Jesus the Great King: The Sacrifice for Sinners

Today is Palm Sunday, the day that Jesus triumphantly entered into Jerusalem.

As He was coming into Jerusalem, the people were proclaiming Him as King, the Son of David, the Messiah.

We have been going through the gospel of Mark.

The last few weeks actually have taken place during the last week or Passion week of Christ.

When you think of the passion of Christ, the suffering and death of Jesus, what do you see?

What do you think?

Was He simply a martyr dying for what He believed in like Socrates, Stephen and the other apostles, Mahatma Gandhi, or Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Was He a fool who believed He was actually the Son of God and was put to death amid His delusions of grandeur?

Was He a blasphemer and false Messiah who was a threat to the well-being of Israel?

Was He a political revolutionary that Rome wisely extinguished before His flame blazed out of control?

Or did He simply suffer the misfortune of irritating the religious leaders, who out of envy appealed to the political pragmatism of Pilate to get rid of Him?

Or was He actually the sinless Son of God, the God Man, who suffered in our place, took the beating we deserved, who suffered in our place, took the beating we deserved, and died the death we should have died?

Is He indeed the great King, the sacrifice for sinners?

Today, let’s look at what sinful man did to the Son of God and what the sinless Son of God for man.

One should makes us weep.

The other should make us shout with joy for our “Savior King”.

Mark 15:1–5 CSB

1 As soon as it was morning, having held a meeting with the elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin, the chief priests tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. 2 So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” 3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 Pilate questioned him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? Look how many things they are accusing you of!” 5 But Jesus still did not answer, and so Pilate was amazed.

Accusations and Amazement Verses 1-5

It’s Friday morning, Jesus has been arrested, tried before the Sanhedrin, and now they are bringing Him before Pilate.

Roman legal proceedings began at daybreak, allow the Romans to begin their pursuits of leisure activity by mid-morning.

Pilate was the Roman procurator or governor of Judea.

He was cruel and harsh with his subjects who he despised and enjoyed antagonizing.

He was an expedient ruler who would do whatever it took to keep the peace and stay in the good graces of Rome.

The main accusation that concerned Pilate was the one he asked Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?

This title had political overtones since it challenged the authority of the Roman Emperor.

The wording for the question in Greek is exactly the same as was the high priest’s question in chapter 14:61.

The “you” is emphatic and sarcastic.

As in the case of the high priest, Mark’s wording makes Pilate an unknowing confessor.

Again, even the mouths of Jesus’ enemies unwittingly confess him.

Jesus’ answer is literally “you say that I Am,” which may be a Hebraic idiom of affirmation or a cryptic way of answering, implying, “You say so, but implying I am a different kind of king.”

This neither a direct affirmation or a denial.

It is suggestive, as if to say, “You would do well to consider the question.”

“Yes, I am a king, but not the kind you are thinking of. My kingdom is not of this world.”

At this point the chief priests “began to accuse Him of many things” (Mark 15: 3). Luke 23: 2 provides the specifics: “We found this man subverting our nation, opposing payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is the Messiah, a King.”

Jesus remains silent, and his silence in the face of hatred, abuse, and cruelty dominates Mark’s portrayal of the passion from here onward.

It is not a silence of defeat, but a silence of surrender to God’s sovereignty in the passion .

He is the Servant of the Lord.

Now here comes the amazement.

Pilate turns to Jesus asking, “Are you not answering anything? Look how many things they are accusing you of!”

Verse 5 says to his amazement Jesus didn’t say anything.

Mark twice notes Pilate’s amazement; in both instances, ironically, it is evoked by what Jesus does not say—by his silence (v. 5) and death (v. 44).

Mark often notes the amazement and astonishment, particularly of the crowds, at Jesus’ words and deeds.

Amazement is not the same thing as faith, although it may become the first step to faith.

Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth.”

Here is the great King’s silence in the face of His accusers.

Sinful men can only watch in amazement.

No defense.

Not a word.

He will see to it that He goes to the cross.

Mark 15:6–14 CSB

6 At the festival Pilate used to release for the people a prisoner whom they requested. 7 There was one named Barabbas, who was in prison with rebels who had committed murder during the rebellion. 8 The crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do for them as was his custom. 9 Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?” 10 For he knew it was because of envy that the chief priests had handed him over. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that he would release Barabbas to them instead. 12 Pilate asked them again, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?” 13 Again they shouted, “Crucify him!” 14 Pilate said to them, “Why? What has he done wrong?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!”

The Injustice and Insult Verse 6-14

The true Son of the Father, sinless and innocent, will be beaten and crucified.

The other “son of the Father,” Barabbas, sinful and guilty, will be set free because Jesus became his substitute!

The sovereign providence and plan of God could not be more clearly on display.

Truly and injustice and insult toward Jesus.

At Passover, Pilate was in the habit of releasing a prisoner, a condemned man, to gain the support and goodwill of the people.

He apparently let them “make the call.”

Incarcerated was a notorious rebel, a “freedom fighter” and murderer named Barabbas.

His name actually means “son of the father”! Some manuscripts have “Jesus Barabbas,” which is an attempt at irony based on both being called “Jesus,” who was truly “the Son of the Father.”

He was awaiting his execution.

He might be a national hero to the common people, but he was a revolutionary that Rome and Pilate would gladly put to death.

The people began to petition Pilate for his annual Passover amnesty gift.

Pilate thought he saw a way out of the tough situation.

He already had found Jesus innocent and his wife warned him to not have anything to do with Jesus.

