Link to the Passion week calendar

56:28

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Pilate, Jesus, Jews, crucify, mockery, verse, Romans, Simon, Cyrene, mock, Christ, beat, sin, cross, Mark, scourged, king, scourging, man, purple robe

Table of Contents

Introduction.. - 1 -

1. The Scorn of Jesus. - 4 -
2. The Servant of Jesus. - 9 -

The gospel - 11 -

Introduction

We continue in the Gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 15. You can see the title of the sermon this morning in your bulletin, there is The Amusing Mockery of Christ. The root word for mockery, "mock" is traced back to the French word, "se moquer de" which means to laugh at, to scoff at, or to make fun of. Listen to what one source says about mockery, says this, “in a philosophical argument, the appeal to mockery is an informal fallacy, which presents an opponent's argument as absurd, ridiculous, or humorous, and therefore not worthy of serious consideration." It goes on and says, "that a form of mockery is making an opponent and their argument, the object of a joke."

That's what is happening in our text here this morning, as we come to Mark, chapter 15. Jesus has become the object of a joke. Pilate wants nothing to do with Jesus. And he's afraid of the crowd of Jews who have gathered together there at the Praetorium where he is at. He's terrified of this crowd. And so he allows for the scourging and the mockery, and ultimately the crucifixion of Jesus to happen.

But Jesus goes to the cross to be crucified, Pilate allows for the Romans to begin to mock Jesus, and to scoff at Him, and to turn Him into a comedy for their own laughter. They'll dress Him up to showcase Him as a king, not realizing that He is the King of kings in the Lord of lords. They'll continue their mistreatment of Jesus by beating Him and spitting on Him. They'll begin to use Jesus and play with Him as a cat plays with a mouse. While He sits there and remains silent. He'll become to them nothing more than a worthless criminal who deserves to die. Because of His claim to be the king of the Jews, they'll make fun of Him as they hail Him, as the king. And Jesus will willingly take the mockery and the abuse, just as it was prophesied about Him, that He would do this. Listen to Isaiah 53:3 "He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him." (Isaiah 53:3)

This morning we're going to see this mockery played out. So, if you haven't already, please open your Bibles to Mark 15. And follow along with me. Verse 16, we will begin. Mark 15 in verse 16. “The soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman cohort. 17 They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; 18 and they began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. 20 After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him.
    21 They pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross.” (Mark 15:16-21)

Now, if you remember, Jesus has just been put on trial. He's gone through six different trials up to this point. Throughout the night and the early morning. Three of those trials were religious trials before the Jewish leaders, and then three more civil trials before Pilate, and then He was taken over to Herod. And then after Herod didn't make a decision or verdict, then He was brought back to Pilate again. As we saw last time in verse 15, Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd to cover his own skin, although he knew that Jesus is innocent. He turned Jesus then over to be scourged, then to be crucified.

This morning, we're going to look at the mockery of Jesus that takes place after His scourging, but before He is taken to the cross to be crucified. But before we get into our passage, we need to understand what Pilate is trying to do with this angry mob of Jews that are there before him. Remember the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious leaders and the crowd, they're there at the Praetorium where Jesus is on trial before Pilate. They won't go into the Praetorium. These Jews won't, so that they won't become defiled because they believe that entering a gentile dwelling would defile them and make them unclean. But it's the week of the Passover. In fact, it's the day of the Passover. And so, these Jews do not want to be defiled, unclean.

Pilate continues to go back and forth. Jesus is inside of the Praetorium, the crowd and the Sanhedrin they're all outside in the courtyard of the Praetorium. So, Pilate has to go back and forth between Jesus -- talking with Jesus --- and going out to the crowd and talking with them. But Pilate says something to the Jews in Luke 23 in verse 16, that I want us to see. Turnover in your Bibles to Luke chapter 23. Luke gives us some details here that Mark doesn't give. But in Luke 23, we see Pilate doing something here with Jesus, Luke 23, beginning in verse 13.

“Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him. 15 No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him. (look at verse 16) 16 Therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” (Luke 23:13-16)

Notice Jesus has already had His first trial before Pilate, then He has a second trial over before Herod. Herod then sends Him back. And now He's back before Pilate for this third trial. Pilate then goes out to the Sanhedrin, where they are at and the people who are standing there and he says to them that Jesus is innocent. But he comes up with a plan. Pilate has a plan. Look at what it says in verse 16. He says, "I will punish Him and release Him." (Luke 23:16) That word "punish" there in the Greek is "paideuó" which means to punish or flog. But this flogging here, this type of flogging would be a lighter type of flogging. Basically, as a warning to someone and against someone who might try and start a revolt against Rome.

There were three different types of floggings. There was a light one, a medium one, and then a heavy one. This is the lighter one. And so, what Pilate is doing here is he's says, I've got a plan, I'll flog Him, I'll punish Him and then I'll release Him. Pilate thinks that he can satisfy these Jews, if he just gives Jesus a good beating and then releases Him. But look at verse 18. “But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!” (Luke 23:18) They didn't want Jesus to have a little beating. Notice down in verse 20. Look at what it says in verse 20. “Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, 21 but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!” 22 And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore” (notice what he says here) “I will punish Him and release Him.” (Luke 23:20-22) Again, that's what Pilate is after.  I'll punish Him and release Him. But look at verse 23. “But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. (Luke 23:23) Pilate wanted to punish Jesus. But the Jews wanted Him dead. They didn't want Him released.

Even though Pilate continued to try and release Jesus, I'll just punish Him and then I'll release Him. I'll just punish Him and then I'll release Him. The Jews didn't want that. This is important to notice. We're going to see what they do then with Jesus. Turn back to Mark chapter 15 with me. Look at verse 15. Verse 15, says this, we talked about it last week, “Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.” (Mark 15:15)

Notice what Pilate did then after he released Barabbas. He releases Barabbas and then he had Jesus scourged. The word that is there in Mark 15, in verse 15, in the Greek is different from the word punish over in Luke 23. This is the word "phragellosas", meaning to flog or scourge, and refers to a punishment inflicted on someone after a sentence of death had been pronounced on him. This is the worst type of flogging. This was a horrible, torturous beating.

This is what I spoke about last week, as they would beat him with a whip that had leather thongs with sharp bone and metal pressed into those leather tongs, implanted into them. And they would beat Him. And as those leather thongs hit His back, His back being fully exposed, they would penetrate into the skin. And then as they pulled back, it would rip the flesh off of His back. The Jews they limited lashes to 40 lashes, but the Romans had no limitation on their lashes. They would just continue to give and give and give to their victims. Some of their victims even died from the lashings that they received from this scourging.

Jesus is not in the hands of the Jews. Who is He in the hands of? The Romans.  Now He's in the hands of the Romans. And what do they do? They scourged Him. But before they take Jesus to the cross, we're going to see what they did to Him in verses 16 through 20 of Mark chapter 15.

1.     The Scorn of Jesus

This will lead to our first point here this morning of what we will call The Scorn of Jesus, The Scorn of Jesus. Look at verse 16. “The soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman cohort. (Mark 15:16) Notice they take Jesus into the Praetorium. But if you remember from last week, you might be thinking, I thought that they were already in the Praetorium. Right? Isn't that where Jesus was? As Pilate would go back inside to the Praetorium where Jesus was, where he was bound. He would go inside and talk with Jesus. And then he would come outside, and he would go and talk with the Jews that are out there.

Isn't Jesus already in the Praetorium? Jesus was in the Praetorium, but they wouldn't scourge their prisoners inside of the Praetorium. What they would do is they would take them out to a public courtyard. Most likely they're near the Praetorium not too far from where Pilate was. We don't know what the exact location is. But they would take them out to a public square so that they could give the lashes there in front of everyone. And they would publicly beat their prisoners. The Romans would to humiliate them in public. They did this to Jesus. They tied Him to a post, and they beat Him. They scourged Him. Then they let Him back into the Praetorium.

