“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” That, of course, is how Mark began his gospel. We looked at that verse nearly seven months ago now as we began this series through Mark’s gospel. And I said then that it’s important that we keep in mind what this book is about. It’s about Jesus – who he is and what he’s done.
And the reason it’s good for us to remember what this gospel is about is because it’s good for us to remember what Christianity is about. It’s about Jesus of Nazareth, who he is and what he’s done. Without Jesus, Christianity simply doesn’t exist. A number of churches focus on issues like caring for the poor, doing good to one’s neighbor, ministering to orphans, fighting for the lives of the unborn, creating schools, or a number of other things that are great things, aid communities, and better the lives of those around us. However, none of these things stands at the core of the Christian faith. What stands at the center of Christianity is a person – Jesus of Nazareth. If you remove him, his teaching, and his work, then you have removed the very heart and soul of the faith. You could do a number of good things and in the end none of them would matter. Christianity is centered in Christ.
If that last bit sounds familiar, it’s because I copied about eighty-five percent of that last paragraph from the first sermon I preached in this series back on February 5th. I’ve heard that a good teaching device is to start by telling a group what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, and then end by telling them what you told them. And I hope that we have not missed in these many messages through Mark’s gospel that this book is about Jesus – who he is and what he has done.
But I didn’t want to end this series the same way I started this series just because I’ve heard it’s a good teaching tool. I wanted to end this series the same way I started it because I think that’s what Mark does with this gospel. I mentioned at the beginning of this series that by beginning the gospel the way he does, Mark shows the reader that his intent is not to keep hidden until the end just who this Jesus is. He wants us to know right from the start that the good news is about the one Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ, the Son of God.
But throughout Mark’s gospel, he hasn’t shown us this in a way we might expect. He has provided us with less teaching from Jesus than we might expect and given us more of Jesus’ actions. It’s as if Mark wanted us to see who Jesus is based on what Jesus did. And I think that’s exactly what we find in our text this morning, the ending of Mark’s gospel, Mark 15:1-16:8. Though there are not many explicit statements concerning who Jesus is, Jesus’ identity is shown throughout – in things said about him, in the circumstances he finds himself in, in the things that happen to him, and in the things he does. Therefore, this morning, I want us to end our study through this gospel by considering the same thing we did when we began our study, namely, who is this Jesus of Nazareth. And, first, I want to note that:
In 15:1 we are told that the chief priests held a consultation with the council and bound Jesus, as they led him away and handed him over to Pilate. And the reason they handed him to Pilate is because it was the Romans who had authority to execute the death penalty, and Pilate was the Roman governor. The problem, however, is that Rome didn’t necessarily care about Jewish religious disputes. Whether an individual says he is able to forgive sins or not wouldn’t necessarily register on the list of Roman concerns. However, we know from Luke’s gospel that when they handed Jesus over, they made sure to tell Pilate that Jesus claimed to be the Christ, a king (Luke 23:2). And the reason this is important is because a claim to be king was an attack on Rome, for among the Romans, there was one king, Caesar.
It is for this reason that we hear Pilate ask Jesus right at the start, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (15:2). And Jesus’ answer is a bit odd, isn’t it? He answers, “You have said so,” which is a fair translation. But what does it mean? Well, I think we’re right to take Jesus’ answer as, “Yes.” That is, he’s not refusing to say that he is indeed the Christ. In Mark 14:62, when Jesus was asked under oath if he was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, he answered clearly, “I am.” And it’s apparent that Pilate took the answer affirmatively because he doesn’t dispute the Jews’ claim that Jesus is claiming to be a king, and he keeps referring to him as the “King of the Jews.”
In fact, it’s hard to miss how many times this title comes up in our section. In 15:9, Pilate asks the crowd, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” A few verses later, he asks, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” (15:12). As the soldiers mock him, they say, “Hail, King of the Jews” (15:18). The inscription on the cross that hung over Jesus’ head read, “The King of the Jews” (15:26). And, finally, as the chief priests mocked him, they addressed him as “the Christ, the King of Israel” (15:32).
