Articles
They Crucified Him
They Crucified Him
"They crucified Him" (Mk. 15:24). "Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb" (Mk. 15:46). The hero has died. The story thus ends – usually.
The unusual thing is NOT that He died, but that He foretold this exact event. "He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed…" (8:31). "He was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him…” (9:31). “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him" (10:33-34).
The other amazing thing is that in each of the above passages, the ending statement is "and he shall rise on the third day!". Dead men don't rise. Evaluating this on the basis of worldly wisdom and human experience, Mark 15 WOULD be the end of the story. Jesus, like all the people before him (except Enoch and Elijah) DIED. The eternal difference for US and all mankind is that Jesus DID rise from the dead.
The story of the resurrection and His appearances unto many people is recorded in each of the gospels. The apostles then made it the central point of their preaching. Peter would affirm: "This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses" (Acts 2:32). This message was preached and believed. This is the core of OUR faith – NOT that He died, but that He was raised and glorified. Paul would write: "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:1–4).
For two thousand years believers have been 'buried with Christ and RAISED with Him unto newness of life" (Rom. 6:1-4). As CHRIST died, so we died to sin – the old man was put to death and buried. As Christ was raised, so we were raised to newness of life. Thousands and thousands of people have followed Jesus in this death and resurrection. They thus proclaim their faith that the end of the story is NOT Mark 15 but Mark 16.
Each Lord's day the disciples have declared not only His death but also their faith in the resurrection and 2nd coming by observing the memorial supper. AS oft as you do this, you declare His death until He comes" (1Cor. 11:26).
We can NEVER quit reading at the end of Mark 15! The story doesn't end with Jesus in the grave. Our faith is not in a dead Jesus, but the Living Son of God. This gives us faith to face any event of life – even death. We know we will die but we have confidence that Jesus will raise us up again to live eternally with Him.
Hugh DeLong
