Sermon Tone Analysis

Mark 15.42-16.8

LOUIS FARRAKHAN on March 30 (speech put on Twitter)

After misquoting John 3:16 intentionally, “for God so loved His people...” he said,

"God does not love this world.

God never sent Jesus to die for this world.

Jesus died because he was 2,000 years too soon to bring about the end of the civilization of the Jews.

He never was on no cross.

There was no Calvary for that Jesus.

Early one Saturday morning…when he found out he was 2000 years too soon to end the civilization of the Jews, He decided that he would give his life for the truth that he taught so that his name would live, until the one that he prefigured came into existence.

That’s why the Quran says Jesus and his mother Mary were a sign.

Jesus didn't die on Calvary.

He died in front of an old Jew's store that was boarded up and the Roman soldiers came to get him...”

(https://apple.news/AOLEM26rKRtKZEZeCB0hlWw)

The Qu’ran and the Bible can’t both be true.

Islam and Christianity are not the same.

The Jesus of the Scriptures and history IS the Messiah, He is Emmanuel, the Merciful Faithful High Priest, the Precious Cornerstone, the true Vine, the Waymaker…HE IS SALVATION.

And it is HIM that we have declared to you faithfully as we’ve walked through the Gospel of Mark together.

Quick Survey of the week:

SUNDAY - PALM SUNDAY

Jesus Triumphal entry into Jerusalem is juxtaposed against his heartbreak for his people.

Often - great triumph comes with much weeping.

THURSDAY - MAUNDY THURSDAY

Jesus final meal with his disciples - the Last Supper

It would be a sweet evening of fellowship and communion…and heartbreak.

From our perspective, we see things begin to unravel quickly…from the Father’s perspective - the plan, timing, and ultimate rescue of mankind are still in motion - set ablaze in Eternity past.

FRIDAY - GOOD FRIDAY

We read the text and wonder why on earth we call it good.

It is only good in light of Sunday morning’s reality of the resurrection.

In fact we call the Gospel the good news…but you cannot fathom the depth of it’s goodness without the darkness of its bad news.

He is crucified - as spikes are driven through his hands and feet, THIS MAN...

(who spoke and the winds and seas obeyed)

(who loved the marginalized)

(who physically and emotionally touched those that culture marked as “unclean”)

(who was love incarnate)

(who at his confession of his eternal name, when He said "I am He”, knocked down the guards in the garden with the power of word alone)

this man Jesus while is he being nailed to a tree that he created with spikes containing metals he formed in the earth,

was mocked as he was being prepared for the cruelest act of torture,

he is mocked while he is being tortured and until his torture is relieved by death

1 criminal mocks him as soon as they’re erect

1 criminal acknowledges his innocence and divinity and asks Jesus to remember him

women watch from afar as it becomes obvious by His cry that He has been forsaken by his Father…(THIS IS THE WORST SUFFERING TO HIM)

Charles Spurgeon writes:

Will he not sing sweeter songs than ever came from martyr’s lips?

Ah! no; it is an awful wail of woe that can never be imitated.

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

The martyrs said not that: God was with them.

Confessors of old cried not so, when they came to die.

They shouted in their fires, and praised God on their racks.

Why this?

Why doth the Saviour suffer so? why, beloved, it was because the Father bruised him.

That sunshine of God’s countenance that has cheered many a dying saint, was withdrawn from Christ; the consciousness of acceptance with God, which has made many a holy man espouse the cross with joy, was not afforded to our Redeemer, and therefore he suffered in thick darkness of mental agony.

​The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, Vol.

IV The Death of Christ (No. 173)

The lights go out - the earth goes dark.

This darkness that Creation experienced was darker than the darkness of natural night.

It was darker than the plague that befell Egypt as the tried to hide the light of God’s people.

It is likely the closest thing this earth will ever experience to the dark abyss of the place referred to a Ghenna, Sheol, Hell, itself.

Unseen to us but felt by God, Himself…the weight of sin was heavy and it was dark

there is an earthquake

the veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom

some of the dead in tombs are raised

Jesus cries out…and dies He cried out “It is finished”.

At 12, he said, “I must be about my Father’s business.”

At the height of his ministry he says in John 9 - “I must do the work of Him who sent me while it is still day.”

In his high priestly prayer in John 17, he tells the Father, “I have finished the work you gave me to do.”

He cries out, “into your hands I commit my spirit.”

And announces to the work I came to do in this mortal body is done.

NOT I am finished BUT It is finished.

Mark 15.42-47

And then...JESUS IS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS

CUSTOMS NOTE:

Who was Joseph?

- probably lived in Jerusalem / originally from Arimathea, a village 20 miles northwest of the city.

- a wealthy (Matt.

27:57), reputable member of the Council (bouleutēs), a non-Jewish designation for the Sanhedrin.

He had not approved of the Sanhedrin’s decision to kill Jesus (Luke 23:51).

- He was personally waiting for the kingdom of God (cf.

Mark 1:15) which suggests he was a devout Pharisee.

- He regarded Jesus as the Messiah though so far he was a secret disciple (John 19:38).

Aware of Roman regulations, Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and requested Jesus’ body for burial.

He did this as evening approached (lit., “when evening had already arrived,” i.e., probably about 4 p.m.).

This gave urgency to his intended action.

But he took courage and went to Pilate boldly, a description unique to Mark.

His action was bold because:

(a) he was not related to Jesus;

(b) his request was a favor that would likely be denied on principle since Jesus had been executed for treason;

(c) he risked ceremonial defilement in handling a dead body;

(d) his request amounted to an open confession of personal loyalty to the crucified Jesus which would doubtless incur his associates’ hostility.

He was a secret disciple no longer—something Mark impressed on his readers.

- John D. Grassmick, “Mark,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed.

J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 191.

These formerly secret disciples, along with several women, would do the gruesome task of preparing His corpse for burial.

Once the soldiers lowered the body of Jesus from the cross, His friends would have to flex and massage His arms in order to relieve rigor mortis, which kept the arms stuck in the V position after death.

Then they would wash His body and anoint it with oil before wrapping it in a single linen cloth.

A separate napkin tied under His chin kept His mouth from gaping open after the muscles began to loosen.

Next, they were to wrap His body from head to toe in long strips of linen, which had been soaked in a mixture of spiced resin.

They would use 75-100 lbs of heavily scented spices to offset the smell of decomposition.

REALITY: As the sun sank below the horizon, the burial party found themselves pressed between two of God’s commandments.

They were to keep the Sabbath day sacred (which began at sundown), but Deuteronomy 21:22– 23 required the body of someone who had been executed to be buried that same day.

With night closing in, they had just enough time to hurriedly wrap His body in linen, apply at least some of the spices, and place Him inside the tomb.