But there’s another reason why Jesus’ answer before Pilate might not be as directly affirmative as before the high priest. After all, Pilate was no doubt asking if Jesus’ was a threat to the Caesar. Was Jesus seeking to take the throne by force? And the answer here is clearly no. We’ve already seen Jesus have Peter put away his sword. And in this text Jesus gives no resistance to the Romans. Jesus is so silent before his accusers that Pilate is amazed (15:5). Jesus puts up no resistance as men mock him, beat him, and lead him away to be crucified. And he dies so quickly that it surprises Pilate (15:44). Clearly, Jesus did not come in order to fight for the Roman throne, and he did not come to lead his followers on a political mission. So, Jesus did not come to be a king as Pilate would have understood it.
And there is another sense in which, “King of the Jews,” is a misleading title for Jesus. If we go back to the promise God first made to David, when he said that he would raise up one (whom we know as the Christ) from David’s descendants to reign on the throne of his kingdom forever and be God’s son, David responded in 2 Samuel 7:19, saying, “You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God!”
And while we might be tempted to pass over that statement, it is huge. You see, the idea is that the king would be a representative for the god (or his son) among a group of people. So, the king of the Hittites, for example, would be referred to as the son of the god of the Hittites. And if that’s who he is, then the Hittites better listen up. They are obligated to obey the king, the representative (or son) of their god. Announcing the king was instruction for every one of the Hittites because they would be expected to obey the king. And we could make similar statements concerning the Egyptians, the Philistines, and on and on.
But notice, when David hears that God will raise up one from his flesh, who will be a son to him, and who will reign over God’s kingdom, David doesn’t say, “This is instruction for the Jews” or “This is instruction for all of Israel.” He says, rather, “This is instruction for mankind.” Why? It is because David knows that his God is the one true God who reigns over all the world. Therefore, if that God set up a king, a son, to represent him and reign over his people, that would mean that this king would have authority not simply over one sect of people but over all mankind.
That is to say, Jesus is not simply king of the Jews; he is king of the whole world. And this is why when Jesus is raised from the dead, he appears to his followers and declares, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20). How does he have the audacity to say that we should go make disciples of all the nations and teach all the nations to obey all that he has commanded? He says this because he is God’s promised King, and because God rules over all the earth, so does his King. Jesus is God’s promised king. The Romans may have meant it mockingly, but they spoke more truly than they understood.
Next, we see that:
Just as we saw that in Mark 14 everything seemed to be spiraling out of control and yet was perfectly fulfilling God’s plan, we find the same thing here. First, note all the darkness in this scene as Jesus is mocked, beaten, and crucified. They scourge Jesus, which would have meant they beat his back with a whip that contained imbedded pieces of bone and metal (15:15). They spat on him (15:19). They divided his garments (15:24). They “derided him, wagging their heads at him” (15:29). They mocked him, charging him to save himself (15:32). He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (15:34). They offered him sour wine to drink (15:36). It is a terrible scene of great suffering. But on the other hand, it was exactly as it had been prophesied.
You see, years after David, when the Lord’s people had been driven into exile, like sheep scattered throughout the world, the Lord promised that he was going to come and gather his sheep. He makes it clear that he will be the one to come, saying in Ezekiel 37:21-22, “Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.” And he continues, “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd” (Ezek. 37:24).
Now, we understand what the Lord is saying here in part, don’t we? He’s going to gather his people to himself, and whereas the nation had been divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdom, he would unite them as one nation again under one king. Again, all of that makes sense. But then he tells us who will be their king, and it is David. But that can’t be, can’t it? After all, David has been dead for a while when Israel and Judah were in exile.
Therefore, the storyline of the Old Testament points us to look for one who would come as the new “David,” who would be king over God’s people. And consider how much Mark shows us that Jesus echoes David’s life. Look, for example, at Psalm 22, where we see David, in the midst of suffering at the hands of his enemies crying out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” the very words Jesus utters from the cross. Again, David notes in verses 7-8, “All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; ‘He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him.’” Again, the exact description Mark gives of Jesus at the cross. And it continues – Psalm 22:18, “They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” And it’s not just David’s life from Psalm 22 that is echoed in Jesus’ suffering. In Psalm 69:21, another psalm written by David, he notes that for his thirst “they gave me sour wine to drink,” the very thing that is given to Jesus.
