Mark 15:21-32 - Homiletics

The crucifixion.

The bigots and the mob have gained their end, and now have their own way with "the Holy One and the Just." The power of Rome is brought into the service of Jewish fanaticism and malice. All evil influences have conspired together. Now is their hour and the power of darkness. The world's sin has culminated in the rejection of the world's Savior. All happens as has been foreseen in the counsels of God, and foretold by inspired prophets and by the Son of man himself. The Christ of God is crucified.

I. THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE CRUCIFIXION . The story is very simply told; there is no endeavor to excite feeling by any other means than by the clear and artless relation of the facts. But this is enough to awaken the sympathy of every mind capable of realizing the injustice of Christ's enemies, and the meekness, compassion, and fortitude of the Sufferer.

1 . The bearing of the cross. That Jesus, exhausted by the events of the past night and of this morning, by the wakeful hours, the scourging and the insults he had endured, should now be incapable of carrying the instrument of his final sufferings, is natural enough. The soldiers, indisposed themselves to bear the burden, beneath which they see the Sufferer sinking, impress into the service a Cyrenian Israelite, who has come to the Passover now celebrating at Jerusalem, and who has been sleeping in one of the villages near the city, but is on his way to the scene of the sacred solemnities. What seems to the soldiers and to the mob a degradation, is to become an honorable and happy memory to Simon, whose family is destined in after years to hold a high place in the regard of the Christian community, and whose name is henceforth to be linked with that of the Redeemer by this sacred and touching association.

2 . The approach to Golgotha. Imagination has filled the void wisely left by the evangelists; and the via dolorosa has been marked by "stations," each of which has been signalized by some episode of suffering, mercy, or sympathy. The spot where the execution of the iniquitous sentence took place may have been to the north-west of the city, and the name—"the place of a skull"—may have been derived from its form, rounded and bare. It needs no fanciful legends to endear a spot so memorable to the heart of Christendom; the pathos of the plain fact is enough. Calvary—"lovely, mournful Calvary"—was the scene of Immanuel's passion.

3 . The offering of myrrh-mingled wine. The compassion of the ladies of Jerusalem is said to have provided a soporific, stupefying, narcotic draught, to be administered in humanity to the criminals who were condemned to die a painful and lingering death, it seems to have been in conformity with custom and from motives of sympathy that the draught was offered to Jesus.

"Fill high the bowl, and spice it well, and pour

The dews oblivious: for the cross is sharp;

The cross is sharp, and he

Is tenderer than a lamb."

His refusal was owing to his determination to accept to the full the lot of undeserved pain and anguish appointed for him. "Thou wilt feel all, that thou may'st pity all." He had already exclaimed, "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" and it would seem that this cup of woe could not be drunk except by the retention of his faculties to the very last.

4 . The parting of his garments. These were the perquisite of the executioners, who divided amongst themselves some of his raiment, and who cast lots for the seamless robe. This was not on]y the fulfillment of a prediction, but it was an element in the humiliation and self-sacrifice of the Son of man.

II. THE CRUCIFIXION AND ITS ACCOMPANYING CIRCUMSTANCES . "They crucified him;" such is the brief notification of the most stupendous crime committed in the history of mankind. Every circumstance recorded in such a connection is worthy of attention.

1 . There is a note of time. It was the third hour, i.e. nine o'clock in the forenoon. From this we infer how hurried had been the proceedings since the break of day, and how prolonged were those sufferings, which did not close until three in the afternoon.

2 . There is a memorandum of the superscription. This was the accusation, upon which, unproved and misrepresented, Pilate had been induced to sanction this legal murder. A King crucified, and crucified by his subjects; no wonder that such a crime should be disowned, or rather such a stigma resented, by the priests and elders. When Pilate persisted that the inscription should remain, he bore witness unconsciously alike to the spiritual royalty of Jesus and to the flagitious rebellion of the leaders of the Jewish nation. The cross was in truth Christ's earthly throne, the symbol of a world-wide empire. He had said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."

3 . There is an account of his companions upon the cross. If anything could possibly add to the ignominy of our Savior's death, it was the society in which he suffered. Barabbas had, indeed, been released; but there were two robbers condemned to death, and awaiting the execution of their sentence. Accordingly, advantage was taken of the opportunity to carry out the sentence against the Christ and the criminals upon the same occasion. Thus was he "numbered with the transgressors," and an additional stigma attached to him by his association with the vilest of the vile. No wonder that the ignorant and unspiritual made this a ground of reviling against Jesus, and of reproach against his followers.

III. THE MOCKERY THAT FOLLOWED THE CRUCIFIXION . To add to the insults, the jeering, the scoffing, which Jesus had endured during his trials, it was permitted that his dying hours should be disturbed, and his dying agonies intensified, by the mockery of various classes of his foes.

1 . The passers-by railed on him. With the customary contempt for the fallen and deserted, those passing in and out of the city insulted the Crucified, with gestures of derision and tones of contempt, recalling the language in which he had asserted his authority, and contrasting it with his pitiable condition, terrible sufferings, and apparent helplessness.

2 . The chief priests and scribes , who had been foremost in effecting his downfall, were prominent in glorying over the work of their hands, and in scoffing at him upon whom they had wreaked their vengeance. From their lips came the language which, intended to be a reproach, was really, and has ever been deemed, one of the most glorious tributes ever paid to the Redeemer: "He saved others; himself he cannot save!" When they asked that he should come down from the cross upon which their malice had raised him, and professed their willingness upon such evidence to believe in him, we cannot doubt that their words were hollow, vulgar mockery.

3 . That no element of misery might be wanting in the Savior's anguish, it was permitted that the very thieves should join in the raillery with which Jesus was encompassed and tortured. This, indeed, only gives an additional touch of pathos to the story of the penitent thief which St. Luke tells so exquisitely, and shows, in the brighter colors of contrast, the powerful gentleness and unselfish pity of the dying Savior.

APPLICATION.

1 . Admire the submission and meekness of Christ's demeanour.

2 . Consider with gratitude the redemptive purpose which animated and sustained the Sufferer.

3 . Learn to glory in that cross, which, from an emblem of shame, has by Christ been transformed into a symbol of salvation.