Mark 15:16-39 – Jesus Bears God’s Wrath

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

Mark 15:16-39 shows us the suffering of the righteous servant of God. There is a question that always comes up about the death of Christ that we’ll work to answer in this week’s Sunday School lesson.

Introduction

 One of the most prominent questions in New Testament scripture comes from the Ethiopian eunuch who was reading Isaiah’s prophecy of the Suffering Servant.  Philip asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?”  The eunuch responded, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”  We are here this week to bring understanding to the suffering of the righteous servant of God.  

If you don’t understand why Christ had to suffer, I hope you will take a moment to read over this commentary.  This week’s Sunday School commentary will cover scripture from Mark 15:16-39.

The Suffering of the Righteous Servant

The scripture of this week’s lesson opens with Christ being led by soldiers and mocked.  In Mark 15:17, they threw a purple robe over Christ, with purple being the color of royalty, and they also crowned His head with thorns.  They mockingly salute Him as the King of the Jews in Mark 15:18.

The Roman soldiers then beat Him, spat on Him, mockingly worshipped Him, before taking off the purple robe, putting His clothes back on Him, and then leading Him away to be crucified.  This opening scene, if you will, of our lesson this week, sets the tone for the humiliation of the cross.

The Roman crucifixion was built on the foundation of humiliating those who dared to challenge the authority of Rome.  Yet, we know that Christ did not challenge the authority of Rome.  Even Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, had found no fault in Christ and that He was of no threat to Rome (Matt. 27:11-26; Mark 15:1-15; Luke 23:1-5; 13-25; John 18:28-40).

Christ was an innocent man who was beaten, whipped, and was being made to bear His cross to be crucified for the world to see.  The Ethiopian eunuch, like many, when they open their heart to the suffering of Christ, was left wondering why He had to suffer.  The eunuch sought understanding.

The fulfilling of God’s will

Christ’s suffering points back to the will and desire of the Lord.  In John 6:38-40, Christ told the people that it is God’s will that those who receive Him will be raised with Him at the last day.  As Christ told Nicodemus, God gave the world His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

When God made mankind, He did so with the desire to dwell with mankind for everlasting life.  This we know to be the case because we’re told in Genesis 1:26-28 that God made mankind in His image according to His likeness.  For the Lord to dwell with mankind, mankind must be holy and righteous, as God will never dwell with what is unholy and unrighteous.

As we know, mankind fell in the garden when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Technically speaking, mankind fell when Adam ate the fruit, not Eve, though Adam tried to push the blame onto Eve.  You see, the watch was given to Adam to keep.  After they had eaten the fruit, when Adam and Eve heard God moving through the garden, God called for Adam, not Eve.

Genesis 3:14-15 shows us that the Lord cursed the serpent, Satan, in the garden after mankind’s fall.  Enmity was put between the serpent and the woman, between her Seed and his seed.  The Lord promised that her Seed would bruise the head of the serpent, therefore defeating him.

The Seed of the woman that the Lord promised was His only begotten Son, who was born through Mary, a virgin’s birth.  Christ was born into this world for two reasons.  The first:  Shining a light on the truth – people everywhere need to repent from their sinful living.  The second:  To be a sacrifice for the sins of mankind.

The agony of the cross

In my commentary, Jesus’ Prayer in the Garden – How to Overcome Grief, I touched on Jesus suffering in every facet of our living.  

A sign of the level of Jesus’ physical suffering is shown to us in Mark 15:21.  Unlike the other two men Jesus was crucified with, He needed help with bearing His cross.  The man chosen from the crowd, Simon, had two sons whose names are mentioned in this scripture, Rufus and Alexander.  Simon’s two sons would go on to be ministers and missionaries of Christ, who were likely known by the intended audience of this scripture.

Golgotha, as mentioned here in Mark 15:22, was also called Calvary (Luke 23:33).  This was a location that sat just outside the walls of Jerusalem, on a hill (John 19:20).  Therefore, those entering or leaving Jerusalem would have been able to see Jesus hanging on the cross.  

The Romans would choose such a location so that everyone could see what happened to those who dared to challenge the power of Rome.  Crucifixion was such a common thing for Rome to do that they would even string people up on crosses in the streets.  Not only that, the Romans had different shapes of crosses for different forms of torture.  Rome desired to make such a death as painful and as humiliating as possible.

Traditionally, it is believed that Christ hung on a “t-shape” cross, considering that the gospels explicitly tell us a sign was placed above His head.  Mark 15:26 tells us what was written – “THE KING OF THE JEWS”.  The other gospels mention that Jesus’ name was written on the inscription, and that the inscription was written in three languages (Matt. 27:37; Luke 23:38; John 19:19-20).  

Once again, Rome would write out such an inscription so that onlookers would know the crime the one being crucified had committed.  Yet, it was also another form of mockery of one who dared to commit a crime against Rome.  Pilate had an inscription that was written out, which was more of a mockery of the Jews.  While not mentioned in Mark’s gospel, John tells us that the chief priests wanted Pilate to change the sign to read, “He said, ‘I am the King of the Jews (John 19:21).’ ”

Taking on God’s wrath

Mark 15:27-28 points out Jesus hanging between two thieves, which fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 53:12, which prophesied Christ would be numbered with the transgressors.  

