Notes on Mark 15:14-47

To pacify the shouting crowd - Mark 15:14-15

Pilate had Jesus crucified not because Jesus was guilty, but because he wanted to pacify the shouting crowd. In this way Jesus' Roman trial was just as much a miscarriage of justice as his trial before the Sanhedrin had been. Before Jesus was crucified he was scourged. The soldiers beat Jesus with a leather whip that was imbedded with pieces of bone or metal designed to rip open the flesh. Such scourging often preceded a Roman crucifixion.

The Crucifixion and Burial - Mark 15:16-47

Mark emphasized that Jesus was condemned and crucified by the Romans. It was important for the original readers of the gospel in Rome to know that Jesus, their Messiah, had already experienced everything that they were called on to suffer.

600 soldiers - Mark 15:16

A Roman cohort at full strength was made up of 600 soldiers. On this occasion it seems that much of the cohort had remained at Pilate's official residence in Caesarea.

Soldiers spat on Jesus. - Mark 15:17-20

The soldiers spat on and mocked the bloodied Jesus. in fulfillment of his prophecy in 10:34. A purple robe was an expensive symbol of royalty. They hit him with a reed staff an imitation of a king's scepter; put a crown of thorns on his head; and pretended to worship him.

Cyrene - Mark 15:21

Cyrene was a coastal city in what is today Libya in Northern Africa. Simon appears to have been a pilgrim in Jerusalem for the feast. His son, Rufus, may have been a member of the Roman church for whom this gospel was written (Rom 16:13). A convicted man was often compelled to carry the cross beam of his cross.

Golgatha - Mark 15:22

There is no certainty about why Golgatha was called place of a skull. It may have been because executions took place there, because there were tombs in the area, or because the shape of the hillside looked like a skull. According to Heb. 13:12 it was outside the city. This would be in accord with Old Testament law (Lev.24:14); and if it were near a city gate would fit well with the Roman intention for crucifixion to be a deterrent against revolution. (It is difficult to know whether they led him out in verse 20 means out of the courtyard or out of the city.)

They crucified him. - Mark 15:24

They crucified him. The Jewish historian Josephus called crucifixion the most wretched of all ways of dying. It was so cruel that it was illegal to crucify a Roman citizen. A nail was driven through each hand (or wrist) into the cross beam and another nail was driven through both ankles into the horizontal beam. Death was often by suffocation when the victim became too weak to support himself on his ankles or more slowly from a loss of blood. Casting lots fulfilled the prophecy of Ps. 22:18.

The third hour - Mark 15:25-26

The third hour would have been around 9:00am. It was typical Roman practice to post the charge over the person crucified. According to John 19:20 it was written in Hebrew (or Aramaic), Latin, and Greek. Perhaps this explains why each of the four gospel writers quotes the sign slightly differently (Matt. 27:37; Luke 23:38; John 19:19). The sign proclaimed the truth that Mark stressed throughout his gospel. Jesus was the royal Messiah. Jesus was crucified between two robbers in fulfillment of Isa. 53:12.

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