Sermon Title: HE HAS DONE IT!
Sermon Text: MARK 15:33-41
Sermon Series: THE PASSION NARRATIVE: FROM BETRAYAL TO THE CROSS
By: PTR NIC SY
Mark 15:33-41 ESV
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.”And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
SERMON NOTES
I. THE SHADOW OF THE SILENCE (15:33)
“darkness” | Greek skotos (σκότος) | “absence of light; spiritual blindness, intense grief, chaos, divine judgment.”
The deep darkness at Calvary was not a sign that God had lost control; it was the exact location where our rescue was being secured.
Reflect: When you are sitting in that personal darkness, do you find yourself believing that God has abandoned you, or can you find the courage to trust that he is working in the shadows?
II. THE SONG IN THE DARK (15:34-36)
“forsaken” | Greek egkataleipó (ἐγκαταλείπω) | “to leave someone behind in a place of extreme danger, to abandon a companion in a state of severe crisis, or to completely desert someone who is facing a terrible fate.”
Jesus prayed the prayer of the forsaken so that you and I would never actually be forsaken.
Reflect: When you find yourself trapped in the painful “first line” of your own suffering, what specific truth or scriptural promise are you using to anchor your mind?
III. THE ANSWER IN THE VEIL (15:37-41)
“torn” | schizó (σχίζω) | “to rip open, to tear apart, or to cleave in two.”
Sin is so serious that the Son of God had to die. But grace is so great that even a centurion can see and confess.
The greatest tragedy in human history became the doorway to the greatest grace in human history.
Reflect: Are you still living as if the curtain is still hanging?