Mark 15:16-32

Mark 15:16-32

1. We see Jesus delivered into the hands of the Roman soldiers, as a criminal condemned to death.
2. We see Jesus insulted and made a laughing-stock by the Roman soldiers.
3. We see Jesus stripped of His garments and crucified naked before His enemies.
4. We see Jesus suffering the most ignominious and humiliating of all deaths, even the death of the cross.
5. We see Jesus reckoned a transgressor and a sinner.
6. We see Jesus mocked when dying, as one who was an impostor, and unable to save Himself.

"The sufferings described in it would fill our minds with mingled horror and compassion, if they had been inflicted on one who was only a man like ourselves. But when we reflect that the sufferer was the eternal Son of God, we are lost in wonder and amazement. And when we reflect further that these sufferings were voluntarily endured to deliver sinful men and women like ourselves from hell, we may see something of Paul's meaning when he says, "The love of Christ passes knowledge."

"Let us leave the passage with a deep sense of the enormous debt which all believers owe to Christ. All that they have, and are, and hope for, may be traced up to the doing and dying of the Son of God. Through His condemnation, they have acquittal--through His sufferings, peace--through His shame, glory--through His death, life."

Question:

1. Brothers and sisters, I want to close with a quote from Mike McKinley’s book Friendship with God. He says, “Communion with Jesus, then, means letting our minds dwell upon the power of his blood and the wonderful gift of being set free from the pollution of sin…One moment’s communion with Christ by faith herein is more effectual to the purging of the soul, to the increasing of grace, than the utmost self-endeavors of a thousand ages.”

And so my only question is: do we see the love of God for us in Christ as we read these words in Mark? Do we let our minds go here more than just at an Easter service? If McKinley is right, shouldn’t we let our minds dwell upon the power of His blood often?