TEXT [Commentary]

12. Jesus’ crucifixion and death (15:21-39; cf. Matt 27:32-56; Luke 23:26-49; John 19:17-37)

21 A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene,[*] was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.) 22 And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). 23 They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it.

24 Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice[*] to decide who would get each piece. 25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26 A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 Two revolutionaries[*] were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.[*]

29 The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. 30 Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

31 The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.

33 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. 34 Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”[*]

35 Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. 36 One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”

37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

39 When the Roman officer[*] who stood facing him[*] saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

NOTES

15:21 Rufus. This figure could well be one who later became a leader in Rome (Rom 16:13). As one of those who helped bear the cross, he would have been carrying the cross beam, not the main pole which would already be at the crucifixion site. It is also debated whether the shape of the cross would have been more like a capital T or a lowercase t, or like the Russian cross with more of an X shape. The fact that there is room for a charge above Jesus’ head means that the lowercase t type of cross is most likely (Brown 1997:948).

15:22 Golgotha. This site has traditionally been associated with the present location of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, some 300 meters from Herod’s palace (France 2002:642 and Brown 1997:937-940, who argues for it over the site in the Garden Tomb area). Hooker (1991:372) notes the association of the locale with the burial place of Adam’s skull in Jewish thinking.

15:23 They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it. The offer of such a drink was not unusual (Prov 31:6; b. Sanhedrin 43a; see Mark 14:25, where Jesus said he would not drink again until the consummation; Cranfield 1959:455). The wine may have come from the sympathetic women who were present (France 2002:643). The addition of myrrh made the wine a kind of delicacy and was intended to ease his suffering (Pliny Natural History 14.15, 92-93).

15:24 Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. In 1968, the remains of a crucified man nailed to a cross were discovered at Giv’at ha-Mivtar (Lane 1974:564-565). His feet were nailed together at the heels, which would have made it difficult for him to bear his weight and breathe while crucified. Those crucified could be nailed or tied to the cross, but this text indicates nailing as do the appearances where Jesus invites his disciples to touch his wounds (John 20:27).

They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece. The soldiers gambled for his clothes, and lots were cast to see who would get each piece (see Ps 22:18). Tacitus (Annals 6.29) notes that those sentenced to death lost their property rights.

15:25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The Gr. refers to the “third hour,” which on a sunrise to sunrise schedule would mean 9:00 AM. John 19:14 mentions the sixth hour. Of course, the death took time (note 15:33-34). John was probably highlighting the overlap of the crucifixion with the time of sacrifice later in the day.

15:27 Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. The NLT describes the criminals as revolutionaries, which reflects the use of lēstēs [TG3027, ZG3334]. This term is often used of a person who acts against the state, but it can also refer to a mere robber (BDAG 594). In his typical brevity, Mark tells us little else about these two except that they contributed to the ridicule (15:32).

15:28 The NLT mg to 15:27 reads, “Some MSS add verse 28, And the Scripture was fulfilled that said, ‘He was counted among those who were rebels.’” This verse was probably not a part of the original text of Mark’s Gospel, since the manuscript evidence for its inclusion is basically a Byzantine reading. Alexandrian and Western witnesses (such as A B C D) exclude it. It was borrowed from Luke 22:37, a parallel text, which cites Isa 53:12.

15:29 The people passing by shouted abuse. The term for “shouting abuse” here is blasphēmeō [TG987, ZG1059], which indicates slander. It could suggest blasphemy, especially for a writer like Mark who respected Jesus.

15:31 mocked Jesus. The verb for mock (empaizō [TG1702, ZG1850]) is the same one used of the Roman soldiers in 15:20. Jews and Gentiles mocked him and rejected him. Evans (2001:505) notes how the mocking of Jesus resembles the portrayal of Isaiah’s experience in the Jewish text Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah 5:2-3. There is irony and a kind of unwitting prophecy here as Jesus will, in fact, come down from the cross and live again (for a similar unwitting prophecy, see Caiaphas in John 11:51).

15:33 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. In the Gr., the time period is from the sixth hour until the ninth hour. Creation manifested an apocalyptic darkness that pointed to judgment (Exod 10:21-22; Deut 28:29; Isa 13:10; Amos 8:9-10). Philo (Providence 2.50) spoke of such darkness as indicating the death of a king or the destruction of a city (Lane 1974:571). Here it could portend either.

