LANGUAGE:
The Third Hour
(Mark 15:22-32: Matt 27:33–44; Luke 23:33–43; John 19:17–24)
As we continue our journey through Mark’s gospel, we come to chap 15, vs22(GW) where we read these words They brought Jesus to Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”).
Mark’s account of the crucifixion is filled with detailed observations that are meant to lead us deeper in our understanding of the crucifixion and of historicity Jesus.[i] He presents two dramatic overviews:
Mark’s crucifixion account covers vs22 to v41. But because of our time this morning, I’m going to focus on vs22-32. Then following Easter we’ll pick up vs 33-41. In these verses we see sin at its peak—men and women mocking the Son of God, men and women sneering at God Himself, men and women spitting scorn on the very face of the Creator and Redeemer and Savior of the world.[ii] Mockery, sneering, and scorn cannot go beyond this.
Follow as we read verses 22 down to verse 32.
22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 23 Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. 25 It was nine in the morning when they crucified him.26 The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the Jews. 27 They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. [28]29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!” 31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
Let’s pray: … Gracious Father, I ask that your Holy Spirit take the scene that we are considering and imprint it deeply in our hearts and minds. I pray that we may understand it and that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened so that we grasp the horror of it all. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Let’s begin with v21, 21 There was a man walking by, coming from the country, Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. And they made him carry Jesus’ cross.[iii] We’re not told much about Simon. What we do know is that he was from North Africa, the father of two sons, and forced to carry Jesus cross. Though not much is said about Simon himself, what little we know about him is worth our time to linger.
In Luke 9:23-24 Jesus told His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Simon was just passing by, when suddenly He was yanked out of the crowd and forced into Jesus’ life, compelled to carry His cross. One moment a bystander with his two sons, the next moment forced to carry Jesus’ cross and receiving some of obscenities meant for Jesus.
As I wrestled with this I came across an article by Jessica Brodie that caught my attention. She pointed out that there are several lessons worth our deliberation.
Mark wants us to grasp that this is an actual event in the warp-n-woof flow of history.[v] He wants us to understand that the cross stands not as an historical marker, but the cap-stone of our redemption.
As we linger here, notice the word brought. The word brought means to carry or bring from one place to another. [vii] What that tells me is that Jesus was far too weak to continue on His own. Perhaps He had to be carried much like the sick that had been brought to Him for healing. Its ironic that the One who told us carry our cross, had to have help carrying His cross.[viii]
In Jesus’ day, carrying a cross meant certain death, it meant ridicule and disgrace along the way. In Mark 8:34, Jesus told the crowds, If anyone wishes to follow Me, such people must become deniers of self, and pick up their crosses and follow me.[ix] What Jesus was saying is, to follow Him we must put to death our own plans and desires, and turn our lives over to Him and do His will every day. That’s a huge calling. Think carefully what Jesus is saying.
When Jesus calls for self-denial and cross-bearing, He’s claiming our allegiance, He is claiming authority over our very lives. If we are really Christ-followers, that’s what we are called to do. It’s part of our walk as Christ-Followers.
V23, And they tried to offer him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. If we take this in sequence, they now lay Jesus’ sliced and diced body with no skin to cushion him against the rough wood. In preparation for the massive spikes to be driven through the wrists and driven through both feet,[x] they give Him a wine mixed with myrrh. This would be some kind of mild narcotic that could help ease the indescribable beyond comprehension.[xi]
But notice, He did not take it. He didn’t take it because it was His intent to drink the full cup of the Father’s wrath with full awareness, full consciousness.
Remember His prayer at Gethsemane, in the previous chapter, “Abba! Father! You can do anything. Take this cup of suffering away from me. But let your will be done rather than mine.” [Mark 14:36 (GW)]
The agony Jesus faced was more than physical; it was deeply spiritual and emotional beyond our comprehension. He knew God’s will. It was to crush Him. It was for Him to be “pierced for our transgressions” and wounded for our healing (Isaiah 53:5–10). The point for us is that Jesus was sold out to keeping the will of God with His body, His mind, and His soul, with all its repercussions. For what reason? Because He had come “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
Jesus was determined to accomplish His mission, even though it meant drinking the cup of suffering to the bitter end.[xii] And so the writer of Hebrews instructs us to 2fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despised the shame, and now sits at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you/us will not grow weary and lose heart.
