In Mark’s narrative of Jesus death, two strands work at
cross purposes.
One is that Jesus death is just another dark moment in the history
of the inhumanity of man to man. A good person finds themselves on the wrong
side of the powers to be, Political expedience triumphs over justice, there is torture
and torment, mockery and misunderstanding, and finally a humiliating and
horrendous death: It is a story of man’s distain…shown at the cross.
The other deeper strand is that Jesus death is the moment of
great light for the world. It is the story of costly sacrificial love, deep
faith in the face of suffering, the victory of God’s grace and mercy over sin
and death, the kingdom of God over the realms of this earth: It is God’s
salvation plan…finished and complete at the cross.
In this deep irony, this cross-purpose, Mark shows us the purpose
of the cross.
All the way through Mark’s passion narrative Jesus is
acknowledged as the “King of the Jews”. He accepts the title from the lips of
Pilate. It is the first question Pilate asks him,” are you the king of the
Jews’ probably in response to the
accusations of the chief priests, to encourage him to see Jesus as a threat to Roman
rule. Itself ironic beyond marks writing as 300 years later the roman empire
would be confessing that Jesus not Caesar is Lord.
It is as “King of the Jews” that he is presented to the
people when Pilate asks them to choose between Jesus or Barabbas, to be freed
for the Passover festival. The people of Israel are presented with which vision
of the Kingdom of God they will choose, the way of radical love in obedience or
violent insurrection. Love your enemies or kill you enemies. God’s reign in a
new community, or Israelite nationalism. It is Jesus and his kingdom that is
rejected, but not defeated.
Jesus is mockingly hailed by the Roman soldiers as King.
Placed in a purple robe, the royal colour. Given a sceptre and a crown of
thorns. Some commentators reflect that the thorns may have satirically been used
not only as a crown but also to replicate the pictures of emperors on the back
of roman coins. Where they we starting to be portrayed as god like figures with
sunbeams radiating from their head. They mocked but here indeed is God’s chosen
ruler.
While Jesus carrying his cross to the place of execution is
part of the mockery and humiliation, a
parading of a dead man walking, totally
under the control of his roman captors, as Simon of Cyrene is told to carry the
cross it is almost changed into a coronation parade, while it was designed to
show complete defeat, by Simon being acknowledged as the father of Rufus and
alexander who would have been people known to the church mark was writing to,
we catch a subtle insight in to the fact that this is not the end. Rufus may
well be a member of the Church in Rome mentioned in Romans 16. Here the man in
far off Palestine who is being crucified in a short time will have followers
and impact in the very centre of the roman world.
In Roman law the crime someone was convicted of was placed
above their heads as they hung on the cross. Jesus is crucified as the ‘king of
the Jews’. It is as the messiah and the King of the Jews that the high priest’s
mock him, telling him to come down from the cross so that they may see and
believe… Mark in a very understated way
presents Jesus crucifixion as a coronation. It is at the cross that the kingdom
of God is established. A kingdom that needs to be believed to be seen.
Theologian and pastor Jeremy Treat puts it like this
“Shame is transformed into
glory, foolishness into wisdom, and humiliation into exaltation. The cross
becomes the throne from which Christ rules the world.”
He goes on to explain
it by affirming
“God’s kingdom was
present in Jesus’ life, proclaimed in his preaching, glimpsed in his
miracles/exorcisms, established by his death, and inaugurated through the
resurrection. It is being advanced by the Holy Spirit through the church, and
will be consummated in Christ’s return. The cross creates a community of
ransomed people living under the reign of God.”
In these cross
purposes Jesus is presented to us as saviour.
Jesus is presented
to us as an innocent man. While he is bought before Pilate with many
accusations, at no stage does Pilate declare him guilty of any crime or
wrongdoing. In fact Pilate last recorded words are ‘what crime has he
committed?” as the crowd bay for Jesus to be crucified
The incident with
Barabbas is a picture of injustice and political experience shows us what Jesus
is doing at the cross, while he is rejected by his people, we see Jesus an
innocent man dies in the place of Barabbas, a guilty man, who goes free.
In the Old Testament
sacrificial system, a lamb without a blemish was to be presented and sacrificed,
to atone for the peoples wrongdoing and sin. Here also Jesus is presented as a
substitute for our sin. AS peter affirms in 1 peter 3:18 for Christ also
suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous”. Nicky Gumble reflects on what that means for
us when he said, “The innocent one faced
the punishment of death so that I, the guilty one, could go free.”
Pilate finally has
Jesus to be taken away to be killed to satisfy the crowd, to keep the fragile
peace, later the Apostle Paul talking of Jew and gentile coming together as one
will say. He is our peace who has broken down every wall.” Jesus death is not just
to ward off conflict but to break down the barriers between us and God, as the
late great billy Graham talked of to a post-world war two generation, he has
made it possible for us to have peace with God.