15:35 bystanders . . . thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. Some observers thought that Jesus might finally be reacting to his taunters by calling on God to send Elijah to his rescue. Elijah was seen as a protector of the innocent (Sir 48:10; TDNT 2:930-935; Evans 2001:507-508; France 202:654 mentions the later Jewish story in b. Avodah Zarah 17b where Elijah rescues Rabbi Eleazar from a Roman trial).

15:36 filled a sponge with sour wine. This was probably “wine vinegar” (the term here is oxos [TG3690, ZG3954], BDAG 715, a “favorite beverage of the lower ranks of society”). Someone hoped that perhaps the wine would strengthen Jesus to await Elijah’s arrival. It appears to have been offered by one of the Jews who thought Jesus was calling for deliverance. See Ps 69:21, which places the act in the context of a righteous sufferer.

15:38 And the curtain . . . of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. This detail shows another way in which creation responded to Jesus’ death. This curtain may have governed entry into the Holy Place (Exod 26:37) or into the Holy of Holies (Exod 26:31). These curtains were at least 55 cubits high (France 2002:656). The curtain by the Holy of Holies that pictured the heavens would have been most visible to the public (Evans 2001:509). The symbolic meaning of the act is debated. Was it to signal the Temple’s destruction, as France (2002:657), Evans (2001:509), and some of the Fathers argue (see Lane 1974:575; Tertullian Against Marcion 4.42)? Or was it a sign that access to God had been opened up, since the curtain prevented entrance to some (see Nolland 1993:1157-1158 discussing Luke, which has parallel imagery)? Or might it be both (Bock 1996:1861 also discussing Luke)? The event is uncorroborated, but there is a curious later tradition in Judaism that during the last forty years before the Temple’s demise, the sanctuary doors would open by themselves (b. Yoma 39b).

COMMENTARY [Text]

Jesus, who had just been flogged, was apparently too weak to carry the crossbeam for his crucifixion to the site of execution, though this was expected of each condemned person (Plutarch Moralia 554 A: “Each of the condemned carried his own cross”). So Simon from Cyrene (in North Africa) was selected to bear the cross for Jesus (15:21). Mark identifies him as father to Alexander and Rufus; this suggests that the man became a Christian and was known to Mark’s audience (Cranfield 1959:454). At the time, he was probably a diaspora Jew.

The execution took place at Golgotha, which in Aramaic means “Place of the Skull” (15:22). The site was either associated with a skull because it looked like one, or because many had “lost their heads” there. The alternative name, “Calvary,” comes from the Latin and shares the meaning “skull.” Before the soldiers nailed Jesus to the crossbeam, they offered him drugged wine (see note on 15:23), but Jesus refused to take anything to dull the pain and suffering. The crossbeam was laid on the ground, and then Jesus was nailed to the cross and lifted up to hang on the main beam already in the ground. There he was left to die.

Mark tells us that “a sign announced the charge against him. It read, ‘The King of the Jews’” (15:26). With a crucifixion, a charge accompanied the sentenced person. Here it is clear that the Romans viewed Jesus’ death as politically motivated. Jesus was mocked as “King of the Jews” (15:18), and he was executed for the same charge (see also 15:2). Cranfield (1959:456) says that the “governor unwittingly proclaimed the truth of Jesus’ messianic kingship.” All four Gospels note “King of the Jews” as a part of the charge, while differing in other details (Matt 27:37; Luke 23:38; John 19:19 has the fullest statement). Evans (2001:503-504) notes that the expression does not originate with Mark, but with the Romans. Jews would have called such a figure “our King” or “our Messiah.” The expression “King of the Jews” suggests a viewpoint outside of Judaism, which contributes to the scene’s authenticity. Mark’s point is that the real blasphemy was with the people, not in the one being crucified for blasphemy (14:64).

As Jesus was dying on the cross, people passed by, shouting words of abuse. As Mark describes it, they were “shaking their heads in mockery” (15:29), in the tone of Psalm 22:7 and 69:20 (also Jer 18:16). Jesus is portrayed as the righteous sufferer. The people yelled at him, “Ha! Look at you now! . . . you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days” (15:29). The issue of the Temple came up again, as it did at the trial (14:58). The point of their remarks is that Jesus had failed—he would not meet his third-day claim. Though they could not conceive it, he would meet the claim in his resurrected body (see John 2:19-22). The mocking and abuse continued, as the people shouted out, “Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!” (15:30). The irony reaches its height here. Those who mocked Jesus thought he had failed. In fact, he would not only be rescued from the death of the cross, but would also save many others in the process.

