Passage: Mark 15:15-21
The Big Idea
Isaiah foretold a Servant whose appearance would be marred beyond human likeness, and who would sprinkle many nations. Mark tells us, in just a few words, that Jesus was scourged, mocked with a purple robe and a crown of thorns, beaten, spat on, and led out to be crucified, so weak that a stranger had to carry His cross. Jesus knew all this was coming, and He came anyway, for you. No one who looks carefully at what He endured can conclude that He doesn’t care.
Foretold (Isaiah 52:13-15)
Isaiah wrote that God’s Servant would act wisely and be lifted up and highly exalted. Yet many would be appalled at Him, because He would be disfigured beyond human likeness. And He would sprinkle many nations, and kings would be left speechless before Him (Isaiah 52:13-15).
- The suffering of Jesus was foretold, centuries before He was born.
- He knew it was coming.
- And He still came, for you and for me.
- He still gave His life for us.
- He would give His blood to “sprinkle” us, to wash our sins away!
Scourged (Mark 15:15)
So Pilate, wanting to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.
Mark doesn’t describe the scourging. In the Roman world it was a familiar sight, and his readers didn’t need it explained. But history tells us how horrible it was. This was the worst people could do. Jesus faced all of humanity’s cruelty and rejection before He faced His Father’s judgment.
- The prisoner was stripped and tied to a post, arms stretched out.
- Jewish law limited beatings to forty lashes, and in practice thirty-nine, to be safe (Deuteronomy 25:3; 2 Corinthians 11:24). The Romans had no such limit.
- Soldiers used a whip of several leather thongs weighted with bits of bone or metal.
- They struck the back and legs again and again. Flesh was torn, and the body left bruised and bleeding.
- Some prisoners died from the scourging alone.
There’s no way to consider this carefully and conclude that Jesus doesn’t care about you. He loves you. He endured all of this for you. Never let anything shrink the price He paid to prove His love.
Mocked (Mark 15:16-19)
The soldiers led Him into the palace (the Praetorium) and called together the whole battalion.
- With their official duty done, now the soldiers would have their “fun.”
- Everything they did mocked His claim to be King.
They clothed Him in a purple cloak.
- Purple was the color of royalty.
- They threw a robe over His freshly torn back as a joke.
- To them it was all ridiculous. How could a man they could destroy have any real power? Power comes from physical might, and they were mighty. They forced their will on their enemies. This “King” was a joke.
They twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on Him, and began saluting Him: “Hail, King of the Jews!”
- A crown is supposed to mean honor. This one meant pain.
- The scalp bleeds heavily, so blood would have run down His face.
- Isaiah said His appearance would be marred beyond human likeness.
- And think about this: thorns came into the world with Adam’s curse (Genesis 3:17-18). Jesus wore the curse on His head so He could remove it from ours (Galatians 3:13).
They struck His head with a reed, spat on Him, and knelt down in mock homage.
- The blows would have driven the thorns deeper.
- They spat on Him to show their disgust and hatred, adding insult to injury.
Led Out (Mark 15:20)
When they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the purple cloak, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.
- When they tired of their entertainment, they tore the cloak off His back.
- By then the blood would have begun to dry into the cloth, so removing it reopened His wounds.
- Then He was made to carry the crossbeam, often estimated at 75 pounds or more, to the place of execution.
Simon of Cyrene (Mark 15:21)
They compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry His cross.
- Weakened by the beatings and torture, Jesus couldn’t carry His cross alone, so the soldiers forced Simon to do it.
- Cyrene was in North Africa, in what is now Libya. Simon was probably a Jewish man from the large Jewish community there, in Jerusalem for Passover.
- He came to Jerusalem to offer a lamb to God. Instead he met the Lamb of God, offering Himself for Simon!
And it seems this changed Simon’s life. Mark mentions his sons, Alexander and Rufus, by name, as if his readers knew them. Paul greets a Rufus in Rome, “chosen in the Lord, also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well” (Romans 16:13). It may well be that Simon’s whole family came to faith.
- They found Jesus, because Jesus found them!
- In a sense, this is where we all need to meet Jesus: at the bloody cross, where the Lamb suffers for our sins.
- And then we follow Him, carrying our cross behind Him.
“God Will Provide the Lamb”
Long before, God had asked Abraham to offer his son Isaac. Abraham laid the wood for the offering on Isaac, his son, and the two of them walked on together. Isaac said, “My father, here’s the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb, my son.” When they reached the place, Abraham bound Isaac and laid him on the altar. But the Angel of the LORD stopped him: “Do not lay your hand on the boy… now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in a thicket, and he offered it instead of his son. He named the place “The LORD Will Provide,” and to this day it’s said, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided” (Genesis 22:6-14).
- The cross is the fulfillment of that moment!
- That happened on Mount Moriah (Genesis 22:2), the ridge where Jerusalem’s temple was later built (2 Chronicles 3:1), and Golgotha lay just outside the city walls, likely on the same range of hills.
- Abraham’s son carried the wood up the hill, and God spared him. God’s Son carried the wood up the hill, and God did not spare Him (Romans 8:32).
- The Father was the source of this whole work of love. How could we ever say God doesn’t love us?
Grace Takeaway
Isaiah said the Servant would be marred beyond recognition, and Mark tells us it happened: scourged, crowned with thorns, mocked, spat on, too weak to carry His own cross. He knew it was coming, and He came anyway. Like Simon, we meet Jesus at His cross, and our lives are never the same. God provided the Lamb. Behold Him, and believe how much you are loved.