Mark chapter 15 contains three main elements—the time before Pilate, the crucifixion, and the burial. All of Jesus’ life and His entire three-year public ministry focused toward this point. It is mankind’s darkest hour but is the beginning of a turning point in the history of the universe.
1
The Sanhedrin had met the night before and condemned Jesus, but because decisions made at night were not binding, they needed to come together to legitimize their actions. And also because the Jews were not permitted under Roman law to put anyone to death, they had to turn Him over to the Roman authorities, which in this case was Pontius Pilate, who served as governor from A.D. 26 – 36. That they tied Him up is unusually cruel to me, but I suppose they wanted to make Him look like a criminal to Pilate.
2 – 5
This is a much abbreviated version of the times that Jesus spent before Pilate. Mark seems to emphasize Jesus’ kingship. Pilate’s question about being “King of the Jews” is the first time it is used in this gospel, but is repeated several times. The charge against Jesus to Pilate was treason. Mark records that Jesus answered Pilate’s direct question, but still refused to lower Himself to argue about the other accusations the religious leaders brought. Pilate was amazed because he held Jesus’ life in his hands (or at least he thought he did). Pilate did send Jesus to Herod Antipas in an effort to extricate himself from this tangle, but it didn’t work so he tried another trick.
6 – 11
The religious leaders were pretty good and moving the people because they held such power over them, so it should come as no surprise that they “stirred up” the crowd to ask for the release of Barabbas, a known murderer, over Jesus. So the religious leaders wanted a murderer released – ironic as they were committing murder themselves!
Pilate was no political slouch and recognized the real motivation of the chief priests, but had difficulty when it came to overcoming the crowd. Pilate was known as a pretty cruel person, but was in a bit of a jam because if he didn’t go along with the crowd a riot might ensue which could get him in trouble with Rome. In fact, that’s exactly what happened later and Pilate was removed as governor.
12 – 15
So we see here that both the religious trial (Mark 14:53-59) and the civil trial (Mark 15:2-15) resulted in a no guilty verdict against Jesus. An innocent man was about to be crucified, but Pilate was not strong enough to withstand the shouts. I don’t think he really cared about Jesus or the crowd, or the religious leaders at all—he simply wanted to keep his job and his power so he lets it happen.
16 – 20
In Chapter 14 it was the temple police and the religious leaders who took turns striking Jesus. Now it is the Roman military’s turn. A large group of soldiers mock Jesus. My guess is that these soldiers had nothing personally against Jesus like the religious leaders, but hated the Jews and hated being posted in this backwater called Palestine. Here was a man claiming to be the Jews’ King so it made some perverse sense for them to transfer their frustration on to this man as a stand-in for all Jews. “If they weren’t so rebellious all of the time we wouldn’t need to be here!” they might have said. This doesn’t absolve them in any way. It actually fulfills Scripture:
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like one people turned away from; He was despised, and we didn't value Him.
Isaiah 52:14 As many were astonished at you; so his appearance was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. (NKJV).
Purple was a royal color but all of this was meant to mock, not honor. I’ll have to say on this next time.
21 – 22
Four soldiers, under the command of a centurion, would have left the headquarters, headed for Golgotha. Jesus was required to carry the cross beam on His shoulders, weighing in at a hundred pounds of rough-hewn timber. Already greatly weakened by the beatings, Jesus could not withstand the weight of the cross so the soldiers pressed Simon into service. This was legal for the soldiers to do, but imagine what was going through Simon’s mind—and the minds of his two sons. Simon was from North Africa and had no doubt come into Jerusalem for the Passover. Romans 16:13 suggests that at least Rufus came to faith in Christ. Jesus said “take up your cross and follow Me.” Simon was the only man who ever lived who could say he had literally done that. I’m sure it didn’t feel like an honor then, but it does now.