Those that mocked
Jesus at the cross also do not understand what Jesus is doing as a saviour,
they mockingly say he saved other but he could not save himself! Or call for him to come down from the cross
and save himself’. They do not see the purpose of the Cross, that by not coming
down by not saving himself, rather giving himself as a sacrifice for all, Jesus
made the way for those who look to the cross to have their sins forgiven and be
reconciled with God.
They throw Jesus
words back in his face ‘that he said he could destroy the temple in three days
and rebuild it, as the sky goes dark and Christ dies the curtain in the temple
is ripped in two. The most holy of places, where the Jews believed God dwelt is
now open to all, Jesus death has made it possible for all to come and dwell in
the very presence of God.
Christians have
found the words of the servant song in Isaiah 53 bring these things together
and prophetically declare what happened here…
‘But he was
pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.’
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.’
While Mark’s narrative of that first good Friday finishes
with Jesus death and his hasty burial. There are threads in this story that
point us to beyond that, hints that this is not the end, not a defeat an
ignominious defeat of just a good teacher.
Mark does not play up Jesus physical suffering, he does
point us to Jesus spiritual and emotional anguish. We see that in Jesus cry of
Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? Which means my God my God why have you forsaken
me?” and the people gathered by the
cross think he is calling out for Elijah to come and save him. So they go and
get some cheap wine to wet his lips. But
he is expressing the anguish and pain of carrying our sin on the cross. Also,
while mark does not acknowledge it anywhere narrative it is the opening line of
Psalm 22. A Psalm 22 also foretells the soldiers gambling for his clothes, and
that he would be mocked and graphically outlines the suffering of a person in
the midst of the crucifixion process. A messianic psalm that starts with this
cry of distress, but finishes with trust and faith in God to save the psalmist
and the affirmation that because of God’s intervention future generations will
be told about the Lord and it will be proclaimed to those not yet born that (click
for words) ‘He has done it!’ the last words recorded on Jesus lips in John’s
gospel. We see the testimony of scripture to God sovereignty even in this
horrific situation, and Jesus faith in God that even though he is dying God
will fulfil his salvation plans. Three times in Mark’s gospel Jesus affirms he
will die and will be raised to life again on the third day. The very thing that
his mockers threw at him at the cross.
The other hope is the words of the roman centurion, his
affirmation is the climax of Mark’s gospel.
There had been a similar one in Mark 9 with Peter’s affirmation that
‘you are the messiah” in answer to Jesus question, who do you say I am? Here,
an old professional soldier a non-commissioned officer in the roman army sees
what has gone on and with the eyes of faith says “surely this is the Son of
God.” While the high priests and religious leadership and the crowds who had
come for the Passover festival had missed it, this gentile affirms who Jesus
is. There is some conjecture to what he meant by that comment, it would be hard
for a gentile with no theological training to make a statement of Jesus as the
Son of God in the way we would understand it, as God’s divine son, totally
human and totally man, but he is given insight into the very nature of Jesus.
It is an almost cinematic moment, you could imagine the
centurion looking down the lens of the camera, breaking what film makers call
the forth wall, to lock eyes with us the readers, and audience to the gospel,
and invite us to respond to what we have read and seen… surely this is the ‘son
of God’. Marks gospel had started by us being told that this is the start of
the good news of Jesus Christ the son of God and know at his death Mark invites
us to make our response. Which of the two thread at cross purpose are we going
to accept, that this was a sad ending to the life of a good teacher and a good
person, or are we going to acknowledge that the one who died on the cross is
the son of God, and put our faith in him. Here is God’s chosen ruler, who
invites us to believe in him, to confess him as our king and saviour. To know his forgiveness and grace and live in
and live out the kingdom of God, the rule of god in our lives. Its at the
cross, in Christ’s death that you and I can know new life, we can go free
because Christ died for us, we can enter the very presence of God, and know God
as our loving Father, because Jesus has made the way. We can live a life of
sacrificial love and service to others because Jesus showed us that in giving
his life up for us.
Mark leaves us at the cross not simply with the decision to
make as to who we believe Jesus is. He leaves us at the cross with the
beginning of the story of Jesus resurrection. He finishes by telling us about
the faithful women who remained with Jesus through the suffering of the cross
his death and his burial. Again we could
see these women like so many women in the face of mans inhumanity, left
distraught and grieving for those who have died, the wail of a new widow in a
war or the numb and grief pitted face of a mother who is wondering what has
happened to a son who was taken by so called security forces and disappeared, a
women crying over a son killed in gun violence in On A US city street, or
school room. But now in his gospel we
are to follow them, as they go with Joseph of Arimathea and bury Jesus in a
tomb, as they rest on the sabbath, filled with grief and as they make their
journey to finish preparing Jesus body for burial on the first day of the week,
and hear the good news and see it for themselves. They are Mark’s “it’s Friday but Sunday is
Coming”.
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