Mark 15:33-39 - The Death of Jesus

This week, we’re diving into Mark 15:33-39, where we witness the pivotal moment of Jesus’ death on the cross. We’ll explore the unnatural darkness that fell over the land, a sign of God’s judgment, and Jesus’ cry of forsakenness, revealing the depth of His sacrifice. This passage challenges us to feel the weight of the cross—not as a familiar story, but as the turning point of history where our Savior bore our sins. Join me as we unpack the significance of these moments and look to Jesus, our true hope!

Transcript

106 - Mark 15:33-39 - The Death of Jesus

Intro

• If you have your Bibles please turn with me to Mark 15 and find verse 33…
  • The scripture we come to today testifies to us the death of Jesus.
• So today we come with the same challenge as we faced last week, let us strive to not read these verses as something that is common to us…
  • But let us read these verses and strive to feel the weight of what is transpiring across this text.
  • I believe that it is possible that we can get too comfortable with the cross…
    • Too accustomed to hearing that Jesus died for our sins…
    • To be at the point where we are unmoved by the whole story.
  • Unimpressed, like a rerun that we have seen a dozen times.
• Let us strive today for that not to happen but to read it as if we have never read it before…
  • To consider it as though we are looking upon it for the first time…
  • To examine it and what it means not just for Jesus but for us all today…
• The cross and Jesus' death is a marked turning point in history where mankind is offered something that could not be attained any other way.
  • Mankind is offered salvation by the substitutionary death of our Savior upon the cross.
  • Without which we would be a people without any hope at all.
• Friends, if you take away the cross and Jesus atoning death, you take away Christianity, you take away our hope.
  • So these verses are pivotal…
  • More than that it would do us well to keep in mind that Mark’s Gospel was the first penned so what we are going to be reading is the first written account of the death of our Lord.
    • Written to the church, written to be shared, written so that we may know that Jesus died in the place of man. 
• Let us read our verses and open in prayer and as we dive into this text. 

Mark 15:33-39

• As we step into these verses it is important to note at the start that Mark’s account of the crucifixion and death of our Lord is not exhaustive…
  • To be fair, every Gospel account has unique parts that are pointed out about the crucifixion.
    • So our goal today is not examine the differences between the Gospel accounts but instead to examine what Mark included and why he chose to include this specific information.
    • It is not that we will ignore the other accounts but our focus will be upon what Mark thought important enough to include in this account.
  • However, I do want to give you a taste of what I mean when I say that his account is not exhaustive.
    • Allow me to reference something that I am sure many of us are familiar with…
      • When Jesus was upon the cross there are seven final statements that He makes upon the cross.
      • Seven times Jesus speaks and His words are recorded across the four Gospels.
    • However, if you look at Mark’s account how many statements do you find?
      • Mark records just one of those statements, the other six are found in the other Gospels.
  • Where I think it is beneficial to consider the sayings of Christ upon the Cross our focus is not going to be there today.
    • Instead of asking why Mark excluded those statements, as well as other details, we are going to lean into what he included.
    • Knowing that this was the first account written for the sake of the church.  
• This is the approach we are going to take not only with Jesus' statements but with other events surrounding the death of Christ.
  • We will consider what Mark has written and why those details matter to us today.
    • Our time will be divided into three parts across these verses as we consider these final moments of the life of our Lord.  
• Let us begin by stepping in to our first point, which is found in our opening verse… 

