Close Menu X
Navigate

Jesus - Completing the Mission - Mark 15:21-39

Sermon Series: Spare Me the Details – Just Give Me Jesus

I’m not a huge ‘history’ guy.  I remember a few things from history class in high school and college, but not a lot.  I do know the significance of July 4th though.  I know that that is the day on which we celebrate our country’s independence.  And celebrating our country’s independence has a much greater significance for me after recent years of seeing our country’s involvement in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.  Our country’s mission wasn’t complete when we went into Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein’s government.  Our country’s mission wasn’t over after we saw Hussein tried for his crimes against humanity and sentenced to death.  In fact many years after the war began our mission is still incomplete.  We are still working hard to train the military there in Iraq, we are still working hard to establish a democracy, and all of these things are important aspects of our mission.  It reminds me that the founding of our country wasn’t just about fighting and winning a war against the British, there were other aspects that had to be completed.  We too had to do things like establish a government and raise up a military.

Fulfilling each aspect of a mission is vital if we are to say that a mission is complete.  It was vital when God sent Jesus to earth to complete the mission that He had for Him.  As we examine the Scriptures we realize that there were many aspects of God’s mission for Jesus that Jesus needed to accomplish.  Jesus understood that and was completely committed to carrying out every aspect of God’s mission for Him, not because He feared God or God’s response toward Him if He did not complete the mission, but because He understood the glory that God would receive if He did accomplish the mission completely.  I believe Jesus also understood the need that we had for a Savior who could and would completely fulfill the mission that He was sent to do.  Have you ever thought about that?  A Savior who only accomplished some of God’s mission would not have been sufficient.  The mission would be incomplete and those incomplete tasks would stand out and point a finger at an incapable or insufficient Savior.  The question that we ought to ask then is, “What parts of God’s plan for salvation and mission for Jesus did Jesus accomplish on the cross?”  And I’m going to argue that in this text we will see three parts of God’s mission for Jesus that Jesus accomplished on the cross.

Our text begins this week right where we left of last week.  After Pilate had condemned Jesus to death, had Jesus scourged, and then turned Jesus over to his soldiers, the end of verse 20 says that they led Jesus away “to crucify Him.”  Crucifixion was not permitted inside Jerusalem, so the soldiers were required to take the condemned individuals outside of the walls in order to carry out their sentence.  One of the things that many individuals condemned to crucifixion were required to do was to carry a portion of their cross to the location where they would be crucified.  The individuals would have to carry the heavy cross beam as a sign to all they passed by of their sentence.  They were carrying their cross to their place of death where they would be fixed to the cross in humiliation and shame until they died.  Apparently, the brutal and gruesome scourging and beating that Jesus had endured already at the hands of these soldiers had left Him unable to carry His own cross.  His body having been torn apart by the scourging and the beatings He had endured from the members of the Sanhedrin and the soldiers left Him too weary and in too much pain to journey through the crowded city and out to the site of His death.  So verse 21 tells us that the Roman soldiers forced a man by the name of Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus’ cross for Him.  Here we see for the first time the idea of someone carrying a cross for Christ and following Him.  This is what Jesus said discipleship would look like in Mark 8:34 when He said, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  We have to ask ourselves here, is this what our lives look like.  So many of us have traded the idea of costly discipleship for “easy believism” - the idea that all we have to do as disciples of Jesus is to believe in Him and let Him make our lives as enjoyable as possible.  But that isn’t what Jesus has called us to.  He has called us to a life of faith in Him and a life of putting the Father first and foremost, even when it means forsaking ourselves, so that He will receive all the praise and the glory.

Verse 22 says that they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha and prior to crucifying Him they offered Him “wine mixed with myrrh.”  Wine mixed with myrrh was an ancient narcotic that was offered to victims of crucifixion to deaden the pain of the crucifixion.  Mark doesn’t say who it was that offered this to Jesus, but tradition says that it was often Jewish women who took the responsibility upon themselves.  Proverbs 31:6 says, “give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress.”  Some scholars say that as condemned individuals were being led out of Jerusalem and passing by the homes along the way to be crucified that the women would mix the drink and offer it to them along the way as an act of compassion.  But Jesus did not take it.  Mark doesn’t say if this was because of the vow that Jesus made at the Passover meal in 14:25 where Jesus said to His disciples, “truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”  But what is clear is that Jesus “does not rely on a narcotic to render His final act of obedience, but accepts God’s will in a fully conscious state” (J. Edwards).  Then Mark says in the first part of verse 24 that they crucified Jesus.

