18 Why Have You Forsaken Me? (Mark 15:22-41)

Speaker: Welcome to Wednesday in the Word with Krisan Marotta. This is the 18th and final lesson in our series, Questions Jesus Asked. Mark is careful to point out that the trial before the Sanhedrin and the denial of Peter occur side by side and illustrate for us the answer to the question, Why have you forsaken me? Mark chapter 15 verses 22 through 41. Krisan Marotta: Well, we have come to the end of our studies of the questions Jesus asked in the Gospel of Mark. And this Wednesday in the Word is not over. So don't we're going to keep meeting, but we're done. This is our last day in Mark. So make sure you come back next week. And but what for those of you who are new, what we've been doing is going through the Gospel of Mark, looking at the places where Jesus asked a question. And we've reached the end of the story. We've reached the resurrection and the crucifixion. So it's the climax, it's the whole point we've been building to. And we're going to cover a lot of ground today. So I'm actually going to jump right in. We a couple weeks ago we left the story at the point Jesus had been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. And the soldiers had led him to the high priest. And Mark doesn't record his appearance before Annas, the father-in-law of the high priest, but he moves directly into the courtyard of Caiaphas, who's the current high priest. And I think part of the reason is he wanted to put, make sure we understood these two situations that occurred side by side, which is the trial before the Sanhedrin and the denial of Peter. And those two things, the contrast between them, illustrate the answer to our question. Because the question we're going to look at today is what the one Jesus asks from the cross, where he quotes Psalm 22 and says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So I'm actually going to backtrack into Mark 14 to pick up those two stories because I think they're going to illustrate the answer for us. So I promise we will get to the question, but we're going to start back in Mark chapter 14 and look at verse 53. And they led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together, and Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest, and he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. So this is where Mark sets the scene for us. Jesus is in the inner room with the Sanhedrin, and the Sanhedrin was the council of the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. There were seventy members of the Sanhedrin, plus they would have had assorted helpers and advisors. So if they were all present, there would have been a big crowd in this room. And Jesus is in the midst of them, while outside, probably in an outer courtyard where he could see through and see what was happening, was Peter. So the trial proceeds in two stages. The first one is verses 55 through 59. So let's look at those. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another not made with hands. Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. Now, as we go through this, we're going to look, we're going to do every scene all the way up to the crucifixion. Notice how the people react to Jesus in each one. So I meant to point that out before then. But notice as we go through what reaction he gets. So here we are in the trial before the Sanhedrin, and this is illegal from start to finish. If you notice, the very first thing Mark tells us is they were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death. So they've already decided what the verdict is. The trial hasn't even started yet, but they've already determined what the outcome is going to be. So that's the first thing that makes it illegal. The second thing is that it was held at night, and Jewish law required all criminal trials to be held during the daytime. So it was illegal it was not right for them to be meeting at night. The third thing that was wrong about it is it's in the wrong place. There was a council meeting or a hall that was set aside for the Sanhedrin, and only meetings in that hall were valid. So if the Sanhedrin meant elsewhere, it wasn't considered a legitimate meeting. And here they are, Mark tells us they're in the residence of the high priest. So again, this is not a valid trial. It's at night when it should be at the daytime and it's not in the right place. And the fourth thing they do wrong is Jewish law forbid them to reach a verdict on the same day the trial was held. They had to wait at least overnight before they could render a verdict. And you'll notice at the very end of the trial, they render a verdict. So everything was wrong. They had the outcome determined before it started. It was held at night when it was required to be held in the daytime. It was not held in the right place, and they reach a verdict immediately, all of which was against their law. So despite all this law breaking, you'd think they'd have the deck stacked in their favor. It's not going well because the witnesses don't agree. As each one gives their testimony. Mark doesn't tell us what was said, but it's obvious they were either lying or they hadn't been there, or something about their testimony is wrong because it um it they all conflict with each other. And of course, these were the best witnesses money could buy, so probably. So their case is falling apart, and they it doesn't look like they have any grounds to condemn Jesus. And at this point, the high priest probably realized what was going on, so he does something else illegal. He forces Jesus to testify against himself. So look at verses 60 and 61. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, Have you no answer to make? What is it these men testify against you? But he remained silent and made no answer. So I suspect Jesus realized that the evidence against him was so so weak that it really didn't require a defense. So he makes no effort to defend himself. And the high priest is stunned by this, and so he breaks the law again. He puts Jesus under oath and forces him to testify. And that's actually recorded for us in Matthew. In Matthew 26, 63, he Matthew says, the priest said, I adjure you by the living God, are you the son of Christ? Where Mark just has the question in verse 61. Again, the high priest asked him, Are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? But by saying, I adjure you by the living God, that's the equivalent of our, you know, put your hand on the Bible and raise your right hand and say, I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. He has put him under oath at that point and required him to answer. And you can't do that in Jewish law. You can't force a witness to testify against themselves, which is essentially what the high priest is doing. So again, for him to ask Jesus and force him to the first asking was wrong because you can't compel a witness to testify, and then to place him under oath and make him testify is also entirely illegal. A judge can't require him to do that. So Jesus does answer him. Now, of course, what he's really asking is, are you the Messiah? Are you the one the Old Testament predicts? Are you the Son of God? It's a direct question, and he puts Jesus under oath to answer it, and Jesus responds in the next verse, I am. So verse 62, and Jesus said, I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the high priest tore his garments and said, What further witnesses do we need? You've heard his blasphemy. What's your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some begin to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, Prophesy, and the guards received him with blows. So a lot of people say Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah. I think we've looked at this as we look through the gospel. He did claim that by taking the title the Son of Man for himself, and here you have a direct question and a direct answer. The priest asks him, Are you the Messiah? Are you the one we've waited for? He's under oath. He says, Yes, I am. So we do, if nowhere else, we've at least got this claim. Now, the priest responds to that with tearing his garments, which was the accepted response to blasphemy. But I think in this case it's hypocritical because this is what he wanted Jesus to say. He wanted Jesus to respond because then he could convict him of blasphemy and they would have grounds to put him to death because blasphemy was punishable by death. So I think his actions of tearing his garments are just for show. It's hypocritical. So they immediately reach their verdict and they begin to spit on him, cover his face, and strike him, saying, Prophesy. That's highly unusual. These are this is the judge and the jury. They're supposed to be impartial. So the fact that upon the verdict being reached, they vent this rage and this anger is really uh really unusual. It's it's not something that should have normally happened. Even the guards then are beating him. Now, look at the second scene. This is these are the ones that um Mark puts side by side. He takes us now to Peter who's outside the court. So I'm in chapter 14, verse 66. And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, You also were with the Nazarene Jesus. But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. And he went out into the gateway, and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, This man is one of them. But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean. But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak. And immediately the rooster crowed a second time, and Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And he broke down and wept. Now a couple of weeks ago we looked at the scene where Peter vows he'd never deny the Lord. Um says, Everyone else is made of different stuff, but I won't deny you. And he courageously vows he's going to remain faithful to the end. Then we saw him in the Garden of Gethsemane in another act of courage. He's the one who draws his sword in an attempt to defend Jesus, and he ends up lopping off the servant's ear, which Jesus heals. And now we still see him. I think actually he's still his courage has not yet failed him because he's followed Jesus into the courtyard, and that was a dangerous thing to do. I mean, he is sitting at the fire warming his hands with the very people that arrested Jesus, and he was in terrible danger. So that that was an act of bravery for him to follow him into the high priest. So we've seen this bravery carry him through, but now here we are when the rubber meets the road and his courage melts away, it fails him. So the woman who led him in the door, she's a servant