EPISODE 157 GOSPEL OF MARK CHAPTER 15 "With my own two eyes"

Welcome to Share the Word, the cornerstone that sits firmly at the foundation of our faith, endured incomprehensible abuse, suffering, and death. For me, it's the greatest act of love that I thank Him for every day. Today, listen closely to the telling, the scheming, the elaborate orchestration of what took place, and remember why. Mark chapter 15, with my own two eyes. I want to back up for a moment again to something I found very interesting in chapter 14 that contributes important background information for Mark's account. I'm very interested in the details of New Testament accounts.

I'm sure you could tell this by now. I like to see how they interconnect because that lends authenticity to me to what has been written, and this is a perfect example. I was telling last episode about Judas' betrayal of Jesus and described how he led the party of temple police and officers late Thursday night of Passion Week to the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus. The gospel writers stress more than once that the high priest and his cronies badly wanted to get their hands on Jesus, but knew they had to do it in a quiet way, fearing that if they arrested him in broad daylight in Jerusalem or at the temple, there could be too much backlash. So after agreeing to look for such an opportunity, Judas, the betrayer, showed up unexpectedly at the high priest's home the very next night after they had made an agreement, and he said, I can deliver up Jesus to you tonight.

Caiaphas jumped at that chance. So as I suggested last time, here's how I think things played out next. As Jesus spent his final hours with the disciples in the upper room, Judas was meeting with the high priest in another part of Jerusalem. It took a bit for Jesus' enemies to put together an armed band to go with Judas to arrest Jesus. So by the time they are ready to act, it's late in that evening, which fit what Caiaphas wanted anyway. We know Jesus and the rest of his disciples left the upper room late to go to the Garden of Gethsemane.

Judas, I feel sure, first led the band of temple police to the house where the upper room was located, where he had just left them a few hours before. Not finding them there, he knows they sometimes camped out at Gethsemane, a mile or so outside the eastern gate of the city, so they proceeded there. Now comes that interesting and curious piece of the story Mark includes, which is noteworthy, I think, because none of the other gospel writers mention this. It comes at verses 51 and 52. And a young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body. And they, that is the temple police in the Garden of Gethsemane, seized him.

But he pulled free of them, leaving the linen sheet in their hands, and escaped naked. As I told you last time, I can't think of any reason to include that bizarre, almost humorous incident in this account unless Mark is the young man who was following, unless it was he who was seeing them in the Garden of Gethsemane and watched the arresting party take Jesus into custody, seeing that himself. So I think this is his way of inserting himself into the story, we'd say, saying, This is something I saw with my own two eyes, as an eyewitness of Jesus' betrayal and arrest. When he wrote about this 30 or so years later, he had to be smiling, remembering how he had to sneak back into his home in Jerusalem sans clothing. Of course, none of this was very funny at the time, that's for sure. If what I'm describing is correct, think of this.

That means that Mark's parents' home was the location of the now famous upper room. A confirming cross-reference is found in Acts chapter 12 from a completely different incident a couple years later. That passage describes the apostle Peter escaping after being imprisoned by these same Jewish authorities. We described this in episode 57 called Jailbreak. Once freed late that night, Peter went to the safety of this same house in Jerusalem where the early Christians were meeting. It's identified in that place, Acts chapter 12, as the house of a woman named Mary, who is the mother of John Mark.

So this house where Mark grew up, wow, what a key location. It served as Jesus and his disciples' sort of safe house in Jerusalem. It became the location where Jesus instituted the Last Supper. Later we find the disciples regathered there after the crucifixion, so it's where the risen Christ first appeared to them on that Sunday evening. And in Acts chapter 2, we find out that it's also the place where the disciples were on the day of Pentecost when the promised Holy Spirit came to indwell and empower them. Are you putting all these puzzle pieces together?

For me anyway, these details make the claims of the New Testament very believable and easy for me to imagine, interesting for me to imagine. With that said, let's return to this important story, probably the most important story that's ever played out in human history. After Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane, he was led back into Jerusalem, and Mark gives us an abbreviated account of what happened through the wee hours of that morning. This is beginning at the end of chapter 14 and proceeding into chapter 15. Listen. Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking to obtain testimony against Jesus to put him to death.

They were not finding any. Many were giving false testimony against him, but their testimony was not consistent. Some falsely testified against him, saying, We ourselves heard him say, ‘I will destroy this sanctuary made with hands,’ meaning Herod’s temple, ‘and in three days I will build another made without hands.’ But even in this, their testimony was not consistent. Get the picture? After Jesus was arrested, the chief priests must have sent out an emergency summons for members of the Sanhedrin to gather.

All it was probably at least 1 a.m. Caiaphas, finally able to act, desperately wanted to deal with this Jesus problem quickly and out of public view. So he hurriedly called this impromptu hearing in the middle of the night, where the chief priests were casting about for anyone who could make credible charges against Jesus. Members of the Sanhedrin and others they brought in made all kinds of false charges, but nothing that would really stick. Frustrated with that, getting nowhere, Mark describes what happened next in chapter 14, verse 60 and following. Then the high priest, this is Caiaphas, stood up in their midst and questioned Jesus himself, ‘Are you going to answer nothing to all these accusations against you?’

