The Death

Many of us are all too familiar with debt—often, the biggest one we carry is a mortgage. Interestingly, the word “mortgage” comes from the Old French mort gage, meaning “dead pledge.” It sounds grim for something so common! But the term doesn’t mean you’ll be paying it off until the end of your life. Rather, it refers to how the pledge "dies" either when the debt is fully repaid or when payments are no longer met.

In this sermon, we reflect on the greatest debt ever paid—the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In Mark 15:33–41, we witness darkness covering the land, Jesus’ anguished cry, and the tearing of the temple curtain. Yet, in the midst of it all, the most unlikely witness grasps the truth that so many overlook:

And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39, ESV)

Our sin creates a debt before a holy God. Yet, in that moment of darkness, the only One capable of paying it—the very Son of God—settled it in full on the cross.