Mark 15:16-47 The Last Temptation of the Christ
Good morning! We are back in the Gospel of Mark this morning, chapter 15, verses 16-47, page 852 in the pew Bibles.
The other Gospel writers include many words that Jesus spoke from the cross, there are seven last words of Jesus, phrases really, but Mark only records one. That is not to say that the Lord Jesus was inactive, in truth, He was facing His final temptation.
Let’s pray.
Let’s look at our text for this morning, Mark 15:16-47.
Now, you’ll remember from last time that Jesus had been tried before Pilate and though he found no guilt in Him in order to keep the peace he handed Jesus over to be scourged and crucified.
16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.
21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.
33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 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!”
40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
42 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.
There’s been a million songs written about this beautiful, tragic event. One that we sing quite often, “How Deep the Father’s Love For Us,” includes a beautiful line, “It was my sin that held Him there, until it was accomplished…”
It was my sin that held Him there on that cross, and that’s true… kind of.
More accurately, it was His will that held Him there until it was accomplished, it was His trust in His Father, in the purpose for His suffering that held Him there.
Jesus’ life on earth, like ours, was plagued with temptation, and these last few agonizing hours were no different.
16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.
The Creator of the universe allowed His creation to mock Him and abuse Him, to dress Him as a king and kneel down in fake homage, to drive thorns into His brow and strike His head with the scepter they made Him.
At any point Jesus could have just said, “Enough!” and been transfigured before their eyes and destroyed them all. But He humbled Himself. He resisted the temptation to show them that he really is the King because that was not why He came.
21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.
Golgotha was just outside the northern wall of the city, the place of the Skull. You’ve also heard it called “Calvary” which is based on the Latin word for skull.
Some scholars believe that it was the burial place of Adam which would be fitting though there is little, if any, evidence to support that theory. Other scholars believe that this was, in fact, Mount Moriah, where Abraham offered up his son Isaac until God provided a ram for sacrifice instead.
Today there are two places that scholars believe could be Golgotha, one is called “Gordon’s Calvary,” which you can still see in Jerusalem today, and is a big rocky knob that does kind of look like a skull. The other is inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchur, which is also believed to house the tomb where Jesus was buried.
Regardless, when Jesus was brought there, already battered and bleeding from the scourging and abuse from the soldiers, unable to carry the beam of His cross, He was offered wine mixed with myrrh, a potion that would dull His senses and lessen His pain, but He refused it.
He resisted the temptation to ease His own suffering and instead faced the cross with all His faculties intact.
None of the Gospel writers go into great detail about the actual act of crucifixion, Mark least of all.
“And they crucified Him.” The only four words he needed. Mark’s Roman audience would be fully aware of the horrors of crucifixion, it is the most humiliating, painful, and inhumane way to kill a person, where the victim dies of, either slow suffocation and exhaustion, or, as in Jesus case, the victim bleeds to death.
But in most cases it was a slow death, slow enough for Jesus to continue to face the temptation to make it all stop.
24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.
“Save yourself, and come down from the cross! Come down now so that we may see and believe!”
Jesus continued to face the temptation to make all of this horror stop, to show them all that He really was the Messiah that they wanted, to show with miraculous power that he didn’t have to be subject to this punishment.
But He resisted that temptation because that is not why He came.
The two men that were crucified on either side of Jesus, in our text were called robbers, just like Barabbas. They were murderers and insurrectionists, and Jesus was given the chief place among them, Barabbas’ place.
33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”
Now the sixth hour was not the same as six o’clock. The Jewish day went from six am to six pm, six am being zero hour making the sixth hour noon.
We used to sing a song called “Beautiful Scandalous Night” but none of this happened at night, the sky went dark at noon.
Jesus cried out from the darkness the opening words of Psalm 22.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. 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.
Have you ever wondered why God made the lights go out, why darkness covered the land?
It’s because God said he would, every part of this was planned from the beginning. Amos 8:9-10 says about this day:
“And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. 10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.”
36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 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!”
At the last cry of Jesus it was finished, the debt that mankind owed to God for sin was paid, and God Himself tore the veil of the Temple from top to bottom, the way to God was now open wide, there was no longer any need for sacrifices to be offered over and over.
Hebrews 10:19 says, and I’ll close with this,
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Jesus resisted the final temptation to make the suffering stop, to make the mockery end, to come down from the cross and prove that he was Messiah, because that was not why He came.
He came to suffer, he came to be mocked, He came to be crucified, because He is Messiah, the only One who could open the new and living way for us to draw near to God our Father in full assurance of faith through His own flesh.
Amen.
