Unshaken: Chapter a Day

Mark 15 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

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A murderer walks free, the innocent stays silent, and a curtain that guarded God’s presence rips from top to bottom. We journey through Mark 15 with fresh eyes, mapping the story from Jesus before Pilate to the quiet courage of Joseph of Arimathea. Along the way, we face the uncomfortable truth about crowd-pleasing, the allure of mockery, and the shock of grace that turns a Roman centurion into a witness.

We start with the outline: the Sanhedrin’s handoff, Pilate’s probing, the crowd’s choice of Barabbas, and the soldiers’ cruel theater. Then we press into why Jesus refused to mount a defense, not from weakness but mission. The Barabbas exchange becomes the center of gravity—a guilty man walks free while the righteous takes his cross—offering a vivid picture of substitution and atonement. We talk plainly about Pilate’s fear of the masses and how that same reflex lives in us, trading integrity for approval when the heat rises.

From there, we linger on the torn veil and the Old Testament imagery that makes that moment thunder: cherubim, the Holy of Holies, and the end of separation. Access to God is not a metaphor; it’s a new reality purchased in blood. Even a hardened centurion sees enough to confess, “Truly this man was the Son of God.” Finally, we contrast a spineless governor with a brave council member. Joseph risks status and safety to honor Jesus, offering a timely model for courageous faith when public ridicule is easier. If you’ve felt the pull to satisfy the crowd or to mock what you don’t understand, this conversation invites you to step through the torn veil with confidence and live like you’ve been set free. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help others find the show.

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Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter a day. Keeps the devil away. As we are unshaken, we're gonna look at Mark chapter 15. We're gonna outline it. We're gonna make some observations, find some interpretations, and finally get to an application that you can take with you to do this very day. All right, let's look at Mark 15, starting at verse one, verse 1 through 5, talk about Jesus being delivered over to Pilate. The Sanhedrin hands Jesus over to him, and then he questions him about being king of the Jews and doesn't get very far and seeks to release him. Then uh the crowd chooses Barabbas in verses 6 through 15. Barabbas, of course, means son of the Father, and they choose him instead of Jesus, who's the actual son of the Father. Then the soldiers mock Jesus in verses 16 through 20, and they make him uh clothed in purple crowns or purple and then crown him with a crown of thorns, and then they hail him as king of the Jews and pretend to bow to him and then punch him. Then uh the crucifixion is in verses 21 through 32. We have Simon of Cyrene has to carry his cross. Soldiers divide his garments, fulfilling scriptures. Uh passers by, they all mock him, they demand him to save himself, and he dies between two criminals. Then you got the death of Jesus in Mark 15, 33 through 41. Darkness covered the land at about 3 p.m. Um he cries out, Psalm 22, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Uh he breathes his last, the temple veil tears in two, and the centurion confesses this man truly was a son of God. Then you've got verses 42 through 47. Joseph Merrimathea, a council member away in the kingdom, requests for Jesus' body, and then he buries him in a rock-hewn tomb. And Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joseph, they see where he is laid. Now, uh any observations other than it's really tough to pronounce J-O-S-E-S. Joseph. All right. Yeah, you did great. All right, all right. Is it Jose's or Joseph? I think it's just Joseph. All right, all right. Okay. Uh all right, let's go with what are some observations here? Why didn't Jesus defend himself before Pilate? He could have made right before a Roman guy, he could have made a defense for his divinity, claimed something. He could have done anything. He came to die.

Pastor Holland:

It's from the beginning. Uh his name is Jesus. He came to save his people from their sins. How would he do that? By being the atoning sacrifice, the propitiation who would take the death we deserve, offer the life we could never live, and save us.

Pastor Plek:

Okay. What about this then? Why Barabbas over Jesus? He was a murderer, he was an insurrectionist, and they choose him over Jesus. Could the Pharisees or the whoever the rulers, the priests, could they really get the people to just say whatever they wanted? Were they that influential?

Pastor Holland:

It seems like um the people really wanted Jesus dead. Yep. And then you have the symbolism of you know, you have the exchange, a man who deserved death being exchanged for Jesus. Yeah. And you just go, Well, there's the gospel. That's us. Barabbas is me. I deserve death. I've sinned against the holy God, it should have been me. And yet Jesus died instead. Okay. What about but one one thing to notice though? Yeah. Pilate said, What evil has he done? And they just shouted out, crucify him. Who cares? And so it says, Pilate wishing to satisfy the crowd. Man. And you just go, here is just a spineless chump. And he's the ruler of the day. Here's the rulers of the world at this point, a spineless chump. You know, and um, and then you get here's my other observation, is then you get um Joseph of Arimathea, um, respected member of the council. Okay. Um, someone who had a lot to lose by identifying with Jesus, right? And yet it says in verse 43, he took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Be a Joseph, not a Pilate.

Pastor Plek:

Nice. Uh, what about it's interesting that Mark makes note of the temple veil being torn in two. What's the big deal there? Okay, this is pretty cool. Um, so the veil separated what from what?

Pastor Holland:

Halley of holies from the holies.

Pastor Plek:

And what was in the holy of holies? That would have been where the ark was. And what did the ark represent? It represented God's actual presence. That was his throne, the Bama seat, if you will, where he made judgment over all the earth.

Pastor Holland:

There you go. And so, what did the curtain represent being, you know, a separation of the holy of holies from the holies?

Pastor Plek:

Oh, that was like the separation from the altar of incense, the lamp of the menorah, and then the showbreak table of presence, where the priest would do all the things of offering up their prayers, showing fellowship with God and fellowship with God.

