How Deep the Father's Love (Mark 15:16-32)
Do you enjoy watching reality tv shows?
Perhaps one of the reasons why I find myself fixated on clips from reality tv is that every once and a while you see an instance where someone’s having a meltdown, or things just go horribly wrong… and I can’t help but feel tremendous encouragement thinking to myself… “at least I don’t have it as bad as this person!”
There’s a temptation to read through the final days of Jesus’ life in the book of Mark and think to ourselves… “Judas… what a horrible guy!” or “Look at these Pharisees and Jewish leaders who are so objectively unfair to Jesus… what a bunch of bozos!”
Maybe the temptation is to read through passages like Mark 14 and 15 and think to ourselves, “I would never do that to Jesus.”
This weekend we are going to take a deeper look into the suffering of Christ and my prayer is that we can humbly approach such a weighty passage and consider: In what ways are our sins connected to Christ and this historical event of the crucifixion?
Furthermore, my hope is that we can look to Jesus as the silent and sacrificial lamb who goes willingly to death so that you and I can experience a gift of love that is emphatically unmatched by any experience we’ve ever had!
Looking forward to starting off this final month of 2023 with you all!
Blessings!
Jason
16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.
21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.
- Mark 15:16-32