Unnatural Darkness - Vs. 33

• I know we just read it but let us read it again…
  • Vs. 33 - “And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.”
• As we think of this verse, let us consider the time which is being recorded…
  • This matters greatly to our understanding of this event.
    • The sixth hour is not 6 AM, instead the “sixth hour” is 12 noon, it is the middle of the day.
    • The point for which the sun should be at its peak, the point where shadows should be at a minimum.  
  • Now at this point He had been up on the cross for three hours, we could go back to verse 25 and see that He was crucified at the third hour, or 9 AM.  
    • For the first three hours He hung upon the cross and the world just seemed to watch.  
• Then, as the last three hours of His life approved…
  • This darkness fell upon the region.
    • It did not last for a moment, it was not a few minutes, but for three full hours and until His death the darkness persisted.
  • There has been much speculation as to what exactly this darkness was, we know for sure it was not a solar eclipse because they were celebrating the Passover…
    • A celebration marked by the full moon, if the moon had been full at night it could not have eclipsed the sun during the day.
    • No, instead what we are dealing with in these verses is a supernatural event that was clearly marked by these last three hours of Jesus’ life.
  • There are several things worth pointing out about this verse and about these three hours, let us examine them together.
• The first thing I would like to point out comes from an extra biblical source who wrote about Jewish history at around the time in which Jesus lived.
  • Josephus, the famous Jewish historian, who documented well the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, also wrote some about the time in which Jesus lived.
    • Although his writings make mention of Jesus it is clear that he did not view Jesus as the Messiah.
  • However, he did make mention of His death and shared much information about the Jewish people of that time.
    • Because of that his writings are extremely valuable for us today.
      • One point that is relevant as we consider the timing of this darkness was that Josephus documented that the evening sacrifice was daily offered at the temple at the same time.
    • Think about that, the Temple events would have continued on while this supposed Messiah was crucified…
      • Yet, as they begin offering the evening sacrifices an unnatural darkness eclipses the land.
      • Can you imagine this?
        • This would have been something on a regular day but on this day it was not just any day…
          • It was the day they prepared the passover, the day the lambs were slaughtered for their sins.
        • As they were being killed to be offered, darkness covered the land.
      • Can you imagine being a priest at this time, knowing that Jesus was on the cross?
    • Then, to consider that the darkness lifted after His death, that certainly could not have been ignored.  
  • This is the first consideration that we must make, that this darkness parallels the evening sacrifices.
• Second, it is a representation of the Judgment of God…
  • As we consider this passover and what this celebration meant for the people of Israel we must also consider the first passover.
    • As the people were in bondage and serving as slaves to the Egyptians.
  • We find this account in the book of Exodus as Moses and Aaron continually go before Pharaoh and time and again request the people to be set free.  
    • If you will recall, Pharaoh was unwilling to set the people free…
    • And so God sent 10 plagues to demonstrate His power and authority over Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt.  
  • These plagues represented the judgment of God falling upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians, it represented the gods of Egypt being cast down and the Lord showing Himself as the One True God.  
    • One of those plagues was the darkness that the people of Egypt experienced for three full days. 
    • Actually it was not just one of the plagues, it was the ninth plague, the one that came before the final plague, the death of the firstborn.
  • Let me share with you what Exodus 10 has to say about this time…
    • Exodus 10:21-23 - “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23 They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.”
      • It was darkness that could be felt, but it was a darkness that was localized to Egypt.
    • Because God does things very intentionally, and the Old Testament is meant to point forward to Christ, I think this darkness at the time of the cross is meant to mirror what happened during the Exodus.
      • Instead of three days we see three hours, and instead of a lamb being provided we find the death of the firstborn Son.
      • He was the Lamb who was slain, the One who bore the sins of man.  
  • The people would have recognized that this was an unnatural thing occurring, just as we would…
    • Darkness in the day time, that did not last for minutes but endured for three full hours.
• The third consideration of this darkness is how it would have also represented a fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy…
  • In the book of Amos, the prophet is writing about the judgment of God that is going to be falling upon the people.
    • He writes of famine as well as darkness as a representation of the judgement of God because of the sin of man.
  • In Amos 8 we find the verses that are relevant to this three hour darkness…
    • Amos 8:9-10 - ““And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.  10 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 like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.”
  • These three hours of darkness represented the judgment of God falling upon the Savior.
• It existed as a sign for the people looking on, that Jesus was more than a mere man and what was happening was more than just a crucifixion.
  • The Gospel testifies to both of those things, where we find the Son of Man, God in the flesh, dying upon the cross for the sins of man.
  • The hymn “At the Cross” captures this scene very well in the third verse, which is my favorite verse of that song:
    • “Well might the sun in darkness hide, and shut its glories in, when God, the mighty maker, died for man his creature's sin.“
  • This darkness marked the time in which Jesus suffered the most and it was not because of the pain of the crucifixion, it was because during this time He suffered under the wrath of God.
• Let us move to our second point as we see His…

