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Welcome back to our Bible study on the Gospel of Mark. We left off with Jesus being mocked and scourged by the Romans and crowned with thorns. And now we see Jesus carrying the cross. And of course, the next thing that happens, that we've already read about before, we spoke about in our first episode, is Simon of Cyrene helping him carry the cross in verse 21, and following the father of Rufus and Alexander, and they bring him to Golgotha, which means the place of the skull. There's even legends that that could be the place where Adam was buried. And of course, Jesus carrying the cross with a crown of thorns, the thorns that were the curse upon Adam. Here Jesus is seen bearing the curse of Adam, Adam himself. And he will die bearing the ultimate curse upon Adam, which is death. They offered him some wine mingled with myrrh, but he did not take it, that narcotic, as a kindness to those who are sentenced to death to ease their pain. But Jesus puts aside any narcotic that would ease his pain. He is going to drink the dregs of this cup that the Father has given him. He is going to suffer fully and freely for you and for me. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, and casting lots for them to decide what each should take. That itself is a prophecy going back to Psalm 22. And we'll come back to Psalm 22 in just a little bit, because Jesus will be citing that very psalm. And it was the third hour. And when they crucified. When they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read. So the inscription on the cross. Here's the charge. Why is he killed? King of the Jews. And he does die as the king of the Jews. To save the Jews and to save all. He is the king of the Jews. Now, it's interesting that the Romans will refer to Jesus as the king of the Jews. We're about to hear the chief priests and the scribes mocking Jesus. And they will refer to him as the king of Israel. And so the idea titled Jews would be something that Romans would say, whereas those who are inside Israel would say king of Israel. And so you can see the historical accuracy of who's saying what in the narrative, which again shows you the eyewitness testimony and the accuracy of these stories. It's really quite astonishing. And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. We think of James and John, who asked to be on his right and on his left, right. And of course, the Two who are next to Jesus as he's going into his glory are two thieves who are crucified. And then those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, aha, you who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross. So also the chief priests mocked him to one another. So even the chief priests come out to see this execution, to gloat over the sentencing of Jesus and saying, he saved others. He cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from that cross that we may see and believe. Ouch. There is that key theme of seeing and believing. And they are at the cross mocking. And what they should see and what they should believe is right before them. And ironically, it'll be a Roman centurion who will see and believe. It'll be the Roman who's going to, at the end, who's going to see and believe. But the chief priests and the scribes, the scholars, they see but disbelieve. So they mock Jesus. And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, eloi, eloi lamach sabachthani, which means, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now that phrase is from Psalm 22, and he will not be mocked any longer. And I think this is Jesus answer to all the mocking and ridicule. And what is Psalm 22? Let's take a quick, quick look at Psalm 22, because not only does it depict the passion of Jesus, and it's famous for that, but what oftentimes people miss is how it also depicts the resurrection of Jesus. So Psalm 22, Jesus cries from the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And it seems that Jesus feels abandoned by the Father. Is Jesus losing faith? Well, if you go back to Psalm 22, you'll find the answer to that question. Because Jesus couldn't say Psalm 22 because the Psalms weren't numbered yet. So the way you refer to a psalm is you quoted the opening line of the psalm to invoke the entirety of that psalm. Now, when you're crucified, your lungs are filling up with your body fluids. And to get enough breath in your lungs during a crucifixion to be able to speak, you have to lean up. And to lean up, you have to press against your feet, which are against the nail, which brings excruciating pain to lean up and get Enough air in your lungs is an act of extraordinary pain. So for Jesus to cry out and to say one word alone would be excruciating. But he speaks an entire line. He doesn't have the strength to speak the entire psalm, so he speaks the one opening line, which any good Jew knew, invoked the entirety of that psalm. So we can't stop at just the line. But my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Because the chief priests are saying, if you are the king, if you are the righteous one, if you are the anointed of God, how could you be on a cross, crucified and suffering? And the answer is, David, the first anointed one, suffered greatly, and he prayed a psalm that he was righteous and he suffered. And that did not mean that he was rejected by God, but rather it's a psalm of abandonment to God's will and trusting God, trusting that God would redeem him and vindicate him. So the first line, of course, is, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me from the words of my groaning? Oh, my God, I cry to you by day, but you do not answer. And by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted. Pistis. In the Greek, the word trust faith. In you our fathers trusted. They trusted and you did deliver them. They cried out to you, and they were saved. In you they trusted and they were not disappointed. But I am a worm and no man scorned by men, despised by all the people. All who see me mock at me. That's exactly what's happening to Jesus at the cross. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads. The very phrase Mark used. He committed his cause to the Lord. Let him deliver him. Isn't that exactly what the chief priest just said? Let him rescue him if he delights in him. Yet you are he who took me from the womb. You did keep me safe upon my mother's breasts. Upon you was I cast for my birth. And since my mother bore me, you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help. Many bowls encompass me. Strong bowls of Bashan surround me. They open wide their mouths at me like ravening and roaring lions. I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within my breast. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. You do lay me in the dust of death. Yea, dogs are round about me, a company of evildoers encircle me. They have pierced my hands and my feet, and I can count all my bones. They stare, they gloat over me, they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots. You can't have a more incredible and yet profound prophecy being fulfilled to its utter detail. And no one can fake this prophecy being fulfilled. Who wants to be crucified to claim that they have fulfilled this psalm? No phony would ever try to fulfill this psalm. Only God is foolish enough to be faithful and to die for us. And of course, you could see how, as Jesus quotes Psalm 22. My God, my God, why does thou forsake me? That is the response to the chief priests and the scribes. How can a son of David, an anointed, a king, suffer if God really loves him? Psalm 22 is the best response. It is the answer. And we hear not another word from the chief priests again at the cross. But the psalm continues. But you, O Lord, be not far off. O my help, hasten to my aid. Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog. Save me, answer me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will tell of your name. Now the second half of the psalm is a trust. He knows he's been handed over and he's going to die, but he knows that God will vindicate him. And the second half of the psalm is an amazing, the most amazing prayer of the Old Testament of abandonment to divine providence. It is the most amazing prayer of trust and and entrustment. It reminds me of the line of Job. Yea, though he slay me, yet I will trust in him. That is the epitome of what this psalm is all about. I will tell of your name to my brethren in the midst of the congregation. I will praise you, you who fear the Lord. Praise him all you sons of Jacob, glorify him. You stand in awe of him, you sons of Israel. For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of afflicted, and he has not hid his face from him. But he has heard him, when he cried out to him. So see, the psalmist is saying, the psalmist felt like God had abandoned him. But now the psalmist, halfway through the psalm, says, God did not abandon the affliction of his afflicted one. He did not forsake. He heard. From you comes my praise and the great congregation. My vows I will pay before those who fear him the afflicted shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. So this righteous suffering servant will be vindicated. And all of Jacob will give thanks and praise for this righteous sufferer. But not only Jacob. But now it's going to be all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, which is the call for repentance. Teshuv they will turn, they will repent, they will turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over all nations. Yea, to him shall go all the proud of the earth bow down before him, shall bow down all who go to the dust. And he who cannot keep himself alive, posterity shall serve him. Men shall tell of the Lord to the coming generation. So not only will all of Israel, not only will all the nations, but future generations, those yet unborn, and they will proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, that he has wrought it. It's an astounding psalm of praise and promise to say that there will be a righteous suffering one who will be abandoned and mocked, and he will suffer a huge affliction to the point of dying. His vestments will be taken from him, and they'll cast lots for it. He will be mocked. And yet God will vindicate this suffering servant, such that all of Israel will give praise to God and all the earth and all the nations, but not just that, but all future generations, generations yet unborn will give praise for God's vindication of this suffering servant. And of course, that vindication is the greatest prophecy of the resurrection. The whole second half of Psalm 22 is a foretelling of the resurrection, that God has heard the suffering of the afflicted one, and that he has taken care of him, and that he is going to vindicate him, and he has not despised him or hid his face. And so that we see the same thing at the end of the fourth servant song in Isaiah 53, where the suffering servant will prosper and will be vindicated, and he will see the fruit of his own travail and and suffering again, another prophecy of the resurrection. It's not simply a prophecy of the Passion, it's a prophecy of the resurrection. Now let's go back to the Gospel of Mark and see what happens next. Now as Jesus cries out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of the bystanders, hearing it behold, he is calling Elijah. And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar and put on a reed and gave it to him to drink. Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtains of the temple were torn in two from top to bottom, which means it was divine agency, because that curtain was 50ft high in the temple. The sanctuary building was a huge building. And the curtain, we're told by Josephus and Philo, was 50ft high. And for that curtain to be torn from top to bottom is a thick curtain. In fact, Philo describes that curtain had a depiction of the cosmos, the constellations of the stars, which is fitting when you think about it, because as the temple veil tears asunder, we heard that word tearing earlier in the Gospel of Mark at the very beginning. So as Jesus breathes his last, the temple veil is torn in two. And we're reminded at Jesus baptism. At Jesus baptism, the heavens are schizomenos. The same word, the same verb, schizo. The heavens were torn and the Holy Spirit came down. And now the heavens, which are depicted on the temple curtain itself with the constellations, the temple veil is now torn and the heavens are torn asunder. And so the barrier, as the Holy Spirit comes out of Jesus baptism and settles down on Jesus, that barrier between heaven and earth is torn by Jesus baptism. And what does baptism mean? It means dying. As Paul will write to the Romans in chapter six, verse three, Paul says, don't you know who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, that you've been baptized into his death? And if we've died with him in a death like his, we shall also rise with him in a resurrection like his. Baptism signifies death. The water isn't simply or primarily a metaphor for washing. It means dying. You go underwater too long, you're dead. Coming out of the water signifies rebirth. So Jesus baptism was a prefigurement of his death. And now the schizo that happened at his baptism is now completed at the end of Mark's story with a schizomenos that tears the temple veil. And Jesus put both these events together when he spoke to James and John, and they wanted to be on his left and on his right when he came into his glory. And Jesus said, can you drink the cup with which I am to drink? And can you be baptized with the baptism with which I'm to be baptized? Speaking of a baptism, future tense. Well, wasn't Jesus already baptized? Well, now his ultimate and true baptism happens on the cross and as he dies, and then through the resurrection, as he emerges from death to life and rises. And so the whole story of Mark is framed by a rending, a tearing from the heavens to the temple curtain. And for Mark, this is the key message of his good news. The good news for the gospel of Mark is that God is with his people. That the the barrier between heaven and earth has been rent aside by Jesus. The barrier between God's Spirit in the sanctuary of the temple and God's people has now been rent. And now the Holy Spirit can be free to be amongst God's people because their sins have been atoned by his death on the cross. It is a powerful bringing everything together. But notice what happens next. In contrast to the chief priests who looked and didn't believe. Verse 39. And when the centurion who stood facing him saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, truly this man was the Son of God. He sees and believes, and that fulfills what Jesus said at the beginning. You know that in Isaiah chapter six, that they won't see and believe until the great time of purgation and suffering. And Jesus takes that suffering. And now that he suffers on the cross, there is going to come those who will believe. And what better person for Mark to have at the foot of the cross who will see the fruit of Jesus death than a Roman centurion? Because Mark wrote this gospel for the Romans in the community of Rome, which we'll come back to in just a moment. There was also women looking from afar, and they followed him and ministered to him. And. And when evening came in verse 42, since it was the day of preparation for the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God. So here he is, a man looking for the kingdom, and he's going to find it. He's going to see it in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Took courage. Remember how Jesus says, take courage. I am so he takes courage. And he went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. And of course this will fulfill what was spoken in Isaiah 53, that the suffering servant who is an atonement of sin for the people will be buried with the rich, remember, in a tomb of the rich. And then Joseph of Arimathea brings a linen shroud and wraps the body and puts it in the tomb that he had hewn out of rock. He rolled a stone against the door of the tomb, and Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Uzi saw it. Where he was laid. And then that leads us to the final short chapter of Mark, chapter 16. And when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Solomon brought spices so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week. And of course, all the Gospel writers called this the first day of the week, because it's the first day of the new creation. And remember how Mark began his whole Gospel. The first word he used to talk about the story of Jesus was arche, beginning the arche, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And so alluding to the opening of the whole Bible in Genesis 1, where it begins with arche in the beginning. And so here we have the beginning of the first day of the week. Not just any week, but the first day of the new creation. Jesus resurrection from the dead is inaugurating the beginning of a new creation. In the midst of the old creation, we have the beginning of a new creation. The old creation isn't done yet, but the new creation has started. And Jesus resurrection is the first fruits. Ultimately, when Jesus raises all of us from the dead, that will be the final fruits, the final harvest. But this is the first fruits, as Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians 15. And then as they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb? And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe. And they were amazed. And they said to him. And he said to them, do not be amazed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him as he told you. And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. And that's where all the early manuscripts end. It's not until several hundred years later that we get older manuscripts that have the ending that begins in verse nine. And so a lot of good scholars believe that Mark's Gospel ends at verse eight. And it ends abruptly because it actually, in the Greek, it ends