Good Friday – A Day of Remembrance by many for the sufferings endured by Jesus on the Cross.
But something amazing happened that day, too...all of it written by John Mark.
The Gospel of Mark, written to a Roman audience……heard ‘Caesar is Lord’ proclaimed by everyone in Rome.
Yet Mark opens his gospel (euangelion – good news about the king) saying ‘Jesus is Lord’.
This stirred intense reactions from his Roman audience – after all, wasn’t it Pilate, Caesar’s governor, who put Jesus to death?
Mark would use imagery that his Roman audience was very familiar with…
Roman emperors declared their lordship and deity in no greater way than the Imperial Triumph.
The Imperial Triumph: a procession through the streets of Rome during a coronation, a victory march, or a celebration.
The spoils of war, including weapons, gold, silver, jewelry and even prisoners would be paraded.
The triumphator would be given the purple robe from Jupiter’s statue and a laurel wreath made of gold would be placed on his head to signify their rank and power.
The Roman soldiers and the crowds watching the procession would acclaim Caesar is Lord.
The procession marched to a flourish of trumpets, the beat of drums, and the aroma of incense.
Mark narrates Jesus’ very own Imperial Triumph procession – to the Cross.
Mark 15 reads: "The soldiers put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, King of the Jews” … Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him."
Little did they know they were bowing to the King of Kings…
What about us?
Paul says it eloquently in 2 Corinthians 2:14: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.”
Christus Victor or, Christ the Victor in Latin.
Jesus won the victory by leading us out of captivity in his Imperial Triumph procession.
We are no longer captives to sin and death. Can you say that again? No longer captives to sin and death!
In fact, we are the aroma (incense) of the One who has saved us from captivity.
Good Friday is not a somber day……it is the day Jesus became King and I became free.