In his sermon, David Green discusses the passage from Mark 15:15-21, focusing on the cruel mocking of Jesus by the Roman soldiers as he was led to be crucified. Green emphasizes that while the physical suffering of Jesus was significant and brutal, it was a common method of execution at the time. However, the spiritual suffering and the mockery he endured were unique to his crucifixion. Jesus faced ridicule and blasphemy from the soldiers who saw him as a joke, not recognizing his true identity as the Son of God. Green highlights that such mockery was prophesied in the Old Testament and points to the fulfillment of these prophecies. Despite the soldiers' actions, Jesus' crucifixion was part of a divine plan where he took on the sins of humanity and faced the wrath meant for sinners. The sermon also touches on the contrasting descriptions of Jesus' robe in the Gospels, explaining them as a result of the robe's fading over time. Green concludes by urging listeners to recognize Jesus' sacrifice and to repent, noting that while those who mocked Jesus had the opportunity to repent, their time has passed, but the present is an opportunity for current believers to confess Jesus as Lord.

Mark chapter 15 and today we're going to be verses 15 through 21. Very important passage of Scripture Here as we are approaching to the cross, Mark chapter 15, beginning of verse 15 and going down to verse 21, it says, And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified. The soldiers led him away into the hall called Prioritium, and they called together the whole band. And they clothed him with purple, plated a crown of thorns and put it about his head, began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! They smote him on the head with a reed, did spit upon him Bowing their knees worshiped him And when they had mocked him took off the purple from him and put his own clothes on him Let him out to crucify him Sorry, that's Mark 15 verses 15 through 20.

I believe I said through 21. Message today is on the subject of the mocking, the cruel mocking of Jesus. In our world today, a lot of folks focus only on the physical sufferings of Jesus as he went to the cross and as he was on the cross. No doubt that was terrible. What Jesus suffered at the hands of the Romans was an awful thing.

I don't think we ought to discount it, but also don't think that that's the focus as we read through the Gospels. I believe we focus there because in 2025 America, crucifixion is unique. We don't see it. It's horrifying. But in those times, in history, it was very common.

It was very common. In fact, by the time of the first century in Rome, in the Roman Empire, someone being hung half naked on a wooden cross with massive wooden spikes being driven into their hands and feet with blood flowing from the wounds and beatings. That was a very common method of execution. Indeed, historians may not know the exact number of people who died in this method, but the number seems to be up into the thousands, the tens of thousands even, perhaps even more. The physical suffering of Jesus on the cross was not unusual.

Even on that very day, there were two others who suffered in this light manner. In this white manner. The physical suffering at the hands of the Romans or the Jews was terrible and I don't want to downplay it. In fact, it had to be that Jesus would die physically. Had to be that way.

He had to shed his blood in order for us to live. But I want us to remember that that's not just where he was headed. In fact, as he approached to the cross, and we're not there yet in the text, but I want us to keep this in our minds, that there were three separate prayers that he prayed as we as we look through the Gospels, three separate prayers in which he prayed, remove this cup from me. And that prayer had nothing to do with the Romans. This cup that he spoke of had everything to do with what he was facing, and that was the cup of divine wrath against sinners for whom he was the substitute and the punishment.

And the punishment. Over in, you can hold your place there buddy, in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, For he hath made him to be sinned for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus took our sin debt and died for us. He had no sin in and of Himself.

He died the perfect Lamb of God. The endless Lamb of God. He died for the sins of His people. Do you believe it? Here in our text, we find that not only did Jesus suffer physically from the soldiers, And he would soon be facing the divine wrath of God on the cross, but he also suffered terrible ridicule, the awful mocking of the soldiers.

And I believe this was another unique feature of the crucifixion of Jesus. These soldiers, they'd seen many a criminal come through, ready to be processed and sent onto the cross. But to them, they knew Jesus was different. But they missed the point. You see, Jesus was the only one who had ever been processed to go on to crucifixion who was actually homeless.

But they missed that, and what they saw, what they thought was that Jesus was a joke. And they made sport out of it. And what you read here in Mark chapter 15 is an awful case of blasphemy and joke and making light of the very one, the God of heaven, creator of the world, the savior of men, that they should have trembled before and been in fear of. But yet, they decided to make light of. And as we read this and as we've read it and we think about our times, we know the depravity of man hasn't changed.

People still mock and laugh and make sport and fun of the Bible and the followers of Christ even today. Oh what a terrible thing it was for them to have been face to face with Jesus. They've done what they did. The historian Philo says this, he says that life was cruel in that part of the world in that day. One of the things the people did was to taunt those who were mentally deficient.