Now, why would Pilate want to scourge Jesus like this? Didn't he just want to punish Him before in Luke 23? Wasn't that his plan? Why would Pilate then decide that Jesus is to be scourged, to be flogged to the worst degree? Why does he decide this? Well, most likely, he wanted to do this in front of the Jews so that they could see the pain and the suffering that Jesus was going through. And maybe some of the Jews then would have compassion for Jesus and say, “Okay, fine, that's enough, release Him.”

Remember, Pilate doesn't think that Jesus is guilty. So, he's thinking that if he can just publicly humiliate Jesus, then the Jews will say, Okay, fine, that's enough. He's had enough punishment. But the Jews don't. Why? Because they wanted Him what? Dead. They wanted him dead. So, the Romans lead Jesus back over to the Praetorium where Pilate was. Notice what it says there in verse 16. "And they called together the whole Roman cohort." (Mark 15:16)

Now, if you remember from a few weeks ago, we talked about this, this Roman cohort.  600 soldiers was a cohort. But some of those soldiers, they would have been on duty at this time, because remember, it's the Passover. So, you've got tens of thousands of people that are there in Jerusalem, they have to keep the peace. These guys are on duty. And so most likely those from the Roman cohort who are called over to where Jesus was, where those who were off duty, most likely a couple hundred Roman soldiers. We don't know the exact number, but most likely there was a few hundred soldiers there. And they now all join in to mock Jesus. They come on over to mock Jesus.

And what did they do? Look at verse 17. “They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; 18 and they began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Mark 15:17-18) You can picture this. These men, a few hundred of them all gathered around Jesus in the Praetorium. And they're all interested in Jesus at this time. Why? Because if you remember from the night before, they were the ones who had gone into the garden to go and arrest Jesus, right? That's who Judas brought with him. It was Judas, the Sanhedrin, the temple police and the Roman soldiers. They were there the night before, arresting Jesus there in the garden. So, they must have had some kind of interest in this case, thinking what are they going to do with Jesus? What's going to happen to Him? Well, after being scourged they obviously know the fate of Jesus. So, they begin to mess with Him. And to mock Him.

They dressed Him up in purple. Why purple? That was the color of royalty. It's the color of royalty. What's interesting is Matthew tells us that it was a scarlet robe. A scarlet robe. So, what was it purple or was it scarlet? I would just say it's the same thing (being colorblind myself) but some commentators say it's most likely a Roman soldier's robe, that was a discarded scarlet cloak, and looked purple enough to mimic royalty. So, one of those Roman guards took their robe off, and they put it on Jesus. They put it on Jesus' shoulders and His back. Now what has Jesus just gone through? Scourging. Think about the pain that that would have caused Jesus to put a robe now on His back that is completely torn up and exposing the flesh. So, they put this robe on Jesus. They didn't do it necessarily to bring pain to Jesus, but they did it to mock Him.

Then notice what it says there, they put a crown of thorns on His head. To continue their mockery of Him, they put this crown of thorns on His head to make this king look ridiculous. Some scholars say that the thorns on this crown could have been up to 12 inches long. Long thorns as they put those on His head. What's interesting is that a real crown would have been given to show honor to conquering heroes, to victorious athletes, or honored citizens. But they gave Jesus a crown of thorns to mock the honor that a king should be shown.

Matthew tells us that they also put a reed in His hand symbolizing a royal scepter. (Matt 27:29) So you can picture Jesus then sitting there with a robe on His back, with a crown of thorns on His head, and a reed in His hand. And they're just showing complete and utter scorn and mockery of Jesus.

Verse 18 says that "they began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!" (Mark 15:18) Romans would hail Caesar as emperor. And they would say, “Hail Caesar! Emperor!” That's what they would shout out, as Caesar would come into town, they would Hail Caesar as the Emperor. And they play off of that statement now here to mock Jesus by hailing Him as the King of the Jews.

