Mark 15
Summary for Mark 15:1-15: 15:1-15 a Following the story of Peter’s denial, Mark turns back to Jesus and what happened at his trial. Pilate’s wavering under pressure fits what is known of him from other sources. 15:1 b Very early in the morning: Roman trials usually began at dawn. It is not clear whether this was a second meeting of the entire high council, or whether the account refers back to the decision of the council in 14:63-64 c and resumes at this point.• Since the high council lacked authority to institute capital punishment (John 18:31 d), they had to take Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea from AD 26–36. Pilate’s normal residence was on the coast at Caesarea, but he stayed in Jerusalem during Passover, when Israel’s celebration of the Exodus raised hopes of deliverance from Roman rule.
15:2 e The phrase king of the Jews is the Gentile equivalent of the Jewish title, “King of Israel” (15:32 f).
• You have said it: Jesus’ reply to Pilate’s question is found in all four Gospels; Jesus clearly understood himself to be a king (10:37-38 g; 11:9-10 h; 12:35-37 i), and Pilate eventually crucified him on this charge (15:26 j), although Pilate understood that Jesus was not a political threat (John 18:33-39 k).
Summary for Mark 15:3-5: 15:3-5 l Pilate sought a self-defense from Jesus concerning the charges.
Summary for Mark 15:6-8: 15:6-8 m The custom described in 15:6-8 n is not known outside of the Gospels, but all four Gospels refer to it (Matt 27:15-21 o; Luke 23:18-25 p; John 18:37-40 q); in many instances prisoners in the ancient world were released on special holidays.
• Barabbas: See also Matt 27:16-17 r; Luke 23:19 s.
• who had committed murder in an uprising: Pilate’s willingness to release Barabbas (Matt 15:15 t) probably indicates that he had not killed Roman citizens or soldiers.
Summary for Mark 15:9-14: 15:9-14 u Pilate apparently hoped to release Jesus, but the crowd was stirred up beyond discussion.
15:15 v to pacify the crowd: To protect his job, Pilate ordered a completely innocent man to be crucified.
• He ordered Jesus flogged: Flogging was preliminary to crucifixion. It was done with leather thongs tipped with metal, stone, or bone. This laceration of the flesh could itself bring death. Jesus’ prediction in 10:34 w was now being fulfilled.
Summary for Mark 15:16-41: 15:16-41 x The crucifixion account is one of the most historically certain accounts of ancient history. Why would the early church create a story in which the object of their faith was crucified? This story was and still is an offense to Jews and absurd nonsense to Gentiles (1 Cor 1:23 y). 15:16 z The entire regiment (literally cohort, one-tenth of a legion) was about 600 men. Those called out were probably all the soldiers currently on duty in the Praetorium.
15:17 aa a purple robe: Purple cloth, made with an expensive dye, was worn by royalty and other wealthy individuals (Luke 16:19 ab; 1 Maccabees 10:20, 62; 11:58). This robe may have been a centurion’s out-of-service robe.
15:18 ac King of the Jews: The formal charge (15:2 ad) on which Jesus was convicted (15:26 ae).
Summary for Mark 15:21-22: 15:21-22 af After they left the walled city of Jerusalem, Jesus’ strength apparently failed. The Roman soldiers forced Simon ... from Cyrene in northern Africa to carry Jesus’ cross (cp. Matt 5:41 ag). Normally, a crucifixion victim was forced to carry the horizontal crossbeam (the patibulum) of his own cross to the place of execution. The vertical post (the staticulum) was sometimes left permanently in the ground as a warning and deterrent (like a hangman’s scaffold in a public square).
• Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus, who were probably known to Mark’s readers (cp. Rom 16:13 ah).
• Golgotha is Aramaic, meaning Place of the Skull. In the Latin Vulgate, “skull” is calvariae (“Calvary”). In Jesus’ day, Golgotha lay outside the walled city of Jerusalem (John 19:20 ai; see Matt 27:32 aj; Heb 13:12 ak). When Herod Antipas later enlarged the city with the so-called third wall, Golgotha was enclosed.
15:23 al Whether Jesus was offered a drink of wine drugged with myrrh in kindness (Prov 31:6 am) or in mockery is uncertain. Jesus refused the drink, for he had committed himself to drinking the cup that God had given him (Mark 10:38-39 an; 14:36 ao).
• Myrrh has been used since before Jesus’ time to treat wounds and infections and for digestive ailments.
15:24 ap Crucifixion goes back to the Medes and Persians in the 600s BC. It spread to the eastern Mediterranean world in the 300s BC through Alexander the Great and became the dominant form of capital punishment in the Roman Empire until AD 337, when it was banned by Constantine. It was slow, shameful, and torturous. The victim sometimes lived for days, and crows and dogs would feed on the victims even before they died. A person could be fixed to the cross by ropes or, as with Jesus (Luke 24:39 aq; John 20:25 ar, 27 as; see Col 2:14 at), by nails between the bones of the victim’s wrists. To prevent premature death by asphyxiation, a footrest or a seat was often placed on the vertical beam.
