The Triumph

Excuse me for just a minute while we get this working properly.

Okay. Alright, I think we're up and ready to go here. As you're all seeing, everybody loves a parade. How many of you have been to a parade? Just about everybody. Many of you are probably familiar with the famous Rose Parade in Pasadena. There are probably some of you. How many of you have been to that in person? Oh, wow! Wow, a lot! Okay. Yeah, you remember years ago when Connie and I lived out there, not going to the Rose Parade but working there at it, helping usher in the stands and so on. It was quite an event because it just seemed to go on forever and ever with all the marching bands and the floats, the beautiful, colorful, beautifully decorated floats and so on, and all the thousands and thousands of people along the parade route there cheering and all of that, cheering the procession as it passed by. Some of the largest parades in history have been victory parades. For instance, some of the photos I'll show you here are some of the massive victory parades at the conclusion of World War II here in the United States and actually all over the world celebrating victory after years of struggle and so much disruption in people's lives, deaths and injuries of literally millions of people and so on. And some of these parades involve literally millions of people. They're participating in the parades. We're spectators there. And again, they were celebrating victory after these many years of struggle. And it was a time to celebrate because the battle was over and victory had been won. And victory parades like this go back, we know, at least 2,000 years. We know that the Greeks had victory parades. Presumably, although it's not documented, presumably ancient peoples like the Babylonians and Assyrians and Egyptians and so on also had them. And victory parades were also common in the first century, the time of Jesus Christ and the apostles. The Romans had victory parades. And we know that because the Roman writers, historians of the time, document these parades in considerable detail. And they had a special term for this type of Roman victory parade. They called it the triumph. The triumph. And that's the title for today's sermon as well, the triumph. This word has come, been adopted into the English language as a synonym for victory. And it comes for this term for a Roman word for a parade that celebrated a great victory.

So I want to talk about here a bit about the Roman triumph, about what it was, who it involved, how they conducted a triumph. Again, a triumph was a victory parade. They were held to commemorate great victories by the Roman leaders who vanquished the enemies of Rome. And the Roman general or emperor or commander would be honored with a great parade involving his soldiers, selected units from the military, thousands, hundreds of thousands of spectators and so on. And so some of you may be somewhat familiar with some elements of the triumph because they've been carried forward to a holiday. For instance, one of the photos I came across in looking for photos of victory parades. This is a World War II victory parade in New York City. And it involves what's called a triumphal arch. This particular arch was constructed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington as our first president. And it was dedicated in 1892. So arches like this were quite common in the Roman Empire. The Roman world is monuments to their heroes. Many of you have probably heard of the famous Arch of Titus in Rome. How many of you have seen that before? Yeah, quite a few. If you've been to Rome, you've probably gone to the Roman Forum and seen this. It's very well known. This was constructed to commemorate the Roman army's conquest of Judea and Jerusalem and the war that culminated in AD 70. And this is the famous arch that shows the Romans carrying away some of the booty, the plunder from the temple in Jerusalem. Things like the famous temple Menorah, you see right here, some of the trumpets that the priests blew, the table of the showbred, and things like this. So this is a victory arch to Emperor Titus, who was the general in this campaign. Incidentally, a little bit of a side note, but the famous Roman Colosseum was constructed... where did they get the money? To construct the Roman Colosseum. Well, it was from the plunder from Jerusalem, from the temple, from the sale of Jewish slaves there. That's where they got the money to finance the construction of the Roman Colosseum there.

So also, in this arch of Titus, on the inside of the arch, if you look on one side, you see the temple treasures that I just showed you. On the other side is the general and Emperor Titus, writing in his chariot as part of his triumph. He's writing in his chariot. You can see his soldiers accompanying him, and so on. So this is part of the triumph. The parade commemorated here as well with this famous arch here. Titus, again, was the commander who crushed the Jewish rebellion, conquered Jerusalem. When his father Vespasian died, he became the next Roman Emperor and was honored with this arch and with a triumph for that great victory.

Interestingly, there's another very fascinating carving inside this arch. If you look up, you see this. This is on the very top inside of the arch. It's rather hard to make out because of all the decay over the centuries, but you can see a man's head here and his body. You also see wings out here on either side. This is commemorating the Emperor Titus being what's called apotheosis, which means to become a god. Because the conclusion of his triumph, Titus was declared a god. He became a god in Roman thinking there.

