Bearing the Scorn - Mark 15:16-21

1:01Pat mentioned the bodies around the world that are being persecuted. What is the direction the church is to go? Well, when you look into a passage like we're looking into this morning, it's no other way but forward, forward with the gospel, forward through the shame and the suffering and the mockery, because God has a purpose for it. And as we work through this passage this morning, I hope that your view of suffering and being identified With Christ changes. I hope it is something that you don't shrink back from, but it is something that you embrace as Christ embraced it, and as so many of those faithful servants who have gone before us have embraced the scorn and the mockery that comes with being identified with Christ. It is people like this that God has used to proclaim his message and shake the world, because it is only through people like this that true testimony can go forward. See, when you're willing to stand firm and take the mockery and take the scorn, does it really convince the world that you believe? And so we're looking this morning at bearing the scorn, bearing the scorn. You see, Jesus borne the scorn of righteousness, and so can we. Let's just look at this in context here. If you'll remember, we're in the midst of the passion of Christ. It began when he was arrested in Gethsemane. He was paraded before the Sanhedrin, that is, the Jewish leadership, and they condemn him to death on religious grounds, on the fact that he claimed to be the Son of God. And then we looked at Peter's denial of Christ right in between the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin and Jesus' trial before. Pontius Pilate. And so Pilate has just released him to be scourged and shortly to be crucified. So, verse 16, let's just pick it up right there in Mark 15. The soldiers took him away into the palace, that is the Praetorium, and they called together the whole Roman cohort. They dressed him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to acclaim him, Hail, King of the Jews. They kept beating his head with a reed, and spitting on him, and kneeling and bowing before him. After they had mocked him, they took the purple robe off him and put on his own garments, and they led him out to crucify him. They pressed into service a passerby coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. Now, this last sentence takes us to the church at Rome. No other gospel writers put this little parenthetical thought in here. Simon Cyrene, oh, by the way, the father of Alexander and Rufus. In other words, whom you know. Mark is writing to a Roman audience. In fact, if you will turn to Romans 16 and look at verse 13, I want to show you something there. Sometimes we get to looking at some of these names and these final greetings. And we just read through them as if they don't really have a lot of significance. Well, in Romans chapter 16, Paul is saying his farewell greetings, and he's going through a whole list. You get through to 12, verse 12, and he says, Greet Tryphonia and Trifosa, workers in the Lord. So if you're going to have twins anytime soon, here's a couple of good names for you.

