March 29, 2020
Mark 15:15b-23
In Jesus, God’s divine nature was
united with human flesh to reveal his character, his love, and his will for
humanity. Jesus’ suffering and death points us to the sacrificial love of God.
Jesus has set an example for us of a kind of love that alone has the power to
save humanity from its self-destructive ways. Sacrificial love transforms enemies
into friends, shames the guilty into repentance, and melts hearts of stone. The
world is changed by true demonstrations of sacrificial love and by selfless
acts of service.
What examples of sacrificial love
inspire you to greater service in the name of Christ?
In this verse, Mark uses “company,”
(NIV) a term that originally meant one of the ten subdivisions of a Roman
legion, several hundred strong. What do you think Mark is trying to emphasize
by giving us an image of Jesus surrounded by not just a few, but hundreds of
brutal, mocking soldiers?
Put yourself somewhere in the crowd,
trailing the struggling Christ who bears his own crossbeam. What do you see?
What do you hear? What do you feel?
How do you imagine the scene in
which Jesus was mocked? In your mind, how did Jesus respond to this kind of
cruelty?
During the final twenty-four hours
of Jesus’ life, we see Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s denial, the disciples’
abandonment, the Sanhedrin’s jealousy, the crowd’s rage, Pilate’s acquiescence,
and the soldiers’ cruelty. What do these sights teach us about what we need
saving from?
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