The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

Sermon: Wisdom, Truth, and Silence (Mark 15:16-39)

2024-09-02

Wisdom, Truth, and SilenceSunday, September 1st, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Mark 15:16–39 16And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. 17And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, 18And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! 19And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. 20And whe...

Wisdom, Truth, and Silence
Sunday, September 1st, 2024
Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA

Mark 15:16–39

16And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band.

17And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,

18And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!

19And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.

20And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.

21And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

22And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.

23And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.

24And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.

25And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.

26And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

27And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.

28And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.

29And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,

30Save thyself, and come down from the cross.

31Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.

32Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.

33And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

35And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias.

36And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.

37And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.

38And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.

39And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

Prayer

All we like sheep have gone astray;

We have turned every one to his own way;

And You O Father, have laid upon Christ the iniquity of us all.

Heal us by his stripes, cleanse us by his wounds, for we ask this in the name of the great physician of our souls, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Introduction

In Proverbs 29:20, Solomon says, “Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” And then elsewhere he says, “A fool’s voice is known by his many words” (Eccl. 5:3), and “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking…” (Proverbs 10:19).

Many words, spoken in haste, are a recipe for much sin. How many of us have spoken in ignorance, many things we wish we could take back?
Well here as we come to the climax of Mark’s gospel, which is the center of human history and the hinge upon which the whole world turns, we see that the time for words is over.
In these 39 verses that describe the crucifixion, many words are spoken, but on the whole, they come from the mouths of fools.
- For example: In verses 16-20, a band of Roman soldiers mock and beat and spit upon our Lord, hailing him in jest as “King of the Jews.”
- A little later we find two thieves or rebels, who are crucified with Jesus, one on his left, and one on his right, and they also revile him.
- And then there are the passersby, the common folk, the crowds, who also rail against him saying, “save thyself, and come down from the cross.”
- And then last you have the chief priests, who have finally gotten what they want, and they mock him and goad him saying, “He saved others, himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”
- Many, many, words spoken in haste, uttered in ignorance by the mouths of fools.This is what Jesus who is divine truth who is divine wisdom, endured for six long hours upon the cross.
Now if we gather together from all four gospels the words that Jesus spoke from the cross, there are only seven sayings recorded. And in Mark’s account, Jesus has only one thing to say, and he only says it at the very last hour (the 9th) just before he dies, he says, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Those are the only “red letters” in Mark’s account of the crucifixion.
And then it is only after he dies, that we hear a true word spoken from someone other than Jesus, and who does it come from? Not from a disciple. Not from a Jew. It comes from the mouth of a Roman centurion, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”
- This is the whole purpose of Mark’s gospel which he laid out in the beginning: To make us to believe and to say by the end of it, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
  - Do you believe this? And will you confess this before a world that hates you even as it hates Christ?
- You see the way that Mark intends for you and I to not only believe that Jesus is the son of God, but also to find the courage to be unashamed of that confession, is not mainly by hearing Jesus’ teaching. For in fact, Mark has omitted most of Jesus’ sermons that we find in Matthew, Luke, and John. Mark’s focus is elsewhere.
- Mark’s focus is upon the actions of Jesus, and here especially he wants to lift our gaze to behold like the centurion, Christ suffering in silence upon the cross. Here more than anywhere else “actions speak louder than words.”
- There is a time for speaking the truth loud and clear, and then there is a time for sealing up what you have taught in blood. This the son of God perfectly shows.
  - Christ teaches us how to live, and Christ teaches us how to die. And here by his example we are taught to do both.

Outline of the Sermon

The outline of the sermon is as follows:
- First, we will look at the Prelude to the Crucifixion.
- And then we will observe what takes place at the beginning, the middle, and the end of Christ’s crucifixion, or as Mark has it: the third hour, the sixth hour, and the ninth hour.
- Those are the three moments that Mark explicitly mentions and so we’ll consider what happens at each.
- So starting with the Prelude…

Prelude & Context

Recall that it is the day after the Passover and the first day of the Passover feast, which is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Jesus was arrested in the middle of the night, he wascondemned by the Sanhedrin, and then at first morning light (say 6am), he was interrogated by Pilate, sent to Herod, sent back to Pilate, where he was ultimately sentenced to be scourged and crucified.
- And so in verses 16-24 Mark gives us the prelude: Jesus is dressed up like a king, given a purple/scarlet robe, crowned with thorns, Hailed as king, and worshipped falsely.
- And as usual, we see here Mark’s love for irony. All of these actions are what these soldiers ought to do in truth if Jesus is who He says He is.
- If Jesus is the Son of God, then they ought to clothe him with the most expensive royal robes, they ought to crown with gold and precious stones, they ought to hail him and worship him truly as king of all creation. They should have done what the wise men did at Jesus’ birth. This is what is owed to Christ, and yet these soldiers jest and spit in the face of God.
- And if sinful men are willing to do this to a perfectly innocent man, then we should not be surprised when they do this to us who desire to imitate Christ’s perfection.
  - For as Jesus says in Matthew 10:25, “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!”
  - So notice that from a human perspective living in the moment, this looks like the worst shame and dishonor a man could ever suffer. But from heaven’s perspective, this is the moment of Christ’s glory. The restraint and patience of Christ is here most honorable and admirable.
  - And so it is whenever you suffer shame for Christ’s sake.
Now after this theatre of mockery, Jesus eventually makes it to Golgotha/Calvary, and he is assisted by Simon of Cyrene who helps him carry the cross.
- There are various theories as to why this Golgotha was named “The Place of the Skull.”
  - One legend is that the skull of Adam, the first man, was buried there. But that is doubtful unless Noah brought it with him on the ark.
  - Another theory is that this is where David buried Goliath’s head. And thus, the imagery is that Christ, the son of David is here crushing the skull of the serpent, the greater Goliath, sin, death, and the devil.
  - In either case, it is fitting that God should conquer death at a place so named.
Summary: So that is the long Prelude, and now we arrive at the beginning of the crucifixion.

Verses 25-32 – The Third Hour