4:59Greet Perseus, the beloved, who has worked hard in the Lord. And then look at verse 13. Greet Rufus, a choice man in the Lord, also his mother and mine. Greet Rufus, his mother, and also my mother. Basically, saying to this Roman church, there is Rufus, and there is Rufus' mother, who would have been the wife of Cyrene, or Simon from Cyrene. So what took place there? Well, Mark is telling his audience, you know these people. The father of Alexander and Rufus carried the cross of Christ. This is the Roman connection. Mark is writing to them. So what took place? What's the connection here? Well, it's not hard to put together, but by Acts 11, 20, we know that there are some strong churches in Cyrene. So, how did they get started? Where did they come from? Well, we can put together a likely scenario. They most assuredly had to be started by Jews, and they were probably started by Jews who met Jesus. Somebody who had come face to face with Jesus. So, this event, this story of this Cyrenian family, went something like this. Simon goes to the Passover, sees Jesus, carries his cross, sometime later, became saved, went back to Cyrene, was part of the church in Cyrene, and later moved to Rome with his family. And Alexander and Rufus are there. It's an important observation. As you walk through the narrative that Mark gives us about the crucifixion, that there's not very much emphasis upon the gruesome details. You see, if Hollywood were telling the story, it goes something like this. And then there were these big six-inch spikes, okay? And it was a crown of thorns, and they, I mean, six inches, and they put them in, and they just perforated, and then blood just came everywhere. Oh, and then you should have seen the nails. Let me describe the nails. Oh, and these guards. Let me tell you about how they would whip. And I mean, they would just. That's how you would expect Hollywood to portray the crucifixion. Now, if you look at what Mark is doing and the other gospel writers, they're very discreet with the graphic details. In fact, looked over. In 15, verse 15, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over. That's all it says about the scourging. He had him scourged. I mean, that is a brutal, graphic, awful event. And yet, the gospel writers just tend to very discreetly, crucified, you know what that means. They don't go into all the details, they don't go into the physical pain. A lot of people were crucified and had gone through pain like this. But what there is an emphasis in these passages of the narrative is the scorn, the mockery. Look at the space that Mark gives to the mockery. I mean, 16 through basically 16 through 20 is all about the mocking. And then, even when he's on the cross in verse 29, they're hurling abuse at him, wagging their heads, all the way down to when they fill up the sponge with sour wine and say, Let's see if Elijah is going to come and save him. All the way, there's just so much space given to the scorn and the mocking. You see, Mark wants his readers and his audience to understand the scorn and the mockery that Jesus went through to be identified with his people. Why does he want us to know that? Well, number one, because it's historical fact. But number two, he's writing to an audience that is bearing the scorn and mockery of being identified with Christ. This is where Mark's people are living. It's a very interesting and a peculiar statement. You read very early in the ministry of Christ. In Matthew 5, 10, he says, Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. So why in the world is Jesus at the top of his game, top of his popularity, talking about how he's going to be persecuted or how those who are identified with him are going to be persecuted? I mean, why would Jesus utter such words? Well, in John 7, 7, he says this, the world cannot hate you. In other words, it cannot hate us, but it hates me because I testify of it that its deeds are evil. So the reason you will be persecuted is because your identification with Christ. First words out of his mouth are, repent. What does that imply? Your deeds are evil. You need to turn away from them. And that was Christ's message. Message of forgiveness, message of love, a message of grace. But underlying all that, your deeds are evil, and you need to turn.

10:20So as we walk through this passage here, I want to set the stage first by looking at what may be by way of review things you've already looked at. Things we've already seen, but I want you to see this mockering in its specific context. We know already that the great adversary, the opposer of Christ himself, is Satan. The name means adversary. That is the spirit behind all this. He is that spirit that says, fundamentally, no, you are not God.

10:55That is the spirit of the devil, or of Satan, the adversary. Just fundamentally boils down to this one element. No, you're not God. And you're not going to be honored as God in the earth. And so, friends, we've got to be very careful of entertaining a spirit in ourselves, in our hearts, that would say no to God anywhere in our being. Because that is the source of the whole drama that we see played out in the Gospels. So, I want to just briefly look at this opposition as it's developed in Mark's Gospel. And this will prepare us for our passage that we'll look at here in just a couple of moments. First, I want you to look at the manifestation of satanic opposition, the manifestation of satanic opposition. We often talk about satanic possession. In fact, somebody asked me just recently: can a believer be possessed by the devil? To which my Answers are resounding no.

12:02A new creature in Christ cannot be possessed. That is under a compulsory control of the devil. No. But sometimes we miss the mark when we start talking about satanic possession. And really, there's more of a spectrum that the Bible presents to us, and that is that of satanic influence. There are those who go all to the extreme of being under the compulsory control of the devil. We would call those possessed. But there's a greater spectrum, and that is under the influence of. To what degree are you being influenced by the devil? By the adversary. And so it's helpful to think of it in a spectrum that we as believers can be influenced by satanic thinking. But under compulsory control, I would say no. But we've got to be very careful in focusing on that because it is not those who are demonically possessed in that sense that crucified Christ. Yes, as you walk through Mark, this satanic influence we see very vividly and graphically portrayed in chapter 5. And remember the legion of demons, the man in the tombs, the cuts, the howling, the shrieking, the cast out into the swine. That is a classic picture of demonic. Possession, but it's not this guy or kinds like this that put Christ on the cross. You go on through Mark, there's chapter 9, you hit this, run into this obstinate spirit that the disciples couldn't even cast out, and on. And these are certainly people under compulsory control, and all through chapter 1, 3, 6, and you just go through, you see these demonic spirits controlling their host with the intent of death to their host.

14:00But it's important to underscore that these are not the ones that were responsible for the crucifixion. There is a much more organized opposition, a much more sophisticated opposition. It involves religion, it involves the politics of the day, and it involves the masterminds of society. It was the best minds that set themselves in opposition to Christ. And they are the masterminds behind the cross. And as you just walk through and see the development of this opposition, it begins fundamentally with that first principle of not receiving God's rule. Here came Christ. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Yet they would not, because they did not want the kingdom of heaven. So they fundamentally cast off God's rule in their lives. Brothers and sisters, that's the first thing we need to be warned of: is casting off God's rule in any single area of our life. Let us be afraid. Let us welcome his reign total. And the bottom goal of this opposition is they did not want to give God the place he deserves in the earth or in society or in their own hearts. That's the fundamental place where this crucifixion of Christ began. In the heart, not wanting to give God the place he deserves. So as you go through, Satan uses jealousy. He stirs up the religious leaders. They don't like Jesus going there, capturing the hearts of the crowds. And then you come in chapter 3, and you see the Pharisees and the Herodians joining together, religion and state joining together in opposition. And this is the nursery. This is the incubation of the crucifixion and Christian persecution. When the religion comes together that says he is not Christ, he is not God coming in the flesh. Now let's join that with the political forces and let's persecute. And this is the mastermind. This is how satanic opposition manifested itself in the Passion, in the crucifixion. And this is the force that unleashed the crucifixion machine. Well, that's the manifestation of satanic opposition.

16:30Second, I want you to look at the mechanism of satanic opposition. The mechanism of satanic opposition. And this is the development of the crucifixion. The religious rejection of Jesus led to the religious opposition of Jesus. Very simple. First, you've got to reject, then you can oppose. Which led to the society's rejection. So if the religious authorities have rejected Jesus and now are opposing Jesus, they take that manifest itself by society, by convincing society that he is to be rejected, which in turn leads to society's hostility towards Jesus, which in turn leads to the state rejection of Jesus, which in turn leads to the state opposition and crucifixion of Jesus. You see that? Religious rejection leads to the religious opposition, which led to society's rejection, which led to society's hostility, which led to the state rejection, and ultimately led to the cross. That's the development of the crucifixion, and it's the same for the persecution of Christians.

17:36Religious rejection of Jesus leads to the religious opposition of Jesus, which leads to society's rejection of Jesus, which leads to society's persecution of Christians, which leads to the state rejection of Jesus, which leads to state opposition and persecution of Christians. You see, persecution, as you come to these final chapters. In Mark, it becomes a dominant theme. And keep in mind Mark's audience. Keep in mind Mark's audience. The historical situation of Mark's audience is intense persecution. His initial audience was Rome, and there was significant, severe suffering that went on under Nero. There were ten waves of persecution under the Caesars. This was the first under Nero, and it set the pace. And there's already a growing hatred of Christians, and there are several reasons for this. Number one, Christians lived a separate life.

18:38They lived aloof from society. They were a little out of step with the norms and customs of society, and this set them apart. Their first loyalty was to the Lord, not to the emperor or the state. And this created a realm in which the emperors could not control. And so they started looking at the Christians as troublesome. Christians were monotheists. They denied all the pantheon of deities that Rome worshipped. The Christians had a preference to brotherly love versus war, totally different from the war machine of the Romans.

