Gospel of Mark Commentary Act 6. Scene 12

This is the forty-ninth installment, comprising Act 6, Scene 12, chapter 16:1-8, in the online commentary on the Gospel of Mark, which I am blogging on throughout the liturgical year. Please see the forty-eighth installment here. Links to the entire series are available in one spot at The Complete Gospel of Mark Online Commentary.

This is my division of the Gospel:

Prologue,  1:1-13;

Act  1, 1:14-3:6;

Act 2, 3:7-6:6;

Act 3, 6:7-8:26;

Act 4, 8:27-10:52;

Act 5, 11:1-13:37;

Act 6, 14:1-16:8(20).

Scene 12: 16:1-8

1 When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" 4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you." 8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (NRSV)

When Mark first mentioned the women, they were “looking on from a distance,” but he quickly named them as Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome (15:40). They appear by name at the beginning of Scene 12, “Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome” (16:1). Mark establishes immediately that the ones who remained faithful to Jesus in his suffering had not abandoned him in his death. The women had waited until the Sabbath was over so they could care for Jesus’ dead body. Mark makes it clear that they expected a dead body, since they “bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him” (16:1). The spices were perhaps used to perfume the body due to decay, but more likely to cleanse, honor and care for it as preparation for the afterlife. 

Andrea Berlin in her article “Jewish Life Before the Revolt: The Archaeological Evidence” in Journal for the Study of Judaism: In the Persian Hellenistic & Roman Period (November 2005) states that the type of burial Jesus experienced was the most common at the time of his life and death (454). She speaks of “vessels for oil or perfume” which have been found in many of these tombs and understands that these might be properly considered as “gifts for the departed” (455-457). The wrapping of the body in perfumes and spices, however, are thought by some to mask the scent of the decaying body.[1] Deborah Green, though, believes that the role of the spices and perfumes in the first order, according to the Rabbinic literature, indicate the cleaning and the preparation of the body after death. This, I think, is the purpose of the women in Mark, who bring arōmata (spices or perfumes) to care for the body as they could not do so when the body was brought down from the cross. They had to wait for the Sabbath to pass and then they purchased arōmata at the market. The fact that they purchased these at the market means that these spices and perfumes were not grave gifts, since they were not possessions of Jesus. The best interpretation of the women’s action is their desire to care for the mistreated and battered body of their dead teacher in a manner congruent with the honor and respect his body deserved.

The English translation of Mark gives us the verb “anoint” here, which plays on Jesus’ “anointing” as Messiah as well as for his burial. It is possible, of course, that this sense of “anointing” was present in the minds of Mark’s first listeners too in 16:1, but it is important to point out that the double entendre of Mark 14:8 (“She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial”) relies on a different verb (myrizō) than 16:1 (aleiphō). Most important, again, to my mind, is that Mark has produced an initial scene in which the women steal back into view as the only ones who are prepared to risk their security to offer Jesus’ body the care it deserves. That they expect to find a body is explicit in the arōmata they carry.

They also expect to find a stone blocking their entry into the tomb, which Andrea Berlin notes is the common method of blocking the rock-cut burial places (454). In fact, these details, and the women’s concern regarding this looming practicality, take up much of this scene. They arose early to go to the tomb to care for Jesus’ body, but Mark tells us that “they had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’” (16:3). Lost in their question is a simply reality: they could not think of any men who had followed Jesus, perhaps 1 or 11 of them, upon whom they could depend on for help.  Maybe Peter? John? James? Anyone? No one came to mind and that indicates that the apostles were gone or in hiding.

Yet, “when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back” (16:4). This is the first shock that Mark throws into the scene, for if the rock has been moved, who has moved it? The women do not spend any time discussing their fears or worries, but enter the tomb where the second shock occurs:

They saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’ (16:5-7)

Now, their alarm shows, which the “young man, dressed in a white robe” acknowledges and then encourages them to let go. The “young man,” who sometimes scholars have attempted to tie to the young man in 14:51-52, must be considered an angelic figure. He is a messenger in the truest sense, with all of the information regarding why they had come to the tomb, what had happened to Jesus – crucified, laid in a tomb, he is now resurrected - and where Jesus would be to meet Peter and the disciples. The young man stresses that they would meet Jesus in Galilee “just as he told you” (16:7). This young man has divine insight and knowledge.

