Mark 15:22-41
Man carries out the most heinous crime of all time. He crucifies the Son of God, not sparing Him any kind of suffering and humiliation. The Saviour is nailed to the cursed tree, but His love for His Father and for men keeps Him there. "Numbered with the transgressors" as the Scriptures foretold (v. 28; Isaiah 53:12), He also undergoes all kinds of insults and provocation on this cross. The world rejects Him, thus condemning itself; but now heaven too closes against Him, as He cries out in His indescribable distress, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (see Amos 8:9-10). Heaven is closed against Him so that He can open it for us. It was to lead "many sons unto glory" that the captain of our salvation was perfected through sufferings (Hebrews 2:10). This page of holy Scripture, on which our faith rests with adoration, is the irrefutable document which guarantees us access to the glory of heaven; a sign of this access is given in the veil being rent. The loud cry of the dying Saviour is the proof that He lay down His life of Himself, in full possession of His strength. It is the last act of obedience by the One who had come down here to serve, to suffer and to die, giving His precious life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).