Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him

 

 And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.  Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it.  And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.  Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.  And the inscription of His accusation was written above:

THE KING OF THE JEWS.

With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left.  So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with the transgressors."  And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Aha!  You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!"   Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save.  Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe."  Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.

 

- Mark 15:22–32 

 

 Yesterday we read that Pilate answered and said to the crowd again, "What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?"  So they cried out again, "Crucify Him!"  Then Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done?"  But they cried out all the more, "Crucify Him!"  So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.  Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison.  And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.  Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross.

 

And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.  Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it.  And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.  Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.  And the inscription of His accusation was written above:

THE KING OF THE JEWS.  Golgotha is the Place of a Skull, the place of death.  This is the full human experience of the Lord, the author of life.  He did not take anything that would blunt His pain in being crucified.  He has the full measure of unjust suffering that is possible for a human being.  They divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take:  see Psalm 22:18.   In tomorrow's reading, Mark reports Christ praying this psalm, giving us its first verse as His cry from the cross (Mark 15:34).  Regarding the inscription on the Cross, my study Bible comments that what was intended as an accusation and a mockery became instead a triumphant symbol.  Pilate's act of giving Jesus this title (see John 19:19-22) is prophetic, showing that the religious leaders had risen against their own King, and that the cross was the means by which Christ established His Kingdom.

 

 With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left.  So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with the transgressors."  And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Aha!  You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!"   Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save.  Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe."  Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.  That Christ was crucified between two robbers not only fulfills the Scripture, my study Bible says (see Isaiah 53:12), but also shows He is completely identifying with sinful humanity.  Those who passed by blasphemed Him and the chief priests and scribes are mocking Him.  He has fallen to such a low place in the social order that even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him, even as His Cross bears the title KING.

 

What are we to make of this scene?  Christ is reviled even by those who are crucified with Him, mocked, derided.  The words of prophecy regarding His Resurrection are misunderstood and thrown back in His face as sadistic ridicule (see John 2:18-22).  Those who say these things to Him are no doubt taking pleasure in His pain, and what seems to be an ignominious end and failure of His ministry.  It seems to me to tell us many important things.  First of all, there is the appearance of failure.  Christ's "failure" is not failure, but prelude to triumph.  Imagine this scene, and then the impossible, unheard-of news that will come at the tomb, and later on as He makes appearances to His disciples.  The rest of the 2,000 year history of the Church will follow, but for now let us consider how the gospel message will spread throughout the Roman Empire and across the known world of the time through the apostles.  So the appearance of failure cannot be trusted.  On the other hand, it also teaches us that the "success" of this scheme is no success at all.  The apparent successes we see in life are equally simply appearances.  The engineering of this evil and cruel end, despite the terror of His great suffering and punishment under a system reserved for the worst of criminals, will achieve nothing of the desired ends of those who want Jesus dead.  Rather, to the country, it will be used by God as triumph, as clear indication that God's power prevails over that of human beings -- but more importantly, over evil.  But there is something more that comes out of this horrible scene, and that is its meaning personally for us and in our own lives.  The fact that our Creator has apparently (that is, to human eyes) "failed" so spectacularly is a message to each of us.  And that is a message of hope that always exists as a seed in every circumstance.  The appearance of failure, even the apparent triumph of evil, should never stop a faithful Christian from pursuing our faith, and our lives as we are asked by God to live them.  We understand through this scene that our world is not perfect, nor does our Lord proclaim it to be "perfect."  Rather, He lives the injustice and pain of the world.  As the prophet says, "He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted" (see Isaiah 53:4-6).  We can be assured that whatever we go through, and whatever happens to us in life, our Savior has been there before us, and has assured us that no appearance of failure, no cruelty nor injustice can define who we are in God's sight.  This is because our Lord has shown us that nothing that He went through defined Him, except to teach us of His love for us, His willingness to suffer for love on our behalf.  So not only should we look at this scene, even when we want to recoil from it, and see its teaching that our real judgment does not come from this world, but also we must be able to see the immense, unfathomable love of our Creator for us.  Whatever happens in our lives, we can be upheld by these two things, and this is the gift of our enormously suffering Creator who loves us.  It really does not matter what comes along in life, who rejects us or reviles us, who mocks us and ridicules us, what failures in worldly terms we endure:  for the faithful person our Creator is truly the last word.  He is the Word Himself, and He will indeed have the last word as Judge.  Ultimately it is His judgment alone which we need to take about ourselves and all things; it is His judgment that will define reality and our worth, and His judgment that must lead us in our lives, even after a spectacular failure or setback, and no matter what are our afflictions.  This is what we must take from the Cross, the great gift of God to us, and especially the meaning of our Lord and Savior Jesus, who loves us so much He was willing to suffer and die for us.  He is left at this Place of a Skull, a garbage heap for human beings.  But what it means is that even when we might find ourselves in such a place, either figuratively or even literally, He is there out of love, with us.  We who follow Him are therefore those who always have hope.  We just have to seek and find His way for us through all things, even through a human garbage heap, with prayer -- and even in those times when, unlike Christ, our failure might be entirely our own.  He remains the answer to whatever it is we need.