We Mock the Strong, Not the Weak
Making fun of people is one of our national pastimes. There are comedians and television shows devoted to making fun of people. Gentle poking and joking among friends can be enjoyable and build comradery. I actually like it when Suzy jabs me a little bit because I need it. I need to remember to not take my self too seriously. But the kind of derisive insulting that’s become common in our country should have no place in the church of Jesus Christ.
If you watch carefully, you’ll notice that the people that we make fun of the most are powerful people, not powerless people. Our comedians take the hardest jabs at the strong, not the weak. We enjoy a good insult hurled at a politician. We may even think that those in power deserve a little mocking every once and a while.
Our culture, for the most part, only makes fun of the powerful. You don’t hear many comedians mocking the poor or the homeless or the addict or the immigrant or the victim of abuse. Our culture still has enough moral sense to not insult those who’ve been dealt a hard hand in life.
The Romans Loved to Insult the Weak
This was not true in the Roman Empire! If you lived in Rome two thousand years ago and decided to insult the Emperor, you were signing your death wish. You didn’t insult those above you unless you wanted to feel their wrath.
But the powerful people in the Roman Empire had no problem insulting the weakest and poorest in their society. How do we know this? Crucifixion. Death via a Roman cross was almost always reserved for the lowest and most defenseless members of society, people such as slaves, prisoners of war, and violent criminals from the lower classes. Violent criminals from the upper classes could expect a more humane and less humiliating execution, like beheading.
The Romans used crucifixion in order to publicly shame and humiliate and degrade and demean and dishonor and embarrass people in the lower classes. The Romans loved watching people from the lower classes suffer and die. The games held at the Roman Coliseum are but one example of this. The Romans used the weak things of the world for entertainment. They had no problem making fun of powerless people.
Jesus’ Crucifixion Wasn’t Unusual
For this reason, the crucifixion of Jesus isn’t all that unusual. Jesus was a nobody to the Romans. He was a peasant, manual laborer turned itinerant teacher from Galilee. He was poor. He was uneducated. He said outlandish things. He wasn’t a Roman citizen. He was a convicted criminal. Therefore, it wasn’t unusual for the Romans to treat someone like Jesus the way they did.
What they didn’t realize was that Jesus was strength veiled in weakness, power in the form of powerlessness. The Romans, and the Jews for that matter, didn’t realize that they were dealing with a King who took the form of a servant. In what would’ve made for a great episode of “Undercover Boss,” the Ruler of all things disguised himself as a lowly servant, even allowing himself to be falsely accused and convicted as a criminal. When the Romans mocked and crucified Jesus, they thought they were mocking a poor peasant, when in reality they were mocking the King of the universe.
The theme of our text today is the mockery that Jesus experienced from the Romans before the cross and then while on the cross. The emphasis of our text is the mockery and insulting of Jesus, not the physical suffering of Jesus. For Jesus, insult came with injury.
Jesus Mocked at the Palace
In our text, Mark 15:16-32, we see Jesus mocked at the palace (vv. 16-20) and Jesus mocked on the cross (vv. 21-32). First, Jesus is mocked at the palace (vv. 16-20). After enduring the mock trial at the Sanhedrin, the wishy washy sentencing of Pilate, and the flogging that almost kills him, Jesus is handed over to Roman soldiers to be crucified.
Before we go much further, I pray that this text helps us put what we’re going through right now in perspective. What Jesus endures on the way to the cross and on the cross makes our grumbling and complaining about no toilet paper and slow internet really laughable. Jesus walked through intense suffering without grumbling and complaining. May he be our example.
Verse 16 says that Jesus is taken “inside the palace” and put before “the whole battalion.” This is likely Herod the Great’s palace on the Western hill of Jerusalem. A “battalion” was one-tenth of a Roman legion, or about six hundred soldiers.
Jesus is taken inside a palace and presented before the troops. But instead of being honored as the King that he is, he’s mocked and made fun of as an imposter king (vv. 17-18). The soldiers put a purple robe on him. Purple was the most expensive and prestigious dye in antiquity. Purple was for kings and royalty. The soldiers unknowingly picked exactly the right color for Jesus.
Kings were often fitted with crowns made of golden leaves. Jesus was given a “crown of thorns” (v. 17). Have you ever been trimming roses and stuck your finger in a thorn? Has anyone ever pulled your hair? Combine those two experiences and you’ll begin to understand what Jesus felt. Thorns were pushed into his scalp – one of the most sensitive parts of our bodies, and left there.
They then saluted him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (v. 18) Matthew’s account tells us that the soldiers gave him a staff, like that of a king (27:29). This is probably where the reed of verse 19 comes from. They kneel before Jesus, rise, spit on him, take his staff and hit him on the head with it, inevitably pushing the thorns deeper into Jesus’ skull.