• All four Gospels report that the soldiers divided his clothes among themselves.
15:25 au Mark records Jesus’ crucifixion as occurring at the third hour, or nine o’clock in the morning. John 19:14 av gives the time as around the sixth hour, or noon. These are rough estimates of time, and events in the later morning were typically described as occurring around either the third (Matt 20:3 aw; Acts 2:15 ax) or sixth hour (Mark 15:33 ay; Matt 20:5 az; 27:45 ba; Luke 23:44 bb; John 4:6 bc; 19:14 bd; Acts 10:9 be).
15:26 bf Although the title King of the Jews was intended to mock Jesus, it was accurate and meaningful for Mark.
15:27 bg Two revolutionaries: Jesus, the most important victim, was placed in the center.
Summary for Mark 15:29-32: 15:29-32 bh Jesus was being mocked and abused by the people passing by, the religious leaders, and the revolutionaries.
• The people passing by shouted abuse (literally blasphemed), wagged their heads in contempt (see Lam 2:15 bi), and ridiculed his claim that he would destroy the Temple (see Mark 14:58 bj).
15:32 bk The two men who were crucified with Jesus also mocked him. One might expect compassion from those suffering a similar cruel fate (cp. Luke 23:39-43 bl).
15:33 bm At noon (literally the sixth hour) darkness came over the whole land until three o’clock (literally the ninth hour). The whole land probably means all of Judah. The darkness was both literal and symbolic—it revealed the sinister nature of what was happening and was a taste of the judgment that Jesus predicted would come upon Israel (see 13:1-31 bn; 14:58 bo; 15:29 bp).
15:34 bq Eloi, Eloi ... why have you abandoned me: Jesus’ loud cry is reported in its original Aramaic and then translated for Greek readers.
• “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Jesus quotes Ps 22:1 br. This saying is best interpreted in light of Mark 14:27 bs; Ps 22 bt; Isa 53:10 bu; 2 Cor 5:21 bv; and Gal 3:13 bw. The divine purpose in Jesus’ becoming a ransom for many (Mark 10:45 bx) was now being realized.
Summary for Mark 15:35-36: 15:35-36 by The Aramaic term Eloi and its Hebrew equivalent Eli (Matt 27:46 bz) sound sufficiently close to “Elijah” that some bystanders thought that Jesus was calling out for the prophet Elijah to rescue him (see Mal 4:5 ca).
15:37 cb The death of Jesus, like the crucifixion, is told with stark simplicity.
15:38 cc The curtain that was torn in two might have been the one that separated the sanctuary from the courtyard (a magnificent tapestry eighty feet tall) or the one that separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the sanctuary. If it was the former, the tearing (like the darkness, 15:33 cd) was visible to people; it would indicate that Jesus’ prediction of the sanctuary’s destruction (14:58 ce; 15:29 cf) was being fulfilled spiritually (see Rom 9–11 cg) but awaited physical fulfillment in AD 70. If it was the interior curtain that tore, it was probably a sign that, just as the heavens were split for Jesus to reveal his direct access to God (see study note on Mark 1:10), his death now extended this access to his followers (see Heb 6:19-20 ch; 9:3-14 ci; 10:19-20 cj).
15:39 ck the Roman officer: Literally the centurion. The Latin word centurion refers to an officer in charge of 100 men.
• Jesus as the Son of God was announced by God (1:11 cl; 9:7 cm), by demons (1:24 cn, 34 co; 3:11 cp; 5:7 cq), by Mark (1:1 cr), by Jesus himself (12:6 cs; 13:32 ct; 14:61-62 cu), and now by a Gentile officer.
Summary for Mark 15:40-41: 15:40-41 cv These women had supplied some of Jesus’ economic needs (see Luke 8:2-3 cw). They were also present at the burial (Mark 15:47 cx) and the empty tomb (16:1-8 cy) and would be the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection.
• Mary Magdalene, from the village of Magdala near the shore of the Sea of Galilee, was a key figure in the resurrection accounts (16:1 cz, 9 da; Matt 28:1 db; Luke 24:10 dc; John 20:1 dd, 11-18 de).
• Mary (the mother of James the younger): This James might have been James the son of Alphaeus (Mark 3:18 df).
• Salome is mentioned only here and in Mark 16:1 dg.
Summary for Mark 15:43-45: 15:43-45 dh Joseph of Arimathea (possibly from the village of Ramathaim, twenty miles northwest of Jerusalem) was an honored member of the high council and a secret disciple of Jesus who was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come (see Matt 27:57 di; Luke 23:50-51 dj; John 19:38 dk). He courageously requested the body of Jesus from Pilate for burial. Since he was a member of the high council and was not known to be Jesus’ disciple, it served Rome’s purposes to grant his request: It would satisfy Jewish concerns about leaving the dead exposed after sunset (Deut 21:22-23 dl), and Jesus’ disciples would not receive the body.
15:46 dm Joseph prepared Jesus’ body for burial and laid it in his own tomb (see Matt 27:60 dn).
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