Jesus crucified (1)
[Mark 15:21-32]
Mark 15:22-25 says, “They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. It was the third hour when they crucified him.” Here, “the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull)” is the place where Jesus was crucified. In other gospels, it is written like this: “a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull)” (Mt. 27:33), “The place called the Skull” (Lk. 23:33), “The Place of a Skull (which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha)” (Jn. 19:17). The ”place called the Skull” (Lk. 23:33) is translated as “Calvary” in the King James Bible. Today’s text Mark 15:23 says “wine mixed with myrrh,” but Matthew 27:34 says “wine mixed with gall.” Myrrh comes from plants and gallbladder comes from animals, which are different but the same thing both contain an anesthetic. According to tradition, Jews had a custom of giving alcohol containing an anesthetic to vicious criminals, and the purpose was to reduce the pain of death row prisoners who were being punished by crucifixion (Internet). Perhaps both of the robbers who were crucified with Jesus drank, but Jesus tasted and did not want to drink (Mt. 27:34). The reason is because the sinless Jesus suffered enough because He came to this world to do the tremendous work of salvation by forgiving all our sins and transferring us from eternal hell to eternal life. Jesus suffered severe physical pain for our salvation, but in order to endure both the mental pain and the spiritual pain of being abandoned by God the Father with a clear mind, He did not drink wine mixed with myrrh, that had an anesthetic in order to reduce His pain. This suffering was an glory for Jesus. Look at John 12:23-24, 28: “And Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’ … ‘Father, glorify Your name.’ Then a voice came out of heaven: ‘I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.’” It was the time when Jesus gained glory when He suffered and died on the cross. Glory not only to Jesus, but also to Heavenly Father. Look at John 17:1 – “Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.’” In accomplishing this great work, Jesus did not suffer from drinking wine mingled with gall and suffered and died on the cross with a hazy mind, but He suffered enough without trying to lessen His pain in forgiving our sins and saving us.
In today's text, Mark 15:24, the Bible says, “they crucified him,” and the time Jesus was crucified was "the third hour" (v. 25), that is, about 9:00 in the morning (v. 25). In John 19:14, when Pilate, the Roman governor, questioned Jesus, the Bible says, “It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour.” There are several theories about this difference, and one of them is that it is the same as the difference between the solar and lunar calendars in Korea. To us, the time of Jesus' crucifixion and the time of Pilate's interrogation seem to conflict with each other. But since our premise is that we believe in the inerrancy of the Scripture, the difference between these conflicts is not yet apparent so we just don't understand yet. When Jesus was crucified, He was nailed to both hands and feet. On the inscription on the name of Jesus’ crime, “The King of the Jews” was written (Mk. 15:26). Two robbers were crucified with Jesus, one on His right hand and the other on His left (v. 27). Also, if we look at Mark 15:24, the Bible says, “And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take” and more details about this are recorded in John 19:23-24: “When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ‘Let's not tear it,’ they said to one another. ‘Let's decide by lot who will get it.’ This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, ‘They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.’ So this is what the soldiers did.” Here the Bible says that the soldiers who crucified Jesus took Jesus' clothes and divided them into four pieces, each holding one. However, Pastor Hendrickson and Pastor James Boyce said that these four pieces were (a) turbans, (b) shoes, (c) a belt, and (d) garments, and interpreted that each of the four soldiers had one. Jesus' "undergarment" was to be taken by the soldiers, not tearing it, but by casting lots, which was fulfilled as prophesied in Psalms 22:18: “They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.”
Mark 15:29-32 says, “Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, ‘Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!’ In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, ‘He saved others; He cannot save Himself. Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!’ Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.” Similar words are also recorded in Matthew 27:39-44, and if we look at the written words, “those passing by” who insulted Jesus with blasphemy on the temple and blasphemy, mockingly tempted Jesus to do two things. Those two were “save Yourself! If You are the Son of God” and “come down from the cross” (Mt. 27:40). Those who joined their words were the chief priests, the scribes and elders. They also mocked Jesus like this: “’He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, I am the Son of God’” (vv. 42-43). In this mockery, they, like passers-by, told Jesus to come down from the cross. Looking at this, everyone ridiculed that if Jesus is truly the Son of God, then He should not die on the cross, whether He saves Himself or God will save Him. This is the work of Satan. Satan did not want Jesus to die on the cross. To be more specific, Satan did not want Jesus to die on the cross, bearing all our sins. It was because Satan never wanted us to be forgiven of our sins and be saved. However, God wanted Jesus, the only begotten Son whom He loves and delights in (3:17), to be crushed and to be in grief (Isa 43:10) and to die on the cross as God ignored Jesus’ crying out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:46). The reason is because God wanted all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). The robbers who were crucified with Jesus also insulted Him with the same words (Mt. 27:44).
Jesus accomplished our salvation by bearing the cross of shame and dying by being nailed to the cross, taking our place of everything we had to suffer. Jesus is glorified and gives glory to God his Father. We must give glory only to the Lord while we live on this earth with a grateful heart.