Then look at verse 19. “They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him.” (Mark 15:19) they began to beat His head that had a crown of thorns on it, with a reed, most likely the reed that they had put into His hand that Matthew tells us about. They took it out of His hand, and they began to beat Him with it. They began to spit on Him, which is not the first time that they've done this. Right? You remember back in Mark chapter 14, verse 65 it says, “Some began to spit at Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists, and to say to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers received Him with slaps in the face.” (Mark 14:65)

This is the worst kind of mockery and shame that our Savior is going through. To have someone spit in your face is to show the worst kind of disgust for a person. Then they begin to, to kneel, to bow down before Him, to mock Him with worship, as they would do for Caesar -- and bow down to Him in worship. They mock Him and beat Him, and spit on Him. And if you look at the Greek, it conveys that these actions were done repeatedly, again, and again. They continued to do this to our Savior, to mock Him to beat Him, and to spit on Him. But this is exactly what Isaiah prophesied would happen to Him.

In Isaiah chapter 50, in verse 6, it says this, “I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.” (Isaiah 50:6) This was prophesied that Jesus would go through this, why? To save us from our sins. These Roman soldiers here... they treated Christ with the worst kind of treatment of all, because He claimed that He was the King of the Jews, which is true, right? That's a that's a true proclamation. He is the King of the Jews.

Why did the Romans do this to Him? Not so much because they had contempt for Jesus personally. But because they hated the Jews...who these Romans knew were waiting for their king. They were waiting for their king to arrive. The Romans know this. So, they take it out on Jesus. Basically, it's contempt for the Jews. But as Jim read this morning in Isaiah 53, isn't that what was prophesied? That He would go through all of this for us.

But Pilate still couldn't handle this. Pilate knows that Jesus is innocent. And he knows that Jesus has gone through a lot of pain and torture. And so, he tries one more time to clear his name. And we find this over in John, chapter 19. Turn with me over to John, chapter 19. We're going to spend some time in this chapter here because it's helpful for us to get the context and understand what Christ is going through. John chapter 19. Look at verse 1. "Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him." (John 19:1) We saw that back in Mark chapter 15. “And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; 3 and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face.” (John 19:2-3)

We just read about this and saw this back in Mark chapter 15. Look at what Pilate does, in verse 4.  “Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” 5 Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!” (John 19:4-5)

What did Pilate say before? "Behold, your King!" (John 19:14) But notice what he says now, "Behold, the Man." (John 19:5) Pilate brings Jesus out to show the Jews... as if to say, "is that enough? Do you see this man? Do you see what I've done to Him? Look at the blood that's coming down His face. Look at His back. And how beaten up He is. “Behold the Man!” Is that enough? Can I release Him now? Hasn't He gone through enough?" 

Look at what happens in verse 6. “So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” (John 19:6) No, it wasn't enough. “Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” (John 19:6) Still trying to clear his name. I find nothing wrong with this man. You guys take this man. You crucify Him yourself, you put Him to death, I will give you that power and authority to go and do that. Pilate wants no part of this. But Pilate is the one who has the power to stop it.

But he knows that if he doesn't do what the Jews want him to do, then they will riot. And he will be in deep water with Caesar for not keeping peace in Jerusalem. So, he tries to get them to crucify Jesus. Tries to get them to put Jesus to death. He tries to put this whole case in their hands. But the Jews know that they are not permitted to crucify anyone. If this gets back to Rome, and Rome hears that the Jews were the ones who did this, the Jews would be in big trouble. They know that only Rome has the authority to do this.

