In Mark 11 we considered the
triumphal entry on Palm Sunday.
In Mark 14 we
find Jesus revealed as the Passover Lamb
– the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29,36).
Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to be that Lamb!
In Mark 15 the key thought is this: Jesus is handed
over to be killed. And therefore it
becomes Good Friday for us!
Let's see then
how this can be so.
Consider the sequence of events as they unfold in Mark 15
1. 15:1-5 The chief priests, the elders and scribes and the whole council hand Jesus over to Pilate. They accuse Him of many things.
2. 15: 6-15 Pilate hands over Jesus over to the crowd who kept on shouting “crucify Him!”
3. 15:16-20 Jesus is handed over to the soldiers who hurt Him, mock Him, strip Him and eventually crucify Him.
4. 15: 21- 32 The soldiers hand Jesus over to the cross to die.
5. 15: 33- 41 On the cross Jesus is handed over to forsakenness and to death.
6. 15: 42-45 From the cross on which Jesus dies He is handed over Joseph of Arimathea.
7. 15: 46 Joseph of Arimathea hands Jesus over to the grave.
Jesus is handed over. All these points emphasize the
forsakenness of Christ. He was handed over to die. He was handed over to the grave. At face value this all sounds very depressing.
And who should we blame for his death? For every death humanity looks for a guilty
party. When a loved one dies on the
operating table people want to blame the doctor and nurses. In a fatal
car crash people blame the other driver.
Who should we blame for Jesus’ death?
In the sequence of events, we saw that Jesus had now been handed over into the hands of men, for them to do what they wanted do with Him. The whole chapter is essentially about people and what they do to Jesus. BUT it is not just about people. It is also about God...
In this chapter Jesus the Lord, the sovereign King of
the Universe, is quiet. He does not say
a word. He lets people do what they want
to do to Him, although in Matthew’s
account of the arrest he makes mention of this:
“Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He at once can send me
more than 12 legions of angels?
But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?
But it must be so. Therefore Isaiah prophesies, "Like a lamb He is led to the slaughter".
- The disciples have all abandoned Him at this time.
- The faithful women who had ministered to Jesus stood at a distance and looked on in horror.
- The crowd shouted at Him.
- The soldiers mock Him and spit on Him. They steal His clothes and they divide them. They crucify Him on the cross –naked and exposed.
- The by-passers mock Him and insult Him, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” (15:29,30). T
- The chief priests and the scribes mocked him, “He saved others; he cannot save Himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe". (15:31)
- Those who were crucified with Him also reviled Him. (15:32)
The only nice
man here is Joseph of Arimathea “who was also himself looking for the
kingdom of God that took courage and
went to Pilate and asked for the body of
Jesus … and laid him in a tomb that had
been cut out of the rock.” (15:43-46).
We might have
some sympathy for Simon of Cyrene
who was forced to carry the cross of
Jesus cross. (15:21)
We note that one
of the thieves crucified with Jesus believed in Jesus in his dying moments.
(Lk 23:42) Mark doesn't say
this.
We have some
sympathy for the Roman centurion,
who after Jesus died, said, “Truly this man was the Son of God
!” (15:39)
Other than this, everything is very
harsh.
And we ask, "but who is ultimately guilty for handing Jesus over to His death”?
There is such a long
list of potential people to blame. Can we find the
real culprit and so perhaps get him to bear the blame for sending the Son of
God to the cross?
Can we blame PILATE? Pilate was perhaps one of the most powerful
and influential men in Jesus' day in Judea. He was a Roman procurator, the
administrator of Judea. He had the political power to stop the killing of
Jesus. Moreover, as Scripture makes clear, Pilate was convinced of Jesus'
innocence. Three times he declared publicly that he could find no basis of
accusation against Jesus. He really wanted to free Jesus, but he also wanted to
please the crowd. His conscience was ultimately drowned out by the loud shouts
of the crowd. Should we not accuse him?
Should we blame the ROMAN SOLDIERS? They mocked Him, and
they ultimately crucified Him. Can we
accuse them? Possibly, but we need to realise that this was their job. They did
what they were commanded to do.
What about the JEWISH PEOPLE and their PRIESTS? Here we have quite a
strong case. On the day of Pentecost,
the apostle Peter makes it very clear, that he considered the Jewish people and
their rulers guilty of this crime. Should
we not blame them?
But what about JUDAS ISCARIOT? After all, he
betrayed Jesus most directly into the hands of the Jewish people and
their priests. Isn't he the guilty one - ultimately?
The Bible has two responses to this dilemma
1. Human Responsibility: The fact that so many people can be blamed should cause us to think very carefully. In fact we shall discover very quickly that the Bible teaches the corporate guilt of all humanity. When it comes to putting the blame at someone's feet, the Bible points to all of us, even though it is true that those who actually commit the deed are guilty of a greater sin. Pilate, the Jewish people and their priests, who shouted, "crucify him" clearly have a lot more to answer for. But essentially, we would all be guilty for crucifying Jesus. For if we were there, we would have joined the crowd. Horatio Bonar (1808-1889) a Scottish pastor and theologian wrote an excellent hymn that expresses that corporate guilt:
Of all that shouting multitude, I feel that I am one; And in that din of voices rude, I recognise my own.
It is deeply entrenched in our sinful human nature to
deny our personal guilt and to point
fingers at someone else, but the Bible says that ultimately the whole world is
responsible for Jesus’ death.
He died because we all
put Him there!
But there is yet another reason as to why Jesus was handed over:
2. Divine Sovereignty: Jesus died because it was His Father’s will. Jesus died to fulfil the Scriptures (14:49). Jesus died because the Father’s love took Him there. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (Jn. 3:16) – see also Romans 8:32. And so we must conclude that ultimately God the Father handed over His Son, and His motive was love – love for His sheep – His people!
So, we need to look at the cross in two ways
1. On a human level all of us are responsible for Jesus’ death. Our sin took Him there.
2. On a divine level God the Father gave Him up to die for us.
Acts 2:23 is a
key verse in this respect. Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost:
” … this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite
plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless
men.”
Here you find both, human responsibility and
divine sovereignty as reasons as to why
Jesus was handed over. But the last
reason- the love of God for sinners such
as us is the profoundest one!
That is why we speak of the day on which Jesus died as Good Friday!
Why good? Because something very good happened there. Christ died to deal with my and your sin. He did that in two ways:
1.Christ dealt decisively with our sin by freeing us from its power (expiation) - there is now no more condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1)
2.Christ dealt with the righteous anger of God towards us (propitiation).
Thank God for Good Friday !
No comments:
Post a Comment