A Worldly Perspective on Sacrifice: Mark 15:27-32
Like Jesus, we must remain true in our understanding that in the end, it is God whose plan will win out. It can be difficult to follow God, make sacrifices for His sake, and watch other people get ahead by following the world’s ways. It is difficult to help people, only to have them perceive it as weakness and take advantage. It is difficult to focus on God to the point of ignoring the evaluation of the world.
Jesus was mocked on the cross. While providing the means to salvation, the world mocked Him. This is the way of the world. When the world sees something that doesn’t ascribe to its own agenda, the world mocks it and belittles it rather than trying to understand it. All you need is a social media account to understand this.
The people passing by Jesus mocked Him. They saw a crucified victim and assumed Jesus to be guilty. They assumed Him to be powerless. They passed by and were grateful to not be Him. That was the one of the benefits – if you can have benefits – of crucifixion. People passing by see the punishment, become grateful it wasn’t them, and then socially reinforce the horrible nature of crucifixion as they talked to each other and mocked the dying person. It was a great reminder about the importance of following the rules in the Roman Empire.
The religious elite mocked Jesus, too. They felt victory in their grasp. They believed they would retain control. They believed their concern over what Jesus could do with the crowd was passing. Like the Machiavellian leaders they were, they came to the cross and made sure Jesus – and the Hebrew world – knew they were the victorious ones.
Even those on the cross mocked Him. Although they were suffering the same fate, they still didn’t want to be the bottom of the pile. In mocking Jesus, they still feel satisfaction knowing there was someone worse off than them.
In a sense, each of these dynamics points us to one of the defining characteristics of the Christian. Unlike the world, the Christian seeks truth outside oneself. Rather mocking what we don’t understand and pursuing our own selfish human agenda, the Christian knows there is a better way. That way is external to us. It is God’s way. The Christian pursues God, humbling himself in the process to quest for something unattainable from within.
There were those who didn’t mock Jesus, we’ll meet that group in a couple of days. For today, the point of Mark’s words is a reminder of how the world looked upon Jesus, because the world will also look upon those who follow Jesus the same way. The world will see sacrifice and take advantage of it. The world will see sacrifice and interpret it as weakness. Like Jesus, we must remain true in our understanding that in the end, it is God whose plan will win out.
