The Servant Son of God: A Ransom for Many

Mark 15 is the day the Servant pays.

He stands silent before Pilate. He is exchanged for a murderer. He is mocked as a king and crowned with thorns. He is crucified between two robbers. He cries out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" The curtain of the temple is torn from top to bottom. A Roman centurion confesses: "Truly this man was the Son of God."

Everything Mark has been building toward — the Son of Man came to give His life as a ransom for many — is paid in this chapter.

Before Pilate

In the early morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole council bind Jesus and deliver Him over to Pilate.

Pilate asks: "Are you the King of the Jews?"

Jesus answers:

"You have said so."

The chief priests accuse Him of many things. He does not answer.

Pilate is amazed. He is used to defendants pleading. This Man stands silent.

"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." (Isaiah 53)

The Servant Son does not defend Himself. He came to be condemned.

Barabbas

At the feast, Pilate releases one prisoner. There is a man named Barabbas — a murderer who had committed murder in the insurrection.

Pilate, perceiving that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered Jesus, offers the crowd a choice. The chief priests stir up the crowd to ask for Barabbas.

The crowd cries: "Crucify him!"

Pilate asks: "Why? What evil has he done?"

They shout all the more: "Crucify him!"

So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, releases Barabbas. Jesus he scourges and delivers to be crucified.

One man called Barabbas — son of the father — goes free, because Another, the true Son of the Father, takes his place. This is the gospel in one exchange. The guilty walks free. The innocent dies.

Mocked as a king

The soldiers lead Him inside the palace and call the whole battalion. They clothe Him in a purple cloak. They twist a crown of thorns and put it on Him. They begin to salute Him: "Hail, King of the Jews!"

They strike His head with a reed. They spit on Him. They kneel down in homage.

When they have mocked Him, they strip Him and put His own clothes on Him and lead Him out to crucify Him.

Every gesture is mockery — and every gesture is true. He is the King. The purple is real. The crown is true. The kneeling will one day be eternal. But on this morning, it is all done in jest, and the Servant Son endures every blow.

Simon and Golgotha

They compel a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry His cross.

They bring Him to Golgotha — the place of a skull. They offer Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He does not take it.

They crucify Him. They divide His garments by casting lots.

It is the third hour when they crucify Him.

The inscription of His charge reads: "The King of the Jews."

Mocked at the cross

They crucify two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left.

Those who pass by deride Him, wagging their heads:

"Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!"

The chief priests mock Him to one another with the scribes:

"He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe."

Those crucified with Him also revile Him.

The deepest mockery is in the very thing they think disproves Him: He saved others; he cannot save himself. It is exactly because He came to save others that He cannot save Himself. Coming down from the cross would have saved one Man. Staying on it saves many.

The Servant Son could have called legions of angels. He chose the nails instead.

"My God, my God"

At the sixth hour, darkness covers the whole land until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour, Jesus cries out with a loud voice:

"Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" — "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

This is the cry of Psalm 22. It is the cry of the Son who has become sin for us.

In Gethsemane He prayed Abba, Father. On the cross, He cries My God. The intimacy is broken — not because the Father has changed, but because the Son is bearing the wrath that we deserved.

Some standing by think He is calling for Elijah. Someone runs and fills a sponge with sour wine, puts it on a reed, and gives it to Him to drink.

Then Jesus utters a loud cry and breathes His last.

The curtain torn in two

"And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom."

The curtain separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place — where the presence of God dwelt. Only the high priest entered, only once a year, with the blood of atonement.

When the Servant Son dies, the curtain is torn — from top to bottom, the work of God, not of man. The way into the presence of God is opened by the blood of Christ.

The temple of stone is finished. The temple of His body is the new and living way.

The centurion's confession

The centurion who stood facing Him, when he saw that He breathed His last, said:

"Truly this man was the Son of God!"

This is the second great confession in Mark — the first by Peter, the second by a Roman centurion at the foot of the cross.

The Gospel began: the Son of God. It ends with a Gentile soldier confessing the same. The Servant Son's death is itself a sermon — and the centurion is its first convert.

The burial

When evening comes, Joseph of Arimathea — a respected member of the council, who was also looking for the Kingdom of God — takes courage and goes to Pilate to ask for the body.

Pilate is surprised that He is already dead. He summons the centurion and verifies it. He grants the body to Joseph.

Joseph buys a linen shroud, takes Him down, wraps Him in the linen, and lays Him in a tomb cut out of the rock. He rolls a stone against the entrance.

Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses see where He is laid.

The Servant Son rests in a borrowed tomb. The ransom has been paid. The sabbath of His death has begun.

Closing prayer

Father, thank You that the Servant Son did not save Himself — so that He could save us. Thank You that He stood silent before Pilate, exchanged Himself for Barabbas, and bore the forsakenness we deserved. Thank You for the curtain torn from top to bottom and the new and living way into Your presence. Grant us the centurion's confession: Truly this Man was the Son of God. In Jesus' name, amen.