Does The Cross Move You?
Mark 15:21-32
Message #60
My teaching mentor is a man I’ll never meet. His name is R. Kent Hughes, and I can’t help but borrow some of his great material as we approach our text today.
Crosses are so much a part of our culture today that we are generally not moved by them. Most often don’t even notice a cross. But we’ve got to shake ourselves out of that “Cultural Response” to the cross. We can’t become numb to the cross.
The immense and unimaginable suffering of Jesus on the cross has to be the greatest sign of his immense and unimaginable love for us. Through the suffering of Jesus on the cross we see the depth of the heart of God for us.
Jesus had already suffered greatly prior to Pilate turning him over to be crucified.
Jesus faced this cup of suffering in Gethsemane
He was beaten during the arrest
Beaten, spat upon, and taunted when he was before Caiaphas
Scourged by Pilate bringing him near death
Then mocked by Roman soldiers, a crown of thorns beaten into his skull
And then more ridicule, and spit mixing with blood running down his face from the beatings
And only then did Jesus begin the “Way of Sorrows” on the “Via Dolorosa.” We pick it up there just after Pilate had ordered Jesus crucified.
Mark 15:21 (NLT)
21 A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.)
Simon of Cyrene was a foreigner (North Africa) most likely just finishing a long journey to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem and most likely having no idea who Jesus even was. All he knew was this was not how he intended to celebrate Passover. But something happened to Simon the day he was chosen to carry the cross for Jesus. There are signs in both Acts 13 and in Romans 16 that Simon, his wife, and his son Rufus may have all become central figures in the birth of the New Testament church, and if that is the case it had to be in response to this incredible moment.
Jesus would have trudged – beaten beyond recognition and covered in blood – in the center of four Roman soldiers initially shouldering a cross beam far heavier than a man so close to death could carry. In front of Jesus, one soldier carried the sign, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” and Jesus would’ve been led on the longest possible route in order for Rome to instill fear in all who witnessed it.
And finally, Mark 15:22 tells us,
Mark 15:22 (NLT)
22 And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”).
But Jesus was already close to death.
Mark 15:23 (NLT)
23 They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it.
Jewish history says that women would be at the execution place, following Proverbs 31:6 which says “Give strong drink to the one who is perishing.” But Jesus refused it. Jesus rejected any form of relief for his suffering because he had to take the full wrath of God for our sin so that we would not have to take any of God’s judgment. He had to bear the full weight and the full penalty that all of our sin deserved.
I don’t think we understand what sin is to God. I don’t think we understand why the wrath of God is necessary on sin because sin is what we think. “Well, I’m a pretty good person, but I just kind of messed up in this one area.” It’s not like that. Sin is forbidden from being in God’s presence and it deserves God’s wrath. And Jesus is going to bear the full weight and bear the full penalty right now.
And so, finally, Simon the Cyrene threw down the cross that he didn’t think was his to bear (even though Jesus was about to die on that cross for Simon the Cyrene and for us).
And we read,
Mark 15:24(a) (NLT)
24 Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross . . .
Spikes were driven through his wrists, sending lightning bolts of pain through his body. Then his knees were slightly bent and a single spike was driven through both feet. And then the cross was raised and dropped into a hole in the ground with a gut-wrenching thud, which would begin the agonizing process of death.
Medical professionals have often tried to describe the intensity of the pain of death on the cross. The weight of the body hanging by nails driven through the crucial nerves in the wrists and feet made every moment excruciating. And then, in order to breathe, Jesus would have to lift his weight against those spikes every time, sending a thousand volts of pain through his body. But he had to push his body up in order to get air into his lungs. And so, with the white-hot fire of pain consuming every inch of his body with every breath, Jesus moved closer to death.
Let me paraphrase what C.S. Lewis wrote about this moment.
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (paraphrased)
Jesus created the universe, already seeing the buzzing cloud of flies around the cross, his own flayed back pressed against the splintered stake, the nails driven through the medial nerves, the repeated suffocation as the body droops, the repeated torture, time after time, as his body is wrenched up, for each breath’s sake. If I may dare the biological image, God is a “host” who creates His own parasites, that we may rely on him to live. Herein is Love. This is the diagram of Love Himself, the inventor of all Loves.
Jesus Christ died on the cross to allow us to live in him (the parasite and the host).
Does the cross move you?
The cross reveals the love of God for you like nothing else in all the universe does. The horror and the intensity of the cross scream out to us that God loves us. Has seeing God-in-the-Flesh on the cross, dying in your place, ever moved you? Are we moved by the idea of the Lord of all Creation submitting himself to the brutality of dying on the cross out of his love for us?
