And tonight we come as it works out to the section here on the death of Jesus in our study of the Gospel of Mark. And we will read all the way from verses 33 through 47. His death and his burial. And Sunday we'll come back and conclude Mark with this section on the resurrection. So it works out beautifully. This is Mark 15 tonight, beginning at verse 33. This is the word of the Lord. 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, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said behold he is 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 to 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 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 there were also women looking on from a distance among whom were mary magdalene and mary the mother of james the younger and of joseph and of salome when he was in galilee they followed him and ministered to him and there were also many other women who came up with him to jerusalem and when evening had come since it was the day of preparation that is the day before the sabbath joseph of arimathea a respected member of the council who was also himself looking for the kingdom of god took courage and went to pilot and asked for the body of jesus pilot was surprised to hear that he should have already died and summoning summoning the centurion he asked him whether he was already dead and when he learned from the centurion that he was dead he granted the corpse of joseph and joseph bought a linen shroud and taking him down wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb mary magdalene and mary the mother of joseph saw where he was laid and there ends the reading of god's word well tonight as we look at this section in Mark chapter 15, there really is one statement in the middle of this tonight that Mark is, the main point that Mark is driving home for us to hold on to in the crucifixion, something that he is particularly, as a gospel writer, emphasizing for us and something that he has been laboring to show us in his his entire gospel it really does come together tonight for us all you'll notice in verse 39 that 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 that that is um that is a remarkable moment in mark's gospel remember from the beginning uh the very first sentence in mark um when we first began the book the very first sentence said the beginning of the gospel of jesus christ the son of god this was on mark's mind and heart the entire time to show this and here at the climax of everything at his very death we have a roman proclaiming that the one they just had put to death was god's son you understand uh now hopefully that's treason this is why uh pilate put jesus to death that's treasonous you don't say that caesar was god's son he was known as divine and here at his very death for the very reason pilate put him up there as an insurrectionist here is now a roman official proclaiming right at the last breath this is god's son it's really remarkable moment isn't it when you think about it uh our passage tonight uh everything centers on showing us this everything is moving what mark is doing to to move us here in the response to this and imagine uh how encouraging this was for the roman christians to whom mark was writing the persecuted christians we've been looking at some of these in the book of revelation and uh the the pain of these churches and the persecution these churches suffered how encouraging it was that the very first proclamation at his death was by a roman proclaiming this a gentile who saw him for who he is and what he had done it's it's it's it's a great moment in this gospel and that means of course everything for us tonight for when you see this and believe this that should create in us the greatest and i use this word and hopefully it will we'll see it come together by the end of the sermon the greatest amount of courage courage to confess this the greatest amount of courage to believe this the greatest amount of courage to witness to this for we're not now standing here waiting to see if he's risen you get to come back sunday and know the truth of the matter that he is risen he is risen indeed is what we'll say. So before we get there on Sunday, we should consider for a moment tonight the kind of appropriate response to the fact that the man who did this for us was truly the son of God. It seems to be that Mark is having us think a lot about that and response. What we have been through in our study of the passion narratives and now the crucifixion really has been horrible to study, if you think about it. All the things that he endured and all the suffering that he underwent. He has been crucified. At this point, there are two common criminals there with him. He is numbered with the transgressors. As we come tonight to our particular section in verse 33, we read here, we see here that we're moving away from the human court, if you will, of this. In other words the the roman practice of crucifixion and when you come to verse 33 you're realizing now that what is being explained to you is in a sense divine intervention if you will what is now happening the scriptures are telling us and the writers are telling us now even though it all has come from God now we are seeing here divine activity clearly proclaimed to us and clearly explained to us and you see that in verse 33 when it says and when the sixth hour had come there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour that is um so easy to read right over from the sixth hour there was darkness i've read that all of our life when we come to this particular study and and people have tried to to explain this naturally as an eclipse or something of that that nature there's no way around it that what mark and the gospel writers are describing and saying to us is that on that particular those hours on that day the sun stopped giving its light this is uh this has been told all throughout the scriptures in fact you know throughout the whole history of the description of the day of the lord it always comes with this particular uh sort of description about the sun not giving its light and it being characterized as a day of darkness and a day of