Mark 15

At daybreak, the chief priests, elders, and scribes held a meeting with the council about how to bring charges against Jesus; and they bound Him and brought Him to Pilate, the Roman governor of Jerusalem. Pilate asked Him if He was King of the Jews, which, if Jesus affirmed, would implicate Him in a rebellion against Rome because no one was king except Caesar. And that is exactly what the Sanhedrin was aiming for. 

Jesus did affirm.

Then the chief priests brought many other accusations against Jesus, though He did not defend Himself. Pilate marveled at how Jesus remained silent. 

During the Passover, it is customary for one prisoner to be released, and Pilate asked if the crowd if they wanted him to release Jesus; but the chief priests provoked the crowd to ask for Barabas, a murderer and insurrectionist against Rome. Confused, Pilate asked what they wanted him to do "with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?" And they cried out, "Crucify Him!" When Pilate said that He had done no evil, they cried out the more, "Crucify Him!"

Wanting to pacify the mob, Pilate handed Jesus over to his guards to be crucified. In the hands of the soldiers, Jesus was scourged, beated, mocked, and spat on. They pretended to worship Him, failing to understand that they will truly bow and worship Him when He comes in glory. But I digress.

The guards grabbed a man, Simon a Cyrenian, to help carry the cross for Jesus to Golgotha. There Jesus was given wine with myrrh to drink, but he refused it. Then He was crucified at the third hour (9 AM).

The soldiers divided His garments, fulfilling prophecy. An inscription stating His charge was affixed above His head: THE KING OF THE JEWS. He was crucified between two robbers - who criticised Him - also fulfilling prophecy. People walking past mocked Him saying, "...save Yourself..." The chief priests also mocked, "...He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe." (Even if He did, they still would not believe!) 

In the sixth hour, darkness covered the land, and at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Someone offered him sour wine. Then He gave up His spirit. At that moment, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, and a centurion who stood watching Jesus said, "Truly this Man was the Son of God."

And the women also remained, watching.

Finally, in the evening, Joseph of Arimathea, of the Sanhedrin, courageously went to Pilate (in secret) to ask for Jesus' body, and Pilate was surprised Jesus had died so quickly. Joseph wrapped Jesus' body in fine linen and laid Him in a tomb, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. And the women witnessed where He had been laid. 

COMMENTARY

When I realized that I had to read Mark 15 today, and that it was about the crucifixion of Jesus, I loathed it in my heart because I am very grieved that My Lord had to suffer this way. But I was about to get a lesson when I read the commentary. And thank God I did. 

The first thing McGee address was this: "...we should not come to this chapter with a feeling of defeat or sympathy for the Sufferer. We should walk softly and reverently through these scenes with a heart welling up to God in thanksgiving for providing so great [a] salvation."

It is not our sympathy that the Son of God wants. He wants our faith. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom. 10:9-10). He wants the faith of your heart, not the sympathy of your heart.

It is the Crucifixion toward which all creation and the purposes of God were moving from all eternity, for He was the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

The cross was God's purpose. My regret for my sin sending Jesus to the cross is correct, but my regret to behold My Savior on the cross because it is painful to read is just as wrong as Peter who rebuked Jesus when He told His disciples He was going to die. So I'm going to think about this differently now.

The Sanhedrin had to find a reason to legally dispose of Jesus. Only Rome could carry out the death penalty. The best charge was that Jesus claimed to be king. Pilate, being a lazy politician, was only interested in pacifying the mob. He actually did not take offense to Jesus and was in awe of Him because He did not defend Himself. In other gospels, we are told that Pilate even talked to Jesus privately to get Him to give him reason to override the Jewish religious rulers; but Jesus came for this purpose, and nothing was going to alter the outcome. 

Then Pilate thought he could release Jesus through the tradition of a prisoner release program, but they were set to eliminate Jesus (which Pilate knew was because of their envy over Jesus' popularity). Therefore, they were content to ask for one of the most hardened prisoners, Barabas, whose place Jesus probably took on the cross because Barabas was set to be crucified.

By the way, the chief priests provoked the crowd to call for the crucifixion of Jesus, and they complied. And Pilate handed Jesus over to his soldiers. But remember what McGee said -- to keep this in perspective. Jesus was an innocent man, yes! But He took our place on that cross because of sin, our sin, and we are not innocent. Sin must be judged and punished.

In the hands of the soldiers, Jesus was inhumanely treated, tormented, and tortured. Maybe that was why the soldiers eventually pulled a man out of the crowd to help Jesus bear the cross.

Jesus was on the cross for six hours, and He died not because His body or organs failed. Those crucified in this manner usually lived a while, even days, and that was why they broke the legs of those hanging because it quickened death. But Jesus died quickly because He gave up His spirit. They did not break His bones, which is also a fulfillment of Scripture. 

At the time of His death, the veil in the temple was torn in two, and the very reason was because Jesus is now our way to God. Before His death, the veil separated man from God, and only the priest could enter behind the veil to speak with God for the people. That veil is no longer needed, and we can go directly to Jesus to speak with God. 

credit: Chad Workhoven