All of this was done “in homage to him” (v. 19). But none of it was real homage. It was all a show, a spectacle, an hour of entertainment for Roman soldiers with nothing better to do. Mark makes this clear in verse 20, “And when they had mocked him.” They abused Jesus just to get a few laughs.
Little did they know that they were not in control. All of this was in fulfillment of what Jesus said would happen (10:33-34). Even in the hour of his humiliation, Jesus is reigning as King. He is in control. The soldiers are mocking him in word (v. 18) and deed (v. 19), but despite their intention, they’re actually confessing his true identity. Jesus is the King. He does deserve a purple robe, a crown, a staff, a salute, and a posture of homage and respect. The soldiers thought they were belittling Jesus, when in reality they were preparing him to ascend his throne.
Jesus Mocked On the Cross
After being mocked at the palace, Jesus is then “led out to be crucified” (v. 20). He’ll now be mocked on the cross (vv. 21-32). After being flogged, Jesus was too weak to carry the beam of his cross, so the soldiers compel a bystander to carry it for him (v. 21). Simon is from Cyrene, modern day North Africa, and likely of dark skin. Even in Jesus’ passion, God is including the nations in his work.
Mark oddly mentions Simon’s two sons, “Alexander and Rufus.” Why? Probably because the church in Rome knew these guys. Paul tells the church in Rome to “Greet Rufus, who is chosen in the Lord” (Rom. 16:13). It’s very possible that Simon and his family became Christians because of this experience. Even in his weakest hour, King Jesus begins his reign of grace in one family.
Verse 23 says that the soldiers offer Jesus “wine mixed with myrrh.” This was a narcotic in the ancient world, used to help deaden the pain of those being crucified. “But Jesus did not take it.” Why? Probably because he wanted to endure the last phase of the Father’s plan for him in a fully conscious state. He didn’t need or want a narcotic to help him cope with the pain of his Father’s will.
Verse 24 says that they divided his garments, meaning that he was likely totally naked on the cross. This was done to fulfill Psalm 22:18, “They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” I’d encourage you to read all of Psalm 22 and see how Jesus fulfills it. He is the righteous sufferer who God rescues.
“They Crucified Him”
In both verses 24 and 25, Mark simply says, “They crucified him.” These three words describe the most important event in the history of the world. Why is Mark so brief in his description of the central event of the Christian faith? When historians tell the story of World War II, they give lots of time and attention to D-Day because it was the most important event and the decisive turning point of the war. Yet, when Mark comes to the decisive event in Jesus’ life, his crucifixion, he merely says, “They crucified him.”
Why doesn’t Mark tell us more? Because crucifixion was the most shameful thing that could happen to someone in the Roman world. New Testament scholar Martin Hengel says that the use of the word “cross” was “a vulgar taunt among the lower classes.” He says that “for the men of the ancient world, Greeks, Romans, barbarians and Jews, the cross was not just a matter of indifference, just any kind of death. It was an utterly offensive affair, ‘obscene’ in the original sense of the word.” The passion narratives of the Gospels are the most detailed descriptions of crucifixion found in the ancient world because “no ancient writer wanted to dwell too long on this cruel procedure.” Hengel says, “The relative scarcity of references to crucifixions in antiquity…are less a historical problem than an aesthetic one…Crucifixion was widespread and frequent, above all in Roman times, but the cultured literary world wanted to have nothing to do with it, and as a rule kept quiet about it.” The great Roman orator Cicero said, “The very word ‘cross’ should be far removed not only from the person of a Roman citizen but from his thoughts, his eyes and his ears.”
The point is that death on a cross was unspeakably horrific in ancient times. It was something you didn’t talk about. It was disgusting, repulsive, and off-putting. It would be like casually talking about rape or incest or child abuse today. You just don’t talk about those things in casual conversation. They’re horrific and sickening and appalling. Crucifixion was like that.
Crucifixion was the absolute worst thing that could happen to a person, and not just because it was painful. It wasn’t just a painful way to be put to death. It was the Roman’s way of shaming you while they killed you. Crucifixions were public spectacles. They didn’t take place in dark dungeons. They happened on the side of the road, which is why Jesus is mocked “by those who passed by” in verse 29.
The victim was impaled on a piece of wood naked and left there to hang for up to several days while they slowly died of hypovolemic shock or exhaustion asphyxia or heart failure, or a combination of these. Death was slow and socially degrading for those crucified.
Imagine being hung naked on a piece of wood in the middle of your neighborhood, college campus, or apartment complex while you slowly died in front of all your friends and family members? As you hang there, you’d have to watch people walk by carrying on their lives as normal while you waited to die. You’d have no way to defend yourself, no way to cover yourself. Those who were hung on crosses had to wait for their certain death, all while everyone watched.