But Jesus kept silent and would not answer him. This silence, Jesus’ refusal to respond, must have infuriated Caiaphas. He was not used to being ignored, and of everyone in the room, this man hated and feared Jesus the most, and he was the most determined to see him dead. So again the high priest questioned him and said, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’ You could cut the tension in the room at that point with a knife, I bet. And Jesus said, I am.

Can you hear their collective gasps at that? And then he continued, And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Wow. At that, the high priest tore his tunics, Mark said. What further need do we have of witnesses? You've heard his blasphemy.

How does it seem to you? he said to the council. And they all condemned him to be worthy of death. This scene is absolutely the climax of the Gospel of Mark. The high priest of Israel angrily approached Jesus as he stood in that temple meeting room, surrounded by many of the nation's most powerful men. His hands were tied, or perhaps he was shackled.

He was flanked by armed officers. Caiaphas is enraged that Jesus has the audacity to ignore him. The Gospel of Matthew gives a fuller account of exactly what Caiaphas's questions were at that point. Staring Jesus down, he said, I adjure you by the living God, meaning, I am charging you under oath. Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God. And Jesus, I think just as angry at his mistreatment and at this pretentious hypocrite in his face, answered, I am.

And raising his voice, You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Oh my. With that, Jesus sealed his own fate. Remember, we've seen how throughout his public ministry, he has pushed away any labeling of himself as the Messiah, or certainly as the Son of God, not to those very close to him, I mean, but to the multitudes, to the public. He knew what making such claims openly would mean, and he was not going to provoke an outright confrontation with Israel's leaders before the appointed time. But now, after three years of saying, Don't tell anybody that, when someone said, You're the Messiah, even telling his own disciples not to make such claims, yet earlier in this week, ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey colt to openly messianic shouts, purposely fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy.

He had called out the temple leaders and religious teachers as enemies of God. He had said to them, I know you will kill me, but believe me, God is going to build something new and much better for his people, of which I am the cornerstone. And now, in custody, surrounded by as many of the Sanhedrin members as Caiaphas could scrape together in the middle of the night, he defiantly answered the high priest, Yes, I am the Messiah. I am the Son of God. And the day is coming when you will see the Son of Man at God's right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven. Jesus there was quoting directly from a vision of the prophet Daniel, who saw God the Father give all power and dominion to the Son at the end of this age, who then returns in the clouds of heaven to establish God's kingdom on earth.

He told his disciples about this very same thing in the Olivet Discourse, remember? It was this claim that caused the high priest to tear his clothes in shock and horror, or perhaps feigned shock and horror. I'm not sure which. What further need do we have witnesses? he called. You've heard his blasphemy.

What's your verdict? And they all condemned him to be worthy of death. What happened next was disgraceful. The supposedly holiest group of men in Israel, Mark says, began to spit at Jesus. They blindfolded him and beat him with their fists. They jeered at him, Prophesy now!

And the guards also punched and slapped him in the face, even as they were leading him out of the room. You can feel the pent-up anger of these people, can't you? This was a long time coming for them, and they finally have Jesus right where they've wanted to get him, and they are determined now to see this through to the end. All during the rest of that night, I'm talking one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, four o'clock a.m., Jesus was off and on physically and verbally abused by different people. The longer Gospels describe it in more detail. But in Mark's abbreviated account, what they did next of importance comes in chapter 15 at verse 1 and following.

Very early in the morning, Mark writes, the leading chief priests and elders and teachers of the religious law, the entire high council, met to discuss their next step. Then they bound Jesus and led him away to Pilate, the Roman governor. The next step they decided upon was, We need to take Jesus to the Roman governor. The chief priests were doing everything they could to expedite these things in Jerusalem before anybody knew what was happening. They wanted Jesus put to death and had condemned him for blasphemy, which is the highest religious crime in the law of Moses. But they had to take him to the Roman governor because they didn't really have the authority to impose a death sentence.

They needed Pontius Pilate for that. This is why very early on Friday morning, approximately 5 a.m., while it was still dark outside, they arrived at the Praetorium, the Roman headquarters in Jerusalem, where the governor was staying that week. With extra troops to personally try and ensure the peace. Awakened well before he wanted to be, Pilate had to come outside to meet the chief priests because they would not defile themselves by entering a Gentile's house. How ironic is that? For the next hour or so, these determined enemies of Jesus did everything they could to pressure Pilate into condemning Jesus to death.

Pilate was not born yesterday. Mark says he knew Jesus was only brought to him out of envy. He sensed the religious leaders were jealous of Jesus for some reason and saw this as just a squabble between religious factions. But at their insistence, maybe a little out of curiosity too, Pilate interviewed Jesus privately inside the praetorium. They had a fascinating conversation. Mark does not record it here, but John's Gospel does, and you can learn all about it from episode 18 of our podcast.

