We are in Mark. You've heard of this. If you've been with us, Mark chapter 15, you will read right. If you're looking closely, you'll read this is week part 53. By my count, that's a year. a year of Sundays walking through the Gospel of Mark. And as we do today, we come to what some have considered and proclaimed to be the climax. But not for the reasons that you might suppose if you've read and looked at what chapter 15 is about today. As climactic and as central as the crucifixion is, It's that plus words that we hear from the lips of a Gentile that have led readers and observers to consider the words of the Gentile the climax of Mark's Gospel. not minimizing for a moment what Jesus accomplishes for us on the cross, but what is Mark after as he writes this gospel? You're going to hear that as we go, and listen for the climax. This is Mark chapter 15, beginning with verse 21. Hear the word of God. And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull. And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them to decide what each should take. And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, the King of the Jews. And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, aha, you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross. So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another saying, he saved others, he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel come down now from the cross that we may see and believe. Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, behold, he is calling Elijah. And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion who stood facing him saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, truly, this man was the son of God. There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, the younger, and of Joseph and Siloam. When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him. And there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. And when evening had come, since it was the day of preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council who also himself was looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died, and summoning the centurion, he asked whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. And Joseph bought a linen shroud and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rocks. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Amen, let's pray. Father, would you now take your word Would you spirit take the word of God and open it to the people of God, to the hearts of God, that we might see the glory of God in this text and what you have before us. Teach us, we pray. In the name of Christ, our Lord, Amen. In 1909, a pastor, preacher, theologian about writing on the gospel of Mark said, Christ is to us just what his cross is. You do not understand Christ until you understand his cross. And it might well be said that no one can read Mark without coming to the same conclusion. This cross, you see, that we've come to today has hovered throughout, brooded over the whole old Gospel of Mark. It's mentioned from time to time, and we've heard Jesus refer to His hour or His death. In fact, it was right after Jesus was identified by Peter as the Christ in Mark chapter 8. You'll remember that two chapters later, Jesus begins and doesn't stop talking about His death. In Mark 10, he says, the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And so we come today right into the heart of what Jesus had on his heart, his entire public three-year public ministry. and we come to it and there's a sermon series that you won't get today from the verses that we've read. But what I want to do with the time that we have is to unfold this around three questions. Just who is this man? Who is this man on the cross? Why is his death different from any other? And what difference does it make for you and me? That's all in the text. And you will know that the rest of the New Testament goes on to explain all of that, right? So there's more to be had than you will get this morning. But around those three questions, I want us to walk today. Who is this man, first of all? They don't seem to get it. They don't seem to understand. There's a group called those who passed by, verse 29. This was Passover, remember? There are people in Jerusalem that don't live there. They've come to Jerusalem. There are lots of people passing by. And of those passing by, what was heard from their lips was derision, mocking. We hear that. There's confusion about who this person is. And the best they can muster is mocking derisively. There's confusion about who this person is. And it's not just those who pass by. It's those that were in Jerusalem because it was Passover and they had a job to do. Not the sojourners and the travelers from the countryside, but the religious professionals, the elite. Those that made their living and gave their life to the order of temple worship. The chief priests and the Pharisees, those are the scribes are described in verse 31. And they too are mocking this moment and this man. There's confusion. There's controversy. But it's not just then, is it? I mean, how far do you have to walk from these doors, from your car, to run into people that are confused about a controversial figure, Jesus of Nazareth? Or maybe today you've come with some confusion or some under the surface questions about how much to make of this story and this man. There's the confusion that the crowd displays that we see, but there's the clarity that the writer brings. Mark is our writer. The Holy Spirit is our writer, ultimately. But in the Gospel of Mark, we have a writer assembling a story and relating the story in a way that he wants you and me to get certain things. And he brings a clarity in the midst of the confusion. If you are confused, if you've got questions, this text comes to you with some clarity. We wanna get what Mark wants to make clear. as we come into it. The first thing that Mark the writer seems to be landing and laying in front of us is the fact that Jesus is the expected and long-awaited Messiah. There are clues to the fact that Mark intends the whole trial, which was last week, and not this text, but if you read back a bit, the