of the high priest, she recognizes him and she says, You're one of them, aren't you? And he's he immediately says no. Now John tells us there was another disciple present, and people are divided as to who that was. Some commentators think it was John himself who was present, others think it was Mark, and that we don't really know. I tend to lean toward Mark, but I'm not sure there's a real good way to judge. Um I'll tell you why. Some commentators have suggested that Mark was the rich young ruler, and it fits what we know about him. And John describes the disciple who was present as someone who was known to the high priest. Well, if Mark was from a wealthy household, he would have been known by the high priest, and it's likely that he could have gotten them in the door because he was known and he was from this wealthy household. So my speculation is Mark spoke to the servant girl, she knew him because he was from a wealthy household. They let she let him and Peter in, and she knows Mark was with Jesus, and so she recognizes Peter and says, Oh, you're one of them too. Um and so she says, should I think that's where the question comes from. But we don't really know. It may have been neither, um, John doesn't name who was there. He doesn't say it was him, but it could have been John, it could have been Mark. Anyway, Peter's uh defenses abandoned him. He says, I don't know who you're talking about, and he tries to avoid this woman by going farther outside to the gateway where he'd be less visible, but she kind of follows him, you know, and keeps annoying him by asking the subject. And as he protests, people hear his accent. And this would have been like a southerner in New York City. They would as soon as he spoke, they would know he was from Galilee. So his accent gives him away, and they say, Well, you must be one of them, you're from Galilee. And he denies it vehemently. Now it says he cursed. That doesn't mean he was swearing like four-letter words, it means he took an oath. So it's the it's like, God curse me if what I'm saying is not true. It would have been that kind of thing. So he's pronouncing a curse on himself. So you see these two scenes side by side where Jesus is placed under oath and asks the question, Are you the Messiah? And now Peter essentially puts himself under oath and denies him, says, I don't know him. And then, of course, the cock crows a second time, Peter knows what he has done, and he breaks down and weeps. And the word there for broke down is very strong. It's literally threw himself on the ground. So it's this picture of him going out and throwing himself face down in the dust and crying over what he did. So look at the two reactions we have to Jesus at this point. You have the priests who hate him, and their hearts are filled with anger and jealousy and bitterness, and they rush through this sham trial, which is entirely illegal, and then as soon as the verdict's rendered, all this hatred comes spilling out in their beating and their spitting that follows the verdict. And now you have side by side with that a man who loves Jesus with all his heart. He's determined to defend him to the end, and yet at the moment of crisis, he fails. He too denies Jesus, denies that he even knows them. So why does Mark put those side by side? I think the answer is that this shows us who we are. This is the condition of our souls. Both Peter and the priests were religious men. Well, the priests were at least outwardly religious. One loved Jesus, one hated Jesus, but they both failed him. And the point of it all is that Jesus had to die for both of them. That the priests were these men who were in positions of worldly power. They they had the status and the authority of their offices, they probably had some amount of prestige, and Jesus was a threat to that their position, so they are they want to get rid of him and it and through the trial expose their hatred and their jealousy. But I think what Mark wants us to see is the love of Peter is no better. It too, insofar as he was dependent on himself, it would fail. So without Jesus to save him, he was no more effective than the hatred of the priest. Either way, we will deny Jesus. So left to ourselves, apart from God's grace, we would all turn away. Now, what's the difference between the two? And this is crucial. The difference is Peter's tears. And that's the difference between those who are saved and those who are lost. Those who are saved weep over their sins and their failures, and they show this kind of same remorse of Peter of throwing himself down and weeping. Those who are not are self-righteous or pride or proud in their anger and in their failures. So I think part of what's Mark is telling us is we're all sick with the same disease. Sin shows no partiality. None of us are the people we should be. None of us deserve God's blessing or his favor, and all of us would deny Jesus or reject him in one way or another. But for people like Peter who recognize their failures, who recognize their sinfulness and weep over them, there's hope. There is hope of forgiveness and salvation. And it's interesting, remember, the morning of the resurrection, when Jesus meets the women at the tomb, he says, Go tell my disciples and Peter. He specifically singles Peter out. He says, Go tell my disciples and Peter