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I'm New Here

Matt and I got back from the States this past Wednesday
morning. Now normally on trips to the US  I spend most of
my time in very pretty places – Lookout Mountain,
suburban Knoxville. But this time I did something a little
different.
Last Monday I went to jail. Don’t worry, I didn’t get myself
locked up. I was visiting a good friend of mine called
Michael Armentrout who’s now a prison chaplain at the
Downtown Detention Centre, Nashville.
It’s a maximum-security prison which houses some of
Tennessee’s most notorious criminals. While I was there
Michael fist-pumped a Hispanic inmate covered top to
bottom in tattoos.
I merely gave him an awkward and very British “Hi”. Later
I discovered he was a member of the much-feared El
Salvador gang – MS-13.

The prison was a brutal place. A dark place. As men
walked around like mere shadows. Experiencing the
penalty for their crimes. It felt ... hopeless.
Well, today in Mark 15, we find Jesus experiencing the
penalty for crimes – not his own but the crimes of others.
It’s the climax to Mark’s Gospel. The event that the whole
of Mark’s Gospel has been pointing to and what Jesus
himself has been telling his disciples about ever since
Mark 8.
But when it comes – it’s really surprising. What do I
mean?
Well, crucifixion was a horrific thing. The Roman writer,
Cicero, described it as the “most cruel and horrifying”
punishment imaginable.
The victim was stripped naked. Their hands were tied or
nailed to the cross beam. If nails were used, the soldiers

were careful not to hit any of the arteries because death
by blood loss would be too quick. It was supposed to be
slow and painful.
Then the poor victim would be hoisted up onto the vertical
post where they’d be nailed through the heel bone - and
left – sometimes for days. Cause of death would be heart
failure or by suffocation as the victim failed to muster
strength to hoist themselves up against the nails in order
to draw breath.  
It was sick. Unimaginable cruelty.
Yet despite the physical horror of crucifixion, Mark
describes it in very matter of fact terms.  Verse 24: “And
they crucified him”. That’s the surprising thing.
Unlike Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of Christ, no detail
about the blood and gore. No. Because it’s not the
physical sufferings that Mark wants us to see. It’s two
other things:

i. The shame
ii. The separation
And that gives us our two points for today.
1. Shamed so that we might be restored – vv. 16-
32
Jesus is shamed so that we might be restored.
And the shaming happens in cycles like waves.
It starts with the Roman soldiers, then the robbers
crucified either side, then the onlookers, then the religious
leaders.
Look at v. 16. Pilate hands Jesus over to the soldiers and
they lead him into the palace – the governor’s quarters -
where they beat him.

Just consider the scale of what’s going on here. There
was a whole company of soldiers v. 16 – that’s 600 men –
and they all gathered together to taunt Jesus.
And look what they do: they dress him as a king with a
purple cloak and a crown made of twisted together thorns
and they dance around him crying out “Hail King of the
Jews. Let me bow down to you oh mighty king!”
And then they strike him – again and again and again v.
19. It’s horrific.
For them it’s a game. A big funny joke. They don’t really
believe he’s king.
But here’s the thing. What they’re doing to him actually
proves he’s the very person they say he’s not – the King
of the Jews.
We had Psalm 22 read earlier. The soldiers are doing the
very things that Psalm 22 said would happen to Israel’s

king. As they mock him they are doing what vv 6-8 of
Psalm 22 says they would.
Show Psalm 22:6-8
As they pierce his hands and feet they’re doing exactly
what Psalm 22:16 said would happen.
Show Psalm 22:16
As they divide his clothes – they’re fulfilling verse 18 of
Psalm 22.
Show Psalm 22:18
The whole scene is laced with irony. They’re mocking
him. But the sign set above his head in v. 26 of Mark 15 –
is true. He is the King of the Jews.
The mocking continues as the criminals who are crucified
either side of him take their turns.

Then random passers-by join in. We mustn’t sanitise this.
It was serious abuse. The word translated “hurled insults”
is the word from which we get our word “blaspheme”. Foul
language would have been used. F bombs dropped.  
And then finally the religious leaders – v. 31 – the elite.
Verse 31: “He saved others,” they say “but he can’t save
himself!”
Again, notice the irony. Jesus could only save – he could
only save us from what we really need to be saved from –
by staying on the cross.
Jesus is mocked, humiliated, and shamed.
And you know what: that is what all of us naturally do to
Jesus.
I mean, have you noticed that? We don’t do that with
other religious leaders.

