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| Chapter 15 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ And 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. 2 And Pilate asked Him, "Art thou the King of the Jews?" And answering He said unto him, "Thou sayest it." 3 And the chief priests accused Him of many things, but He answered nothing. 4 And Pilate asked Him again, saying, "answerest thou nothing? Behold how many things they witness against thee." 5 But Jesus yet answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled. 6 Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. 7 And there was one named Barabbas, who lay bound with those who had made insurrection with him, and who had committed murder in the insurrection. 8 And the multitude, crying aloud, began to desire Pilate to do as he had ever done unto them. 9 But Pilate answered them, saying, "Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?" 10 For he knew that the chief priests had delivered Him out of envy. 11 But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them. 12 And 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?" 13 And they cried out again, "Crucify him!" 14 Then Pilate said unto them, "Why, what evil hath he done?" But they cried out the more exceedingly, "Crucify him!" 15 ¶ And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged Him, to be crucified. 16 And the soldiers led Him away into the hall called the Praetorium, and they called together the whole detachment. 17 And they clothed Him with purple, and they platted a crown of thorns and put it about His head, 18 and began to salute Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 19 And they smote Him on the head with a reed and spat upon Him and, bowing their knees, worshiped Him. 20 And 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. 21 And they compelled one Simon, a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who was passing by, coming from the country, to bear His cross. 22 ¶ And they brought Him unto the place called Golgotha (which is, being interpreted, The Place of a Skull). 23 And they gave Him to drink wine mingled with myrrh, but He received it not. 24 And when they had crucified Him, they parted His garments, casting lots for them to see what every man should take. 25 And it was the third hour when they crucified Him. 26 And the superscription of His accusation was written above: "The King of the Jews." 27 And with Him they crucified two thieves, the one on His right hand and the other on His left. 28 And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, "And He was numbered with the transgressors." 29 And those who passed by railed at Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, 30 save thyself and come down from the cross!" 31 Likewise also the chief priests, mocking, said among themselves with the scribes, "He saved others; himself he cannot save! 32 Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe." And those who were crucified with Him reviled Him. 33 ¶ And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is, being interpreted, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" 35 And some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, "Behold, he calleth Elijah." 36 And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed and gave it to Him to drink, saying, "Let him alone. Let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down." 37 And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up His spirit. 38 And the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom. 39 And when the centurion who stood opposite Him saw that He so cried out and gave up His spirit, he said, "Truly, this Man was the Son of God!" 40 There were also women looking on afar off, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome 41 (who also, when He was in Galilee, had followed Him and ministered unto Him), and many other women who came up with Him unto Jerusalem. 42 ¶ And now when the evening had come, because it was the Preparation (that is, the day before the Sabbath), 43 Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable council member who also was waiting for the Kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 And Pilate wondered if He were already dead; and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether He had been any while dead. 45 And when he learned it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 And Joseph bought fine linen, and took Him down and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulcher. 47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where He was laid. |
