Pilate
The first section of
Mark 15 tells us about Jesus before Pilate.
Notice that Jesus’ tone is entirely different than with the priests the
previous night. The night before – with
people who should recognize the Messiah when they see Him – Jesus was upfront
and forthcoming. Jesus gave the people
who should know Him the opportunity to accept or reject Him. He forced the issue. He claimed to be the Messiah! However, here with Pilate Jesus knows that
spiritually this man has no chance at understanding what is actually going
on. Pilate is not the target, the Jewish
leaders are. The contrast only serves to
illuminate how sad it is when Christ is not recognized by the very people who
are supposed to be spiritual and who are supposed to recognize Jesus.
In fact, this is also
the point of the next passage. Pilate
puts Jesus’ fate into the hands of the Jewish leaders. The leaders incite the crowd to have Jesus be
killed and to have a known criminal released into their midst.
It is sad when people
reject Jesus for the world. Let’s make
no attempts to call it anything other than what this act is. The religious leaders are choosing a criminal
(ways of the world) instead of Jesus (God’s ways). However, it is doubly sad when people who
should know better make the same mistake.
It is one thing for a person who claims to have no meaningful
relationship with God to choose against God.
But it is entirely another thing for a person who claims to be in a
genuine relationship with God to condemn God’s Son to death. All sin is bad. But it is especially heinous when those who
know better choose sin anyway. And yeah,
that’s pretty much every Christian on the face of the planet – myself included
– that I just attacked. Put me first in
the line of people who should know better but who still have sin in their life.
But thanks be to God
that the story is not over yet!
Mocking
Then the soldiers mock
Him. I can only imagine how much this
hurt Jesus. I’m not speaking physically
– as anyone who has watched Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ can attest – but
rather I’m speaking spiritually. In their
desire to mock Jesus, Jesus knows exactly why He came. These people need Jesus. These people need someone in their life to
show them unconditional love and humility.
They need someone to be king in their life. The very thing that they need is the very
thing that they mock. They make Jesus
into a “king” and then beat Him. The
irony is not lost and I can imagine that Jesus knew it, too. Imagine how much Jesus’ heart ached – not for
the pain He endured, which was terrible – but for these soldiers who were so
close to something that could change their life and who were instead blind to
it.
Then …
Crucifixion
Jesus is crucified.
I’m sorry. I just can’t pass it over that quickly. Honestly, tears are clouding my vision. I cannot ever read through this passage
without crying.
Jesus is crucified.
CRUCIFIED!
We killed our Lord.
Our Lord.
We killed Him.
Those who walk by mock
Him. Those who walk by torment Him. They continue to reject Him. In their words, you can hear that they miss
the point. “He cannot save Himself.”
They are right, but they
are so wrong. He does not need to be
saved. He is doing the work of the
Father and does not need to be saved from that work. His death is not evidence of any
wrongdoing! In the words that are so
often found within the celebration of Passover, “Blessed be He.”
But as I said, they are
right. Jesus does not raise
Himself. The Father will raise Jesus
into new life. The Father will be the
one that will raise us into new life through Christ. Jesus cannot save Himself just as we cannot
save ourselves. He cannot because His
death is the work of the Father and He will not go against the Father’s
will. We cannot because we are not righteous
enough. (Read Galatians 2:19-20) So God crucifies us with Christ, killing our
self-monger within so the Father can have Christ live within us. Christ was crucified. The disciples of Jesus follow suit.
Jesus dies. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?” The Greek word there for “forsaken”
can also be translated as “to abandon,” “to leave desolate,” or “to leave
uncared for.” Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that the Father quit caring
about Jesus. But Jesus took the sin of
the world upon Himself and God watched Him die.
God died. Think about that for
today. I bet your mind hurts trying to
explain that concept!
But He did. He died.
God came to earth; we killed God.
God died for our sake. Again,
thanks be to God that this is not the end of the story.
Burial
Then an amazing thing
happens. Joseph of Arimathea – a member
of the council, a member of the Sanhedrin, a member of the Jewish leaders who
had just condemned Him to death – goes to Pilate and asks for the body. Here is one of the members of the very
council who had demanded the death of Christ now going to the cross with some
linen and removing this bloody body from the cross. You can’t say that the cross doesn’t change
anything!
Let me make sure that we
all understand what’s going on here. It
was the evening before the Sabbath.
Jesus is dead. He’s bloody. If Joseph of Arimathea comes in contact with
blood, he’s unclean according to Jewish rule.
If Joseph of Arimathea comes in contact with a dead body, he’s
technically supposed to stay outside the city for some time because he will be
unclean. (See Numbers 5:1-4 or even Numbers 9:1-14) Here is a member of the Sanhedrin. If anyone knows the Law, he does.
But he goes to Christ! He touches the blood! No doubt he is covered in Jesus’ blood when
Jesus is taken off of the cross. No
doubt that he touches the dead body.
Here is a member of the Sanhedrin willing to make Himself “unclean”
according to the Jewish tradition for the sake of Christ – on the day before a
Sabbath nonetheless! What an absolutely
incredible testimony. There are those
who would claim the cross of Jesus changes nothing. Joseph of Arimathea demonstrates before
anyone else that the cross of Jesus Christ changes everything!
The cross of Jesus
Christ changes everything.
Period.
If a member of the very
Sanhedrin that called out for the crucifixion of Jesus can be changed through
the death of the Son of God upon the cross, you can be changed, too. I can be changed, too. The cross changes everything.
Go. Be changed.
Don’t hold back any
longer.
Show the world what the
“no compromises” life with God is like.
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