And this is amazing in this whole account here. This is amazing that the Jews would deny putting Jesus to death. Here is why. How did Jesus have to die? He had to be lifted up. He had to be lifted up. Remember the bronze serpent on the pole in the wilderness in Numbers 21:8? What did that point to? Pointed to Christ who would be lifted up! Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:14 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." (John 3:14) But if the Jews would have taken Jesus and killed Him, how would they have done it? They would have put Him down, and they would have stoned Him to death. Because Leviticus 24:16 says, "Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord,” (which that was their accusation against Jesus, right? That He blasphemed.) “the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him.” (Lev 24:16)

So, the Jews saying “no” here to Pilate, is fulfilling God's plan of making sure that His Son is lifted up, not cast down, and stoned. All of this is working out in God's perfect plan. God is still in sovereign control in this entire mockery of Christ.

Then look at John 19, verse 7. Notice what it says there. “The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be” (notice) “the Son of God.” (John 19:7) The Jews know that Jesus has claimed to be God. You'll hear people say all the time, Jesus never claimed to be God. Yes, He did. And the Jews knew it. The deity of Christ. Yes. He made a claim to be God, He told the people that He was God. And the Jews know this. And they said, He's made Himself out to be the Son of God, and to them -- to the Jews -- this is blasphemy and is punishable by death.

Notice that they now reveal to Pilate their true intentions. Why did they want to put Him to death? Because He made Himself out to be the Son of God. What were they telling Pilate before? "He's telling people, you don't need to pay taxes. He's going against Rome."... Now their true heart shows up, He is making Himself out to be the Son of God. He deserves to die.

Look at what this does to Pilate. Look at verse 8. “Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid; 9 and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. (John 19:8)

Notice Pilate is now fearful. Pilate is afraid. Because the Jews outside they told Pilate that He is claiming to be the Son of God, that He Himself is claiming to be God. And Pilate is now fearful. And he asked where Jesus is from. He's not asking about His hometown; he knows Jesus is from Nazareth. What's he asking about? Where are you from? Are you a God? --- Because in Pilate's paganism, in which people at that time believed -- they believed that gods would appear to people. We see this in Acts 14, where the people of Lystra thought that Barnabas was Zeus. And Paul was Hermes, because they healed a lame man. And the people in Lystra they said this, "The gods have become like men, and have come down to us." (Acts 14:11) That was their paganism on display. And Pilate now hears, "Wait, He claims to be the Son of God? He's a God? Where are You from?" He's terrified. Pilate thinks that Jesus is a God. Not realizing and recognizing that He is the God, the One and true God, the only God. And so, he wants to know where Jesus is from, and how does Jesus answer?

He doesn't. He remains silent. Look at verse 10. “So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered..." (John 19:10)

Now Jesus is going to talk...all right, you got my attention now. Look at what He says there in verse 11. “Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” (John 19:11)

Jesus tells Pilate that the only authority that he has is delegated authority from God the Father. You are working all of this out under the authority of My Father. And the only authority that's been given to you Pilate, is from Him to accomplish His perfect plan. And that's what you will do, Pilate...you will accomplish His plan. Because you're under His authority. The authority that you have is delegated authority.

Notice what Jesus says at the end of verse 11.  “for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin." (John 19:11) The one who delivered Him over to Pilate has the greater sin. That would be Judas and Annas and Caiaphas and Herod and the Sanhedrin. They have the greater sin.

Yes, there are degrees of sin. There are degrees of sin, and hell will be worse for those men who turned Jesus over to Pilate, then it will be for Pilate. There are degrees of sin. And hell will be worse for those who turned Jesus over to Pilate.  Hell will be hotter for those men.

Notice verse 12, “As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.” (John 19:12)

Now the Jews have Pilate trapped. He's now trapped, either crucify Jesus or turn on Caesar, what are you going to do Pilate? Then look at verse 13. “Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” 15 So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but” who?) “Caesar.” (John 19:12-15) We have no king but Caesar. He is not our king. He deserves everything that he's gotten. He's not the king of the Jews. They turned on their own king.

What did Pilate end up doing then with verse 16, "So he” (Pilate) “then handed Him” (Jesus) “over to be crucified." (John 19:16) He hands Him over to go to the cross.