So here's another illustration, a very clear one, of a Roman triumph. This is the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. If you've seen the movie Gladiator, he's the one depicted in there, is the elderly general and emperor there. So he was a very real-life figure and this is a commemoration of his triumph. Again, with some of his soldiers there, one blowing a trumpet and so on. So these were quite big deals in the Roman Empire. Very big deals, as a matter of fact, because it wasn't every day that you were an emperor and it wasn't every day that you won a great victory over Rome's enemies and it wasn't every day that you were declared worthy of being honored with a triumph like this and it wasn't every day that you were declared a god at the conclusion of your triumph. The average Roman citizen might see a triumph once in his or her lifetime, if even then there might be a triumph on average once every several decades. And then it was typically in Rome. There may have been lesser triumphs in some of the outlying Roman provinces, but the triumphs were very commonly known because it was such a big deal, even if they were not held that often. And we actually find some references to a triumph in the Bible, in Paul's writings.

But to give you a feel for what a Roman triumph was like, I want to share with you some clips. These are off of YouTube. And it's two clips. One is from the famous movie Ben Hur.

And in the movie, what you'll be seeing here is, if I can bring it up, is a Roman triumph. Ben Hur. In the movie is, I wasn't expecting that to come up, Ben Hur is a Jewish prince who, excuse me, this is acting up a little bit here. Here we go. Ben Hur is a Jewish prince who gets sold into slavery. He is a prisoner on a Roman military ship as a galley slave, one of the slaves rowing the oars in the ship. There's a battle, and his ship ends up getting rammed and sunk. But in the process, he rescues the Roman admiral, who is the commander of the Roman fleet. And it turns out to be a Greek Roman victory, and the admiral is awarded a triumph at the end of that. And he is honored by the Roman Empire. So let me get back to where I was before. Okay, so hopefully that gives you a bit of a flavor of what a Roman triumph was like. Basically the entire city of Rome, which had a population of roughly a million people at that time, would turn out for the triumphs there to celebrate the great victories of their fearless leader, their whoever the general or emperor might be. And over time, a lot of ritual developed around the Roman triumph, and there grew to be a set format that a triumph was to follow. And this is documented again by some of the Roman writers and historians of the time. And a few elements of a triumph would be that the person being honored would dress in a certain way with certain colors.

He would be accompanied by specific people at specific points in the procession there.

The route of the triumph followed a specific route through the city of Rome, and there would be specific points along the way where specific things would happen. And it would end again with the emperor being declared divine, being declared a god. And all of these steps and elements of the Roman triumph were important to the Roman people because of their symbolism. It was very important to them and very significant to them. And all of the people here in Rome would have been familiar with it. So let's talk about some of those steps in a triumph. If you had a program for a triumph, like a program for a parade, these would be the steps that would be followed in the triumph. And you don't have to write all of these down. I'll go back through them again in more detail later on.

Step one, the soldiers would gather at the military headquarters.

Step two, the one being honored would be clothed in a robe of purple with a laurel crown on his head.

Step three, the soldiers would proclaim the one being honored as king or emperor.

Step four, the leader's face was painted red, as we saw in the clip there. This was to represent the statue of the chief Roman god, Jupiter Optimus Maximus, whose face was painted red, his statue there on the Capitoline Hill. Step five, the people gathered together. And as the one being honored went through the procession through the city, he would pass out gifts to the people. He would throw out gold and silver coins, for instance, chains, trinkets, that kind of thing, as they moved in the procession through the city. Step six, in the triumph procession were a sacrifice and a man carrying the instrument to kill the sacrifice. Step seven, the person being honored in the triumph, ascended the Capitoline Hill. And step eight, at the top of the Capitoline Hill, he would be offered wine, which he would pour out. And then a sacrifice, step nine, would be made on the hill. Step ten, the leader was accompanied by men on his right and left sides.

Step eleven, the people awaited a divine sign from the gods to indicate their approval of this celebration. And finally, step twelve, the final step is the one being honored was declared to be divine. We talked about that a little bit earlier here. So again, if you had a program for a first century triumph there in Rome, this would have been the steps listed there in the program. And a triumph, I might add, was a fairly long affair as well.

It would start early in the morning and last well into the afternoon. Now, what does that have to do with us? Well, as I mentioned before, in some of the background sermons I've given on the Gospels, each of the four Gospel writers wrote to a specific audience. For instance, Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience or Hebrew audience. He includes a lot of prophecies in there and describes how Jesus fulfilled those. He talks about a lot of Jewish customs there that other people would not be familiar with. Luke writes primarily to a Greek audience. He is a Gentile, and he writes with a heavy emphasis on Greek perspective and what was important to a Greek audience.

