Good morning. Good morning. You can open your Bibles with me to the book of Mark. We're gonna be reading from Mark chapter 15. We're gonna read verses 16 through 20. Let's pay close attention to God's word, okay? And the soldiers led him away inside the palace, that is, the governor's headquarters. And they called together the whole battalion, and they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him Hail, King of the Jews. And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. This is God's word. Let's pray together. Almighty God, we come before you this morning to hear from you. And we come to you because you alone have good news. And so we pray that as we consider the sufferings of our Lord this morning, that you would be with us that you would strengthen those with weak faith, that you would bring to conversion those with no faith, and that in all things, in us, you would receive glory. And in Jesus Christ, amen. There's a principle that the Bible teaches in Psalm 18. With the pure, God is pure. But with the crooked, God is very twisty-turny. And there's another principle in the book of Proverbs that people who dig holes fall into them. And people who roll stones find that the stones roll back on them. It's kind of an interesting application of that we could make to the gospel story when we think about rolling stones. That's the second rock reference this morning. This is a passage about, this is a passage about Rome making a joke of Jesus. And as people who know the end of the story, we know that the joke turns out to be on Rome. And so we're gonna consider that this morning. When we talk about Rome, what are we talking about? We are talking about the greatest empire ever, the greatest empire ever. We could go back and we could look at how the Bible talks about the rise and the reign of the Roman Empire in the book of Daniel. You could see there the portrayal of it as an incredible beast, right? Daniel had these visions of these successive empires. He saw the Babylonian Empire. He saw the empire of the Medes and Persians and of the Greeks. also of Rome, and when Daniel saw these visions, you know, you had a lion, and you had a tiger, and you had a bear, and you had these animals that we're familiar with, but when the Roman Empire was portrayed, it was portrayed as a beast that is not natural, an animal with iron teeth and iron claws. And as well, when we see in Daniel chapter 2, right, there's the vision that Nebuchadnezzar had of that impressive image, the huge statue that represented human empires. And you had the head of gold, right, that symbolized the glory of the Babylonian Empire. And you had the chest of silver that represented the Medes and the Persians, and you had the abdomen of bronze to show the Greek Empire and then you had the legs of iron and the feet of iron mixed with clay, which I sometimes wonder if that image is to show us something of the technological prowess of the Roman Empire. We know that the Romans, right, they invented concrete. And what do you do with concrete? You mix it with iron to make it even more strong. That's how we build our foundations, right? And yet, for all of its efficiency, for all of its brutality, for all of its effectiveness, right? Roman historians themselves would say things like, Rome makes a desert and calls it peace. If you understand what that means, right? Rome lays utter waste to the world. It destroys all life. so that there's nothing left. And then it says, this is peace. This is quiet. And it's this Rome that encounters Jesus Christ. It's this Roman Empire that encounters Jesus Christ. And I think this is really, really important for us to understand that when we think about the Roman Empire, when we think about how the Bible describes it, it's right for us to see it as the pinnacle of human accomplishment, the pinnacle of what man can do. And I know that we've got all kinds of crazy things to do, crazy things that we've made today. We've got incredible technology and all that. Still, there is something in the Roman Empire that even today we have not matched. A unity, an efficiency, and a brutality And so when we see that it is Rome that Jesus encounters here in this passage, as he's judged by Pilate and sentenced to crucifixion, and now as the force of Rome, Roman soldiers turn on him. What we are seeing is we are seeing the edge, the sharp edge of all that man can do, encountering the Lord Jesus Christ. And so what happens? What happens when mankind, at their peak and at their pinnacle, encounter Jesus Christ? They mock Him. They beat Him. just before the soldiers led Jesus away into the governor's headquarters, he was scourged. What does that mean? Well, this was a judicial punishment. So they would tie the prisoner up and they would lash him with a whip that had several thongs and it had metal and bone embedded in the lashes. There was no limit to how many times they would lash the prisoners, so they would just keep going. They would lash the prisoners so long that it was not uncommon for prisoners who were lashed not even to make it to crucifixion because they would die from blood loss. The lashing was so severe that it didn't just expose their muscles, it exposed their bones. And so when Jesus is led away by the soldiers into the governor's headquarters, this is the state that he's in. And so they take a old Soldier's cloak, as Matthew says, an old red soldier's cloak, and they throw it over his shoulders. A kind of Saturday Night Live mock royalty. And they mock him. They twist together a crown of