While We Were Still Sinners (Mark 15:21-32)

We're going to be in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 15, and we're going to be reading verses 21 through 32.

Mark 15 · chapter mention

So please stand with me for the reading of God's word.

It says, They forced a man coming in from the country who was passing by to carry Jesus' cross.

He was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.

They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means place of the skull.

They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.

Then they crucified him and divided his clothes, casting lots for them to decide what each would get.

Now it was nine in the morning when they crucified him.

The inscription of the charge written against him was the King of the Jews.

They crucified two criminals with him, one on his right and one on his left.

Those who passed by were yelling insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, Ha! The one who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross.

In the same way the chief priests with the scribes were mocking him among themselves and saying, He saves others, but he cannot save himself.

Let the Messiah, the king of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe.

Even those who were crucified with him taunted him.

Let's pray.

We thank you so much that we can gather here this morning and open your word so freely.

Lord, I pray that you would speak to us this morning.

That it wouldn't be words of man, Lord, but you would use me as your mouthpiece.

You would help me to rightly divide your word here this morning.

And that each one of us, Lord, would come with open hearts for the things that you have for us individually.

That we would come just asking, Lord, what do you have for me?

And how can I become more like you?

But I pray that that is how we would approach this scripture here this morning.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

May be seated.

So this message is really a continuation of a lot of messages leading up to this, but specifically last week when Pete was teaching.

And so far we've seen Jesus' arrest.

We've seen the various trials that he's gone through, both religiously and with the Romans as well.

As Pete talked about last week, we saw the scourging and what that looked like.

We saw a lot of mocking going on all the way through the process.

And today we're gonna move on to the actual crucifixion as we just read.

And I want you to know that I would never talk about these gory details just to see people squirm.

Really, I wouldn't.

And I know that as we talk about some of these things, and last week and some of the things we're gonna talk about this week, that um they're really hard to imagine, they're hard to take in, and it can just be, you know, really just a lot to take in, all that Jesus is going through.

But that's okay.

You know, when it's hard, I hope that we can all realize afresh and anew if we become callous to this story, that all of this that Jesus did, it was all done in love for us.

Because love is an action, it's not a feeling, you know, especially unconditional love.

It's a decision and it's a choice and it's an action.

So I encourage you, as we read through this brutality and kind of describe it a little bit, to see the decision and the choice that Jesus made to love us and to look at his actions as proof of that love for us.

So let's start with verse 21.

So as they forced a man coming in from the country who was passing by to carry Jesus' cross.

He was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.

So Jesus was in such bad shape at this point that he couldn't even carry the crossbeam of his cross.

As Pete was talking about last week, his back is shredded and it's just raw flesh and nerve endings at this point.

And there's probably no skin left on his shoulders or on his back.

At this point, some of his internal organs are probably visible through his ribs.

You know, historically, the person condemned to a crucifixion would have to carry, not the whole cross, as sometimes we see depicted, but the cross beam, which is estimated to be in the neighborhood of about 100 pounds.

You know, think of something probably similar to like a railroad tie is probably what Jesus is having to carry at this time.

And the Romans would usually tie the person's arms to that cross beam, and they would have to carry that cross basically from the verdict of their trial out of the city and to the place of crucifixion.

So assuming that that is what Jesus had to do, think of what this beam is resting on.

It's on the meat and the nerve endings of his shoulders and his back.

And think, if his arms are tied like that and he stumbles, what does he have to brace himself with?

Nothing.

He's just there on that cross holding it and probably stumbling and falling.

And I can just imagine the pain and the torture that's going on just through that.

And it's so bad that Jesus can't even bear it anymore.

So they recruit Simon of Cyrene.

So just a little history here.

Cyrene was a place in northern Africa, probably, uh, and Simon is probably somebody that was just coming for the Passover festivities, you know, in Jerusalem for that purpose.

And who knows if this guy has ever heard of Jesus before?

I mean, he might have just walked right into this whole situation, and then they are like, hey, you, come help.

You know, it's just kind of like, okay.