John writes to a more universal audience. And who does Mark write to, though? If you remember what we covered earlier, Mark is writing to a Roman audience. Mark is the only Gospel writer who includes Latin phrases in his Gospel, Latin terms. Where was Latin spoken and understood? We might think the entire Roman world spoke Latin. They didn't. The Roman world spoke Greek, which is why the Gospels are written in Greek.

Latin was only spoken in what is modern day Italy, and specifically in Rome. So not everybody would have understood Latin. Only Romans would have understood Latin phrases like Mark used. So because of that, scholars have concluded that Mark is writing to a Roman audience, and quite possibly the Church there, in Rome at that time. Now, what is important about this is starting about 25 years ago, some biblical scholars started noticing some interesting parallels in the order and terminology that Mark uses in his Gospel, and the way he worded certain things relating to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

And today I want to share some of these things with you. I'm not the smart guy who figured this out. Some very bright scholars figured this out, and I was able to research it out from a number of sources. And I want to share it with you today because of the lesson that it teaches us.

All of us are probably pretty familiar with the biblical story of the crucifixion. But what we're not familiar with is the story of the Roman triumph. So let's go back through those 12 steps I gave earlier, and notice some parallels there in Mark's Gospel. So again, first step of the Roman triumph, the soldiers would gather at the military headquarters. So that was step one for Roman triumph. The soldiers would all gather together at the military headquarters, which is called the praetorium.

That's a Greek translation of a Latin term there, which Mark uses. The praetorium was named after the praetorian guard, which you may have heard of, which was the emperor's personal bodyguard there. So all of the soldiers would gather there, and that's where the triumph would start. So how does Mark begin his account of the crucifixion? We'll be reading a lot from Mark 15.

Mark chapter 15. You can just leave your Bibles open there. I'll be showing everything on screen. But beginning in verse 16, then the soldiers led Jesus away into the hall called praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison. So Mark begins his account of the crucifixion with the first step of a Roman triumph at the Roman military headquarters called the praetorium.

And again, Mark uses a Latin term here, the praetorium, which his Roman readers will understand. Any Roman in Rome would have understood that term at that time. And then he says they called together the whole garrison.

Now this would have been very unusual because the garrison stationed in Jerusalem normally would have been 200 to 600 men, depending on the time of year, whether it was around the Jewish Holy Days, when they would call in reinforcements from Caesarea, about 60 miles away on the coast. So you don't need 200 to 600 men to crucify three prisoners that they're going to crucify that day, Jesus, and the two men crucified with him. So Mark appears to be signaling here at the very beginning of his account of the crucifixion that, hey, you need to pay attention to these details because I have an incredible story to tell you.

It's kind of like we covered earlier in the Gospels, John 1. How does John begin his Gospel? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Where does John pick up the phrase, In the beginning from? He picks it up from Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. John is signaling his readers to pay attention because I've got a story to tell you about that God who, in the beginning, created the heavens and the earth.

So Mark's kind of giving a signal to his readers here to pay attention to the story I'm about to tell you because it's incredibly significant here.

So he's using, you might say, inside lingo. For instance, here in Colorado, we use terms like the 14ers and the mousetrap and Coors Field and so on that anybody not living in Colorado is not going to have a clue what we're talking about. So Mark is using this inside lingo in his gospel here.

So what is step two after they all gather there at the praetorium?

Step two, the one being honored, would be clothed in a robe of purple with a laurel crown on his head. So what does Mark say next? Verse 17 of chapter 15, and they clothed him with purple, and they twisted a crown of thorns and put it on his head.

So let's dissect this a little bit here. They put a purple robe on him.

However, if you read Matthew's account, Matthew says they put a scarlet robe on him.

So is this a contradiction or what's going on here? Why is it purple or was it scarlet?

Is there a contradiction here? Why or why not?

