Mark 15:22-32

Mark 15: 22-32 ²² They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ²³ Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴ And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.

²⁵ It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶ The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews.

²⁷ They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. ^{[28]  29} Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰ come down from the cross and save yourself!” ³¹ In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! ³² Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

They brought Him to Golgotha. The English word is Calvary which comes from the Latin word skull. It says they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He wouldn’t take it. Myrrh was extremely expensive. A gift for a king. Jesus had been given it by the Magi when He was born.

Here it wasn’t the Romans giving Him this drink. They didn’t care if He was thirsty or comfortable or not. Rich Jewish widows bought the myrrh to offer to people being crucified as an act of mercy. It was a sedative. The Romans were only fine with passing it on because it kept the prisoners calmer. Easier to handle.

Jesus wouldn’t drink it because He was unwilling to take a shortcut. He was committed to drinking His Father’s cup. All the way to the dregs. 1 Corinthians 10:13 shows us how to apply this for us.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

You can substitute trial for temptation. And was Jesus in a trial? Yes! And God promises to give us a way of escape! What is the way? Well, He defines it in the last half of the last sentence. “So that you can endure it.”

The way of escape from the trial you are in is going all the way through the trial. Because that’s how God wants to bless us, build us up, grow and mature us. There is a purpose in trials! Jesus went all the way. He endured it to the very end. For God’s glory and our salvation. No short cuts.

The next part of the Mark passage has the soldiers casting lots for Christ’s clothes. This was prophesized in the Psalms. Then it says He was crucified at 9 a.m. and the Romans put a sign up over the cross stating what He was convicted of. Often the prisoner would wear this sign around his neck while carrying the cross too. Pilate was getting a dig in at the Jews when he had the charge written on Jesus’ sign. “The King of the Jews”. In 3 languages so everyone could read it!

How did people treat the king? The ones passing by hurled insults at Him. They said “come down and save yourself.” The chief priest and teachers of the law said pretty much the same thing. “He saved others, but He can’t save Himself.” Those crucified with Him even insulted Him. (Although we see in the Luke account of this story that one of the robbers changed and repented and Jesus promised him he’d be with Him in paradise that day.)

They all misunderstood salvation. When they said save, they meant help. Jesus helped others; by healing them, getting rid of their demons, etc. So they were saying “you helped others now help yourself.” They considered salvation to be the same as earthly abundance, health, success. And a lot of us today think the same thing. Joel Osteen says our lives are improved when we become Christians. That we’ll be happier, more successful, and richer. That was never our promise and we need to be very careful not to mix that that up!