All Hail the Crucified King

Photo by Alicia Quan on Unsplash

The Gospel of Mark portrays Jesus in a paradox, he’s both a powerful prophet, but also a messiah, a king, crucified in abject weakness.

As a reader is taken through the Marcan Gospel it is apparent that Jesus is a person of almost unparalleled power. That includes a charismatic power to draw followers (Mk. 1.16-20; 2.14-15). Jesus also has power and authority over the demons (Mk. 1.21-28, 34; 3.11-12; 5.1-20; 9.14-29), nature (Mk. 4.35-41; 6.45-52), and even death (Mk. 5.21-43).

Yet despite the awesomeness of his power, Jesus somehow ends up on the cross in miserable weakness. The reasons for this are given in the Gospel as a whole: Jesus’ death is ‘necessary’ (Mk. 8.31), a ‘ransom’ (Mk. 10.45), ‘blood of the covenant which is poured out for many’ (Mk 14.24), and ‘it was written’ in God’s plan (Mk 9.12; 14.21). That means that Jesus’ death is determined in the divine economy of salvation and will achieve the long hoped-for new exodus and redemption from the bondage of sin.

There was no more hideous cruelty than death by crucifixion in the ancient world and crucifixion was a piercing symbol of Roman power that declared the absolute sovereignty of Caesar over his subjects. Crucifixion implied that ‘You are our property and we will do with you as we will’ and yet Jesus willingly subjects himself to it with a view to establishing once for all the kingdom of God.

The cross that expresses the zenith of disempowerment, degradation and death becomes the vehicle for the kingdom’s salvific power. It is by renouncing power to save oneself that the power to save others is unleashed with formidable force. This is observed in the climax of the crucifixion account in Mk. 15.31-32 where the High Priest and Scribes mock Jesus because he is not ‘powerful’ enough (ou dunatai) to save himself, and therefore, not a king (basileus).

However, the same power that pillaged the demonic realm and stilled the storm on the sea of Galilee is now displayed in the apex of human weakness and suffering. In a strange irony it is in Jesus’ outright refusal to save himself, with an awesome display of heavenly power that will implement the salvation of others by ransoming their sins. It is also this very salvation that proves that Jesus is King.

In reference to the loud cry of Jesus in Mk. 15.37, it is an exclamation of divine victory over evil. Thomas Weeden writes: ‘In the triumphant cry of Jesus, good, reversing its plunge toward apparent defeat, emerges victorious from the cosmic battle, and seals the final judgment and ultimate destruction of evil.’ At the cross, the defeat seems complete and all hope for victory appears vanquished, and still it is in this moment of absolute despair, humiliation, and dejection that Mark asks his audience, those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, to look on that cross and see not merely another dead Jew, but God in power to save.

The cross shows Jesus on his throne, his true display of kingly power by dying a sacrificial death, the triumph of his kingdom over Satan, and Mark so poignantly sets before us the fitness of his strength to reign as he serves. As Dorothy Lee writes: ‘Mark demonstrates that in the final analysis God’s power is the power to renounce power. In other words, it is only through God’s power that Jesus is able to allow himself to become power-less and face the necessity of the cross.’

All praise to the crucified King of kings and Lord of lords!