Well, first of all, the answer is pretty easy. Let's analyze a little bit. Where does this take place? It takes place in a military facility, a fortress. What are you going to find in a Roman military fortress? You're going to find a lot of military equipment laying around. Shields, spears, bows, arrows, armor, that kind of thing. And probably a lot of worn-out robes, military robes. What color robe did the Roman soldiers wear? They wore scarlet robes, bright red robes, kind of to intimidate the enemy. But after a robe's been worn for 10 or 15 years, what color is it? Well, it's going to be faded from the sunlight, from being washed in buddy streams and stuff like that. It's going to be worn out, have some rips and tears and so on. It's going to be a very faded scarlet, you might say, a mauve color, kind of like some of the darker reddish colors in my tie here. Is it purple or is it scarlet? Yes, it's both. It's kind of both. So Matthew says it's a scarlet robe. Matthew's thinking of the Roman soldiers because that's probably what they put on him. Mark, however, is trying to make a connection to the triumph.

So he calls it a purple robe. It could be either color, depending on your perception of the eyes there. So in his account, naturally, Jesus wears a purple robe, as the one being honored and the triumph would do. And the victorious Roman leader would also wear a laurel crown around his head, which you're probably all familiar with from the Roman and Greek statuary there. This is the kind of crown that's being talked about here of laurel leaves, olive leaves, something like that. So what does Mark say next in his account? Verse 17, we read the first part, they clothed him with purple and they twisted a crown of thorns and put it on his head. It's not a laurel crown, symbolizing victory, but it is a crown. It is a crown of thorns.

Excuse me, I jumped ahead one slide too many here. Yes, it is a crown of thorns, not a crown of gold. The crown of gold will come later, but for now it's a crown of bloody thorns. What's the next step in a Roman triumph? Step three, the soldiers would proclaim the one being honored as king or emperor.

So in a Roman triumph, the soldiers would all gather around, they would declare the victorious leader either king or emperor, depending on the terminology that was used at the time.

So what happens next in Mark's account here?

They began to salute him, hail king of the Jews. Then they struck him on the head with a reed and spat on him and bowing the knee, they worshipped him.

So they're not doing this to honor Jesus as king, they're doing it to mock him. They're doing it in a very sarcastic manner. But the reality is that Jesus is a king, and they don't realize it. So they mockingly bow to Jesus, they mockingly worship him, and so on. But the reality is he is a king and they don't realize it.

You might say that what is going on here is that they are players, actors, and play, playing out their roles, and they don't know what the play is really about.

What the play is really about is Jesus is indeed a king. And they don't know it, they don't know how the story ends out. So they declare him a king, which is the next step in a triumph.

The next step that comes along in the Roman triumph that follows is point four, the leader's face is painted red. The leader's face is painted red. And this was done by the Romans to honor the chief Roman god, Jupiter Optimus Maximus. I haven't found why his face was painted red, but that's the way he was depicted. Incidentally, Roman statues, Greek statues, we tend to think of them as being this white marble, which is what they looked like to us. But originally back then, they were all painted in lifelike colors. They were painted with flesh tones, like ours, with blue eyes or brown eyes and brown hair or golden hair or whatever, with robes of purple and red and green and blue and so on. We know this because archaeologists have in recent years started examining these statues under microscopes and they can see in some of the pours of the stone, the original pigments of the paints there. So all of these white statues were actually very brightly colored in the first century and as were their buildings there. We see the white marble left today, but originally they were painted in all kinds of bright colors there.

So the statues would have been painted, the statues of the gods and goddesses would have been painted in lifelike colors here. So what happens next in Mark's account?

Went to parallel the leader's face being painted red. Again, we just read this, but then they struck him on the head with a reed and smack on him. Now Jesus at this point has already been scourged, meaning he has been beaten with the whip that tore his flesh literally to shreds. No doubt some of those blows from the whip also struck his face and head. If you've ever, those of you with children, if you've ever had children, they get a head wound and what happens? It bleeds like crazy because the skin is so thin around the skull and head wounds bleed profusely.

And Jesus is also, we just read, they stuck a crown of thorns on his head and jammed it down so that would have caused numerous gashes and cuts around his head. So his face is covered with blood.

In other words, it is painted red. Notice something else here, what they did. They spat on him.

Roman soldiers, because in much of the world at that time water was dangerous to drink, so Roman soldiers were issued rations of wine every day to drink because the water could kill you. The wine would make you happy and be a good fighter. So when these Roman soldiers spit on Jesus, what color is their spit? It's red. It's red wine that they're spitting on him. So when he spat in the face, you have spit, red wine colored spit mixed with the red of the blood on Jesus's face. So his face is painted red. Continuing on with the story here.

