The Last Moments: Mark 15:33-37
Following Jesus is about sacrificial leadership. Jesus sacrificed existence in Heaven to come and live among us. He sacrificed personal glory to serve others. He sacrificed His own life so others could live. It’s a simple concept.
Jesus cries out as He hangs upon the cross. The deed is done, all that is left is to die. As He cries out, some people around Him believe He is calling out for Elijah. They run and get a sponge filled with sour wine to help hydrate Jesus.
Understand this act clearly. These people are not having compassion upon Jesus. They aren’t doing Him any favors. It isn’t like if Jesus lives for a certain amount of time the Romans take Him down and spare His life. He was on the cross until He died. Some people – depending on the season of their crucifixion and their exposure to the elements – took days to die. By giving Him access to hydration, all the crowd is doing is extending the torture by providing His body with resources to use to continue to live.
That’s important to understand because it ties in with the prompt for their action. They could have given Jesus hydration anytime they wanted. They only give Him hydration after He calls out. Even their words after their action tell us they want to wait and see if Elijah will respond to Jesus. They don’t care about Jesus; the crowds care about the spectacle! Even in death, people are looking to Jesus to see a supernatural show.
Jesus, on the other hand, is still in the process of being the ultimate Passover Lamb. Speaking of Passover, returning to the exodus story there is another neat tie in. The plague immediately before the slaughter of the Passover Lamb was a plague of darkness upon the land. In the same way as darkness precedes the slaughter of the Passover lamb, darkness precedes the death of Jesus. God is making a deep spiritual point here and He wants His followers to not only see the point in Jesus’ story but in one of the most significant stories of their past.
Jesus is the ultimate Passover Lamb. In the same way as the angel of death passed over the houses whose doorways were covered in the blood of the sacrificed lamb, the followers of Jesus will be passed over regarding eternal death. Jesus’ sacrifice will atone with our sins, allowing us to be with God forever. We may experience physical death, but the blood of Christ will prevent us from knowing spiritual death.
Even in the crucifixion story we see the difference between God and mankind. Human beings do what they want to give themselves a chance of experiencing something cool. Humanity is inherently self-motivated. Jesus, on the other hand, does the opposite. Jesus does what the Father wants Him to do to give others a chance of experiencing something cool. Following Jesus is about sacrificial leadership.