that I am here, and I will go before them in Galilee. And I think that's uh that's just this wonderful picture of he knows, he knew it was going to happen, and he loves Peter anyway, and he is calling him back to forgiveness. Why? Because of the remorse, the tears he weeps. So after Peter denies Christ, we don't see him again in the story. Uh we don't know what happened to him between this time and the time of the resurrection. My suspicion is he was so crushed and broken that he went off someplace by himself. And that's another reason Peter uh Jesus would say, go tell the disciples, and Peter, make sure you get him wherever he's gone, that kind of idea. Okay, so the only difference between the denial of Peter and the denial of the priests was the tears of remorse. And that those tears are crucial. Because it is for repentant failures like Peter and you and me that Jesus went to the cross. So let's go on with the story. We're going to pick up in Mark 15.1. We saw him before the Sanhedrin, where the issue was, are you the Messiah? Now he's going to appear before Pilate, and here the issue is, are you the king of the Jews? So Mark 15.1. As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and the scribes and the whole council, and they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him to Pilate. Now what's going on there is now it's morning, now it's legal for them to have a trial. So as soon as it's morning, they meet again, probably in the right place this time, to try to make it legal this time. Um, because now it's daytime, and they so they meet and consult together to have kind of a uh put a legitimate face on the trial that was such a sham the night before, and they bound him off uh to Pilate, who is the Roman governor. Okay, so verse two, and Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him, You have said so. And the chief priest accused him of many things. And Pilate again asked him, Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you. But Jesus made no further comment, so that Pilate was amazed. So what's going on here is they knew the charge of blasphemy is not going to persuade Pilate one way or the other, because the Roman governor didn't care about the Jewish religious laws, and they're not going to put someone to death for blasphemy. It's just not on their radar. So they knew they had to condemn Jesus of something else to get Pilate on their side. Luke tells us that they levied three charges against Jesus. First, that they charged him with perverting the nation, so that is kind of rabble rousing, creating trouble and riots and dissension. Second, they charged him with forbidding the payment of the taxes to Rome, teaching people not to pay their taxes, and you'll remember we looked at that passage, and that's not what he had said. And then the third charge they levied against him was that he wanted to be king instead of Caesar. And that's the one Pilate picks up on. So he says, Are you the king of the Jews? Basically, is this tr treason? Are you trying to overthrow Rome? Now, Jesus' answer has puzzled a lot of people. I have to admit it's confusing. He says, You have said so, or it could be translated, so you say. And it's neither an affirmation nor a denial. And commentators have speculated on why did he give that kind of an answer? Why didn't he say yes or no straight out instead of a so you say? And I'm not sure, but I think the answer uh comes from what John tells us in his gospel, in his account of this, this is in John 18. He has Jesus giving the same kind of answer, and then he goes on to say, My kingship is not of this world. If my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight. And he it's probably a passage you're familiar with. So I think what he's saying to Pilate is, by your way of thinking, I am, but I am not here to overthrow Rome. My kingship is not the kind of kingship that you that uh yours is. So I think he's making clear to Pilate, I'm not a threat to you. I'm not here to start a revolution against Rome. And that's why he goes on to say, my kingship is not of this world. And I think if you read between the lines, you can see that that's how Pilate takes it, and that's how the priest takes it, because the priests immediately start accusing him of other things. They realize, okay, Pilate picked up on this last charge that he's the king of the Jews. We don't have any evidence of that, so we've got to come up with something else to accuse him of, because their case is beginning to fall apart. So they heap on all these other accusations to try to get Pilate to condemn him. And he just stands there. And Pilate is amazed at that. He encourages him to answer, and Jesus will not. And I think that's why when he says, Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you. The question is, what's going on here? Why is Pilate marveling that he remains silent? I think what's going on is Pilate knows at this point Jesus is innocent. He is seeking some way to let him go. It if you read on down in verse ten, it says Pilate perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. So I think that gives us a clue that Pilate knows that Jesus is accused of nothing. Well, he's accused of everything and not guilty of nothing. And if Jesus had replied and given Pilate an excuse or a reason to let him go, Pilate would