thorns, maybe because it hurts. but also because it's ridiculous. Of course, these thorns, also we know, when we read scripture and we come across a reference to something like thorns, we know that the writer of scripture is putting this detail there because it's significant. It's telling us something important for us to understand about our savior. Thorns go all the way back to the curse in the garden. Thorns and thistles, the ground shall grow for you. That was the curse that God spoke to Adam in the very beginning. And of course there were other promises and curses that involved thorns. And often these had to do with enemies. We may think of thorns and thistles as a plant that we don't like, that we have to dig out very carefully so that we don't hurt ourselves But this was a way that God would speak about violent enemies who would oppress his people. You see this in a number of places in the Old Testament, but one example is in Numbers 33, when God is telling his people that he's about to send them into the promised land, and he says, if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes. and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell." In other words, the thorn in scripture is often used to portray personal enemies. Personal enemies. And this is, I think, the way that we have to understand what Paul says about himself in the book of 2 Corinthians when he describes his thorn I know there are different ways that people interpret this, but what Paul says, he says that in order, God had given him this incredible vision of heaven. And Paul says, so to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh. a messenger of Satan to harass me. You see the language he's using there is a language of a personal enemy, a messenger of Satan to harass him, to keep him from becoming conceited. These things, the personal enmities that we face in this life, And also just the frustration of our work, that at times we pour ourselves into something or into someone, only to find that they become our enemy. Here we see that this is exactly what our Lord himself suffered. as he came to earth, and as he came to his own, and his own people rejected him. As he poured himself out, caring for everyone that he met as he walked the earth, healing the sick, teaching the truth, pronouncing good news, pronouncing forgiveness, and yet, after all of that, What did the land produce for him? Thorns. Enemies. A crown is for glory. But the crown that Jesus received on earth was enmity and mockery. Maybe something to remember, right, when we get up in the morning and we walk into the bathroom and we fix our hair and we put on our clothes for the day. We like to put on clothes that look nice. We like to dress in a way that gives us glory. It makes us beautiful or handsome. And it's something for us to remember that our Lord was dressed by others, not for glory, but for shame. And he did this for you. Something to remember when you get dressed in the morning, to remember that thorns are the portion for sinners like you and me, and to remember that Jesus received those thorns on his head. While they also take up a stick, our translation calls it a reed, which makes it sound like it was a long piece of grass. Maybe, I mean, bamboo is grass, right? So think bamboo, right? But this would be like a stick. So not a club, but a stick. It says in Matthew that they gave him the stick to hold as a scepter, like a kind of joke scepter. And then they took it back from him and struck him in the head. The scepter is the symbol of authority And so they mocked Jesus by giving him these mocking images of glory and authority and of kingship, the robe, the crown, the scepter. All of these were only to mock him, to treat him as though he was actually nothing. So they took that, image of his authority, the scepter, and they used it to strike him in the head. Instead of kissing him, which is what we just sang about, right, in Psalm 2, we are commanded and urged to kiss the son. Instead, they spat on him. It's very striking that in these verses, beginning in verse 16 all the way through the crucifixion, Jesus' name is absent from these verses. Again and again, Jesus is referred to simply as He. He's become a nameless person. He stopped being human in the eyes of the soldiers and in the eyes of the crowds and in the eyes of those who watch Him. being crucified, his humanity has begun to disappear. And that is what Isaiah prophesied, right? He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. As one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. He had become, in the eyes of these Romans, just a nameless Jew. Someone truly who is fitting to be king of the Jews. And so it's all a big joke. It's all a big joke. But what Mark is showing us in these verses very carefully and very subtly, but what he will show even more powerfully at the conclusion of his book is that, in fact, God is making his own joke. God is making a joke of Rome. Let's go back and read again what the Psalm that we sang, Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in heaven laughs. He holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. Mark tells us that they led Jesus into the Praetorium. You might have a footnote in your Bible that says that. They led Jesus into the Praetorium. Now a lot of people believe, there's good reason to think this, that the original audience for Mark's Gospel lived in Rome, in the city of Rome. And there are a number of reasons for that. One thing that people have seen in Mark's Gospel is that Mark