Mark 15:33-41 - Homiletics

The death of Jesus.

Jesus had, in the course of his ministry, raised the dead to life. Three such instances are recorded in the Gospels; and it is intimated that there were other cases which have not been circumstantially related. And now the time came for himself to die, to accomplish at Jerusalem the decease he had foreseen and foretold. That he might have avoided this fate is obvious; and he had himself declared that no man took his life from him. The time, however, had arrived for him to lay down that life of himself, in submitting to be, "by wicked hands, crucified and slain."

I. The evangelist relates CIRCUMSTANCES PRECEDING CHRIST 'S DEATH .

1 . The darkness which brooded over the city, and over the whole land, for the space of three hours, was apparently supernatural, and has usually been regarded as a manifest token of Nature's sympathy with her Lord. It was an appropriate accompaniment to the sad and awful event that was transpiring.

2 . The utterance of desertion and of woe. The dying Savior's cry has ever been regarded as affording a glance into the innermost, the sacred, the unfathomable mysteries of his soul. Explain it we cannot; disregard it we dare not. Surely, this cannot be regarded as a mere exclamation of distress! Surely, it cannot have been wrung from the Redeemer by the severity of bodily pain and anguish! It has been well said that the sufferings of his soul were the soul of his sufferings. The only explanation of the cry, "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" is that furnished by the mental agonies which the world's Redeemer was enduring, which clouded his sense of the Father's favor. On the one hand, we cannot suppose this language to have been a mere cry of distress; on the other hand, we cannot conceive that the Father had withdrawn his favor from his well-beloved Son, who wan now proving himself to be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The fact is that the burden of the world's sins and sorrows pressed like a dense cloud upon his soul, and obscured from his view the shining of the Father's face.

3 . The ministry of pity. Although at the commencement of the crucifixion Jesus had refused the stupefying draught which had been offered him, now that he had hung six hours upon the cross he was consumed with an intolerable thirst. The expression of his distressing sensation seems to have followed upon the cry of desertion. A bystander, doubtless in pity, offered him a sponge filled with the sour wine which was the soldiers' ordinary drink, and it would seem that he did not now refuse the alleviation offered. It is not easy to understand who could have so misapprehended his cry as to suppose the dying Sufferer to invoke the ministry of Elijah; though it is easy to believe that some would jeeringly propose to wait for the prophetic intervention.

4 . The dying cry. Mark gives no words; but from the other Gospels we learn that, immediately before his expiring, Jesus uttered aloud two ever-memorable sayings: viz. "It is finished!" and "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!" It is clear , therefore, that the cry was not an inarticulate utterance of pare. There was an expression of his conviction that his ministry of humiliation was ended, that the purpose of his incarnation was completed, that nothing more remained for him to do on earth. And in addition to this utterance, which was ministerial, was another, which was personal. As he had said " My God ," so now he says " Father ," an address which proved his possession of the assurance of his Father's undiminished and undimmed approval. The hour of agony and dissolution was thus an hour of triumph: Christ's work was completed, his obedience was perfected, his acceptance was assured, his victory was achieved.

II. The evangelist records THE FACT OF CHRIST 'S DEATH . How simply is it related!—"He gave up his spirit." In one word is recorded, without exaggeration, without a word to heighten the effect, without a comment of any kind, the most stupendous, pathetic, and momentous event which this world has witnessed. The Being who was "the Life" bowed his head in death. He who, whilst his hour was not yet come, had eluded his foes, now submitted to the felon's doom. The Lord of immortality, who was to hold the keys of death and of the unseen world, saw and tasted dissolution, though not corruption. He knew, though the spectators, friends and foes alike, were ignorant of the fact, that his death was destined to be the life of the world. He had foretold that, when lifted up from the earth, he should draw all men unto himself; that the grain of wheat should fall into the earth and die, and should bring forth much fruit. And the events which have followed have verified the Savior's words. Even those who have no disposition to regard Christ's character and work as supernatural cannot be blind to the fact that the cross has proved a tree whose fruits have been for the satisfaction, and whose leaves have been for the healing, of the nations. But, to us Christians, the death of Christ was the redemption of our souls.

"Oh, never, never canst thou know

What then for thee the Savior bore,

The pangs of that mysterious woe

Which wrung his bosom's inmost core.

"Yes, man for man perchance may brave

The horrors of the yawning grave;

And friend for friend, or son for sire,

Undaunted and unmoved expire,

From love, or piety, or pride;

But who can die as Jesus died?"

III. The evangelist puts upon record CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES FOLLOWING UPON CHRIST 'S DEATH .

1 . One incident occurs which is typical of the influence of our Savior's death upon the elder, the Jewish, dispensation: the rending of the temple veil. This curtain screened off the holiest place, which was representative of the Divine indwelling, and at the same time of the necessity of a mediatorial scheme by which God can admit men to his fellowship and favor. And when this veil was rent, it was signified that by the death of Jesus, the true High Priest, the way was made open into the presence of a holy God. The distinction between Jews and Gentiles was abolished, and a Divine mediation was declared available for all mankind.

2 . The witness of the centurion was an earnest of the world's witness to the crucified Redeemer. It was the manner of Jesus' death—the demeanour and the language of the innocent, uncomplaining, forgiving Sufferer, the darkness and the general awe—which together produced upon the mind of this Roman officer the impression that this was, not merely no criminal, but no ordinary mortal; that he had been superintending the crucifixion of a Son—the Son—of God. It is significant that, in his death, our Lord effected the conversion of a sinful fellow-sufferer, and the enlightenment, to say the least, of one so little likely to be prepossessed in his favor as this Roman officer.

3 . Mention is made of the gaze of some of those who had been, and still were, the faithful friends of Jesus. The mother of the Lord had been led away from the painful scene by the disciple to whose care she had been entrusted by her dying Son. But Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and Salome the wife of Zebedee, are mentioned as, with others, lingering at some distance from the cross, and yet within sight of it, to behold the end. Whilst their services could be of use to him, they had attended his steps and supplied his wants; and now that they could do no more for their beloved and revered Master, they remained near his dying form, to watch with him, to sympathize with him to the last, to hear his dying words, to keep him in sight until the lifeless body should be disposed of, and hidden from them in the earth. Sweet is the thought that, when his disciples forsook Jesus and fled, when he had to endure the anguish caused by the treachery of one, the denial of a second, and the desertion of others, there were devout and attached women who would not leave the sacred spot, or take their eyes from off the hallowed form. Even by human devotion and love Jesus was not utterly forsaken, was not left utterly alone. Some there were who had proved his kindness, tested his wisdom, profited by his authority during his ministry, whose hearts changed not towards him in the hour of his darkness, anguish, and woe. Memorable is the ministry of those holy and affectionate women, who are recorded to have been "last at the cross, and earliest at the tomb."

APPLICATION . Christ's death is:

1 . To sinners the means of salvation. The Lord paid on the cross the ransom-price of the souls of sinful men; he bore our sins; he redeemed us with his precious blood. Here is pardon, healing, and life, for those who receive the good tidings with sincere faith.

2 . To suppliants the assurance of the gracious answer of Heaven to their prayers. "If God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, will he not with him also freely give us all things?"

3 . To struggling souls the inspiration of resistance and endurance, the earnest and pledge of victory. "Our old nature is crucified with him;" "Reckon ye yourselves dead unto sin."

4 . To Christian teachers and preachers the theme of their ministry. In this Paul is an example to us all, who exclaimed, "We preach Christ crucified;" "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."