Unwavering Dedication - Vs. 34-37

• Read again with me Mark 15:34-37
  • Vs. 34-37
• Here we find the only recorded statement in this Gospel…
  • As I stated earlier across all four Gospels we find a total of 7 unique statements from our Lord while He hung upon the tree.
  • Yet Mark, for whatever reason, only included this one statement…
    • “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
  • What a cry, what a representation of the suffering that Christ was enduring during these final moments.
    • Though He and the Father were One and had existed from Eternity past there is a marvelous mystery of what is transpiring at this time.
    • Some have said that it was because the Father was grieved at this time and could not bear to look upon Him, and so He turned away from Christ.
  • I do not think that is the case at all, I do not think the Father turned away from Jesus…
    • Instead, what happened was much worse…
      • What we see happening is the full wrath of the Father being poured out upon the Son.
    • Though Jesus had done nothing deserving of it…
      • He was enduring the judgment of God and the punishment as if He had sinned.
  • Those who say the “Father could not look upon Him” are also the ones that say hell is separation from God for all of eternity…
    • That is wrong, hell is not separation from God it is the perfect wrath of God being poured out upon deserving man for all of eternity.
    • I assure you that in hell God’s presence will be felt, but there will be no joy, there will be no mercy, there will be no grace…
      • His presence will be known as He continually pours out the wrath deserved upon sinful rebellious man.
  • The same is occurring here, the difference is that Jesus did nothing to deserve it…
    • Yet, He willingly, and the Bible says joyfully, endured what He did not deserve.
• As you ponder that let me remind you that Jesus possessed the power within Himself as the Creator and Sustainer to not suffer at the hands of sinful men.
  • He who walked upon the water did not have to submit Himself to this humiliation.
    • Consider even more than that, He did not have to step into His creation and cloth Himself with humanity to begin with.
  • We marvel at the incarnation, and rightly so, for God becoming man is marvelous enough…
    • Here we find the God who became man and dwelt among us willingly endured suffering and shame…
  • Who would submit themselves to such torment, even if we were to only consider the physical sufferings of the cross, who would give themselves to it?
    • Yet that is exactly what our Lord did, He submitted Himself to sinful man to endure something that He did not deserve. 
  • Last week we considered why He endured such torment and pain, and I remind you today…
    • First, it was to obey the will of the Father but the Bible reveals to us it was more than simply that…
      • He showed His love for us in that while we were still sinners He died for us.
    • He showed His love for us as He was beaten…
      • He displayed His commitment to drawing people to Himself as the nails pierced His hands…
      • He displayed this unwavering dedication to His people as He endured the righteous wrath of the Father.
  • As He cried out, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” the question that goes unanswered in that moment is answered in the Gospel itself…
    • Christ was forsaken at this moment so we never have to be forsaken again.
    • Peter tells us in…
      • 1 Peter 2:24 - “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
    • Paul writes the same, although worded differently, in…
      • 2 Corinthians 5:21 - “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
  • Unwavering Dedication to the Will of the Father as He showed to us undeserved love…
• It is also important to note that this was not only a statement of Christ upon the Cross but it was also a reference to the opening verse of Psalm 22, which contains several prophecies that pointed to this moment.
  • In fact, I think it would do us well to look at this together, please turn to Psalm 22 with me…
    • Now we are going to read several verses of this Psalm that point ahead to the cross of Christ.
    • As we look at this together, keep in mind this Psalm was written by David roughly 1000 years before Jesus was born.
  • Let us read some of this together and discuss as we go…
    • Psalm 22:1
      • A direct quote from the lips of our Lord as He hung upon the tree.
      • Surely this is intended as a reference to this Psalm, at least in part, let us see why as we jump down to verse 6.
      • David writes…
    • Psalm 22:6-8
      • This is quoted by the religious leaders in Matthew 27, and previously we witnessed in Mark 15 at how Jesus was mocked.
      • These verses show us again that the cross was not an afterthought but a meticulously planned moment for which Christ bore the sin of man.
      • Let’s keep reading, jump down to verse 14.
    • Psalm 22:14-18
      • Once more we can see how Jesus fulfilled these verses, how David, unknowingly, looked ahead to the cross of Christ.
  • Please turn back with me to Mark 15
• Jesus was not just dedicated in this moment as He hung upon the cross, He was committed from before the foundations of the world, and Psalm 22 and Jesus' reference to it point us to that fact.
  • The emotional actions in the moment can be meaningful but what is more meaningful is carefully calculated decisions that cost us greatly, but show love sacrificially.
  • That is the cross, if Christ commanded those who would follow Him to “count the cost”, do you not think that He followed the same advice?
    • Certainly He did, He counted the cost and determined that it was worth it to redeem a people to Himself.
  • Again, unmatched dedication to the Will of God.
• Now, let us turn our attention to the final two verses that we read and see this…