Turn back over to Mark 15. We'll see what happens next. Verse 20. Notice what it says there. Mark 15 in verse 20, “After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him.” (Mark 15:20) Christ after being mocked and ridiculed and beaten, and scorned, they take the purple robe off of Him, and they put His own garments on Him. They lead Him out to be crucified.

What they would do at this time, the Romans, what they would do is they would make the one who is being crucified carry his own cross. They weren't going to carry the cross for Him. He's got to carry His own cross. They wouldn't carry the entire cross. It was only the crossbeam that they would carry. And that crossbeam would weigh more than 100 pounds. So, you think about this after being scourged and beaten how weak He is, and then they throw a cross beam on His shoulders, on His back so that He can then carry His cross out to go and be crucified. And He was to take it out to the execution site where they would then attach it to the upright stake where Jesus would be lifted up and die for sinners like us. So, they put the crossbeam on His shoulders, to carry it outside of the city to Golgotha, where He will be crucified.

And what they would do during this time, to these criminals that would go out whoever was going to be crucified, is they would take a sign and they would put it around that person's neck. That man's neck that would display the charges that were brought against him. So that as they walked through the city, everybody would be able to see what that person had done. What was the charge that was brought against Jesus? Here's what His sign said. “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19) which they would later take that sign and they would nail it above His head. So that He was on display for all to see as He was lifted up, that He is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. There He is... the sacrifice for our sins.

But He hasn't gone out to the cross yet. This time, He's carrying His cross. They put the crossbeam on His shoulders. But because He's so weak from the beatings, He collapses along the way. And someone else then is forced to help Him out. Which leads to our second point this morning.

2.     The Servant of Jesus

Point number two, The Servant of Jesus. We just saw the scorn of Jesus. And now we'll look at The Servant of Jesus. Look at verse 21. “They pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross.” (Mark 15:21) Who is the "they” there at the beginning of verse 21? The "they" is most likely the centurion and his assistants, who would have been assigned to carry out Pilate's orders for Him to be crucified. They were in charge now of the crucifixion. Jesus then has the crossbeam put upon His shoulders, and He's carrying His cross, but He collapses under the weight of it because His body is so weak.

So, what did they do? What did these Roman guards then do? They pressed into service, a passer-by. The Romans wouldn't carry the cross for Him, the Romans would not succumb and lower themselves to the point of helping out this person being crucified. So, what do they do? And they would do this often, they would just pick somebody out of the crowd and say, you help him. We're not going to do this. But he needs help, obviously, you can see, and we got to get him to Golgotha. So, you, Simon, you help Him. They picked Simon, the Cyrene. 

Cyrene was located on the northern part of the coast of Africa. And Simon being a Jew, you can tell from his name there, Simon, being a Jew, he's most likely there in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. What's interesting is there was actually a synagogue in Jerusalem for the Cyrenian Jews, they had their own synagogue there. And Simon at this time, just happens to be coming in from the country. Either he's coming in from that synagogue, or he's coming from Cyrene to come and celebrate the Passover, because this is the day of the Passover when they're going to celebrate it. And so, Cyrene, shows up ... Simon of Cyrene shows up from the country. And he's most likely entering the city as Jesus is walking out of the city with this crossbeam on His shoulders. And Simon just happened to be there at this time. But of course, we know this was not a coincidence.

This was not a coincidence that Simon is there. This is divine providence. This is divine providence. This was the day that this man would meet Jesus, his Savior in a mighty way. He would bear his own cross and help Him to get to Golgotha. Notice how Mark describes Simon, Simon of Cyrene. But he doesn't stop there, because Simon was a common name. Probably a lot of Simons in Cyrene, common Jewish name. So, he gives us more specific details here, Simon of Cyrene. Notice -- the father of Alexander and Rufus. Now, why is this important to know? God's Word is so amazing! I want to show you this.

This is so important for us to know. We know that Mark's gospel is whose gospel account?  Peter's. It’s Peter’s gospel account. Mark is the one who's writing it, as Peter has given him all of these details. But Mark is also writing this gospel account to the Christians in Rome. That's who this gospel is sent to. It's sent to the believers over in Rome. How does Simon of Cyrene relate to this?