19:18They had a preference to family life and fidelity rather than infidelity, unfaithfulness, and sinful lifestyle. They had a preference to self-denial versus pleasure. And all this put them out of step with society, and there was this growing distance as people would turn to Christ and walk away. So, by and large, the Christians of the early centuries became a misunderstood people, and they were viewed as divisive, suspect. And society saw this continual proclamation as a threat. And so, Nero comes to power, and probably it could be argued that he began with good intentions. He had an interest in art, public projects, and a lot of things, but he became increasingly unpopular with the nobility and with the populace. And he began to get suspect of people and jealous for his power. He executed his closest friends and relatives. And then, finally, on July 18, 64 AD, he burned Rome for 10 days. And he blamed it on the Christians. And then he proceeded en masse to burn, kill, and torture Christians in the theaters. And it was in this persecution that Peter and Paul died. So Mark is writing to a people who are very familiar with persecution and this mechanism of being viewed as enemies of state. Bearing the shame. And so he gives us a very graphic and upfront picture of the suffering that Jesus went through for his people. The prevailing attitude towards Christian Tertullian says it very well. He says: if the Tiber River overflows its banks, and this is around the second century, he writes this, if the Tiber River overflows its banks, if the Nile does not water the fields, if the clouds refuse rain, if the earth shakes, if famine or storms prevail, the cry always is, throw the Christians to the lions. When I first read this, I thought, what kind of a society has their heads so stuck in the sand that thinks that the cosmos can all of a sudden be attributed to an individual? And then I started hearing this cries about global warming and environmental issues and stuff being blamed on individuals. And it's kind of like, okay, well, we're not that far from it. These are a very superstitious people, but you can see very much, it didn't rain, throw the Christians to the lions. That is how much the hostility grew. In fact, the general mechanism of persecution is well articulated in a book called Come Wind, Come Weather. And this is about the situation in China during the Communist takeover in the middle of last century. And this author says this, what were, in the case of Jesus Christ, purely religious issues, were made to appear political issues in order to secure his condemnation of death. You know, we've already seen this, right? The issues about Jesus were religious, but they contrived them to make him a traitor of state to where he could then be killed as a threat to the Roman government. So then he goes on to say this: Many Chinese Christians, too, who have been concerned only to remain loyal to Jesus Christ, have been made to appear as political traitors and criminals in the eyes of the world in order to bring them to judgment and punishment. This was the mechanism. You can see it today. This is the mechanism in Mark's day. It's the mechanism that's very much active today. As we just heard reports of Christians around the world being persecuted en masse, what comes together is an antichrist religion joining hands with the state government. And what you have is a sanctioned and systematic persecution of Christians. It's the same mechanism. Islam is a great example of this, and that's why you see a lot of this in the Islamic world. It's not isolated to the Islamic world, of course not. But you certainly see where you've got an antichrist religion who also, which is a political system, a legal system, coming through.

24:01Then you begin to see persecution for religious reasons. So that's the mechanism, and it's alive to well. And you, it is the mechanism. It was the mechanism when Jesus went to the cross. It's the mechanism now. Well, that brings us to what I want to share: the mockery, the mockery of satanic opposition. And Mark's message, as he highlights all this, is: Jesus bore the scorn for righteousness' sake, and so can you. That's what he's telling his audience. Look at what Christ, you will not suffer like he did, for sure. You're not going to outdo him. You may get close at worst case. But I want you to see what he went through. And so, what Mark highlights here is the mockery. And there's a parallel here. There's this Roman mockery session here, and it parallels very closely with the Jewish mockery session that took place just a few hours ago before the Sanhedrin. Keep in mind, this is still before 9 a.m. So a lot's happening here in the morning. But if you remember in Mark 14, 53, remember they led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief Priests and the elders and the scribes gathered together. So the whole Jewish leadership is together. And in verse 16, the soldiers took him away into the palace, that is the Prectorium, and they called together the whole Roman cohort. So you got the whole Roman cohort now versus the whole Jewish leadership. And the cohort was 600 men. And these were the elite, the top of the top guards. Okay? Remember years ago we went into war with Iraq. And remember, Saddam Hussein kept talking about his invincible Republican guard. Well, that's kind of the idea here. These are the elite of the elite, 600. Now, what in the world do you need 600 guards for? Well, they don't need 600 guards to take care of Jesus, to hold him, to guard him. But they were called in because they wanted to have some sport. They wanted to have fun. They didn't like Jews, and they certainly didn't like one claiming to be king of the Jews. So they thought, let's have some fun. Under the Jewish mockery session, it was his godness that was mocked. Remember?