The women say nothing now, but in light of Jesus’ absence and the appearance of a young man who knows about what Jesus said, what happened to him, and where he will be, they do the right thing and run away. It is the logical move, in order to protect themselves and make sense of what had just happened. How many good things happen in tombs? How long do you want to spend with a mysterious stranger in a tomb, even if his robe is white? “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them” (16:8).  

It is the last clause, though, in which the dramatic nature of Mark’s Gospel climaxes: “and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (16:8). It takes on the nature of most dramatic clause by virtue of the fact that numerous biblical scholars have argued, on the basis of excellent ancient textual evidence, that Mark’s Gospel ends here. But if the Gospel ends at this point, is this dramatic or unsatisfying?

If the Gospel ends here, I opt to understand this scene as the dramatic cliffhanger Mark intended it to be. What happened next? Has not Mark throughout this Gospel told over and over, in the Passion Predictions and elsewhere, what had to occur? That Jesus would suffer, die, be buried and then raised up? Has Mark not made clear the inability of Jesus’ own disciples to grasp the nature of his mission? But how do we know all of this? Because we have just heard or read the Gospel! If you ask, well did the women get over their fear and amazement and tell someone the stories we have just read or heard, the answer is in the reality that you just heard or read the Gospel. The Gospel is the answer to the ending. This ending fits perfectly with Mark’s dramatic scheme from the beginning. He has been introducing us to the disciples and Jesus throughout the Gospel, but more than that he has asked us to become disciples by following Jesus throughout the story and responding to each incident. It is up to you to answer, as it has been through all of Mark, but now even more so as the women run scared from the tomb, what do I think happened to Jesus? Who is he? Where is he? What just happened?

While I do think the Gospel works perfectly if it ends at 16:8, it is necessary for us to examine the last verses of chapter 16, which I will treat as an Epilogue and then offer concluding thoughts on the Gospel of Mark as a whole.

This blog post was written in Rome.

John W. Martens

Follow me on Twitter @BibleJunkies

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[1] Byron R. McCane, Roll Back the Stone: Death and Burial in the World of Jesus (T&T Clark, 2003) 15.

Gospel of Mark Commentary Act 6. Scene 11

This is the forty-eighth installment, comprising Act 6, Scene 11, chapter 15:40-47, in the online commentary on the Gospel of Mark, which I am blogging on throughout the liturgical year. Please see the forty-seventh installment here. Links to the entire series are available in one spot at The Complete Gospel of Mark Online Commentary.

This is my division of the Gospel:

Prologue,  1:1-13;

Act  1, 1:14-3:6;

Act 2, 3:7-6:6;

Act 3, 6:7-8:26;

Act 4, 8:27-10:52;

Act 5, 11:1-13:37;

Act 6, 14:1-16:8(20).

Scene 11: 15:40-47

40 There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem. 42 When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. 45 When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. 46 Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid. (NRSV)

A sharp focus on the Centurion, who only came into view in the previous scene, now gives way to a group of women and a man, previously unmentioned[1], as Mark employs  a panoramic  view to draw them into Jesus’ death. Though we are at a climactic point in the story, none of Jesus’ apostles will be noted in this scene. Pointing to the documentary style of these last scenes, however, Mark will give us four personal names in this pivotal section, lending it authenticity. Mark mentions that these women were “looking on from a distance,” similar to Peter who “had followed him at a distance” (14:54) before being scared away. Mark gives us the names only of some of the women, for he states that “among them were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome” (15:40). They have refused to abandon Jesus, but who are they? Mark now tells us that apart from the apostles to whom we have been introduced regularly, a number of women “used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem” (15:41). Mark has let them lurk in the shadows, perhaps even beyond the shadows, amongst unnamed “crowds,” but now he gives us the names of three of them. The mentions of the two Marys and Salome humanize them, but also lend a sense of realism and truth to the scene which Mark describes.

After introducing them, though, Mark moves beyond them, panning the scene for “Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God” (15:43). Not only do the “crowds” get names with Mary Magdalene, Mary and Salome, but now the “council,” the group which condemned Jesus, gets a name. Joseph was concerned that Jesus be taken from the cross prior to the Sabbath, so he “went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus” (15:43).  Mark adds a small detail that adds to the realism of this scene. In response to Joseph’ request, Pilate asks the centurion if Jesus was dead and when he answered Pilate affirmatively, Pilate granted the body of Jesus to Joseph of Arimathea (15:44-45). The scene is now filled only with people who have witnessed Jesus’ death or, in the case of Pilate, the man who was responsible for it. Yet not one of them was an apostle of Jesus. 