Pastor Holland:

Okay, so not just anyone could go in there, right? Just priests. The curtain represented separation of sinners from God's holy church. Much like Garden of Eden. Okay, and so what would in the Garden of Eden, Eden, what uh did God install to keep Adam and flaming sword-bearing angels? Cherubim, yes, is it which is exactly what was on those curtains. Isn't that wild? And when when you know they create the uh first the tabernacle and then the temple, God commands to um put on the curtains cherubim. And so representative of the separation that sinners have from God because of our sin. And so when Jesus dies and the curtain is torn from top to bottom, uh there's the the wall, if you will, that separates us from God um is torn down, and we have a way to back to God to be reconciled to God. So that's what Jesus did for us.

Pastor Plek:

That's pretty amazing. It's it's the the imagery there is amazing, and of course God would do it that way. And he's into the details, which I love that. And I mean, the reason why I like this is because who would have thought to make sure that they get the the temple veil in there? Hey, make sure you include the temple veil in the story, throw that in somewhere. But it happened, and I I don't know if they were thinking, oh, that means we're oh, notice on the I mean, do you think that they were thinking like that? I just think they're like, and it was crazy. The temple veil in the temple actually tore too when this happened. I think that was just reportage, and then later on we're like, oh, wait a minute, that's what this means. Look back in the garden in Genesis 3. Uh, cherubim with a flaming sword is keeping Adam and Eve from entering the presence of God. Oh, look at this. Now we are able to enter through the blood of Jesus into the presence of God. How wild.

Pastor Holland:

Amazing.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. Okay. Uh, let's talk about some truths about the nature of man that we can derive.

Pastor Holland:

Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd. And man, that if you think that's not in you too, then you're deceived. Um, that's part of our flesh, that's in all of us. A just like, what, how can I live and what can I do and what can I say just to kind of not have anyone be mad at me. And you know, that's all I really care about at the end of the day. I just don't want anyone to be mad at me. I don't even want anyone to not like me. And so, how about this?

Pastor Plek:

Uh man mocks that which he does not understand. Most of the soldiers, they're rolling dice, they're just messing with their they're doing like I mean, honestly, I can't think of a greater depiction of soldiers than this because that's exactly what soldiers would do. Um, as being from the military, we did all sorts of ridiculous stuff, and that would have been right in line um that we mock that which we don't understand because that gives us control over it. Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

Uh, the ultimate end of sin is murder. You you see the sinful hearts of people rejecting Christ. It's not enough to just not listen to him or ignore him. They want to kill him. Sh the reality of sin's corruption is that we have murderous hearts.

Pastor Plek:

All right, how about uh let's shift to the character of God. Um God's plan sometimes includes injustice that he overcomes with Jesus, but it doesn't look so good in intermittent times. Yeah. That's good.

Pastor Holland:

Um the love of God. Um Romans 5.8 says that God demonstrated his own love for us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so here in the crucifixion of Jesus, we see the character of God and his love for sinners.

Pastor Plek:

I I love how the the Roman centurion uh reveals the glory of the cross because he can't deny like he doesn't have any religious training, he's not he's just a God, it's a soldier. He's he went to work that j that day and he's like, All right, I guess I got the crucifixions today. And he takes up Jesus and he goes, Clearly, this is the Son of God. Um you know, remember with with uh John the Baptist, even the rocks will cry out. Uh or God can make from these rocks children of Abraham, and clearly here you see uh a confession from a man who probably before that day wasn't thinking about Jesus.

Pastor Holland:

Yes, God is pleased to reveal himself to sinners. He revealed himself to an undeserving, you know, a guy who was mocking him and be you know, just uh a few minutes ago.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, probably like thought it was pretty funny when his soldiers did ridiculous stuff to him. And God reveals himself to this Roman centurion. Uh, how about um some spec? Uh Cind of void, promise to claim, example to follow, command obey, or knowledge to believe. What do you got?

Pastor Holland:

I go back to my um be a Joseph, not a pilot. Take courage and uh seek to honor Jesus in your life, not just satisfy the crowds. Good. How about um Cind of Void?

Pastor Plek:

Don't mock Jesus. That's good. Don't mock Jesus. Uh how about the promise to claim? Um, we have access to the presence of God. Yeah, that's good. And I I think like I just think of the the cherubim, the veil split down. That's just beautiful and uh exciting at the same time.

Pastor Holland:

Uh before we uh wrap it up, question. Yeah. The shroud. Ooh.

Pastor Plek:

What do you think? Shroud of Turin?

Pastor Holland:

Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

You know, I think the Catholics should let us get another DNA sample.

Pastor Holland:

It's still in Turin, Italy, right? Oh, yeah. Okay. For those listening, if you don't know the Shroud of Turin, the Catholics claim DNA from that. It's the burial cloth. This linen cloth that uh Joseph of Arimathea purchased to wrap the body of Jesus in. They say they have it in Italy. What do you think? Do you think it really is? You don't know?

Pastor Plek:

Could be. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of cool books written about it, like how you make a Messiah figure by cloning.

Pastor Holland:

Okay. I just had to ask. We're on Mark 15. I need to hear what you thought. Yeah, sorry.

Pastor Plek:

I've back to like have courage and follow Jesus. Like, let's talk over. Like, have courage, trust Jesus. Live for him today. Live with the example of standing up for Jesus when others are denying him. Amen. That's good. Hey, we'll see you up next time on a chapter day.

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