And then Mark 15:24 says,
Mark 15:24(b) (NLT)
24 . . . They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece.
Psalm 22 was written one thousand years before Christ and seven hundred years before crucifixion was first used by Rome.
Psalm 22:14–18 (NLT)
14 My life is poured out like water (the spear), and all my bones are out of joint (Crucifixion). My heart is like wax, melting within me. (easily describes what happens to the heart)
15 My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead.
16 My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet.
17 I can count all my bones (no bones broken). My enemies stare at me and gloat. (definitely happening)
18 They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing. (exactly what happened)
An incredible description of the details of crucifixion written seven hundred years before it began to be used by Rome.
Mark 15:25-26 (NLT)
25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.
26 A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.”
John Chapter 19 tells us the religious leaders demanded over and over that Pilate change the sign to say “He CLAIMED to be King of the Jews.” But in John 19:22 we read,
John 19:22 (NLT)
22 Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”
And Pilate used the “perfect” verb tense, meaning this is a permanent, unchangeable thing. Jesus of Nazareth dying on the cross like the most humiliated criminal is named eternally, “The King of the Jews.”
This King of the Jews is the King of Heaven, and one day will be the returning King who will rule and reign over heaven and earth, and he is dying on the cross to save us.
This image must move us.
Mark 15:27-30 (NLT)
27 Two revolutionaries (criminals) were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.
29 The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days.
30 Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”
But Jesus couldn’t come down from the cross. Not because the nails held him there, but because God’s love for you held him there.
And it seems that dying on the cross in our place wasn’t enough. Jesus also had to face our mockery of him. You might say, “Oh, if I were there, I wouldn’t have done that.” But these people hurling insults at Jesus as he was dying for them is a picture of our sin nature and of God’s unconditional love for us.
And the religious leaders also did their part in the final humiliating of Jesus.
Mark 15:31-32(a) (NLT)
31 The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself!
32 Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” . . .
Don’t we know someone who still scoffs at Jesus like this? Have we ever been someone who scoffs at Jesus like this?
For the most part, Jesus on the cross didn’t move either the crowd or the religious people, and for the most part, Jesus on the cross doesn’t move people today.
WHY?
Maybe because we don’t understand how real, how horrific, and how required the cross was for our eternal life.
In a 17th century Puritan devotional book by Lewis Bayly is a conversation between the soul of a man and the Lord Jesus. Listen to the conversation as I read it, updating the King James English. It is a series of questions and answers between the Soul and the resurrected Jesus.
SOUL: Lord why would you be taken, when you could have escaped your enemies?
JESUS: So that your spiritual enemies would not be able to take you, and cast you into the prison of utter darkness.
SOUL: Lord, why would you be bound?
JESUS: That I might loose you from the bondage of your sins.
SOUL: Lord, why would you be lifted up on the cross?
JESUS: That I might lift you up to Heaven with me.
SOUL: Lord, why were your hands and feet nailed to the cross?
JESUS: To enable your hands to do the works of righteousness, and your feet to walk in peace.
SOUL: Lord, why would you have your arms nailed stretched out wide?
JESUS: That I might embrace you more lovingly, my sweet soul.
SOUL: Lord, why was your side opened with a spear?
JESUS: That you might have a way to come near to my heart.
When we imagine having this conversation with Jesus, does it move us? When the cross occupies our heart and our mind, does it move us?
We must NOT become numb to the cross because in the agony of the cross is the epitome of God’s love for us.
And so, finally, we return to the two criminals who were crucified with Jesus.
Mark 15:32(b) (NLT)
32 . . . Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.
Yes, they did, initially, just as we have in some way, at some time. But then, something happened to one of the criminals, and it is something that must happen inside each one of us if we desire to spend an eternity in heaven with God.
Luke 23:39–43 (NLT)
39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”
40 But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?
41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
43 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
And in a few hours, that promise from Jesus became true for that criminal.
Doesn’t it seem clear that the two crosses with the two thieves represent the choice that each of us must make? We all begin the same with Jesus.
ROMANS Ch 3 says
“No one is righteous, not even one”
“For we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s standard”
Romans 5:8 (NLT)
8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
That is what was happening on Calvary that day. Jesus was dying for these two sinners, but only one received the life that Jesus was dying to give him.
Somehow, this one criminal was moved by seeing Jesus on the cross, and suddenly it hits him, “this man IS who he says he is.” And as he was dying, he put his faith in WHO Jesus WAS hanging on that cross, and he put his faith in WHAT Jesus was doing there. He was moved by the cross just in the nick of time.
Have you been moved by the cross?
Please don’t be made numb to the cross by our culture. Don’t be made numb to the cross by some past experience with religion.