I found also a text note here from the New English translation. The Greek has an interesting sense here. We read it and it says they struck him on the head. That indicates to us that they hit him maybe three or four times, but the sense of the Greek is captured in the New English translation is again and again. They struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. This word staff, it's translated read there in the New King James, can mean either one, but when it says a staff, what does that mean? Well, think of a hiking stick, a wooden hiking stick, not something like a cattail reed. Romans wouldn't have had a reed hanging around there in their Roman fortress, but they would have had staffs there, rods. Another way it's translated in some Bible translations. So think of being hit in the head like using a baseball bat, but they've got a hiking stick and striking Jesus in the head with that, which is no doubt going to cause gashes and cuts in his head as well. So it's no wonder that Jesus's face is red colored from the blood, from his wounds, from the scourging, from the crown of thorns, from being struck in the head with a rod. The next step in the Roman triumph is the people gather all together there along the route, and the one being honored distributes gifts as they move in a procession through the city. The streets of Rome, in the case of the Roman emperor, but the streets of Jerusalem in the case of Jesus Christ. So what does Mark say next? Mark 15, verse 20, And when they had mocked him, they took the purple off him, put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. So for now, the soldiers have had their fill of mocking and making fun of Jesus, and the order comes to take him out to be carried away to be crucified. So now begins this procession through the streets of Jerusalem. And because of Jesus's condition after the scourging and the other punishment he's received of necessity, the procession has to move fairly slowly because he's weakened from blood loss and shock and things like that.

And also the streets of the city of Jerusalem are packed with all of the people. Josephus says there are a million or more people who came to Jerusalem for the holy days. So the streets of the city are packed with people there to celebrate Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Many others in a cheerful mood because of that. However, they're probably quite shocked to see this bloody spectacle coming through the streets there. A bloodied prisoner doesn't even look like a human being. On the other hand, there are probably some in the crowd who are cheering because this false messiah is finally getting what he deserved to be punished and executed by the Romans. As an interesting side point here at Linguistic Matter, this Greek term translated led out there in the last line refers to a group or a procession being led by one person.

So again, Mark's terminology that he uses is very much like the terminology that would be used to describe a Roman triumph. You have one person leading a procession of a large number of people there. So again, his language echoes the triumph. Now in the Roman triumph, at this stage the victorious leader would be riding in his chariot as we saw. He would be grabbing handfuls of coins, loot, plunder from the conquered enemies and throwing those out to the crowds. You might think of the Mardi Gras celebrations today where they throw out the beads and knickknacks and things like that. In this case, the person being honored is throwing out gold and silver coins and things like that. And no wonder the crowds are cheering there because of that. Jesus cannot do that because his hands are full carrying the beam on which he is to be crucified. But he is, at this time, distributing gifts. He is distributing gifts through this triumphal procession. What kind of gifts and how is he distributing these gifts? Let's notice the prophecy from Isaiah 53 verses 4-6.

Well-known prophecy of the death of the Messiah. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

So Jesus was distributing gifts at this time. What kind of gifts? Gifts of healing. Gifts of peace.

Gifts of forgiveness. Gifts of reconciliation to God. But priceless gifts. A far more value than silver and gold coins and trinkets.

What's next in the Roman triumph? Step 6. In the triumph procession are a sacrifice and a man carrying the instrument to kill the sacrifice. So part of the triumph involved a sacrifice, usually a large bull. Here's an illustration of that.

And accompanying the sacrifice was a man carrying the instrument to kill the bull. Typically, it eats something pretty big to kill a bull. So they used an axe most of the time. So here's a Roman carving sacrificial scene. You can see an altar there with a flame on it and a priest and a man with a bull. And notice what the man is carrying over his shoulder. A large axe. He's going to kill the bull with that instrument there. So what does Mark record next in his account of the triumph? Then they compelled a certain man, Simon, a Cyrenian, that's from the area of North Africa, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by to bear his cross. So the Romans, seeing Jesus, is too weak to continue to carry this being. They conscript. They draft Simon out of the crowd and tell him to carry the beam, the instrument of Jesus Christ's execution.