Pilate was confused by Jesus. He didn't know what to make of him. He was very surprised that Jesus did not plead innocence or beg for his life. But after interrogating him, the governor knew he was certainly not a serious criminal or a threatening revolutionary, so he did his best not to give in to the chief priests' demands. He tried a few different tacks to deflect them, the most drastic of which was to have Jesus flogged, a brutal whipping with a lead or glass-tipped cat o' nine tails. Then the Roman soldiers, who just hated Jews in general, rammed that crown of thorns down on his head, draped him in a purple robe, and Pilate paraded Jesus before his enemies, hoping that would appease them.

Even seeing Jesus severely injured, bloodied, swollen to the point of being unrecognizable, they were not satisfied. And with the chief priests threatening him, Anyone who protects this man is no friend of Caesar, and with the mob they'd assembled getting increasingly louder, demanding execution, Pilate finally relented. He sat down on his judgment seat, realizing he had no good way out of his situation. He then symbolically washed his hands and told them, I don't want anything to do with this, but you can take him yourselves and crucify him. Ever heard the idiom washed his hands of the situation? This is exactly where it came from.

And so, this is how Jesus ended up being condemned. It was still only perhaps 6 or 7 a.m., but in a little while, after preparations were made, Jesus was led out of the city to be crucified. Two other condemned men, one a murderer, were also brought to be crucified as well. Still early, most of the people in Jerusalem that weekend who celebrated Passover had no idea all this was going on. Now, talking about details, Mark next writes, this is verse 21, A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus' cross. Mark adds parenthetically, Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.

Why does he mention this? I don't mean the fact that the man Simon was pressed into service by the soldiers. That's because carrying your own cross to your execution site was one more indignity the Romans put on a condemned criminal. But Jesus, having been abused and beaten throughout the night and shortly before this flogged, apparently was not able to carry his cross any further as they came out the city gate. And so this man that was on his way in, Simon from Cyrene, he ended up carrying the cross of Jesus up to Calvary. All synoptic Gospels mention this, but only Mark adds the note, Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.

Why did he write that? Remember, we've said that Mark was most likely writing this 30 years or so later in Rome, and so after Jesus' death, writing for the benefit of those there in Rome who were reading about this story for the first time. I feel certain he was name-dropping the man who ended up carrying Jesus' cross, and especially his sons, Alexander and Rufus, because they were known to some of the people Mark expected would read this account. And so these two could be called upon, we'd say, to verify that what Mark is writing about actually happened. Giving more substance to that is the fact that when the apostle Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans, he mentions Rufus as part of the Christian community there in Rome. So Rufus, the son of the man who actually carried Jesus' cross that morning, he's now in Rome, and Mark is saying he can corroborate this whole story.

Mark then continues, almost matter-of-factly, at verse 25, Now it was the third hour, that's 9 a.m. our time, and they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, 'The King of the Jews.' The Romans used public crucifixion, and it was truly horrific, not just as their ultimate penalty, but as a deterrent to others. And it was very effective. They would post a sign over the crucified person stating what put them there. So it wasn't done in some out-of-the-way place either, but usually someplace very visible where people would be passing by, and they would read the sign and understand this is what happens to those who defy the laws of Rome.

But in Jesus' case, Pilate didn't find him guilty of any crime, and so he instead wrote on his sign, The King of the Jews. I think that was to thumb in the eye those who had forced him into doing this. Now, believe it or not, those same chief priests, at least some of them, followed the execution detail and Jesus out to Calvary just to watch. At verse 31, Mark writes, The chief priests and teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. 'He saved others,' they sneered, 'but he cannot save himself. Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from that cross so that we can see it and believe in him.'

When they read the sign that the soldiers tacked over Jesus' cross, The King of the Jews, John mentions this detail in his gospel, the priests objected. They sent word to Pilate that they wanted that changed. They wanted it to read, He claimed to be the King of the Jews. But the governor turned down their request. His curt response to them was, What I have written, I have written. I don't have time to follow the narrative any more this episode, but spoiler alert, Jesus really died that day on the cross.

The Bible's claim is that he died willingly there too, laying down his life as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. The only perfectly righteous one suffered and died that day for all of us unrighteous ones. Near the end of his suffering, sometime in the afternoon, those nearby heard Jesus call out in Aramaic lines from a Psalm of David, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which Mark translates as, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The leaders of his nation had decisively rejected Jesus. A close associate had treacherously betrayed Jesus. His own disciples had fled from him during his darkest hour.

But at noon that fateful day, the world turned dark, and something far more unbearable befell Jesus. The sins of all of us were laid on him, and God the Father punished him there in our stead. This was fulfilling messianic prophecy in Isaiah 53, where it says, The punishment for our sins were upon him. It was the Lord's will to crush him and make him to suffer when he made his life an offering for sin. You might recoil at that and think, That's awful. And it was awful, right?

But Jesus completely completed the divine plan for our salvation that day. And be sure you understand this: if he had not, if Jesus had not suffered the penalty for our sins there, then the punishment for our sins, what they deserve, would have to be paid by each of us on the day of God's final judgment. This is why the cross of Christ is so central to Christian theology. So thank God he loved us enough to come up with this incredibly costly plan. And thank Jesus for following the plan through to the bitter end. This is certainly the greatest story ever told.