The Book of Mark #103 chapter 15:33-41 pt 2
The Book of Mark
God Visits Calvary
Mark 15:33-41
 
We return tonight to our study of Mark 15 to verse 33
 
Verses 33-41
 
Last week we made our way through verses 33-38 as Jesus dies on the cross.  And there we saw through this series of unusual events the evidence that God was there in judgment as Jesus died for the sins of the world. 
 
He is seen in the darkness and earthquakes, both signs of judgment throughout the Old Testament and He is there as Jesus cries out asking why God has forsaken Him in a vivid reminder that hell is without comfort or mercy. 
 
 And He is seen in the tearing of the veil in the Temple as He proclaims to the world that Judaism and its system of sacrifices and priests is forever abolished and man now has access to God through the finished work of Christ. 
 
All of that revolves around the first scene in this text regarding
 
  1.  The Savior and the Consummation of His Death
 
Verse 39 takes us to the second scene here which we see and hear
 
  1.  The Centurion and His Confession
 
Verse 39
 
Now I think it safe to assume this is not the first time this soldier has been involved in a crucifixion.  Certainly it wasn’t the first time he had witnessed such an event.  As a centurion, he’s a career soldier given charge of a hundred men.  So this gut has abeen around a while.  He’s trustworthy.  He’s proven himself in battle.  He’s a boots on the ground, battle-hardened soldier. 
 
As such, he is familiar with death and familiar with killing and surviving. He’s been there watching the whole thing.  Chances are he’s overseeing the execution squad. Perhaps he played a key role in the arrest and everything else that went on, including the scourging.
 
So he has been an eyewitness of everything, most likely from the arrest of Jesus in the early hours of Friday in the Garden, all the way to this final moment. He saw it all, and probably took part in what has happened including the abuse, the spitting, the punching, the slapping, the sneering, the mocking, the ridicule.
 
He saw Jesus take it. He saw no retaliation. He heard what Jesus said. Perhaps he heard Him say, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Perhaps he heard because he was near the cross, “Today you’ll be with in Paradise.” He heard everything. He heard Pilate repeatedly declare that Jesus was innocent. And he concluded, “This is no ordinary man.” And he now comes to the ultimate conclusion, that He is, in fact, the Son of God.
So how did he come to that conclusion? Well we’re helped a little bit by Matthew 27.
 
Notice verse 50
 
That’s what we just read in Mark. 
 
Matthew then includes the details found in
 
Verse 51
 
Now that would go a long way in convincing him that something this is no ordinary criminal being executed on this day.  Something special was going on. The sun goes black and stays that way for three hours.  There is an unexpected earthquake that opens graves. 
 
And all of that leads to what we read in
 
Verse 54
 
They are convinced by the things going on and that leads them to this declaration. 
 
Then, in Luke 23, we find his account of what is happening. 
 
Verse 47
 
There we find this additional information that when the centurion saw what had happened, he not only makes this confession that Jesus is the Son of God, but he actually began praising God and saying, ‘Certainly this man was a righteous man.”
 
So when we put all that together, he praises God, he declares Jesus righteous and affirms that he is the Son of God. I don’t know what else he knew, but he really didn’t have to know much else.  And I don’t know how he got all of this information, but I would suggest that just like Paul on the road to Damascus was, by the divine intervention of God, saved in a moment of time and just as the thief on the cross was given life by a gracious Savior in the midst of his ridicule, this Gentile soldier becomes the first convert to Christ after His crucifixion.
 
And by the way, he’s not alone. He grabs the headline, but notice, the other soldiers with him had the same response.
 
And I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about it ( I don’t think I had), but the Bible tells us that at Calvary a Jewish blasphemer was saved in the thief, and a group of Gentile pagans were saved with these soldiers, and from the very beginning the message of the grace of God and salvation in Christ is seen from one end of the spectrum to the other. 
 
In Barabbas, we have the epitome of a lawbreaker, an insurrectionist and blasphemer.  In the centurion, we have the ultimate representative of the law.  The come from opposite ends of the religious and social strata, and yet both find themselves at the same place when they are in the presence of Jesus. 
 
Then notice what happens in
 
Luke 23:48
 
 
Suddenly, the comedy is over.  Apparently the earthquake and the darkness has gotten their attention.  And when they heard about what had happened over at the temple, they left.    
 
