Friday, April 15, 2022

Explanatory Notes -- Mark 15:38-47 (Burial)

The Aftermath

38. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 

Mark does not explain the significance of this event, but we might infer from elsewhere that the barrier that stood between humanity and God's presence has been severed. Certainly, Hebrews might interpret the event in this way (e.g., Heb. 10:10), and the Gospel of Mark and Hebrews may have been written at about the same time with a Roman audience in mind. 

There are other possible explanations, such as an expression of the grief of God. These interpretations are not mutually exclusive. Perhaps it could be interpreted along the lines of the glory of God leaving the temple.

39. And the centurion standing in front of him, having seen that he thus breathed out, said, “Truly this man was Son of God.” 

Many have argued that this moment is the climax of the Gospel of Mark. A story can of course be told in more than one way. Matthew arguably tells the story with a double climax. First, there is the victorious resurrection. Then there is the Great Commission. But Mark tells the story in such a way that the climax is at the cross. The resurrection is not the focus of the story's energy in Mark.

We can catch a glimpse of why in Mark 10:45. "The Son of the Mortal did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for others." The cross for Mark highlights Jesus absorbing the wrath of God toward Israel and the world. We find this kind of thinking in a Jewish book from about 150 years earlier, 2 Maccabees. In one chapter, seven brothers and their mother are martyred for their refusal to apostatize from the God of Israel. The youngest brother before dying expresses his hope that, through their deaths, "to bring an end to the wrath of the Almighty that has rightly fallen on our whole nation" (7:38).

We might call this atonement theology both a "satisfaction" of God's anger/justice toward Israel and, in a sense, a "substitution" of the deaths of these righteous brothers for the whole of Israel. Isaiah 53:5 expressed the same idea long before any Jew had a sense that part of being Messiah was dying for the sins of Israel: "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities." This sort of "substitutionary atonement" was part of the Jewish background of the New Testament.

We are so used to this logic that it is hard for us not to read it in its full, cosmic scope. We do not realize how startling the scope of Hebrews' theology is. What, not just for Israel? What, even for all the sins of the Old Testament? Their immediate thought must have been, "He is dying for the Israel of this moment, so that our kingdom can be restored." 

All of these are of course pictures. They are goo-goo gah-gah talk. Theologians have argued and debated the full significance of the cross for two millennia. Mark simply says it was a ransom (10:45) and that his blood was poured out for many (14:24). He doesn't go into theological depth.

The centurion gets it. The way Jesus died demonstrated that he was indeed the Son of God, the king. Ironically, he is the first person in the Gospel of Mark to get the connection between Jesus' suffering/death and the fact that he is the Messiah of Israel, the anointed king. Peter understood that Jesus was king, but he did not get the cross (Mark 8:31-32). The same was true of James and John, who still fight over who will be greatest in the restored Israel (10:35-40). 

The centurion is the first person in Mark to see that Jesus' death demonstrates that he is the Messiah. It is not that he is the Messiah despite dying on the cross. He is the Messiah because he dies for the sins of Israel. And it is a non-Jew who sees it first. 

This is what Paul will say in 1 Corinthians 1:22-23. He preached Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. It was a stumbling block to the Jews because it suggested that the humiliation of the Roman fist was the glory of God. It suggested that the last shall be first and that to lose is to win. This made no sense to the Greeks, just as it makes little sense even to many who call themselves Christians today.  

40. And women were watching from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joseph, and Salome, 41. who were following him when he was in Galilee and they were serving him alongside many others who came up with him to Jerusalem.

It is easy to forget that wherever the Twelve were, wherever disciples were, there were key women who followed and went along with Jesus. Luke 8:3 suggests that they were the primary support for Jesus' ministry. Mary Magdalene is never said to be a prostitute anywhere in the Bible. Luke 8:2 notes that she had been possessed of seven demons before Jesus cast them out. In John 20:17, she is the first witness to the resurrection and the first one sent to witness thereto (which is what an apostle is).

"James the Less" is the other James--in other words, he was not James the son of Zebedee. He was James the son of Alphaeus (Mark 3:18). But his mother was in Jesus' company as a disciple. Joseph is probably another of those who followed Jesus with his mother and brother to Jerusalem, although not one of the Twelve. Salome is only mentioned in Mark. 

It is a reminder again that there were a lot more followers of Jesus than just the Twelve. They had come up to Jerusalem perhaps in part because it was Passover. But they may also have had the same mistaken expectations of others. They may have thought that Jesus was going to be enthroned as king right there at the Passover. Even after his resurrection, Acts 1:6 records this expectation.

42. And it already having become evening, since it was the Preparation, which is before Sabbath, 43. Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who also himself was awaiting the kingdom of God, having dared to enter to Pilate, even asked for the body of Jesus. 44. And Pilate marveled that he had already died, and calling for the centurion, he asked if he had already died. 45. And having known from the centurion, he gave the corpse to Joseph.

Jesus is crucified on Friday. In Mark's account, this is the day of Passover, the fourteenth of Nisan. If he was crucified in AD30, that would be April 7. The Sabbath began at sundown, so there was some hurry to get Jesus down and buried quickly. John says they had to break the legs of the two criminals so they would die more quickly (John 19:32). Pilate is surprised that Jesus is already dead. He double-checks with the centurion in charge of the crucifixion.

Joseph of Arimathea asks for the body and provides the tomb. He is apparently a member of the Sanhedrin. Luke 23:51 says that he had not agreed with the plan to put Jesus to death. We are not entirely sure where Arimathea was, but it was a village in the country. He is a prominent enough person in the city to have direct access to Pilate. 

He was awaiting the kingdom of God. The fact that his name is remembered suggests that he became part of the Jesus movement after the resurrection. These names became sealed in the story as it was told and retold beyond Jerusalem, and the good news reached people who had never met these individuals, like us.

46. And having bought a linen, having taken him down, he wrapped him in the linen and placed him in a tomb which had been hewn out of rock. And he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. 47. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the [mother] of Joseph were seeing where he has been put.

Assuming that Jesus was crucified at the traditional location in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, then his place of burial was a stone's throw away. Recent archaeological evidence does indicate that the current shrine dates at least back to Constantine, when he first build on the traditional site of Jesus' burial. There are also other barrel tombs hewn out of rock in the church that are possible candidates.

There seems no time in Mark to do the normal anointing for burial. The best the women can do is note where he has been laid and plan to come back first thing Sunday morning to complete the ritual.

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