And here's another carving to illustrate this point. This, again, is Marcus Aurelius, the emperor from Gladiator. And here's a commemoration of him. And you can see here in the background the bull to be sacrificed here. This is the temple in the background. Here's the bull. And here's the executioner with his axe with which to kill the bull here. So now that element enters Mark's story here, that this bystander is constricted to carry the cross beam, because Jesus is too weak to physically carry it here, the instrument of execution. So what is the next step? Step seven, the person being honored in the triumph ascended the Capitoline Hill. And we saw that illustrated in both the movie clips. There are the Capitoline Hill in the background. Why did they ascend the Capitoline Hill? You may remember Rome is a city built on seven hills. If you've ever been to Rome, you know that. You've probably been up a couple of those hills. Of those seven hills, the Capitoline Hill was the most important one. I've been on top of that hill several times, and it is very, very impressive. Here's part of the view from partway up that hill. You look out. This is the Roman Forum. The famous Forum. Here's the Roman Senate Building. Back here is the Colosseum. The Arch of Titus is right over in here. Over here is the Palatine Hill. That's where the Roman emperors had their palaces. On here, this is the ruins of the Temple of Saturn. Down here is where Julius Caesar was assassinated. A lot of history right in this area here. These processions would wind through the city streets of Rome, and through the Forum, and then would ascend up the Palatine Hill. Here's a photograph of a model of Rome from the first century there. This is the Temple of Jupiter, or Saturn, here on top of the Capitoline Hill. All these shrines and altars to other Roman gods and goddesses. It's only appropriate because here is where the emperor, the one being honored, is to be declared divine at the conclusion of this. So again, quite an impressive scene there. But there's an interesting story. Why is it called the Capitoline Hill? What does that mean, and is there any significance to that? In our story, it got its name because, according to Roman legend, in the early days of Rome, when it's being built as a city there, they were digging the foundations for a temple here on the Capitoline Hill. And in the process, the workers dug up an intact human head. What's the Latin word for head?

Capita. As in our phrase, per capita. You know, we count people per capita. That means literally per head. So one head, two heads, three heads. Some of your heads are more visible than others here. But yeah, it was called the...the head was called Capita. So it was called the Capitoline Hill because of this head that the workers dug up there. So this hill is where every Roman triumph ended there. So what does Mark tell us next in his Gospel? And they brought him to the place Gogatha, which is translated, place of a skull. Skull. Head. Mark makes the connection. They're virtually identical words. You don't have a skull without a head. You don't have a head without a skull. They're essentially the same exact terminology there. So the two places have virtually the same name, and Mark points out that similarity there.

What is next in the Roman triumph? Step eight. On top of the Capitoline Hill, the person being honored is offered wine, which he would pour out. So in the Roman triumph, the wine would be poured out on one of the altars there, perhaps on the sacrifice, the animal to be sacrificed. It's kind of ambiguous. Not sure exactly what was done at specific times there.

But this does seem to represent the blood of the sacrifice that is to be carried out is the next step. So what does Mark tell us next in his Gospel? Verse 23, Then they gave him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but he did not take it.

So as the person who was honored in the triumph did not take the wine, Jesus did not drink the wine also, from what Mark tells us. We don't know why they refuse the drink that's not recorded. We just know that it happened that way. What is the next step in a triumph? Step 9, the sacrifice is carried out on the hill. The sacrifice is carried out. And at this point, the bull or the oxen that had been carried as part of the procession would be killed. And in Roman thinking, this had two elements to it. One, it was a thanksgiving offering, you might say, to thank the gods and the goddesses for the victory, that the whole triumphal procession is commemorating. But it had a future element to it as well, because it was also a thanks looking forward to the good things that the person being honored would do as part of his reign as emperor or king, whatever, general, whatever. He would continue to do good things. He would continue to be blessed by the gods, and all of the people of Rome would be blessed through him. So the sacrifice had those two elements, one of thanks and one of looking forward to what the person being honored would do, and being a blessing to everyone going forward. So what does Mark say next in his gospel? Verse 24, And when they crucified him, they divided his garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take. Now it was the third hour, and they crucified him. And the inscription of his accusation was written above the king of the Jews. So Mark here emphasizes twice that after Jesus refused the wine that they crucified him, the sacrifice took place. And Mark states it twice here. And again, in Roman thinking, the sacrifice had two elements. One of thanks for what had been accomplished, the victory that had been given, and another aspect of it is how all would be blessed by this person's reign from that point forward there. And of course, victory was achieved at Jesus Christ's death. Victory over Satan, victory over sin, victory over suffering, and at his resurrection three days later, victory over death, death itself. And again, the sacrifice was forward-looking to the future blessings that would come as a result of that.

And again, we see the title. We see that reflected in the title of the sign that was nailed above Jesus' head, the king of the Jews, because, as Christ said not long before that, earlier this morning, he was born to be a king. And he came into the world to be a king, and he will return as king of kings to reign over all. What was next in the Roman triumph?