Now we are not told anything about any of them believing, but I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that some of them did, perhaps later on the Day of Pentecost, and within a few weeks among the thousands that come to faith.
 
So what we see at the very moment of the death of Christ is the purpose of His death.  What did He say?  “I came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
 
So we see the consummation regarding Christ, the confession regarding the centurion, and third point is
 
  1. The Confusion of the Women
 
verses 40-41
 
Luke tells us that “all of His acquaintances were there, including the women that followed Him from Galilee”. 
 
Since Mark mentions only them, let’s just talk about these women.  After all, we know quite a bit about the men, but the women sometimes get overlooked. 
And here is a group of women who had been with Him since His days in Galilee.
 
So their interaction with Jesus goes all the way back to the beginning of His Galilean ministry, at the start of His second year of ministry.  Now we’re at the end of the third year, so there were women who had followed Him for two years.
They are loyal disciples.  They love the Lord.  They are believers in the Savior. But now, after the darkness and the earthquake, Mark tells us, “they were looking on from a distance.”
 
And apparently, earlier in the day, they have been up close to the cross.  John tells us in chapter 19 they were standing near the cross when Jesus was crucified.  We know Mary was close enough to hear what Jesus said about John and her. 
 
I mention that because in that phrase there’s a Greek verb used four times by Mark and every time he uses it, it expresses a kind of detached observation. The centurion is looking and he’s near the cross. And he sees clearly who this is. He is not confused. He comes to make this great confession by the power of the Spirit over his life.
 
On the other hand, these women who have never been confused about who Jesus is are now all of a sudden way back at the fringe of the crowd, detached, appearing to be almost like a deer in the headlights. 
 
They must have been extremely baffled
and confused and discouraged.  And much like the Democrats in America, they are at a loss to explain what has happened. 
 
Mark even identifies the names of a few of these women, there were many. Mary Magdalene who later becomes the first eyewitness of Jesus after His resurrection. Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, that would be two sons, James the Less is also called James, the son of Alphaeus in Matthew 10:3 and he was one of the Twelve.
So this lady named Mary, and there are lots of Marys, was the mother of one of the Apostles, James the son of Alphaeus, not James the brother of John, sons of Zebedee, different James.
 
There’s another lady there by the name of Salome. She is, however, the mother of James and John, the wife of Zebedee, according to Matthew 27:56.
 
And I will tell you this, even though they were confused and not off at a distance wondering what happened, they are still there.  And I find in that a great lesson about life.  There is something precious about that because there are times when you and I cannot figure out what is happening around us and in us.  And we may even feel like we are standing afar off. 
 
They were eyewitnesses of His entire ministry in Galilee and subsequently in Judea for the last year of His life. And by the way, they would be, at least some of them, the first  eyewitnesses of His resurrection.
 
They’re not Apostles. They’re not the chosen Twelve. They’re not men. They’re not leaders. They’re not empowered like the Apostles, to do miracles. They’re not called to be preachers. They are simply the precious faithful who, while the Apostles have forsaken Him, they’re still there.
 
I want to close by taking you back to verse 1 of chapter 1 for a moment.  Note that phrase, “the Son of God”. 
 
 
It’s only a beginning, and much more to be told, but this is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus, who is the Son of God.
 
Then look down to
 
Mark 1:11
 
Here we have the Father in heaven declaring Jesus to be His Son.  Then in chapter 1, verse 24 we have a demon confessing Jesus is the Son of God.  And by the way, that happens again in chapter 3, and verse 11 of chapter 5. 
 
Then at the Transfiguration, God says it again.  That’s in chapter 9.  So Mark told us it was the story of the Son of God.  God says it.  Demons say it and that means both heaven and hell declare Him to be the Son of Go. 
 
And now, a man on earth says it at the cross.  By the way, that is the first time in the history of mankind that a human recognizes and acknowledges Jesus as the Son of God.  It’s almost like Mark waits until the cross to have someone say, “This is the Son of God.”
 
The story of Mark is written for the very purpose that John gives. These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you might have life in His name.” For all who believe that He is the Son of God, from the centurion on, including us, the promise is, “You have life in His name.”
 
Let’s pray.