We don't know for sure, that's all speculation, but some like to speculate that they probably chose a foreigner because if they chose a Jew, the crowd may have revolted if they, you know, if they picked somebody of the Jewish faith.

Because a Jew carrying the cross of what they thought to be a false Messiah would have been a huge affront to whoever that person was or that crowd, because everybody thinks that this guy is a phony and is hating him, and nobody wants to help carry that cross.

Now it mentions that Simon's sons were Alexander and Rufus.

Um, and if names are thrown around like this as if we should know them, then that probably means that Mark's first pe uh Mark's first readers did know these people, to where he could just throw out first names and people would know, oh, that's who he's talking about.

And that probably means that these two sons of his were probably very involved and active in the early church body to where people would recognize them just by their first names.

And then there's a possibility that we see Rufus later in scripture in Romans, in Romans 16, 13, Paul mentions a Rufus as someone to send his grieving to.

You know, so it very well could be the same guy that's just mentioned by first name because people know who he is.

And it's just kind of fun to think about that maybe these two sons came to faith because their father helped carry this cross beam.

You know, and what a family legacy and what a neat story would be knitted in there if that's how these two sons became well known within the early church.

Verse 22.

It says they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means place of the skull.

So those first two words in verse 22, if you're a highlighter or underliner, do that in your Bible.

Because in the Greek, in the definition, it means to carry, to move by bearing, by holding.

So they're actually carrying Jesus at this point.

You know, in verse 20, they were leading him.

In verse 22, they're carrying him.

That's the point of pain and exhaustion that he's reached at this time.

So Simon's carrying the crossbeam, and the Roman soldiers are carrying Jesus.

So physically, think of what he's given at this point.

We know he hasn't slept in a very long time.

He had a completely sleepless night where he was praying a lot.

We know that he was in deep, deep distress.

We know about all of the false accusations and the lies that were taking place over and over and over throughout his trial.

We know about the torture that we saw last week and we're seeing again right here this week.

And then he's bearing this hundred-pound cross beam and hiking it up a hill.

Physically, Jesus has nothing left to give at this point.

So they carry him to Golgotha.

So here's a little history.

Golgotha is a Hebrew word of Aramaic origin that means place of the skull.

Thought to have been named that because of the hill that it sits on, looked like a skull, but we don't know that for sure.

But the Latin word, and we should be familiar with this, the Latin word for Golgotha is Calvary, which, like I said, we should be very familiar with.

Abide Calvary, you know?

You know, way back when we were talking about what to name the church, I really wanted to call it Abide, Place of the Skull.

I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding.

The elders were not for that thing.

It sounds a little too much like a biker bar, doesn't it?

Calvary just has a better ring to it.

Now, the modern day location of a Golgotha is very much disputed, even though some would try to make you think otherwise.

So we were not gonna get into that because the location really isn't nearly as important as what took place there, what Jesus did for us there.

So we're gonna be focusing on that.

So they bring Jesus to this place, and then look at verse 23.

It says, They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.

So, in order for Jesus to become our compassionate high priest, as we see in Hebrews, to be able to relate to us in every situation that we're ever going to encounter.

In order to do that, Jesus needed to experience torture to the fullest.

Not that he enjoyed it or desired the pain, but he wanted to know what the worst of the worst is.

So that when we go through anything, he can relate firsthand to us.

In our most painful time, we can be confident that he knows.

In our most lonely times, we can be confident that Jesus knows exactly what we're going through.

In our most intense times of temptation, Jesus has been there and he knows.

In our most intense times of stri of stress and of anguish, Jesus knows exactly what we're going through firsthand.

When you feel betrayed by friends, he knows exactly what you're going through firsthand.

So Jesus refuses the sour wine mixed with myrrh.

And it was a mix that was meant to deaden the senses before they drove the nails into his hands.

And he refused it.

Get this.

So that he could relate to us in our worst moments and be able to say, I know exactly what you're going through.

And then have compassion on you in those moments.

And then he says, Let me help you.

I know exactly what you've gone through.

Let me help you in that moment.

You see, Jesus loves us so much that he bore all of this, not only for the forgiveness of our sin, but so that he can relate to us.