Although Mark is written in Greek, more than the other Gospels, Mark uses what you would call Latin loanwords more than the other Gospel writers. And so these are basically Latin words. that he's using instead of Greek words. It doesn't happen a lot, but it happens more than the other books. There's a place where he talks about money, and he explains what the money is. He says that there's a certain amount of money, and then he gives the Latin name for that money, the quadrantes. And the reason he does that, probably, is because he's putting it into terms that his readers, his first readers, would understand. Roman terms. And it's interesting that here he does the same thing. He says that the soldiers led him away into the palace. And then he explains it. He says, i.e. that is the praetorium, which is another Latin loan word. Now the praetorium is just a word that means headquarters. But it's also a word that would have stirred in the minds of a Roman reader the thought of something else, especially when we're thinking about soldiers. And this was a group of soldiers that some of you have probably heard of before, the Praetorian Guard. Anyone ever heard of the Praetorian Guard? Well, the Praetorian Guard were a very special elite unit in the Roman army. They were divided into cohorts, which is another word that is used here in the Greek, a cohort, which is translated here as battalion. Now, they were in Rome and around Rome, and they had a very important job, which was to protect the emperor. They were basically the emperor's bodyguards. But not only that, as time went on in the Roman Empire, beginning in the 40s, which is shortly after Jesus is crucified and resurrected, and probably before the Gospel of Mark is written, the Praetorian Guard acquired for itself incredible political power. That power was the power to make kings. in the Roman Empire, in other words, to make Caesars. Okay, so you have to understand the Praetorian Guard had incredible political power. And although these soldiers in this passage are not the Praetorian Guard, Mark is using the language to stir up in the minds of the readers an association with the Praetorian Guard. and the role of the Praetorian Guard in making new Caesars. And so he says, he points out that these Roman soldiers led Jesus into the Praetorium where they arrayed him as king. And where they saluted him, as Roman soldiers would salute Caesar, hail Caesar. They saluted Jesus, hail. King of the Jews. You know, people will give an answer for everything that they say. People will give an answer for everything that they say. And although these soldiers would not say his name then, they are held to account for how they salute him. That they, in fact, speak the truth about him. And although they mock what they say is true, he is truly king. Although they bow, joking, my friends, a day will come when you will see these men bowing Because at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, and every tongue confess, Jesus is Lord. Well, in addition to showing how these soldiers are making Jesus king, Mark also uses some language, and Matthew does the same in his gospel, that doesn't come through in our English translations, but that is very striking in Greek. He makes an allusion to some of the kingdom parables, and especially the parable of the sower, and the parable of the mustard seed. Mark says that they assembled the whole cohort, the whole battalion, which in Greek is the spira. And the spira sounds a lot like the word for sower in Greek, which is spiron. It's only the difference of two letters at the very end. And so in naming this military unit, he also, calls to mind the parable of the sower. In Matthew's gospel, when he says that Jesus put on a scarlet robe, the word for scarlet that he uses, kokinen, is almost identical to the word that Jesus uses for the mustard seed, kokos, a seed. And then, of course, we have the thorns, which we recognize. The only other place in the Gospel of Mark where thorns are mentioned is in the parable of the sower. What's the point? The point is that Jesus is about to be sown. He's about to be sown as a seed, which is the way that Jesus speaks about his death in John's Gospel. in John chapter 12, that unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. And as Jesus says about the mustard seed, it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it is sown, it grows up. and becomes larger than all the plants and puts out branches so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. Jesus here becomes smallest. He becomes least. He becomes a nobody. And here's the joke. Who stuck him in the ground? Rome. Rome planted the seed. This is what Daniel describes, that the stone not cut with hands, comes and destroys the empires of the world and makes them like chaff in the wind, and grows and fills the whole world to become a mountain. That's the joke. That our Savior, who became nothing, fills the world and overthrows every power enemy, for he must rule until he puts every enemy under his feet." Now, my good friends, we live in a time when there are all kinds of things afoot. Wars, economic problems, people very concerned about our own country and our own economy and de-dollarization and artificial intelligence and so much more. And we deal with all kinds of issues locally and in our families. We deal with people who are difficult. We deal with our own personal enemies. No wisdom. No understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord. And so for you, there's something very important for