Jesus before Pilate
1 Early in the morning, the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the Law (that is, the whole Council or San hedrin) had their plan ready. They put Jesus in chains, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
2 Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “You say so.”
3 As the chief priests accused Jesus of many things,
4 Pilate asked him again, “Have you no answer at all? See how many charges they bring against you.”
5 But Jesus gave no further answers, so that Pilate wondered.
6 At every Passover festival, Pilate used to free any prisoner the people asked for.
7 Now there was a man called Barabbas, jailed with the rioters who had committed murder in the uprising.
8 When the crowd went up to ask Pilate the usual favor,
9 he said to them, “Do you want me to set free the King of the Jews?”
10 For he realized that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him out of envy.
11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask instead for the release of Barab bas.
12 Pilate replied, “And what shall I do with the man you call King of the Jews?”
13 The crowd shouted back, “Crucify him!”
14 Pilate asked, “What evil has he done?” But they shouted the louder, “Crucify him!”
Jesus crowned with thorns
15 As Pilate wanted to please the people, he freed Barabbas and after the flogging of Jesus had him handed over to be crucified.
16 The soldiers took him inside the courtyard known as the prae torium and called the rest of their companions.
17 They clothed him in a purple cloak and twisting a crown of thorns, they forced it onto his head.
18 Then they began saluting him, “Long life to the King of the Jews!”
19 With a stick they gave him blows on the head and spat on him; then they knelt down pretending to worship him.
20 When they had finished mocking him, they pulled off the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him.
The crucifixion
20 The soldiers led him out of the city to crucify him.
21 On the way they met Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, who was coming in from the country, and forced him to carry the cross of Je sus.
22 When they had led him to the place called Golgotha, which means the Skull,
23 they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he would not take it.
24 Then they nailed him to the cross and divided his clothes among themselves, casting lots to decide what each should take.
25 It was about nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.
26 The statement of his offense was displayed above his head and it read, “The King of the Jews.”
27 They also crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.
28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which says: ‘He was reckoned with the lawless ones.’”
29 People passing by laughed at him, shook their head and jeered, “Aha! So you are able to tear down the Temple and build it up again in three days.
30 Now save yourself and come down from the cross!”
31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the Law mocked him saying to one another, “The man who saved others cannot save him self.
32 Let’s see the Mes siah, the king of Israel, come down from his cross and then we will be lieve in him.” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus insulted him.
The death of Jesus
33 When noon came, darkness fell over the whole land and lasted until three o’clock;
34 and at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabach thani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?”
35 As soon as they heard these words, some of the bystanders said, “Listen! He is calling for Elijah.”
36 And one of them went quickly to fill a sponge with bitter wine and, putting it on a reed, gave him to drink saying, “Now let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”
37 But Jesus uttered a loud cry and gave up his spirit.
38 And immediately the curtain that enclosed the Temple sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.
39 The captain who was standing in front of him saw how Jesus died and heard the cry he gave; and he said, “Truly, this man was the Son of God.”
40 There were also some women watching from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and Joset and Salome,
41 who had followed Jesus when he was in Galilee and saw to his needs. There were also others who had come up with him to Je ru salem.
The burial
42 It was now evening and as it was Preparation Day, that is the day before the Sabbath,
43 Joseph of Arimathea boldly went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Joseph was a respected member of the Council who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God.
44 Pilate was surprised that Jesus should have died so soon; so he summoned the captain and inquired if Jesus was already dead.
45 After hearing the captain, he let Joseph have the body.
46 Joseph took it down and wrap p ed it in the linen sheet he had bought. He laid the body in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock and rolled a stone across the entrance to the tomb.
47 Now Mary of Mag dala and Mary the mother of Joset took note of where the body had been laid.
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Comments Mark, Chapter 15
• 15.6 Why did the crowd choose Barab bas? Because the way to liberation that Jesus proposes requires time, a sense of responsibility and sacrifice. On the contrary, Barabbas is the irresponsible violence that satisfies our desire for vengeance.
Here, the Gospel does not claim to make all the Jews of Jesus’ time responsible for his death. The Gospel bears witness to one fact: the entire people, not just their leaders, had already rejected Jesus as they were soon to reject Christian preaching (Rom 10:19).
