In the sixteenth century, Matteo Ricci went on a mission to China. He brought along religious art to illustrate the Christian story for people who had never heard it. The Chinese responded fondly and favorably to portraits of the Virgin Mary holding her child. They were revolted to learn that Jesus died on a cross. They preferred to worship the Virgin and her baby rather than the Savior and his cross. Centuries later, that remains the preference of most people around the world. Biblical Christianity does not work that way. You cannot know, trust, or love Jesus without the cross. That’s the burden of Mark 15:33-39. 

Jesus hung on the cross for six hours. Mark focuses on two blocks of these six hours. 

• Verses 22-32 tell us what happened during the first three hours. 
• Verses 33-39 tell us what happened during the last three hours. 

These two time periods report the crucifixion from different perspectives. The first three hours focus on how man treated Jesus. The second three hours focus on how God treated Jesus. Our text mentions God twice. Jesus calls “my God” in verse 34. The centurion calls Jesus “the Son of God” in verse 39. God’s name is only mentioned in two verses. His fingerprints are all over this text. The story of the death of Jesus is structured around two apocalyptic signs. 

• In verse 33, darkness covered the land from the sixth to the night hour. 
• In verse 38, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 

There were many at Golgotha when Jesus died – Roman soldiers, condemned criminals, religious leaders, random bystanders, and weeping women. Most importantly, God was there. He was not AWOL during the crucifixion. God was present and at work. What was God doing when Jesus died? It is answering this question that we understand the meaning of the cross. God was at work in the death of Jesus to save us. 2 Corinthians 5:19 says that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.” How was God at work in the death of Jesus to save us? Mark 15:33-39 shows us four ways God was at work at the death of Jesus. 

Judgment 

H. Richard Niebuhr critiqued theological liberalism: “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom with judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” That critique also applies to contemporary Christianity that embraces God’s love but rejects God’s holiness. You cannot properly understand the death of Jesus without viewing it as an act of divine judgment against sin. How did God judge sin at the cross?

The Physical Darkness. In Mark 15:32, the chief priests and scribes say, “Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” God granted their request for a sign, but not in the way they expected. Verse 33 says, “And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.” The “sixth hour” was high noon. When the sun was at its zenith, midday became midnight:“ There was darkness over the whole land.” Luke 23:45 says, “The sun’s light failed.” This sudden and complete darkness was no solar eclipse. It was the wrong time of year, and no eclipse lasts for three hours. This deep darkness was an act of God.

• When Jesus was born, the sky became bright in the middle of the night. 
• When Jesus died, the sky became dark in the middle of the day. 

We do not know the extent of this darkness. The “whole land” may refer to Palestine or beyond. But the cross was the epicenter of this supernatural darkness. In Exodus 10:21-23, God sent a pitch darkness that could be felt on Pharaoh and Egypt. That’s the best way to understand the darkness at Calvary. 

• When God created the world, he turned the lights on. 
• When God saved the world, he turned the lights off. 

R. Alan Cole wrote, “Darkness at noon, by its paradoxical nature, was a fitting sign for God the Creator to give to those who had rejected the light of the world.” In the history of the world, there has been no time as dark as those three hours. The sun refused to shine as God’s on died for the sins of the world. 

Well might the sun in darkness hide,
And shut its glories in, 
When Christ, the mighty Maker died, 
For man the creature's sin. 

The Spiritual Darkness. Jesus made seven statements when he died. Mark records one of these cries from the cross. It is the only word from the cross recorded in two Gospels – Matthew and Mark. Verse 34 says, “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? ‘” “At the ninth hour” connects the declaration in verse 34 to the darkness in verse 33. Under a holy veil of supernatural darkness, Jesus suffered God’s wrath against sin from noon to three.

When the darkness lifted, Jesus “cried with a loud voice.” Jesus was weak, tired, and in pain. Yet he mustered his strength to violently scream, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” Mark quotes Jesus in his native Aramaic tongue, then translates for his Greek readers: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus quoted a lamentation of David from Psalm 22:1. When life puts the squeeze on you, what’s in you is what comes out. On the cross, scripture quoted scripture. It is the only time Jesus addressed the Father as “God.” Emphasizing their loving relationship that remained as he bore our sin, he said, “My God, My God.” Jesus asked, “Why?” If that’s your question, Jesus knows how you feel. “Why have you forsaken me?” spotlights the mystery of the incarnation and the meaning of the cross. 

Martin Luther sat for hours meditating on this word from the cross. After exhausting his attempts to comprehend it, Luther exclaimed, “God forsaken by God! Who can understand that!” In the darkness of Golgotha, God poured out his wrath against sin on Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Fulfillment

Verse 35 says, “And some of the bystanders hearing it said, ‘Behold, he is calling Elijah.’” The bystanders heard what he said but misunderstood what he meant. They claimed, “Behold, he is calling for Elijah.” “Behold” tells us this remark was not sincere. They mocked Jesus. The prophet Elijah never tasted death. 2 Kings 2:11 says he was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. Malachi 4:5 says Elijah would return before the great and awesome day of the Lord. In Mark 8:28, the disciples tell Jesus that some people think he is Elijah. Over the centuries, a Jewish legend grew that Elijah showed up to rescue the righteous in time of trouble. The bystanders thought Jesus was calling on Elijah and mocked him for it. 

