Love from the Cross
Gospel of Mark: Jesus a life to serve • Sermon • Submitted
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A long road home
A long road home
Jesus has been on a journey from his early ministry setting His face on Jerusalem (Lk9:41). It must have, in the flesh, been a very emotional time for Jesus, but yet, He knew why He came and went to fulfill His calling. We have already seen quiet a journey to the cross.
From Agonizing prayer in the garden (Mk14:32-42)
To the Betrayal by Jesus; His arrest and abandonment (Mk14:43-50)
The beating and mocking (Mk14:65)
The denial by Peter (Mk14:66-72)
The Roman trial (Mk15:1-20)
Jesus abandoned, alone, afflicted leads us to where we are starting today. No greater love could He display then be willing to go to the cross for our sin.
20 After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him.
In our passage today we are going to focus on a couple of points.
Leading to the crucifixion (Mk15:22-25)
The crucifixion (Mk15:24-32)
The road to the Crucifixion
The road to the Crucifixion
From the mock trial before the Jews, the shameful trial before Pilate, now comes the journey to cross itself.
21 They pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross.
Mk1521
22 Then they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. 23 They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it.
Where Simon was compelled to carry the cross (Mk15:21; Jn19:17; Rom16:13)
Where Simon was compelled to carry the cross (Mk15:21; Jn19:17; Rom16:13)
Let’s take our time on this, first who is this Simon?
Why do you think they named his sons?
17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.
Could this be the Rufus Paul mentions in Romans, men into service.
Roman soldiers had the privilege of “pressing” someone into service, but this started off with Jesus bearing His own cross.
17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.
17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.
A couple more questions about Simon.
Why do you think they named his sons?
Could this be the Rufus Paul mentions in Romans, men into service.
13 Greet Rufus, a choice man in the Lord, also his mother and mine.
A quick story to tie in Simon and his bigger purpose. In one of his folksy letters to his mother, Harry Truman wrote, ‘I went to the White House today to see the President and discovered i was the President.” Simon had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and ended up meeting the Passover Lamb. Simon’s life forever changed and you can be pretty confident he shared his faith with his Son’s Alexander and Rufus as they witnessed him picking up bearing the cross for Christ.
Where he took the long way to Golgotha (Mk15:22; Isa52:14; Lk22:33; Jn19:20)
Where he took the long way to Golgotha (Mk15:22; Jn19:20)
The guilty party that was to be crucified would be lead out of the City being led through all the streets in great procession. For crucifixion was a shameful thing and was reserved for the worst of the worst and by leading through the streets it was to be a deterrent.
Jesus had been beaten beyond recognition (Isa52:14)
14 Just as many were appalled at You — His appearance was so disfigured that He did not look like a man, and His form did not resemble a human being—
Because of the beating, no wonder Jesus would be tired too and why they had to employ Simon. This was a long road to go outside the city to the place of the skull, the place of death.
Speaking of the guilty party, Jesus was convicted but was not guilty, we were guilty but not convicted because Jesus love from the cross.
Simon, which is not Simon Peter who promised to never leave Jesus and even to die with him (Lk22:33); it was Simon the Cyrene that came to the aid of the Master.
33 But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”
20 Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek.
Jn
Where Jesus offered pain killer (Mk15:23)
wine mixed with myrrh was in the day a narcotic, it was designed to deaden the pain, and crucifixion was very painful, we will talk about that more in a few minutes.
Jesus refused the cup of sympathy so as to drink the cup of iniquity. The cup of sin, the cup of God’s wrath are different ways it is said within the scripture. You may be familiar with some of these scriptures
36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed.
38 Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” 39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? 41 “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” 43 Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
Cup of suffering (Mt20:23; Mt26:42; Mk10:39 and Mk14:36 and sharing in Php3:10)
I think maybe we should look at the cup of suffering for we are invited to share in that cup too (Php3:10)
23 He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”
23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
Here this cup, is the cup of suffering and they, the apostles did drink of that cup of suffering
36 And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.”
Jesus in the flesh desired if it were possible not to drink of the cup of suffering.
Then you have Paul invite us to share in it
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
Oh wait, here is a better verse
17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
None of the gospel accounts give a description of the crucifixion, it is not needed, for the crucifixion is not to arose pity for Jesus but to bring assured faith to his disciples, even us as disciples 2000 years later.
