Reflections on Mark 15

Mark 15 (Contemporary English Version)


1. Early the next morning the chief priests, the nation's leaders, and the teachers of the Law of Moses met together with the whole Jewish council. They tied up Jesus and led him off to Pilate.
   
2. Pilate knew that the chief priests had brought Jesus to him because they were jealous.
   
3. But the chief priests told the crowd to ask Pilate to free Barabbas.
   
4. Then Pilate asked the crowd, "What do you want me to do with this man you say is the king of the Jews?"
   
5. They yelled, "Nail him to a cross!"
   
6. Pilate asked, "But what crime has he done?" "Nail him to a cross!" they yelled even louder.
   
7. Pilate wanted to please the crowd. So he set Barabbas free. Then he ordered his soldiers to beat Jesus with a whip and nail him to a cross.
   
8. The soldiers led Jesus inside the courtyard of the fortress and called together the rest of the troops.
   
9. They put a purple robe on him, and on his head they placed a crown that they had made out of thorn branches.
   
10. They made fun of Jesus and shouted, "Hey, you king of the Jews!"
    
11. Then they beat him on the head with a stick. They spit on him and knelt down and pretended to worship him.
    
12. He asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Those are your words," Jesus answered.
    
13. When the soldiers had finished making fun of Jesus, they took off the purple robe. They put his own clothes back on him and led him off to be nailed to a cross.
    
14. Simon from Cyrene happened to be coming in from a farm, and they forced him to carry Jesus' cross. Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.
    
15. The soldiers took Jesus to Golgotha, which means "Place of a Skull."
    
16. There they gave him some wine mixed with a drug to ease the pain, but he refused to drink it.
    
17. They nailed Jesus to a cross and gambled to see who would get his clothes.
    
18. It was about nine o'clock in the morning when they nailed him to the cross.
    
19. On it was a sign that told why he was nailed there. It read, "This is the King of the Jews."
    
20. The soldiers also nailed two criminals on crosses, one to the right of Jesus and the other to his left.
    
21. (SEE 15:27)
    
22. People who passed by said terrible things about Jesus. They shook their heads and shouted, "Ha! So you're the one who claimed you could tear down the temple and build it again in three days.
    
23. The chief priests brought many charges against Jesus.
    
24. Save yourself and come down from the cross!"
    
25. The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses also made fun of Jesus. They said to each other, "He saved others, but he can't save himself.
    
26. If he is the Messiah, the king of Israel, let him come down from the cross! Then we will see and believe." The two criminals also said cruel things to Jesus.
    
27. About noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until around three o'clock.
    
28. Then about that time Jesus shouted, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you deserted me?"
    
29. Some of the people standing there heard Jesus and said, "He is calling for Elijah."
    
30. One of them ran and grabbed a sponge. After he had soaked it in wine, he put it on a stick and held it up to Jesus. He said, "Let's wait and see if Elijah will come and take him down!"
    
31. Jesus shouted and then died.
    
32. At once the curtain in the temple tore in two from top to bottom.
    
33. A Roman army officer was standing in front of Jesus. When the officer saw how Jesus died, he said, "This man really was the Son of God!"
    
34. Then Pilate questioned him again, "Don't you have anything to say? Don't you hear what crimes they say you have done?"
    
35. Some women were looking on from a distance. They had come with Jesus to Jerusalem. But even before this they had been his followers and had helped him while he was in Galilee. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joseph were two of these women. Salome was also one of them.
    
36. (SEE 15:40)
    
37. It was now the evening before the Sabbath, and the Jewish people were getting ready for that sacred day.
    
38. A man named Joseph from Arimathea was brave enough to ask Pilate for the body of Jesus. Joseph was a highly respected member of the Jewish council, and he was also waiting for God's kingdom to come.
    
39. Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead, and he called in the army officer to find out if Jesus had been dead very long.
    
40. After the officer told him, Pilate let Joseph have Jesus' body.
    
41. Joseph bought a linen cloth and took the body down from the cross. He had it wrapped in the cloth, and he put it in a tomb that had been cut into solid rock. Then he rolled a big stone against the entrance to the tomb.
    
42. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph were watching and saw where the body was placed.
    
43. But Jesus did not answer, and Pilate was amazed.
    
44. During Passover, Pilate always freed one prisoner chosen by the people.
    
45. And at that time there was a prisoner named Barabbas. He and some others had been arrested for murder during a riot.
    
46. The crowd now came and asked Pilate to set a prisoner free, just as he usually did.
    
47. Pilate asked them, "Do you want me to free the king of the Jews?"

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Is life a series of random events which all began with an initial set of random events that, by chance, brought order out of chaos resulting in the universe that now exists? Only a person with an agenda to paint God out of the picture could come up with such a ridiculous scenario! It is a choice one makes, rather than evidence, that brings one to such a conclusion. It was God's very intentional plan that brought about creation and it was His intentional plan that brought about the events of Jesus' passion. However, as pointed out in our reflections on the previous chapter, it was personal choices that placed the various players in their particular roles in His passion. And each had personal responsibility, and were accountable to God, for their choices.

Thus we see in chapter 15 a continuing enactment of the choices made earlier by the chief priests, elders, and scribes. And, it becomes increasingly apparent the further we go into these court scenes of Jesus' trial that the motives driving their choices were far from pure. It became apparent even to Pilate that it was envy driving their actions. But Pilate was also, himself, a player in these events. Though it was not his choice to become involved in Jesus' trial, he had a choice concerning the outcome of the trial which handed down the verdict of crucifixion. But none of this was random. God had a plan. It was a plan for the redemption of mankind. And it succeeded. All of the players in these events could have, and for their own good, should have, made other choices. But God's plan would still have succeeded.

Jesus also made voluntary choices. We read in the previous chapter of His prayer to His heavenly Father asking that this cup (referring to the crucifixion) be taken from Him, but He also prayed that the Father's will be done. He willingly submitted Himself to this ordeal. And it was His cooperation in the trial that contributed to a verdict of crucifixion. The charges against Him were obviously flimsy, which was apparent even to Pilate. Had Jesus attempted to defend Himself, He could very likely have avoided the guilty verdict. But He chose to cooperate which amazed Pilate.

I have to wonder what each player in these events must have thought when darkness came over the land during the crucifixion and the curtain of the sanctuary was split and the earth quaked? I should think it must have caused them to wonder at what they had just done. But continuing events indicate that if any wondered at whether they made good choices concerning their part in Jesus' crucifixion, they also chose to defend their actions rather than admit guilt.

God has a plan that has been playing out since before the creation of the universe, and creation was a part of that plan, as was Jesus' crucifixion. We each must choose the role we wish to have in God's plan. We can choose to be a part of His plan, to ignore it, or to try to thwart it. But we will be responsible before God for the choices we make. And, as with the events of Jesus' crucifixion, the motives driving our choices will become increasingly apparent. If we choose also to defend bad choices we will then find ourselves sinking further and further into life that is a lie.