trial, the mockery of a trial, but the trials, the hearings that he had before Pilate and the governor, and the crucifixion of chapter 15, he intends us to understand it as a royal enthronement of Jesus as Messiah. The clues are all over the place. Six references in chapter 15 to Jesus as the King of the Jews. Now those terms were thrown in derision at him. But Mark embeds them in the story six times so that you don't miss it. He is being portrayed in a mocking fashion as the king of the Jews. But then there's this flagellation scene where Jesus is beaten and his flesh is torn and there is a robe of what color? Purple. A royal color of purple robe. That was what was thrown around his shoulders. The crown made of thorns. symbolizing the crown of a king. Mark wants us to get that. It's in the story, six references to Jesus as King of the Jews. A purple robe, a crown of thorns, the mockery of the bystanders who again decry the King of the Jews. And then there's this picture of two thieves on the right and the left of Jesus. Now if you've been with us, or if you've been in the story of the gospel story before, that might bring up a fresh memory of two disciples. that asked Jesus, Jesus, when you come as king, when you come with your authority, can we sit on your right and your left? And so with two robbers being crucified on each side of Jesus, the king of the Jews, from Mark's own writing, we're meant to also see a picture of what James and John have asked for, a king surrounded on his left and his right, just another word picture. These are on the surface clues that Mark is up to something, that he wants us to connect the dots. He wants us to connect the dots in the way that Caiaphas, the high priest, never did. You know, it was the job of the high priest, Caiaphas, at this moment. His task was to identify the king of the Jews, the Messiah. That was at the top of his to-do list. When the Messiah, the king of the Jews, appears, high priest, you are the one to identify and to anoint him. And Caiaphas has had his chances. And reasons that the text doesn't explain, he can't see it. Or he doesn't see it. Or maybe he refuses to see it. And some of you know what that's like. To refuse to see what is true about this figure, Jesus of Nazareth. That was his task. But Mark is coming at us and he says, King of the Jews, Messiah, this is the one, this is him. Now, you know that they were expecting someone to come in and straighten out things with Rome and to put things politically and militarily in place. And maybe that's why it was such a surprise or he was unrecognized. But as central as Messiah is to the picture and the clarification that Mark wants to make, Close readers of the text would suggest, and I think they're onto something, that that's not even his primary interest. King of the Jews, Messiah. That clarifies some things, but there's one more thing that he wants us to get. And it goes back as far as Mark 1.1, the very first verse in this book where the author attributes to Jesus of Nazareth the words, Son of God. Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, coming to us from the lips of a Gentile. You know, the centurion, the head of the execution squad, heard something unique that he had not experienced or expected. You see, crucified men do not cry in a loud voice. They have no strength to do so. The fact of and the reality of a crucifixion is the lungs are put in such stress and turmoil and chaos that there's no breath to cry out in a loud voice. So the centurion who had watched other crucifixions before had not heard a crucified man cry out in a loud voice. It usually took two days or even longer to die. But when he watched Jesus breathe his last, his words were, truly this man was the son of God. Now we don't know the depth of his understanding or what all he attached to that. He was a Gentile for one. It may have been that he was simply saying this man is dying as a hero. of his people. We don't know. But what we do know is that he picks up the language Mark starts with. And so when Mark sets out to write his gospel, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, it's the head of the execution squad, is the first human to attach that title to Jesus. He had been acknowledged to be the Son of God by His Father in chapter 1 and chapter 9. He had been acknowledged to be the Son of God by demons in chapters 1, 3, and 5. By light and dark sides of the spiritual world, Jesus of Nazareth has been affirmed as the Son of God. But it's not until here, not even His disciples had connected those dots to be able to see and to say and to declare this. is the Son of God. That's why his death was different from any other of who he was, but he goes beyond that. Messiah, Son of God, his death is different from any others. We read that they crucified him, verse 24 and 25. That's the word, they crucified him. It's repeated. John Stott says about that crucifixion, the form of crucifixion, seems to have been invented by barbarians on the edge of the known world and taken over by Rome and Greece. probably the most cruel form of execution ever practiced, for it deliberately delayed death until maximum torture had been inflicted. The victim could suffer for days. Cicero condemned crucifixion as the most cruel and disgusting punishment. But it's not crucifixion that makes his death different. It was not the first. 