People may not agree with Muhammed, or Confucius or
Karl Marx. And they’ll say where they disagree with them.
But very rarely will they mock and shame them. Why?
What’s the difference?
Well do you know the difference between shame and
guilt?
We feel guilty for things we have done wrong. So some of
those criminals I met at the Nashville Downtown
Detention Centre felt guilt for their crimes – for assault,
rape, murder.
But shame is different. Shame is about who we are. In our
very being.
Now some people feel shame because of things they’ve
done – things that have changed them in their very being.
Others feel shame because of what people have done to
them. They’re innocent; but those acts have changed
them.

Either way, shame goes to the very root of our identity.
Now do you see why we human beings instinctively want
to shame Jesus?
It’s not enough simply to point out what Jesus got wrong.
No, Jesus’s repeated claim was to be King of the
universe. King of our lives.
And we can only reject that if we reject him – in his very
essence. If we shame him.
That’s why the soldiers shamed Jesus.
It’s why the thieves on the cross hurled abuse at him.
And the passers-by
And the religious leaders
It’s why theologians today at Manchester University don’t
merely make observations about Jesus. They ridicule
him.
And it’s why we by nature each of us shame him.

Because we don’t want him to be King of our lives.
But that shames us. What do I mean?
Well, we were created to worship God. That’s what
Genesis 1 tell us. Every one of us here today – whether
we’re Christian or not – we were made to worship God.
That’s our design. Our purpose. Who we fundamentally
are.
But we have rejected that. We’ve become shamed.
Now that works out in different ways for each of us.
For some of us, it’s led us to do things that have left us
feeling deeply unclean.
For others it has led to relationship breakdown that has
crippled us.

For others, the sin of others who’ve rejected God has left
us feeling worthless, desolate, ashamed.
We live in a shameful world that has shamed its creator.
But here’s the thing the cross teaches us.
The glorious one – God the Son himself - went through
shame; so that we who are shameful might be restored.
I don’t know what shame you feel today. But I do know
this. Jesus knows it and he’s experienced it.
What’s more he can bring you through it. You see, he was
shamed so that we could be restored.
He was broken to pieces so that we could be made
whole.
He was de-humanized so that we could be made fully
human.

2. Separated so that we might be welcomed in –
vv. 33-39
Which brings us to our second point today – the heart of
the cross. Jesus was separated so that we might be
welcomed in.
Look at verse 34. Jesus speaks the opening words of
Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?”
The physical pain of the cross was huge. But it wasn’t as
the nails were driven in that Jesus cried out.
The mental and emotional anguish would have been
unimaginable. Mocked by the masses. Deserted by his
closest friends. But not even that caused Jesus to
scream.
No, it was this moment. When God literally turned his
back on Jesus.

But why? Well we find the explanation one verse earlier.
Verse 33: from noon until three, the whole land was
covered in darkness.
Now what we have here isn’t merely a meteorological
observation. Some have tried to argue that it was a solar
eclipse but that can’t happen at the time of a full moon
and we’re told that Jesus was crucified at Passover which
is always celebrated at a full moon. So this wasn’t natural
darkness. It was a supernatural darkness. And it was
deeply symbolic. Throughout the Bible, darkness is a sign
of God’s judgment against sin.
In the first Exodus, God sends the plague of darkness on
Egypt immediately before the final devastating plague on
the firstborn.
Now do you see what’s happening here?

The darkness at Jesus’ crucifixion is symbolizing God’s
righteous anger against sin.
And as Jesus dies in agony on the cross – forsaken – it is
because God’s anger is coming down on his firstborn.
He didn’t deserve it of course. The Egyptians and indeed
the Israelites deserved God’s anger. They’d rebelled
against Him. They had forsaken God and deserved to be
forsaken by Him.
But not Jesus. He had never sinned. He had always
perfectly loved and obeyed his Father. So why’s he being
punished?
Because God the Father and God the Son decided before
time began that God the Son should bear the punishment
for sinful humanity.
That’s   what’s   happening   here.   Let   me   give   you   the
theological term for it. We don’t shy away from theology at

City Church because theology simply means the study of
God. And we want to know and love God more.
So theologians call this: penal substitutionary atonement.