The narrative continues with more mocking. “The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. ‘He saved others,’ they scoffed, ‘but he can’t save himself!’” (15:31). The irony kicks up one more level. The Jewish leaders spoke of Jesus’ deliverance of others (probably an allusion to his miracles), regarding it as a sign of Jesus’ impotence that he could not deliver himself. What kind of a Christ-King deliverer could be hanging on a cross? With the resurrection, God, the ultimate deliverer, would save Jesus and thereby provide salvation for others. This verse also echoes Psalm 22:7-8. The scoffing is expressed in an imperfect tense, indicating ongoing derision. Taylor (1966:592) argues that the scene rings true, as “it is hard to believe that this speech is a product of creative imagination.” Skeptics sometimes suggest that the leaders would not have been present (as Hooker 1991:374), but they had too much invested not to see the execution through to its end.

They continued their abuse by shouting out, “Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe in him!” (15:32). They taunted the King that if he would come down from the cross and survive crucifixion, they would believe. Of course, the reader knows that their faith did not follow when Jesus was raised from death. To call Jesus “King of Israel” adds a nationalist note to the taunt. The call to do something that they could see and respond to may be a slight against Jesus’ reply in 14:62. Wisdom of Solomon 2:17-18 teaches that God helps the righteous man and Jesus was failing that test. As France (2002:649) notes, Jesus was losing his soul in order to help others attain theirs, a variation on the theme of 8:35. The taunting was so bad that even the two men crucified with Jesus joined in the derision (15:32).

In the midst of all this mockery, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (15:34). He was not calling out to Elijah (see notes on 15:35-36). In the darkness of judgment, Jesus suffered the anguish of judgment. In Aramaic, he cried out the lament of Psalm 22:1 (the third place in Mark where Aramaic is used; 5:41; 14:36 NLT mg; Matt 27:46 transliterates Heb. here). In the anguish of separation from God, Jesus reached out to the Father, as the psalm declares the sufferer’s trust in God (Ps 22:22, 24, 30-31). However, there is no such note of hope here; Mark simply leaves us with the agony of the cross. Jesus was bearing sin for others (10:45).

Then Mark tells us, “Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last” (15:37). Now it was finished. Elijah had not come, only death. But in three days, life would come. As Lane (1974:574) says, “The meaning of his death becomes clear only from the perspective of the triumph of resurrection which marked his vindication and demonstrated that death had no claim on him.” Only then did Jesus “come down” from the cross by being taken up to the Father.

After his resurrection, many would come to realize that Jesus was and is the Son of God. A Roman officer realized this by seeing how Jesus died. The text says, “When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, ‘This man truly was the Son of God!’ ” (15:39). This is the climactic confession of the crucifixion and of the book. It matches 1:1 (and 1:11). This soldier, neutral or even initially hostile in his view of Jesus, saw all that transpired and recognized Jesus’ unique relationship to God. The soldier was probably the centurion in charge of the execution. Mark uses a Latin loan word to describe the solider—(kēnturiōn [TG2760, ZG3035], meaning “centurion.” In contrast to all the mockery by the Jewish leaders and others, this Gentile saw what was going on. Apparently the final words, the darkness, and Jesus’ shout were what convinced him that they had killed one who was what he claimed to be. For Jesus to be strong enough to shout at the end of a crucifixion was unusual. How much the centurion actually understood of what he confessed is debated (note Evans 2001:510), as he would not have had the background to know much more than that Jesus was a divinely enabled, commissioned King. Still, his confession was more than a contradiction to the death sentence Jesus received, and the fuller meaning of the title “Son of God” was clear to Mark’s readers (1:1, 11; 3:11; 5:7; 9:7; 12:6; 13:32; 14:61-62). On this note, the crucifixion scene ends.

By way of summary, the reader sees the swirl of reactions produced by Jesus’ crucifixion. People passing by, the Jewish leaders, most of the soldiers, and those who were hanged with him all mocked him. The descriptions allude to a righteous sufferer meeting unjust rejection, recalling Psalms 22 and 69. The creation went dark in judgment. The temple veil was rent, also pointing to judgment and the opening up of heaven; Jesus went to the Father, having provided the way to God. Finally, a single solider recognized that Jesus, slain as King of the Jews and mocked for not being able to save himself, was indeed the Son of God. The one executed was seen by one of his executioners as executing the will of God. Despite Jesus’ death, he was still God’s Son, as events three days later would dramatically confirm.