And so with no adjectives. With no descriptiveness. Mark tells us they crucified Him. He says this twice, once in v24, and once in v25 with no description as to what crucifixion comprised. One commentator points out that the absence of graphic details of the physical torture on the cross allows the few details he does contribute to speak with their full voice.[xiii]
We know from historical accounts that victims of crucifixion typically died by asphyxiation. Suspended by the arms, the weight of body hindered the ability to draw in air. Arm muscles, leg muscles, and chest muscles would fail from fatigue. Breathing would become increasingly shallow, until there was no more strength to draw in air.[xiv]
Jesus is now on the cross. His feet are roughly 4-5ft off the ground. While fighting for air, v24, the soldiers are raffling off His clothing at the foot of his cross, revealing their utter disregard. In John’s Gospel we’re given a little more detail as to the raffle.[xv] Mark this down, this is a public humiliation of the King of kings and Lord of lords by the soldiers[xvi] And at the same time the Jewish leaders were most likely replaying in their minds Deuteronomy 21:23 anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. Paul would later write in 1 Corinthians 1:23 that He was indeed a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Gentiles.[xvii]
But God tells us in Philippians 2:9–11 (NASB95) It is 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.[xviii]
The time of day is crucial for Mark. He doesn’t want us to miss the reality of the moment. He wants us to know that what happened happened on an actual day in history. V25, It was the third hour or 9 am that they crucified Him.
As a final mockery, Pilot had a sign placed above Jesus spelling out His crime, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”[xix] It was his mockery of Jesus’ Kingship, it was his disdain of the Jews, but unwittingly he stated an eternal truth.
John would later write in Revelation that this Jesus will return with eyes blazing as fire, and on His head will be many crowns. And His robe would be dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:12–16)
Vs27-28, and there were two robbers crucified with Him, one on each side. It’s hard to say emphatically, but these two guys may have been some of Barabbas’ gang of rebels. Jesus' placement in the middle, between the two criminals, was designed to identify Him as an insurrectionist.[xx]
The Gospels tell us that during the hours 9 and 12 noon, Jesus makes four remarkable statements.
During the three hours, from 9 to noon, the crowds hammered Him with one insult after another. Mark’s summary of the insults reminds me of what Jesus said in Matthew 15, 18whatever goes out of the mouth comes from within, and that’s what makes a person unclean. 19Evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual sins, stealing, lying, and cursing come from within. [Matthew 15:18–19 (GW)]. And so their hearts speak out in contempt, defying the One who could save them from God’s coming wrath.
Let’s stop here. If you have been following at all, your emotions should be in a twist at the mystery of the power of sin--to cause one to mock the Savior of the World who knew no sin. We should get emotional as we think about the cross and the punishment that Jesus endured. It should be front center of our thoughts as a reminder of sins horror and the price of our redemption.
You see, the cross is about the wages of sin. Consider the ways sin expresses itself-- indulgent greed, cherished pride, self-centeredness, settled envy, secret lust, subtle lie, grumblings of all kinds, fault-finding, deception. Because of these things we are dead in our trespasses and sins, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, according to the spirit that is now working in us. [Ephesians 2:1-2 (NASB95)]
We need to be clear that God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. Being made sin on our behalf means He had to die. Romans 6:23, And the wages of sin is death. On Friday of the Passover Jesus Christ died in our place when He was crucified on the cross. He took our death punishment on Himself—that is, He substituted Himself for us and took what we rightly deserved. Why? Because none of us could never do enough good on our own to earn the favor of God. Romans 3:10-11 “there is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.”
The cross was necessary because it was the only way you and I could ever be right with God. It was part of God’s eternal plan. Peter spills this out for us in Acts 2:23 “This man [Jesus] was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross” Here’s what we need to grasp: God purposed the cross. He didn’t permit or allow, He purposed it. Though terrible in every sense of the word, the crucifixion of Jesus was the best thing that has ever happened. It brought salvation to the world.