Penal – because it involved punishment.
Substitutionary – because Jesus took the penalty as our
substitute in our place.
I wonder whether you’ve read Charles Dickens’ classic A
Tale of Two Cities. The book is about two central
characters: Charles Darnay, a French Aristocrat; and
Sydney Carton, an English Lawyer.
All through the book we’re reminded that they look
incredibly similar. And it’s the time of the French

Revolution. Darnay is locked up in the Conciergerie Jail
facing the guillotine the next day.
Carton and his friend, Solomon, go to visit Darnay.
Darnay realises that they have come to break him out. He
objects but Darnay drugs him, swaps clothes and then
Solomon carries Darnay out of the jail and back to
England using Carton’s papers.
And Carton is left in Darnay’s place; dressed in his
clothes. The next morning, Sydney Carton is left out and
guillotined.
Now we have to be careful. The illustration is inexact. But
do you see the point? Jesus wears our clothes – he bears
our sin and is executed in our place. Penal substitution.
And just like Darnay in A Tale of Two Cities, we get
Jesus’s papers and all that comes with them.
Which is what that word atonement is pointing to.

Atonement – at onement
It means “at onement”. Through Jesus’ death. Through
His penal substitution. His separation from God in that
terrible cry, we have been made “at one” with God once
more.
Which brings us to vv. 38-41.
Now at first glimpse these verses look really odd. We’ve
just read about the terrible death of Jesus – God himself
in human flesh. And then we read a curtain got torn in
two. I mean who cares about the drapes!
Well it was deeply symbolic.
Picture of Etihad
I wonder, have you ever been to watch a match at the
Etihad?

If you have, then perhaps you had to watch the match
where I do – in the ordinary stands.

But if you have a bit more money or if you work for a
company with a hospitality box then perhaps you got to
enjoy that.

Or maybe you’ve splashed out for the Chairmans Club
and got a heated seat just above the players dugout.

Or perhaps you’ve even done the autograph experience
where you get to meet the players themselves after the
match.

You see, the Etihad is stratified with lines of division
marking out how far you are away from the heart of Man
City.
Well, it was similar with the temple in Jerusalem. The
temple was divided up into different courts where only
certain people were allowed to enter.
And there was a huge curtain – a massive 80 feet high
and so thick that it felt like a wall.
It separated the holy of holies (where God dwelt) from the
rest of the temple. It was like a gigantic “no-entry” sign
saying – sinful humanity cannot some into presence of
God.
And now in v. 38 - that curtain is torn in two.
And did you notice the direction of the tear. Someone
didn’t come along with a gigantic pair of scissors. That

would have been a tear from the bottom to the top. No
this was from top to bottom. God did it.
The message is clear – we may come.
Jesus was separated. Forsaken by God on the cross so
that we could be welcomed in.
He experienced darkness. The full force of God’s
righteous wrath against our sin so that we could be
forgiven. So that God’s enemies could be made his
friends; his beloved children.
And look at the first thing that happens after the great wall
of separation comes tumbling down.
Look at the first Christian believer.
A Roman centurion. A pagan, uneducated, uncouth,
unreligious, cries out:
“Surely this man was the Son of God!”

This is the climax of the gospel.

Mark begins: “The beginning of the good news about
Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God”.
Now Peter had confessed, midway through the gospel,
that Jesus was the Messiah – the Christ. He’d seen that
Jesus was God’s anointed King.
But no one, no one up until this point, has declared the
second half of Mark’s introduction – you are the Son of
God.
The first person to do it is a Gentile – someone a million
miles away from God.

And look at why – it was after he saw how Jesus died – v.
39.
Now, it’s easy to leap to the conclusion that it was
because Jesus died in a particularly grizzly way.
But this centurion had seen dozens, if not hundreds, of
executions before. He commanded an execution squad
after all. And Jesus died relatively quickly.
So what was it that made him cry out – “this man was the
Son of God”.
Well, I suspect he saw the darkness. Unlike the religious
leaders who stood there mocking – he saw the terrible
judgment that fell on Jesus. And he realised that it was
his own.
Even though he had no religious education, he knew he
deserved eternal separation from the God. And he saw –
right there and then – that Jesus took that in his place.

