“Jesus __________” Part 6: The Son of God | Pastor Jacob Sheriff

Message Date: March 24, 2024
Bible

“Jesus __________” Part 6: The Son of God | Pastor Jacob Sheriff

Victory Life Church, Central — Sunday, March 24, 2024

Introduction

Mark 15:22–34, 37-39 (ESV) 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take.25 And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. 33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” … 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

This moment acts as the climactic moment of the Gospel of Mark, what he has spent the entire Gospel leading up to, where he puts on brutal display, “This is Jesus,” this crucified, rejected, mocked man is the Messiah, the Anointed King, the “Son of God.” But to be able to grasp this moment in the story and what it means for us, we need to look again at how Mark has lead us to this point. Mark has been presenting the questions “Who is Jesus?” and, “Who do you say Jesus is?” throughout his gospel, and telling stories that should shape our answer.

Framing the Story of Jesus

We’ve looked at how this Gospel is structured in 3 Acts (or Sections):

    • Act 1: Galilee — Ch. 1:1–8:26 — Who is Jesus?
    • Act 2: On the Way — Ch. 8:27—10:52 — How is Jesus the Messiah?
    • Act 3: Jerusalem — Ch. 11:1–16:20 — How Jesus became King

Jesus’ Titles:

    • Christ (the Messiah) — the one God anoints to be the saving King of Israel
    • Son of God — the one God installs on the throne of Israel and the world
    • Son of Man — the one God elevates to the heavenly throne of all humanity
    • Suffering Servant — the one who would suffer on behalf of all humanity

Mark 1:1 (ESV) The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Mark 10:45 (ESV) “For even the Son of Man came … to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God: the one God will anoint as the saving King of Israel, who God will install to the throne over the whole world. (Mark 1:1)

Jesus, the Suffering Servant, Son of Man: the one who will suffer on behalf of the guilty, who God will elevate to the heavenly throne over all humanity. (Mark 10:45)

Jesus, the Son of God

Jesus’ Identity revealed in Three Key Moments:

    • Jesus’ Baptism
    • Jesus’ Transfiguration
    • Jesus’ Crucifixion

Jesus’ Baptism: Mark 1:9-11

Mark 1:10–11 (ESV) 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The way Mark presents Jesus’ baptism is presenting him as God’s return to his people in a new Temple: Jesus himself. In the same way the cloud covering the glory of the Lord came down from heaven and into the Tabernacle and Temple, the Holy Spirit comes down onto Jesus from “the heavens” being torn open. The desired goal God has had from the Garden of Eden, through the Tabernacle and Temple, and now through Jesus, is for heaven and earth to be ONE, and for humanity to be God’s vessels bringing heaven to earth. Now this becomes possible through Jesus. This moment in Jesus’ baptism is also the way Mark presents Jesus as humanity’s new leader: God’s anointed King, the Messiah, the Son of God.

Mark 9:2-8 — Jesus’ Transfiguration

Mark 9:2–3 (ESV) 2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.

Mark is pulling back the veil a little bit more in this story. Mark uses language to describe Jesus  as being transformed before their eyes, and the description of his clothes being radiant and intensely white comes from Daniel 7:9, where God as the Ancient of Days is described. In Mark’s way, he is giving us a peak at Jesus’ identity, he is the Son of God, but in a way they hadn’t fully grasped, somehow Jesus is also divine.

Mark 9:7-8 (ESV) And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

Here again as in Jesus’ baptism, Mark uses language similar to Temple language. Jesus was seen by the disciples with “glory,” being radiant. Now a cloud descends over the mountain, like the cloud over the Tabernacle and Temple that shielded the glory of the LORD, and from that cloud a voice from heaven, just as at Jesus’ baptism. Both times the voice from heaven declares the true identity of Jesus, he is the Son of God. Tying these two stories together, at the beginning of the gospel, and then hear again in the middle of the gospel, Mark gives us two stories that connect Jesus as the Son of God, the divine-man whom God has anointed to be the Messiah, who’s Kingship will be marked by suffering and sacrifice, he is also the Son of Man and the Suffering Servant.

Jesus’ Crucifixion: Mark 15:21-41

Mark 15:37–39 (ESV) And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Again, here is the climax of the whole Gospel story, all the themes come together in one brutal picture: this crucified, rejected, mocked man is Jesus, the Messiah, the Anointed King, the “Son of God.” At Jesus’ baptism, the word from the Father out of heaven was spoken directly to Jesus, “You are my beloved Son.” On the mountain, the word from the Father out of heaven was spoken to the disciples, “This is my beloved Son.”  Throughout the Gospel, Mark portrays Jesus pleading with people to hear and understand. On the mountain, God’s direct word concerning Jesus is to the disciples. This direct word from God is necessary for them to grasp the one point they are struggling to accept—that the Son of God must suffer!