4 BC, one generation prior to this event, the Roman general Verus crucified 2,000 Jews using the same method. Nor was it the last. A generation later, in 70 AD, during the siege of Jerusalem, Titus crucified so many fugitives from the city that neither space for the crosses nor crosses for the bodies could be found. that what we're witnessing of three individuals being crucified on a hill outside the city gates, 2,000 being crucified at one time. It was not the first and it wasn't the last. Now, what made this death different? Well, again, Mark answers that question. He gives us two visual clues. for the visual learners among us. Mark knows you, and he says, let me show you, let me tell you what it looked like. And in verse 35, we read something that reads as if it's, that Mark simply added it to the narrative of the story. The story reads quite well without verse 33. But we read that the sky was darkened. And we're not told how that occurred or what made the sky dark. There have been theories about that, a dust storm. There have been theories about an eclipse. It was Passover, by the way, and there's a full moon at Passover, making the likelihood of an eclipse unlikely or impossible. There's something besides a cliff, there's something besides a sandstorm. Mark doesn't explain it, and maybe it's because that he thinks that if his readers should simply follow the course of events of Scripture, they would be able to connect these dots. The darkness of the land as analogous to a darkness at another Passover, the first one. And you may remember, you can go back and read it later in Exodus. But the last plague, before the words to Pharaoh were spoken, was not three hours of darkness, but three days. Before the angel of death visited the land, there was three days of darkness. And what Mark seems to be indicating or where to pick up here is this dark, the darkness of the sky, the darkness for three hours from 9 a.m. until noon is a picture of that death and that judgment that accompanies the brokenness of a sinful world. It's only those who are protected by the shed blood of the Lamb would be delivered from the visitation of God's wrath. It's what Amos talked about in Amos chapter eight. He says, on that day, speaking of the judgment of God, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. You see, the observers would have seen the darkness and said, this is no ordinary death. There's something significant going on. What Don Carson calls, he calls these three hours a potent apocalyptic statement. three hours of duration, it puts the puny human mockers in true perspective. And this is the first intimation that Jesus' death is far more significant than they had imagined. So the darkened sky. But it's not just a darkened sky, it's a torn curtain. Verse 38, we read that the curtain of the temple was torn in half. from top to bottom as Jesus died. If you were to read Hebrews 9, you can look at that later, you would learn that there are actually two curtains in the temple in Jerusalem. Mark doesn't make it clear which of the two curtains he has in mind. So for today, we're gonna consider both. It's one or the other, and Mark may want us to think about both. One curtain was before the court of Israel. That is where Israel would worship and the Gentiles didn't. They were excluded from the worship of Yahweh, the God of Israel. They were excluded and barred and there was a curtain that separated them from the people of Israel. the court of Israel. Then there was the Holy of Holies that you've heard about perhaps, where the high priest would enter once a year with a sacrifice. And it was blocked off by a veil or a curtain. So there's one that the people of Israel come through. There's one that the high priest goes through. And as we read the rest of the New Testament about this, we understand and believe and take it at its word that the work of Christ opens the Holy of Holies. We'll come back to that in a second. But I want to think about and ponder this other curtain for just a moment. It's the only one the centurion would ever have seen as a Gentile. Passers-by, non-Jewish population would have seen the curtain that separates the Gentiles from the court of Israel. Josephus, a Jewish historian, describes that outer curtain as one with a beautiful tapestry that displays the heavens, the earth, and creation. It's the picture of the heavens that Mark may want us to pick up on. Because if you were to go back and read and revisit Jesus' baptism in Mark chapter one, you will read that when he was baptized, that the heavens were torn open. And the Holy Spirit, like a dove, descended upon him at his baptism. The heavens were torn open. And here at his death, a curtain is torn open. Same word, the only two times those words appear in Mark. the tearing open, and it may very well be that Mark wants us to understand that what Jesus is doing at the cross is not only and principally, perhaps, opening the Holy of Holies to worshipers, and you and me, so that we have access, but he's also tearing open the creation in such a way that Gentiles enter in. The tearing of heaven is what Mark lays in front of us with a torn curtain. So what does this mean for us? Well, I've hinted at it already. In the 12th century, here's a guy that didn't quite connect the dots. Peter Avalard was considered by many, including himself, the greatest thinker in the world. the greatest philosopher and what Peter Avalard comes to you with his theory of what goes on at the cross is that it's intended to influence you. It's to grab your heart. And if you've ever seen Mel Gibson's portrayal of this or anything close to that, it will grab your heart. Peter Abelard says it grabs your heart and it influences you, it moves you, it softens your heart to lead you to repentance. And the problem with his theory is that that part is right because it does that. But what's ultimately the problem with his theory and his take on it is it misses the heart of what Jesus is doing on the cross. It's not to influence you to repentance. It's to die your death. It's to bear your sin. And when that becomes real, your heart is tenderized and you're pulled in that direction, there's no doubt. But he stops short of that. It's simply to influence you, he says. Just the way that when someone does something very kind for you, unexpected and beyond expectations, way above what you might have even thought, you say, wow, that's more than I was even hoping for. And it moves you toward that person. Avalard says that's what the cross is. multiply. It influences you. Four centuries later, an Italian philosopher said something similar. He says that what we see on the cross is a wonderful and beautiful example to us of self-sacrificial devotion to God. And Wayne Grittem, a theologian, commenting on both of those says, the first one, the moral influence idea, is an attempt to teach us how much God loves us. And the second one is meant to teach us how we should live. And both of them come up short. Because as the rest of the New Testament will