Mark might, of course, simply be passing on the simple truth of the matter, yet it also resonates with listeners that those who followed him closely are not present. Those who testify to Jesus’ death are mentioned by name not to buttress the testimony of the apostles, but to supply it since there is no apostolic witness. If the witnesses are less believable at some level because they are women, a Roman centurion, a leader of the soldiers who had a part in Jesus’ death, and Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the council which also had a hand in Jesus’ death, they become more believable by virtue of these same realities. Mark relies on them because they are witnesses, but he also relies on them because they are the only witnesses which he knows. That there is a representative from each group of those who conspired against Jesus is also telling regarding casting judgment on any group, even perhaps Jesus’ missing apostles.

According to Mark, “Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb” (15:46). Joseph of Arimathea has cared for Jesus’ body in a rudimentary way, by removing his body from the cross before decay set in or before animals might have started to eat it. More than that, he wrapped his body in linen and insured that Jesus’ body was laid in a tomb. The scene stands in stark contrast to that of John the Baptist, whose own disciples came and got his dead body from Herod and laid it in a tomb. In this case, only two of Jesus’ disciples, unnamed until this scene and so unknown prior to this scene, watch from a distance again: “Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid” (15:47). No longer anonymous, they are the bearers of the tradition of Jesus’ death and burial.

John W. Martens

Follow me on Twitter @BibleJunkies

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[1] The only reference to a woman prior to this scene is in Mark 6:3, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?”

Gospel of Mark Commentary Act 6. Scene 10

This is the forty-seventh installment, comprising Act 6, Scene 10, chapter 15:20b-39, in the online commentary on the Gospel of Mark, which I am blogging on throughout the liturgical year. Please see the forty-sixth installment here. Links to the entire series are available in one spot at The Complete Gospel of Mark Online Commentary.

This is my division of the Gospel:

Prologue,  1:1-13;

Act  1, 1:14-3:6;

Act 2, 3:7-6:6;

Act 3, 6:7-8:26;

Act 4, 8:27-10:52;

Act 5, 11:1-13:37;

Act 6, 14:1-16:8(20).

Scene 9: 15:20b-39

20bThen they led him out to crucify him. 21 They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. 22 Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. 25 It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews." 27 And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. 28 29 Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!" 31 In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe." Those who were crucified with him also taunted him. 33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 35 When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, "Listen, he is calling for Elijah." 36 And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down." 37 Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was God's Son!". (NRSV)

After Jesus’ trial before Pilate and the mockery and beating to which the Roman soldiers subjected Jesus after the guilty verdict, “they led him out to crucify him” (15:20b). Events, as throughout the entire Gospel, occur quickly and with little elaboration. It is, therefore, a surprise to see Mark add an intriguing detail. The Roman soldiers “compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus” (15:21). It is such a surprising detail in this unvarnished Gospel, and a detail that includes three personal names, that it must go back to the oral tradition on which Mark has based his Gospel and perhaps even to “Alexander and Rufus,” who are mentioned as if the audience would be familiar with them.[1] It adds a touch of cinéma vérité  to what is already a  documentary style Gospel. This touch grounds and humanizes what Mark will next describe: people you know were present for Jesus’ crucifixion. It did happen. Mark returns immediately to his unadorned style in which “they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him” (15:22-24a).

The whole of the Gospel has been moving to the crucifixion, since 3:6 explicitly so, and yet Mark describes it in a phrase. It is precisely here, however, where the dramatic and visual nature of this Gospel becomes, perhaps counter-intuitively, most apparent. Dramatic, because it is the hearer who must reflect on the scene without cues from the author; visual, because it is the hearer who must imagine or see the cross before them, simply with Jesus on it. The nails, the soldiers, the wood, the rope, the cries, the hammers pounding, the crowd humming with horror or excitement, all this is in the heart, the mind and the eyes of the one who hears or reads this Gospel. It is the responsibility of the one who hears and sees it to make it real and not turn away from it. For the first hearers of the Gospel, this would have been simple. They would have seen numerous crucifixions, with slaves, criminals, and traitors hung up in public to die a humiliating death as they struggled to breathe. Moderns must imagine this scene today without the personal knowledge of crucifixions that first century residents of the Roman Empire knew intimately, but it is not essential to focus on blood and gore to understand the crucifixion. The goal of crucifixion was to hurt, punish and shame the miscreant before he died, true, but this was only half of the purpose: the other half was to warn all those who looked upon the humiliation of the dying man to reckon with Rome’s power and authority. Mark’s goal is simpler: he wants you to reflect on how Jesus died, but even more so on why he died.