When the centurion sees how Jesus has died, he is the first human to recognize who Jesus really is. He makes a bold profession, “Truly this man was the Son of God.” He is the first person in the story to have recognized and acknowledged Jesus’ identity. His confession is probably far more than he even understands himself. But look at this moment carefully: this is Jesus’ executioner, a Gentile, a hardened soldier who has given his allegiance to Rome and  the Emperor, who is himself called, the “Son of God.”

Most likely, if that centurion would reach into his moneybag, he would pull out a coin like this one: a “Tiberius Tribute Penny.” Tiberius Caesar was emperor at the time of Jesus’ ministry, and coins like these were used as propaganda for the cult of emperor worship. The inscription can be translated as saying this: “Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus.” Which is a way of saying, “Son of God.”

Or this coin issued by Caesar Augustus, around the time of Jesus’  birth. This is an Augustan Denarius, on which is inscribed, “Caesar Augustus, son of the divine, father of the nation.”

It was the Roman emperor laid claim to the exclusive identity and title of being the “Son of God,” and because of this, they claimed to have the divine right to rule the empire and the world. And this centurion overseeing Jesus’ execution would have had to swear his allegiance to these emperors in a confession that would have been something like proclaiming the emperor to be the “son of God.”

This Roman centurion would also have been educated in the mythologies of the heroes of old who became gods after their triumphs and victories. But here he witnesses a crucified man, who instead who hurling curses at his enemies, or whimpering in self-pity or misery, who was brutally beaten and cruelly mocked, simply receives his suffering with dignity, even proclaiming his steadfast trust in God in the midst of his torture. By him stating that, “Truly this man was the Son of God,” he presumably meant that Jesus was a divine man, or deified hero, who accepted humiliation and death as an act of obedience to a higher mandate. This centurion proclaims, in effect, that the crucified Jesus (and not the emperor) is the true Son of God.

Elevate the perspective for just one more look, seeing how the three key scenes of Jesus’ baptism, transfiguration, and crucifixion tie together: at the cross, darkness has descended instead the Spirit or a cloud, and instead of a voice from heaven, it is Jesus’ voice that cries out to breathe his last. When this happens, just as the heavens were torn open at Jesus’ baptism, now it is the curtain in the Temple that is torn. The presence of the Lord had been confined to the Holiest of Holies behind the curtain, and now it it torn from top to bottom. This was a divine action of God. Because of the broken body and shed blood of Jesus, the presence of God is no longer contained in the Temple, but accessible to all of us.

Communion

This is what we celebrate when we partake of communion, when we come to the Table of the Lord. We partake of the grace of what Jesus has done for us: taking upon himself our sins and iniquities, our sickness and disease, and shedding his blood for our forgiveness, opening up the presence of God for all of us to be invited in when we put our trust in him.

Conclusion

Who do you say Jesus is?

Cross-reference Jesus’ Baptism with these Old Testament passages: Isaiah 64:1, Exodus 40:35-36, 1 Kings 8:10-11, 2 Chronicles 5:13-14; Psalm 2:1-12, 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Isaiah 42:1-7, Isaiah 49:1-7

Cross-reference this moment with Mark 14:62, Jesus as the Son of Man from Daniel 7:1-27, specifically verses 9-14; as well as 2 Peter 1:17, and Exodus 24:15-18.

“To transfigure,” from the Gk. metamorphoun, carries the root meaning “to change.” The verb occurs only four times in the Greek Bible (9:2; Matt 17:2; Rom 12:2; 2 Cor 3:18), and in each instance it denotes a radical transformation. Referring to the transfiguration in 2 Cor 3:18, Paul says that as a consequence of beholding the glory of the Lord we were transformed (Gk. metamorphoun) from glory into glory.

Cross-reference with the description of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7:9. Mark is describing Jesus in the same way Daniel describes God. Mark is subtly hinting at Jesus’ divine nature.

Cross-reference with Moses’ word about the Prophet that would come — Deuteronomy 18:15

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emperor_Tiberius_Denarius_-_Tribute_Penny.jpg

A coin similar to this is what Jesus was referring to when he said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mark 12:13-17).

  “CAESAR AVGVSTVS DIVI Filius PATER PATRIAE” — https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces247672.html