26:38He is the Son of God. That is why he's being mocked there. But here, it's because he is the king. In fact, there's a comedy routine in Mark 14:65. And they're mocking him as the Son of God. Some began to spit at him and blindfold him and to beat him with their fists and say to him, Prophesy! Prophesy! You see, they're mocking. His divine status. Well, the Romans, what they're going to do is they're going to put on a comedy routine as well, but it's going to be against his Messiahship, his being a king of the Jews. That's the avenue that they're going to mock. And so, in verse 17, look at what they did. They dressed him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on him. Now, Matthew says that the robe was scarlet.

27:26Mark says it was purple. There we go. We got a contradiction in the Bible, don't we? It's funny when you start reading the hierarchics and they come up with, say, okay, here we go. There you go. Contradiction in the Bible. How do you handle that? Wow. There it is. It's like, no, come on, guys. They didn't go and buy a brand new purple robe and put it on him. They're not going to spend that kind of money on him. What they did is they pulled off one of these scarlet cape-like garments off of a Roman soldier that had faded with time. It was a rag, and there had been a purple hue. Stuff like this underscores the veracity that you've got some real independent thinkers, that there's not collusion in the Gospels, but you've got a very reliable document. No, it's a cast off. I guarantee they didn't spend money on this garment. It was a cast off. And when those scarlet cape-like cloths faded in the sunlight, they took on a purple. Hue, and it was an old rag, and that's what they put on. They're making sport. They're not trying to make him look like a royal king. I mean, the guy's got torn up, he's been flogged, he's got blood everywhere. He's black and blue from being beaten up. Then they put this crown of thorns on him to mock him. They put on the purple robe, a royal rag, if you will. And they put on a crown that's a mock of a victor's wreath, which is supposed to be made of gold leaf that symbolized royalty and given to military victors. So they put this on him in its place. So he's got this crown of thorns, blood everywhere. He's black and blue. And then look at verse 18. And they began to acclaim him, Hail, King of the Jews! Hail! That's the kind of idea. Long live the king.

29:24And you've got to think about how pathetic Jesus would have looked at this point. I mean, they are making him look awful. I mean, he's black and blue. He looked like anything but a king. And that's the sport. And it even says that they put a scepter in his hand, a reed. Verse 19, it says they kept beating his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling and bowing before him. You get the comedy routine, right? Dress him up like a real beaten, bloody king. Oh, you're the king. And then they put a reed. It could be a step. A mock staff in his hand, and probably what was happening is they were coming and bowing down to him, taking that staff, hitting him in the head. It could also refer, the word for Kalmos is used here as a reed, could also be a shaft or a pole that could refer to the arrows, the shaft of an arrow. So they could have been slapping him around with the arrows, as well as the reed in his hand, hitting him. But it's just one big mockery session. Very graphically, as Mark wants to see. And then they parade him to the cross. Look at verse 20. After they had mocked him, they took the purple robe off him, put on his own garments, and they led him out to crucify him. They need to understand the purpose of crucifixion. It was a way to deter disobedience to Rome. In fact, Cicero said that crucifixion was the most cruel and horrifying punishment. In 71 B.C., there was a slave rebellion under Spartacus. Many of you familiar with that. And what Crassus did is he had more than 6,000 slaves crucified on the Via Appia between Capua and Rome, as to say, this is what's going to happen to all who rebel against Rome. Quintilian said this, whenever we crucify the guilty, the most crowded roads are chosen, where the most people can see and be moved by this fear. In other words, they want to say to society, Don't you dare do this. So, if you're a thief, you're paraded before the crowded streets. If you're a murderer, you're crowded before sometimes. The placard would carry the crime in front of you, sometimes it would be put around your neck, and your crime would be put out there and be led through the streets as if to make a final deterrent to anybody who would ever think to do the same. And this is what they did to Jesus. It was a crime to be considered the king of the Jews. Martin Hingle says this: In the death of Jesus of Nazareth, God identified himself with the extreme of human wretches.