Mark is showing us that Jesus is indeed this promised David, who would come and reign over God’s united people as their one, true king. But there is also another prophesied role that Jesus fulfills here. In the book of Isaiah, Isaiah speaks of a servant who could be called “Israel” and who would save Israel. How can that be? Well, the answer is found in the reality that the king represents his people. So, we could rightly refer to Israel’s king as “Israel,” since he is Israel’s representative. Therefore, Isaiah pointed us to look for a servant from among Israel, who was Israel’s king. But that’s not all that Isaiah points us toward. He also notes that this king would suffer in order to save his people. So, for example, we read in Isaiah 50:6, of the servant’s obedience in suffering, “I gave my back to those who strike . . . I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.” And then in Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” Again, these are the realities we find with Jesus. He silently gives himself to disgrace, gives his back to beating, and gives his face to spitting.
Mark is showing us that these events are not by accident. Jesus is the promised “David.” He is the suffering “servant.” He is King, coming to save his people. And Mark also shows us that:
The high priest was chosen among men and appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God. He was to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins, according to Hebrews 5:1. And what the high priest did is on the Day of Atonement, one time a year, he would offer sacrifices for himself and the people, in order to atone for their sins. He would enter a place in the temple called the holy of holies, to intercede for the people in the Lord’s presence. He was a mediator between the Lord and his people, the means by which God’s people might come to him.
However, the blood of bulls and goats were never sufficient in order to atone for sins. Therefore, when Jesus died on the cross, he was acting as a high priest in making sacrifice for our sins. It is true that on the cross he was bearing God’s wrath. That’s why he cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” But he was bearing God’s wrath for us. As Isaiah 53:4-6 confirms, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But we was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—everyone-to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
But are we supposed to think of Jesus as our great high priest in offering himself as “a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). I think we are, and the key is seeing what happens at the moment of his death. Mark tells us in 15:37-38, “And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”
Now, we’re not sure which curtain this was. There were two curtains in the temple. There was a curtain between the court and the holy place, and there was a curtain between the holy place and the holy of holies (or most holy place). But either way, the curtain being torn from top to bottom was signaling a change. The priesthood, based around making animal sacrifices for people’s sins in the temple, was done. There was a new priest. He is our atonement and sacrifice, and we approach God through him alone.
This is why, for example, we don’t call pastors “priests.” They are not mediators between you and God. Nor do we tell people that they need to talk to us in order to be saved. Sure, I would love to talk to you if you have never trusted in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. But you don’t have to talk to me or anyone else. You can go straight to the Father through the mediator Jesus Christ. He is our great high priest.
Finally, we see that:
At the moment Jesus dies, a Roman centurion confesses, “Truly this man was the Son of God” (15:39). Indeed he is. But we can say more. He is the risen Son of God.
After his death and burial, Mark tells us that Mary Magdalene and another Mary came to his tomb to anoint his body on that Sunday morning. And as they came to the tomb, which would have been a cave-like structure with a large stone in front of it, they were worried how they might get the stone out of the way. But when they got there, the problem had been solved – in an unexpected way! The stone was removed, and when they walked inside a young man (whom Matthew tells us was an angel) told them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you” (16:6-7).
Just as he said to his disciples again and again before his death, he was raised from the dead. Jesus of Nazareth is not just God’s promised King, the promised David, the suffering servant, and our great high priest. He is the crucified and risen Son of God. Delivered up to death for our sins and raised so that we might be justified. This is who Jesus is. This is the good news that Mark spoke of in Mark 1:1 – that Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised on the third day.
But that good news demands something doesn’t it? In fact, I think Mark ends his gospel demanding us to respond. Now, we might say, “Ends his gospel?” After all, in most, if not all of our copies of the Scriptures, we find Mark 16 continuing all the way to verse 20. But most of us will probably also see a note after verse 8. For example, in our pew Bibles, the note after verse 8 reads, “Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9-20.” And I think that Mark actually did end his gospel at verse 8. Here’s why:
When the New Testament writers wrote, they didn’t have a copy machine where they could go and make copies of their writings. Instead, we have copyists or scribes throughout the centuries make copies and spread them around and make more copies and so on. And because some copies were lost and others destroyed during times of persecution, we don’t have the original documents that the New Testament writers wrote but only copies of copies.
