Mark 15:20 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Mark 15:20

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Amazingly, he allowed this to happen. The same one who receives the worship of angels in heaven, and whose holiness and majesty is so great that they cover their faces so as not to look upon him, and cover their feet as unworthy to be seen by him; this same one allowed men to mock him in feigned worship. The angels rightly bow before him in heaven, and cry, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory’ (Isaiah 6:3). They stretch themselves to do justice to his majesty. They consider his attributes to be precious beyond measure. The idea of refusing him praise for even a moment is impossible for them. So too the saints on earth regard his attributes as sacred, and yet Christ who knows his own glory better than the angels allows his attributes to be stripped away from him by blasphemers. How did heaven not send forth lightening to burn them up? How did the voice of the Father not thunder forth to terrify them out of their wits for committing such an atrocity? But in truth no one can take away from the glory of Christ. His dignity cannot be harmed by anything that the creature does. So what was happening here? Christ was suffering vicariously for his people to purchase their redemption. But he was doing this in a way that revealed attributes which had never been seen before. For the sake of his people, and out of love for them, he was allowing his glory to be mocked and denied by men, because this was the path he must tread to complete his atoning work. What those who understand him see, is not the loss of any glory – for at his resurrection and ascension, all that men took from him was restored to him by the Father. What they see is the beauty of his lowliness and meekness, and his willingness to let go for a time of his visible glory in the interests of saving his people. But all this was nothing compared with what would happen to him on Calvary. The nails that would be driven through his hands and his feet, and the torture of hanging in the heat of the sun; all that would not be worthy to be compared with the invisible suffering of bearing the weight of human sin and the wrath of God on high poured out upon him, when he took our punishment in our place. Yet it was so terrible: to mock Christ in that way. They didn’t know what they were doing.

Application

There are people who mock him today with empty worship. Worship ceremonies they have invented themselves. It is a terrible thing. Have you ever spat upon Christ, insulted him? You did not know what you were doing. May God forgive us for every moment that we reject the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Nobody spoke for him. Nicodemus, the leading Jew, was quite affected by him, but he wouldn't speak up for him. ‘Many’ among the priests, the text says, ‘believed in him’, but they were afraid to speak up for him. The disciples, they were afraid to speak up for him. Peter, who had said, ‘If everyone else falls, I will stand’; he had already denied him to protect himself. There was nobody who spoke up for Christ as he accepted humiliation after humiliation, and then they prepared him for crucifixion.

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Mark 15:20 Commentary and Bible Study