32:14The extreme of human wretchedness, which Jesus endured as a representative of us all in order to bring us the freedom of the children of God. He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? That is the picture of Christ being identified with his people. What God is saying, look, this is what all sin deserves. This is what everybody who is rebellious against God deserves. This is it. And yet, as we look upon him, we can say the chastisement for our peace is laid upon him. He was not ashamed of us before the Holy Father, so that we cannot be ashamed of him before sinful.

33:01But Jesus didn't carry his cross for very long. Look at verse 21. They pressed into service a passerby coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. He didn't carry it for very long. Hungry, sleepless, had lost a lot of blood. There's the mental stress. All this would have weakened him, the flogging. He's moving too slowly. He's not getting to where the Romans want him. So they pressed into service a passerby. And the Romans had ultimate authority. They could just grab anybody, put him into service. And so just randomly, they pick a guy who probably looks strong, pulled him out of the crowd, put him in there, said, carry his cross. But in the midst of all this, there's the providence of God.

33:50You see, the mastermind of the cross on a human level may appear to be the satanic opposition that just grew throughout Mark. But there's a greater mastermind behind the cross, and that's God. In fact, Jesus made that prediction in Mark chapter 10. He said, I'm going up to Jerusalem. We're all going up. They're going to condemn me to death, hand me over to the Gentiles. They're going to mock me and spit on me and scourge me and kill me. In three days, I'll rise again. He knew what exactly was coming. He's the only free individual in this whole picture. He's doing what he wants to do. And all of this has a purpose: salvation, as well as. We look, we're transformed. He takes our punishment. We look at him, lifted up, we are healed of our sins, penalty, and disposition, but also for witness. Witness, in fact, he tells in Mark 13, he says, Let me tell you, disciples, what's going to happen. He says, you are going to stand before governors and kings for my testimony's sake. You're going to be flogged. But the gospel is going to be preached to all the nations. So it's in these times of persecution, these times of mockery, that you have an opportunity to really stand firm and make a true statement about Christ. You see, the mockery that Jesus endured for the sake of his people is very profound. It testified to the truth. But in the midst of this, God is the one in control, even to the handing down of the Roman guards, grabbing Simon of Cyrene out, bringing him face to face with Jesus Christ. Simon becoming a Christian, a church being planted, moving to Rome to an audience where even his wife, Simon's wife, will minister to Paul to such a degree that Paul will say, Greet Rufus, his mother, and mine. All that. You see, even in the darkest hour, there's the providence of God. You see, God has a purpose for suffering. It's for witness, and it's for salvation. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witness surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangled us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross. How can you come to the point of enjoyment enduring the cross? The results, the results. He redeemed his people. So Mark wants us to fix our eyes upon Jesus, and that's why he gives us so much time here, looking at the scorn and mockery. He wants us to fix our eyes there so that to strengthen us to be identified with him. So when we leave here today, I hope you're strengthened to be identified with him. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the scorn. We thank you for the mockery that Jesus endured for our sake. If we ever doubt your love for us, we can look at Christ. If we ever doubt his love for us, we can look and see what he was willing to go through for his people. A free man, truly free.

37:30And yet he went through this. Father, help us not to be ashamed of you. We confess, Lord, that persecution hasn't even cranked up to any kind of significant level in our country compared to what it's been around the world and what has been experienced by our brothers and sisters in various parts of the world in past centuries. Father, we recognize that we are so quick to be ashamed of your name in public settings and among certain types of people. And, Father, that we're even afraid to mention your name times. Father, forgive us. For as we look at what you endured for us, Father, we recognize we need to turn away from being ashamed of you for anything. Father, help us to be a people who will welcome you to the deep recesses of our heart and lives, that you truly would be Lord of all, for that is what you truly deserve. You deserve the glory and honor due to your name from our lives and from the creation that you've made. We ask in Jesus' name for you to do this in us. Amen.