“On January 23, 1968, the USS Pueblo, a US Navy intelligence ship, was hijacked by North Korea. Eighty-two crew members were taken into captivity. Part of the interrogation, required the captured men to sit in a rigid manner for hours yet one person was able to sit in the only chair in the room. Randomly, each day the door to the room would fling open and whoever was sitting in the chair would be brutally beaten by soldiers. This happened for weeks.
The captives knew no man could survive the beating more than three times. So they courageously took turns sitting in the chair, taking the beatings. At last the North Korean guards gave up because they were unable to overcome that kind of sacrificial devotion to one another.
As our passage was read, we heard how Jesus traded places with us and took our death blows that were intended for us. No one would suffer more than Jesus because He sacrificially took our punishment.
I also found in Mark chapter 15 that courage is more than just a reaction to an injustice. It’s also a reaction to truth of Jesus. A courageous decision to believe Jesus is something that will change the trajectory of a life, a family and many others around us.
In this passage notice there are two groups of people. There are other people in Mark 15 that lacked courage and made foolish decision about Jesus. We’ll also see how some of Christ’s followers made a decision to be courageous for Christ. They were not afraid to do what the rest of their world considered “foolish”.
What does courage look like? How are we to be brave for Christ and to stand for Him in a world that opposes Him?
Mark 15:1 Immediately, in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council; and they bound Jesus, led Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate.
The religious council condemned Jesus to die for blasphemy, a capital offense in Jewish law, but the Roman authorities prevented the Jews from executing any criminal. So they had to bring Jesus to Pilate, the Roman Governor, only Rome did not recognize blasphemy as a capital offense. It was the chief priests that came up with different charges. The one accusation that Pilate focused on was that Jesus claimed to be “the King of the Jews”. Now, that was a capital offense under Rome law.
Mark 15:2 Then Pilate asked Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” He answered and said to him, “It is as you say.”
Pilate was a true politician. He would make decisions that increased his stature and favor with Rome. As for the Hebrew people they were secondary to his decision. Yet, Pilate needed to be careful since there was some doubt in Rome about his control over the Hebrews.
Mark 15:3-5 And the chief priests accused Him of many things, but He answered nothing. Then Pilate asked Him again, saying, “Do You answer nothing? See how many things they testify against You!” But Jesus still answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled.
Maybe Pilate was amazed since Jesus did not try to defend himself like so many other prisoners had done. (Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth”. Pilate questioned Jesus’ claim to be king, not really believing the charges the chief priests brought against Him. But Pilate because of fear of losing control or his governorship agreed to execute Jesus.
Mark 15:6-15 Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion. Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them. But Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. Pilate answered and said to them again, “What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” So they cried out again, “Crucify Him!” Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!” So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.
Pilate was afraid. He had a tenuous relationship with Caesar; if the Jews rioted, Pilate would be removed from office. He gave in easily, even though he had already declared Jesus innocent of the charges brought against him.
Pilate lacked the courage to make a decision contrary to the people around him. He wanted to avoid a riot, so he was “wishing to satisfy the crowd”. Warren Wiersbe says, “Pilate did not ask, ‘Is it right or the truth?’ Instead, he asked, ‘Is it safe? Is it popular?’ (Dr. Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary). There is no courage here! – Just a man afraid of the consequences of siding with Jesus.
The lack of “courage” will leave us with more loss than we might imagine. We should never reject Jesus, because we are afraid of the crowd.
More than that, if you’re going to be courageous we shouldn’t mock Christ’s like the soldiers did. We need to boldly identify with His claim to be King of our life.
Mark 15:16-20 Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison. And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him. And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.
The soldiers were mocking a man already severely beaten. Jesus had already been scourged according to verse 15.
Dr. John Grassmick says, in scourging, “the prisoner was stripped, often tied to a post, and beaten on the back by several guards using short leather whips studded with sharp pieces of bone or metal. No limit was set on the number of blows, [and] often this punishment was fatal (Bible Knowledge Commentary). That’s Jesus’ condition when these soldiers get him.
He was near death, yet there were several of the soldiers ganging up on Jesus. Verse 16 says it was “the whole battalion”, which normally is about 600 men following the foolish ways of life. There is no courage in following the crowd – the world is cruel and brutal and operates with senseless vanity.
We don’t find courage in a position (like Pilate had), nor do we find courage in following the crowd or culture (like the soldiers).
Talk about courage, I read a story about this teenager who had just received her learner’s permit offered to drive her mother to church. After a hair-raising ride, they finally reached their destination. Her mother got out of the car and said, “Thank you!” “Any time,” her daughter replied. But as her mother shut the car door, she said, “I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to God.”
