Bible Study on Mark - Part 25, Mark 15:21-39

Today we hear of the actual crucifixion of Jesus. He had been so badly beaten, as we heard last week, that He could not carry His cross all the way to Golgotha, the place for the crucifixion, outside of Jerusalem. Golgotha means “Place of a Skull,” probably because it was a round hill shaped almost like a skull. The Greek word for skull is “Cranium” - the word still used in medical science for a human skull.

Maybe this hill was chosen for the crucifixion because of its looks and because it was at a place where many people passed by, going in and out of Jerusalem. The Romans liked to do very public executions of this sort, as a warning not to go against their wishes. The Romans controlled the country, so they could also compel a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross of Jesus for Him. Simon’s sons are mentioned, possibly because they were known to Christians who would read this Gospel later on, though we are not sure of that. See the Alexander and Rufus mentioned in Acts 19:33 and Romans 16:13 (Mark 15:21-22).

The soldiers offered Jesus wine mixed with myrrh, because it could sedate Him, stupefy him, dope Him up, so that He would be easier to handle as they crucified Him. Jesus refused, probably because He needed to suffer fully what we human beings deserve for our sins, in payment for them. He also had seven important “words” - simple statements to speak from the cross - and he needed to be clear-headed for all this, too (Mark 15:23).

As God inspired Mark, he told what happened, very simply. He left out many things included in some of the other Gospels and just told things concisely and directly. (Maybe some of the other Gospels had already been written, and he did not need to repeat all that they told us, too.) Mark simply said, “They crucified Him” at the third hour, around 9 am,  “and divided His clothes, casting lots" (a form of gambling) for them (Mark 15:23-25, Psalm 22:18). Much of what happened had been predicted already in the Old Testament, in passages like Psalm 22:1, 6-8, 18 and Isaiah 53:3-6, 8-9, 12. Watch for other predictions you can find that are fulfilled in the rest of the crucifixion story.

The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, had ordered that an inscription of the charges against Jesus be posted: “The King of the Jews” (Mark 15:26). This was a key charge that the Jewish authorities had emphasized, though they did not really believe that Jesus was a king at all. Pilate also did not really see Jesus as a king who was a threat to the Roman government. He let the charge stand, though, as he realized that the Jewish religious leaders felt very threatened by Jesus and envied Him (Mark 15:10.12). We also hear that two robbers were crucified, along with Jesus, a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:12 (Mark 15:27).

Many who came and saw Jesus “derided” Him. Literally, the Greek text says that they kept on “blaspheming” Him. They had earlier accused Jesus of being a blasphemer - one who spoke against God. Actually, they were the ones who were speaking against God, because Jesus was the Son of God, doing His Heavenly Father’s will and speaking the truth. They were “wagging their heads” against Jesus, fulfilling another prophecy, in Psalm 22:7, saying “No” to Jesus and all He stood for. They made fun of Jesus saying that He claimed He could destroy the temple in Jerusalem and rebuild it in three days, when He could not even save Himself and come down from the cross (Mark 15:29-30).

As we have already seen in an earlier lesson, Jesus was referring to “the temple of His body,” which would be killed but then raised from the dead in three days (John 2:19-22). The sanctuary of God was no longer to be in the Jerusalem temple. Jesus was God. He was the sanctuary, the dwelling place of God on earth. In destroying Jesus, they were destroying their own sanctuary and dooming the Jewish temple in the process, as the sanctuary. Jesus had earlier taught that in the future, people would not worship the Father in Jerusalem, but “in spirit and in truth,” in Jesus, Who is the Christ. (See John 4:19-26 and Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the temple, in Mark 13:1-2.)

The chief priests and other Jewish religious authorities also mocked Jesus, speaking “to one another,” as if Jesus were not even worthy to be spoken to directly, “He saved others. he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel come down now from the cross that we may see and believe” (Mark 15:31-32). Notice what they are actually saying: Jesus does not have the power to save himself, by getting off the cross. Therefore, he cannot really be the Christ and the King of all Israel and has no ability to save others; and they will never believe in him. They reject him and his claims completely. In their eyes, Jesus is a failure, because he cannot save himself.