unfold, The reality is that the Son of God enters the Holy of Holies without a sacrifice, Himself being the victim. That's what's going on in this text. That's what Mark wants you to get and us to see. And it's got two benefits to you. Multiple. I'm going to talk about two just for the time we have. It means that because of Christ's death, this is the difference it makes. that you have a merciful access that you did not have. The tearing of the curtain in verse 38 means that the veil is just not ruined, it was made obsolete. There's a new means of access to God that Christ has won for you, that He has purchased that access. It's a merciful access that is yours in Christ. And at the same time, when the curtain is torn, it really makes the Old Testament worship forms, the temple was superseded and destroyed, it invalidates The old ways of doing worship because Christ has obliterated the curtain. There is no more curtain. There is a holy of holies and you have access to him, the one who comes through that door, the one who went through the curtain comes to you. That access is yours and it's merciful and it's full. That's why the writer of Hebrews says, therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through His flesh. Since then, we live in light of that and not apart from it. There is no grander truth that you will leave with today. The way has been opened for you through His flesh, the curtain, a new and living way. Not dead, not lifeless, not wishful thinking, but a new and living way. That's the life to which He calls you, friends. And if you came through these doors today limping, you leave bouncing in the reality of a new and living way opened up for you. It's a merciful access. You did not earn it. You cannot lose it. You didn't forge the way. You didn't tear the temple curtain. It was torn from top to bottom. And he comes to you and says, I'm yours, you are mine. It's a merciful access and it's a full acceptance. In verse 34, we read words that are hard to read and it's not because they're in Aramaic. Translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That cry was answered. But it was answered with complete silence. Let that sit for a moment. When Jesus, our great high priest, cries out, God, why have you forsaken me? Now remember, this is the second person of the Trinity who has been united with the rest of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit from all eternity. It's behind the prayer that he prayed before the arrest and the trial and the crucifixion when in John 17 we read that he lifted his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Don't rush past that. The glory I had with you before the world existed. We get a little window into the Trinity right there. The glory I had with you before the world existed. On Golgotha. was torn, completely torn, so that you and I become the righteous of God. That's what's going on at the cross. It's not simply to influence and to soften your heart so that you might want to want to straighten up and repent. It's not to show you what self-sacrificial devotion to God looks like. Well, it included those. It just goes way, way beyond that because Christ purchased something for you. And when He did so, He did so with you in mind. You see, we know what it's like to feel forsaken by God. I mean, don't you? Haven't there been moments or seasons in your life where you're wondering, what happened to the promise? Can I trust the promise that I read? We know what it's like to be forsaken. What we sometimes fail to understand is that's a normal Christian experience in a broken and fallen world. It's a pattern repeated throughout the Psalms, and if you've read the Psalms, you've picked up on that. that to feel forsaken by God is a normal part of life in a fallen world for believers. But scripture assures us that those who belong to Christ will never actually be forsaken. And the reason is it's promised to us Moses says it to Israel on the brink of the land, and they're looking at these enemies and saying, how's this gonna work? And Moses says to them, be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of those people. For it is the Lord your God who goes with you. Do not fear or be in dread of them. Jesus in Matthew 28 after his resurrection before ascending says, behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. He says that to you. I am with you always to the end of the age. And the writer of Hebrews picks up on that and citing Jesus' own words, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I don't know what your experience is, but you've experienced the taste of that, but Jesus assures you, I will never leave you or forsake you. And the reason is that he alone experiences that forsakeness. Father, why have you forsaken me? It was real. It was full, it was complete. He experienced what we suppose it's like, but he got the real deal. And what that means is when you feel forsaken, when you feel abandoned, You know that we have one who can come to you and does to help you right there. Because he was forsaken, you never will be. He can identify with us and help us and comfort us. And he never asks us to endure what he actually endured. And when he did so, it was with your name on his heart. Who is this man? Why is his death different from any others? What difference does it make? The rest of the scriptures unfold those to you. That's where Mark takes us. He's brought us through those questions to realize that we're talking about the promise of a God and a faithful God to his promises and to his people. And that's you, friends. Be of good cheer. In the world, you will have tribulation. But I've overcome the world. The women knew where he was laid. And we're going to learn, as you no doubt know, that that tomb was empty. It's the empty tomb that seals the deal and connects the dots on all these things for us. Pray with me. Father, would you stretch us into that story today? Would you help us to see the one forsaken on our behalf, who gave his life that we would have life, who became sin that we would become the righteousness of God, Our great high priest who enters the holy of holies as the victim. It's in his name we pray, Christ our Lord. Amen.