have let him go. I think the text suggests that Pilate's sympathy at this point is with Jesus and not with the priests. And so he's encouraging him, make a defense. Any defense will do. The charges against you are so weak. They're trying to railroad you, defend yourself, and I can let you go. And Jesus refuses to cooperate. Now, why? Because I think at this point it would have been possible for Jesus to save himself from the cross. Had he made a defense, Pilate might have let him go. It seems to suggest, especially if you read all the gospels together, that at least at this point Pilate's sympathies are with Jesus. And so he says nothing because of, well, we're going to get to that. So the other gospels tell us at this point Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, who was the elected king of the Jews, and Herod mocks him and tries to get him to perform a miracle. Mark doesn't record any of that. But before Herod, Jesus also remains silent. And Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate, and that's where we pick up in verse 6. Because I think what's going on now is in verse 6 is probably after the visit to Herod. So 15. Now at the feast, he used to release for them one prisoner for whom he asked. This is Pilate used to release a prisoner. For whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison who had committed murder and the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crown 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? For he had perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priest stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate said to him, Then what shall I do with this man you call King of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify him. And Pilate said to them, Why? What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, Crucify him. So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. Okay, now that's an interesting scene. Think about what we know about the crowds in Jesus. And why would now are they now screaming for Barabbas instead of Jesus? If you backtrack in the gospel just a few days, you would see the crowds welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem. And he rode in on the donkey and they're screaming Hosanna and they're waving the pom-fronds. And so just a few days ago they were rallying to his side. And if you think about all the pilgrims that were there for the Passover feast, the city must have been filled with people whom Jesus had healed at one point or another. And there were probably hundreds or maybe thousands of people in Jerusalem at the time whom Jesus had touched personally. And they had at least heard the stories of the healing and the miracles, and probably there were there were eyewitnesses there. And he'd awakened within them this hope of he's going to be the Messiah to deliver us from the yoke of Rome. He's going to set us free and sit on David's throne and make us our own sovereign nation again. And now they see him standing before the Roman governor, weak and apparently helpless and unable to make any defense, and they turn against him. They just turn away and say, Well, he's no one. And I think it's probably anger and disappointment, they say they deny him and they choose Barabbas the murderer instead. So you've got this, the priest hating him, you've got his own one of his own disciples denying him, you have the crowds now turning against him. And they're calling for his death. So when Pilate says, What shall I do with Jesus the King of the Jews? and they say, Crucify him, I think Pilate's somewhat aghast at that, because his answer is, What evil has he done? Pilate still seems to think there's no basis for him to be crucified, and yet the crowd's demanding it. And Pilate was a man pleaser, as it goes on, as it says in the end, he wanted to please them. It was easier to release Barabbas than risk the anger of the crowd. So he has Jesus beaten. And that's strange because that wasn't normal practice. It wasn't normal to beat someone before crucifying him. There's no evidence that the thieves who were crucified with Jesus were beaten. So why does Pilate order this? And it's if any of you have seen Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, you know what an awful, bloody and vicious practice that was. It was it was just horrific. The Romans used these long leather cords that were embedded with bits of metal and bone so that when they hit the prisoner's back, it would just rip it open. And it was just an awful, vicious kind of beating. I've often wondered why Pilate did this, knowing Jesus was going to be crucified, why beat him like that? And one of the sk a couple scholars actually speculated that this was Pilate's last attempt to spare him, because he was hoping that the beating would awaken the sympathy of the crowd. So that if they saw him beaten, that maybe they would turn around and say that's enough and release him. And they've speculated that that's perhaps why Pilate ordered it. Either that or he didn't expect Jesus to survive the beating, which many people didn't, which would have spared him crucifixion. I don't know which was worth. They were both pretty horrific kinds of uh punishments. So John tells us after the beating, Pilate brings Jesus before the crowd and says, Behold the man. It's in John 19, and I think that was his attempt to try to arouse some sympathy for him, to get the crowd to turn around, if seeing him beaten like that, that maybe they would relent. But of course it fails. And they're stirred up by the high priest, so they keep trying to crucify him. Okay, so we're back into the story, 1516. 