Crucifixion, according to Cicero, was “the most cruel and horrifying punishment” that a person could receive.  It was Rome’s terror apparatus and it was infamous for the pain and humiliation it inflicted upon an individual.  One ancient Roman official by the name of Quintilian once recorded that “whenever we crucify the guilty, the most crowded roads are chosen, where the most people can see and be moved by this fear.”  Depending on whether or not an individual was scourged before their crucifixion and depending on the severity of that scourging, some individuals would actually remain alive on their crosses for days.  Because no major arteries were severed when an individual’s wrists or legs were nailed to the cross, individuals would not bleed to death.  Instead they would eventually die from shock, heart failure, or from being unable to breathe.  It was a death that was “excruciatingly painful, prolonged, and socially degrading” (J. Edwards).  And this is what Jesus took upon Himself so that we would not have to endure it.

The later part of verse 24 helps us begin to see the first point that I want to expound upon this week.  The first point I believe our text makes is that Jesus completed the mission of fulfilling God’s promises in the OT.  Sometimes we refer to these as prophesies.  But ultimately they are declarations of the future that the Father made either Himself or through His servants.  The second part of verse 24 says, “and they . . . divided His garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take.”  Here we see Psalm 22:18 being fulfilled.  God, through David, prophesied, “they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”  Jesus’ crucifixion not only rendered true the promises that Jesus had made to His disciples about His coming suffering and death, but it also began to render several OT prophecies and promises true.  Mark then adds that it was 9am when they crucified Jesus and following Roman custom Jesus’ charge was affixed to His cross so that everyone would know why He had been crucified.  In verse 27 Mark says that two thieves were crucified with Jesus, fulfilling another OT prophecy and promise in Isaiah 53:12 which says, “[He] was numbered with the transgressors.”  Jesus being condemned to death and hung on a cross between two thieves was more evidence that God was in control of this plan and that Jesus was carrying out the plan as His Father had ordered it.  Then verses 29 through 32 tell us that “those who passed by derided Him, wagging their heads” and mocked Him.  The religious leaders did it, the common people did it, and even the thieves on the other two crosses did it.  Yet all this was to fulfill what God had declared through David in Psalm 22:7, “all who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads.”  The people cried out to Jesus to come down from the cross and to save Himself.  They thought that the cross had rendered Jesus powerless and weak and that if He truly was the Messiah that the greatest thing that He could do for Himself would be to save Himself.  But that is further evidence that they misunderstood Jesus’ mission.  Jesus’ mission wasn’t about preserving and helping Himself – He came to be “a ransom for many” (10:45).

Verse 33 says that at noon darkness fell over the whole earth until 3:00.  It’s hard to know for sure what was happening at that time.  At the beginning of John’s gospel, when he talks about Jesus taking on flesh and coming into the world he writes, “the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:9).  Now we know that the sun gives light to the earth and that that was the purpose for which God created it.  But John suggests that there is a greater source of light, which was Jesus, Himself.  At the cross, the “true light” was having the sins of humanity heaped upon Him, and the One who knew no sin was becoming sin for us.  2 Corinthians 5:21 says “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”  On the cross the true light was being made sin, which the Bible describes as darkness.  Perhaps the entire earth went dark in the middle of the day because the true source of light, Christ, Himself, lost His ability to shine as the sins of humanity were heaped upon Him.  Then at 3:00 pm Mark says that Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”  In Jesus’ final moments of life He cried out asking why the Father had forsaken Him.  God the Father, who is perfect in righteousness and holiness, is unable to associate with sin.  It can’t dwell in His presence and one who has sin in his life can’t remain in relationship with Him.  So when the sins of humanity had been heaped upon Jesus the Father had to turn His back on the Son.  It was the first and only time in all eternity that the Son had been separated from the Father.  And for Jesus, the One carrying out the very mission of the Father, the very mission that had led Him to this place and to this moment, His greatest anguish and greatest pain was the separation that He experienced from His Father.  But Jesus was also doing something else that was extraordinary in that moment.  Today, when we open our Bibles and turn to the different books we find great big numbers that designate chapters in those books.  But when those books were first written they had not been broken down into chapters and verses.  So when a teacher wanted to teach from the book of Psalms he had to distinguish which of the 150 psalms that he was talking about.  The way that he would do this would be to refer to the first line of the psalm.  So quickly turn to Psalm 22 and notice how the first line begins and how an ancient Jewish teacher would turn the attention of his students to that particular psalm.  Psalm 22:1 begins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  In the last moments of Jesus life He was crying out to the Father, but He was also crying out to all of the priests and scribes to recall what Psalm 22 says.  And what exactly does it say?  Verses 12 through 18 are particularly interesting.  “Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.  I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.  For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet – I can count all my bones – they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”  David had painted a picture of what would take place at the crucifixion of God’s Son and Jesus was having these experts in the OT recall Psalm 22 to open their eyes to the fact that as He hung on the cross He was completing the mission of fulfilling the OT prophecies and God’s promises.  After Jesus calls out, it seems that some of the bystanders misunderstood what He said.  They thought that Jesus was calling on Elijah to come and rescue Him, and desiring to see if that would really happened they hurried to find something for Jesus to drink, to try to keep Him alive until it could happen.  But it did not and Mark says in verse 37 that Jesus “uttered a loud cry and breathed His last.”

In carrying out the Father’s plan, becoming a substitute for a sinful humanity, and hanging on and dying on a cross, Jesus was completing the mission the Father had sent Him to accomplish.  And in verses 21-37 we see multiple examples of Jesus fulfilling the OT prophesies and promises of God.  The Son of God had to render true all of God’s promises.  If He had left some unfulfilled then God would have been a liar and untrustworthy.  But Jesus, God’s Son, knew the plans the Father had for Him.  He knew what He would have to endure.  And He carried out God’s plan perfectly so that each of the OT prophesies about His death was carried out completely and fully.  But the great tragedy is that many of those bystanders looking on then, and many who read about the crucifixion today, fail to realize just how precisely Jesus was completing the mission of His Father.  Too often we see a shamed and naked man who lived a great life and did great things, but who, unfortunately, died an unjust death.  If that is all we see we are missing the bigger picture.  The Son of God was carrying out to perfection the plan of the Father, laid out centuries before, so that no detail was overlooked.  That’s not a coincidence!  That’s the extraordinary Son of God!

Jesus did far more than just fulfill the promises of God when he hung and died on the cross.  Jesus also completed the mission of reconciling humanity with God.  We see this proven in the remarkable thing that takes place in verse 38.  Immediately after Jesus breathes His last breath Mark says “and the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”  When God first commanded Moses about the construction of the tabernacle, one of the requirements was a place in the tabernacle where the very presence of God would reside with His people.  It was a room which was to be designated as the Holy of Holies.  In that room the Ark of the Covenant would reside and the presence of God would sit enthroned upon that ark.  The room was to be separated from the rest of the tabernacle by a great curtain and no human was to enter the Holy of Holies.  Only once a year was a human permitted to enter the Holy of Holies.  Each year on the Day of Atonement the chief priest was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the sins of the Jews and to make intercession for them.  So the picture was clear - God was separated from His people not only by their sin, but also by this curtain, and the only way the people were able to come into contact with God was through a mediator (the chief priest).  The tradition continued after the mobile tabernacle was made into a permanent temple.  Year after year the people remained separated from God and stood in need of a mediator to go to God on their behalf.  But something incredible happened at the death of Jesus on the cross – the Bible says that the curtain ripped in two.  The curtain which once prevented people from coming into the presence of God had opened and access to the presence of God was available to all.  The curtain which once demanded a mediator and an intercessor could be passed through by any individual.  No longer was access to God denied to the people.  It was also significant that the curtain tore from the top to the bottom.  It wasn’t that man had figured out a way to get to God and had torn the curtain from the bottom to the top.  The imagery of the curtain tearing from the top to the bottom suggests that God was the one who made a way for men to come to Himself.  God had come down to earth in Jesus Christ and made a way through Him, which is seen in the curtain being torn from the top to the bottom.  But this could only have happened because of Jesus’ death on the cross.  You’ll remember that I mentioned that the only time a human was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies was on the Day of Atonement.  The cross of Jesus is so significant because we understand that in shedding His blood and dying for us, Jesus was making atonement for our sin, for the sin of humanity.  The perfect, righteous, Son of God had become the perfect Passover lamb whose blood was sufficient to make atonement for every sin.  So on this new day of Atonement, blood was shed that would completely cover over every sin, giving everyone the opportunity to come into the very presence of God, because their sin had been washed away.  And no longer did humanity need an intercessor or a mediator.  Jesus had become our perfect intercessor and mediator and had granted us access to both Himself and the Father.  At the cross Jesus reconciled sinful humanity to our Holy God - completing the mission that He had been sent to accomplish. 