The Cross is Not Art
This is why it’s confusing that many Christians use the cross to decorate their homes and their bodies. The cross is not a religious symbol. It was an instrument of death. It stood for the most barbaric and shameful way to die in the ancient world. The first Christians would likely be confused and maybe even appalled that we would decorate our churches and our houses with crosses. This is not a sin issue. But I think there are good reasons to not use the cross as art work. Yes, we cherish the cross. We sing about it, pray about it, preach about it, and tell people about it. This is because God’s power is in “the word of the cross” (1 Cor. 1:18), not the symbol of the cross.
The Scandal of the Cross
The scandal of crucifixion in the first century is why Paul says that “Christ crucified” is a “stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:23). Nobody expected God’s Messiah to die a criminal’s death on what was called “the tree of shame.” This was a scandal. It made no sense. It was foolishness. If Jesus was the divine ruler he claimed to be, he should’ve come down from the cross. This is what the people walking by and the religious leaders told Jesus to do (vv. 29-32). Jesus should’ve displayed his divinity by escaping the shame of the cross. The cross isn’t for the Messiah. The cross isn’t for the Son of God. The cross is for violent criminals from the lower classes. The cross is for slaves. The cross is for nobodies.
But Jesus stayed on the cross. He had the armies of heaven at his disposal, but he chose to hang on a cross while the Jews and Romans made fun of him. They despised him as a prophet (v. 29b), they mocked him as a priest (v. 31b), and they humiliated him as king (v. 32a). They were totally blind to what was actually happening. Jesus was saving others by not saving himself. He didn’t think that saving himself was the greatest good. He came to be a “ransom for others” (10:45).
The Difference between God and Us
The chorus of scorn that Jesus received illustrates the amazing difference between the way that God thinks and the way that we think. We think that we must look out for ourselves first. We think that suffering should be avoided. We think that we must save face and preserve our reputation. We want to have the final word. We don’t let people mock us without letting them know what we think about them.
This is not the way Jesus thinks. He didn’t save himself. He didn’t avoid suffering. He didn’t try to save face or fight for his reputation. He didn’t need to have the final word with those mocking him. Why? Because he was totally absorbed with the Father’s plan for him and in the Father’s love for him. Jesus is the most secure person in the universe because he knows who he is and what he’s about. The Father’s love and delight in him is all he needs.
Jesus’s security in God provides for him the strength he needs to hang on a Roman cross, to receive insult with injury, and to do it all with joy. Hebrews 12:2, “For the joy that was set before him (Jesus) endured the cross, despising the shame.”
God Knows What Shame Feels Like
One application of this text for us is that God knows what shame feels like. He understands the victim and slave of shame. Maybe your parents have belittled you, friends have slandered you, unimaginable things have been done to you, or sinful patterns have ruled your life. This shame can make you numb to anyone’s happiness with you, even God’s. You may feel like no one is pleased with you, and that no one understands.
But the cross teaches us that God is no stranger to shame. Unbelievable shame was piled on Jesus. He died in the most shameful way possible. And while he died, people made fun of him. Jesus knows shame. He knows humiliation. He knows embarrassment. He knows the feeling of being utterly alone. He knows what it’s like to not be believed. He knows what losing friends is like. He knows what being stabbed in the back feels like. He knows what being the butt of a joke feels like. He knows what being bullied feels like. He knows what being abused feels like. Jesus knows what shame feels like.
The gospel teaches us that Jesus accepted all this shame for our sake. The gospel tells us that, on the cross, Jesus took the shame of our nakedness before the holy God who made us all the way to the grave. The gospel tells us that Jesus can we relate to us. Therefore, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses” (Heb. 4:15).
I’ve never walked in your shoes. I didn’t grow up in your house. So I can’t fully feel or know the shame that you feel and know. But Jesus knows. He feels it with you. And he loves you so much that he died for you, that he was crucified for you. God said through the prophet Zephaniah, “I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth” (3:19).
The wonder of the cross is that God can turn shame into joy. The cross tells us that God wants to draw near to us, be with us, justify us, clean us up, clothe us, adopt us, and bring us into his family. Everyone who puts all their trust in Jesus’ cross will have this and more. Stop trusting in what you’ve done. It doesn’t compare with the cross. Stop thinking you’re too bad to be saved. Look at what Jesus did on the cross. Stop thinking you don’t need to be saved. If not, why did Jesus hang on the tree of shame? If you’re so great, why did God send Jesus to a Roman cross?
When the Romans mocked and crucified Jesus, they thought they were mocking a poor peasant, when in reality they were mocking the King of the universe. Little did they know that they were pawns in the King’s hand, being used to put him on his throne and set all his people free. His insult and injury secured our redemption and his reward.