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 a crown of thorns, they put it on him, and they begin 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. Again, this is another strange occurrence. This is not something the Roman soldiers usually do, and they do it with a passion. They call the whole battalion, so it seems like they got everybody who was not on duty to come and join in in the mockery. And it's a strange thing for them to do because from what we know of Roman soldiers, these were, you know, very rough, kind of battle-hardened soldiers. They were used to carrying out gruesome orders and fighting in this vicious hand-to-hand combat. So, you know, they could callously kind of take a man out and nail him to a cross and then go have breakfast. This was just a day's work for them. So why do they engage in this mockery? It's it's just out of character. And it just furthers the reaction. You've seen the priests spitting on him and hating him after the trial, you see the crowd turning against him, and now you see the Roman soldiers mocking him and insulting him and beating him even further. And it's like every along the way, every step, every single group of people that we run into is turning against Jesus. And I think that's the point that Mark's trying to bring home. Okay, so now look at 1521. And they compeled compeled a passer by, 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, and cast 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, Ha, you would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourselves, you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourselves and come down from the cross. So also the chief priests and 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, just in case there was anybody you were thinking that might have stood with him. That was it. 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 with a loud voice, Eli Eli Lama Sabathani, which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And see, we are getting to the question. And some of the bystanders hearing it said, Behold, he's calling Elijah, and someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come and take him down. And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion who stood facing him saw that it was saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, Truly, this man was the Son of God. Now, Mark omits a lot of details that the other gospel writers include. And people have speculated that's probably because Mark got his gospel from the Apostle Peter, and most likely Peter is still far off at this point and watching from a distance. And so he probably didn't hear a lot of the things that the other gospel writers heard is because they were closer. And I suspect he was still crushed in his spirit, fearing what would happen, and so he didn't hear everything. Now later he probably heard it all after the resurrection and and later. But when he was repeating to Mark, he stayed, I think, faithful to what he had seen and heard. So if you combine all the gospel records, Jesus made seven statements from the cross, but Peter only heard one of them, and that was this cry, this agonizing cry, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In Mark's account of this, his story is relentlessly hard. I mean, it's kind of the stark details as you go through it, but if you look at each step of the way, all the people that are denying Jesus and hurt and spitting him and beating him, it just builds into this just this really hard and brutal death. So that brings us to the question Jesus asks. He says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the short answer is because this was the only way to save people like you and me. Look at all the people that we've seen up to this point. Going back to Judas, who is one of his close circle of friends, he sold the Lord for the price of slavery, or uh like the price of a slave, and he betrayed him with a kiss of friendship. Then you see the crowd that comes to arrest him in the garden in the middle of the night, and they come with clubs and swords because they're afraid someone will see them arresting an innocent man if they come in the daytime. And then you get the chief priests and the Sanhedrin who convict him in this farce of a trial that was totally illegal, that was called just for the purpose of finding him guilty and executing him. The judges was the judge was corrupt, the witnesses perjured themselves, and they broke the law to get Jesus to testify against himself. You get the temple guards and the Roman soldiers who gather around for apparently no reason just to beat and mock him, and he's already weakened and defenseless, and like bullies, they're just spitting on him, mocking him. Then you get Pilate, who has the power of Rome. He could have stopped it all, but he acts for expedience. It's just he doesn't want to risk the uh the riot, so he'd rather please the crowd. It was just easier to give them Barabbas than to risk a mob result, a