thick clouds jesus himself said this in chapter 13 And when he considered that there would be a day when the sun would no longer give its light, it was always in connection with judgment, wasn't it? All throughout the Scriptures, Joel 2, all the descriptions of the day of the Lord came when darkness was announced as a day of judgment. Clearly, judgment had come. And judgment had come upon the land, you'll notice. This is exactly how the final judgment will be on that day. The sun will not give its light and it will be a day of great judgment. Well, all of a sudden, as Jesus has been pinned up on the cross, as Jesus has been nailed there, this darkness that had been described all throughout the Scriptures, this darkness, the day of doom and gloom, has come. It really is, if you're thinking about it from the perspective of the mockers, a scary moment. For it's a day of judgment and a day of darkness that should be upon them. It should have, when things went dark, dropped every knee, shouldn't it? Can you imagine this going about your day and then all of a sudden the land goes dark? Jesus has been put on trial and He has been condemned. And what has been the charge? What has been the reason? Well, he's faced a series of slanderous trials. Remember the ecclesiastical trial and then the civil trials. The verdict against him that Mark made clear from the Jews when he was put on trial in the ecclesiastical trial, the verdict that Mark made very clear, Contra's Pilate, Pilate used the seditious charge that he was a seditious rebel against the crown. The Jews' charge was very clear, wasn't it? Remember the question? Are you the Christ, the Son of the blessed? Are you the Son? Is that what you're saying of yourself? And you remember that this was one of the few moments that Jesus said, openly said, I am. This is really important because Mark is focused on that charge, isn't he? What if that's indeed true? What are the implications of that? They have delivered him over, it said, Mark said, for envy as a blasphemous son to receive the cursed death of the cross as Deuteronomy had proclaimed. I want you to listen to a minute to Amos chapter 8 and it'll help, I think, understand a little bit of this. This is Amos chapter 8. Shall not the land tremble on this account and everyone mourn who dwells in it and all of it rise like the Nile and be tossed about and sink again like the Nile of Egypt? And on that day, declares the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head. I will make it, here it is, like the morning for an only son. Huh. Huh. It's going to end like a bitter day. Israel knew this story. This story was so embedded in the Old Testament. This story was so known to them in the Old Testament. No one missed it. This story was the basis of their entire existence as a people. Their deliverance was known by a period of what? Darkness before the judgment of the firstborn son. You know this story, don't you? What am I talking about? I'm talking about the ninth plague. The ninth plague was darkness. The ninth plague was the plague that preceded immediately the judgment of the firstborn sons of Egypt. Remember what Moses said? Stretch out your hand toward heaven that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt. Darkness which can even be felt. So dark was it that no one could move. What followed this plague was the striking of the firstborn son of Egypt. Even, and this was the whole focus of that particular assault, Pharaoh's firstborn son. Why was God doing this? It was this story, it was this way of deliverance, darkness and judgment on the firstborn son that he used to proclaim to Israel their deliverance. It was that judgment on the son that set them free. Huh. they would on that night celebrate a Passover, wouldn't they? Blood would go up on doorposts. The angel of death would go through the camp. Death. Darkness would come over the land. The Passover then would happen, and as they're eating the Passover, as they're eating in their homes, the blood of the land on the doorposts, the angel of death would pass over their homes, and they would not be struck. They're firstborn. So at midnight, God struck, didn't he? At midnight, God struck. Struck the firstborn of Egypt, struck Pharaoh's firstborn son and immediately said, you're out, you're free. Go, get up, don't come back. Here's Jesus. Charge, blasphemy, he's a blasphemous son. He calls Himself the Son of God. Are you the Christ, the Son? Are you? I am. Mark says, as soon as darkness is coming to an end, Jesus cries out. They say that Roman crucifixions were so awful that you would hear from the cross as they were being crucified, screams of torment, often rage and wild cursing going on of indescribable despair. It's an awful way to die. Of all the words that were spoken by Christ on the cross, Mark records one line. One. Isn't that interesting? You know that the Gospel writers have a lot in the other Gospels to describe Mark gives one. At the end of the ninth hour, as this period of darkness comes to an end, Jesus cries out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Mark stops right there. That's what Mark wants us focused on. That line. That line, of course, is from Psalm 22. psalm 22 it's the the first verse and it's hard for us to get our our minds around commentators have been commentating on this for years and try to lighten it up but i there's no way to lighten this up jesus is taking psalm 22 as his experience fulfilling it and applying it to himself. And he's crying out because as that darkness has struck, he is describing for us in fulfillment what Psalm 22 describes. Abandonment. Abandonment. By who? The Father. Father's son listen to what he's asking he's from the cross crying out and psalm 22 shows this psalm 22 you read through psalm 22 this is what he's uh listen to some of it my god my god why have you forsaken me why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning oh my god i cry by day but you do not answer and by night but i find no rest he's crying for help and he gets no help or answer none what this this word from the cross was indicating is that jesus has cried out in the distress of his soul, and