The Lifting up of Jesus

Mark 15:21-32.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 14, 2021.

During the last week before the crucifixion, Jesus had said, “If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.”  He uses a verb that literally describes the crucifixion, but also has a metaphorical use that meant exaltation to a place of honor.  The people of Israel would lift Jesus up, one way or another.  We typically take this verse in the sense of exaltation.  However, we are told that Jesus was speaking of the way in which he would be executed.

The world was going to crucify Jesus, but it would ironically be his exaltation.  It would set in motion his power to draw all manner of people unto himself.  They would be drawn to him spiritually, but not forcefully.  The world will soon drag mankind into worship of a system and a god-man that will employ force.  However, this is not the way of the omnipotent God of the universe.

If we are to exalt Jesus before the world, we must be careful of separating him from the cross in people’s minds.  Yes, Jesus is coming back in power and great might, but he broke the might of our enemy at the cross.  We live in the face of a backlash against Jesus and his people that is growing every day.  It is a backlash against his word, the Bible.  It has already been happening in people’s hearts, even some who profess to be Christians.  This is being drawn to the surface through the events and social issues of our day.  Satan will seek to cancel the truth about who God is, who Jesus is.  Who will you stand with in this testing time?  I pray that you will stand with the one true Jesus faithfully revealed to us in God’s Word.

Jesus is taken to the place of crucifixion

In verse 21, it is time for Jesus to be crucified, and thus, they begin to lead him to the place of execution.  Jesus is a “dead man walking,” as they say.  It was typical for the victim to carry the crossbeam of the cross with the vertical member generally left standing in the same place between executions.    The physical condition of Jesus is so bad that he is unable to carry his crossbeam all the way to the place of death.  It is at this point that a man who happened upon the scene is forced into service.  Simon of Cyrene is force to help carry the cross of Jesus.

Cyrene was a city in Africa, what we would call the coast of eastern Libya today.  With a name like Simon, he is clearly a Jew who has made the long journey to participate in the Passover proceedings.  The mention of his sons, Alexander and Rufus, seems to indicate that the original readers would recognize the names.  They had most likely become a part of the early Christian community.

It is interesting that sometimes we are compelled to do things that we do not want to do, but they end up marking our life for good, and for God.  Where Simon Peter had failed to stand beside Jesus, the Father supplied another Simon to help His Son to complete the mission.  May God help us to do less complaining about the lot that we have received, and to do more praying about how we should respond to those difficult times. We must seek to discover what He is saying to us through it.  Simon of Cyrene had a close encounter with Jesus as he went to the cross.  This would mark him forever.

The execution site is named Golgotha, an Aramaic term meaning “place of a skull.”  There are two sites that are contenders today for this location.  The idea that it was a small hill that was shaped like a skull cannot be traced back to the first century, so it is unclear how dependable it is.  However, all of Jerusalem in those days would know exactly where Golgotha was.  It was the place that was just outside of the walls of Jerusalem, either to the west of the temple mount, or to the northwest of it.

Upon arrival at the execution site, Jesus is offered a mixed drink to help numb the pain.  Proverbs 31:6-7 tells us to give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitter of heart.  It was common for the Jews to offer such to those being executed.  However, Jesus refuses this, not so much because he loves pain and suffering, but because he must fully identify with our suffering in order to serve as a merciful High Priest, as the book of Hebrews details (Hebrews 2:17). 

There is a certain amount of suffering that we must embrace in this life, not because of some masochistic desire, but because it helps us to identify with Jesus.  It helps us to understand that his sufferings brought us life that our sufferings cannot neutralize.  We should not seek to make ourselves suffer on purpose, but neither should we run from it when it comes knocking.  Weep with those who weep, and know that, this too, Jesus shall overcome in the resurrection.

