The Crucifixion
15:16 And the soldiers led him away outside of the palace (that is, the praetorium), and they called together the whole cohort. 17. And they dressed him in purple and, having woven a thorny crown, they placed [it] on him, 18. and they began to greet him, “Greetings, King of the Jews!” 19. And they struck his head with a reed and spat on him, and getting on their knees, they were giving him homage. 20. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple and put his garments on him and led him out that they might crucify him.
To the Roman soldiers, Jesus is a nobody. He is their sport for the day. "Look, it's the king of the Jews," and they beat him. They dress him up in the purple of royalty. They make him a crown out of thorns. They mockingly kneel before a king that fits their prejudices and "superiority" over the Jews. They are Romans. Everyone else is dirt.
[I write these notes after Russian soldiers have done similar atrocities to Ukrainians.]
They strike him with a reed. They spit on him. In their minds, they have the unquestioned power. To them, Jesus is just a weak piece of scum. They smack him randomly, like a bully in a schoolyard.
Then when they've had their fun, they strip him naked and get on with their business.
21. And they forced a certain Simon of Cyrene as he was passing by, coming from the country ([he is] the father of Alexander and Rufus), that he might take up his cross. 22. And they bring him to Golgotha (which is being translated, “Place of a Skull”), 23. and they were giving him wine mixed with myrrh, which he did not receive.
After the beating he has received, Jesus is not strong enough to carry the crossbeam of the cross. The pole to which it was attached would more or less be situated permanently just outside one of the city gates. Romans crucified criminals as a sign to anyone who might even entertain the thought of defying Rome. The cross was far more than an instrument of torture. It was a tool of humiliation and shame. It was a way of telling non-Romans that they were scum and dirt.
A man named Simon is in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Romans "recruit" him to carry the crossbeam. It must have had a profound impact on him because Mark and his audience know his children, Alexander and Rufus. It makes sense to think that Simon became a follower of Jesus after that.
He is from Cyrene in North Africa, although it is not clear whether he had moved to Israel. He is coming from the country, so he at the very least does not live in Jerusalem.
Golgotha, just outside the city gate, is where the permanent pole for crucifixion was situated. It was probably on the northwest side of Jerusalem on a small hill. Most scholars believe that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is indeed the most likely location. [1] Although it is currently within the city walls, archaeological evidence suggests that it was outside the wall at the time of Jesus.
[1] Gordon's tomb became a favorite suggestion in the 1800s, but this suggestion faces serious problems. Principally, it does not matter how the site looks today. 1900 years is a very long time. What is important is what the site looked like 2000 years ago. The site has certain sentimental advantages, but few historical ones.
They offer Jesus wine mixed with myrrh to deaden the pain. Jesus wants none of it.
24. And they crucify him and they divided his garments, casting a lot upon them [for] who would take what. 25. And it was about the third hour, and they crucified him. 26. And the inscription of his charge had been inscribed, “The King of the Jews.” 27. And with him they crucified two thugs one on his right and one on his left. [2]
The dividing of garments echoes Psalm 22:18. As we will see in a moment, this psalm must have been on Jesus' mind on the cross. Again, Jesus is nothing to them. He is just some scum who deserved to die. Perhaps they laugh as they divide up his stuff, almost forgetting that he is there.
The third hour would be 9am. The Sabbath begins at sundown, so the Jewish leaders would be keen for it all to be over by dusk. The Romans would oblige. A friend of mine once noted that Mark does not emphasize the agony of the cross the way we often do today. It was more the shame of the cross that they focused on.
Pilate and the Romans are more than happy to mock the Jews and Jesus with the title, "King of the Jews" above him. Ironically, he is the King of the Jews. Mark will make it clear in a moment that the cross is a demonstration of his messianic identity, not a disproof of it.