Verse 36 says, “And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’” We do not know who this “someone” was. It may have been a soldier or a bystander. They filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink. John 19:28 says, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the scripture), ‘I thirst.’” This offer of sour wine may have been in response to what Jesus said.

The sour wine was not the pain-numbing drink Jesus rejected in verse 23. It was a cheap and common vinegar-based wine that farmers and soldiers drank for refreshment. As they offered it to Jesus, they said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” Their words reveal this was an act of cruelty, not kindness. They offered the dehydrated Jesus a drink to prolong his life, to see if Elijah would come to take him down from the cross. 

 Little did they know that Elijah had already come in the person of John the Baptist. Mark 9:13 says, “But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.” When Jesus was transfigured, Elijah and Moses showed up to talk with him. 

• Elijah showed up to help prepare Jesus for the cross. 
• He would not show up to take Jesus down from the cross. 

The bystanders misunderstood what Jesus said because they did not understand that he was the fulfillment of Old Testament promises, prophecies, and predictions. John 5:39-40 says, “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

Access 

God is holy; we are not. Sin separates us from God. Nothing we do restores our relationship with God.  

• We need a Mediator. 
• We need a Redeemer. 
• We need a Savior. 

John 14:6 says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The cross is how Jesus provides access to God. 

The Dying Savior. Verse 37 says, “And Jesus uttered a loud cry.” Jesus was still in control to the end. As death approached, the crucified would be too weak and weary to speak. Jesus uttered a loud cry. John 19:28 says, “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” “It is finished” translates one Greek word: Tetelestai. It means to finish a task, complete an assignment, or accomplish a goal. 

• Servants used this term when they finished their tasks. 
• Artists used this term when a work of art was completed.
• Warriors used this term after they had prevailed in battle. 

It is the word you use when you graduate from college, finish a marathon, or pay off your credit cards. Tetelestai was a commercial term that meant, “Paid in full.” Jesus gave a victory shout, and then “breathed his last.” The KJV says he “gave up the ghost.” None of the Gospel writers says that Jesus died. They all use language that communicates that Jesus chose the snail. John 10:17-18 says, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” 

The Torn Curtain. Verse 38 abruptly shifts the scene from Golgotha to the temple: “And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” The torn curtain is the second miracle of the cross in our text. It occurred instantaneously and simultaneously with the death of Jesus. A high, wide, and thick curtain veiled the Most Holy Place of the temple, where God’s presence dwelt. Only the high priest was permitted into the Holy of Holies. He was only permitted to enter once a year on the Day of Atonement. This curtain was God’s “Keep Out” sign. When Jesus died, the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Mark 1:10 says, “And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.”

• The heavens were torn open when Jesus was baptized. 
• The curtain of the temple was torn in two when Jesus died.

Matthew 27:51 reports that an earthquake took place when Jesus died. But there were no reports of earthquake damage to the temple. This was an act of God. Samson, in all his strength, could not tear this curtain. With his Jehovistic hand, God tore it in two, “from top to bottom.” The torn curtain declared the end of the temple’s priesthood and sacrifices. Sinclair Ferguson said, “The temple now stood desecrated – by God himself.” It also declared free and open access to God by the finished work of Christ. 

Hebrews 4:15-16 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Revelation

Verse 39 says, “And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God.” A “centurion” was a non-commissioned Roman officer in charge of a hundred soldiers. The phrase, “who stood facing him,” tells us he had a front-row seat to the crucifixion. This centurion was an eyewitness to all that took place when Jesus died. Mark says he “saw that in this way he breathed his last.” How many battles had he fought? How many crucifixions had he performed? How many men had he seen die? But the death of Jesus had a dramatic effect on him. 

• Jesus died forgiving those who wronged him.  
• Jesus died without cursing God or others. 
• Jesus died in full control of his faculties. 
• Jesus died with accompanying miracles. 
• Jesus died in a spirit of calm submission. 

When the centurion saw how Jesus died, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

This is the theological high point of Mark. Mark 1:1 says, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” God the Father addressed Jesus as his “beloved Son” during his baptism and transfiguration. Demons identified Jesus as God’s Son. This is the first time in Mark that a person claims Jesus to be the Son of God. Mark 8:29 records the Great Confession: “You are the Christ.” Peter confessed that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah-King. As Jesus died on the cross, Peter was nowhere to be found. But a centurion acknowledged the deity of Jesus.

The only problem with his confession is that he used the wrong verb tense. He said, “This man was the Son of God.” The centurion thought it was all over for Jesus. But the one who died on the cross rose from the dead. Jesus is alive and well today! Revelations 1:17-18 says, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” What do you believe about Jesus?