Jesus is crucified

At last, Jesus is nailed to the crossbeam and lifted into place.  Mark tells us that this happens at the third hour.  The Jews divided the day as hours counting from what we would call 6:00 AM.  Thus, the third hour would be the hour beginning at 9:00 AM.  Later in this chapter, we will be told that Jesus dies just after the ninth hour, or 3:00 PM.  This would put him on the cross for six hours total.  The Roman reckoning of time was as ours.  John’s Gospel must have been using this when it refers to Jesus being before Pilate at the sixth hour, or 6:00 AM.

Mark tells us that an inscription, or sign, is put above Jesus.  Typically, this would be the charge for which the person is being executed.  However, Pilate words it in such a way as to slight the Jews, or at least their leaders.  “King of the Jews,” is what it says.  John’s Gospel adds that it also said “Jesus of Nazareth.”  It was in Greek, Hebrew, and in Latin.  Though the Jewish leaders complained that the sign made it look like Jesus actually was the king of the Jews, it was fitting that the Savior of all peoples, of every language, should be declared in the main languages of the day.  Here is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.  Of course, Jesus is much more than this.  What Pilate does out of spite, God allows to drive home the point to the Jewish onlookers.  We have crucified the king that God has finally sent us.

Mark mentions that Jesus is crucified between two robbers.  Only Luke mentions that one of the robbers ends up putting his faith in Jesus while he was on the cross.  Mark’s gospel implies that both of the robbers mock Jesus at first.   Mark points us to Isaiah 53:12, which tells us that the suffering Messiah would be numbered among those who are transgressors.

Jesus was executed as if he was the same as these two robbers, worthy to be executed and cast out as a dead branch.  Yet, Jesus is eternal life!  Even today, this world will control the narrative by castigating believers as transgressors.  It is not what this world says about you that is most important.  It is what Jesus will say about you when you stand before God the Father.  May we be found as faithful in this generation.

Jesus is blasphemed and mocked

We talked about the mocking of the soldiers last week.  Now, Jesus is opened to further public mocking.  The terms blaspheme and mocking are used.  They can serve as synonyms in this situation, but essentially to blaspheme is to speak a falsehood about someone, especially God.  Whereas, mocking is more about the ridicule of a person and what they stand for.

The common people and the chief priests are all blaspheming and ridiculing Jesus.  It is unclear why these priests would be here when there are clearly duties to be done at the temple.  It can only be chalked up to their vitriol towards Jesus.

The first statement mentioned is blasphemy and mocking.  “You who destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days…”  Jesus never said that he would destroy the temple, but here they ridicule the idea that a man who is powerless to stop his own execution would have the power to rebuild the temple in three days.  What of your wild claim now, Jesus?  Of course, it is they who are destroying the temple of his body, and on the third day, Jesus would raise it up in his own resurrection.  It is not an honor to mock things that you do not understand because you end up being revealed as a fool in the end.

This is followed up with mocking his ability to save.  Save yourself and come down from the cross.  In a sense, they throw down the gauntlet for him to prove himself, but on the other hand, it is not something they expect him to do.  To them, Jesus has been checkmated and there is no way out.  He is proven to be a false prophet in their eyes.  Jesus was famous for saving people from the death sentence of hideous diseases.  Yet, he is powerless in the face of crucifixion.

They even add the twist that if he does come down from the cross then they would believe that he is the Messiah, and the rightful king of Israel.  The sad thing is that Jesus did have the power to save himself, but if he saved himself, he would be damning all mankind.  The logic goes like this.  “God, do this thing and I will believe.” However, if God does that thing my belief would be to late to help me.  I would be trapped forever in guilt, knowing that he was right and I failed to believe when I should have.

This is the great wisdom of the world.  It seems so powerful and wise, but in the end, it is folly.  It foolishly tells God how to run the universe, or ridicules the idea of God because the universe is not running in a particular way.  Imagine God at the beginning of creation, looking ahead and writing down a list of every demand from every human being who ever existed as to what he must do to prove Himself to them.  God is not a dog to jump through all the hoops we demand that He must jump through.  Yet, He does love us and demonstrated it powerfully on the cross.

So, I end with this.  Save yourself from this stubborn and wicked generation, by putting your faith in the crucified Lord who died for your sins, and rose up from the grave to give you eternal life!

Lifting up Jesus audio

Mocking Jesus

Mark 15:16-20.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 7, 2021.

Mocking is one of those things that can come from very different motivations.  Kids will mock things out of silliness and lack of understanding.  Their mocking is very superficial, whereas, adults can mock things with a far deeper hostility towards another, and with very evil intent.  Mocking was even used by the prophet Elijah towards the prophets of Baal in order to drive home the point that Baal was not a true god.  Elijah’s intent is not evil, but rather to make it clear to the onlookers just how impotent Baal really was.  He was trying to draw them back to worship of Yahweh, the One True God.

The sad thing about the mocking of Jesus is more than the reality that he had power to stop it.  The sad thing is the ignorant, misguided, and deluded state that these people had come to be in.  We see them using their power and flaunting it over Jesus, while he basically does not resist.  They are indicting themselves, and foolishly bringing the wrath of God to an even greater degree.  Jesus is the only one who can save them, and they are making a joke of him and his “power.” 

Today, we will read about the soldiers mocking Jesus, but throughout his arrest and crucifixion, many different groups are shown mocking Jesus, Jews and Gentiles, great and small.  It is a recurring theme, the mocking of man towards the humble nature of God.

Let’s look at our passage.

Jesus is prepared for his crucifixion

Mark’s Gospel moves quickly to the crucifixion.  From the other Gospels, we find that there is far more happening here.  Jesus will be sent to Herod Antipas, the king of the Galilee region, when Pilate finds out that Jesus is from there.  Herod finds it amusing at first, but Jesus is not talking and so Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate.  Verse 15 mentions a scourging.  Jesus was scourged and then presented to the crowds again in hopes that they will relent once they see how badly Jesus had been injured, but it was not to be.

I refrained from talking about the scourging last week because I felt it fit better with the scene we have today.  I believe that the mocking of the soldiers depicted here happens on the heels of his scourging.

At this point, Jesus has been kept awake all night, beaten several times, and most likely neglected in physical needs like water and food. 

This scourging will serve two purposes.   First, it will serve as a horrible, visual deterrent for the onlookers.  After seeing his tortured state, few would dare follow in his footsteps.  Second, the scourging serves to weaken the vitality of the man to be crucified.  It puts him in a state that is very near death (it was not rare for those condemned to crucifixion to die from the scourging).

The leather scourge, or whip, would have many strands coming off of it.  Metal balls were attached to it in order to bruise and pulverize the back muscles.  Sharp items like sheep bones were also attached in order to puncture and cut the skin and muscles.  Such a scourging would leave the back shredded with ribbons of flesh and some areas exposing the bones beneath.  Loss of blood alone would put him in a state of physical shock.  This kind of scourging was not punishment; it was a stage in execution by crucifixion.

Isaiah 52:14, in speaking of the Messiah, tells us, “His visage was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men…”  In chapter 53 verse 5, we are told, “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities.  The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”  How could such a shocking thing be necessary for our sins, our peace, and our healing?  Many today, still balk at the idea that such a thing is necessary.  Surely our sins are not so evil as to require this!  Yet, the God of heaven disagrees.  Our sins are a great evil that cannot be overlooked, nor atoned for on our own.  We needed Jesus, and he willingly surrendered his back to these scourging.

As horrific as this treatment is, it is not over yet.  When they are done, the soldiers mock the idea that Jesus believes he is the king of the Jews.  They put a purple cloak on him because it is a color that is expensive to make and was connected to high station, and royalty.  He thinks he is a king then we will dress him up like a king!

Next, a crown is fashioned for Jesus from the branches of a thorn bush.  These are then pushed down on his head.  It is said that the thorn bushes of this area can have thorns up to an inch long.  Clearly, this mocks his kingship while also adding to his pain.  A crown of pain is all that he will wear.  Of course, Jesus is the one who God has anointed to be King of kings and Lord of lords.  No crown of this earth could truly honor this man.

