Looking To The Cross | Day 7 | Mark 15:27-32

This passage was hard. I did not want to focus on the humiliation, abuse, and insults that Jesus endured. My natural response is to find the happily-ever-after. But this reading forced me to contemplate the verbal abuse and rejection that assaulted Jesus.

I forced myself to reread the passage; words like “derided”, ”mocked,” and “reviled” jumped from the page. Derided comes from the Greek word often translated blasphemy which means to speak evil about or profanely of sacred things.

It shows a lack of respect. Mocked means to make a sport of someone. The priests made fun of Jesus’s power to save, mocked his mission, and challenged his position as the Son of God. The criminals crucified with Jesus reviled him. Revile means to insult, blame, and shame.

Jesus faced blame and accusation like a convicted criminal, the disbelief and lack of trust due a liar, and the mockery of purpose accorded a con-artist. When we are derided, mocked, or reviled, Jesus understands our pain, whether self-inflicted or caused by others. He stands in the gap, ready to carry the shame, blasphemy, insults, and rejection to the cross. It is time to let it go.