even more abruptly than it does in the English. It actually ends in the Greek by. And they said nothing to anyone they were afraid for. And then you get gar, the Greek word gar, which means for which is explanatory. But then there's no explanation. It's just as if it was cut off. Perhaps the persecution of Nero was heating up and this is all Mark could write. Maybe there was a knock on his door, maybe he couldn't finish and it felt so incomplete that later scribes are like, we've got to put an ending to this thing, right? It's hard to end when you're telling the story of Jesus. I know Mark's pain. It is hard to bring our Bible study to a conclusion as well, because it's hard to conclude because I know I haven't done justice. There's such beauty and depth to the story. But as we look at the story, we see that Jesus is the son of God. And that at the beginning of the story he called us to a metanoia, a change of mind. And he called us and summoned us to trust, to believe in the Gospel. And that word believe is not just believing a creed in your head. It literally means in Greek pistis means to trust. And by watching what Jesus is willing to endure, that Jesus can carry his cross gives us the trust that we too can walk in his footsteps. That we can walk a piece a Follow behind me. Jesus says, follow after me. He doesn't die so that we don't have to. He dies so that we'll have the grace and the strength to follow God's will and to be faithful to him. That we can die with faith. Not that we don't have to die, but that we can die with faith. Jesus dies ahead of us to help us in the path that we are called to, in the way that God has called us to walk. It's not a substitute way, but it is. Jesus leads the way. He's not the only way. We all have to walk down this path of the Father's will. We have to take up our cross as Jesus says and follow after him. But we have to learn from the lessons of the disciples like Peter. We have to follow opiso mu. We have to follow behind him, after him, along the way he calls the way of the Lord. That's the way we have to follow as disciples of Jesus. And those disciples who were like hard hearted and like the seed that fell along the path, they didn't get it. And like the shallow ground that's rocky, they were like that. And then they're also like concerned with the cares of the world. Who is going to be the first, who is going to be the greatest. They were all those three things. But in the end, after the resurrection, after what Jesus does, they're going to become the good soil that would become a bountiful harvest. And the same is true for us. We have walked with Jesus now through the gospel, like Peter and James and John and the rest of the 12. And now we are called to become deep, fruitful soil. To let this word of God, the story of Jesus, reach deeply into our hearts, to not stay at the surface of our minds in our lives like the hardened path, and not to stop at rocks, hard hearts, but to go deep in. To let the story of Jesus go deep into our hearts, deep into our minds, through meditation and prayer, from love and gratitude that God's story calls us to. You know, it's interesting. In the tradition, Mark ends up after being in Rome with Peter, he ends up going down to Alexandria, Egypt, where he becomes bishop and plants the gospel there. And Then in the 9th century, the Venetians take his body and bring it up to Venice and they build a beautiful church, San Marco, which is spectacular in beauty and it's gorgeous. And of course, the Venetians then take the image of the lion and image of the Venetians, so you'll see a lot of lion emblems. For the Venetians, it's the image of Mark, but Mark's lion is the lion of Judah who goes as a lamb to the slaughter. But he is risen and he becomes a lion. And just as John the Baptist roars with the message of the good news, we too then, after the resurrection and the story of Jesus, are to roar with the good news. We are to be lions and. And to be courageous, to have the courage of the lion, like Joseph of Arimathea, who has courage because he's looking for the kingdom of God and he sees it in Jesus and he has the courage to go to Pilate, who just killed his king, and ask for the body. That is faithful discipleship. He sees and he understands. And that is the story that we are to imitate and be part of. And. And of course, I think finally of the traditions that surround this, which we talk about in our Lectio Peter, where the story of Peter in Rome, where he will be crucified by the Romans in Nero's horrible persecution. But what happens to Peter in the story of Quo Vadis? What way, O Lord? And that way is where Peter is told by the Christians to leave, to flee the city because the persecution's so bad, and he's on the Appian Way, and he's leaving Rome, fleeing, and he sees a figure coming to him, and he sees that this figure is carrying a cross. And then he sees that the figure is Jesus himself. And Peter says to our Lord, quo vadis? What way, Lord? Where are you going? And Jesus says, peter, I'm going to be crucified again because you are abandoning my sheep in their hour of need. And then Peter turns around and goes back to Rome to suffer with his sheep, where he will be crucified. But Peter will say, crucify me upside down, for I am not worthy to die in the manner of my Lord and King Jesus. So Peter will be crucified upside down. He will be faithful in the end. He who denied that he even knew our Lord three times will be faithful. And so the good news of the failure repeated throughout the Gospel of Mark of the disciples, is that we too can fail. And we can't let our failures discourage us or make us despair. That would be the temptation of the devil. We, with our failures, can learn by Jesus mercy that if he could forgive Peter and make him the head of his church again and again, if he could forgive the 12, he can forgive you and I. And that is the mercy of his love. And that is the Lord who's worthy of worship. That's the king who is enthroned on a cross to rule over our hearts. Amen.