Contributed by Barry Drake
When
Life is Not Fair
Mark
15-16
Feb.
28th, 2010
You hear a lot said along the lines of the title of
today’s lesson. Here is the way I feel:
Life is NOT fair and if you have a problem with that, just get over it!” I’m a
“short term” counselor. I guess we could
just have a pray here and dismiss but we’re not, so hold on!
We are fast approaching my favorite holiday of the year
and that is what we call Easter. I don’t
particularly like the word “Easter” but that is another lesson. As I again read chapters 15 and 16 of Mark,
and remembered that Jesus did all that for me, I was deeply moved.
We start today in Pilate’s Hall. The early meeting was over, and the verdict
officially recorded, the Jewish leaders delivered Jesus to the Roman governor,
Pontius Pilate. Pilate was in Jerusalem for the
Passover, just in case there was trouble.
The Jewish council had to convince Pilate that Jesus was
guilty of a capital crime and therefore worthy of death (John 18:31-32). In spite of their political corruption, many
Roman officials had an appreciation for justice and tried to deal fairly with
prisoners. However, Pilate had no great
love for the Jews and was not about to do them any favors. He knew they were not interested in justice;
what they really wanted was vengeance. I
think they were jealous (verse 10).
John gives us the most details of the Roman trial and
when you combine Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, you find that Pilate repeatedly
said he could find no fault in Jesus.
Now, here is our lesson from Pilate.
He lacked the courage to stand for what he believed. Pilate did not ask, “Is it right?” Instead, he asked, “Is it safe? Is it popular?”
The council continued to try to convince Pilate that
Jesus claims to be king and His stirring up of the people was reason enough to
have Him put to death. Pilate thought he
could avoid a decision by sending Jesus to Herod but Herod just play around with
Jesus and then sent Him back.
So Pilate tried yet another approach. It was the custom to release a prisoner at
Passover, anyone the Jews chose. That
too backfired. The leaders had already
instructed the crowd to ask for the release of Barabbas the murderer.
“So what will I do with Jesus?”
You know the answer; “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Just writing it down sends chills up and down
my spine.
But before the crucifixion Pilate had him beaten. The KJ word is scourged. Let me stop here and tell you about this
beating. Try to imagine that your back
is stripped bare of all clothing. You
are bent over a rail and your hands are tied to your feet. Every muscle in your back is stretched as
tight as it can be stretched. And then the whip.
The Roman whip, called a cat of nine tails, had nine strips of leather
some three or four feet in length, with a wooden handle that was about a foot
long. On the end of each piece of
leather was a piece of lead or bone.
Along the leather were other pieces of glass, metal, and bone. As the whip came across the back of the
victim it would wrap around digging into the breast area. The administrator of the beating would then
give the whip a little twist and yank it back, bringing with it pieces of skin
and flesh. It is said that 80% of those
who went under the Roman scourge died from the beating and the 20% that lived
were never able to walk upright again.
Jesus did that for you and me. He
was beaten for our sins. This was a beating so bad that it was against Roman law
for a Roman to be scourged. Note that
Jesus quietly suffered and did NOT fight back.
That was a lesson that Mark’s early readers would need to learn as they
would soon face similar persecution.
And now the crucifixion, the most hideous method of
execution ever conceived in the minds of evil men. While we won’t go into this at this time, I
hope to cover it in one of the lessons before Easter.
Cecil Rhodes devoted his life to British expansion in
South
Africa, plus making a fortune in diamonds. He was not yet 50 when he died, and his last
words were, “So little done, so much to do”.
That is sad, but listen to what Jesus said when His time was almost over:
“I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which Thou gave
Me to do” (John 17:4).
The great apostle Paul said something very much like that as he neared
the end of his earthly journey when he said: “I have fought a good fight, I have
kept the faith, I have finished the race, and there is therefore laid up for me
a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me
and not to me alone but to all who look forward to His appearing”. Wouldn’t it be awesome if all of us could
give that report when we get to the end of our journey? To know that we have accomplished His work
and glorified His name would certainly make us look back with thanksgiving and
ahead with excitement and anticipation.
The following events describe the final section of Mark
and give us the climax of the Gospel story and the historical basis for the
message of the Gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-8).
There are three specific hours mentioned in this section
of Mark. There was a difference in the
way the Romans told time and the way the Jews told time. Check it out.
The
third hour (15:21-32)
According to Roman law, the guilty victim had to carry
his cross to the place of execution, and Jesus was no exception. After what He had been through already, He
did not make it very far so Simon of Cyrene was
drafted to carry it for Him. Jesus could
have called 10,000 angels but He didn’t.
He was guilty of no crime yet He bore the cross. We are the guilty one, and Simon carried that
cross on our behalf. Where was Simon
Peter?
In one of his letters to his mother, Harry Truman wrote,
“I went to the White House to see the President and discovered I was the
President”. Simon of Cyrene went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and ended
up meeting the Passover Lamb. Do you
know what Simon’s boy’s names were?
Alexander and Rufus.
Jesus was offered a drug to deaden the pain but He
refused. Have you ever wondered
why? He wanted to be in full possession
of His faculties as He did the Father’s will and accomplished the work of
redemption. He would enter fully into
His sufferings on our behalf and take no short cuts. He refused the cup of sympathy so that He
might better drink the cup of iniquity (Matt. 26:36-43). What an example for us to follow as we do
God’s will and share “the fellowship of His suffering” (Phil. 3:10). Read Psalm 22
The
sixth hour (v. 33)
At noon, a miraculous darkness came over the land, and
all creation sympathized with the Creator as He suffered. A Father was loosing a Son and who will cry
with Him. In this case it was all of
creation. What was God
saying?
One thing, the Jews would certainly remember this day,
this Passover, and reflect back on the first Passover. Do you remember? The ninth plague in Egypt
was a three-day darkness, followed by the last plague,
the death of the firstborn. Here God is
announcing that His firstborn, His beloved Son, the Lamb of God, was giving His
life for the sins of the world and judgment was coming so they had better be
ready.
The
ninth hour (vv. 34-41)
Jesus made seven statements from the cross, three of
them before the darkness: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”
(Luke 23:34); “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43); and “Woman, behold thy son! …
behold thy mother” (John 19:26-27). When the darkness came
there was silence, for it was then that Jesus was made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21).
It was in the ninth hour that Jesus cried, “My God, My
God, why have You forsaken Me?” (see Ps. 22:1). The darkness no only covered the land, it darkened the minds and hearts of the people. They did not understand even what He was
saying. Jesus then said, “I thirst”
(John 19:28) and here we see one kind act, performed by a soldier, in giving
Jesus a sip of vinegar (See Ps. 69:21), thereby assisting Him in uttering two
more wonderful statement: “It is finished!” (John 19:30) and “Father, into Thy
hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46; and see Ps
31:5). Jesus was NOT murdered; He
willingly laid down His life for us (John 10:11, 15, 17-18). He was NOT a martyr; He was a willing
sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Then came the earthquake and
the veil in the temple being torn in two.
This opened for the whole world a new and living way. The Law was fulfilled and the curse
removed. It still thrills me to read
about the soldier; “truly this is the Son of God”. How right he was.
I am also moved by the women who stood near the cross
until the very end. John, now the keeper
of Jesus’ mother, also had remained.
Faithful women were the last at the cross and the first and the empty
tomb. What a contrast to the disciples
who had boasted that they would die for Him.
The church today owes much to the sacrifice and devotion of believing
women