As we’re told in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us (dying on the cross) so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”.[xxiii] The cross is a holy historical moment. It’s the place where God’s love and God’s righteousness are embraced. It is where the death penalty for sin is executed.[xxiv] If God brought the greatest good out of the greatest evil, surely He can bring good out of what seems to be evil in our lives. If any of us want to spend eternity with God, we must first come to the cross. Without Christ, we are going to die and spend an eternity in hell as payment for our sins.
The local populace, the leaders, and the soldiers mocked and sneered, saying, He saved others, let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God. But know that The cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18) On the cross, Jesus dealt with our sin, canceled our debt, defeated Satan, and set us free to live if we personalize that moment. As Christ-followers that means that the cross is at the very center of our lives, our work, our relationships, and living out-of-step of the glory-seeking world in which we live.
In summation: if you have not done so, I beg of you not to treat the cross like a historical relic of the past. It is the very power of God to change everything in your life.[xxv] If you would be a follower of Jesus, if you would save your life and not lose it, today is the day to take up your cross.[xxvi]
If you are not a follower of Jesus, you can start today by making these words your prayer of faith--Today I admit that I am a sinner. I accept the death of Jesus as being in my place. Today I will take up my cross and follow Him. Amen
Let’s close in prayer -- Father in heaven, we pray for Your blessing once again upon Your Word. We love Your Word. And we worship You for Your sovereign grace. Open the eyes of our hearts that we can know Jesus Christ as our Savior, and to turn from our sins. And we thank You today for Your saving grace given to us in Christ Jesus. We close in His name, Amen.
[i]
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/you-asked-what-time-did-jesus-die/ Jews usually divided the day with three reference points. In Jesus’s parable of the vineyard and the laborers he refers to “the third hour [from sunrise]” “the sixth hour [from sunrise],” and the “ninth hour [from sunrise]” (Matt. 20:1-9). These were general references for mid-morning, mid-day, and mid-afternoon, and these are the only time markers listed in the crucifixion accounts (Matt. 27:45; Mark 15:25, 33; Luke 23:44; John 19:14).
[ii] John MacArthur, Divine Mercy For The Blasphemers (Mark 15:22-31) https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/41-81/divine-mercy-for-the-blasphemers
[iii] Mark 15:21 (The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language) Erik Manning, The Man who carried Jesus’ cross: The Hidden Significance of Simon of Cyrene’s sons, https://isjesusalive.com/the-man-who-carried-jesus-cross-the-hidden-significance-of-simon-of-cyrenes-sons/
[iv] Jessica Brodie, Why Did Jesus Need Help Carrying His Cross, https://www.christianity.com/wiki/jesus-christ/why-did-jesus-need-help-carrying-his-cross.html
[v] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/warp%20and%20woof The essential foundation or base of any structure or organization; from weaving, in which the warp — the threads that run lengthwise — and the woof — the threads that run across — make up the fabric: "The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the warp and woof of the American nation." Words nearby warp and woof
[vi] term Golgotha, which was “the Aramaic name of a hill near Jerusalem where executions took place” Louw, J. P., and Nida, E. A., Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains, United Bible Societies, 1996, p. 834
[vii] Konrad Weiss, “Φέρω, Ἀναφέρω, Διαφέρω, Τὰ Διαφέροντα, Διάφορος (ἀδιάφορον), Εἰσφέρω, Προσφέρω, Προσφορά, Συμφέρω, Σύμφορος, Φόρος, Φορέω, Φορτίον, Φορτίζω,”The body content of ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 56.
[viii] Matthew 10:38 (NASB95) “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. ; Luke 14:27 (NASB95) “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Matthew 16:24–26 (NASB95)
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?,
Jesus told His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” When a person carried a cross in Jesus’ day, no one thought of it as a persistent annoyance or symbolic burden. To a person in the first century, the cross meant one thing and one thing only: death by crucifixion. To carry a cross was to face the most painful and humiliating means of death human beings could develop.
[ix] The Greek word for “deny” is aparneomai. It is a strong word meaning that a person must refuse to be thinking about oneself. This is a strong statement. It is a picture of complete denial of one’s desires and wishes. Self-denial, then, is intentional disowning of the self, or stepping away from relationship with the self as primary. Jesus is not making a statement about whether the self is bad, but about who we are most closely associated with. Who is our primary allegiance to—him, or ourselves?