Mark mentions Jesus being struck with a reed.  It is Matthew who tells us that the reed was put in the right hand of Jesus in order to mimic a scepter.  This scepter exudes weakness instead of power.  However, it should remind us of Isaiah 42:3.  “A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth.”  A reed is easily broken, and so Jesus would look weak, or at least that is their intention.  Yet, Scripture states that, though he is weak, he will not break until he has accomplished bringing forth true justice (not justice according to this world’s ever changing definition).

We live in a world that is tired of waiting for justice.  Many are clamoring and attempting to force justice as they think it should be, but such a spirit can never bring true justice.  It will only bring greater destruction and the wrath of God upon our stubborn insistence on rejecting His help and doubling down on our frail attempts at it.

Having finished their costume, the soldiers begin to give him false worship.  The word translated worship in verse 19 refers to the idea of bowing down, or prostrating oneself, in order to kiss the hand or feet of an authority.  In this case, they bow as if before Caesar and give the vocal salute, “Hail, king of the Jews!”  The word translated as “hail” is often thought of as only a welcome greeting, but it includes the idea of joy and cheer to the individual.  At this point in time, Jesus would feel anything but joy and cheer.  Thus, their ridicule reaches a ridiculous level.

Rome was used to having its way with these Jews.  To them, a king of the Jews was completely under their power.  Even the God of the Jews, was nothing to them.  The most powerful of these people were weak and impotent in the face of Rome and her legions.

This begs the question.  What will you worship?  In their mock worship of Jesus, these soldiers are truly worshipping the idol of Rome’s power, especially Caesar himself.  Will you give mock worship to Jesus all the while actually worshipping the powerful things of this world?  Will you worship the things of this world that can do what they want in the face of the weak?  Or, will you worship the one who became weak in the face of the powerful of this world in order to make their guilt evident, and to save you?  Yes, we testify to the world today that its power and wisdom is impotence and foolishness.  We testify to the world that Jesus is the true authority and the only one who is worthy of our worship.  Let us stand with Jesus in these last days regardless of what the powerful may think and do to us, and so join with him in the day of his reward!

Mocking Jesus audio

Before Pilate

Mark 15:1-15.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 28, 2021.

I am using the title Before Pilate with double-meaning.  Jesus was literally brought before Pilate who was the Roman governor, or better, prefect of Judea.  As the chief executive officer of Rome on the scene, Jesus was in Pilate’s hands and at his mercy.

However, Jesus is no mere man.  He is the eternal Word of God who had stepped down from the heavens into this world, taking on the nature of a human.  In this sense, Jesus is before Pilate in several other ways.  Jesus existed long before Pilate was ever born.  He was the eternal Son of God and Word of God, present with the Father before Creation began.  Thus, Jesus is before Pilate in time.

Jesus is also of a higher kingdom and authority than Pilate could ever be.  Thus, Jesus is before him in rank and station.  In fact, one day Pilate will be brought before Jesus and judged for his actions.  As the Scriptures tell us, God the Father has appointed Jesus as the judge of all who are alive and all who have died (Acts 10:42).  In 1 Peter 4:3-6, we are warned that the judgments of men only affect the flesh, but all men will stand before Jesus and give account for their life.  His judgment affects us eternally.

Jesus is brought before Pilate

We mentioned in previous sermons that there are actually 4 different events in the trial of Jesus.  He is first brought before Annas who is a previous High Priest while Caiaphas has the elders gathered.  Then, Jesus appears before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin.  The third meeting is only briefly mentioned and is what we have here in verse 1.  Up until now, everything has happened in the middle of the night.  The acts of the council must be done during the day in order to be official.  This third meeting seems to be a pro forma meeting in which the proceedings of the earlier interrogations and the gathering of witnesses is rubber stamped.

The real problem for the leaders is that Rome has stripped them of the power of capital punishment over their own people.  They want to execute Jesus, but they have to get Rome, Pilate, to do it for them.  Thus, shortly after dawn, they bring Jesus to the Praetorium, the headquarters of Pilate’s administration in Jerusalem.

