Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1706

November 2, 2025

Mark 15.16-32       Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“The Crucifixion”

 

And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 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.

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. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 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, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 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.

 

• Isaiah 53

 

As we come to the end of Mark’s gospel, we take up the story of Christ’s passion. As I mentioned last Sunday, this is an odd time in the church calendar to take up this portion of the gospel story, but we do tend to skip over it in the “Easter” season as we go from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. The outline for this sermon is segmented into three parts, pre-crucifixion, crucifixion, and post-crucifixion.

We start with the prophetic voice of Isaiah, pre-crucifixion. Isaiah 53 is a long time before Christ. It is one of the most explicit revelations about the Messiah to come. It might be difficult for us to imagine why every Jew does not see the connection between Isaiah 53 and Jesus Christ, but I know that some Jewish testimonies, from those who have come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, some of them tell that the rabbis and their own families do not read Isaiah 53, even keep it hidden from students and children.

We can certainly see the connection, not just because it is evident in reading, but because the Spirit has enabled us to see. The Holy Spirit has given us the discernment of vision from prophecy to fulfillment. Paul speaks of this wonderful gift in 1 Corinthians 2.14-16, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” We can see clearly that Christ is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 and all the other passages in Isaiah that point to the suffering of Christ. I will not read the entire chapter but let us highlight some of the verses:

 

Isaiah 53.3-5 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

 

Isaiah also speaks to the condition of humanity – 53.6a All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;

 

Then back to Jesus – 53.6b-10a, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

 

53.12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

 

Okay, so I read most of it! But we can obviously see the connecting phrases of “pierced for our transgressions, with His wounds we are healed, bore the sin of many”. And Isaiah is just one among many Old Testament passages that foreshadow the One who would suffer for us, nailed to the cross, taking on the sins of the world.

 

• The Crucifixion

 

Today we read Mark’s account of the suffering and crucifixion of Christ. It was the intent of the soldiers to humiliate Jesus. They took Jesus away after His trial and the release of Barabbas. They placed a purple robe on Him – purple for royalty, mocking Him as King of the Jews. They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, they shouted, “Hail, King of the Jews,” they hit Him on the head with a reed, spat upon Him, and mocked Him. Within a span of five verses Jesus was abused in ways that are so brutal and abusive that we can hardly imagine it.

We see the vivid description and we realize that Christ gave Himself over to this suffering and His death for the sake of the world, for your sake and my sake. Christ suffered for us in ways that are so painful that we do not want to try to imagine it. Media that seeks to depict what Jesus went through often falls short. I guess Mel Gibson’s version in The Passion movie is one of the closest. Christ suffered horrendous pain for us. Jesus felt more suffering than we may ever know. He was abandoned by his friends, rejected by the religious establishment who should have received Him as the Messiah.

We all suffer in one way or another. Suffering is a part of life. But the Bible teaches us that we can learn from our sufferings. Paul even tells us that we should rejoice in suffering because it produces hope (Romans 5.1-5). Paul may have had in mind suffering that come from being faithful, suffering for the truth, suffering for following Christ, but I think also that any suffering in this life can and will be used for our growth in hope and faith. I speak with people who are suffering and they will often say that there are other people who suffer even more than they do. Yes, and Christ suffered more than any of us and He suffered for us! “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5.8).

Consider this when reading Mark 15 – for us, for you, for me, Christ suffered and died.

• 1 Peter 2.22-25

 

After Christ suffered and died (and, of course, rose from the dead) the disciples would give testimony to all that Jesus endured. The four gospels each tell their version, some with greater detail than others. Paul gives some of our greatest theological and spiritual revelations on what it means that Jesus died for us. Our post-crucifixion text to take up today is 1 Peter 2.22-25,

“He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

 

Does it not seem like Peter had a copy of Isaiah 53 in his off hand as he wrote these words? Let us draw these two passages together in comparison, first a line from Isaiah, followed by a line from Peter.

 

Isaiah: Although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth //

Peter: He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

 

Isaiah: He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth //

Peter: When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten.

 

Isaiah: Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, //

Peter: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.

 

Isaiah: with his wounds we are healed. //

Peter: By his wounds you have been healed.

 

Isaiah: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; //

Peter: For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

 

Jesus Christ died in order that we might also die, die to sin and self and the world, in order to live to righteousness and to Jesus and to love and hope and faith. Give some time to read the accounts of Christ’s suffering and death in the other gospels and give thanks for what Christ has done. When we come to the table, we are also remembering what Christ has done. Broken bread – the body of Christ, the cup – the blood of Christ. In this sacrament we remember, not in somber tones of sadness, but in the joy of life given through suffering and death. It is the inversion that brings life from death, that transfers us from darkness to light, that makes reality what is symbolized in our own baptism – that we have died with Christ, crucified with Him in a death like His that we might be raised to new life in a resurrection like His (Phil 3.10-11; Gal 2.20; Rom 6.3-4)! To God be the glory. Amen.