We need to openly acknowledge Christ’s sovereignty in our life. We need to clearly and publically declare our allegiance to Jesus as our King. That is what the women who gathered around the cross did. As Jesus is being crucified, verse 40 says…
Mark 15:40-41 There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome, who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.
Unlike the disciples, who all shamefully fled, here some women who stood by Jesus even as He is being nailed to a cross. Tell me: who demonstrates real courage here? Pilate? No. He was afraid of the crowd. The soldiers? No. They were with the crowd.
The courageous people were these women, who loved Jesus. They were not afraid to openly acknowledge their allegiance to Christ as their King. But there was another courageous person, notice Joseph of Arimathea.
Mark 15:42-47 “Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid.”
Up until this point, Joseph of Arimathea had been a respected member of the Jewish council that had condemned Jesus to die for blasphemy. John 19:38 says he was a follower of Jesus, so he obviously did not approve of their decision. But a few hours later, he came to claim the body of Jesus, a bold confession of his loyalty to the crucified Messiah.
Dr. John Grassmick says, “His action was bold because: (a) he was not related to Jesus; (b) his request was a favor that would likely be denied on principle since Jesus had been executed for treason; (c) he risked ceremonial defilement in handling a dead body; (d) his request amounted to an open confession of personal loyalty to the crucified Jesus which would doubtless incur his associates’ hostility. (Dr. John Grassmick, Bible Knowledge Commentary).
Joseph of Arimathea was a person that made a courageous choice. With His action, he openly declares his allegiance to Jesus as his King despite the risk to his personal reputation and job. His decision helped me see that courage does not come from a position we hold or the power we might have.
True courage comes when we really believe the truth about JESUS CHRIST.
True courage comes when you submit to the fact that Jesus is the Lord. Real courage is when you trust in Him and not yourself.
During a family vacation to Hawaii, a family watched some young people climb a tree, then crawl out on a limb, and jump into a river 30 feet below. Their son Caleb decided jump off too. So he swam across the river, climbed up to the tree and waited his turn. He shimmied out to the end of the branch—then froze.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Caleb mother, called out. “You’re safe. Just jump.” No response. “It’ll be all right. Just let go.” But her female influence wasn’t enough. Caleb started to crawl backward off the branch.
The risk was slight, but the damage to his self-concept could last for years. So Dad called out to his son. “Caleb!” Caleb looked around, and then his father encouraged him to climb back off. He did. Then said, “Caleb, you’re thinking about this too much,” His dad told him. “You already know it’s safe, so I’m going to count to three, and you jump. Ready?” Caleb nodded.
“One. Two. Three.” Caleb took flight, splashed down, and surfaced triumphantly, whooping it up. He swam over to his dad and gave him a high five. His father told him he was proud of him, and they hugged in celebration of his victory over fear. (Bill Farrell, Why Men and Women Act the Way They Do, Harvest House Publishers, 2003; www.PreachingToday.com)
Caleb found that victory over fear in submission to the truth and that’s where we find courage, as well. When we submit to our Heavenly Father, and to Jesus Christ, His Son, we can overcome any fear that holds us back, and we can do courageous things that will absolutely change our lives and our world.
We can do things like talk to a neighbor about Jesus, or go on a mission’s trip, or give more than we normally dare to give. We can do insanely courageous things like admit when we’re wrong, or forgive that person who hurt us, or lovingly confront that family member who is destroying his or her life through poor choices.
To be “courageous” will absolutely change our life and our world, but we must submit to the Lord; i.e., you must jump when He says jump. That kind of courage comes when you bow before Christ as your Sovereign Lord.
In our culture, even the decision to believe Jesus Christ is your savior will take courage.
We must trust that Jesus took our place on the cross. We must have the courage and confidence in the One who died for our sin.
Let’s go back in our passage, it was Jesus who was crucified instead of Barabbas (verse 15). Barabbas was an insurrectionist and murderer, who was awaiting execution. He was probably a Jewish zealot who was not afraid to take up arms against the “Roman occupiers”. Well, it was Passover; Pilate had a custom to release one Jewish prisoner. Pilate had hoped that the crowd would ask for Jesus’ release, but they asked for Barabbas’ freedom instead. Barabbas who had been tried and convicted of murder was going to be set free; while Jesus, who was declared innocent, was going to be crucified on the cross meant for Barabbas.
This account of Barabbas and Jesus illustrates that we are like Barabbas, condemned sinners, condemned to die because of our sin. God announced that, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The most ironic truth is that Jesus was innocent, the One without sin, and died in the sinners place.
