Mark 15King James Version
Jesus before Pilate. He answers nothing, so that Pilate marvels. The crowd chooses Barabbas. The soldiers mock him with a purple robe and a crown of thorns. They lead him out to be crucified. Simon of Cyrene is compelled to bear the cross. Golgotha. They crucify him at the third hour. From the sixth hour to the ninth hour, darkness over the land. He cries, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. He gives up the ghost. The veil of the temple is rent in twain. The centurion: Truly this man was the Son of God. Joseph of Arimathaea takes the body and lays it in a tomb cut out of a rock.
Jesus is brought to Pilate, who finds no crime in him. The crowd chooses Barabbas. Soldiers mock Jesus with a purple robe and crown of thorns. Simon of Cyrene carries his cross. At Golgotha, Jesus is crucified between two criminals. The inscription: King of the Jews. Passersby mock; chief priests and scribes mock. Darkness from noon to three. Jesus cries out why God has forsaken him, and dies. The temple curtain tears top to bottom. A Roman centurion says: truly this man was the Son of God. Joseph of Arimathea buries him.
The one identified throughout Mark as the Son of God dies abandoned, mocked, and unrecognized except by a Gentile soldier who understands in death what the disciples could not grasp in life.
39: "And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God." The Messianic secret kept through sixteen chapters is finally spoken aloud by a Roman pagan at the moment of death.
Golgotha, the place of the skull, was just outside the city walls, visible from the road. Crucifixion was a public execution designed to humiliate and deter. The mocking at the cross, save yourself, echoes every earlier test of Jesus's identity. He could have. He did not. The women who watch from a distance are named: they will be the first witnesses on Sunday morning.
Pilate, who washes his hands of it in his own way; the crowd, manipulated by the chief priests; Barabbas, released; soldiers who mock and crucify; Simon of Cyrene, pressed into service; two criminals; the chief priests and scribes, watching and taunting; women watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James and Joses, and Salome; the centurion; Joseph of Arimathea, who asks for the body.
The darkness from noon to three recalls the plagues of Egypt. The cry of dereliction quotes Psalm 22, a psalm of suffering that ends in vindication. The tearing of the temple curtain, top to bottom, signals that the barrier between God and humanity is gone. Mark has withheld the confession Son of God from human lips until this moment, and gives it to a Gentile, which is precisely the audience he is writing for.
For when you feel utterly abandoned and wonder if God is still there. The psalm Jesus quotes from the cross was written by someone who felt the same thing, and the psalm does not end in silence.
1And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.
2And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it.
3And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing.
4And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee.
5But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.
6Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.
7And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.
8And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them.
9But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
10For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.
11But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.
12And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?
13And they cried out again, Crucify him.
14Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.
15And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
16And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band.
17And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,
18And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
19And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.
20And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.
21And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
22And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.
23And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.
24And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.
25And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
26And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
27And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.
28And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.
29And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,
30Save thyself, and come down from the cross.
31Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.
32Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
33And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
35And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias.
36And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.
37And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
38And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
39And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.
40There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;
41(Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.
42And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
43Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.
44And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.
45And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
46And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.
47And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.