Doesn't that sometimes happen in our day? The teasing and the mockery and the scorn was heaped on the village idiot. That's how they viewed Jesus. That's what they thought of when they saw Jesus come through. They saw Him as someone who was retarded, who thought He was the King.

Who are you? What makes you think you're the king? Someone that the Jews who they also despised, they passed this man on to the Romans as someone who would be a threat to Caesar. So they turned this all into some sport. Jesus had prophesied that this would happen much earlier.

We read it several weeks ago, but in Mark chapter 10, verses 33 through 34, saying, verses 33 through 34, saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, and they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him, and the third day He shall rise again. Beloved, what He endured for His people, what He endured to get to the cross, what He endured the shame. None of this took him by surprise. He did it for you. He did it for me.

Were it not for the grace of Almighty God, you and I would be making fun of him even this very hour. See the scene here in March 15, verses 15 and 16. So Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified, and the soldiers led him away into the hall called Praetorium. They called together the whole band. So Pilate releases Barabbas.

We looked at some of that last week. Jesus is scourged. Don't just read over that. He's scourged. He's flogged.

Again, something else that we don't see in our world today, but it was common in those days. This was terrible. Not everybody made it to the cross who was destined to get there to the crucifixion. Let me describe what the scourging or flogging consisted of. And depending on which translation you read, it's translated scourging sometimes, it's translated flogging in other places, but it's the same thing.

Basically, this is what it is. It was a whip. It was done with a whip consisting of wooden handle, which was metal, consisting of a wooden handle. This whip had a wooden handle to which metal tipped leather thongs were attached And so we've all been whipped probably with a belt. That's painful.

But imagine if it had metal tips on the end of it. And guess what that does? Does exactly what you imagine it to do. Rips the flesh down to the bone as those metal tips dig in to the back. It causes severe bleeding.

And prisoners sometimes would die just from the flogging. This is from the flogging. Hard to imagine What this was like, Bible records it. Has it happened there? After this, Jesus is turned over to the soldiers.

They take him to this place called the praetorium, which is the governor's residence. And While they're there waiting for what to do with him, the soldiers call the whole band. This would have been the whole battalion. How many showed up, I don't know, but it could have been up to 600 soldiers. Now they didn't need that many soldiers to guard Jesus.

He wasn't threatening to run away. He wasn't threatening to cause any issues. He was a willing prisoner. They called them for the show that was about to start. These men were savage.

As they began their show, their comedy, if you will, these men watched. Verse 17, And they clothed him with purple, And plaited a crown of thorns, And put it about his head, And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews. So they cloned him with purple. Now some point out here a contradiction between the gospel writers. If you hold your place here, go to Matthew chapter 27.

Matthew 27 verse 28. Well verse 27, then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers, and they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe. So Matthew says a scarlet robe and Mark says purple. What's the deal here? Is this some contradiction between the writers of the gospels?

No, it's not. John MacArthur explains it this way. He says, it's interesting. The integrity of scripture is remarkable, sometimes in the smallest ways. Matthew 27-28 says it was a scarlet robe.

He goes on to say, I love the fact that it says purple here in Mark and in John and scarlet in Matthew. There is so much integrity in that. You say, well wait a minute, that's a contradiction. It isn't a contradiction. It's so readily and easily explained because Roman soldiers wore it as a matter of their uniform issue, a scarlet covered mantle, but a scarlet colored mantle worn by a soldier over a long period of time, that rough, hard, stiff mantle would have faded in the brilliant Sun as the months and years passed by.

And so what started out very likely as a scarlet robe was faded red that resembled a purple somewhere in between. And so as the gospel writers wrote about it, Matthew would have known that it was originally scarlet. Mark would have recognized that it had gone purple. Easily explained. And I would say this as we think about that piece of information, whenever somebody comes to you with a supposed contradiction in your Bibles, even if you're not ready with an explanation like that, because the first time I read it, I wasn't sure of the explanation.

Someone comes and says, well, there's a contradiction here. Don't be afraid to say, well, I'm not sure about that. Let me study it out and I'll get back with you. Don't get too shaken. All the supposed contradictions, all they are are not contradictions at all, they're just misunderstandings that people sometimes have.

But as we get back to this, think about this. Our Lord has been Whipped He's got gashes down his back So much so that the the bones are showing and and and the bleeding and all of that and can you imagine Not only the pain from that but you take this this robe that's made out of wool put that on top of it coarse wool There's a reason why we don't wear wool very often. It's not very comfortable. His back is still raw from the flogging. Not a comfortable thing at all.

