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Mark 14:53-15:15
Why should
Jesus die?
Jesus dies
for being exactly who he is.
Mark’s gospel begins saying Jesus is Christ, Son of God.
Verse 61 –
the High Priest asks Jesus – Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed
One. Jesus says ‘I AM’ which is
the very name of God in the OT.
And immediately Jesus has signed His own death warrant.
Jesus dies
for being who He is. Uni student: ‘It would be very inconvenient if God
came down’
Reflected in
the mob – 15:12-14. Why should
Jesus die? What crime? Being who He is.
Humanity is
so perverse that we think it’s legitimate to kill God for daring to be
God!
Many
philosophers of the 19th and 20th centuries spoke
of the death of God – enlightened man can do away with God, they
said. Actually we had passed that verdict
2000 years ago. We hate God for
being who He is. And when He shows
up, we string Him up.
But please
know that Jesus did indeed die for claiming divine honours. The very charge on which He died was
blasphemy (v64).
No other
religious leader has claimed this.
If you asked Buddha whether he was God, he’d smile and tell you
you needed more enlightenment. If
you asked Muhammed whether he was God he might try to stone you for
blasphemy. Jesus, on pain of
death, claimed to be the Christ, the Son of God – Filled without measure
by the Spirit, the eternal Son of the Father. Jesus claims to BE the second person of
the trinity. That is who He
is. And so as He’s on trial He
doesn’t act like someone on trial.
He doesn’t
defend Himself. He’s not
intimidated by their threats.
Instead He says v62 – HE’s not ultimately the One on trial. He, ultimately, is the Judge of the
world.
What we have
here is the Judge being judged.
And actually the ones we should pity are the Jews and the Romans
and these soldiers. V65 – they
beat up the Judge of the earth.
They mock Him and blindfold Him, beat Him and say ‘Prophesy!’. It’s a game for them – if He’s the Son
of God He should be able to prophesy who hit Him. The deep irony is that as they taunt
Him with the word prophesy, one of His prophecies is coming true
From v66,
Peter is denying Jesus, just as Jesus had prophesied (14:30).
We shouldn’t
think of ourselves as better than Peter.
He really meant it when he said 14:29:
"Even if
all fall away, I will not."
He really
meant it when he said 14:31:
"Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown
you."
Peter was
full of good intentions and bad practice, just like us. And when the heat was turned up Peter
crumbles – not under the cross examination of the High Priest, but under
a few simple questions froma servant
girl. V72 – Peter breaks down and weeps.
So should we all – none of us can stand with Jesus in the ultimate sense. As He had said in chapter 14:27 – ‘You
will all fall away.’ When Jesus
the Shepherd is struck – none of the sheep are able to withstand
the attack.
None of us
should think that we are able to do what the Christ, the Son of God
does. In a very real sense we
can’t be people Jesus dies WITH.
Actually we can only be people Jesus has to die FOR. We should weep like Peter at our own
fickleness, weakness and sin. We
all need Jesus death.
Well as we
move into chapter 15, we see Jesus before the Roman governor, Pilate.
V2: Again it’s the question of Jesus’ identity:
Are you the King of the Jews? After He answers this, He is silent. It
is clear that Jesus is on trial not for anything He has done but
for who He is. The crowd does not care if He’s
committed any crime (v14) – they want Him dead because He is the
King. Jesus dies because He’s
the Messiah and not for any crime.
What does this say about us?
What does it say about Him?
Why does Jesus die? He dies because of who He is. But there’s another way of answering
that question. Why did Jesus
die? Answer: to free us.
You see from v6 we learn about this custom to
release a prisoner at Passover. The crowd has a choice: have Barabbas, a
murderer, released into their midst or have their Messiah released into
their midst. The crowd decide
they’d rather have the murderer.
Incredible.
But just think how Barabbas would feel as
they take the shackles off his legs and he goes free. In the distance is the hill where he should
have died. And as he walks free he
can look at Jesus and say ‘That man died instead of me.’ Later on Barabbas could go to the
hillside and watch Jesus die and he could say very literally – ‘That man
died for me.’ What would Barabbas
feel? A guilty man who goes free,
because the Innocent Son of God died in his place. Well that is our position. We deserve godforsaken death. But Jesus dies in our place. His death is a ransom payment to free
us. And this meal we share reminds
us that our freedom cost Him His broken body and His blood
outpoured.
Why did Jesus die? He died for being who He is – the
Christ, the Son of God. He died
because humanity is so perverse it kills its Maker when it has the
chance. And He died to ransom
condemned sinners like you and me, He stepped into our shoes, He paid our
debts, died our death and gives us freedom.
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