23 – 26
The wine mixed with myrrh was supposed to deaden the pain, but Jesus would be crucified with a clear head. Crucifixion consisted of nailing a person’s wrists to the 100 lb. cross piece, and then attaching that cross piece to a post that was upended into a hole in the ground. Then the feet were attached to the post with a very small shelf where the victim could stand. For the most part, a person died of exposure in a process that could take days. It is among the cruelest forms of execution mankind has ever devised. Pilate ordered the inscription as a way to further taunt the Jews—their “king” was being crucified. The soldiers divided up the garments, but cast lots for Jesus’ cloak because it was all one piece. Psalm 22:18 is the prophecy of this taking place.
27 – 28
We know from Luke 23 that the two criminals have a conversation with Jesus. One of them rejects Him, the other begs for His mercy. That he was crucified with criminals comes from Isaiah 53:12.
29 – 36
Those that plotted Jesus’ death made sure they could witness the fruition of their efforts. Ironically, they spoke the truth. Jesus could not save Himself if He was to save mankind. If He had come down from the cross we would all be lost forever.
33 – 37
It seems as if the creation mirrored the spiritual darkness that encircled Jesus. It’s like God’s creation is mourning at what is happening here. We don’t know how this darkness occurred, but it was an incredible sign. Mark gives us a very abbreviated crucifixion account, only focusing on two of the seven statements Jesus makes from the cross. Jesus quotes the first line of Psalm 22. This is where the real agony of the cross sets in. It wasn’t the physical torture that was the worst thing to bear—though it is like a shadow of the spiritual torture that was taking place. The Father was placing the blame for all of our sins upon Jesus and because a holy God cannot be in the presence of sin, He somehow separated Himself from the Son. This had never happened before and it would never happen again.
There was a belief that Elijah, who did not die, would come to the aid of the suffering, so those who stood by misunderstood what Jesus was saying. Jesus said “I am thirsty” and in response someone gave him some wine vinegar to drink. The purpose was probably to keep Him alive longer for the benefit of the gawking public.
One of the other statements that we read in John 19:30 is: “It is finished.” The Greek means that the payment for a debt has been made in full. Normally a crucified person can barely breathe at the last but this was no ordinary death. Jesus did not succumb to crucifixion. To pay for our sins He gave up His life voluntarily.
38 – 39
Mark details two interesting things that happen, both of which I think are significant. First the “curtain of the Sanctuary” split from top to bottom. Most likely this was the heavy curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, where the Ark of the Covenant was located. You could only go in there once a year and only if you were the high priest and had been properly covered with sacrifices. It represented a holy God’s separation from a sinful man. But with it splitting from top to bottom it is God coming down in the person of Jesus and ripping apart that separation through His body. Hebrews 10:19-22 details more of this. This also shows that the Jewish religious system of animal sacrifices and a man-made temple was over.
The second thing that happens is that the Roman centurion recognized that Jesus did not die in the normal way and begins to realize He was indeed something special. Many centurions actually were friendly towards or became Christians. It shows that Christ’s sacrifice was not for the Jews only, but even for the hated Romans, in fact for all Gentiles.
40 – 41
At the end it was the women disciples of Jesus that stood by Him (in addition to John). We know from John’s gospel that Jesus’ mother Mary was there. Also mentioned were Mary Magdalene who was delivered from demon possession (Luke 8:2), another Mary whose sons were well known to the early church, and Salome who was the mother of James and John and probably Jesus’ mother’s sister. It was prominent women who supported Jesus’ ministry financially, and here they were with Jesus to the end.
So we see the religious, civil, and military powers of the day reject Jesus. In all three instances we see the rejection of Jesus as ruler. The Sanhedrin rejected Him as Messiah, Pilate in Mark only deals with the question of Jesus’ kingship, and puts that to death on the cross, and even the military mocked Jesus as King. Man does not want to be ruled by anyone—that was our basic problem going all the way back to the Garden of Eden. We bought Satan’s lie that God was holding out on us and so we should rebel. We refuse to be ruled but what we don’t realize is that we are ruled anyway. When we rebelled against God the human race became subject to Lucifer. The only way out from under his thumb (and his destiny) is to change your citizenship to King Jesus!
Then also on the cross we saw even the Father Himself turn His back on the Son. Jesus was as alone and without support as any human has ever been. He lived the life you should have lived and died the death you should have died—trading His life for yours.
So what exactly happened on the cross? We’ll discuss that next time.
