Year 2, Week 39, Day 1 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 39, Day 1

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Mark 15.

Today’s reading, which parallels yesterday’s reading of Matthew 27, as well as the readings from the next two days from Luke 23 and John 18-19, records the events occurring on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. Having examined Him through the night, Mark 15 opens with Jewish religious leaders handing Jesus over to Pilate, the Roman Governor of the region: “And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate” (Mark 15:1). Though Pilate does not believe that Jesus was guilty of any of the charges leveled against Him, he deferred to the wishes of the crowd: “And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him” (Mark 15:14). Today’s chapter draws to it completion with an incredibly confession of a Roman Centurion who had a first and account of Jesus’ crucifixion: “And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39). The Centurion’s confession is exactly how Mark introduces His Gospel account: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). The Centurion saw what many of the Jewish leaders were blind to; nevertheless, their Scriptures spoke of: “The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you” (Psalm 2:7).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was how the description of the events surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion orient us to the substitutionary nature of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross. There are several examples from the narrative as to how substitution is displayed, but the first one involves the exchange of Jesus and Barabbas: “Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”…But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead” (Mark 15:6-11). Pilate gives the crowds the choice between Barabbas, a murdering insurrectionist, or Jesus, whom Pilate deemed had done nothing wrong. The crowds, at the encouragement of the Jewish leaders, wanted the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus. The one who deserved death would be released and live at the expense of the innocent one who would be put to death. The very way that Barabbas’ release and Jesus’ punishment unfolded, reflected the prophetic word describing the substitutionary nature of Jesus work: “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 53:4-5). Jesus would give his life in exchange for the lives of many, Jesus the holy and righteous, takes the place of Barabbas, the wicked and guilty: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was nailed to a Cross that would have been used to crucify Barabbas. A swap or an exchange occurred at the Cross: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18a).

Matthew’s Gospel account adds another significant aspect to how the historical description of the decision to crucify Jesus adds even further emphasis to the substitutionary nature of Jesus’ work on the Cross: “So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:24-25). While I do not think that they fully understand what they are saying, they are, nevertheless, ironically confessing how Christ accomplishes His saving work. Christ’s shed blood satisfies God’s holy wrath against sinners: “For there is no distinction: for all…are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins” (Romans 3:22b-25). The death of Jesus absorbs God’s righteous judgment, thus diverting it from His people. In a sense, when we trust in Jesus, we are confessing, with true understanding (unlike the crowds), “His blood be on us!” Through the shedding of His’ blood, Jesus received the curse reserved for Law breakers, thereby diverting that curse from His people: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:13-14).

But not only can we speak of Jesus’ death as substitutionary, we must talk about His life as also being substitutionary: “I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:7-9). Jesus took our sin and death and He gave to us His righteousness and peace (and a host of other blessings as well).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe