The Power of an Image



Mark 15:16–32
16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. 21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 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.

I’ve often wondered about the handful of people who were present at the death of the Savior. The text tells us that there were a few soldiers and “the women” who had followed Jesus. This small number of people were present at the most important and momentous event in the history of the world. They were there to witness the salvation of the world. Did they know what they were seeing? Of course not. There were suspicions and confusion but none of them understood in the moment that Jesus had just died an innocent death for their sins. It is also to be noticed that Jesus dies before an audience of both Jew and Gentile. His death is for all of us.

At 9:00 a.m. the soldiers crucified Jesus. None of the evangelists describe the act of crucifixion. To crucify the Son of God was almost unthinkable. His suffering included a great deal more than nails driven through his hands and feet, the heat of the burning sun, a raging thirst—physical pain. He was bearing the wrath of the holy God, his own heavenly Father, against all the sins committed from Adam’s day to that of the last human being to be born into this world. Each sin merited eternal damnation. That’s why he hung on the cross, naked and fully exposed to the taunts of men and the wrath of God hour after hour.
Wicke, H. E. ©1988. Mark (p. 224). Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Pub. House.

These few humans had the images of this death in their minds for the rest of their lives. I wonder how many times they told the story or discussed it with others. Perhaps it was just too gruesome to recount. Or perhaps after Jesus’ resurrection it was the main topic of their conversation. We don’t really know but I still wonder about them and the way their lives played out because of what they had seen.

We live in an incredibly visual culture and I’ll bet you can mentally call up pictures of the tragic, miraculous, or magnificent events even now having seen them on TV or the internet. Those images have power in our lives and shape who we are. There famous pictures from historical events that have taken place during my lifetime that I can still call up and still feel the emotions that those images evoke. The same was most certainly true for the people who watched Jesus die. That emotional impact must have lived with them all their lives.

We weren’t there to see it, but the death of Jesus has the same power over our lives. He died for each one of us and while we only have our imaginations to work with as we read these words, the emotional impact is still great. The sacrifice was still made on our behalf and we are saved.

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