you to remember in this passage. Many people prefer to ignore Jesus. They prefer to live their lives, not think about Him. Wouldn't that be nice? But you know, eventually, you have to deal with Him. Eventually, you have to deal with Jesus. God has a way of making sure that everyone will have to deal with him. And when people are confronted with him and cannot escape dealing with him, there are only two ways that a person can respond. Either you can try ignoring him, mock him when you can't do that, Beat him, kill him, and bury him. Or you can believe in him. You can repent of your sin. You can follow him and be saved. There are only two ways. There are only two ways, my friends. There is no neutrality. There is no avoiding it. But a day is also coming when ignoring Jesus, refusing to believe in Jesus, mocking Him, and being violent will no longer be an option. A day is coming when every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. For some, that will be a day of deliverance and salvation and victory, and for some, it will be a day of defeat and darkness and despair and self-accusation. Today is the day of salvation. My friends, today is the day to believe in Jesus, to receive him, to hold fast to him, and to enter into his kingdom and find salvation for yourself. God will have the last laugh Jesus definitely defeated Rome. You know, you can go to the city of Rome, and you know what they have there? Ruins. They have ruins in Rome. That's what people like to go to Rome to see. Ruins. Let's remember that Jesus' victory over Rome was just as implausible then Right? Picture the scene. Picture him, scourged, bleeding, mocked, surrounded and beaten by hundreds of soldiers. And yet, he wins. My friends, does it seem implausible to you that Jesus will also get the victory in our land? Does it seem impossible to you that Jesus will get the victory in the West? Does it seem unlikely that Jesus will get the victory throughout the whole world? This is why Paul tells us that if we have believed in him, then seek the things that are above. Where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, set your mind on those things. Don't set your mind on the things that are on earth. God will get the last laugh. Perhaps you are a Christian, then what an incredible encouragement for you today. To look at the suffering of our Lord, and to know that he did these things for you, and to know that he is victorious. Perhaps you are not a Christian, But you would like to know how, what does it look like to become a Christian? Well, I invite you to talk to me afterwards if that's the case, but it's very simple. Surrender. Surrender to Jesus. Confess your sins. Stop trusting in yourself and start trusting in Him. Believe in Him. Trust Him and follow Him. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, we thank you that you are truly sovereign. We thank you that you cannot suffer anything because you are God. You are perfect. You are complete. No one can take anything away from you. And so we thank you, Lord, that when you took on human flesh and you came and you suffered in the flesh, that even still, even through the mockery and even through crucifixion and death, you could not lose. You have nothing to lose, but you have everything to give. Lord, we thank you that we have such good news. And so Lord, help us to hold on to it today and to believe it. and to put it into practice in our lives today and the rest of this week. In Jesus' name, amen. You can open your Psalters to Psalm 74, selection B. Now Psalm 74 is a psalm about the destruction of the temple. And we know from the Gospels that when we read about the temple in the Old Testament, we need to change our thinking and not only think about the temple that was in Jerusalem, but we need to think about our Lord, who said that His body is the true temple. And so this psalm is an incredible psalm for thinking about the suffering of our Lord. And I'll read some of this psalm because we're not gonna sing all of it, He says, oh God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? Remember your congregation which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage. Remember Mount Zion where you have dwelt. Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins. The enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary. Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place. They have set up their own signs for signs. They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees, and all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers. They set your sanctuary on fire. They profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground. They said to themselves, we will utterly subdue them. They burned all the meeting places of God and the land." And the psalm goes on to say, oh God, how long? How long? And yet, he then turns, and this is the part of the psalm that we will sing to remember God's works of salvation and creation. He remembers how God divided the Red Sea and led his people through. He remembers how God defeated Egypt. He remembers how God created the world, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and put them in their fixed places of orbit. He remembers the fixed order of creation, and he says, see how the enemy scoffs. Don't forget the life. of the poor, remember your covenant. All these things we understand with new understanding as we see in this the suffering of our Lord and God's faithfulness to remember him and to raise him up on the third day. Let's stand and sing Psalm 74, selection B.