10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
Now that does lead us to our next section about the crucifixion.
9 But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen.
Act6:9
The Crucifixion
The Crucifixion
According to Cicro, crucifixion was “the cruelest and most hideous punishment possible.” Whereas we have limited bible words on the subject there is much we can still learn.
24 And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. 25 It was the third hour when they crucified Him.
The crucified Christ (Mk15:24-25; Mt27:35; Lk23:33; Jn19:18; Isa53:1-12)
35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots.
oh wait that did not tell us much more did it?
33 When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
still not much more to go on regarding the crucifixion itself
18 There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.
Crucifixion of Jesus Picture
There is much written about crucifixion, just not much about Jesus crucifixion except for 7 sayings and we will to those next week. So I want to give a doctors description of what transpires after Simon carries the cross of Christ for him.
When they got to the place of the skull Simon would have been ordered to place the cross beam on the ground, this forcing Jesus to the ground too. Jesus shoulders would be in pain from the beam.
The soldier then would feel on the wrist for the place to drive the nail through. Go too far one way and the skin and everything would tear. He would use a heavy hammer to drive the nail (stake) through the writest into the wood. He would repeat this with the other wrist also. WHen doing the second arm he would pull, but not too much before nailing it in so as to leave some room (flexation) to move.
The solider then would get assistance in lifting the cross beam up to put in on the top of the vertical beam (or tree). The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot and both feet would be extended with toes down, a nail is driven through the each of each, leaving the knees bent so they could be flexed.
The victim is then crucified. Slowly the victim will sag down with more weight on the nails and the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain — the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves.
Pushing Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, there is searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet. At this point, another phenomenon occurs. As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically He is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen.
Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins. A deep crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over - - the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level — the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues — the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The body of Jesus is now in extremis, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. His mission of atonement has been completed. Finally He can allow His body to die. C. Truman Davis “Crucifixion of Jesus from a medical point of view, 1965) found in the expositor’s bible dictionary, Volume 8.
Even the doctor’s description cannot describe the depth of God’s love for us and the sacrifice of Jesus. God placed the iniquity on the Son and the Son carried it to the cross for you and I.
There is so much more that can be said, and we will say more, but now, let’s see how the description of the sacrifice of the Christ is in the scripture of the suffering servant. Please turn to Isa53. I am not putting these on the screen I want you to listen to the prophesy follow in your bible if you chose.
1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
Isa53:11-
11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
Man was looking for an earthly king, a victorious king, a mighty king, not a suffering servant. They were expecting a great blood line and a know family not the son of a peasant girl, a teenager, as the world would look at her as a harlot due to not being married.
He was despised and forsaken (3)
Bore our griefs, and sorrows (4)
Was smitten by God (4)
Pierced, crushed, chastened scourged (5)
All so by that we maybe healed (5)
He was oppressed and afflicted (7)
Buried among the wicked (9)
The Lord, the Father was pleased to crush Him and render Him as a guilt offering (10)
By His suffering, by his love on the cross the would justify many (11)
He born the iniquity the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors (12) yep that is you and me.
Some more details from the cross.
His garments were gambled for (Mk15:24) fulfilling prophesy (Ps22:18)
There were time marks to consider (Mk15:25, Mk15:33, and Mk15:34)
There is the inscription to take into account (Mk15:26; Jn19:20; Mt27:37; Lk23:38)
written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin
While each gospel may word different due to different audiences.
There were the others who were crucified with Him (Mk15:27-28)
The two thieves, possible that they were insurrectionists too like Barabbas was. For insurrection was a capital crime in Rome
And the blasphemy and mockery (Mk15:29; Mk15:31-32; Lk23:39-43)
By the people, by the chief priest and scribes and even the thieves on the cross, though one repented.
In closing what we can learn from this terrible event.
The terribleness of sin (Rom3:23, Rom6:23)
The greatness of God’s love (Rom5:6-9)
The depth and inspiration of Jesus sacrifice for us (1Pt2:21-25)
When we look at the love from the cross we should see Jesus is saying “God loves you like that, with a love that is limitless, a love that will bear every suffering that earth has to offer so that you can have eternal life with the Father”