mark 15

Read Mark 15 at Bible Gateway.

Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar. Exo 29:20

The passage from Exodus is from the instruction for the consecration of the priests, to set them apart for their service to the LORD. The blood applied to the ear symbolized the consecration of everything that he heard. He was to hear the word of the LORD, and hear truth, and not listen to false witness, slander, or the suggestion of a bribe to pervert justice. The blood applied to the thumb symbolized the consecration of all the work of his hands; everything that he put his hand to. The blood applied to the toe symbolized the consecration of the way in which he walked, a Hebrew idiom meaning how he lived his life; the path he followed.

Jesus is our High Priest, and His crucifixion was also His consecration ceremony. The crown of thorns caused His blood to flow over His ears. The nails in His hands caused His blood to flow over His hands, and the nails in His feet caused His blood to flow over His feet. God obeys His own word, even down to the tiniest detail. All of Torah will be fulfilled in Jesus, who is the substance which casts the shadow of Torah.

Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save.”  Mar 15:31

“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!” Mar 15:39

While the chief priests of the Jews were mocking Jesus on the cross, the Roman centurion (i.e., Gentile) recognized that Jesus was the Son of God. The eyes of the Jews were blinded to Jesus their Messiah, while the eyes of the Gentiles were opened to Him.

The eyes of the Jews were not blinded to everything; they were opened to the written Torah, that it was of God, while the eyes of the Gentiles were blinded to the written Torah. All of this was prophesied. Paul said that partial blindness has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in to salvation in Messiah Yeshua; but then when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, the blindness will be removed from Israel, and they too will be able to see Jesus their Messiah, just as the Roman centurion did on the day of His crucifixion (Rom 11:25-27).

We are living in that time now. The Jews are recognizing, more and more, that Jesus is their Messiah, and the Gentiles (Christians) are recognizing that Jesus never abolished obedience to the commandments of God found in Torah (Mat 5:17). God is making us one people, who walk in faith in Jesus Christ, and in obedience to the commandments of God (Eph 4:4-6, Rev 14:12).