revolt. And then you get as Jesus is hanging from the cross, in case we've missed the point, everyone who walks by, the priests, the criminals, the passers by, everyone mocks him. Um so you see his friends, the priests, Israel, the elite, you see commoners, you see the envious, the apathetic, um, bullies and cowards, people who claim to have a high moral purpose in what they were doing, and people who had no moral purpose, just, you know, other criminals and scoffers and gambling soldiers, and no one is left out. Everyone from every background denies him, mocks him, ridicules, no one speaks for him, no one stands by him, so he dies utterly alone. And if you think back to what we looked at in the fall with the early accounts of the gospels, think of the contrast when in the first eight chapters of the book where we see this wonder worker in Galilee who's performing all the miracles where he speaks, and the winds and waves obey him, and he speaks, and people are healed, and he speaks, and people are rised from the dead. And now you see this uh apparently beaten and defenseless person just left for nothing, totally abandoned. And finally darkness overtakes the city, and for three hours he suffers these agonies and finally calls out, Why have you forsaken me? And the it's interesting, the high priests almost get the answer. In Mark 15, 31 they say he saved others, he cannot save himself. They were kind of right, but they were really wrong. Because I think the answer is he could have saved himself. He saved others, but he would not save himself. He could have gotten free of the cross had he chose, but he chose instead to give himself as a ransom for us, for all these people that turned against him. So notice in Mark's gospel, there are three things they can't make Jesus do. First, they can't make him speak. And that's notice in Mark 15 4, Pilate says, Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you. But Jesus made no answer, so that Pilate was amazed. Why doesn't he speak? Because this is still the same Jesus we saw in the first eight Gospels. He spoke and Lazarus rose from the dead. He spoke and people were healed. He spoke and the winds and waves and the demons obeyed him. He could have spoken and saved himself. He could have put an end to it had he chose. Second, they couldn't make him drink. Mark 15, 23, they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, and he did not take it. That was a type of painkiller, the wine and the myrrh. I don't know how effective it would have been, but it would have taken at least some of the edge off the pain had he drunk it. But he didn't. He didn't spare himself any of the agonies of the cross. He could have, but he wouldn't, because he was taking them on for our sakes. And then the last one, you can kind of miss in our translations, is 1537. They couldn't make him die. It says, and Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. Some translations have that, dismissed his spirit. It's literally he unspirited himself. And the idea behind it is they didn't kill him, he let his spirit go. He dismissed it. And I think that's again something he predicted in John chapter 10. He says, No one can take my life from me. I lay it down of myself. I think the implication is he could have refused to die. He could have hung on the cross and laughed at them, at their inability to kill him. Insofar as he was God, he could have spoken and changed everything. And yet he hung on the cross and released his spirit, dismissed it for our sakes. So he was silent, he refused to appeal to Pilate or the crowd because he was laying the basis for the day when he will come back in glory, when in resurrection power he will speak to a far greater crowd, when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. So he wouldn't drink to dullest senses because again he was paying the penalty for our sins. And he voluntarily laid down his life so that he saved others, but he would not save himself. So when he had cries from the cross, why have you forsaken me? I think we have the answer in his words himself. These are probably the most familiar words in the Bible. You can probably guess. And Jesus speaks these in John in John 3.16. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The answer is, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. And that goes on, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the Son, the only Son of God. So the only question left is, who are you? Are you like the priests and the soldiers and the scoffers who hate Jesus and condemn him, or are you like Peter and the disciples who weep tears of remorse over their failures and trust in his death and resurrection to redeem them? And that makes all the difference in the world. That's the difference between those who are saved and those who are lost. It's not that those who are saved are perfect or spiritual giants or somehow better than anyone else. The difference is they recognize their need for the Savior. Speaker: Thank you for joining us at Wednesday in the Word with Krisan Marotta. We hope you have enjoyed our study together and grown closer to the Lord. Please let us know if you have any questions about this study. We are on the internet at wednesdayintheword.com where you will find this and other Bible studies. We hope you'll join us again soon.