Step 10, the leader, the one being honored, was accompanied by men on his right and left sides.

And we've seen this looking through the Gospels. You see the honor people wanting to be on some of Jesus' disciples, wanting to be on his right hand and on his left hand in his kingdom. Those were the ones next in line with power and honor and glory and so on. And this was a common part of the Roman triumph. To use a quote, a couple of examples, when the emperor Tiberius, who was emperor at this time, when he ascended the throne, he was accompanied on either side by the Roman consuls, two Roman consuls who were the next highest up in Roman governance at that time.

Claudius, who became emperor after Nero committed suicide, he was accompanied by his two sons in law on either side in those honored positions. Vespasian, the one who conquered Jerusalem, in his triumph he had his two sons at his side. So in these documented cases from Roman history, we see it was common to have a person on either side of the one being honored. And at the top of the Capitoline Hill, as we saw in the Ben-Hur movie clip, all of the people can see them there because they're elevated above everyone. So what does Mark tell us next? In his account, verse 27, with him they also crucified two robbers, one in his right and the other on his left. So the scripture was fulfilled which says, and he was numbered with the transgressors.

So Jesus is elevated above the crowd so everyone can see, just as the one being honored in the triumph. The difference being Jesus was not elevated with two honored and honorable men at his death. He's crucified between two robbers and thieves. And he came to earth to be Emmanuel, God with us. He came to live and to die as a human being. And he died among the guilty, bearing their sins as well as yours and mine. What's the next step? Getting near the end, verse 11, or excuse me, step 11. The people awaited a divine sign from the gods, and the Romans were a very superstitious people. They were constantly trying to please and stay on the good side of this and that god and goddess. They had hundreds of gods and goddesses, so they're constantly making offerings and praying to these gods and goddesses and doing this or that to praise the gods. And they're very superstitious. We actually see that reflected in the Gospel. You may remember how Pilate's wife had a dream and came to Pilate and said, have nothing to do with this man. I've had a dream. And that reflects the Romans' superstition there. And she's troubled by it. And she knows something is not right there. So the Romans are constantly looking for these signs and omens as to whether the gods are pleased or displeased. And they're interpreting dreams and this kind of thing. So now at this point in the triumph, the people would look for a sign as to whether the gods and goddesses were pleased with what is going on in honoring this person.

So what does Mark tell us next in his Gospel? I'm skipping over down a few verses, skipping over the next round of mocking as Jesus is crucified. So jumping to verse 33.

Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. Now if you're a Roman and you're looking for an omen, they don't come much bigger and badder than this. Because after all, it's springtime like this. Nice sunny beautiful day there in Judea. And suddenly this mysterious darkness covers the whole land from noon until three in the afternoon. And this is big. This is scary. This is a sign that something is very, very wrong, that the gods and goddesses are very displeased. To use a modern expression, this is when they start looking around waiting for the lightning to strike, because this is bad, really bad. And they have no idea how wrong it is that they are executing the only sinless human being who has ever lived, but actually the Son of God Himself. And now we come to the last step, which is the one being honored was declared to be divine. And everything we've said about the triumph leads up to this culminating point. His followers have declared Him king. He has been dressed in royal purple and a laurel crown. I'm talking about the Roman triumph. His soldiers and officers have declared Him king or emperor. The procession in His honor has wound its way through the streets of the city. The sacrifice and the person carrying out the death instrument have accompanied Him. They've come to Head Hill, Capitoline Hill, and ascended the hill. He's flanked by men on either side. He's offered the wine and refuses it. The sacrifice is carried out.

The omens of the gods appear. And one final step remains, which is to declare Him divine, to declare Him God. And this custom actually started back with Julius Caesar and his adopted heir, Caesar Augustus. Here's a coin, minted under Caesar Augustus' reign. And you can read it. It says Caesar Augustus here. Here's his portrait here. And he became the next, he became actually the first emperor of Rome. Julius Caesar wasn't an emperor. But here on the other side of the coin, it says divine Julius in Latin. And you've got this weird dot with flames and lines shooting off it. What is that? Well, it's been interpreted as being a comet. And it actually makes a lot of sense because there was a comet that appeared in the sky. And it's a comet that appeared in the sky.