The Jewish religious authorities were missing the whole point of Jesus coming into the world, as Messiah and Savior. He came not to save Himself, but to sacrifice Himself for the Jews and us and all the sinful people of this world. Remember again Mark 10:45. Jesus came “to serve and to give His life as a ransom” to pay for the sins of the world. The Jewish authorities thought they could and had to save themselves by their own efforts to keep the laws they had established. They had self-interest; and grace and mercy that cared for others, as Jesus cared for sinners, did not make sense to them.

Remember the teaching of Jesus in Mark 10:24-27. With man, it is impossible to be saved. But not with God - and the saving work He would do through His Son, Jesus.

That saving work culminated in what happened with Jesus in Mark 15:33-38. From the sixth to the ninth hour, from noon until 3 pm, darkness was over the whole land (Mark 15:33). Darkness had often been predicted at times of judgment for sin. See Old Testament passages like Joel 2:1-2, 31; Joel 3:14-15; Isaiah 5:30 and 13:9; and Jesus words in Mark 13:24.

Many of these passages about the sun being darkened have to do with the last times and day of the Lord’s judgment, when Christ returns and rescues all believers and brings final judgment on those part from Christ. In Mark 15, though, it is Jesus Who was being judged and suffering the punishment in our place, for what we and all people deserve for our sins. It was a very dark time for Jesus, and the darkness made that clear.

In Mark 15:34, we have the only words from the cross that Mark tells us about. Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 and cried out with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why (for what purpose) have You forsaken Me?” At that very time, Jesus was suffering the worst punishment of hell for us, in our place, being totally “away from the presence of the Lord.” See 2 Thessalonians 1:9-10. We do not know how this could be - how Jesus could be totally forsaken by His Heavenly Father for our sake and our forgiveness of all of our sins. But that is what happened for us by the love of Jesus for us and this sinful world. See such passages as 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Galatians 3:10-14 and 1 Peter 2:21-25.

The commentator Lenski says, “Jesus thirsts for God, but God has removed Himself. It is not the Son that has left the Father, but the Father the Son. The Son cries for God, and God makes no reply to Him…. Even though God turned from Him and left Him, He cries to Him and holds Him as His God. The divine perfection of Jesus appears as the Lamb without blemish,  though made sin and a curse, in the hour of His sacrifice…. Only thus, by Jesus being actually forsaken, could the full price of our redemption be paid… Though He saw only God, and that God was far from Him, Jesus did not waver. (He trusted His Father, no matter what happened.) That, too, was needed for our redemption.”

Some people at the cross misunderstood Jesus and thought that He was calling on Elijah to come and help Him (Mark 15:35-36). Jesus had already taught, though, that John the Baptist was the “Elijah” who was to come and prepare the way for Jesus. John had completed his preparatory work; but only Jesus could complete His saving work for us all. He did so, in His suffering the wrath of God for us and His final work of being God-forsaken for us. Now Jesus could take a sip of sour wine lifted to Him on a sponge; and though Mark does not tell us, Jesus could finally say His last words from the cross, with a loud voice, and breathe out His spirit in death (Mark 15:36-37).

Then, as the commentator Lenski says, “Jesus is dead, His lips are silent; God now speaks a language of His own.” The curtain in the temple in Jerusalem, separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, where only once a year could the high priest enter into the presence of God - that curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. Jesus, by His sacrifice for us and the world, had earned forgiveness for us and access for us into the very presence and blessings and eternal life with our Lord in Heaven (Mark 15:38). That will become even clearer in what we hear next week, with the resurrection of Jesus from death.

The Roman centurion, who saw all this and saw Jesus die, said “Truly this man was the Son of God.” In effect, he said, “Amen. This is most certainly true about Jesus.” This was exactly what both Jesus, and Mark, in writing about Jesus, wanted all people to come to believe. Tradition says that this centurion did become a believer. May the Lord increase our own confidence in Jesus and in His completed saving work for us, through these God-inspired words given us by Mark.