By: Dale Weckbacher
Mark 15:20
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.
(ESV)
During this time of isolation and
sheltering at home due to a microscopic virus, there are many things we will
never take for granted again, like being able to regularly attend church and
associate with other brothers and sisters in Christ. One valuable lesson this crisis has taught is
how quickly the things we take for granted in daily life can cause anxiety,
despair, and even devastation when taken away from us. Less than a week before the events recorded
in Mark
15:16-32 where the Roman soldiers mock and crucify Jesus, we see Jesus
triumphantly entering Jerusalem (Mark
11:1-11). Jesus can relate to seeing
good times become a time of suffering and isolation in only five days and yet
willingly endured the suffering knowing it was God’s will for his life and that
there would be a resurrection in three days.
This is why Jesus could confidently pray for God’s will to be done in
His life (Mark
14:36). God’s plans for our lives
are also plans designed for our good and not our destruction (Jeremiah
29:11), even though it may not appear so at the time, making it possible
for us to confidently surrender to God’s will for our lives.
Jesus is our substitute and
suffered God’s wrath and judgment so we never have to, but we can take God’s
grace for granted just as we have many things removed from our lives during the
coronavirus crisis. Therefore, let us
take a moment to imagine ourselves in Jesus’ place to gain a greater
appreciation of His grace extended to us.
1) Mocking
worship (Mark
15:17-18) – The charge against Jesus was “The King of the Jews.” (Mark
15:26). These Roman soldiers were
most likely not Jewish and soldiers that pledged their loyalty to Caesar as
king. Before coming to the governor’s
headquarters, Jesus had been scourged (Mark
15:15) so their worship was mocking one professing to be a king appearing
weak and beaten. However, Jesus knew he
was the Son of God and King of the Jews and that he would demonstrate his
authority and the power of God by rising from the dead in three days. We too can endure mockery by having
confidence in the power of God within us (Romans
8:11) and the glorious hope of eternity with Christ (Revelation
21:1-8). People may mock us for our
faith during this time but we, like Jesus, have confidence knowing we have the
resurrection power of the Spirit of the Lord within us and a glorious future with
the Lord (Revelation
21:1-8; Romans 8:11).
2) Pain
and weakness (Mark
15:15, 19, 21) - After suffering a
scourging at the hands of the Roman soldiers, the soldiers place a crown of
thorns on the head of Jesus and to inflict maximum pain, strike Jesus’ head
with a read. Anyone who has hit their
head can attest to the pain as our heads have many sensory nerves causing us to
feel pain. Increased blood flow to the
brain also causes any cut to the head to bleed profusely such as a crown of
thorns causing many cuts to one’s head. The
blood loss from the scourging and crown of thorns beaten into His head is why
Jesus was weak and needed help carrying the cross (Mark
15:21). This pain and weakness is
the cup of wrath Jesus prayed God would take away from him in the garden but
thankfully for us, Jesus agreed to endure the cup of wrath (Mark
14:36) so we do not have to. This
does not mean life will not come with trials but that we can face these trials
with confidence knowing Jesus has overcome our penalty of death and separation
from God on the cross (John
16:33). Like Jesus, our current pain
and weakness is temporary and will disappear when we are resurrected to newness
of life at the return of Jesus (Romans
6:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
3) Public
humiliation (Mark
15:29-32) – Mocked by the soldiers, weakened and in pain from blood loss
due to scourging and a crown of thorns, Jesus is now publicly humiliated. Passersby mock Jesus, possibly some of the
same people who just a few days earlier had praised Jesus as he entered the
city (Mark
11:1-11). Many of these individuals had
unrealistic expectations, believing Jesus would walk into Jerusalem and
overthrow their Roman oppressors. However,
instead of overthrowing their Roman oppressors, Jesus goes to the Temple and
overthrows the tables of the moneychangers (Mark
11:15-19). However, their
unrealistic expectations were based on a lack of understanding from scripture
that the Messiah must first suffer and die for the sins of humanity to fulfill
the legal requirement of atonement for sins (Isaiah
53; Psalm 22). This crisis started
with officials telling people to be prepared for two weeks of sheltering in
place to prevent the spread of the disease, only to have the date extended
numerous times. Continual delays have
caused delays in the expectation of a return to a normal life with many losing
jobs, retirement savings, and their businesses becoming restless and peacefully
protesting their governors to begin reopening their states. While some of these governors are abusing
their newly discovered power, some may also be looking at data not available to
the rest of us and making their decisions out of concern for the safety of the
citizens of their states. Please pray that
the protests remain peaceful and safe and that governors do not abuse their
power.
These are unusual times not
unlike the times in Jerusalem in the time of Christ. Times over the previous three years were full
of promise with a booming economy and a belief their dreams would come true with
many over the last two months seeing these dreams disappear. Many following Jesus believed their lives would
restore a good life based upon seeing the many miracles Jesus performed. However, God’s plan was for the forgiveness
of their sins through the shed blood of Christ.
While this crisis surprised us, God knew it was coming and has a plan to
get us through the crisis. I encourage
everyone reading this to remain safe and strong in their faith in the Lord
through this crisis.
No comments:
Post a Comment