Cheap, Hollow Worship: Mark 15:16-20

After Jesus had been tried by the religious leaders as guilty and by Pilate and Herod as somewhat guilty but guilty because it was easier than dealing with a riot, the soldiers lead Jesus away to crucify Him. However, before Jesus faces the cross, or even the long road to the hill where He will be crucified, there is one last stop to make, and this stop is not an easy one for Jesus, and it’s not a pleasant one for us to read either.

Our passage comes from Mark’s gospel, chapter 15, and we will be reading from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 16, Mark tells us that:

¹⁶ The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. ¹⁷ They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. ¹⁸ And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” ¹⁹ Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. ²⁰ And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

These five short verses contain one of the cruelest portions of the entire Bible, but pushing past the cruelty, we discover some amazing ideas – especially after what we have read leading up to this point.

First, Mark tells us that the soldiers put a purple robe on Jesus. Whether this was put on over the robe that Herod had put on Jesus, or whether this was a different robe entirely, we don’t know, but similar to Herod dressing Jesus up like a king, these soldiers do the same thing.

However, from Jesus’ conversation with Pilate, we discover that Jesus doesn’t see Himself as a king, even though He tells Pilate that He has a kingdom. While Jesus is headed towards the cross, He is fulfilling the mission He came into this world to accomplish, and while this mission ultimately ends with Him being crowned King in Heaven after the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, the premise that Jesus came to be a king on earth was a man-made twisting and misinterpreting of the Old Testament scriptures. Jesus came to lift God up and not to draw people to focus on Him, and in this mission, we discover another amazing idea tucked within this short, dark passage.

When the soldiers dress Jesus up as a king to mock Him, they do so using the man-made premise that Jesus came to be the king of the Jews and the passage tells us that they paid homage to Him. Other words we could use in the place of homage are respect, reverence, honor, and even worship. However, with whatever word we use to describe the soldiers attitude towards Jesus, the homage they paid Jesus was empty. Not only did the soldiers shallowly point the focus on Jesus, which is something Jesus never came to receive, they also give Him shallow, empty worship – which is fascinating, since Jesus, as a member of the Godhead, would be worthy of true, heartfelt worship.

While the soldiers are behind the abuse and the mocking of Jesus, I am sure that Satan was behind the empty worship, because Satan knows that Jesus deserved more. Satan knows that Jesus deserves true, heartfelt, genuine worship, and when given the opportunity, Satan is more than willing to cheapen the worship God receives in any way he can.

Not only did Satan cheapen the worship that the soldiers mockingly gave Jesus, he tries to do the same with each of us today. Satan first will try to get us to discount coming to God. If this doesn’t work, then he will try to crowd our lives with so much busyness that we don’t have any time to come to God. If this doesn’t work, he sends distractions our way to cheapen the time we spend with God. And if this doesn’t work, he will send people to ridicule and mock us for following God. When we come to worship God, the last thing Satan wants us to give to God is the one thing that God wants when we come to worship Him – and that one thing is our hearts.

Jesus came as God’s Messiah not just for the Jews, but for the entire human race. While the Jews were God’s people, God never intended for the Jews to arrogantly live out this calling. God chose a people to be a representative for Him for the world and to show the world what He is like. The Jews failed God in this regard, and I’m not so sure that many Christians today are doing any better.

There are plenty of Christians who get this right, but there are plenty of self-proclaimed “Christians” who don’t understand God’s mission for His people. God isn’t interested in seeing His people debate with each other over non-trivial issues. Instead, God wants a people who reflect His character to the world while obeying His commandments because they have been transformed through His love. God’s character is love, God’s commandments are built on the foundation of love, and the Holy Spirit is the only Source we have for truly living out God’s love in the world today.

While Jesus received empty homage from the soldiers leading up to the cross, when we come to Jesus to give him honor, respect, love, and worship, let’s genuinely and humbly give Him our lives, our minds, our attitude, and most importantly, our hearts!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always seek God first in your life. When you come before God to worship Him, be humble, be present, and be willing to give Him the gift He wants the most. The gift God wants isn’t our money or our stuff; the gift God wants is our hearts. When we worship God, with every gift we bring, we should include our heart with it.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow a personal relationship with God. A personal relationship with God is the best way to know God’s will for your life, and a personal relationship with God is the best way to learn what He wants to teach you. While pastors, speakers, authors, or even podcasters can give you ideas to think about, only the Holy Spirit can direct you to what God wants to teach you personally through His Word.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or even get distracted away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!