Mark 15:21-32
Oil
and water. They normally don’t mix. But some years ago scientists figured out
some ways to make it happen. If you have milk in your house, chances are it is
homogenized. The fat parts of the milk have been so broken up by passing
through small holes that it stays separated. So instead of rising to the
surface as fat normally would do, the fat stays suspended in the milk, making a
creamier texture to the mouth and a longer shelf life. Milk is also normally pasteurized
at some point in the process to kill most of the bacteria and germs.
There
are several elements of our text today that just seem out of place, like oil
and water, they don’t seem to mix. Take for instance, Simon. He is just walking
by as the soldiers begin their escort of Jesus from the Praetorium to Golgotha
where Jesus will be crucified. He is just walking by, having been out in the
country. Was he staying out in the country during the Passover? Was that where
he found lodging during this peak season, as Jesus had found it in Bethany?
He
is just minding His own business, probably unaware of what was happening to
Jesus, as most of Jerusalem would have been unaware. It was a late-night
arrest, a night grand jury and an early morning trial. But Simon gets drawn
into the middle of it, off-guard and unaware. He was probably there for Passover
and not for cross-carrying. And yet the two get mixed.
Jesus
is on the cross and He is offered wine mixed with myrrh. What is this all
about? We see in the movies that cowboys get offered whisky right before the
emergency bullet removal, so we can understand the alcohol. But why add the
myrrh? Myrrh has a numbing, analgesic quality to it. The cheap Roman wine
vinegar was often mixed with some drug to dull the pain of crucifixion. Myrrh
was also used in incense in the Temple, and for topical mixtures to heal
wounds. But Jesus refuses to have His senses dulled. Dulled experience is no
experience. Jesus was bearing the weight of our sin. He bore all of it, not
just what felt good.
And
Jesus is crucified with two other people, both of them guilty of their crimes.
The guilty were hanging on their crosses next to Jesus, the sinless, perfect
God-man. What a combination! They deserved what they were getting. Jesus didn’t.
But all three condemned to die together, no distinction between them, all
labeled guilty. The innocent, the guilty but sorry, and the guilty and hardened,
all hanging side by side, all condemned to die together, all preparing to
suffer for crimes, some theirs and for Jesus, other’s crimes.
And
finally the Savior being told to save Himself! He came to give Himself, not
save Himself. We live in such a selfish world that the concept of a selfless
act seems so foreign. We are in a dog-eat-dog world. Everyone seems to be out
for their own gain. We could blame the politicians, but we are the ones who
voted them into office. And they came from us. They are not some foreign group
of people, but people just like us, just like the two thieves who hung with
Jesus. And Jesus stays there on the cross to save these two men, and us.