After Julius Caesar's assassination, and it was interpreted by the Romans to be Julius Caesar is now in the heavens as a god. And this comet was so bright they could see it in daylight. So they assumed Julius Caesar had become a god. And this coin is apparently minted by his heir, Caesar Augustus, to commemorate that event, the deification, the apotheosis of Julius Caesar, who has now become a god. And for years after this, most of the emperors and even a few of their wives and other relatives were declared to be gods. And this is reflected on their coins, like this, a number of coins or others. I don't have time to show you. I do want to show you this illustration, though, because it depicts it very well. This is a second-century Roman emperor, Antoninus Pius is his name. And he's depicted here ascending. You can see the wings here.

What's the other symbolizing in here? Here are the famous Roman eagles representing Rome flying up into the heavens with him. Here's the Roman goddess Roma, goddess of Rome, from which Rome got its name, cheering him on. I think this is probably Jupiter or Saturn here, I'm not sure. But he's ascending into heaven, and here above him is a portrait of him and his wife. So apparently she was deemed good enough to become a goddess as well. So this reflects the Roman belief in their emperors becoming gods and goddesses here. So they really, really believed this to be literally true. And this practice of emperor worship arose during the first century, again beginning with Julius Caesar, where the emperors were worshiped as gods and they had temples built to them, where people would go and worship them as gods. And this led to major problems for early Christians because every person was required to make an offering of incense to the emperor every year. And if you were a Christian, you couldn't do that because there's one god and the emperor ain't him. So Christians died for this over this belief. That's how important it was to the Romans. Now it depended on which part of the empire you were in and how strictly the local governor or authorities enforced it. So sometimes Christians could get by without that and not be persecuted, but there were times when they were taken out and executed for not worshiping and honoring the emperor as a god. So this was very serious business. And at the conclusion of the triumph, the leader would be declared divine and a god. So what happens next in Mark's account? Verse 37, And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed his last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. There's another one of those signs in the Romans that's very powerful. So when the centurion who stood opposite him saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, truly this man was the son of God. And the triumph is concluded.

Every step has been completed from beginning to end. And Mark takes us through every step of the triumph from beginning to end. And through this final proclamation by a Roman centurion, an officer, truly this man was the son of God.

So the last step of the triumph was completed. Jesus was declared to be divine, the son of God.

He was triumphant in every way. He had won victory over all his enemies. He completed the triumphal procession and every step along the way. And after resting in the tomb for three days and three nights, he would rise in a sin to his father as indeed God, as with the glory that he had before he had come to earth. And that's the story of the triumph as presented by Mark.

Mark's audience, being primarily Roman, would have likely picked up on Mark's many references to the triumph, many connections to the Roman triumph. But the story doesn't end there.

There's one more aspect of the story because the Apostle Paul, I mentioned earlier, there are other references to a triumph in the New Testament as well. And we see that in the writings of the Apostle Paul. And he uses the same picture of a triumph for Christians in the first century and down to us today. Paul too knew that Jesus had experienced his triumph. It's interesting that Paul and Mark worked together. So it's not surprising that Paul would have picked up on the references to the triumph in Mark's Gospel as well. But in Paul's metaphor of the triumph, the triumph did not end then, but is actually still going on. And we see this in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14, where Paul writes, Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. So to Paul, the triumphal procession has not ended.

It's still going on. In fact, it's always going on because Jesus Christ is still being honored as commander, as leader, as victor, as king, and as God. And he's leading a victory procession.

But who else is in that victory procession? You are. I am. All of us are part of that victory procession, that great celebration.

And Paul is here comparing us to the victors who are taking part in this great victory parade led by Jesus Christ himself. And the battle is won. Jesus Christ won that battle through his victory over Satan and sin and suffering and death on that Passover nearly 2,000 years ago.

And we who are with him today, as his brothers and sisters, have shared in that battle, and we are victors as well. Jesus Christ's enemies did not win when they executed him 2,000 years ago. His sacrifice wasn't the end of the story. His sacrifice was the victory.

That was the victory. It was the beginning. It was part of the triumphal victory parade. And March, it wasn't the end of hope. It was the beginning of hope for the salvation of all mankind. It's spelled out in God's Holy Day plan that we're about to be partaking in here in just a couple of weeks. It will continue that march forward to the culmination and the celebration of God's Kingdom. So as we approach the Passover in the spring holy days in just a couple of weeks now, let's keep in mind this beautiful picture that is preserved for us in God's Word, this beautiful perspective that we're part of this victory parade, in this procession honoring Jesus Christ. Let's hold up our heads high in this victory march to God's Kingdom, made possible by the triumph of Jesus Christ.