Title: Jesus was Crucified for Sinners

Scripture reading: Mark 15:21-32

“Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross. ²² And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. ²³ Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it. ²⁴ And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take. ²⁵ Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. ²⁶ And the inscription of His accusation was written above: THE KING OF THE JEWS.
²⁷ With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. ²⁸ So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with the transgressors.” ²⁹ And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰ save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” ³¹ Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. ³² Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.”

Main idea: Jesus was crucified, so we would not have to face God’s punishment for our sin.

“They compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian” (Mark 15:21).
Mark mentions here that the soldiers compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene in North Africa, in present-day Libya to carry His cross. The mention of his two sons, Alexander and Rufus, suggests that they became Christians and were known to the early Church (Rom 16:13). In bearing the cross after Jesus, he gave us a picture of what should characterize us as disciples of the Savior. The man who carried Jesus’ cross: a picture of conversion by picking up the cross.

“They brought Him to the place Golgotha” (Mark 15:22).
Golgotha is the Aramaic name meaning skull. “Calvary,” comes from the Latin and shares the meaning “skull.” It is called Golgotha because of the many gruesome executions that had occurred and many had “lost their heads” there. Also, Golgotha is in association with the burial place of Adam’s skull in Jewish thinking (Hooker, 1991:372).

“They gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink” (Mark 15:23).
Those who gave Jesus wine drugged with myrrh were following a custom, based on Prov 31:6-7, of offering condemned criminals strong drink to lessen their suffering. This would have acted as a drug, a pain killer. Determined to bear man’s sins in His full consciousness, Jesus would not take it. Also, Jesus refuses this offer, in accord with his solemn pledge at the Last Supper: “I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:25).

“They crucified him” (Mark 15:24).
The pronoun “they” (“And they crucified him”) refers to the soldiers, as is clear from Mark 15:16. It has been well said that the person who was crucified “died a thousand deaths.” Large nails were driven through hands and feet (John 20:25; Luke 24:40).

Jewish law had no provision for crucifixion, it did allow for the corpse of an executed criminal to be hung on a tree after death as a sign of being cursed by God: “God’s curse rests on him who hangs on a tree” (Deut 21:23). The New Testament described Jesus’ crucifixion in this way (Acts 5:30; 10:39; Gal 3:13; 1 Pet 2:24) to signify that Jesus willingly endured the curse of punishment for sin, so that we could be liberated from it.

“The third hour”
Mark notes the time precisely: it was nine o’clock. The Gr. refers to the “third hour,” “and they crucified Him.” The events of the passion occur in three-hour intervals (Mark 15:1, 25, 33, 34, 42), reminding us that nothing is happening by mere chance; all is taking place “by the set plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).

“They divided His garments.”
When they took the Savior’s garments, they took just about everything material that He owned. Their casting lots for Jesus’ garments evokes (Ps 22:16-18). Tacitus (Annals 6.29) notes that those sentenced to death lost their property rights.

“THE KING OF THE JEWS” (Mark 15:25-26).
Over His head they had put the title THE KING OF THE JEWS. In Roman executions, a title specifying the crime would be hung around the condemned prisoners neck or affixed to the cross. In Jesus’ case the charge reads simply, The King of the Jews. Pilate intends this phrase as another jab at the Jewish religious leaders who had brought the charge against Jesus (Mark 15:9, 12; John 19:19-22). At the same time, it serves as a warning to other would-be messianic pretenders.

Jesus is indeed King of the Jews, and he is enthroned on the cross because it is there that he exercises his dominion over sin, Satan, and death. Those who believe in him experience his liberating kingship.

“They also crucified two robbers” (Mark 15:27-28).
Two robbers were crucified with Him—just as prophet Isaiah had predicted that He would be associated with criminals in His death (Isa. 53:12). Jesus takes his place in the midst of those who are separated from God because of their sin (Isa. 59:2). The two robbers are crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left; ironically, these are the very positions of royal honor that James and John had requested (Mark 10:37). Jesus had warned the sons of Zebedee that discipleship entails “drinking his cup.” Now here is a graphic picture of what it means to be close to him.

“The mocking by the passers-by” (Mark 15:29-32).
Our Lord Jesus was mocked by the passers-by (Mark 15:29, 30), the chief priests and scribes (Mark 15:31, 32), and the two robbers (Mark 15:32). He saved others refers to Jesus’ ministry of healing, which was described with the verb sōzō, meaning both “save” and “heal” (Mark 5:23, 28, 34; 6:56; 10:52).

Jesus did save others. He raised Lazarus from the dead. But in their mockery, there was truth. Jesus could not save himself, and save us, at the same time. He chose to save us. Praise God! Those who mocked Jesus thought he had failed. In fact, he would not only be rescued from the death of the cross, but would also save many others in the process.

“Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”
This temptation to come down from the cross is the same one Satan challenged at Him in the wilderness (Matt 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). It is the same temptation He faced just a few hours earlier in the garden of Gethsemane to forego the cup of suffering (Mark 14:36). Up to the last moment, the evil one is trying to persuade Jesus to reject the cross. The way of the Lord is always if you believe it, then you’ll be able to see it.

From the beginning of his public ministry he had committed himself to the Father’s plan for a suffering Messiah to save sinners (Mark 1:9; 10:45; 14:36). As he had taught his disciples, so it is for him: whoever loses his life will save it (Mark 8:35). Only by surrendering to death will he be raised up to life by the Father.

Application
Paul said, “Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:23-24). The cross is not only the means by which God reconciled humanity to himself more than two thousand years ago, but also the means by which God works powerfully in our lives even now.

Jesus has taken upon himself and borne to the cross every one of our sins. When he rose from the dead, sin and Satan were crushed. We are no longer under the reign of sin (Rom 5:21; 6:11). In this way the cross, a cruel instrument of death, has become the tree of life.

Believers who feel “forsaken” should learn from our Lord’s experience not to give way to despair. I leave you today with these words taken from Psalms 42:11, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”

Let’s pray together
heavenly Father, I thank you Lord, You died in my place. You rescued me from the bondage of sin and given me eternal life. In Jesus Name, Amen.