Mark 15
15
Jesus Before Pilate. 1#Mt 27:1–2, 11–14; Lk 23:1–3. As soon as morning came,#Jn 18:28. the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, that is, the whole Sanhedrin, held a council.#Held a council: the verb here, poieō, can mean either “convene a council” or “take counsel.” This reading is preferred to a variant “reached a decision” (cf. Mk 3:6), which Mk 14:64 describes as having happened at the night trial; see note on Mt 27:1–2. Handed him over to Pilate: lacking authority to execute their sentence of condemnation (Mk 14:64), the Sanhedrin had recourse to Pilate to have Jesus tried and put to death (Mk 15:15); cf. Jn 18:31. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. 2Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”#The king of the Jews: in the accounts of the evangelists a certain irony surrounds the use of this title as an accusation against Jesus (see note on Mk 15:26). While Pilate uses this term (Mk 15:2, 9, 12), he is aware of the evil motivation of the chief priests who handed Jesus over for trial and condemnation (Mk 15:10; Lk 23:14–16, 20; Mt 27:18, 24; Jn 18:38; 19:4, 6, 12). He said to him in reply, “You say so.” 3The chief priests accused him of many things. 4Again Pilate questioned him, “Have you no answer? See how many things they accuse you of.” 5Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
The Sentence of Death.#See note on Mt 27:15–26. 6Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them one prisoner whom they requested.#Mt 27:15–26; Lk 23:17–25; Jn 18:39–40. 7A man called Barabbas#Barabbas: see note on Mt 27:16–17. was then in prison along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion. 8The crowd came forward and began to ask him to do for them as he was accustomed. 9Pilate answered, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” 10For he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over. 11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. 12Pilate again said to them in reply, “Then what [do you want] me to do with [the man you call] the king of the Jews?” 13#Crucify him: see note on Mt 27:22. They shouted again, “Crucify him.” 14Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.” 15#See note on Mt 27:26. So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged, handed him over to be crucified.
Mockery by the Soldiers. 16#Praetorium: see note on Mt 27:27. #Mt 27:27–31; Jn 19:2–3. The soldiers led him away inside the palace, that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort. 17They clothed him in purple and, weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him. 18They began to salute him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him. They knelt before him in homage. 20And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him out to crucify him.
The Way of the Cross. 21They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian,#They pressed into service…Simon, a Cyrenian: a condemned person was constrained to bear his own instrument of torture, at least the crossbeam. The precise naming of Simon and his sons is probably due to their being known among early Christian believers to whom Mark addressed his gospel. See also notes on Mt 27:32; Lk 23:26–32. who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.#Mt 27:32; Lk 23:26.
The Crucifixion. 22#Mt 27:33–51; Lk 23:32–46; Jn 19:17–30. They brought him to the place of Golgotha (which is translated Place of the Skull). 23They gave him wine drugged with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24#See notes on Mt 27:35 and Jn 19:23–25a. #Ps 22:18. Then they crucified him and divided his garments by casting lots for them to see what each should take. 25It was nine o’clock in the morning#It was nine o’clock in the morning: literally, “the third hour,” thus between 9 a.m. and 12 noon. Cf. Mk 15:33, 34, 42 for Mark’s chronological sequence, which may reflect liturgical or catechetical considerations rather than the precise historical sequence of events; contrast the different chronologies in the other gospels, especially Jn 19:14. when they crucified him. 26#The inscription…the King of the Jews: the political reason for the death penalty falsely charged by the enemies of Jesus. See further the notes on Mt 27:37 and Jn 19:19. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27With him they crucified two revolutionaries, one on his right and one on his left.#Lk 23:33. [28]#This verse, “And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘And he was counted among the wicked,’” is omitted in the earliest and best manuscripts. It contains a citation from Is 53:12 and was probably introduced from Lk 22:37. 29#See note on Mt 27:39–40. Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying,#Jn 2:19. “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30save yourself by coming down from the cross.” 31Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves and said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.#Lk 23:39.
The Death of Jesus. 33At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”#An Aramaic rendering of Ps 22:2. See also note on Mt 27:46. which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”#Ps 22:2. 35#Elijah: a verbal link with Eloi (Mk 15:34). See note on Mk 9:9–13; cf. Mal 3:23–24. See also note on Mt 27:47. Some of the bystanders who heard it said, “Look, he is calling Elijah.” 36One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.” 37Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. 38#See note on Mt 27:51–53. The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. 39#The closing portion of Mark’s gospel returns to the theme of its beginning in the Gentile centurion’s climactic declaration of belief that Jesus was the Son of God. It indicates the fulfillment of the good news announced in the prologue (Mk 1:1) and may be regarded as the firstfruit of the passion and death of Jesus. #Mt 27:54–56; Lk 23:47–49. When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” 40#See note on Mt 27:55–56. There were also women looking on from a distance.#6:3; Lk 8:2–3. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome. 41These women had followed him when he was in Galilee and ministered to him. There were also many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.