One of the first things that the Spirit taught the apostles was that this rejection, so scandalous for Jewish believers, was part of God’s plan (Acts 4:18; Rom 11:25-32). It was al ready prefigured in the story of Joseph: “Don’t grieve and reproach yourselves for selling me, because God has sent me before you to save your lives” (Gen 45:5).
Jesus is the victim for the sin of the world (1Jn 4:10). For him, there were a thousand ways of being a victim and of giving his life for those he loved but the rejection of the Messiah by his own people gave a new meaning to his sacrifice. The rejection of Jesus by his people continued the past history of this people of God who had refused so many times to follow the way of salvation that God was offering them. God had said: “They have rejected me as their king” (1Sam 8:8). Now God sends his own Son and the community delivers him to pagans.
John is inviting us to ask ourselves if God could come in our midst without being rejected by us (Jn 1:15). And Paul shows us that the death on the cross of the God-Man was part of God’s paradoxical wisdom that we have such a hard time to accept (1Cor 1:17-24).
• 15. Jesus was subjected to torture and mockery and everything that befalls the condemned anywhere in the world, when police and military no longer consider them as persons and brothers and sisters. To comply with Roman law Jesus was scourged, but this was not done out of cruelty; the loss of blood and exhaustion caused by such a scourging would hasten the death of the crucified man, thus shortening his agony.
A convicted man with his arms nailed to the cross would suffocate. To make breathing possible, he would shift his weight from his feet to his arms, thus increasing the unbearable pain caused by the nails in the feet and the wrists. As soon as he no longer had enough strength to do this, he would suffocate and die. The bitter wine offered was a drink commonly used by Roman soldiers. Although myrrh lessens pain, Jesus rejected what would have reduced his pain.
• 33. RECONCILIATION
Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabachthani? These are the opening words of Psalm 22 that begins with a cry of anguish and ends with certainty of victory. This psalm makes constant reference to the passion of Jesus.
Jesus’ shout at the moment of death presents a mystery, for a crucified man ordinarily would die from exhaustion and suffocation and be un able to cry out in this manner. No one could take life away from Jesus; it was in his own power, and he surrendered his life when he chose to do so. Those near him were taken aback: was it a shout of defeat or of victory?
The death of a person is sometimes cause for division in a family. At other times a death leads to reconciliation. The cross Jesus died on was made of two wooden beams, a vertical one pointed towards the skies, and the other horizontal, stretched out between heaven and earth. Jesus reconciles all people with God and with each other.
Those who see in Jesus’ death God’s greatest manifestation of love for humanity become re conciled with God. They are no longer controlled by their fear of God and come to understand that we are not subject to blind fate, but are always in God’s loving care (Rom 5).
The curtain which enclosed the Temple sanctuary was torn in two. God no longer remains in that place where no mortal could enter. God left the awe-inspiring temple shrine and is now present to all of us through his wounded Son – wounded, not only by sin, but also by the compassion he feels for us.
Reconciliation among persons and nations. Before Jesus entered our world, God had not begun to lift the barriers that divided people but limited himself to relating with just one people, the Jewish people. From the time of Jesus’ birth, all were called to enter the Kingdom (Eph 2:11-16). Now, the knowledge of Jesus crucified would be the basis of faith and unity. Knowing and believing in him, persons and nations would become re conciled, despite the differences dividing them.
Truly, this man was the Son of God (v. 39). Assuredly, the Roman captain proclaimed that Jesus was a just man (Lk 23:47), that is, an outstanding man. Mark intentionally places on the lips of the captain the words “Son of God,” because this pagan officer represents the pagan nations who would recognize the Son of God in this crucified man.
On several occasions Jesus insisted that he not be proclaimed Son of God (Mk 1:44). He did this because no one can know who God is or what being Son of God means (Mt 11:27), until he has known how Jesus died and come to believe in his resurrection. See Romans 3:24.
• 42. Joseph of Arimathea hastened to claim and bury the body of Jesus, because the Jewish law demanded burial before nightfall of the bodies of convicted people (Dt 21:22), and even more so on a day which preceded an important feast. The tomb selected had been cut from rock on a hillside. The entrance was very low and sealed with a big round stone, similar to that used in a mill. See commentary on John 19:41.
Like the seed that is buried in the soil, the body of Jesus was buried so that new life could flourish (Rom 6:3-5). See commentary on Matthew 27:52.