Take in the image of God-in-the-Flesh dying for you on the cross and then decide does the cross move you, to put your faith in Jesus Christ – today.
Crosses are so much a part of our culture today that we are generally not moved by them. Most often don’t even notice a cross. But we’ve got to shake ourselves out of that “Cultural Response” to the cross. We can’t become numb to the cross.
The immense and unimaginable suffering of Jesus on the cross has to be the greatest sign of his immense and unimaginable love for us. Through the suffering of Jesus on the cross we see the depth of the heart of God for us.
Jesus had already suffered greatly prior to Pilate turning him over to be crucified.
Jesus faced this cup of suffering in Gethsemane
He was beaten during the arrest
Beaten, spat upon, and taunted when he was before Caiaphas
Scourged by Pilate bringing him near death
Then mocked by Roman soldiers, a crown of thorns beaten into his skull
And then more ridicule, and spit mixing with blood running down his face from the beatings
And only then did Jesus begin the “Way of Sorrows” on the “Via Dolorosa.” We pick it up there just after Pilate had ordered Jesus crucified.
Mark 15:21 (NLT)
21 A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.)
Simon of Cyrene was a foreigner (North Africa) most likely just finishing a long journey to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem and most likely having no idea who Jesus even was. All he knew was this was not how he intended to celebrate Passover. But something happened to Simon the day he was chosen to carry the cross for Jesus. There are signs in both Acts 13 and in Romans 16 that Simon, his wife, and his son Rufus may have all become central figures in the birth of the New Testament church, and if that is the case it had to be in response to this incredible moment.
Jesus would have trudged – beaten beyond recognition and covered in blood – in the center of four Roman soldiers initially shouldering a cross beam far heavier than a man so close to death could carry. In front of Jesus, one soldier carried the sign, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” and Jesus would’ve been led on the longest possible route in order for Rome to instill fear in all who witnessed it.
And finally, Mark 15:22 tells us,
Mark 15:22 (NLT)
22 And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”).
But Jesus was already close to death.
Mark 15:23 (NLT)
23 They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it.
Jewish history says that women would be at the execution place, following Proverbs 31:6 which says “Give strong drink to the one who is perishing.” But Jesus refused it. Jesus rejected any form of relief for his suffering because he had to take the full wrath of God for our sin so that we would not have to take any of God’s judgment. He had to bear the full weight and the full penalty that all of our sin deserved.
I don’t think we understand what sin is to God. I don’t think we understand why the wrath of God is necessary on sin because sin is what we think. “Well, I’m a pretty good person, but I just kind of messed up in this one area.” It’s not like that. Sin is forbidden from being in God’s presence and it deserves God’s wrath. And Jesus is going to bear the full weight and bear the full penalty right now.
And so, finally, Simon the Cyrene threw down the cross that he didn’t think was his to bear (even though Jesus was about to die on that cross for Simon the Cyrene and for us).
And we read,
Mark 15:24(a) (NLT)
24 Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross . . .
Spikes were driven through his wrists, sending lightning bolts of pain through his body. Then his knees were slightly bent and a single spike was driven through both feet. And then the cross was raised and dropped into a hole in the ground with a gut-wrenching thud, which would begin the agonizing process of death.
Medical professionals have often tried to describe the intensity of the pain of death on the cross. The weight of the body hanging by nails driven through the crucial nerves in the wrists and feet made every moment excruciating. And then, in order to breathe, Jesus would have to lift his weight against those spikes every time, sending a thousand volts of pain through his body. But he had to push his body up in order to get air into his lungs. And so, with the white-hot fire of pain consuming every inch of his body with every breath, Jesus moved closer to death.
Let me paraphrase what C.S. Lewis wrote about this moment.
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (paraphrased)
Jesus created the universe, already seeing the buzzing cloud of flies around the cross, his own flayed back pressed against the splintered stake, the nails driven through the medial nerves, the repeated suffocation as the body droops, the repeated torture, time after time, as his body is wrenched up, for each breath’s sake. If I may dare the biological image, God is a “host” who creates His own parasites, that we may rely on him to live. Herein is Love. This is the diagram of Love Himself, the inventor of all Loves.
Jesus Christ died on the cross to allow us to live in him (the parasite and the host).
Does the cross move you?
The cross reveals the love of God for you like nothing else in all the universe does. The horror and the intensity of the cross scream out to us that God loves us. Has seeing God-in-the-Flesh on the cross, dying in your place, ever moved you? Are we moved by the idea of the Lord of all Creation submitting himself to the brutality of dying on the cross out of his love for us?
And then Mark 15:24 says,
Mark 15:24(b) (NLT)
24 . . . They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece.