The Burial of Jesus. 42#Mt 27:57–61; Lk 23:50–56; Jn 19:38–42. When it was already evening, since it was the day of preparation, the day before the sabbath, 43Joseph of Arimathea,#Joseph of Arimathea: see note on Mt 27:57–61. a distinguished member of the council, who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God, came and courageously went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44Pilate was amazed that he was already dead. He summoned the centurion and asked him if Jesus had already died. 45And when he learned of it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 46Having bought a linen cloth, he took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. 47Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses watched where he was laid.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Mark 15
15
Pilate Questions Jesus
1Very early in the morning, the leading priests, the Jewish elders, the teachers of the law, and all the Jewish council decided what to do with Jesus. They tied him, led him away, and turned him over to Pilate, the governor.
2Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Yes, I am.”
3The leading priests accused Jesus of many things. 4So Pilate asked Jesus another question. He said, “You can see that these people are accusing you of many things. Why don’t you answer?”
5But Jesus still said nothing. Pilate was very surprised at this.
Pilate Tries to Free Jesus
6Every year at the Passover time the governor would free one person from prison. He would free any person the people wanted him to free. 7At that time, there was a man named Barabbas in prison. He was a rebel and had committed murder during a riot. 8The crowd came to Pilate and asked him to free a prisoner as he always did.
9Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews?” 10Pilate knew that the leading priests had given Jesus to him because they were jealous of Jesus. 11And the leading priests had persuaded the people to ask Pilate to free Barabbas, not Jesus.
12Pilate asked the crowd again, “So what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”
13They shouted, “Kill him on a cross!”
14Pilate asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?”
But they shouted louder and louder, “Kill him on a cross!”
15Pilate wanted to please the crowd. So he freed Barabbas for them. And Pilate told the soldiers to beat Jesus with whips. Then he gave Jesus to the soldiers to be killed on a cross.
16Pilate’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace (called the Praetorium). They called all the other soldiers together. 17They put a purple robe on Jesus. Then they used thorny branches to make a crown. They put it on his head. 18Then they called out to him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19The soldiers beat Jesus on the head many times with a stick. They also spit on him. Then they made fun of him by bowing on their knees and worshiping him. 20After they finished making fun of him, the soldiers took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led Jesus out of the palace to be killed on a cross.
Jesus Is Killed on a Cross
21There was a man from Cyrene coming from the fields to the city. The man was Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus. The soldiers forced Simon to carry the cross for Jesus. 22They led Jesus to the place called Golgotha. (Golgotha means the Place of the Skull.) 23At Golgotha the soldiers tried to give Jesus wine to drink. This wine was mixed with myrrh. But he refused to drink it. 24The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross. Then they divided his clothes among themselves. They threw lots to decide which clothes each soldier would get.
25It was nine o’clock in the morning when they nailed Jesus to the cross. 26There was a sign with the charge against Jesus written on it. The sign read: “THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 27They also put two robbers on crosses beside Jesus, one on the right, and the other on the left. 28[And the Scripture came true that says, “They put him with criminals.”]# Some Greek copies do not contain the bracketed text which quotes from Isaiah 53:12. 29People walked by and insulted Jesus. They shook their heads, saying, “You said you could destroy the Temple and build it again in three days. 30So save yourself! Come down from that cross!”
31The leading priests and the teachers of the law were also there. They made fun of Jesus just as the other people did. They said among themselves, “He saved other people, but he can’t save himself. 32If he is really the Christ, the king of Israel, then let him come down from the cross now. We will see this, and then we will believe in him.” The robbers who were being killed on the crosses beside Jesus also insulted him.
Jesus Dies
33At noon the whole country became dark. This darkness lasted for three hours. 34At three o’clock Jesus cried in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.” This means, “My God, my God, why have you left me alone?”
35Some of the people standing there heard this. They said, “Listen! He is calling Elijah.”
36One man there ran and got a sponge. He filled the sponge with vinegar and tied it to a stick. Then he used the stick to give the sponge to Jesus to drink from it. The man said, “We should wait now and see if Elijah will come to take him down from the cross.”
37Then Jesus cried in a loud voice and died.
38When Jesus died, the curtain in the Temple# A curtain divided the Most Holy Place from the other part of the Temple. That was the special building in Jerusalem where God commanded the Jews to worship him. split into two pieces. The tear started at the top and tore all the way to the bottom. 39The army officer that was standing there before the cross saw what happened when Jesus died.# Some Greek copies read “when Jesus cried out and died.” The officer said, “This man really was the Son of God!”
40Some women were standing at a distance from the cross, watching. Some of these women were Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph. (James was her youngest son.) 41These were the women who followed Jesus in Galilee and cared for him. Many other women were also there who had come with Jesus to Jerusalem.
Jesus Is Buried
42This was Preparation Day. (That means the day before the Sabbath day.) It was becoming dark. 43A man named Joseph from Arimathea was brave enough to go to Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body. Joseph was an important member of the Jewish council. He was one of the people who wanted the kingdom of God to come. 44Pilate wondered if Jesus was already dead. Pilate called the army officer who guarded Jesus and asked him if Jesus had already died. 45The officer told Pilate that he was dead. So Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. 46Joseph bought some linen cloth, took the body down from the cross and wrapped it in the linen. He put the body in a tomb that was cut in a wall of rock. Then he closed the tomb by rolling a very large stone to cover the entrance. 47And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw the place where Jesus was laid.
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