Has anybody else ever done that for you?

Has any other religion ever offered that to you?

I think the answer is no and no to both of those questions, isn't it?

Verse 24.

It says, Then they crucified him.

And as we've been talking about as we're going through the Gospel of Mark, it's a very concisely written gospel.

But after everything that we've read and gone through, I don't know about for you, but four words doesn't seem to be quite enough to describe what Jesus just went through in that crucifixion.

But we need to remember that everyone reading this in Mark's time was very familiar with exactly uh exactly with what happened in a crucifixion.

They knew that it was the most painful way imaginable to die.

Hours of torture and pain, like none here I know have ever experienced.

So those four words actually were sufficient for the original audience of Mark to know that the nails were driven into the base of his hands and his wrist, that a nail pierced both of his feet, that he had to use that nail in his feet to push his raw flesh on his back up against that beam of the cross just so that he could breathe.

Every breath was calculated and it was weighed out.

Because what's worse, you know, the pain of suffocation or the nerve pain from the nails that he's experiencing when he pushes up on his feet and when he pulls up on his arms.

You know, once the suffocation became too painful, the crucified had to make a choice to push up on that nail until that pain grew more painful than the suffocation.

And then that was just the cycle that they went through until they died.

All of that would be understood by Mark's original audience.

Those four words.

Then he was crucified.

Look at the second part of verse 24.

It says, And divided his clothes, casting lots for them to decide what each would get.

You know what?

Just in the second half of verse 24, King David in Psalm 22, 18, prophesied about this very thing a thousand years before it happened.

And King David prophesied about it 400 years before crucifixion was even invented by the Persians.

And Psalm 22, 18 actually says, They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.

You know, and the Roman soldiers are casting lots for the spoils of the day, basically, the clothes of those that are crucified.

And they had no idea that they were fulfilling a 1,000-year-old prophecy that King David had given in Psalm 22.

Look at verse 25 with me.

It says, Now it was nine in the morning when they crucified him.

The inscription of the charge written against him was the king of the Jews.

So again, this is Pilate both mocking Jesus and kind of poking fun at the Jews, as Pete mentioned in the sermon last week.

And in doing so, Pilate was adding fodder to the fire, so to speak, by giving those passing by, maybe if they didn't even know what was going on, but giving those that were passing by something to make fun of, to add to the shame of Jesus.

So think of all that Jesus went through before this.

And then now he's getting the shame piled on and piled on as he's hanging on this cross.

And then it continues in verse 27.

They crucified two criminals with him, one on his right and one on his left.

And we're going to talk about these guys a little bit more and the shame that they're supplying Jesus as well.

But first let's look at verse 29.

It says those who passed by were yelling insults at him, shaking their heads, and saying, Ha, the one who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross.

So, in all that Jesus did, I think the thing that stood out to these people the most was when they thought Jesus threatened their idol.

This whole time Jesus was talking about his own body, his personal temple.

Jesus said, you know, destroy this temple, my body, and I will rise again in three days.

But they thought he was threatening their idol, their temple there in Jerusalem.

And there's a reason, I think, that we don't know where the Ark of the Covenant is.

I think there's a reason where we don't know exactly where Jesus' tomb was, or exactly where the crucifixion happened.

Because if we did, there's no doubt in my mind that we would make those things an idol as well.

We would take the things that are symbolic of God or are supposed to help in our worship of God and actually start worshiping those things as opposed to the thing that they are symbolic of, just like they're doing with their temple in Jerusalem.

And I think the reason is because deep down we all crave something to worship.

Even our fallen flesh desires to lift things up and exalt them and worship them, whether we're conscious of it or not.

But that was a desire that was originally implanted in us that was intended to be filled by God.

But when we fell to sin in the garden back with Adam and Eve, we started to try to fill that void with anything that we could get our hands on and make idols out of anything that we could really get our hands on.

And these mockers had made an idol of their temple.

Something that was originally built to glorify God, but then became their God.

And it became their God so much so that they could no longer recognize their God.

