Sermon Tone Analysis

*Mark 15:16-20…* So the soldiers led him into the Praetorium (that is, the governor’s residence) and called together the whole cohort.

17 They put a purple cloak on him and after braiding a crown of thorns, they put it on him.

18 They began to salute him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” 19 Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him.

Then they knelt down and paid homage to him.

20 When they had finished mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes back on him.

Then they led him away to crucify him.

* *

*Commentary*

Following Barabbas’ release from prison Jesus was taken away, scourged, and mocked by the Jews and Romans.

A scourging was a beating with a whip.

It had a handle with many leather thongs on the end that were embedded with glass, bone fragments, and metal so that each crack of the whip took away more flesh, sometimes exposing the victims bones, muscles, and entrails.

The Jews limited their scourging to 39 lashes, but the Romans had no such law.

They likely beat Jesus relentlessly.

Many of their scourging victims didn’t even survive the beatings they gave them which attests to how ruthlessly they whipped their victims.

Jesus was then taken into Pilate’s palace with the whole Roman cohort around him (about 600 soldiers).

There they stripped Jesus naked and put a scarlet robe on him to mock his so-called kingship, for scarlet was the color of robe only kings wore.

Then, because kings wear crowns, they placed a crown of thorns on his head.

Now thorn bushes in Judea are known to have two-inch barbs – barbs that penetrated Jesus’ scalp allowing more blood to run down into his eyes and face.

How ironic that thorns would be a part of Jesus torment, for thorns were part of the curse dating back to the fall of mankind in the Garden (Gen.

3:17-19).

Jesus took the curse of mankind and became a curse himself on behalf of mankind.

Even his crucifixion, death by hanging on a tree, was part of his taking mankind’s curse upon himself, for the OT teaches, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Deut.

21:22-23; cf.

Gal.

3:13).

In v. 18 Pilate’s soldiers, some 600 of them, all fell down on their knees giving mock worship to Jesus.

Then they began to beat him over the head and spit upon him.

This was now the second time Jesus was beat over the head and spit upon like a common criminal.

The first group to do so were his fellow Jews who had convicted him the night before (Mark 14:65).

John’s Gospel says that Pilate, after having Jesus scourged, brought him back to the Jews to see if they had changed their mind about wanting him crucified (19:1-15).

He even took Jesus aside and spoke to him briefly.

Then he went out and pleaded with the mob to let the innocent man go, but when he realized that it was hopeless he sentenced Jesus to crucifixion.

Though Mark skips over these details for his own purposes, what does it say about the Jewish leaders who looked upon Jesus in the bloody mess after his scourging who were still insistent on his complete demise?

They were a ruthless group so filled with envy and jealousy over Jesus that his torture at the hands of the Romans did not seem to bother them in the least bit.

*Food for thought*

Some folks today blatantly use the name of Jesus as a punch-line while others simply /disregard/ who he is by ignoring him and leaving him to the “religious folks” who believe in such things.

Either way, Jesus is scorned and rejected by both sides – whether willfully or ignorantly.

All that Jesus did – his scourging, mocking, beatings, and crucifixion, however, was for the forgiveness of mankind’s sin which plagues us from birth.

But only those who trust in Him for salvation will receive eternal life.

He became a curse for mankind in that he took what our sins deserve – torturous death!

This is why Christians celebrate his death – because he died for us.

*Mark 15:21-25…* The soldiers drafted a passer-by to carry his cross, a man coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.

22 They brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (translated, “Place of the Skull”).

23 They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.

24 Then they crucified him and divided his clothes, throwing dice for them, to decide what each would take.

25 It was the third hour when they crucified him.

*Commentary*

Following the horrific treatment of Jesus by the Romans, his robe was stripped from him, and he was handed a heavy cross upon which he would eventually hang until he died.

Of course after all that’s happened to this point it’s no wonder “a passer-by” had to be summoned to carry it for him.

His name was Simon from Cyrene (an African city in modern-day Libya).

Because it was Passover Simon was likely a convert to Judaism who had come to Jerusalem to observe the annual Feast as all good Jews did.

He’s called “the father of Alexander and Rufus” in v. 21, and knowing that Mark wrote from Rome around A.D. 50, it is probable that Alexander and Rufus were believers known to the church there (Paul sent greetings to Rufus in Romans 16:13 and to his mother – the wife of this Simon of Cyrene).

Though Simon was probably less than anxious to carry the cross of a man he most likely thought was a hardened criminal, the fact that Simon is named by three of the Gospel writers suggests that he was known to them and to the early church because he had become a believer in the Man he carried the cross for.