Let us not overlook the two ways in which Christ was numbered with the transgressors.  Yes, He literally hung between two thieves as a criminal, though He was innocent.  We must also remember that as He hung on the cross, He hung as a sacrifice to God for our sins.  Christ became mankind’s scapegoat, being numbered with sin as the number one sinner, carrying the sins of the world.

The teaching of Christ becoming our propitiation is something that should always be taught and never overlooked.  We must not get away from the purpose of the cross.  The reason why I say this is because there is hope in the death and the resurrection of Christ.  It is because Christ died and then rose again that our salvation is sealed, and it shows that we can overcome sin and its penalty of eternal death.

You see, once a year, the children of Israel would celebrate the Day of Atonement, also known as Yom Kippur.  As shown in Leviticus 16, the high priest would enter the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle, sprinkling the blood of a bull and a goat, while making a burnt offering to make atonement for himself, his house, and the congregation of Israel.

The high priest, having chosen between two goats, will take the second goat and place the sins of the congregation of Israel onto it, making it the scapegoat of Israel’s sin.  As it is said in Hebrews 10:1, the Day of Atonement was merely a shadow of the good things to come in Christ.  The high priest had to make an offering once a year, but in the offering of Christ, there is no need for another offering to God.

Therefore, the cross stood as an altar, and on that altar was placed the Lamb of God, His only begotten Son.  Christ was placed on the altar as the atonement offering not just for Israel, but for the world.  And on that cross, Christ, taking on the sins of mankind, suffered God’s wrath, as He became what the Lord despises.  

In the prophecy of the suffering of the righteous servant, found in Isaiah 53, the prophecy spoke of how Christ would bear our griefs and sorrows.  He would be smitten by God and afflicted.  The righteous servant would be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.  Those things would happen so that mankind, by faith in Christ, will be healed from sin by His stripes.

So, as the prophecy stated, Christ was led as a lamb to the slaughter (Is. 53:7), and as the prophecy also tells, it pleased the Lord to bruise Him and put Him to grief.  Why did it please the Father to make His Son suffer?  Well, as Paul said in Colossians 1:19-20, all things were reconciled to God through Christ’s suffering.  

Blasphemed on the cross

The mockery of Jesus continued while He hung on the cross.  Mark 15:24 tells us that His clothing was gambled over.  Then in Mark 15:29-32, we are told that the people, including the religious leaders, blasphemed Jesus while He was on the cross.

I want to touch on this for just a brief moment since I spoke on Mark 15:33-34 in my most recent commentary, which I linked to above.  If you wish to see commentary on that scripture, be sure to go read the commentary that you can find at that link.

I want to ask all of you this question:  Do you think that those who blasphemed Jesus while He hung on the cross could still be saved from their sin?

I feel that many of you will consider blasphemy as the unpardonable sin and answer ‘no’ to my question.   However, I want to reference Matthew 12:31-32 to bring clarity to this answer, and then, I will add on something that Jesus does while He hung on the cross.

In Matthew 12:31-32, Jesus taught that the unpardonable sin was “blasphemy against the Spirit”.  Jesus specifically said, “Any who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him.”  So, to answer my question, those who mocked and blasphemed Christ while He hung on the cross could still be saved.  Blasphemy of the Spirit, I want to remind you, is the work that denies the works of God, and therefore, hinders one from salvation.

To back up this thought, I will reference Luke 22:34, where Jesus prayed to the Father on behalf of the people while He hung dying on the cross.  Christ prayed, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”  Christ, while hanging on the cross, was showing them mercy and grace by praying forgiveness for them.

Does this mean that everyone who participated in mocking Jesus while He hung on the cross was forgiven?  Absolutely not.  However, what this does show us is that the opportunity was there.  

Were there some who stood by and wagged their fingers, mocking and blaspheming Jesus, forgiven?  We know for a fact, as shown in Mark 15:38-39, that there was a Roman centurion who, standing opposite of Christ, after the veil of the temple was torn, confessed Christ is the Son of God.  You better believe that man was saved that very moment!

Teaching Christ’s Sacrifice

The same opportunity at salvation is possible for all people today, regardless of what they have done.  God desires to save souls, not condemn them (John 3:17).  

Many have a problem with such a gruesome scene of Christ’s crucifixion being taught, especially to children, yet with everything else that is available for one to learn in this world, the reconciliation of mankind through Christ’s sacrifice ought to be taught to all people, young or old.  

I believe that it is a wonderful thing for someone to know that they do not have to sin to have rule over them.  It is an awful thing for one to live the days of their life, believing that God won’t show them mercy and grace for actions they regret.  So, I will end this week’s commentary on this note – Never let anyone tell you that you cannot be saved because God has said and shown otherwise.