v1-20 Pilate’s Hall Trial. Matt 27:1,2,11-15; Luke 23:1-7, 13-18; John 18:28-40; John 19:1-16. Following the early morning meeting and the official Jewish verdict being agreed and recorded, the Jewish leaders now take Jesus to Pontius Pilate. This Roman official normally lived in Caesarea but moved to Jerusalem during the Passover feast in case of problems. The Jewish charge and verdict was based upon Jewish law, blasphemy was not a capital crime under Roman law, the religious leaders therefore had to persuade Pilate that Jesus was guilty of death under Roman law. John 18:31-32. Pilate knows that the Jewish leaders hate Jesus and he has very little respect for them, he could see they just wanted vengeance, v10. Mark does not give as much detail of the trial as the other Gospels. In John 18:38; John 19:4; Luke 23:14; Luke 23:22; Matt 27:24 we find that Pilate often states that he "can find no fault." Unfortunately, Pilate wants a quite time and does not have the courage to release Jesus. The Jewish leaders only have one crime that might persuade Pilate, that was the claim that Jesus was a king and could therefore stir the people up, a danger to the Roman empire. The Jews keep making accusations, Pilate questions Jesus but He says nothing. Pilate finds this amazing. Luke 23:6-12 tells us that Pilate sends Jesus to King Herod in an attempt to get out of the decision. Pilate now offers the people a choice, Jesus, a man who does miracles and heals or Barabbas a murderer and robber. But the chief Priests had done a good job in preparing the crowd and they chose Barabbas to be set free. In an attempt to change their minds Pilate had Jesus scourged John 19:1-3. A Roman scourge was so vicious people often did not survive. The idea did not work, when he brought Jesus back after the scourging they wanted His blood even more. Pilate gave in and sent Jesus to be crucified. The soldiers mocked this "King of the Jews" then lead Him off to be crucified. Jesus just took all this suffering without any response or fighting back. v21 Because of the scourging Jesus is physically unable to carry His part of the cross, so the soldiers make Simon, a Cyrenian carry the cross for Him. Matt 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26. It is interesting that a human had to carry the cross to be used for his salvation by the ‘Lamb of God.’ He was carrying the cross on our behalf. Jesus was not guilty, Man was, so he should be carrying his cross. Is this the same Rufus mentioned in Rom 16:13, did Simon and his family become believers? Mark mentions the names as if they were well known in the church. v21-41 The Servant is Crucified. Matt 27:33-56; Luke 23:33-49; John 19:17-37. The Jews reckon time from 6:00 a.m. Mark used the Jewish system in his gospel. The third hour, v25, was therefore 9:00 a.m. We are not told why Golgotha had that name, today, if you visit Israel, you can visit a place called "Gordon’s Calvary" which may be one possible site of the crucifixion and it does have some similarity to a skull. An alternative place now has the church of the Holy Sepulchre built on it. We do not know the exact place, neither is it important, Jesus died for our sins, is the important point. v23 Myrrh was often given to victims as it had a pain reducing effect, but it also tended to act as a narcotic drug. Jesus needs to remain fully in control so refuses the drug. v24 It was common practice for the soldiers to have the victims clothes. Ps 22:18. See The Cross for details on the act of crucifixion. v26 The victim usually wore a sign which told of the crime. The Jewish leaders objected to the wording but Pilate insisted the words were correct. John 19:19-22 v27,28 Isaiah 53:12 Jesus was mocked as a Prophet, v29, a Saviour, v31 and a King, v32. See crucifixion for the order of events. v33 From noon to 3:00 p.m. darkness covers the land as creation covers the death of the creator. Jesus makes seven statements from the cross. See crucifixion for list. v34,35 At 3:00 p.m. not even God the Father can stay with His Son as the sins of the world are place upon Him. The people did not understand what Jesus was saying, they think He is calling for Elijah. v37 Jesus does not die, He laid down His life for each one of us. Two events happened at the death of Jesus, an earthquake Matt 27:51 and the veil in the temple was torn from the top to the bottom. The veil had been used to separate man from God, only the High Priest had been allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, but from that day the death of Jesus had opened the whole world to a "new way" to God. v39 The event must have touched the heart of the centurion, for him to make that remark could have caused serious punishment from Rome and possible objections from the Jewish leaders. v40 Though John had been present at the foot of the cross with the faithful women, none of the other disciples had been present. Disciples, who had been so brave only hours before. v42-47 The Burial. Matt 27:57-61; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42. Jewish times of day have two "evenings." from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. is "early evening" and after 6:00 is "evening," this is when the "new day" begins under the Jewish time system. It was important that the place of crucifixion was cleared as soon as possible as the Sabbath was about to begin, and a special Sabbath due to the Passover John 19:31. v43 God has a member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea, helped by Nicodemus, bury the body of Jesus. John 19:38-42 This must have been planned as they knew of a suitable tomb and had the necessary burial material, spices and grave clothes. They would not have been available that late in the day due to the coming Passover. God must have laid the action into their hearts, possibly they had been searching the scriptures and realized that the Lamb of God would die at the Passover. Without their action the body would have been thrown into the rubbish pit, as usually happened to criminals. Isaiah 53:9. The fact that the body was released by the Romans proves that Jesus was dead, they would have made sure He was dead before releasing the body. |
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