Mark’s account is somewhat disordered in regard to a linear timeline, though it is not disordered in the sense of giving us an understanding of what happened in general.  These cultures were not as concerned with timelines as we are in the West today.  In the other Gospels, we are told that the priests bring Jesus to the Praetorium, but they cannot go in.  It would ceremonially defile them and disqualify them from participating in the Passover later.  Pilate comes outside and Jesus is formally charged by the elders.  Some questioning takes place outside, but then Pilate brings Jesus inside of the Praetorium to question him without the Jewish leaders.  Eventually they end up back outside for Pilate’s official decision.  Mark’s goal is not to establish an exact account of all that our inquisitive minds might want to know.  Rather, it is to establish the important facts of what happened. No charges are listed in Mark, but in Luke 23, we are told some of the charges made against him.

First, they say that the caught Jesus perverting, or twisting, the nation.  This is a general accusation and begs the question, “What was he twisting them towards?”  The second charge makes this specific.  They charge Jesus with forbidding people to pay taxes to Caesar.  This is a lie.  Just that week, Jesus had publicly declared that the Jews should give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.  Regardless, if it was true, Rome would have a vested interest in stamping out such influence.  The third charge is that Jesus says that he is the Messiah that Israel had been waiting for, which is to be the king of Israel.  Of course, these charges have nothing to do with why they want him dead.  Their real charge is that Jesus has blasphemed by claiming to be God.  However, such a religious charge would have no weight with Pilate, so it is left off.  Even with that, the real offense of Jesus is this: he testified that their deeds were evil, and they were too proud to repent.

Of course, we can infer the last charge from Mark’s description of Pilate’s question.  “Are you the king of the Jews?”  Kingship in Israel had been a messy topic ever since the exile.  They had been under the thumb of Persia, then Greece, and then Rome.  During this period, they were ruled by governors in general.  Even under the brief freedom of the Maccabees, they had been led by priests.  Herod the Great was appointed king of Judea by Caesar in 36 BC up to his death a couple of years after the death of Jesus.  However, Herod the Great was not of the lineage of David.  He had no right to the throne biblically.  After his death, the administration of Jerusalem quickly fell apart under Herod’s sons and Rome placed a governor over it.  If anyone was claiming to be the rightful king of Israel, and even the prophesied Messiah-figure, Rome would be keenly interested.

Before we get into the answer of Jesus, let’s look at his response overall.  In general, Jesus is not answering the charges against him.  Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”  Jesus had come to die, and he came to do it in a way that was not that of an arrogant, loud rebel.  How hard it would be to stand before godless men who are making baseless charges against you, and to simply trust God as your defense.

It is not that we should never defend ourselves in any way.  Jesus was fulfilling Scripture.  He needed to be silent before his accusers in general.  There is a time and a place for making a defense.  We see this in the New Testament with the Apostles, especially Paul.  However, we must never defend ourselves in such a way that we are desperate to get free.  Would I lie to get free?  Would I tell the truth about others to ingratiate myself to those who are charging me?  Would I use the time to vent and rage against injustice?  These are not the ways of Christ.

Yet, his is not an absolute silence.  Jesus does give an answer to Pilate, but it is a cryptic one.  Jesus literally says, “You are saying it.”  This is an acceptance that implies there is more to the story.  It is not a definite, “I am the king of Judea!”  In John 18, we are given more of the exchange between Pilate and Jesus.

“Are you the King of the Jews?” ³⁴ Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” ³⁵ Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” ³⁶ Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” ³⁷ Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” ³⁸ Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

Clearly, Jesus takes some time to interact with Pilate, most likely because Pilate is unwittingly caught up in something that is a great evil and he could not begin to understand it.

Pilate comes to the decision that Jesus is not guilty of anything other than annoying the religious leaders.  He does not what to become their lackey in this matter.  I want to note a couple of other details that Mark leaves out.  We are told that Pilate’s wife had been tormented with troubling dreams.  She actually sent word to Pilate while he was sitting in judgment, saying not to have anything to do with this Jesus affair.  Later, Pilate would publicly wash his hands in front of the people and declare, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” (Matthew 27:24 ESV). 

