Sermon Tone Analysis

Opening

Bridges - famous bridges

a structure that carries a pathway over an obstacle.

What are some important bridges in your life?

How is Jesus a trustworthy bridge for our spiritual lives?

Today we are going to look at the actions that Jesus took to be our bridge over sin and death.

Context

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- 15:26

In the garden at Gethsemane after the last supper, Jesus left to pray and asked the disciples to watch and pray.

He returned to find them sleeping 3 times.

Judas betrayal,

a crowd with swords and clubs, chief priests, scribes and elders.

vs. 53 they led Jesus to the high priest and all of the chief priests, scribes and elders were there.

false testimony, interrogation by the high priest.

Peters denials

15:1-15 Jesus before Pilate (vs. 5 Pilate was amazed, v.10 he knew the handed over Jesus out of envy, v. 14 What evil has He done?

Jesus is mocked and tortured.

vs. 16- 21

visualize the cruelty of the Roman crucifixion

In when James and John requested to be seated to the right and left of Jesus, is contrasted here with the two criminals.

Following Jesus will cause suffering, and may even cost you your life.

Suffering in the ministry of the Messiah did not make sense to the Jews in the first century.

The fact that He would lay down His life willingly for all of humanity was so difficult for them to understand.

How could we explain to someone unfamiliar with the gospel Jesus’ willingness to be crucified?

Responses and actions of bystanders

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Why did the passers by yell insults?

They were familiar with Jesus ministry since they used His own words and twisted them.

Jesus could have come down off of the cross but we would not have had a Savior.

In order to bridge the gap from death to life, He had to remain on the cross.

What fascinates Mark, and is needful for his audience to hear for their own benefit, is the regaling of Jesus by unbelievers at the supreme moment of salvation in human history (vv.

29–32).

Passers-by taunt Jesus as a false prophet and shake their heads at his prophecy of the temple’s destruction and resurrection in three days, not knowing that the prediction is now in the process of being fulfilled in Jesus’ own person (he has become the true temple, having appropriated its space into himself); he will also come down from the cross and save himself, but not according to their timing or before he has completed his work of saving others (vv.

29–30).

How did staying on the cross while being mocked serve as evidence of Jesus’ identity and power?

:

What 3 actions took place?

How do people downplay the seriousness of sin?

How do these verses point tot he seriousness of sin?

Jesus was temporarily separated from the Father without losing any of His divine nature.

He was forsaken by His Father, and by His disciples and yet there was more.

In the Gospel of Mark Jesus’ death (15:33–41) is seen to recapitulate and fulfill the themes of Passover and the exodus.

The plague of darkness that fell upon Egypt before the Passover (Exod.

10:21–22) falls over the land of Judah as Jesus becomes the final Passover and substitutionary curse (v.

33; cf.

Gal.

3:13).

Nature participates in the prelude to Jesus’ cry of dereliction as he bears in himself the holy wrath of God on behalf of sinners: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (v.

34).

In this moment of deepest irony the One who alone lived in perfect fellowship with God is alienated from God and dies with a loud cry

:

A supernatural event and the centurions’ response

John

What did this supernatural event represent?

; 10:

In the death of Jesus and the tearing of the curtain, Jesus became the bridge between humanity and God for those that believe.

In this moment of deepest irony the One who alone lived in perfect fellowship with God is alienated from God and dies with a loud cry (v.

37).

His final cry is not only a cry of dereliction but also a cry of victory: “It is finished” (John 19:30; cf.

Luke 23:46; and the alternating despair and victory of Ps. 22).

Because Jesus has taken the space of the temple into the true temple of his own person, the physical demolition of the old temple begins at his death with the tearing of the temple curtain, a sign that the rejection of Jesus as Messiah by the religious leaders will lead inexorably to the total demolition of the house of sacrifice (v.

38; 13:2; 14:58; 15:29).

The inner curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies is signified (cf.

Heb.

9:8–14; 10:19–20) and would likely have been reported by priests later converted to Christian faith.

The two men who appear before and after Jesus’ death (vv.

36, 39) frame with further irony two alternatives for Mark’s readers.

The first man, probably not a soldier but one of the Jewish bystanders who thinks he recognizes in Jesus’ “Eloi, Eloi” (v.

34) a call for Elijah, represents the unbelieving nation.

The second man, with Jesus’ redeeming work accomplished and access into the Most Holy Place open, stands as an unlikely witness to faith.

The Gentile Roman centurion, upon hearing Jesus’ cry and beholding how he has breathed his last (the note of triumph in Jesus’ death must have carried convincing authority), professes belief in Jesus as the Son of God (v.

39).

Mark 1:1

Mark 15:

Notice how Mark returned to his opening remarks in declaring Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.

How would you describe what Jesus accomplished through His death on the cross?

What image would you use to illustrate this?

His death requires a response.

What one thing did Jesu endure on your behalf that most humbles you?

Mark 15:39