Imagine him asking “Do you want Jesus King of the Jews or Jesus son of father to be released?”

If the people chose his option, he could release an innocent man and stick it to the Sanhedrin as well.

Things did not go as he hoped, though we know God’s plan is proceeding exactly as He intended.

It is easy to suspect that the religious leaders thought Pilate might pull such a stunt.

They were ready. They “stirred up the crowd so that he would release Barabbas to them instead” (v. 11).

Pilate then asked what he should do with Jesus (v. 12).

He may have thought they would ask for him to release both Barabbas and Jesus.

Again they shouted their wishes: “Crucify Him!”

Pilate made one last overture: “Why? What has He done wrong?” (v. 14).

The crowd became even more boisterous: “Crucify Him!”

Pilate has had enough.

He publicly washes his hands, while the crowd accepts responsibility for executing the King (Matt 27: 24-25).

Jesus was innocent but declared to be guilty.

Barabbas was guilty but was treated as though he were innocent.

Jesus died in his place.

He also died in our place, that in an amazing reversal we might truly become sons and daughters of the heavenly Father.

The great injustice and insult was Jesus not dying for His own crimes, but for the crimes of others; not for His own sins, but the sins of others.

He did not die for Himself, but he died for us!

Mark 15:15–20 CSB

15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them; and after having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified. 16 The soldiers led him away into the palace (that is, the governor’s residence) and called the whole company together. 17 They dressed him in a purple robe, twisted together a crown of thorns, and put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” 19 They were hitting him on the head with a stick and spitting on him. Getting down on their knees, they were paying him homage. 20 After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple robe and put his clothes on him. They led him out to crucify him.

Pain and Shame Verses 15-20

The NT shows no inclination to sensationalize the passion of Jesus by recounting its horrors.

Its restraint and discretion, however, may leave modern readers ignorant of the savagery that preceded and attended a Roman crucifixion.

A Roman scourging was a terrifying punishment.

The delinquent was stripped, bound to a post or a pillar, or sometimes simply thrown to [the] ground, and was beaten by a number of guards until his flesh hung in bleeding shreds.

The instrument indicated by the Marcan text, the dreaded flagellum, was a scourge consisting of leather thongs plaited with several pieces of bone or lead so as to form a chain.

No maximum number of strokes was prescribed by Roman law, and men condemned to flagellation frequently collapsed and died from the flogging.

Following this life-threatening beating, “they called the whole company together.”

This would number about six hundred hardened Roman soldiers.

(1) They clothed Him in a purple cloak, probably a faded military garment serving the purpose of a mock robe of royalty (v. 17).

(2) They twisted together a mock crown, one made of thorns, and pressed it down on His head. The crown of thorns pictured God’s curse on sinful humanity now being put on Jesus (Gen 3: 17-18).

(3) They began to mock Him again, this time with derisive salutes: “Hail, King of the Jews!” (v. 18). As the Romans would hail Caesar, so these soldiers sarcastically hailed King Jesus.

(4) They hit Him again with a stick, a mock scepter (v. 19; cf. Matt 27: 29-30).

(5) They continued spitting on and insulting Him in this manner.

(6) They knelt down in mock worship.

(7) When they had finished ridiculing Him, they “led Him out to crucify Him.” Completely alone, humiliated, naked, and beaten nearly to death, our Savior endured yet again ridicule, shame, and pain at the hands of sinful men, at the hands of those He came to save.

Oh, how heaven must have looked on in disbelief! Perhaps the angels wept.

The Father sent His beloved Son to rescue and redeem a rebel race.

Look at what they have done to our Lord!

But look, and never forget, what our Lord has done for us!

The suffering of Jesus has made a vivid impact on Christians throughout the centuries.

It is especially meaningful to those who have suffered in the same way.

One person who endured persecution in a South American torture cellar reported that all the intricacies of Christian doctrine disappeared.

The only thing that sustained him was knowing that Jesus had also been on the wrong side of a whip and that Jesus was with him.

The same was true of many who suffered in the concentration camps of Hitler.

Chuck Colson tells of one man who took courage from the suffering of Christ.

Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest, was sentenced to Auschwitz for refusing to cave in to the Nazi demands “to keep the Poles quiet, stupid and dull-witted.” In a moment of great courage he stepped out of line (in more ways than one) to volunteer to die in the place of someone else who had been arbitrarily chosen for death with nine others because a prisoner from their barracks had successfully escaped. The startled and contemptuous commandant consented to this rash offer. Father Kolbe joined the line of condemned men being herded to their death. They were ordered to take off their clothes. “Christ died on a cross naked, Father Kolbe thought as he took off his pants and thin shirt, It is only fitting that I suffer as he suffered.”

Jesus Our Savior and King

Though this event happened 1,988 years ago next weekend, it still has great significance for us today.

He is crowned with a “crown of thorns” (15: 17), a reminder of the curse from which He has redeemed us (Gen 3: 15-18).

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written: Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed” (Gal 3: 13; see Deut 21: 23).

Jesus suffered the injustice and insult I should have suffered.

Jesus experienced the shame and pain I should have experienced.

Jesus bore the guilt and curse I should have borne.

The shepherd was struck that the sheep might be saved.

The great King was tortured and killed that His people might live.

I truly “stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how He could love me, a sinner condemned unclean! He bore my sin and my sorrow and made them His very own. He bore my burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone” (Gabriel, “Amazed,” 1905).

Jesus is the great King, the sacrifice for sinners!

Prayer