Psalm 22 was written one thousand years before Christ and seven hundred years before crucifixion was first used by Rome.
Psalm 22:14–18 (NLT)
14 My life is poured out like water (the spear), and all my bones are out of joint (Crucifixion). My heart is like wax, melting within me. (easily describes what happens to the heart)
15 My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead.
16 My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet.
17 I can count all my bones (no bones broken). My enemies stare at me and gloat. (definitely happening)
18 They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing. (exactly what happened)
An incredible description of the details of crucifixion written seven hundred years before it began to be used by Rome.
Mark 15:25-26 (NLT)
25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.
26 A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.”
John Chapter 19 tells us the religious leaders demanded over and over that Pilate change the sign to say “He CLAIMED to be King of the Jews.” But in John 19:22 we read,
John 19:22 (NLT)
22 Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”
And Pilate used the “perfect” verb tense, meaning this is a permanent, unchangeable thing. Jesus of Nazareth dying on the cross like the most humiliated criminal is named eternally, “The King of the Jews.”
This King of the Jews is the King of Heaven, and one day will be the returning King who will rule and reign over heaven and earth, and he is dying on the cross to save us.
This image must move us.
Mark 15:27-30 (NLT)
27 Two revolutionaries (criminals) were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.
29 The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days.
30 Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”
But Jesus couldn’t come down from the cross. Not because the nails held him there, but because God’s love for you held him there.
And it seems that dying on the cross in our place wasn’t enough. Jesus also had to face our mockery of him. You might say, “Oh, if I were there, I wouldn’t have done that.” But these people hurling insults at Jesus as he was dying for them is a picture of our sin nature and of God’s unconditional love for us.
And the religious leaders also did their part in the final humiliating of Jesus.
Mark 15:31-32(a) (NLT)
31 The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself!
32 Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” . . .
Don’t we know someone who still scoffs at Jesus like this? Have we ever been someone who scoffs at Jesus like this?
For the most part, Jesus on the cross didn’t move either the crowd or the religious people, and for the most part, Jesus on the cross doesn’t move people today.
WHY?
Maybe because we don’t understand how real, how horrific, and how required the cross was for our eternal life.
In a 17th century Puritan devotional book by Lewis Bayly is a conversation between the soul of a man and the Lord Jesus. Listen to the conversation as I read it, updating the King James English. It is a series of questions and answers between the Soul and the resurrected Jesus.
SOUL: Lord why would you be taken, when you could have escaped your enemies?
JESUS: So that your spiritual enemies would not be able to take you, and cast you into the prison of utter darkness.
SOUL: Lord, why would you be bound?
JESUS: That I might loose you from the bondage of your sins.
SOUL: Lord, why would you be lifted up on the cross?
JESUS: That I might lift you up to Heaven with me.
SOUL: Lord, why were your hands and feet nailed to the cross?
JESUS: To enable your hands to do the works of righteousness, and your feet to walk in peace.
SOUL: Lord, why would you have your arms nailed stretched out wide?
JESUS: That I might embrace you more lovingly, my sweet soul.
SOUL: Lord, why was your side opened with a spear?
JESUS: That you might have a way to come near to my heart.
When we imagine having this conversation with Jesus, does it move us? When the cross occupies our heart and our mind, does it move us?
We must NOT become numb to the cross because in the agony of the cross is the epitome of God’s love for us.
And so, finally, we return to the two criminals who were crucified with Jesus.
Mark 15:32(b) (NLT)
32 . . . Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.
Yes, they did, initially, just as we have in some way, at some time. But then, something happened to one of the criminals, and it is something that must happen inside each one of us if we desire to spend an eternity in heaven with God.
Luke 23:39–43 (NLT)
39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”
40 But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?
41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
43 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
And in a few hours, that promise from Jesus became true for that criminal.
Doesn’t it seem clear that the two crosses with the two thieves represent the choice that each of us must make? We all begin the same with Jesus.
ROMANS Ch 3 says
“No one is righteous, not even one”
“For we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s standard”
Romans 5:8 (NLT)
8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
That is what was happening on Calvary that day. Jesus was dying for these two sinners, but only one received the life that Jesus was dying to give him.
Somehow, this one criminal was moved by seeing Jesus on the cross, and suddenly it hits him, “this man IS who he says he is.” And as he was dying, he put his faith in WHO Jesus WAS hanging on that cross, and he put his faith in WHAT Jesus was doing there. He was moved by the cross just in the nick of time.
Have you been moved by the cross?
Please don’t be made numb to the cross by our culture. Don’t be made numb to the cross by some past experience with religion.
Take in the image of God-in-the-Flesh dying for you on the cross and then decide does the cross move you, to put your faith in Jesus Christ – today.