The Book of Mark
The Mockery of Jesus Christ
Mark 15:15-21
Text
There is a tendency, I think, when we consider the cross, to focus on the physical abuse and suffering that took place. And that is not necessarily wrong because it was, indeed, a gruesome event.
And there is something rather fascinating about, Jesus being suspended up there in the air, hanging on a wooden cross, held in place by massive spikes driven through His hands and feet with blood flowing from His wounded head and hands and feet and body. It is a horrifying image and much like a bad car wreck, it is difficult to pull your eyes away from the horror.
But as bad as that was, that is really not what the Scripture focuses on at any point of the experience. It was not the physical suffering that traumatized Jesus in the Garden. What was so wrenching to Him that caused Him to sweat drops of blood was the anticipation of divine wrath falling on Him, drinking the cup of God’s wrath against sinners for whom He was the substitute and punishment. That’s why in three separate prayers, He prayed the same thing. “Remove this cup from Me.”
And it wasn’t the physical suffering that contained the horror of the cross. In fact, all four gospels make it a point to downplay and restrain their descriptions of the physical suffering. They use very simple words without adjectives that present very basic facts.
I think that is done, in part, because what Jesus endured on the cross was not unique. It was a very common experience in Roman culture to witness a crucifixion. Historians tell us there were as many as 30,000 crucifixions that took place in this area around this time.
So instead of centering our attention on something that was rather commonplace, they give attention to the ridicule and mockery that He receives. Mark mentions it in verse 20, and that mockery is really a unique feature of the execution of Jesus. Beginning with the trials and lasting even through the time on the cross, He is continually mocked and ridiculed.
And reading between the lines we see that not only Pilate and Herod considered Jesus to be a joke, that spilled over to those who crucified Him and even those being executed with Him.
They, in particular, are treating Him like the village idiot. As far as the soldiers are concerned, He is a lunatic who in some deluded way thinks of himself as a King and goes around trying to convince others that He is. And they Jews are now trying to pass Him off as a threat to Caesar. Jesus is a joke and Calvary is the stage on which the comedy is played out.
In fact, from the time that Pilate handed Jesus over to be scourged and to be crucified, as it says at the end of verse 15, His treatment is nothing but source of amusement and entertainment. And it’s all sort of summed up in verse 18 when they began to say, “Hail, King of the Jews.” In verse 19, they were kneeling and bowing before Him.
Some of the mockery is driven by the hatred the Romans had for the Jews. It was too good of an opportunity to pass by when they were given the chance to label this lunatic as their King. We see more of that attitude in the sign Pilate placed on the cross.
So just to get our bearings, we saw last time that after having Him scourged, Pilate hands Jesus over into the custody of the Roman guards to be crucified. So what we read beginning in verse 16 is after the scourging and before the crucifixion.
It’s hard to imagine what kind of shape He is in at this point. Oftentimes during a scourging, the flesh was torn and ripped all the way down to the bone itself. History records that the muscles were shredded as well as the skin. Deep veins and arteries and sometimes entrails and organs were exposed and sometimes death occurred.
And after that experience, Jesus is taken to the palace of Pilate, a place called the Praetorium, and it is there that the soldiers decide to extend the comedy. Notice,
1. The Soldiers
Verse 16
“The whole garrison” is most likely the same crowd of soldiers who went out to the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Him.
A garrison or cohort was one tenth of a legion which was 6,000 men, so we have something in the neighborhood of 600 soldiers involved.
As I mention, they are at the Praetorium which was the palace built by Herod, and was used by the Roman governors when they came to Jerusalem. It was a massive building. Josephus says it was large enough to have bed quarters for 100 guests
It was, most likely, in the courtyard of that palace where Jesus was scourged and held in custody by these soldiers. And just kind of reading between the lines, and knowing the nature of man, I would guess that as they are waiting for orders as to what to do with Him, they decided to carry out their little comedy.
They wanted everybody in on the fun so verse 16 says, “They called together the whole garrison.” Obviously, it wouldn’t take 600 men to guard Jesus, and certainly not in His condition. So instead, they gather round to have a little fun at His expense as they pass the time.
verse 17
The integrity of Scripture is an amazing thing. Notice, verse 17 says the robe they placed on Him was purple. John says the same thing. Matthew 27:28, however, says it was a scarlet robe. Even though it appears to be a contradiction, there is so much integrity in that.
Roman soldiers wore, as a part of their uniform, a scarlet covered mantle. But a scarlet colored mantle worn by a soldier over a long period of time, would have faded in the sun as the months and years passed by. And so what started out very likely as a scarlet robe, was a faded red that resembled a purple somewhere in between.
I remember my father in the ministry, Tom Cotten, telling us about his early days in the ministry when he only had one old blue suit. He said over time, it changed color three times. One time it was purple!