But they didn't stop there. They twisted a crown of thorns and crushed it down on his head. When I was little I used to think of the biggest thorns I knew of, and that was blackberry thorns or rose thorns. But in the Middle East, in Israel, They have stuff that make rose thorns and blackberry thorns seem like child's play. Indeed most writers believe that they would have used this plant that had thorns as long as 12 inches to make this thing.

I don't know what size the thorns were, but I can guarantee you that those Roman soldiers weren't looking for something small. They were looking for something painful. The blood that flowed down his head and mixed with the blood from his back. What a terrible, terrible scene. And he's not even gotten to the cross yet.

And all This was meant as mockery to make him out to be some fake king, some imposter. They began to salute him, Hail King of the Jews. When the Roman king came through town, they would try out Hail Caesar. But here, in this terrible comedy, this terrible scene that they're making, they cry out, They cry out, Hail, King of the Jews. Blasphemy is what it is.

Terrible blasphemy. They smote him on the head with a reed, verse 19 says, and it spit upon him, and bowing their knees, worshipped him. Their knees worshiped him. As if the pain wasn't bad enough, they beat him with a reed on the head where the crown of thorns was. They spit on him, and mocking him, they bowed down in worship.

Folks, people can make the actions of worshipping God, but they maybe aren't true worshippers. And this is One example of that. Remember I mentioned Jesus said that this would happen, but this was also prophesied in the Old Testament in Isaiah chapter 50. Isaiah chapter 50 and verse six. In chapter 50 and verse 6.

I gave my back to the smithers, my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, I hid not my face from shame and spitting." You see, this was prophesied, that this is what would happen. And as we think about this and consider what he's going through, we must remember that what Isaiah wrote here is true. He gave himself for this. He didn't... He wasn't held there.

He wasn't forced there by the Romans. He's there willingly. Mark 15 and verse 20, And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him and led him out to crucify him, crucifixion may have been very common in those days. This was the first time, the only time, that anyone sinless had ever been sentenced to die on the cross. Oh sure, there were plenty of charges brought against him.

None of them were true except for one. The charge that was brought against him, by which the Jews turned him over to the Romans and they crucified him was well let's read it in John 19. John kind of fills in some of the some of the information here that Mark doesn't, but in John 19, verses one through 15, let's read this. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him, and the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him with their hands.

Pilate therefore went forth again and saith under them, Behold I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered, we have a law and by our law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God.

Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid. When again to the judgment hall saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee?

Jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power or authority at all against me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. From thenceforth Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and set down in the judgment seat in a place that is called Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gavatha.

And it was the preparation of the Passover, about the sixth hour, and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your king. But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto him, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then delivered him therefore unto them to be crucified.

They took Jesus and led him away So the only charge that they could get him on Was that he claimed to be the son of God and as far as Pilate goes he was a coward in so far as that he allowed Jesus to be beaten. He brings him out, and you know, he's got all this blood on him and everything, and The crowd's already bloodthirsty and all of those things. He tries to distance himself in some way against all of that, but ultimately he's as guilty as the rest and we see all that as it plays out. But ultimately, the hero of the story is Jesus. As he willingly endures the cruel mocking, the shame, the pain of the whole ordeal, and as he goes onto the cross, and as he'll suffer and die for the sins of his people.

He'll be buried, but he'll rise again. And right now he's seated in heaven one day, coming back for his people. Speaking of Jesus, and speaking of all of this, a few years later Paul wrote to the church at Philippi. And as we think about what Jesus went through, I couldn't help but think about what Paul wrote under inspiration of spirit in Philippians chapter 2. I'm going to bring this to a close.

I want us to consider this. Philippians chapter 2 and beginning of verse 1 and going down to verse 11. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfill ye my love, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind Let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. A couple things to point out in this. Praise God that Jesus did Take unto himself the form of a slave, the form of a servant. Make himself in the likeness of men and humble himself to be obedient to death.

Consider this, let us who are saved, let us have that same mind, though we don't think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, that Nothing is done through strife or vainglory, as he says, but in lowliness let each esteem other better than ourselves. But then also consider this, that even as those Roman soldiers made sport that day and mockingly bowed and played and made fun of Jesus. There is coming a time when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. I don't know about those soldiers. God could have struck them all dead that day, but he didn't.

That means space was given for them to repent, and I hope they did, but I don't know. But I do know this. Their time is gone. Our time is now. Have you repented?

Do you know Jesus? Have you, have you bowed to Him? Have you bowed to Him? Have you confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father? May God hand the blessing to the preaching of His Word even this day.