When They Had Mocked Him

INTRODUCTION

Before his death, Jesus would be no stranger to being mocked.

Jesus was first mocked by the members of the Sanhedrin.

In our passage tonight, he’ll be mocked by the Roman soldiers under Pilate’s authority.

Later, he’ll be mocked by those who gathered around the cross to taunt him.

The ancient world was a cruel place that loved to mix torment with what they called ‘justice.’

When Herod Agrippa I () visited Alexandria in A. D. 38, a pagan mob mocked him by dressing up as king a demented Jew named Carabas and paying homage to him.

In A. D. 68, Roman Emperor Vitellius was removed from the throne after only 8 months. Then he was mocked and abused before being executed.

The ancient would was cruel because sinful human beings were cruel. We still are and the world is still just as cruel.

MAJOR IDEAS

They Had Mocked Him

Mark 15:16–20 ESV

And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.

[Exp] To save his own political career, Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, reluctantly agreed to deliver Jesus to be crucified because the religious leaders wanted it and stirred up the Passover crowds to demand it. The official charge was that Jesus claimed to be a king leading a revolt against Rome.

He was an enemy of the state.

And because he was an enemy of the state, he would be treated as such. He was brought before the ‘whole battalion’ at the Governor’s headquarters (about 600 men at full strength) to be mocked as the king he was accused of being.

The color of royalty was purple, so they clothed him in a purple cloak, forced a crown of twisted thorns onto his head, and sarcastically saluted him with cries of, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They struck him with a reed, spit on him, and shook with laughter as they knelt in false homage before him.

Then they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Jesus had already been scourged so he was already a bloody mess. When they put the cloak on him it would have laid over those tender wounds, perhaps attaching itself to Jesus’s flesh as his blood clotted.

The battalion meant to wake Jesus up to reality by ripping this cloak from his flesh. By stripping him of his mock royal robe, they were saying, “You may have thought you were a king meant for a throne, but in reality you’re just a criminal headed to the cross.”

The real reality, however, was that Jesus was King. He still is and always will be. He was, however, not just the King of the Jews but the King of kings and Lord of lords. No amount of mockery or abuse would change that. His death on the cross wouldn’t even change that. The Roman battalion could strip Jesus of his mock royal robe, but they could not strip him of his divine right to sit on the throne of Israel forever.

[Quest/App]

Matthew ( ) says that they put a scarlet robe on him rather than a purple one as Mark says. Who was wrong, Matthew or Mark? [Neither. [] People see colors differently and, [] obviously, the robe that they would use to mock a condemned criminal wouldn’t have been of the highest quality so the color would've been faded.]

The abuse that Jesus suffered was the fulfillment of prophecy (), but the Roman soldiers were notorious for playing cruel games with criminals condemned to die; especially those condemned as insurrectionists. They even dressed some of them up and moved them around a big game board like big chess pieces before sending them off to die. Someone described this scene as a cat playing with a mouse. He wrote, “The cat will let the mouse go and then catch it again or toss it into the air just for fun before having it for lunch. ... These troops ‘played’ with Jesus,” (R. Cooper in Holman NT Commentary: Mark). Why do you think the Roman soldiers were so cruel toward Jesus? [ [] They were no doubt ordered to be cruel. Even so, they seem to obey the order with zeal in Jesus’s case. [] Maybe they were racist. Maybe they hated all Jews. Maybe not, but it’s at least a possibility. [] They enjoyed being cruel. There’s no doubt about that, but there still remains the question as to why they would enjoy such a thing. [] They were patriotic. Jesus was an enemy of the state, but what the soldiers did to Jesus is outside the bounds of justice. [] Perhaps the best answer is that they were sinners and sinners sin against others. In their sinful pride, they exalted themselves by tearing Jesus down. To mask the wounds of sin they sensed within themselves, they inflicted wounds upon him.]

[App]

In addition to physical cruelty, people can be cruel verbally, emotionally, and even spiritually. What things make you imagine being cruel to others? [ [] Someone harming our loved ones; Someone harming our country; Just the sinfulness in us] How do we resist the temptation to act cruelly toward others?

things make you imagine being cruel to others? [ While someone Love for family; Love for country;

What’s a word or phrase that describes how you feel when you understand that Jesus endured the cruelty of these Roman soldiers as an act of mercy toward them? [ [] Astonishment. Astonished that Jesus with power to rescue himself from these men instead submits himself to the Father’s will. Astonished that Jesus could endure abuse from these men and still love them to the point of dying for them if they would believe. [] Humbled. Humbled to think that Jesus endured this not only in obedience to his Father but also so that I would be saved from God’s wrath on account of my sins. [] Grateful. Grateful for the same reason that I was humbled; but increasingly grateful when I am reminded in detail of what he endured. [] Committed. Committed to holiness upon seeing what he endured to pay for my sin.]

In obedience to , Jesus was taken outside Jerusalem’s walls to be crucified. How amazing that the sinless Son of God was taken outside the gates of the earthly city of Jerusalem to be crucified so that we, through faith in him, can enter the gates of the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem that will come down out of Heaven.

Mark 15:21–32 ESV

And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

Scene #3: The Death (vv. 33-41).

Mark 15:33–41 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!” There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

Scene #4: The Burial (vv. 42-47).

Mark 15:42–47 ESV

And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

CONCLUSION