Mark then describes the division of clothes by the soldiers “casting lots to decide what each should take” (15:24b). This is the first explicit reference to Psalm 22, which will underlie so much of the imagery as Jesus dies on the cross. In this case Mark draws on Psalm 22:18, “they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.” It is only after this description that Mark notes some of the other details of the crucifixion scene: Jesus was crucified at 9 in the morning (in Greek, “the third hour”); the inscription read, “The King of the Jews”; and he was crucified with two “bandits,” or lêstai, who might be better described as “revolutionaries” (15:25-27).[2]

The next four verses (15:29-32) describe the mockery of Jesus by passersby and by some of the chief priests and scribes, which puts the crucifixion in prophetic context, including the minor events, just as we have seen throughout Mark’s Gospel and especially after Jesus entered Jerusalem. In this case, Psalm 22:7-8 reads,

All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads; “Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver— let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”

Mark describes the mockers saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” (15:30) and “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe” (15:31-32). Mark’s final detail might be the cruelest cut from a human perspective: “those who were crucified with him also taunted him” (15:32). He is the lowest of the low.

Mark compresses the hours, for at noon (Greek, “the sixth hour”) “darkness came over the whole land until three {“the ninth hour”} in the afternoon” (15:33). Six hours, that is, have already passed since Jesus was crucified and “at three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (15:34). This is the first verse of Psalm 22 in Aramaic.  Without question it places on the lips of Jesus the sense of having been abandoned by God and that darkness should not be banished too quickly: the suffering servant genuinely suffers. Yet with this most explicit of all of the references to Psalm 22, it is clear that Mark is alerting us to the whole Psalm, which ends with victory not derision:

The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it. (Psalm 22:26-31)

Victory, however, is gained through his suffering and it is not yet over.

When bystanders hear  Jesus, they understand him to be calling for Elijah and someone “filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down’” (15:36). The notes to the New Oxford NRSV suggest that “voyeurs…want to revive him, prolonging the ordeal, to see if Elijah comes” (NT 89), but it is just as likely to see this as a continuation of the mockery from before. His time on the cross, all six hours, is bookended by mockery and humiliation.

Finally, “Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God's Son!” (15:37-39). Mark packs a wallop with the last few verses of the crucifixion scene. As Jesus dies, the curtain of the Temple tears in two, which might indicate the judgment of the Temple, but more likely shows that Jesus’ death has opened up the way to God, whose presence dwelt behind the curtain. It is, though, a centurion, one of Jesus’ killers, who looks upon him and proclaims that Jesus was God’s son. Mark, we remember, designates Jesus as God’s son in 1:1, but what does the centurion mean by it? The Roman Emperors called themselves “sons of God” and their deaths often had portents associated with them, at least at their funerals; is this the meaning of the centurion’s words? Or does Mark intend to say that the centurion speaks the truth, just as Peter did when he recognized Jesus as the Messiah, without understanding the full implications of his identification? This seems more likely and the full implications of what the centurion states will soon be explained by Mark.

John W. Martens

Follow me on Twitter @BibleJunkies

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[1] See Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, on the use of personal names in the Gospel and for Alexander and Rufus specifically.

[2] Verse 28 is not considered here as it is omitted in most translations and from the Greek critical editions. The verse is not found in the best and earliest manuscripts and is considered an interpolation into Mark. A similar verse is found in Luke 22:37, based on Isaiah 53:12; this is what is omitted in Mark: “And the Scripture was fulfilled which said, ‘And he was counted among the lawless.’”

Gospel of Mark Commentary Act 6. Scene 9

This is the forty-sixth installment, comprising Act 6, Scene 9, chapter 15:1-20a, in the online commentary on the Gospel of Mark, which I am blogging on throughout the liturgical year. Please see the forty-fifth installment here. Links to the entire series are available in one spot at The Complete Gospel of Mark Online Commentary.

This is my division of the Gospel:

Prologue,  1:1-13;

Act  1, 1:14-3:6;

Act 2, 3:7-6:6;

Act 3, 6:7-8:26;

Act 4, 8:27-10:52;

Act 5, 11:1-13:37;

Act 6, 14:1-16:8(20).