Because he was nailed to a cross right in front of them, and they didn't recognize him.

In fact, they killed him and they mocked him while he was dying.

The God that their temple was supposed to symbolize.

Their temple had become such an idol that they couldn't even recognize God anymore.

You know, and I'm so glad that Jesus doesn't take these mockers up on their offer in verse 30 and come down from the cross.

Because he could have come down at any time that he wanted and said, you know what?

Never mind.

You're not worth it.

He could have said, you know what?

You can continue to try to get to God through your own works and through sacrificing animals.

Have fun with that.

I'm out of here.

But he bore it all.

He bore the pain.

Physically, mentally, emotionally.

He bore all of that to the end, to his death.

Romans 5.8, it says that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And I want to fill in that word sinners with a couple different things.

While we were still mockers, Christ died for us.

While we were still yelling Barabbas, Christ died for us.

While we were still scourging him, Christ died for us.

While we were still yelling, crucify him, Christ died for us.

And while we were still driving the nails into his hands and his feet, Christ died for us.

That's what it means.

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

It wasn't while we were cleaning ourselves up, while we were trying to do good works, while we were almost to the point of being to perfection on our own, Christ died for us.

It is while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And think of the grossest state that you have ever been in.

That maybe you don't even want to remember.

It's while we were there that he desired us and then died for us while we were still sinners.

Look at verse 31.

It says, In the same way the chief priests with the scribes were mocking him among themselves and saying, He saved others, but he cannot save himself.

Let the Messiah, the king of Israel, come down now from the cross so that we may see and believe.

You know, I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I think good religious leaders, even if Jesus was a fraud, would have had compassion on a guy that was in this mental state, that thought he was God.

And I don't care who's on the cross, I would never want to see a religious leader mocking somebody modern day in an electric chair or receiving a lethal injection.

You know, these leaders I think had to know Leviticus 19 18.

That says, Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself.

I am the Lord.

You know, if Jesus wasn't really God, he really would have.

Been a lunatic with some major mental problems.

He was claiming to be all that he was and really wasn't.

And there's zero compassion shown from these religious leaders to Jesus.

It's just jealousy and contempt and revenge that they're showing him because he threatened their social norms.

He threatened their position and authority.

And he threatens their idols.

So they turn to mocking a man that was being tortured to death.

But in the midst of all of this, we actually get a glimpse of God's mercy.

Because in Acts 6, 7, it says, so the word of God spread.

The disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.

They go from mocking Jesus to being forgiven by Jesus.

Jesus wasn't hanging on the cross making a list of all the people he wasn't going to forgive.

As they're walking by, mocking, not that one, not that one, not that one.

He's not doing that.

He's actually saying while he's being crucified on the cross in Luke 23, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

As they're hurling the insults at him, as they're driving the nails, as they're crucifying him, he's saying, forgive them for they know not what they do.

You know, I want to put this in another context because so often we've heard this story, most of us, so many times, that it can kind of we can kind of become a little bit callous to it and kind of forget exactly what Jesus is doing here.

So I'm gonna give you a scenario, and I want each one of you to place yourself in that specific scenario.

So let's say hypothetically, that city hall here in Atascadero was burned down just a couple days ago.

You know, the big beautiful building right in the middle of town.

It was burned down by a mob of people that were upset about something, and so they lit the building on fire.

And there were so many people involved and such chaos that they could never arrest anyone involved.

They couldn't find out who lit the original Matt.

Um, so there was really nobody to pay the consequences for their crime.

And yet the police come in during our service this morning and they arrest you.

Okay?

So put yourself in that position.

They take you down to the sunken gardens and they hold court in front of the same mob that burned down City Hall.

And the police say to the mob, this person, so you, burned down City Hall.

What should this person be sentenced to?

And everybody starts shouting, the mob starts shouting, electric chair, electric chair.

So they actually wheel out the electric chair into the sunken gardens and they start to follow through on the verdict that was given by the mob for your sentence.

Ridiculous, right?

Absolutely ridiculous to think that this would actually happen.

But it's really not far off from exactly what Jesus is going through right now.