Jesus was punished in our place, What Jesus did but that was the most courageous act ever recorded. He saved us instead of Himself. We are not done with this account in Mark…
Mark 15:21-30 Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross. And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it. And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take. Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. And the inscription of His accusation was written above: THE KING OF THE JEWS. With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. So, the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with the transgressors.” And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, “save Yourself, and come down from the cross!”
As Jesus hung on the cross, the people and the religious leaders mocked Him (verse 31), saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself.” Well, the irony is, they were exactly right. In order to save others, Jesus could not save Himself. If Jesus would have saved Himself from that cross, then all of us would die in our sins. As it was, Jesus chose to save you and me instead of Himself. He chose to die for our sins, so we wouldn’t have to.
We need to be courageous and trust Jesus who opened the way for us to God by shutting Himself off from God. When Jesus was on the cross, He cried out (vs.34), “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It was the first time Jesus experienced the unthinkable horror of separation from God, who cannot look on sin. Up until this point, God the Son and God the Father were inseparable, having enjoyed intimate fellowship from all eternity past. Now, when God the Son takes upon Himself your sin and mine, God the Father turns His back on His own Son and unleashes the fury of His wrath on Him because of that sin. The skies turned dark and Jesus was forsaken. But then…
Mark 15:38 Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
Jesus opened the way for us to come to His Heavenly Father. The curtain of the temple separated sinful humanity from a Holy God. The high priest, only once a year is allowed beyond that curtain. Did you notice the Bible say, “from top to bottom”? When Jesus died on the cross, God Himself tore that curtain apart. It was an action that declares that all who trust in Jesus, His Son, have full and free access to the God of the universe. Hebrews 10 says, “We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain” (Hebrews 10:19-20).
Oh there is only one way to courageously respond to the love and grace of God. The same way one of the executioners responded, the Roman centurion, who oversaw the crucifixion.
Mark 15:39 says, So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!”
The centurion professed that Jesus “was the Son of God”.
We must courageously believe in Christ, who died on the cross as our substitute. We must courageously trust the One who was punished in our place. We must courageously trust the One who saved us instead of Himself.
John Lennox (an author and professor of mathematics at Oxford University) told a story about touring Eastern Europe and meeting a Jewish woman from South Africa. The woman told Lennox that she was researching how her relatives had perished in the Holocaust. At one point on their guided tour, they passed a display that had the following words written on it: Arbeit macht frei” (or “work makes free”). They had the Jews believe that if a person worked hard they would be released. It was a mock-up of the main gate to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. The display also had pictures of the horrific medical experiments carried out on children by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele. At that point of their tour, the Jewish woman turned to Lennox and said, “And what does your religion make of this?”
Lennox said:
What was I to say? She had lost her parents and many relatives in the Holocaust. I could scarcely bear to look at the Mengele photographs, because of the sheer horror of imagining my children suffering such a fate. I had nothing in my life that remotely paralleled the horror her family had endured.
But still she stood in the doorway waiting for an answer. I eventually said, “I would not insult your memory of your parents by offering you simplistic answers to your question. What is more, I have young children and I cannot even bear to think how I might react if anything were to happen to them, even if it were far short of the evil that Mengele did. I have no easy answers; but I do have what, for me at least, is a doorway into an answer.”
“What is it?” she said.
I said, “You know that I am a Christian. That means that I believe that Yeshua is the Messiah. I also believe that He was God incarnate, come into our world as savior, which is what His name ‘Yeshua’ means. Now I know that this is even more difficult for you to accept. Nevertheless, just think about this question—if Yeshua was really God, as I believe He was, what was God doing on a cross?
“Could it be that God begins just here to meet our heartbreaks, by demonstrating that He did not remain distant from our human suffering, but became part of it himself? For me, this is the beginning of hope; and it is a living hope that cannot be smashed by the enemy of death. The story does not end in the darkness of the cross. Yeshua conquered death. He rose from the dead; and one day, as the final judge, He will assess everything in absolute fairness, righteousness, and mercy.”
There was silence. She was still standing, arms outstretched, forming a motionless cross in the doorway. After a moment, with tears in her eyes, very quietly but audibly, she said: “Why has no one ever told me that about my Messiah before?” (John Lennox, Gunning for God, Lion, 2011, pp. 141-142; www.PreachingToday. com)
God Himself entered our pain, so He could deliver us from it. God suffered in our place, so we could experience life forever!
That’s someone you can trust. Courageously trust Him with your life. Courageously believe in Christ as your substitute, and courageously bow before Him as your sovereign Lord. Courageously tell others about Jesus Christ and what He has done for you.
I will finish with Jesus’ words on being courageous in our decisions in life:
Luke 14: 28-33 “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it — “lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, “saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ “Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? “Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”