"Who Gets It?" - The final sermon on Mark's Gospel in our series (Mark 15:21-39)

We are indeed on holy ground! Here we have the centrepiece of our faith! Jesus the Son of God came to earth to reconcile people to God.

Humanity continues to stray a long way from God, but here we have expressed the way back. One, who had no doubt offended God in many many ways, a Roman centurion, started on this journey of reconciliation by making the boldest statement in the Gospel of Mark … “truly this man [Jesus] was God’s Son”.

If we can just say that, and then start to work through all the implications of this being true, then we are certainly on that path of reconciling with God. Jesus’ death on the cross opens up forgiveness of our sins, the opportunity of peacefully following the resurrected Jesus through life, and being indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit so that we can accomplish more than we ever could have dreamed of.

We enter this text with the isolated and friendless Jesus, who had already been tortured severely, starting to collapse under the strain. Anyone would have naturally sought a way out of this situation, but despite this, Jesus had committed himself to not stopping short of what it would take to fulfil God’s purposes. Jesus, being also fully human was going to suffer, and was going to find this the most excruciating experience. This is why the writer to the Hebrews can say that Jesus can understand and relate to every difficult moment we have in life.

The soldiers were intent on carrying out their duty and compelled Simon of Cyrene to make sure Jesus got to Golgotha and the place of execution. With the signboard ‘The King of the Jews’ under their arm, they further taunted Jesus by offering him the finest of wines that kings would drink; but just as he earlier remained silent in the face of half-truths and lies, Jesus refuses to take any part in this disrespectful action. Such mockery continues with the soldiers gambling over his clothes.

The charge against Jesus placed at the head of the cross by his Roman executioners (‘The King of the Jews’) was the charge of insurrection – that he was said to have claimed political rulership as opposed to Caesar. But we know this was a trumped up charge based on the rejection of Jesus being [the Messiah and] the Son of God by his own people. So many would scoff, but who would get it … who would understand what was happening here?

What was happening here – Jesus was dying for the world God loved, in the hope that this would mean a new beginning for individual lives and the future of human communities across the earth. Who will read this text, and imagine the scene, and feel its power, and acknowledge their need to know this person Jesus?

The words of derision contained in verse 29 are so ironic, when we understand what Jesus was really suggesting – the days of the “temple” as people knew it, with it’s cultural exclusion and arrogant rigidity, was about to be torn apart from top to bottom. There was to be a new, free, grace-filled access to God, begun from the moment of Jesus’ resurrection on the third day. Jesus wouldn’t save himself from crucifixion, but he would save all of us from the power of death.

Look at verse 32 … contrary to what the chief priests sought (and contrary to what many people still want to see today), we would not be able to believe because of a mighty act of power, but rather we come to faith by seeing and believing and experiencing an act of sacrificial love. Why doesn’t God prove himself … I think God just did!

The negative energy of the brokenness and sin of humanity is displayed in the crucifixion scene for all to see. Despite it being the middle of the day, darkness covered the land for three hours. The rejection of the ‘light of the world’ brought darkness to the earth. And Jesus himself agonisingly cries out as if abandoned by God. Such is the heavy weight being borne by both the earth and Jesus. Suffering can often lead human beings to doubt the presence of God, and, despite the intimacy of their particular relationship, Jesus felt this also. The reality is that God was as always ever-present, just unrecognisable because of the pain.

Despite the drama of all this, the mocking continues … as someone tries to give Jesus a drink in an attempt to keep him alive long enough to see if someone like Elijah (who folk legend suggested could help those in distress) comes to rescue him. Such a drink of course would tend to prolong Jesus’ agony. We can see that this crucifixion scene became a real spectator sport; but the question remains – who will really get it, and who, on the other hand, will just let the scene pass without being affected in any way?

In the face of these continuous public indignities, “Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last”. Was there one person there that day who could be transformed by what they witnessed? There indeed was one – a leading Roman soldier!

This soldier could have been one of the band that tortured Jesus, put a crown of thorns on his head, spat on him, gambled over his clothes, and continually mocked him. But not anymore! Even this level of gross behaviour can be forgiven when anyone gains a fresh view of who Jesus is and what he has done for us. So never think we are beyond forgiveness. Anyone is able to confess the name of Jesus, even someone as unexpected and surprising as this.

This statement by the Roman centurion is not only significant for individual human beings, but this statement foreshadowed the taking of the whole gospel message out of one particular cultural situation into the whole world. Here was a non-Jewish response to the person of Jesus that was about to be built upon and taken by the disciples and Paul and then others who followed to communities across the whole earth.

How do you think this Roman centurion made this discovery (that Jesus was the Son of God)??? What was it about this scene that inspired such a confession of faith (from this direct witness)? We read that this soldier saw something in the way Jesus breathed his last (v.39).

· maybe this soldier was taken aback by Jesus’ refusal to lash back at those who were so badly mistreating him. Most in this situation, especially those who were innocent, would have fought back, at the very least verbalising their anger in very direct fashion. God of course had become used to being rejected, and thus Jesus was well prepared to endure such indignity.

· maybe, despite the pain and agony and misery that Jesus was enduring, that there was also a peace and sense of calm and purpose evident in Jesus. This soldier would probably have seen many people die, both in battle and through execution; but there was something different about this scene.

· maybe he sensed that there was a Godlike response to Jesus having cried out in agony, and this response was one that only a true God could provide, and that was a quick death; when in normal circumstances crucifixion could take several days to bring about death. This all could have indicated a special connection between God and Jesus. “Jesus gave a loud cry” (v.37), and God’s answer was bringing an end to the pain.

· maybe he was so dissatisfied deep down with where his allegiance to Roman authority and Caesar had led him, only into violence and the sort of character destroying activity he had participated in this very day; that he was now ready to change his allegiance to a much different sort of king, to one who responded to adversity not with violence but rather with self-sacrifice.

· maybe, due to these factors, this soldier was able to correctly interpret the meaning of the three hours of darkness leading up to Jesus’ death (and the tearing of the temple curtain); that the world was in trouble, and here before him was the answer; and that this had been a most decisive moment in history.

The Gospel of Mark was all about establishing that Jesus was undoubtedly the Son of God, and this the reader (both in the 1st century and in the 21st century) could be absolutely certain of. So certain, that we could stake our life on the fact! And in the level of persecution that the church Mark was writing to were enduring, this was a very important point to establish – these Jesus’ followers were not suffering in vain. For us, the same applies; but with a much lesser threat of persecution, it is more about the level of commitment that we have adopted – whatever we might invest in or sacrifice for in the name of Jesus will likewise not be in vain. This is because we have made the right decision. We follow the Son of God.

Mark’s Gospel began with the point he sought to prove (by describing the way Jesus lived and died throughout his work); in chapter 1 and verse 1 we read – “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. Again in chapter 1 and verse 11, at the scene of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, we hear God’s voice saying, “You are my Son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased”; words that were repeated at the ‘transfiguration’ scene in chapter 9 verse 7.

God says it; Mark, who has investigated and become a follower and evangelist, has said it; now, one of the least likely you could ever imagine, a leading Roman soldier has said it! Now, can we set our minds on the view of the cross this scripture offers us, and say to Jesus … ‘Truly You are the Son of God and I trust in You’?