The man who oversaw Jesus’s death –who  gave the
order for the nails to be driven in – realised that Jesus
was forsaken so that he could be welcomed in.
My Christian friends, it’s easy to get down heartened in
life. Things don’t turn out the way we expect. Our career
doesn’t satisfy in the way we hoped. And we realise we
will never reach the dizzying heights we dreamed of in our
20s.
Marriage and parenting aren’t the panacea to our pains
that we expected them to be. In fact, they just make life
more difficult.
And sometimes God just feels distant. And in our heart of
hearts we wonder – has he got it in for me? Is he
punishing me? Is he really with me?
With the centurion – look to the cross. Do you really think
God has it in for you?

He has given his Son to take everything – absolutely
everything - on himself. Your sin on Him; his
righteousness, his papers given to you.
And do you really think he’s not with you. Jesus went
through hell – he was forsaken by God on the cross so
that you could be brought near.
Embraced with a grip that will never let go – no matter
what you face.
Can I turn to those of you who aren’t yet Christians.
Maybe you’ve heard this. In fact you’ve heard this before.
You know it’s true. You’ve spent your whole life running
away from Jesus and you just don’t think he’ll accept you
now. Well, look at the centurion – v. 39. Jesus died for the
man who killed him. Do you really think he didn’t die for
you too?
Can I close by sharing something that happened in the
Nashville Downtown Detention Centre.
My friend Michael took me to the MEDPOD. Its where
prisoners are taken when they get sick or where they’re a
threat to themselves. If they’re on suicide watch they are
stripped of their jail suit and made to wear a heavy and
dense clothe restrain. The guards refer to it as a turtle
shell. These men are entirely alone. The smell in the
MEDPOD is heavy, clingy, stifling.
There I was introduced to Mr. Biggers. His bed is
stainless steel. His mattress is thin. He has one blue
blanket. The walls are stark white. He has a steal toilet.
Wears only an orange jumpsuit. And Mr. Biggers is blind.
For his own safety he cannot be placed into a population
with other inmates.
One day Mr Biggers requested to see the chaplain.
Michael came to him and because Christmas was
approaching, Michael opened up Luke 4. Jesus had just
returned from the desert to Galilee, went into the synagogue and read from Isaiah 61:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has

anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and

recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.”

And Michael said to Mr Biggers: 

“Mr. Biggers. You made the list twice!”

“What’s that?”

“Yes. Jesus, announces his ministry and He mentions only four groups of people. You made the list twice: a prisoner and blind!”

Michael kept on visiting Mr Biggers and opening up Luke’s Gospel with him. Now Luke’s account tells us something that Mark leaves out.

It tells us that one of the men who was crucified next to Jesus, one of the men who hurled abuse, repented before he died. He turned to Jesus and said: “Remember me when you come into your kingdom”.

Michael asked Mr Biggers: “What happened to that criminal? 

After he died, did the angels ask him? “you have never been in a Bible study, you have never been baptized, you are not a member church, you don’t know theology. How did you get here?”

Laughing hard. “No. That man entered Paradise.”

“Yes. All the criminal needed to say was ‘the man on the middle cross said I could come.” 

“And Jesus says that about you too Mr Biggers. Do you confess Jesus as your Lord and do you believe in your heart God raised him from the dead?”

“I do.”

“Then You Shall Be Saved. You will enter the Kingdom. We will be there together. One day you will leave this nasty old cell behind. You will get new clothes. You will be brought out of this isolation and into a new community that God is gathering. Your eyes. Your eyes, Mr. Biggers, will be healed. You will see. In every way you be healed and transformed.”

Mr. Biggers was quiet.

“But you know what won’t change, Mr. Biggers?”

“What?

“You know what doesn’t change? You are completely loved and completely accepted. You are as loved

and as accepted by Jesus right now in this terrible MEDPOD as you will be in Heaven itself. That will never

change.

Friends, no matter who you are, no matter what has happened– the King on the cross says to you - today: “Come”.

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