This Sunday and next, we will stand at the very center of history and of God’s redemptive story: the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Everything in creation, from the garden of Eden through the flood, the Tabernacle, the sacrifices, the priesthood, and the anointed kings of Israel, has anticipated this moment. In the fullness of time, God sent His Son to die as a substitute in the place of sinners. The cross stands as the climax of all that Mark’s Gospel has been leading us toward—Jesus’ willing suffering, shame, and sacrificial death that opens the way through the veil into God’s presence. Though these events are familiar, my prayer is that the Lord would help us see the cross afresh, feel the weight of our sin laid upon Jesus, and never grow numb to what our salvation cost. To see the weight of Mark’s description, we will examine Mark 15:21-39 in two parts. The sermon will be four points and we will look at the first two this Sunday. I. The Suffering Of The Cross (v. 20b-25) II. The Shame Of The Cross (v. 26-32) Next Sunday, we will examine: III. The Judgment Of The Cross (v. 33-36) IV. The Power Of The Cross (v. 37-39) This Sunday, we will examine the suffering and shame Jesus endured on the cross, so that we might be moved by the love that held Him there. We see Jesus, beaten after a brutal Roman scourging, led out to be crucified. Too weak to carry His own crossbeam, a man named Simon of Cyrene is pressed into service—an unexpected picture of what it means to take up one’s cross. At Golgotha, Jesus refuses the offer of wine mixed with myrrh, choosing instead to drink the full cup of suffering in perfect obedience to the Father. The soldiers crucify Him at the third hour, casting lots for His garments in fulfillment of Psalm 22, as He hangs exposed in agony for six hours, slowly bleeding and suffocating under the weight of the cross. Yet even in this physical torment, Mark writes much more of the shame poured upon Him: the mocking inscription “King of the Jews,” the derision of passersby who wag their heads and blaspheme, the scorn of the chief priests and scribes who mock His power to save others while refusing to believe, and even the reviling of the two robbers crucified beside Him. The King who refuses to save Himself stays on the cross so that guilty sinners like us can be saved and brought into His kingdom.
