Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning we arrive at the blazing center of Christianity.

This morning we are talking about the death of Jesus Christ.

The death of Jesus Christ on the cross is the central event in the universe.

It was planned before the foundation of the world.

All of human history leads up toward it.

All of the Old Testament builds the foundation for our understanding of it.

All of the New Testament explains it.

And in all eternity we will be celebrating it.

If you want to understand Christianity, don’t start with our morals, start with the cross.

It is the pulsating heart at the center of Christianity.

The reason we gather today is because we have come to understand the cross.

The reason we feel joy and thankfulness in our hearts this morning is because of the cross.

The reason we preach is because of what happened on the cross.

The message that we preach when he gather is centered around the cross.

The reason missionaries cross cultures and learn languages is so they can tell new peoples about the cross.

The reason thousands of people all over the world are coming to trust in Christ today is because they have come to understand the cross.

The cross of Jesus Christ shapes every aspect of Christianity.

We are taught to pattern the way we love one another after the cross.

We are to humble ourselves like Jesus upon the cross.

We are taught to forgive our enemies as Jesus did on the cross.

Husbands are called to love their wives like Jesus who gave his life on the cross.

We are called to remember the cross, to walk in the way of the cross, and to boast in the cross.

The event that we’re going to study this morning is the most important event of your life, even though it happened long before you were born.

It is the definitive moment for you and me.

The cross is the center of God’s universe, the climax of God’s redemptive story, the expression of God’s heart for sinners, and the subject of heaven’s praises for all eternity.

Friends, I have no trouble saying forcefully this morning: the cross ought to be your greatest passion in life.

We each ought to take an intense interest in the cross - as John Stott says, “For whether we like it or not, we are involved.

Our sins put him there.”

And I don’t only mean talking about it.

I mean meditating on it, dwelling on it, pondering it, rejoicing over it.

I mean turning it around and examining every angle of it.

I mean staring at it until it stuns you again; I mean implanting into the depths of your heart.

I mean making the cross the lens through which you see and understand the world.

If there’s anything you’re passionate about studying, learning, and imitating, it is Christ’s cross.

We pray that Grace Rancho has cross-centered songs, cross-centered sermons, and that we as a people are living cross-centered lives.

There is no true knowledge of God outside the cross; there is no true obedience to God apart from the cross.

Now this morning I’m talking to Christians.

And after the sermon we are going to do what Christians have been doing for centuries - we’re going to share the Lord’s Supper together - that sacred meal that brings us back in time and helps us stand before the cross and remember the broken body and shed blood of Christ.

But if you’re not a Christian, my prayer is that God would open your eyes to see the glory of the cross, and how, through it, even you can be saved, forgiven, and reconciled to God.

And now in our study of Mark’s gospel we come to the cross.

Mark 15:16-41.

Jesus was rejected by men.

If you take this section of Scripture in isolation from the rest of Mark, it may not shock you as much.

But when you consider the life of Jesus, isn’t it strange that he dies alone, with nearly everyone around him rejecting him?

From the very beginning of his ministry he was immensely popular.

Crowds followed him wherever he went.

And he loved them, and he taught them, and he fed them.

You remember back in 6:34 he saw the crowd that to him were like sheep without a shepherd, and it says he had compassion on him.

He healed the sick, he cast out demons, he gave sight to the blind, he opened the lips of the mute.

He taught the true way of salvation, that it’s not through obedience to the law but by repenting of sin and trusting in God’s mercy and grace.

How is it that his life came to an end in this way?

Confucius died in his 70s, respected and revered by his many disciples.

Guatama the Buddha died being celebrated in his 80s, surrounded by his disciples.

Mohammed died in his 60s, in Medina, with his head being held by Aisha, the favorite of his many wives.

Socrates, the beloved Greek philosopher, was made to drink Hemlock, and despite the tears and pleadings of his friends and disciples, he drank it and died in bed.

Jesus taught.

Jesus had devoted disciples.

Jesus healed the sick.

Jesus was popular with the crowds.

But the way he died is so utterly different from any other major religious leader.

He died a reject.

In fact, I think that’s one of the main points of our text.

If you go back and consider the text more closely, you’ll notice there’s not much of an emphasis on the physical agony Jesus experienced.

In verse 15, we are told that he is scourged.

We are not told the the whip used was like a stick with several leather braids, with pieces of metal and bone and rock attached, and that to do this kind of scourging they were force the prisoner to spread out, often tying him to a post, tightening the skin on his back, and then whipping it violently and repeatedly until it not only ripped through the skin but tore up the muscle underneath, and sometimes made it to the bone.

Mark skips through some of these details.

We are told in verse 17 these soldiers who had been escorting him through the night “clothed him in a purple cloak” - an imitation of something a king would wear - “and twisting together a crown of thorns they put it on him.”

We are not told of how it’s possible the thorns used to create this crown were sharp enough to pierce the skin, and some scholars say the thorns could be up to twelve inches long.

It was forced onto his head.

It doesn’t go into detail about how that would have torn through skin and scraped up against his skull.

In verse 19 we are told that these guards were “striking his head with a reed.”

The reed here would be something like a bamboo staff.

It doesn’t give us detail about how this might have given him a concussion, how this could have fractured his cheek bones, or his temple.

And isn’t it incredible how brief is the description of the crucifixion?

V 24, “And they crucified him.”

V 25 “And it was the third hour” - that’s 9am - “when they crucified him.”

It does not go into detail about how those long nails would have been, and pounded through his hands, and the way it would have ripped through tendons.

It doesn’t explain the agony of a large stake being driven through both feet; how it would have shattered the bones in his feet.

It doesn’t describe the agony of trying to breathe while dangling there – which was how those crucified died - or how the splinters of the cross beam would have chafed against the raw, open sores of his back.

None of those things are the point.

What Mark does highlight is the fact that he is utterly rejected by everyone.

In verse 16, we are told that the soldiers led him inside the governor’s headquarters and “called together the whole battalion.”

As if to say, “Hey everyone, get a load of this!” -Soldiers take delight in beating him up.

They dress him up as a mock king, Matthew includes they give him a reed as a mock scepter, and then verse 18, they begin to salute him, “Hail King of the Jews.”

These were Romans.

This is a game to them.

Verse 19, as they’re striking him repeatedly in the head, they’re spitting on him, some of them are bowing down in homage to him.

They mocked him.

The soldiers rejected him.

Mark then mentions Simon of Cyrene, a traveler.

It’s mentioned that Simon is the father of Alexander and Rufus, which probably indicates that Alexander and Rufus were known to the early church.

And they head to Golgotha, just outside Jerusalem.

Verse 23 says “they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.”

This mixture was a natural narcotic that would have numbed the pain, but Jesus refused it - he said he wouldn’t drink again until he entered his Father’s kingdom, and second, he wanted all his senses about him as he faced the cross.

They crucified him.

It was a punishment reserved for the lowest of criminals.

It was a form of execution devised by the Romans to bring fear into the hearts of those who might dare to defy them.

It was a public demonstration.

In fact, crucifixion was such a scandalous way to die, not even the pagans thought it was polite to talk about.

They strip him and cast lots to decide who gets his clothing.