What’s so incredible about this is that the Bible paints a picture of the One who has been wronged and sinned against going to the ones who have committed the wrong to bring about reconciliation.  God sent His Son to us to fix what was broken.  God sent His Son to us to repair the relationship that we had destroyed.  And His Son, Jesus, did it all!  He doesn’t wait for us to do a certain number of good works, or to fix our own problems.  He came down to us, reconciled us to the Father, and made a way for us to once again have a relationship with Him.  But we have to choose to return to Him.  And part of making that choice to return to Him is to turn our backs on the sin and the life that we are currently running after.  When we do that and receive the gift of salvation by trusting in Christ as our Lord and Savior, then we are reconciled to the Father.  So, dying on the cross Jesus fulfilled the promises of God and He reconciled humanity to God.  But that’s not all!

Jesus did one other thing of significance on the cross.  Verse 39 says, “And when the centurion, who stood facing Him, saw that in this way He breathed His last, He said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’”  In hanging on and dying on the cross, Jesus completed the mission of self-revelation.  Until this point in Mark’s gospel we have never heard a human declare that Jesus was the Son of God.  We’ve heard Peter profess Him as the Christ (8:29); we’ve heard a blind beggar call Him the Son of David (10:47); we’ve heard God declare that He was His Son (1:11); and we’ve even heard a demon declare that He was God’s Son (5:7).  But until this point no human has grasped the reality that Jesus is God’s Son.  Something takes place in Jesus’ death on the cross that changes that.  Something about Jesus’ suffering and death reveals to humanity that Jesus is God’s Son.  It is Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross more than any other thing that reveals His true identity.  And it wasn’t with a devout Jew that it finally clicked – it was a Gentile, a Roman soldier.  Romans believed in a plurality of gods and even believed that it was possible for someone to be ‘a’ son of ‘a’ god.  Most of the Roman emperors considered themselves to be a son of a god.  This makes this soldiers profession a very dangerous one and a very demonstrative one.  The Roman soldier doesn’t say that Jesus was ‘a’ son of a god.  The Roman soldier says that Jesus was ‘the’ Son of God.  In that moment he elevated Jesus over the very Roman emperor, himself.  (A crime that could have probably resulted in his own crucifixion).  So it was a dangerous pronouncement for him to make, but it was also a very demonstrative one, because this soldier’s profession wasn’t just an observation – it was a profession demonstrating his new faith in Jesus.

God's mission for Jesus wasn't about completing one task - there were many parts that had to be accomplished before the mission could be completed.  In these verses we've seen that in Jesus' death on the cross He fulfilled the promises of God, He reconciled humanity to God, and He revealed who He was to those who were in desperate need of a Savior.  Jesus revealed a true and trustworthy God, a God who demonstrated His love in the extraordinary way of pursuing those who had wronged Him, and a God who wasn't willing to keep His salvation a secret.  That's not good news - that's awesome news.  But it is also news that demands a response from us.  Will we look at the cross and Jesus' payment for our sin and not consider how much God really hates our sin?  Will we look at the cross and God's extraordinary pursuit of us and run from Him?  Will we look at the revelation of God's Son and choose to only see a good man?  Or will we surrender our lives to Him, seek His forgiveness, and then live for His glory?  

Small Group Questions for Discussion

1. Read Mark 15:21-37.  As we examined these verses we emphasized the truth that Jesus was completing the mission the Father had sent Him to accomplish by fulfilling the promises of God.  Why was it important that Jesus fulfill all of the OT prophecies concerning the death of the Messiah?  What does Jesus' death on the cross reveal to us about God's/Jesus' sovereignty and control, even when we find ourselves in terrible circumstances?  How can we use these verses to support that answer?  Are there promises in Scripture concerning believers that the truth of these verses gets you excited about?

2. Read Mark 15:38.  As we examined this verse we emphasized the truth that Jesus was completing the mission the Father had sent Him to accomplish by reconciling humanity to God.  Why is it strange for us to hear that the One who had been sinned against is the One who took the initiative to make reconciliation happen?  If we want to be shaped more into the image of God, what must our response be when others wrong us?  How can we encourage one another in this effort?

3. Read Mark 15:39.  As we examined this verse we emphasized the truth that Jesus was completing the mission the Father had sent Him to accomplish by revealing who He was to the world.  Why should the fact that a Gentile first proclaimed Jesus' true identity be an encouragement to each of us?  If Jesus is really God's Son, what does Jesus' death and crucifixion reveal to us about who God is and who we are?  What does our response need to be when God opens our eyes to the see who Jesus truly is?

4. What step of faith does this passage of Scripture require us to take as individuals and as a small group?  How do we work this out on mission?

Leave a Comment

Comments for this post have been disabled.