Mark does tell us that Pilate tried to release Jesus through a custom that had been established.  Every year at Passover, he would release a prisoner as a show of good faith to the Jews and in recognition of their holy day.  We don’t have much details on this custom, but in this case, Pilate puts the judgment in the hands of the people by giving them a choice between two prisoners.  Perhaps he feels that this is a way of blocking the religious leaders.  If Jesus is only guilty of ticking off the leaders then the people will probably spare him.  Thus, Pilate finds a prisoner who had been involved in a rebellion that ended in murder.  Of whom, we do not know.  This sets the crowd and the religious leaders up for a classic choice.

Barabbas or Jesus?  I can’t be coincidence that the name Barabbas is Aramaic for “son of the father.”  This choice becomes a metaphor for all that is happening spiritually.  Will we choose Jesus who is the Son of God the Father, or will we choose Barabbas who is spiritually a son of a different father, the devil?  It reminds me of the prophecy that Jesus gave the religious leaders in John 5:43. “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.”

In short, as a nation, Israel would reject Jesus as the Christ and later accept another who would not be the true Christ.  This other does not come in the name of God the Father.  He comes in his own name.  He is the anti-Messiah, the antichrist.  God works hard by His Spirit and through His prophets to get us to have a love of the truth, so that we will be prepared when we reach such moments of decision.  These moments are extremely critical choices that represented true spiritual state at the time.  In essence, we are choosing between good and evil, Jesus and Satan, God and the world.  O, how deceived people can become when they rebuff the attempts of God to give them a love of the truth.  On that day, the One who is the Truth stood before them.  Barabbas or Jesus?

If Pilate thought his actions would thwart the religious leaders, he was mistaken.  The crowd is stirred up by the chief priests to call for the release of Barabbas and the death of Jesus.  “Give us Barabbas,” they cried.  “What shall I do with Jesus?” Pilate retorted.  “Crucify Him,” they shouted over and over.  As the crowd is worked into a frenzy, Pilate realizes that it is better for this one man to die than to risk a bloody crushing of what would soon become an uprising.  Caesar would not be happy with such maladministration.  His abilities would be questioned and his position lost.

It is sad that those who are supposed to represent God can be some of the worst at stirring up others against His work.  How blind must those blind guides have been?  Do we not have blind guides in our own day?  How careful Christian leaders must be in the exercise of their authority, and how careful Christians must be in those they allow to be over them.  Guard your heart, friend, for out of it flows the course of your life.

At this point, Pilate yields, and, in true Roman form, we can say that the die is cast.  He orders Jesus to be crucified. 

We must understand that there is no going back.  There is only going forward.  This is our condemnation; the light came into the world and the world loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.  Our generation is not any different than that generation.  We too are an evil generation that pompously puts the followers of Jesus on public trial all the time.  We too have religious leaders who pretend to stand for God, but lead in opposition to Jesus.  They would crucify him in a second, if he appeared now in the same way that he did then.  However, Jesus is not coming back in the same way he came the first time.

When Jesus comes back, he will come as the One who is worthy to judge the living and the dead.  He will do so not in some sort of cosmic revenge, but in a sad recognition that no matter how much you love some, they want their wickedness more than they want you.  In fact, they will hate you just for existing because your existence reminds them of their wicked heart.

The die is cast, but believers in Jesus those who love God and are loved by Him, will hold fast their faith in Him, regardless of what lies ahead.  We know just how the cube will land and just who will be left standing in the end!

Before Pilate audio

The Great Commission

John 20:21-22; Mark 16:15-18; Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:18-20.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty on January 24, 2021.

Last week, we talked about the importance of making the good confession to the world around us.  In short, it is a declaration of our faith in Jesus and his teachings.  We stand with him.

Today, we are going to recognize that this confession and testimony that we should give about Jesus is part of a larger task, or commission, that Christ has given us.

