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| April 13, 2001 |
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| MARK 15 ~ The Crucifixion Of Jesus "And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put in about his head. And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him." (vv 16-19) The act of putting a purple robe and crown of thorns on Jesus was mere mockery. They were vicious! They kept on smitting Him ad spitting on Him. This was mre than ordinary human hatred. This was brutal and cruel, revealing the degradation of the human heart. Are you seeing what Jesus endured when He took our place? The cross was still before Him. "And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming ot of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross." (vv 20-21) After a morning of inhuman suffering they led Him away to be crucified. Simon was from Cyrene in North Africa. He probably was attending the Passover in Jerusalem. It appears that he was picked out of the crowd by chance to help carry the cross. It is believed that Jesus carried the cross to the city gates. "And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not." (vv 22-23) Golgotha means "the place of a skull." Our word is "Calvary." The wine mingled with myrrh was a drug to help deaden the awlful ordeal of the cross for those about to die. It is interesting to note that when Jesus was born, wise men brought Him myrrh also. When He died, He was offered myrrh. Myrrh speaks of death. "And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take." (v 24) No gospel writer records the details of the Crucifixion; they give us only incidents around the Crucifixion. The Spirit of God drew a veil over it as if to say, "There is nothing here to satisfy sadistic gossip. There is nothing here with which an idle mind should be occupied. It is too horrible." The parting of His garments was in fulfillment of the prophecy in Psalm 22:18. "And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS." (vv 25-26) Now we are told here that that it was the third hour when they crucified Him, which was nine o'clock in the morning. (Mark uses the Hebrew computation of time, while John uses the Roman.) John tells us that it is written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Tomorrow we will see the charge for which they crucified Him. God Bless you. <J><E><S><U><S>< <S><A><V><E><S>< (And what a better time than this to rejoice in it!) |