GETTING STARTED
Suffering, pain, abandonment, and death. These are uncomfortable subjects we don’t like to talk about and experiences we go to great lengths to avoid. Yet, it is exactly what happened to Jesus. He faced it head on, and he did it all for us as a sacrificial gift.
- What is the most painful moment you have experienced in life? What made it so painful?
READ THE WORD: MARK 15:16-41 (ESV)
16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 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.
21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour when they crucified him.26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 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.
33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 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.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way hebreathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 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.
English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
DIGGING DEEPER
- List all the ways that Jesus suffered in verses 16-20.
- What are the different ways people responded to Jesus in this passage?
- What was the response to Jesus from the soldiers (vs. 24), the crowds (vss. 29-30), and the robbers (vs. 32)?
- What was the response of the centurion (vs. 39)? How did the centurion know Jesus was the Son of God?
- How did the chief priests and scribes react in verse 31?
- What were the women doing in verse 40?
- Who do you most relate to in this passage? How have you responded to Jesus?
RESPOND TO GOD
Every day an offering was made to God in the temple at the ninth hour. This offering was known as the Mincha offering and was an offering that even the poorest of the poor could make. The Jewish people believed that after the offering was made the forgiveness of sins was complete. Jesus was our Mincha offering, and he destroyed the barrier (the curtain in the temple) that separated people from God. Even the poorest of the poor—EVERYONE—can now enter the Holy of Holies because Jesus completed the sacrifice. He saved us.
- Praise Jesus for the suffering he endured for us.
- Thank God that you can now freely be with him because of Jesus’ suffering for you.
