In the next chapter where Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss (14:43-52) one of Jesus’ desciples, supposedly Peter, cuts off the ear of one of the guards. However Jesus uses no violence and is angry that the guards arrested him bearing weapons. He beleives he is being treated as an’outlaw’. Then, in the same chapter, Mark includes a feature not included in the other three gospels; the naked man running away in the linen cloth. Some beleive that this is Mark himself but the more popular beleif is that it may be linked with the Old Testament prophecy from Amos (2:16) which predicts that ‘ strong men will flee naked when the day of the Lord comes’.
Once he is arrested he is taken to be tried to be tried before the Sanhedrin. In the illegal trial held late at night he confirms to the Jewish authoritites for the first time that he is indeed the Messiah. Mark then mentions how they held another trial in the morning to legalize the proceedings. However, only the Roman procurator could give the execution the go ahead and he would probably not listen to a religious motive so the Jewish authoritites thought up a political motive. They told Pontius Pilate, who was procurator at the time, that Jesus claimed to be ‘King of the Jews’ hoping that he would see anyone claiming to be a King as a threat to his power. But this, unfortunatly for the Jews, was not the case and Pilate sees no reason to execute Jesus. We see how Mark portrays Pilate in a very good light (16:6-15). I suspect that he does this for a number of reasons; firstly to show that it was the Jews who put demanded Jesus be executed and not the Romans. They did not see Jesus as a threat to their power and were fair people. Secondly it is to show that the Romans knew that Jesus had done nothing wrong and to make sure that it was clear that they did not wish for him to be executed. Usually at the time of Passover Pilate set a prisoner free. He tried to convince the crowd to set free the ‘King of the Jews’ but they demanded for Barabbas, a riotious murderer, to be set free instead. Then, in my opinion, Mark says the most poignant thing regarding Pilate’s good nature when he says ‘He knew very well the chief preists had handed Jesus over because they were jealous’ but Pilate eventually succumbs to the crowd pressure and orders Jesus’ crucifixion. All this echos Isaiah (53:7-8) about the suffering servant. The soldiers mockery also does this.
When Jesus is put on the cross a notice is nailed above his head saying ‘ King of the Jews’. This is seemingly of ironic impotance to Mark as, although the Jews and Romans have rejected the Messiah and they mock him, the crucified ‘criminal’ truly is the King of Israel. But it is all as the Old Testament prophecies had predicted and therefore it was all God’s will.
Another thing Mark recognises about the crucifixion is that when the chief Jewish priests and teachers jeer at Jesus saying that if he truly was the Messiah, he would come down from the cross, they have completely missed the point. It is because Jesus DOES stay on the cross that he is the Messiah. He has to suffer and die to serve his purpose.
When Jesus dies and the sky is plunged into darkness and he cries out ‘My God My God why did you abandon me’ or ‘Eloi Eloi, lema sebachthani’ in Aramaic, the Temple curtain splits down the middle. Mark beleives that the barrier between God and humanity has been removed; i.e. the new covenant has been sealed. The temple curtain also symbolically ‘frees God’ so that now everyone can have access to God, not just the Jews like before and that the way to heaven and to God is through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Also Mark notes that the Roman centurion admits Jesus truly is the ‘Son of God’. This is important to him as he believes that when Jesus dies, people realise he was not lying.
I feel that I should quote a passage from Isaiah as I think it sums up the whole of Jesus’ purpose on earth. It holds a prominent spot in my mind as doing this.: Isaiah (53:5)
‘Because of our sins he was wounded,
beaten because of the evil we did,
we are healed by the punishment he suffered,
made whole by the blows he received’.
All that Jesus suffered in the last week of life on earth was of particular value to Christians today when viewing atonement provided by God for mankind.
At every minute throughout the Passion, Jesus fulfils an Old Testament prophecy such as the ones in Isaiah which I mentioned on numerous occasions throughout this essay. This shows that it was all part of God’s master plan and that, for Christians, indicates that Jesus’ Passion was in no way an accident. If it was God’s will that he must suffer to save us, then it gives us great confidence in God’s ultimate plan for the human race.
The way in which Jesus saves us is not by altering God’s plan, but by substituting a part of it for himself instead of us. Usually, when sins are committed, the punishment for the sinner in the court of God on Judgment day was often banishment to hell. However, if the people were to sacrifice the life of an animal, for instance, a lamb, God would accept the suffering of the lamb instead of that of the sinner. This was known as atonement. It was like paying a ransom in order to keep your life. But people rarely atoned with God and would be judged badly by God as they had not paid their ransom. So Jesus paid the ransom instead for everybody with his own life and saved the world from punishment. This is known as Substitutional Atonement. This provides salvation for the people.
Jesus’ example of giving his own life and suffering excruciating pain in order to save the lives of others, is a good one to follow. Maybe not as extreme as that, but possibly sacrificing a part of life in order to save the lives of others or for them to benefit. Anyway, no-one could possibly atone for sin like Jesus did. But in the early church, for instance, people would suffer and die simply because their belief that people deserved to know about the good news was not liked by those in authority.
Also, many famous Christians throughout the course of time have suffered terribly because of what they believe and because of the inspiration of the passion of Jesus. Some key examples of this are:
- Archbishop Oscar Romero who spoke out against the evil dictatorship in control of his homeland – El Salvador – and was shot by masked gunmen because of it. His last words were particularly influential:
‘may Christ’s sacrifice give us the courage to offer our own bodies for justice and peace’
- Father Maximillion Kolbe who, when a fellow prisoner of Auschwitz was due to be executed, offered his own life instead and saved his friend’s life. In 1982 he was made a Saint. He once said:
‘my aim in life is to serve others’
Then, of course, there are the more well known Christians like Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King who are famous for their sacrifices in order to save others.
So, from this essay, we have deduced that from following the examples of Jesus in the passion, of which atonement is they key, Christians can learn a lot about how to live in today’s society and be thankful for what Jesus has done for them.
‘A cross or crucifix is not suitable for a piece of jewellery’
The cross is a symbol of violent death; a symbol of crucifixion. It is like wearing a tiny electric chair or guillotine around your neck. However, this is not the case as the cross is the essential symbol of everything Christians believe in. This is why it is acceptable to be worn as it is a celebration of Jesus’ death on the cross as although it was violent and terrible, it was a great deed to be celebrated as he saved all of mankind by doing so. He also rose three days later and displayed a great victory of good over evil.
However, the crucifix, a cross with Jesus actually on it, is more of tender subject when discussing whether it is suitable as piece of jewellery. This is because, although it may still be a symbol of the celebration of Jesus’ death, many people have depicted Jesus wrongly which completely destroys and undermines the intended meaning of the crucifix.
For instance, when the church defeated Rome, many sculptors depicted the cross in the crucifix as a sarcophagus; a victorious cross with wreath. And in a painting from the Basilica of St’s Cosmas and Damian, Jesus is portrayed as a Byzantine king, crowned and alive. Both of these depictions are wrong and not how Mark would have wished.
The whole point of a drawing or jewellery of Jesus on the crucifix is a celebration of his suffering because of what it means to Christians. Therefore, he must be depicted as suffering. Depicting him as a king is taking away the whole point of wearing the jewellery.
So, yes, it is acceptable to have a cross or crucifix as a piece of jewellery as long as the correct meaning of it is kept and remembered.