[x] John MacArthur, Divine Mercy for the Blasphemers, (Mark 15:22-32), https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/41-81/divine-mercy-for-the-blasphemers
[xi] Proverbs 31:6 (NASB95) Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to him whose life is bitter. Psalm 69:21 (NASB95) 21 They also gave me gall for my food And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
[xii] Hebrews 12:2–4 (NASB95) 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;
[xiii] The Sound of Silence: Mark’s description of the crucifixion. https://www.sagu.edu/thoughthub/the-sound-of-silence-mark-s-description-of-the-crucifixion/
[xiv] The Sound of Silence: Mark’s Description of the Crucifixion. https://www.sagu.edu/thoughthub/the-sound-of-silence-mark-s-description-of-the-crucifixion/ John MacArthur, Divine Mercy For The Blasphemers (Mark 15:22-32) https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/41-81/divine-mercy-for-the-blasphemersThis horrible form of execution was invented, as best we can tell, by Darius the Mede. The Medo-Persian Empire conquered the Babylonian Empire, and history says that Darius crucified three thousand Babylonians. And he’s credited with sort of inventing this or at least doing it on a large scale.
Alexander the Great, when conquering the world in the fourth century B.C., the 300’s, was moving east with his massive force and they came across the southern part of Europe and to the land of Palestine, the city of Tyre, which would be where Lebanon is on the north coast there - Eastern Mediterranean. And he let everybody know he was coming, obviously, moving a massive force, they were aware he was coming, so the people didn’t want to help him. He was going to ask for supplies and support, and when they found that out, they all got in their boats (because they were a seafaring city), and they went offshore to an island, and they felt secure because he didn’t have a navy.
So when he demanded certain supplies from them, they said no. Well, Alexander didn’t take no, so he destroyed the city of Tyre, picked up all the rubble, threw all the rubble in the ocean, and built a causeway from the mainland to the island, just exactly as the Old Testament prophet said he would, and came over and massacred the citizens of Tyre and, history says, crucified two thousand of them.
In the first century, B.C., Alex Jannaeus moved this into the experience of the Jews themselves because he crucified eight hundred Pharisees before their wives and children. And by the way, in Roman law, it was forbidden for women to ever see a crucifixion, it was so horrendous, let alone children.
When Titus Vespasian, in 70 A.D., conquered Jerusalem, forty years after the death of Christ, he crucified so many Jews, we don’t know how many he crucified, but the record says they ran out of trees and locations for crucifixions. It’s a horrific, horrific way to die.
[xv] John 19:23–24 (NASB95)23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. 24 So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS.”
[xvi] David E. Garland, Mark, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 589.
[xvii] Philippians 2:8–11 (NASB95)8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
[xviii] John 3:14–16 (NASB95) 14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
[xix] John 19:19–22 (NASB95) 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 20 Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’ ” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
[xx] Walter W. Wessel, “Mark,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 780. Isaiah 53:12 (NASB95)12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
[xxi] Mark 14:58 (NASB95) 58 “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’ ” Psalm 22:7 (NASB95) 7 All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,
[xxii] Walter W. Wessel, “Mark,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 781.
[xxiii] 1 Peter 2:24 (NASB95)24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. Isaiah 53:5 (NASB95)5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
[xxiv] Genesis 2:17 (NASB95) 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”, Philip Ryken, Why The Cross Is Essential to Christianity. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/ article/cross-essential-christianity/ The German theologian Emil Brunner explained that the cross of Christ “is the only place where the loving, forgiving, merciful God is revealed in such a way that we perceive that his holiness and his love are equally infinite.” https://www.thegospelforum.com/blog/why-was-the-cross-necessary Peter and Paul also drew upon Deuteronomy not because they were embarrassed that Christ died under a divine curse, but they wanted to draw people’s attention to it because it was our curse he was bearing (Galatians 2:20, 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24). Thus, the cross was sin (curse) bearing. More than that, both Peter and Paul show that it was substitutionary. In 1 Peter 3:18, Peter says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” Christ not only suffered as the curse, but he was righteous and suffered for the unrighteous (suffering=penal, righteous for unrighteous=substitutionary).
[xxv] Romans 1:16 (NASB95) 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.