And here's the question I have.

As they're strapping you to the electric chair, where's your state of mind?

You know, I think I know where my state of mind would be.

This is a kangaroo court.

It's a verdict by mob.

They're skipping the whole legal system altogether.

There's no proof of my crime, and I actually have an airtight alibi.

And they're giving me a death sentence for something that is not a capital punishment or not worthy of a capital punishment.

You know, my mind is probably not on forgiving the people that are doing this to me, right?

Considering that the people doing this to me are the ones that deserve my verdict and my sentence in the first place.

I don't know about you, but would you have a mind to forgive those people in the midst of them murdering you?

And would you actually say, I know you all deserve my verdict and my sentence, and I'm innocent, but I'll take your sentence on myself so you don't have to take the punishment for your crime.

Because that's exactly what Jesus is doing right here on the cross.

We are the mob.

We're the ones crying Barabbas.

We're the ones that are swinging the hammers, we're the ones that are mocking Jesus.

And Jesus takes it all and still somehow thinks that we're worth it.

You don't take anything else away today.

I hope you take that.

With everything that was going on, somehow Jesus still thinks that we're worth it.

And the last half of verse 32 says, even those who were crucified with him taunted him.

So even the criminals that deserved to be there were mocking Jesus at this point.

They're using their last words to mock Jesus.

And I just think about that, what's the purpose?

You know, these guys on both sides of Jesus were pushing up on the nail in their feet in excruciating pain, not to breathe, but to mock Jesus.

That's pure evil that's going on here.

The motivation behind it is pure evil.

And Satan, I think, is just having a heyday here, thinking he's having some sort of victory finally over God.

But he has a surprise waiting for him.

And all because, they're doing this all because Jesus spent the previous three years poking at their idols.

Because he didn't live up to what their expectations were of the coming Messiah.

Because, and please hear me in this, their God wasn't doing what they wanted him to.

I think we need to examine ourselves right now with what those things are in our life.

Where God isn't measuring up to our expectations.

And we may be holding on to bitterness toward him.

Where we're upset with God because he isn't doing what we think he should be doing.

Where he may be poking our idols and it's making us angry.

All because, and it all boils down to this, all because we think we know better.

But here is the mercy of God again in this story.

While the criminal next to him was mocking him, while he was still a sinner, Christ died for him.

Something changed in this criminal, this guy that was being crucified next to him.

We learn in Luke's gospel that he actually said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And Jesus said, Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

You know, these two sentences I think are so important in Scripture in so many ways.

And I think God wanted this included in Scripture, this repentance of this criminal, to show us so many things.

The first is that it's not by our works that we're saved.

The criminal who is assumed to be the first person in heaven didn't have the opportunity to do anything for God.

At the last second, he believed in his heart and he confessed with his mouth that Jesus is the Lord.

And Jesus says, Welcome to paradise.

He didn't even have time to get baptized, which we should do as an act of obedience, but that's not what salvation rests on.

It's not by our works, it's by what Jesus has done.

And this guy is proof exactly that it is not about what we do, it's about what Jesus did for us.

And this is such a beautiful picture, I think, that Jesus did it all.

It's not by our works that we're saved from sin.

It is a free gift of God to us.

And I want to close with these questions for us to think on.

The first one is, have we put any expectations on God?

Just like we saw that the Jews had and the religious leaders had.

The second one is, have we held any bitterness because God hasn't done things the way that we think that he should have?

And the third one is, how have we responded when God has poked at our idols?

And in all that, I want you to remember that he's waiting with open arms to forgive us.

Like the criminal on the cross.

You know, we could have mocked him, we could have called him everything in the book, and he's waiting for us patiently, saying, I still want you.

I forgive you, and I love you so much that I didn't come down from the cross when I was challenged to.

I stayed there to bear it all.

And I've wanted to know you so intimately and be able to relate to you that I suffered the worst of the worst on earth.

To be able to say, I understand what you're going through, and I have compassion on you.

And I love you so much.

That's what God wants to say to each one of us.

That's what Jesus wants to say to each one of us here this morning.