Pre-Easter Series

The Last Hours of Christ

Mark 15:16 - 41

Message 1

They took Him

V16 - They took Him to their headquarters - to the palace – sight of Roman Judgment

Mocked as King of the Jews

Palace – seat of Roman power

The entire battalion was called out – this is a lot of people. Some were probably asleep, some may have been eating, some may have been partying. They were all called away from whatever they were doing to come see Jesus.

V17 - They spent a lot of time undressing, dressing, undressing and redressing Jesus. Why?

From my time in the military I know that it is very easy for a group of soldiers to be a little over exuberant in their actions. They may have exceeded their responsibilities in their ruthless treatment of Jesus.

Perhaps they did not want the either their superiors of the Jews to see how shamefully they had treated Him.

Remember that this all occurred out of the public view – at their headquarters. They had the freedom to wreck all of the havoc they wanted without any fear or prying eyes. There were no video cameras to record their atrocities.

Crown of thorns – crown of humility and pain. A crown to be mocked not worshipped.

V18 - In verse 18 it records that They saluted Him. Anyone who has ever served in the military knows that a salute is not something to take lightly. These may have been soldiers but their character was far from what we have come to know as a soldier.

V19 – A very painful record of the brutal events that occurred behind the walls of their headquarters:

1. They beat Him on the head with a stick
1. A reed – or perhaps a group of reeds bound together
2. Remember that while he is being beaten on the head He is wearing a crown of thorns that is being beaten deeper into His skull
3. The words here indicate a pummeling – repeated striking blows from this group of out of control fighting men.
2. They spit on Him
1. Even today the act of spitting on someone else is regarded as a filthy thing of extreme disrespect.
3. They dropped to their knees in mock worship
1. The Jews would not do this but these Roman soldiers got a big kick out of dressing Jesus up in royal robes and making fun of Him

I would imaging that this exercise in cruelty and humility was considered to be quite fun and a great stress reliever for a group of men who had been assigned to
”keep the peace” in a city full of religious zealots.

They had been mocked and challenged during their entire tour of duty in Jerusalem; even more so during this time of festival and high Sabbath when so many Jews crowded the city and became a mob crying out for their Messiah to come and save them from the same Roman Government these soldiers served. All of the while calling for the death of the Son of God – the Messiah who had come

The soldiers were releasing all of their pent up stress, frustration and anger into the only outlet they had – Jesus Christ.

How cruel and despicable you are thinking as you set in our climate controlled sanctuary and revel in how good you are and how you are glad you were not there to witness this activity. “I would have done something about this” you say, “Never would I have stood by while my Jesus suffered like this.”

Baloney.

This is how the world, and many times the church, treats our Lord to this very day.

1. This had to happen so Jesus could be your savior.
2. You would have probably been one of the crown yelling “crucify Him!” People are not that different today than in these days.
3. Think about the reality of it.
1. How many times have you mocked the Grace and Gospel of Jesus Christ by your actions, attitudes or words?

We are no better that these Roman Soldiers

1. We mock Jesus by words, our actions and our attitudes.
2. We beat up on each other in the name of religion – when we do this we are beating Him and those who watch us and want nothing to do with Him because of the way we treat each other. Who could blame them?
3. We spit on Him and the Gospel of Jesus Christ when we are disobedient, do not share His message with others and allow our action to portray a fallen image of Christianity.
4. We mock Him with our worship by:
1. Worshipping our view of who we think Jesus should be
2. Worship Him with our actions and not our lives
3. Worship our self, our lives and our goals above the goals of our creator and sustainer.

V20 - Verse 20 says that they finally tired of mocking Him.

They wore themselves out making fun of Jesus. This probably took quite a bit of time. The mockery and humiliation that Jesus bore from these Roman soldiers was not fleeting, it was intense, shameful and lasted a long, long time.

Just as our mockery lasts a lifetime.

They brought Him

Golgotha – Place of the head/skull

Mocked as the King of Israel

Garbage Dump

Right beside the heaviest traveled roadway in the city

during festival

High Sabbath

Friday – Day of preparation

Lamb of God slain as lambs of men were slain

***When a roman general was victorious in battle they would go to “Jupitor Capialinus” (The place of the head)

Think of the setting: sights, smells, tastes. etc

Garbage dump

Smell of death

Place of violence

Why would people be drawn there? We know there were many – all taunting Him, mocking Him, spitting on Him.

But why?

I think I would be as far on the other side of the road as possible – trying to shield my children’s eyes from this horrid sight.

Why were they there? Morbid curiosity. A human sickness that desires to observe the suffering of others while shielded by the safety of a mob.

Just like Christians today. WE are safe here together as a group on Sunday morning – but we will not take the personal risk of standing out by standing up for Him outside of this comfortable and safe zone we imagine for ourselves here.

Much like our attention is drawn to an auto accident and why we watch wrestling and boxing – we WANT TO SEE their pain – from our safe comfortable position.

Warped and twisted humanity – flesh.

As we close today let us remember a few things from this message today

1. We are not that different from either the Roman Soldiers, the Religious leaders or the crowd of people that surrounded Jesus Christ during these last few hours of His life on earth as flesh and blood.
2. He could have easily destroyed each and every one of them and set up His Kingdom right then and there.
3. He did not. Not because of weakness – because of Love. He knew that He must endure this time of Suffering, pain and death in order for US to reap forgiveness, hope and everlasting life.
4. It is the Will of God that you be saved by the Blood of His Son that was shed that day.

Romans 3:24-25a "Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us." (NLT)