Mark 15

Mark 15

Jesus stands silent as day breaks and a new dawn is about to start for humanity. Pilate and the Jewish leadership attempt to use Jesus as a pawn in their political maneuverings, but Jesus, innocent, remains free of the politics for this is the path God has set for truth to be revealed. Jesus is convicted not of a crime but of a mob mentality. Jesus, son of man and beloved of God, is held captive but Barabbas (Son of God), a convicted murderer is released.

Jesus kingship is tested. The Jews deny it and the Romans mock it, but Jesus accepts it in the form it comes: death. Outsiders are gathered around this king while his subjects mock him and misunderstand his true nature as servant to others. And his Disciples abandon him. Simon of Cyrene, a centurion, some women and Joseph of Arimathea are the witnesses to the brief earthly reign of Jesus on the Cross, all outsiders and foreigners.

And the Temple curtain is cut in two. God is released; the old religion is done. Christ the king has come to collect his due from the unfaithful tenants and found them wanting. Now something new is happening and the Jewish leaders, even the Disciples, are absent. This new thing is for the outsider. It is for the ones with eyes to see and ears to hear. This new thing is grace and mercy, not wrath. Instead of the landowner driving out the evil tenants, he allows the son to die. But the inheritance does not go to the tenants. That has been prepared for someone else. Change never comes without sacrifice and pain.