Scene 9: 15:1-20a

1 As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. 2 Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" He answered him, "You say so." 3 Then the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 Pilate asked him again, "Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you." 5 But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed. 6 Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked. 7 Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. 8 So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom. 9 Then he answered them, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?" 10 For he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. 12 Pilate spoke to them again, "Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?" 13 They shouted back, "Crucify him!" 14 Pilate asked them, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him!" 15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified. 16 Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters ); and they called together the whole cohort. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. 18 And they began saluting him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 19 They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. 20a After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. (NRSV)

The reason for Peter’s fear in Act 6, Scene 8 is made abundantly clear in Scene 9. No longer do we have predictions of Jesus’ suffering, we have the suffering of Jesus. The night trial in front of the Jewish authorities becomes in the morning a trial in front of the Roman procurator Pilate. Jesus was said to be “deserving death” in 14:64, but the Jews had no legal authority to enact capital punishment while the Romans ruled them. For this reason they bring Jesus to Pilate and plead their case.

 Mark gets to the point rapidly, with no introduction to Pilate and no explanation from the Jewish authorities as to why they are turning Jesus over to him. The scene begins with Jesus being bound and led to Pilate, with Pilate asking, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered him, “You say so” (15:2). Mark encourages us to determine that Pilate's question must have emerged from the information passed on to him by the Jewish authorities, namely, that Jesus was a royal pretender. Jesus’ answer is laden with double meaning, since Jesus is not the sort of king Pilate might suspect, but he is indeed the king that he has revealed in his Passion Predictions and his ministry.   

Mark gives us an opportunity to visually imagine the scene after the quick exchange between Jesus and Pilate as “then the chief priests accused him of many things” (15:3). We must imagine these “many things” coming from many voices based upon the many accusations thrown at Jesus in the night trial. Pilate presses Jesus to answer the charges made against him – “Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed” (15:4-5). Again, the scene spins so quickly that neither the reason for Pilate’s amazement nor a description of Jesus’ demeanor is offered. Just like that, the formal aspect of Jesus’ trial before the Roman procurator Pilate has ended.

This just means, though, that the chaotic scene is now beginning; how Pilate will deal with Jesus is still up in the air. Mark claims that at the Passover Pilate “used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked. Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom” (15:6-8). It is clear that the choice will be either for Jesus, the suffering servant, or the strangely named Barabbas – “son of the father” in Aramaic – who is a noted rebel against Roman rule. When Pilate asks whether the crowd wants Jesus to be released – “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” (15:9) - it seems that this is Pilate’s way out, for Mark states that “he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over” (15:10). Events, though, have already spun out of Pilate’s control and the question of Jesus’ fate will not be so easily and deftly handled. As Mark’s narrative continues, he tells us that “the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead” (15:11).

“Pilate spoke to them again, ‘Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?’ They shouted back, ‘Crucify him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘Why, what evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Crucify him!’” (15:12-14).

The response of the crowd might seem shocking, not in the broad course of the narrative of Mark’s Gospel in which we have learned that Jesus must die, but that a crowd should so easily be led to desire the death of a man some might have welcomed into the city and many more did not know at all. But then we must recall that the last time a crowd had come to Jesus, it was not to laud or listen to him, but to arrest him in Act 6, Scene 6. The crowds are no longer for Jesus.

Pilate, however, wishes the crowds to be for him.  This is the reason given for him to release Barabbas and to crucify Jesus – “to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified” (15:15). It is not even a matter of guilt or innocence, trumped up charges or riled up Roman sensitivities for Pilate. He just wants the crowd to like him and for the day that started off so poorly to get better. Admittedly, there might be political reasons for Pilate’s choice, as no one wants an angry crowd on their hands, but that’s the point: the political is personal here. What’s good for Rome is good for Pilate and what’s good for Pilate is what’s good for Rome.

All of the sudden, the violence and mockery from the Roman soldiers begins. Jesus is flogged (15:15), a cruel series of lashes which could be more or less severe, but which was always severe. Mark notes it with a simple clause, perhaps because before the eyes of the listeners they could see played out the cruelty of the lash on his back. Mark is a dramatist not a romanticizer of  pain.  Pilate’s choice sets in motion a whirlwind of hatred. Jesus is led by the soldiers “into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him” (15:16-20a). This is from men who have probably never seen the man let alone met him before. The end of his life, his suffering and pain, his death will be their sport. One can argue that the Jewish authorities had genuine, even if misguided, concerns about Jesus and his impact upon the nation and the people. But the Romans, both Pilate and the soldiers, what is their reason? Just doing their jobs.

John W. Martens

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