[2] A number of later manuscripts of Mark have a verse 28 here: "And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, 'And he was reckoned with lawless ones.'" There is no conspiracy here. Copyists tend to expand and explain rather than cut things out, although this is not an absolute rule. Matthew used Mark and does not mention the Scripture--which is something he would likely have done given his emphasis on Jesus fulfilling Scripture. Luke does have this quote at 22:37. Perhaps a copyist felt like it fit even better at the cross.
29. And those passing by were insulting him, wagging their heads and saying, “Woe, the one who destroys the temple and rebuilds [it] in three days. 30. Save yourself, coming down from the cross.” 31. Similarly, the high priests, mocking to one another with the scribes were saying, “He saved others. He isn’t able to save himself. 32. Let the Christ, the King of Israel come down now from the cross that we might see and believe.” And the ones who had been crucified with him were reviling him.
Jesus' enemies gloat. There is a German word for it, Schadenfreude, joy at the misfortune of others. There was a time where they had to keep their mouth shut because of the crowds who loved Jesus. Now that evil and mischief has prevailed, they can reveal their true hearts and their true colors. We sometimes see this in cultures where the ungodly come to power. The evil that used to be whispered and hidden can now be aired in public along with the kinds of abuse that go with it.
Or perhaps they followed Jesus briefly for the wrong reason. Perhaps they thought Jesus was a violent man like them. He was going to pound the Romans with God's fist. "No? He wants to redeem God's enemies? He lets them arrest him? Serves him right!"
The chief priests and scribal elite have finally won (or have they?). They couldn't beat Jesus in argument. They couldn't beat Jesus in popularity. But by golly they could kill him. "You thought you were so cool healing other people. Can't heal yourself, can you, heh, heh, heh!" "Let's see you destroy the temple now!"
"Still think you're the king, the Messiah? Show us a trick Jesus. Come down from the cross."
Even the two criminals next to Jesus mock him. Mark tells nothing of one of the criminals coming to his senses. If all we had were Mark, we would assume they both mocked Jesus as well. It is one thing for the so-called respectable people to mock you. Even the actual low-lives are mocking you.
33. And the sixth hour having come, it became dark over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34. And in the ninth hour Jesus cried with a great voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani,” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
The sixth hour was noon. Psalm 19:1 says that the skies declare the glory of God. Now they declare the agony of God. The darkness forebodes the death of God. At the ninth hour, 3pm, Jesus cries out in Aramaic, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
In Mark, this is the only thing Jesus says from the cross. He is quoting Psalm 22:1. He feels abandoned by God the Father. We can imagine this psalm running through Jesus' head as he struggles for breath, having to push his feet against the spikes to push himself up for breath. There was not a lot of talking from a cross.
You often hear people say that God the Father had to turn away from Jesus because he was taking on the sin of the world. Nothing in the biblical text says this idea. God the Father cannot be anything but one with God the Son. This is an example of taking pictures and metaphors too far. Jesus feels abandoned--what human would not? But he is not abandoned. God is everywhere present, even in hell. He just isn't experienced there.
Nor does God learn anything on the cross. God knows everything. God created the very possibility of the cross. There is no difference between head knowledge and experiential knowledge for God. God created the very possibility of experiential knowledge. God knows everything. He always has. He always will.
35. And certain of those standing alongside, having heard [him], were saying, “Look, he is calling Elijah.” 36. And a certain man, running, and having filled a sponge with sour wine, having placed [it] on a reed, he was offering him a drink, saying, “Wait. Let us see if Elijah should come to take him down.” 37. And Jesus, having let go a great sound, breathed out.
It is quite likely that Jesus' speech was slurred and halting. They do not seem to hear fully what he is saying. They heard something that sounds like Elijah. They can't make sense of it. Perhaps they think of Malachi 4:3, where Elijah comes before the Lord comes to his temple. A man runs to give him some sour wine, perhaps to quench his thirst.
But Mark does not tell us that the sour wine ever reached his lips. Quite unusually, Jesus dies long before a person being crucified would. His pain is not just physical. Someone has said, "He died of a broken heart."
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