he gets nothing. Nothing. He's living Psalm 22. The father had turned away. The father had turned away. In his human nature, he is suffering God-forsakenness. He loves his father. He's never stopped loving his father. You think of Job. Job was tested and his wife said, look, curse God and die. Didn't. He loved him. He loved him. And his father, the father loved his son. That never stopped. It's the marvel of this. That never stopped. Everywhere the Father's been proclaiming it. Everywhere the Father's been showing it. This is my Son, whom I love. My beloved Son. But in these three hours of darkness, abandon it. You've never known it. You've never faced it. We are, you can quote the verse from Israel, for whatever reason we can call out upon God and he hears and he answers us. We take it all for granted and don't frequent the throne of grace like we should. This man on the cross is clearly expressing forsakenness. From a Jewish perspective, this for them, from the Jews standing there, is a moment of laughter and scorn. At least it becomes in their eyes a confirmation of what they've done. He's not getting any help. They wanted this. They wanted him judged by God. They wanted him condemned for taking this claim that he's the son. For taking something to himself that was clearly, for them, blasphemous. And they know he's crying out Psalm 22. In fact, they begin to mock it. It's clear they're mocking it. They hear, Eloi, Eloi. and they think, oh, they know what he's saying. They say, oh, maybe he's asking for Elijah. Maybe Elijah will come. Maybe Elijah will come down and take him down and help him. Here's the moment Mark's capturing tonight. As we reach the end of the ninth hour, we read that he cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. What Mark wants you to see, and what Mark is having us consider, is that this was no ordinary death. I have been in rooms, and maybe you have, of people who have died. They don't have any control over this. Often the last breath, and I've been in a room, I'm still recalling it as a pastor, the first time as a young pastor I witnessed this when somebody died in front of me in the room and the pain that came over the family, but the moment there where the breath, the last breath was taken. and crucifixions usually died after a last breath, mainly of exhaustion a few days later. That's why Pilate is so surprised this thing has happened so fast. The reason that we have the details of the sour wine are to tell us from Mark, he was conscious right to the end when he took that breath. So what we have described then is a conscious man suffering tremendously and whatever is going on expressed here a horrendous last moment we read that he gives a violent burst of a cry and then he dies it's a violent sudden death put it together there's a soldier standing there a centurion he sees this violent ending and he's never seen anything like it did you notice how mark characterized it he when he saw the manner in which he took that breath whatever it looked like what had just transpired before this man seemed to be to him that jesus had done something in a way of handing his life over we have no control how that's going to go but this particular last violent moment of the last breath indicated somehow to this man a complete submission to the whole thing I can't capture it I don't know what it sounded like but whatever it sounded like he knew this he had never seen anything like it was an explosive death why does that matter because right at this moment when this explosive death happens as soon as he breathes his last mark says the veil of the temple ripped apart from top to bottom never seeing anything like any of this this roman centurion this man at that moment is so overcome he yells out and proclaims truly this was the son of god what a moment in mark's gospel what a moment why does it matter well it's it's it's the moment of the whole gospel here's why i say that in mark 1 remember what happened immediately coming out of the water he saw the heavens split open very same word of the temple split and a voice came from heaven you are my son in whom i am well pleased mark has just structured it the very same way he formed it the very same way there the heavens were were ripped open and the father's voice the spirit falls the father's voice comes out this is my son here jesus takes this last bursting breath and dies explosively the temple veil rips top to bottom and the centurion proclaims this is the son of god see mark wants us to see as soon as he died the very testimony of the father was prophesied again to tell us that in the death of God's Son, we see the Gospel. That was Mark 1. The beginning of the Gospel of the Son of God. In other words, God put His Son there for you when that darkness and judgment should have been yours. Everything Israel was celebrating at this moment during the Passover and all this put together, what had just happened before their eyes, God, gift of His only begotten Son to them, they have recklessly abused, they have given Him over as a rebellious Son, and that before them has played out the whole story of their exodus. On the night of their deliverance, the Lamb was killed. the final plague of darkness. And then the judgment of the firstborn son. And here, what do we have? The judgment of God's only begotten son, full of grace and truth. Sacrifice. Isaiah 59, Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. You don't have that. He had that. We deserve it, of course. We're rebellious sons. We deserve to be cut off. And every time we cry to Him, we deserve to have His face turned away. But you know He sends you out of here tonight with His face of blessing upon you? Jesus offered Himself willfully. He just laid down His life. None of this caught Him by surprise. Jesus did this. The Father gave out of His great love for you. And Jesus endured it. The darkness that He experienced in those three hours was the punishment, as we say, the descent into hell, the punishment for our sins. He took on the awful horror of separation and darkness, suffering the unfathomable anguish of body and soul and real abandonment as the sinless Son