Sermon: St. Mark 15:39-47
THE POWER OF THE CROSS
So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!” 40 There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome, 41 who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem. 42 Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. 45 So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. 46Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. 47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid.
Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. Lead us on the way of truth, the way of the cross, to life eternal. Amen.
Dear people loved and redeemed by God in the precious blood of Christ, who was crucified and died for you:
Mark’s entire gospel has been waiting to introduce to us these two men: the Roman centurion and Joseph of Arimathea. Mark’s original audience consisted of Romans, specifically Christians in Rome being persecuted. They knew about Rome’s power.
The Roman centurion was Jesus’ executioner: the one overseeing the torture and scourging of Jesus, the one in charge of the procession out of the city when Jesus was carrying His cross, the one who oversaw the crucifying of Jesus: driving in the nails and lifting Him onto the cross.
Connected to this Rome-sponsored punishment was the Jewish council that delivered Jesus into Rome’s hands with an unjust charge. There was, as Mark says, “a prominent council member”who obviously wasn’t there when they pronounced Jesus guilty, since the verdict was unanimous.
This man, Joseph of Arimathea, was wealthy and influential, people would listen to him, but evidently he had stayed quiet, in the shadows, afraid of the consequences if people knew about his faith in Jesus and love for Him. He would have been hounded and persecuted by his fellow Jews.
Mark is showing us two men whose lives were defined by worldly power. It was what the centurion used in his job. He obeyed orders and his orders were to be obeyed. And what is it that kept Joseph of Arimathea from confessing his faith openly? The power of others to make him afraid.
Yet we find, in these two men, that the cross is more powerful. As soon as the centurion said the words, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!” and as soon as Joseph went to Pilate asking to bury the body of Jesus in his own tomb, both would be scorned and treated as nothing by their peers.
Mark tells us what God thinks of this, though. Joseph was “taking courage.” He says Joseph was brave, and shows the centurion being brave.
What is it that gave them this courage? Jesus’ death on the cross. The centurion said these words, Mark says, because “he saw that Jesus cried out like this and breathed His last.” And why would Joseph want to give an honorable burial to someone who died the shameful death on the cross? Not because he was so big-hearted. Jesus’ death on the cross itself – this demonstration of how deeply God loves every person – did this to Joseph.
Why does Mark show us this? Because we need this courage. We need it because we too lack strength or get confused about what true power really is. We try to be strong. Often we act strong. But we find out: not only do we not have power over death, we don’t even have power to handle it or get over it. Not only don’t we have power over sin or the devil, and we do the sins we don’t want to do, but we don’t have power to think a right thought, or forgive ourselves, or forgive someone else, or hold our angry tongue, or overcome our grief, no matter how much we try to practice self-control.
In the centurion and this member of the Sanhedrin, Mark is showing us that we forget where true power is located: in the apparent weakness of Jesus’ cross. They were changed, and they were changed by the cross.
This is the great scene where we see that Jesus’ love embraces everyone: the Roman centurion who did not know one Old Testament Bible verse about the Messiah; and Joseph, who was probably a Sadducee and knew it all by heart, but still was too weak. God’s love, in Jesus’ death, embraces those who are in the position of being His enemies, which is good news for us, who are naturally enemies of God and show every day how like these two men we are. You’re like the centurion when your life is caught up in worldliness and it looks like you don’t know any better; or you’re like Joseph, when although you know better you hide your faith and have so much to feel ashamed of. See how you make yourself His enemy by your own deeds? Yet – in the cross – His love embraces you, as it did them.
We also shouldn’t miss that in this spotlighting of these two prominent men, there’s a little gathering of faithful women who were unknown, unremarkable and mostly unnoticed. They don’t speak. They don’t tell Joseph and the centurion that they don’t belong in Jesus’ church. They are (Mark says) “looking on,” they refuse to leave Jesus’ cross, their faith in Him growing in ways they don’t understand yet, but they will later. Joseph and the Roman officer find that when they receive this faith in Jesus and take courage, they’re joining a throng of people who are content to let the world go by and rest in the love of Jesus, in the shadow of His cross.
At the cross you see Jesus’ love for all. But you see it doing something. The important thing tonight is to see it do something for you. To come to the cross is often our last resort. We try everything else first. It takes sinking to such a low point, when we’re out of strength, about to give up, feeling like a failure, that we come to the cross. But Jesus sees that it must be this way. He wants you to realize that there’s no power apart from Him. He wants you to bring your sins and say, “There’s nothing I can do about this, Lord.” But He can; He did. He not only takes your sins away by His cross, but also pours His love and His strength into you. Glory be to Jesus! Amen!