February 12: Mark 15

Today's reading.

This is it. The events of this chapter mark the climax of Jesus's life and Mark's gospel.

Mark's account of Jesus's life begins with the message of Jesus: "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (1:15). Chapter 15 is the last time we could say the kingdom is "at hand," close, nearby. Jesus's death on the cross is what would finally make the kingdom not near, but here.

Read this chapter again in light of all that Jesus has said. Throughout Mark, Jesus has been saying he would be delivered to the rulers of the people and be crucified (8:31; 9:9, 30; 10:33-34, 45; 12:6-11; 14:8, 18, 24-25, 28, 41). There was never a point in Mark when Jesus was unsure of his future. He has had to battle against the ignorance of his disciples, the assumptions of crowds, his followers' desire to make him a king. He's done all this blamelessly, walking in perfect obedience to the Father. And now he stands before Pilate and before the people, beaten, interrogated, accused and condemned to death, all so that he could give himself a ransom for many (10:45).

It's because he had resigned himself to the Father's will (14:36) that he can now stand as a criminal before his accusers and amaze Pilate by making no response to their charges (15:3-5). He knows the crowd will scream for his crucifixion, and that Pilate will grant it (15:6-15). He knows the names and intimate personal details of the soldiers who would mock him, beat him, and nail his hands and feet to an old tree trunk (15:16-20). This Almighty Son of God knows poor Simon of Cyrene will be made to carry the tree up the hill called Golgatha because he will no longer be physically strong enough to do it, so great are his wounds (15:21-22). He knows those who stand around at his public, humiliating death will think all his words were little more than hot air, that they will believe his claims to power and authority were empty words (15:29-32). He knows the words of Psalm 22 will come true when he's lifted up, bruised and bloodied, nailed to a tree, that because he is bearing our sins in his body (1 Pet. 2:24) the Father will turn his back on his own beloved Son (15:33-36). He knows that in a few short hours, he will breathe his last (15:37).

So, then, why? Why does Jesus, knowing all that will happen to him in the coming hours, why does he just stand there? Why does he let his accusers shout lies, his executioners do their worst? Why does he let himself be led like a lamb to the slaughter (Isa. 53:7)?

Because his cross would bring the kingdom.

The moment Jesus breathed his last, "the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom" (15:38). The moment Jesus's sacrifice for our sins was complete, we were reconciled to God through him! The moment the penalty for our sins was paid by his blood (10:45), the curtain was no more. The separation between sinful humans and a holy God was eliminated at the cross. When Christ died, the kingdom of God was here; the relationship, the fellowship, the communion between God and his people was restored. With Christ—who is King (15:2)—you and I can follow him by faith into the presence of the Lord Himself.

So great is Jesus's love for you and me that he hung, abandoned, rejected, bleeding, humiliated on the cross. So great is God's purpose for us that he sent Christ to die for sin so that our sin would no longer keep us from him. So great is God's grace that we now have the freedom in Christ to live as God's children in grateful obedience to Him. So great is the kingdom. So great is the cross.