Just another execution?

They took Jesus to a place called Golgotha, which means ‘The Place of the Skull’. There they tried to give him wine mixed with a drug called myrrh, but Jesus would not drink it. Then they crucified him and divided his clothes among themselves, throwing dice to see who would get which piece of clothing. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The notice of the accusation against him said: ‘The King of the Jews’. They also crucified two bandits with Jesus, one on his right and the other on his left. (verses 22-27)

Read Mark 15:22-32

You wouldn’t know it, but in these few simple verses, Mark the evangelist relates the most profound event in human history.

Why does he use such plain language? Why is he so matter-of-fact? Doesn’t he realise the enormity of what is going on? Ever since Jesus’ first prediction of his passion (Mark 8:31) the tension has been mounting. The drama has been heading inexorably to this climactic moment. But now Jesus’ crucifixion comes as a kind of anticlimax. It’s almost as if it were a non-event.

The fact is, there is something about Jesus’ death which, from a human point of view, is entirely insignificant. Here is just another man, just another execution, just another dying son in a world full of dying sons. But appearances can be deceiving. It takes faith to read between the lines. Only faith can discern a bigger story. Only faith can see that in this condemned criminal there hangs ‘the King of the Jews’.

Gracious Father, give me your Holy Spirit, so that I may have faith to see your extraordinary love for me hidden under the ordinary death of Jesus, my Lord and my King. Amen.

by Adam Cooper, in ‘New Strength for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1998)

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