Jesus and the entire entourage came to the edge of the city of Jerusalem to a place called Golgotha – an Aramaic term meaning “cranium” because the surrounding cliff resembled a skull (the name “Calvary” comes from the Latin word /calvaria/ for skull, or cranium).

When he arrived he was offered wine mixed with myrrh – a narcotic also used as a perfume.

Ironically this myrrh was one of the gifts given to Jesus at his birth (Matt.

2:11).

Myrrh was a narcotic which was bitter to taste, and though it was presented as a gift to Jesus at his birth as an expensive gift of worship, here it is ironically presented to him to dull the pain of crucifixion.

Crucifixion, though invented by the Persians and used extensively by the Greeks, was perfected by the Romans.

It was designed to mete out the greatest amount of pain without granting a quick death to the victim.

Myrrh, as a narcotic, was often given to the victims to keep them from struggling violently in pain and ripping their flesh, and themselves, from the cross they hung on.

It was not given for mercy by the Romans but as a tool to exacerbate pain for a longer period of time.

Jesus, after tasting it, did not want his senses dulled, and he refused it.

He was bearing ALL men’s pain.

John says that Jesus was turned over by Pilate at about the sixth hour, which is 6:00 a.m. in Roman time-reckoning (19:14).

Mark says that Jesus was actually crucified on the third hour, which according to the sunrise to sunrise way of Jewish reckoning, was 9:00 a.m.

John’s Gospel also says that Jesus’ outer garment was seamless (19:23-24), and in fulfilling the prophecy of Psalm 22:18, the soldiers cast lots for those clothes.

*Food for Thought*

            Simon of Cyrene was just minding his own business when he was summoned to carry God’s cross.

While carrying that cross and observing Jesus’ peaceful demeanor in the midst of intense pain and persecution, he was likely converted to the faith of the man whom he helped.

So it is with salvation.

It happens to folks who aren’t looking for it, but when they come face-to-face with the peaceful demeanor of One who shines forth God’s love – and see themselves in comparison – they realize their need for salvation.

Truly God traced Simon’s steps that day.

And truly God traces our steps to reveal Himself to us in His perfect time.

Truly God is good!

*Mark 15:26-32…* The inscription of the charge against Jesus read, “The king of the Jews.”

27 And they crucified two outlaws with him, one on his right and one on his left.

29 Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha!

You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself and come down from the cross!” 31 In the same way even the chief priests and the scribes were mocking him among themselves: “He saved others, but he cannot save himself!

32 Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, that we may see and believe!”

Those who were crucified with him also ridiculed him.

*Commentary*

As a final mockery a sign was placed over Jesus’ head that said he was the king of the Jews.

The two robbers crucified with Jesus were no doubt fellow insurrectionists and murderers with Barabbas, the man who went free because Jesus took his place.

As Jesus hung on the cross, naked, famished, thirsty, and beaten to within an inch of his life, those that passed by mocked him slanderously.

“Aha!” in v. 29 is laughter at Jesus as they ridiculed his teachings about destroying the temple and rebuilding it in three days.

Ironically, that was the very thing he was doing!

But he wasn’t destroying the literal temple in Jerusalem, for he spoke of “this” temple as his body, the one that would be resurrected after three days.

The main scoffers that day were the religious leaders in Jerusalem – the ones who had Pilate crucify him.

They mocked Jesus saying, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself!”

Just the fact that they recognized that Jesus had saved others shows how accountable they were for their actions.

They’re the ones that followed him around the Palestinian countryside observing his miracles.

They knew the truth but rejected it because he was a threat to them and their power over the people.

The irony of their statement is that the “others” they said he saved would also include their own souls if they would place their faith in him.

The truth is, he /could/ save himself, and he did at his resurrection – a fact that no Jew in that day refuted.

They only covered over the truth by spreading the lie that the disciples stole his body from the tomb (Matt 28:11-15).

Verse 32 just wreaks of sarcasm.

They must have stressed the words “Christ” and “King” as their condescending tones revealed their hypocrisy.

They were hypocrites because even when Christ did reappear just days later in full health, they refused to believe.

This reflects Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 12:38-45 about how a wicked and adulterous generation seeks for signs in order to believe.

They did see the sign in the resurrection but subsequently rejected it – again.

The last sentence of the verse is bittersweet – bitter because the criminals with Jesus joined in the ridicule – sweet because one of the them had a change of heart only a brief time later when he asked Jesus to remember him when he came into to his kingdom (Luke 23:43).

*Food for Thought*

Those that mocked Jesus’ words about rebuilding the temple are just like people today who mock the Bible’s teachings – the very words of God.