility.

We refuse to forgive. We hold to bitterness. We cling to our rights or our frustrations and yet Jesus our example laid everything aside for the sake of love and for us.

We spoke about this last week. Jesus obeyed even though it was hard.

The central message of God becoming a man is unlike anything else. There is nothing else that compares this to this. It is God becoming us and sharing in our suffering. This is powerful.

Jesus - God on the Cross

Mark 15:21-47 is Jesus on the cross.

Mark 15:33–37 CSB

When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “See, he’s calling for Elijah.” Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, fixed it on a stick, offered him a drink, and said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.” Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last.

This is it, this is the moment of ultimate sacrifice. This is where the perfect lamb of God laid down His life for us.

Philippians 2:8 CSB

he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.

Jesus Christ, the God man was on a cross. He chose not to get down but to take the punishment. He was willingly hanging on the cross.

Nails did not keep Christ on the cross, love did.

We suffer here on the earth. We have pain, trials, and trouble. We have times of great difficulty. We have questions and we mourn. We can and I think we should ask where is God.

The answer is He was there on the cross suffering with us. God has chosen right now not to end all human suffering but to participate in it. He has entered into it. He has fellowship with our suffering. God is not absent from our pain but enters into it.

2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT

He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

This is something I have held onto for a long time and the great thing about this verse is that Christ suffered and recieved comfort first. This is not an abstract idea but something Jesus Himself experienced and then empowers us to do.

The cross brings comfort, hope, and healing.

When we are wondering where God is when times are hard we can look to the Cross and see that Christ was there.

So often it is not in our victories that we see God with us but in the midst of our pain and suffering.

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. - CS Lewis

If we could understand that Jesus is with us, that He has comfort for us then that should change things.

What pain, what sorrow, what worry can we not bring to God? O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!

Jesus - Raised and Exalted

Mark 16:1-6 is Jesus being raised and Exalted by the Father.

Mark 16:6 CSB

“Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they put him.

He was on the cross but He did not stay there. He was raised to life never to suffer again. His scars remain but they are visual representation of His victory. The Son of God was killed in our place but now He stands in total victory.

Philippians 2:9–10 CSB

For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth—

This is the hope we have. This is our testimony.

This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long; this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.

We have victory not because of anything we did. We have victory because Jesus has won. We have comfort not just because He was on the cross but because He came down and won the battle!

Love Held Jesus on the Cross and Love Raised Him up

If this does not get you going then I can’t help you.

The death of Jesus was so tragic. It was such a scandal. Such a travesty. It was so bad that we should be left with a hopelessness. But then the resurrection comes and we find joy that is beyond what we can imagine. It goes from the blackest day in history to the brightest.

Gethsemane was where Jesus surrendered to the Father's will. Golgotha was where He carried it out. The empty tomb is where the Father vindicated Him.

Gethsemane = Surrender | Golgotha = Death | Empty Tomb Exalting

Jesus’ victory on the cross is a victory He shares with us by faith. We must receive it by faith. We must hold it by faith.

Jesus - The Name worth Repeating

Now we reach the end the closing of the whole story and song. Jesus because of His obedience, His Death, and now His victory we carry this name into all the world.

Mark 16:7-20 is the sending of not just the disciples but of us all into the world to proclaim this news.

Mark 16:7 CSB

But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there just as he told you.’ ”

Jesus was obedient and because of that obedience He was exalted. He was given a name that everyone will bow to. At some point everyone will bow to the name of Jesus.

Philippians 2:11 CSB

and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Now real quick if you are reading your Bible you probably have brackets from verse 9-20. These verses are not in the oldest manuscripts. That means the oldest records don’t include them so should we read them? I think we can. The bigger point is that Mark 16:7 includes the sending.

We tell everyone about this. This is good news.

This is so good. This is worth sharing more than any good meal, a movie, a sale, or anything else. This is something worth talking about.

We now get to go tell everyone about this amazing news.

Jesus - Our New Life

The joy of this is not just that Jesus is risen but that when we place our faith in Him, when we trust His finished work on the cross we get new life too!

When we are struggling, we have Jesus

When we are afraid, we have Jesus

When we are rejoicing, we have Jesus

When we are in need, we have Jesus.

I have said it before and I will shout it until the end of my time.

Everything we need is bound up in the resurrected Jesus.

We do not just bow to Jesus for salvation, in every situation, in every struggle, in every joy, in every moment we submit and surrender to the name of Jesus.

When we come to Jesus in surrender and wonder and awe we find salvation and life

Faith in Action: Jesus’ Obedience Gives us Life