Turn over to Romans. Romans chapter 16. We're studying Romans on Wednesday night. We haven't gotten this far yet. Romans chapter 16. This is amazing. It's going to blow your mind. Look at verse 13. Romans 16 and verse 13 says this. "Greet" who? "Rufus, a choice man in the Lord, also his mother, and mine." (Romans 16:13)

Who was Rufus?  The son of Simon of Cyrene. Who was Rufus' mother? The wife of Simon of Cyrene. They are faithful members of the church in Rome. How did this happen? Because there was a day when Simon of Cyrene met Jesus. And he served Him by carrying His cross. But he didn't just serve Jesus. It was that day that he believed in Jesus. He put his faith in Jesus. And then Simon went home and what did he do? He evangelized his family. And he told his sons, “Boys, I have met Jesus, honey, I have met Jesus. He is the Savior of the world."

And what did his family do? They believed as well. They put their faith in Jesus. They were saved. And it all started with divine providence on that day, in Jerusalem.

The gospel

Listen, if you are here this morning, and you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are not here by coincidence. You are here by divine providence. And you're here because God wants you to hear some news. He wants you to hear bad news. Bad news. The bad news is that you are a sinner. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23) Every one of us in this room have sinned against God, and your sin has separated you from Christ. And your sin is leading you to an eternity in hell -- where you will suffer forever without the opportunity of ever coming to Christ. But there isn't just bad news. There's also good news. The best news that any sinner could ever hear. God wants you to know that if you acknowledge your sin before Him, and repent of your sin, and put your faith in Jesus Christ alone, He will save you and He will give you eternal life with Him forever. That's the good news!

You don't have to work for it. You don't have to do anything to earn it. All you must do is repent of your sin, turn from your sin, and put your faith in Jesus Christ alone. And if you do that you will be saved. Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." It's a free gift, and he offers it to you today. Listen, you're not here by coincidence. This is divine providence, come to Christ today and be saved.

For those of us who are here this morning who are saved, there's a message for us as well. Jesus was mocked, and He was beaten, and He was persecuted. Listen church -- mockery and persecution will come. It's a part of our life. They did it to our Savior. They'll do it to us. Don't be shocked when the world hates you. Don't be shocked. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, "Indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

Don't be shocked when persecution comes. They mocked and persecuted our Savior, and they will mock and persecute us because of Him. That's who they're after. They're not after us. They're after our Savior. They hate Him. And so, they'll mock and they'll persecute us. Remember this, the next time that you are mocked or persecuted for your faith --and listen, let me encourage you to stand for Christ. Stand for Christ and fix your eyes on Jesus who is “the author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2) and He will see us all the way to the end. Be encouraged.

Father, we thank You for Christ who endured what He endured for our sake as we see the mockery and the hatred of Him...how the Jews despised Him. How the Jews hated Him. They put Him on a cross. We know that the world... the world hates Christ. Father, we love You. We thank You for what Christ accomplished for us so that we could be saved from our sins. We thank You that He endured all of that willingly and went to a cross where He was lifted up just as You said He would be. And where He drank the cup of Your wrath that was due to us. What an amazing exchange, that He would take the wrath for us, and that we would gain His righteousness. Father, we thank You for the work of Christ. Lord, I pray that You would strengthen us, that You would grow us, that You would help us to be bold, that we would be those who would stand for Christ, and that we would keep our eyes fixed upon Christ. And Lord, even when the world mocks us, and they hate us, they persecute us, Lord, may we remember, that's exactly what they did to our Savior. So Father, I pray that You would encourage our hearts this morning to stay strong, to be fixed on Christ, to never give up and never give into the world, that we would never turn our backs on You. But that we would love You, that we would worship You and that we would live our lives to bring glory and honor to Your name. We pray all of this in the name of our amazing, loving, compassionate, merciful Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.