Mark 15 22-32

Golgotha: A Place of Suffering

Text: Mark 15:22-32

Dear Christian Friends,

He looked and saw a woman crossing the street with her young son. He looked again and saw a car swerving quickly in her direction. She didn’t see it, and he saw that she didn’t see it, so he rushed out into traffic and pushed the young mother and her son out of the path of the car. But he couldn’t get out of the way in time. The woman looked up and was suddenly overwhelmed with emotions. She began to cry tears of confusion at what had just happened, tears of fear that she had almost been killed, tears of guilt for not watching out for traffic, tears of sorrow when she saw the man’s lifeless body sacrificed for her, tears of thankfulness that the man had saved her life, tears of relief that she was now safe, and finally tears of joy because she and her son could go home alive.

We’ve followed Jesus to many of the places of his passion this Lenten season. Today we arrive at a most gruesome place: Golgotha. Calvary. A place of sacrifice, a place of suffering. You heard the words of the sermon text from Mark 15 describing Jesus’ suffering there at Golgotha. You know that it was Jesus pushing you out of the way of the oncoming traffic of God’s anger, putting himself in its path instead. And like the young mother, you might look up at him dying, and you might cry too, at least on the inside. You may cry tears of confusion. Fear. Guilt. Sorrow. Thankfulness, relief, and joy. All of those tears are fitting for Calvary. So let’s take some time now to consider this place of suffering, to think about seven things that happened there, seven reasons to cry at the cross.

First, the bringing. “They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. They brought Jesus. How could they so easily bring the Almighty Son of God to the place of his death? We remember the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus told Peter that he could call on the Father at any time and have him send tens of thousands of angels to his rescue. Jesus could come and go as he pleased, and yet they brought him to this place of suffering. The words of Isaiah come to mind: “He was led like a lamb to the slaughter” (53:7). Worse than that, it was the Father himself who brought Jesus to this place of suffering. Jesus had prayed at Gethsemane that the Father take this cup of suffering away from him. But he didn’t. He escorted his sinless Son to His death. Tears of guilt flow from our eyes when we hear the word’s of Isaiah, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (53:6). But tears of joy accompany our tears of sorrow, because if the Father hadn’t brought Jesus to this place of suffering, he would have had to bring you and me to suffer for our own sins.

Second, the refusing. “They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it” (vs. 23). The wise men brought Jesus myrrh when he was a baby in order to worship him. Now the soldiers offer him myrrh as a painkiller. Before undergoing a painful surgery, you and I would want to be put under. If we were suffering from a terminal illness, we might ask for some morphine. Jesus said: “I don’t want any of it. No painkiller, no sedative, no anesthesia.” He prayed in Gethsemane, “If it is your will, Father, I will drink it. I will drink it.” Jesus tells us in the gospel of John: “I lay down my life. . . . No one takes it from me” (10:17,18). Jesus walked willingly to the cross, not just to die, but to suffer all the pain and all the wrath of God, who was angry because of your sins and mine. And we cry, with tears of sorrow for the pain our Savior felt. But then we cry a tear of joy knowing that Jesus was taking our pain upon Himself.

Third, the piercing. “They crucified him” (vs. 24). That’s it. No gory details. No bloody descriptions. Little is said by the gospel writer, and little needs to be said. How can you describe with words the pinning of God to a piece of wood? Jesus knew this was coming. A thousand years earlier he had foreseen this moment and said in Psalm 22, “They have pierced my hands and my feet” (vs. 16). We see the nails, we feel the hammer blows of guilt, and we shed the tears of sorrow as we realize that “he was pierced for our transgressions, . . . crushed for our iniquities” (Isa 53:5). But the tears flow also from the joy of knowing that his punishment brought us peace, and that by his wounds, we are healed.

Fourth, the casting. “Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get” (vs. 24). How would you feel if you were the man who jumped in the way of the car, and as you lie there dying, the woman comes and tries to swipe your watch and your wallet? What a disgrace for our Savior! Here he was letting himself be crucified for these soldiers, asking God for their forgiveness, and they weren’t even paying attention. They were caught up in their own desires, in their own profit. Jesus had also foreseen this a thousand years earlier and said again in Psalm 22, “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing” (vs.18). And the tears come, when we see the soldiers apathy and when we see our own apathy, all our own preoccupations, cares, concerns, and troubles, and we don’t even think to look up and see our Savior suffering in our place. But the tears of sorrow are replaced by tears of joy as we see that our sins are forgiven through Him who dies, even for sins of apathy and thanklessness.

Fifth, the positioning. “They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left” (vs. 27). See where they position our Savior. They finally recognize him as a leader—a leader of criminals, robbers, and rebels. He who did more good in one minute than any human being has ever done in an entire lifetime is rewarded with this position of infamy and shame. Even this positioning of the crosses was foretold by Isaiah: “[He] was numbered with the transgressors” (53:12). Surely Jesus must be the chief of sinners. Surely he must have been guilty of horrible crimes. He is. He is found guilty for all the crimes that we have committed. He takes our place. But let your sorrow be tempered with joy when you remember that “Jesus sinners does receive.” He who ate and drank with the dregs of society in his life did not shrink back from their company in death. Let your tears flow from a thankful and joyful heart when you remember that by counting Jesus as the chief of sinners, God now counts you as a saint.

Sixth, the writing. “The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS”. The capital letters I-N-R-I often pictured above Jesus’ head on the cross are the first letters of the Latin words for “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” But nobody believed it, not the Jews, not Pilate, not even his disciples at this point. The whole world had rejected him, and now all those who passed by would see this mocking charge over his cross and say: “King of the Jews, yah right? Does that bring a tear of sorrow to your eye? Let it also bring a tear of joy, because this is the kind of king you have, a king who left heaven to come to earth for you, a king who suffered the punishment of hell so that you won’t have to, a king who came and looked for you, his lost sheep, and brought you safely into his kingdom.

Finally, the insulting. “Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So, you who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” In the same way the chief priests and teachers of the law mocked him among themselves, ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.’ Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him” . Again the words of Psalm 22 are fulfilled: “I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads” (vv. 6,7). Those who passed by, the religious leaders and Jesus’ fellow convicts, all taunted him with the same words: “Come down from the cross! Save yourself! Then we’ll believe.” Our eyes become clouded with tears of sorrow for our Savior. We wish that he had just used his power and proven who he was. We wish that lightning had come down and struck these mockers for their blasphemy, that lightning would come down today and strike those who still mock Jesus and his followers. With our words and with our thoughts we betray ourselves. We are the same as they are. We want Jesus to prove who He by a demonstration of His power. Our Lord doesn’t respond to their cries. He stays where He is, on the cross, and so doing demonstrates the true power of God to redeem sinners and restore His fallen creation.  We remember what He did with tears of sorrow and tears of joy. .

Golgotha. A place of suffering. A place of tears. Return to Golgotha often in your day-to-day life. Return there when you find yourself taking sin lightly, and see how much God hates sin and the sinner. Return there when you feel guilty for your sins, and see your willing substitute reconcile you to God. Return to Golgotha when you need strength to love your neighbor, and see the bottomless storehouse of Jesus’ love for you. Go ahead and cry at Calvary, but let the tears of joy win out over the tears of sorrow. For even though there is much to be sorrowful about there, the strength of God’s love cancels out God’s wrath at the cross of Jesus. The result for you and me is not eternal sorrow and suffering but eternal life and salvation, for joy destroys sorrow at the empty tomb of Jesus. Amen.