of God for you. You see, our story is tonight that we all hate Him. We hate God, and if we could, we would destroy Him. And this is what the cross is telling us. And yet it pleased God, pleased the Father to bruise Him and to lay upon Him the iniquity of us all so that through His death, heaven's opened. You know, that's how Hebrews applies this temple-ripping veil, that now heaven is wide open for you. You get to go there. That's where you're headed. That's what Good Friday is all about. This is the gospel of the Son of God. Mark has been laboring to explain this to us. I just want to close with this final thought, and we'll come to the supper tonight. What is the right response? You know, we'll come back to all these women on Sunday. It's really fascinating to me that Mark focuses on one figure here in response, and it's Joseph of Arimathea. who we read is concerned about the body of Jesus. And he asks Pilate for this body. And you have this detail and it's somewhat cryptic and you wonder, why does all of this really matter? Well, remember that Romans loved to make a public display of bodies so they'd leave them up on the cross to rot and let the birds tear up. It would only come at the generosity of the civil magistrate. But someone who has been charged with treason would never get this privilege. And if a body remained on the cross after sundown, remember according to Deuteronomy, the whole land was polluted. Well, Joseph goes to Pilate and he asks to give him a burial. Pilate's overwhelmed that the death has already happened. He knew something was extraordinary about it. He wants to make sure he's dead, so he asks to make sure he's dead before he releases him. He grants it. Joseph takes the body, he wraps it, laid it in a linen tomb, and rolled a stone against the tomb to secure it. Here's what marvels me tonight about Joseph. Where Joseph of Arimathea stands out. He was a rich man. He was a prominent man, a leader of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. He was a Pharisee. He was a good old boy. He had been listening to Jesus. He had been listening about the coming kingdom, which Jesus explained with his death and his resurrection. I want you to notice how Mark records what Joseph did. Notice what it said, that Joseph of Arimathea took courage and went to Pilate. I think that's a remarkable statement here tonight. That he took courage, putting himself in defiance of the entire council of the Sanhedrin, calling into question his entire future. And here's the point. Up until now, Joseph has been a secret follower. A secret follower. But now when the proclamation happened at his death and Joseph saw and heard these things himself, he finally believed them and nothing anymore was secret. I think there's a huge message in that about our lives, isn't there? When we believe this, we stop sitting on the sidelines. He jeopardized his entire future with the Sanhedrin. But he gained an internal inheritance through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know we've heard this our whole life. Jesus died. Jesus died for us. I think there are a lot of hidden listeners in the church today. I think there are a lot of secret listeners who really have made no commitment. At some point, you have to hear all of this. And you have to ask the sincere question, do I believe it? And if I believe what's being proclaimed to me, that this man is the son of God, my sins put him there. If he would go through all of this for me, it's time I start following. It's time I start taking it seriously. it's time the very things i celebrate for them the passover they're celebrating and not seeing tonight we come to the supper you're going to celebrate do you see what is believed matters and now no longer what anyone else thinks of me when any how anyone else views me really matters in the ultimate scheme of things does it i'm a follower of him i'm a believer in him my identity is bound up within him i believe this man and that changes everything and that's what joseph tells us tonight it gives us great courage now to be who we are as a people gives us great courage to follow not at a distance you see what happened this week with the coptic christians they're worshiping and as they're One of their churches was bombed by Muslims and you could just see the blood all over the pews. You know what they were found doing this week? Boldly in the streets of Alexandria citing the Nicene Creed. Huh. The Nicene Creed. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages. god from god light from light true god from true god begotten not made of the same essence as the father through him all things were made for us and for our salvation he came down from heaven and became incarnate by the holy spirit and the virgin mary and was made man crucified for us under pontius pilate he suffered and was buried the third day he rose again according to the scriptures in the streets of alexandria the things that we mumble when they were put to the test are the things they want to say blood on their pews out in the streets chanting the nicene creed i hope tonight you see the marvel of god's love for you so that in the heart of your afflictions You will never know abandonment from God. You'll never know it. He's not going to abandon you. He's not going to turn away His face from you. Jesus had to face that so that you could be free. So that you could know the delivering, smiling, blessing of the Father. And if Joseph believed before the actual event of the resurrection, how much more should we believe knowing that Sunday's coming? Knowing that He is risen and knowing that we indeed will see Him again. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word tonight and thank You for helping us to understand these things and to realize the great sacrifice that was made for us. That truly this was indeed the Son of God. Your Scriptures are so marvelous how they show this story in fulfillment. May we respond tonight by coming to the table with believing hearts and understanding, discerning the body and the blood of what the Son of God did for us. Receive our thanksgiving. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.