Jesus has endured a trial before religious leaders and then a trial before the Roman ruler, Pilate. Pilate, somewhat reluctantly, has just sentenced Jesus to be crucified.
Mark 15: 21-32
A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.
And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.
It was the third hour when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS.
They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.
Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!"
In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe."
Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
The third hour would have been sometime in the midmorning.
Note the reference to Simon "of Cyrene", as the father of two named individuals, as if maybe the readers know of Alexander and Rufus?
Some manuscripts add to verse 27 an explanatory phrase, "and the scripture was fulfilled which says, 'He was counted with the lawless ones'." (The quote there is from Isaiah 53:12.)
The crowd hanging out at the cross (other than frightened family members and friends) are probably people who like to watch Roman executions. (Their descendants are today's internet trolls?) So these execution-watchers are prepared to insult the dying. But some of them know enough about Jesus to mock his statements about the temple.
The crowd hanging out at the cross (other than frightened family members and friends) are probably people who like to watch Roman executions. (Their descendants are today's internet trolls?) So these execution-watchers are prepared to insult the dying. But some of them know enough about Jesus to mock his statements about the temple.
At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, <"Eloi, Eloi, lama> "--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."
One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said.
With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"
The sixth hour is noon.
Jesus's cry on the cross is the beginning of the Messianic psalm, Psalm 22. The Aramaic/Hebrew begins with Eloi, a name for God, but the listeners mishear this as a call for Elijah.
Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.
It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body.
Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.
Pilate is surprised that Jesus is dead. Crucifixion was designed to be a lengthy painful death.
The writer presumes that the readers knows who "Mary, mother of Joses" is.
Some followers -- women are especially named here -- remember the location of the burial site so that they can give honor and respect to the dead after the Sabbath is over. It is good that they do this....
The writer presumes that the readers knows who "Mary, mother of Joses" is.
Some followers -- women are especially named here -- remember the location of the burial site so that they can give honor and respect to the dead after the Sabbath is over. It is good that they do this....
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