Unexpected Declaration - Vs. 38-39

• Let us read these verses again…
  • Vs. 38-19
• There are two things worth our attention in these verses today…
  • The first is the temple curtain being torn in two, from top to bottom…
  • The second is the confession of the Roman centurion…
• Both of these declarations were not expected but testify to what happened on that day…
  • Let’s examine each one…
    • First, the curtain of the temple was torn in two pieces, and Mark is clear, this was something that happened from the top to the bottom.
      • Now when you or I think of a curtain we possibly have in mind what we often hang as a covering for our windows.
        • Often these curtains are very thin and do not even block out light completely.
      • If this is what you are thinking about as you read this passage then you are misunderstanding the curtain that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies.
        • Josephus writes about this curtain and points out that it was massive…
          • Possibly up to 4 inches thick, woven together and hung suspended by rings.
        • Can you imagine such a hanging, a material that is woven together and 4 inches thick?
          • Even if it was just half of that, that would still be very impressive.
      • Knowing that certainly changes how we read this verse, right?
        • It is not a flimsy curtain, this is a massive decorative material that had one purpose.
        • It was to separate the most holy place from the rest of the temple.
      • It was in this chamber that the Ark of the Covenant was supposed to dwell, but in the time of Christ it is unmentioned and assumed to have been lost by this time.  
        • Yet this room still would have operated as the same, it was the inner most part of the Temple and would be accessed only once a year.
          • It represented the very presence of God, and so it was accessible at only very specific times…
        • On the day of atonement the High Priest would enter and offer a sacrifice for the nation.
          • Outside of that time this room was off limits to everyone, this curtain being the sole separator.
      • Yet on this day, as Jesus breathed His last the massive divide was torn into two pieces opening up the Holy of Holies.
        • This was symbolic to what the death of Christ meant for those who would place their faith in Him.
          • No more was there a divide between God and man, but that bridge has been built paved with the blood of the Savior.
        • This tearing of the curtain shows us today that there is indeed a way to the Father and it is by faith in Christ.
        • We need no other man to stand in our place but we have direct access through Christ our Great High Priest who paid for our access by His own life.  
      • This would have screamed to the Jewish religious leaders that Jesus was more than a man.
        • Though they suppressed His miracles, they spat upon Him and struck Him and had Him killed.
        • He was not silenced, His work was finished and His impact would reach the nations.
      • The curtain was torn and the sacrificial system was to be no more, because the perfect Lamb of God had stood in place of man.
    • The second examination is from the centurion where he spoke and testified that, "Truly this man was the Son of God!”.
      • We must view this statement in its proper place remembering a few things about this centurion.  
      • A Roman centurion was an officer and would command a unit of roughly 80 to 100 soldiers; they played a critical role in the time of Christ.
        • They would oversee military operations, perform executions, and keep the peace.
        • That means that this man would have more than likely overseen many crucifixions.
        • He would have been familiar with the process and perhaps witnessed or played the part of having many people killed.
          • It is important we remember that this process would not have been unusual to him.
      • What did stand out though would have been the darkness and the way that Jesus died.
        • He seemed to recognize that this man did not die like all other men but His death stood out.
      • So much so that he testified that this man was the Son of God, now did he fully understand what that meant or what he had just witnessed.
    • Scripture does not tell us that, but we can be sure that what he witnessed stood out to him in a mighty way.
  • So we find that the Gentiles testify, the Jewish are witness to the work of God upon the cross where the payment for sin was made in full.

Closing

• The question we are faced with at this point as we consider the cross and think of the sacrifice of Christ and how it fulfilled what God had set in motion from the start is this…
  • Have you submitted your life to Him?
    • He died for you, what do you live for?
  • The Bible tells us we cannot have two masters but that we can only have one, who is your Master?
    • Who is your Lord?
  • If it is not Jesus it does not matter who else it is….