Let’s look at our passage.

John’s Gospel

We will look at each of the Gospel’s version of the Great Commission.  They all highlight various things.  Ultimately, Jesus had been crucified and resurrected.  Over the course of 40 days, he appeared to them in order to prove the reality of the resurrection before he ascended into heaven, and to leave the apostles and his Church, that they would help build, with a task, a mission.  Thus, we speak of Christ commissioning his Church and call it the Great Commission.

John emphasizes sending.  We have been sent by Jesus as he was sent by God the Father.  We are sent for a purpose, to do what he tells us to do.  This is not a cultural thing.  Jesus is not trying to spread first century AD Israelite culture all around the world, much less white culture.  It is beyond culture.  In fact, if we must use the term, it is the spread of heaven’s culture.  All cultures are found wanting in the face of the Gospel and its obligation upon us all.  Christians must never confuse the Gospel with their own native culture.  Yes, some cultures have been impacted by Christianity more than others, but still, we are not representing our country, but rather Jesus and The Father.

John also shows Jesus breathing on his disciples and telling them to receive the Holy Spirit.  The receiving is emphasized, but it is not explained why.  We will save this for later.

Jesus also says that they, and we, will be a conduit to the forgiveness of sins for others.  This statement sounds like the apostles can keep some people from being forgiven, but that is a misreading.  Only Jesus can forgive sins, and thereby also refuse to forgive sins.  However, we are sent by Jesus as his ambassadors with his words.  We will be the representative of Jesus to those that we meet.  We don’t create forgiveness or deny it to those who desire it.  Rather, we announce it according to God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit’s wisdom.  Like the prophets of old, we can speak to people because of the authority of the Word of Jesus.  We can confidently tell people how to be forgiven of their sins, and how they cannot be forgiven.  The emphasis is not on their inherent ability, but in the function, they serve in being sent by Christ.

Mark’s Gospel

Mark focuses on our proclaiming the Gospel, or good news.  The NKJV uses the word “preach,” but the connotations of this word would be better translated as proclaim.  It is not about standing behind a pulpit in a church, but about sharing the Good News with anyone anywhere.  Mark’s gospel also emphasizes the scope of this mission, “all the world.”

A second aspect that we see here is the fact that powerful signs would follow Christ’s representatives.  Jesus doesn’t command them to do powerful signs.  Rather, the signs would follow them, and the signs listed are not an exhaustive list.  As God’s people commit themselves to this task of proclaiming the Gospel, signs would follow them.  Signs are not the focus, nor our job to make happen.  Our job is to be faithful to the task of sharing the Good News with people.

I will take a moment to clear up the passage about taking up serpents, due to the fact that some Christians believe they should prove their faith in Jesus by handling poisonous snakes.  Jesus is not talking about a means of proving your faith to onlookers, and neither is he talking about a test that all believers must do.  The best example of what Jesus is talking about happened to the Apostle Paul on the Island of Malta in Acts 28.  He was a prisoner on a ship going to Rome.  The ship was wrecked by a storm and they all jumped ship and swam to nearby Malta.  The natives met them on the shore and people began foraging for wood along the shore to build a fire and warm up the soaked men.  While gathering a bundle of sticks to throw on the fire, the apostle Paul was bitten by a viper on the hand and he shook it off into the fire.  The Bible tells us that the natives saw the viper hanging from Paul’s hand and figured that he would die, and that it was a punishment for some evil that he had done.  Over time, it became clear that Paul was not harmed by the poison.  This opened the people up greatly to hearing the Gospel.  The point is not invulnerability of believers to poison, but that these kinds of signs would follow them as a whole as they took the Gospel to the nations.  We too should expect that amazing things will happen from time to time as we are faithful to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Luke’s Gospel

In Luke, we have some of the content of the Gospel described.  First, Jesus had to do all of the things that he did.  They had been prophesied in Scripture, and they were functionally important for the saving of people.  Jesus lived a perfect life, and perfectly revealed the Father’s love by dying in our place, and being resurrected as proof that his sacrifice on our behalf was accepted.  It is also proof that he has the power to resurrect us at the last day.