And as these copyists wrote, there were times that they made an error here or there. Now, this is not to be confused with the New Testament documents themselves. They were without error. But the copyists of the New Testament documents would sometimes make errors. And we see this if we compare some copied documents of the Greek New Testament sometimes. Sometimes we find errors here or there that is usually pretty easy to discern when you compare it to other copies.
Also, along the way, some copyists might add a note or try to make something look better or clearer. And I think that’s what happened here with Mark 16:9-20. I think that a copyist at some point saw this ending of Mark at 16:8 that reads, “And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid,” and he decided to end his copy in what he thought was a better way. After all, if he was familiar with the other gospels, he might have thought that it, “Well, I know what happened. Jesus did eventually appear after his resurrection to his apostles.” He might have even thought that Mark meant to end it differently but maybe got distracted. We don’t know why a copyist did this, but it is pretty apparent that he did because as copies got passed around, this longer ended started appearing in some copies. However, the oldest copies of Mark’s gospel we have end at verse 8. And Eusebius, a church historian who lived from 263-339 A.D. said that nearly all the copies of Mark ended at verse 8 and that these copies were the accurate ones. He tells us then that verses 9-20 were added sometime later and led to inaccurate copies of Mark’s gospel.
This is why I’ve ended our study at verse 8. I think that’s where Mark ended it. But, if that’s the case, then why? Why would Mark end his gospel so abruptly? I think the answer is that it forces the reader to be drawn into the story. You see, to this point, as Jesus has powerfully revealed who he is and what he’s doing, the response has been fear. So, for example, after he calmed the sea, Mark tells us in 4:41, “And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” And that’s the question that Mark forces us to ask. But this response continues. In 6:50, they see Jesus walking on water and are terrified. Then, in 9:6, as Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James, and John, we are told that the men “did not know what to say, for they were terrified.”
This is then heightened a bit as in 9:30-32, Jesus tells his disciples that he will be killed and after three days will rise, but Mark adds, “But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.” And finally, as Jesus sets his eyes on Jerusalem and is determined to head there where he will face his death, Mark tells us in 10:32, “And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.”
At different points in Mark’s gospel where Jesus powerfully tells who he is and what he will do, the people’s response is fear. In fact, the fear is so great that his disciples won’t ask what he means by saying that he’ll rise from the dead. Then, on that Sunday morning as the ladies come, the stone is rolled away, and we find that Jesus was literally raised from the dead, I think Mark concludes his gospel much like a movie ending abruptly. The stone is gone, the angel declares he is raised, the women are afraid, and . . . credits roll.
You know how you watch a movie that ends this way with an abrupt ending that draws everything together without explanation but just ends? I think that’s what Mark does. He doesn’t go on to elaborate. That hasn’t been his style throughout. Rather, throughout his gospel, he’s invited the reader to look at what Jesus says and does and see who he is. I think with this abrupt ending, Mark is leaving us to draw the conclusion that he’s made clear from the start – this really is the Son of God.
You see, 15:1-16:8 is filled with responses. Pilate responds by wanting to satisfy the Jews, so he rejects Jesus. The scribes, priests, and Jews mock him. The soldiers mock him, beat him, and crucify him. The centurion confessed him to be the Son of God. Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the council, risked everything to identify himself with Jesus. And the women froze in fear. Everyone responded. But the question is, “How will we respond?” What then will we do with Jesus called the Messiah? That’s the question that comes to us this morning.
Mark shows us in these final chapters that Jesus of Nazareth is God’s promised King, the promised “David” to come, the suffering servant, the great high priest, and the crucified and risen Son of God who died and was raised so that all who believe in him might have forgiveness of sins. So, will you believe? Do you believe? And if we claim to believe, he demands everything. That’s been what Jesus has said all along. He told the rich young ruler to sell everything and follow him. He told his disciples they’d need to take up their cross and follow him. He praised the woman who gave all she had in the offering box and another who poured out all her precious ointment just to anoint him. He demands everything – our lives, our obedience, our all. So, what is our response this morning? As we come to the table, this morning, let us take a moment of silence and ask ourselves, “How are we responding to Jesus?” Amen.