Surely This Man was the Son of God!

Preached December 10 @ Maury Hills Church

NOTE – This is the last blog for a little while and I’m evaluating whether or not to continue posting transcripts of the messages in 2024. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for reading.

Ok, we need to finish Mark today and we’re going to pick up where we left off two weeks ago. We’re in chapter 15. I’m not going to read all of it. Just some highlights. It starts with the Roman phase of the trial. The Jewish phase was at the end of chapter 14. Jesus stood before the chief priest, the elders, and the teachers of the law (which were known as the Sanhedrin which is the Jewish ruling body) and their main accusation was blasphemy. Blasphemy is to speak sacrilegiously of God. Jesus was accused of that because he claimed to forgive sin (only God can do that), he announced the destruction of the temple (only God can do that), and he taught with authority (only God can do that). The most blasphemous statement he made concerned his identity.

⁶¹ But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

⁶² “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶³ The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. ⁶⁴ “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”

They all condemned him as worthy of death.

Mark 14:61-64

There’s only one problem. They didn’t have the power to do that. They weren’t in charge. Israel was under Roman rule so it was necessary for Jesus to be tried by the Romans and they would not have been concerned much with blasphemy. Their concern was treason.

Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

² “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

³ The chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴ So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”

⁵ But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

Mark 15:1-5

(Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea). The other gospels give much more information about the exchange between Jesus and Pilate and it’s one of the more fascinating stories in the gospel. Pilate clearly perplexed by Jesus. For one, he finds him to be an innocent man. He doesn’t think Jesus has done anything worthy of death and he even concocted this plan to release him by letting Jesus be the prisoner that was released during the Jewish festival.

⁶ Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. ⁷ A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. ⁸ The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

⁹ “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, ¹⁰ knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. ¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

Mark 16:6-11

Pilate knows he’s innocent and he does this maybe to let the Sanhedrin save face and so he can save face. He wants nothing to do with executing an innocent man so let them pick between a Rabbi who is just saying things they don’t like and a murderer. They chose the murderer. The other thing that amazed Pilate was how Jesus would not answer his accusers. Put this in context.

Jesus is the Son of God. He has all power and authority. And this little peon Roman governor of an insignificant Jewish outpost in the Roman Empire is questioning him. These petty chief priests and self-proclaimed teachers of the law are questioning him as if they have power? There was an old hymn that said, “he could have called 10,000 angels to destroy the world and set him free.” And that’s accurate. Jesus had more power in his pinky finger than Pilate and the chief priests combined, but he stays silent. It’s a fulfillment of OT prophecy but it’s also can act of incredible moral strength.

When we’re falsely accused of something what do we do? We fight back, speak up, speak out. That’s what we’re encouraged to do but it actually takes more strength to remain silent. Several weeks ago I violated one of my long-standing rules. I responded to a criticism on Facebook. Long ago I decided Facebook was the wrong forum for disagreement and debate. If someone wants to sit down and talk face-to-face or even if they just want to email or call, I’ll talk. But I will not try to defend myself, argue with people, or respond to criticism on Facebook. You know how hard that is? Especially when you know you are in the right, and they are in the wrong?

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.

A Messianic prophecy from Isa 53:7

He stayed silent even as the crowds shouted, “crucify him.” So, Pilate gave in to peer pressure. He consented to his death and the soldiers lead him away. They dressed him in a robe and crown of thorns to mock him. They beat him and tortured him. They marched him out to an execution site outside of the city walls known as Golgotha – the place of the skull. They forced him to carry his cross, divided up his clothes and cast lots for them, and fastened a sign above his head that read “King of the Jews” to further insult and ridicule him. And Mark simply says, “they crucified him” (v. 24).

Which says a lot. Crucifixion is a particularly brutal way to die. We still practice capital punishment in the United States, and we have arguments and lawsuits all the time over what constitutes the most humane way to kill someone. None of it feels very humane, but the purpose of Roman execution was to do it in the most inhumane way possible. To inflict the most shame, most pain, and most suffering possible.

As he was crucified, they continued to mock him and hurl insults at him. “You who were going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” The soldiers, the criminals crucified with him on his right or left, those who passed by, even the chief priests and the teachers of the law said – “He saved others, but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down from the cross, that we may see and believe.” (v. 32). And he could have done that, but he remained.

³³ At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ³⁴ And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).^[a]

³⁵ When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”

³⁶ Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.

³⁷ With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

³⁸ The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹ And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died,^[b] he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Mark 15:33-39

Mark includes fewer details about the crucifixion than any of the other gospels, but he includes this detail and it’s extremely important. A Roman centurion, someone over the men who mocked him or possibly even a participant in the insults himself, saw the way Jesus died and came to a conclusion – “Surely, this man was the Son of God.”  Mark has spent every chapter of this narrative trying to convince us of that – every story told, every miracle performed, every teaching recorded – is all done to lead us to the same conclusion of the centurion – “Surely, this man was the Son of God.”

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if we treated the books of the Bible the way we treated other books. When I read a book, even a good book, I rarely re-read it. Sometimes I’ll go back and study it, highlight it, break down some sections (like we do with the Bible) but it’s rare. I read mainly for the big picture, and I think sometimes we miss that with the Bible. We get so focused on the minutia we fail to see the forest for the trees. This is why we start thinking the Bible was written to address women’s role, worship style, the proper mode of baptism, or some other theological debate. Or we think the Bible was written settle scientific arguments, push forth a pro-life or pro-marriage agenda, or whatever it is we want this collection of books to be about. And the Bible talks about some of those things, but this collection of books is primarily about one thing– Jesus. Every book is written to point us to the truth about Jesus. If you read the book of Mark one time, shut it and put it on the shelf, and someone asked, “what was that book about?” You wouldn’t answer “Oh, it’s about end times or it’s about popular culture.” It’s a book about Jesus. Every story, every miracle, every act is meant to point us to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God.

• It’s not a law-book.
• It’s not a reference manual.
• It’s not a book of instructions and patterns.
• It’s not a commentary on current culture.
• It’s not a code to be deciphered.
• It’s not a weapon to use against those we disagree with.

It’s a collection of stories about Jesus so that we might reach the same conclusion of the Roman solider who watched him die – “Surely this man was the Son of God.” And if nothing else convinces you. If all the evidence Mark has presented thus far is not enough. There’s one last story that should settle the debate. Just 8 verses in chapter 16 but they tell us that the tomb was found empty, and Jesus had risen from the dead. “Surely this man was the Son of God.”