For those who believe the message about who Jesus is and what he has done for us, repentance from sin is in order.  Those who believe and repent of their sins will have their sins remitted from them.  Luke also records that this is for all nations, not just one people group.

Lastly, Luke also records that they were to wait for the Promise from the Father to come upon them and empower them before going out to accomplish this commission.  The Promise from the Father is talking about the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon all of God’s people, instead of just a select few.  This is a task that is not intended to be done only by our power, strength, and abilities.  God Himself will work through us and assist us by His Holy Spirit.  Thus, we are not to hang back in fear, nor are we to rush forward in self-confidence.  We are to be a people who are led by the Holy Spirit, and empowered by Him.

This should remind us of Acts chapter 1 verse 8.  The book of Acts is technically Luke’s second volume.  It is not a second Gospel, but rather describes the apostles doing what Jesus told them to do.  We could think of Luke’s Gospel as the good news of what Jesus did, and his second volume as the good news that the apostles faithfully walked in his footsteps.  Another way to look at these to books is to see Luke as the acts of Jesus and the book of Acts as the acts of his apostles. 

Regardless, verse 8 emphasizes why we are to wait for the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Spirit would help us do.  The Holy Spirit would fill their whole being and enable them to be witnesses of Christ everywhere.  They would be empowered by God Himself.  A person cannot believe the Gospel without the influence of the Holy Spirit in their life.  He is the one who convicts us of the judgment that hangs over our head.  The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit takes up residence or dwells inside of those who believe on Jesus and repent of their sins.  However, we are to also open up our hearts and minds to Him through prayer so that He can fill our whole inner being.  This is not a one-time thing, but a daily empowering experience that we can have to help us in our battle against sin, and our task to proclaim the Gospel.

Matthew’s Gospel

John emphasized our being sent, but in Matthew we are shown why that is so important.  Jesus has authorized us to go to all nations and call them to repentance and faith in him.  What gives Christians the right to tell Romans that the idols they serve are lies and they need to repent?  We could ask the same question today.  Multiculturalism has some good to it.  It reminds us that we should not look down upon styles of life simply because they are different from our own.  However, Christianity is not supposed to be a cultural oppression. 

The Spirit of God started with Israel and challenged the sin in their culture.  It then moved to all other cultures.  We are authorized by the God who made and loves all people.  All of our cultures were, and still are, full of sin and ignorance.  Satan wants to make people feel that they are doing something wrong when they tell people that God commands all people everywhere to repent of their sins and believe on Jesus.  We must not give into this persuasion.

Next, we are to disciple those who believe by teaching them the commands of Jesus.  The disciple is a student who is learning to become like their master teacher.  Another image that is used in the Bible is that we are children of God.  God’s people are a family that baby Christians are born into.  We help the spiritually young to grow up and become more like our heavenly Father, which has been perfectly imaged to us by Jesus.

Lastly, Jesus tells us that he will be with us even to the end of the age.  How important it is to know that Jesus is still with us through the Spirit of God that is within us.  He hasn’t forgotten us no matter how difficult it may get at times.  We must hold onto this promise.

The Conclusion

When we put all of these things together, we end up with a lot of powerful concepts, so I have broken this up into two statements.

First, we have been authorized and sent by Jesus to proclaim the Gospel to all nations that only He can forgive and remove their sins because of his life, death, and resurrection.

Second, we are to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, which will have powerful signs as we teach people the commands of Jesus.

All of this emphasizes the task and purpose that Jesus has given us, and so it is missing an important component found elsewhere.  God so loved the world that He sent His One and Only Son that whoever believes on him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  God’s love for you, for me, and for those lost in this world, could not sit by as we destroyed ourselves through sin.  The love of God and the demonstration of its depth by Jesus on the cross are the foundation of a relationship that we can have with our Lord and invite others to join.  This is the Great Commission.

Great Comm audio