So they throw onto the bare, beaten, exposed back of Christ this old faded purple mantle, they twist together a crown of thorns and crush it down onto His skull, they set Him up to look like a king in their little comedy by placing a reed scepter in His hand, and as we see in verse 18, they began to salute Him as King of the Jews. Verse 19 says they bowed and pretended to worship Him.
We also read in that verse the blasphemy and ridicule is accompanied by assault as they beat Him in the head with a stick and spit on Him.
And by the way, Jesus said it would happen. Back in chapter 10, verse 34, He said they would mock Him and spit on Him and beat Him. And He wasn’t the first one to tell us that. All the way back in Isaiah 50, verse 6, it was prophesied that Jesus would be beaten, have the beard plucked from His face, be humiliated and spat upon. But they’re having a party! It’s a celebration! It’s a parody at the expense of the sinless Son of God.
Next, we are introduced to
2. The Stranger
Verse 21
Tradition tells us a part of the Roman execution process was the requirement for those condemned to carry their own cross.
Some say they carried the whole cross, dragging the end of it. Others say they carried the crosspiece, which was then attached to the upright piece at the point of crucifixion. As a deterrent to crime, the victim would be paraded through the city, labeled with his crime, carrying his cross.
For some reason, Jesus falls under the weight and is unable to continue, so this stranger off the street is pressed into service. So why couldn’t Jesus continue? From a human standpoint, He has gone without food or sleep for a number of hours. He has had major blood loss. He has been emotional wrung out, to the point of death and sweating blood. He was suffering from pain, the mental stress of the abuse and the beatings.
No doubt, all those things contributed to what we see happening. Maybe He’s just moving too slowly to please the soldiers. But I think there’s something else at play here and that is maybe He’s moving too slowly to satisfy God because God has a certain timetable at play and Jesus needs to be on the cross soon. He needs to die at three in the afternoon when the Passover lambs are slain. No time can be wasted in the plan of God. Who knows what motivated the soldiers?
For whatever reason, they “compelled” or forced this guy out of the crowd named Simon to help. From the narrative, we discover he is from Cyrene, which means he was probably a Jew and has traveled to Jerusalem for Passover. He’s just come in from the country. Wherever he’s been and whatever he’s doing, he comes in to Jerusalem and walks right into the crucifixion of Jesus.
he only other thing we know about him is he has two sons, one named Alexander and the other, Rufus, and that is very important. It must be important, or Mark wouldn’t have mentioned it, right? So why does Mark mention this fact?
Think about it like this: If you say to somebody, I met a man in Jerusalem today named Simon. He’s from Cyrene. You probably don’t know him, but he’s the father of Alexander and Rufus. The way that comment is phrased implies you know Rufus and Alexander. You may not know their dad and you may not know them, but you know who they are. I think that’s exactly what Mark is doing.
Mark is writing this gospel in Rome to Romans believers and he’s saying to them, “Simon of Cyrene who carried the cross of Jesus is the father of Alexander and Rufus whom you know” and through saying that, he is making a connection with the readers.
Rufus and Alexander are two men known to the Roman believers who are receiving this letter from Mark. Now, by the time we get to Acts 11, we discover that because of the persecution of Stephen, the gospel spread to places like Cyprus and Phoenicia and Antioch.
And much of that was accomplished through men from Cyprus and Cyrene who were preaching about Jesus. In fact, by Acts 13, we discover there were strong church leaders from Cyrene in the church. So how did the church in Cyrene get started? Well, we aren’t told, but I think we can safely assume that it started with Jews who met Jesus.
In fact, I think the story must go something like this. From this experience, Simon was brought face-to-face with Jesus. Later was saved, went back to Cyrene and helped establish the church in Cyrene and later moved to Rome, which accounts for why Paul said, in Roman 16:13, “Greet Rufus, a choice man in the church and his mother,” who would be Simon’s wife.
So when people in Rome received this letter from Mark, and read about the crucifixion, they would say, “Wow, Rufus and Alexander, and their mom, whom we know are the family of the man who carried the cross of Christ. He’s the man God used to help begin the church in Cyrene. And now his children are a part of the church here in Rome.”
Such is the nature of the work of God. To the world, Simon was nothing more than a casual bystander, witlessly, mindlessly, cruelly grabbed by Roman soldiers out of the crowd.
But God was in every detail so a man can be brought face-to-face with Christ, become a part of His family and serve Him through the church! And the very church in Rome where Mark is and to whom he writes has a connection to this man. That’s how God orders history. Listen: God is in control of absolutely everything!
Well, so far we’ve seen the soldiers and the stranger. Next time we’ll concentrate on the Savior.
Let’s pray.
