Mark 15 Study Notes

15:27 Criminals is the word used to describe Barabbas in Jn 18:40 (cp. Mk 14:48). Jesus’s crucifixion between criminals was meant as a parody of his kingship (as if he had attendants on either side) but by God’s design the whole event really was his royal enthronement. The phrase one on his right and one on his left recalls the request of James and John (10:37,40).

15:29-30 Insults means “blasphemies.” Those who passed by were thus guilty of the very thing for which the Sanhedrin had condemned Jesus (14:64). The bystanders’ insults and shaking of their heads fulfilled Ps 22:7 and Lm 2:15.

15:31 Once again the chief priests led the mockery of Jesus. Their derision along with that of the scribes went to the heart of Jesus’s mission: To save others, Jesus refused to save himself (10:45).

15:32 On Messiah, see note at 8:29. The religious leaders’ mockery recalls the second charge Jesus faced before the Sanhedrin (14:61). Mark reported that the two crucified with Jesus also taunted him. One of them repented (Lk 23:39-43).

15:33 Noon was literally “the sixth hour,” and three in the afternoon was “the ninth hour.” The darkness was supernatural and represented God’s judgment (Ex 10:21-23; Am 8:9-10).

15:34 At 3:00 p.m. Jesus cried out with a loud voice the Aramaic phrase, Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni. As usual, Mark provided a translation. Even when Jesus felt most abandoned by God, he affirmed his relationship with his Father—my God, my God, quoting the opening words of Ps 22:1. Jesus endured God’s wrath as the sin-bearer.

15:35-36 Perhaps bystanders mistook Eloi for Elijah (Aramaic Eli) since there was a tradition in Judaism that Elijah would return (9:11-13; Mal 4:5). Sour wine, made with vinegar and water, was a drink of the soldiers, not the wine of v. 23. This action fulfilled Ps 69:21 (see note at Jn 19:28-29).

15:37 The content of Jesus’s loud cry (reported by all three Synoptic Gospels) is specified in Jn 19:30—“It is finished.” Luke records Jesus’s final words (Lk 23:46).

15:38 The curtain of the temple hung before the most holy place in the temple. Its tearing symbolizes unhindered access to God, made possible because of Jesus’s atonement for sin on the cross (Heb 6:19-20; 9:3; 10:19-22). The only other use of the Greek word for torn in Mark is in 1:10 when God tore open the heavens at Jesus’s baptism.

15:39 The Gentile centurion who presided over the execution was the first in Mark’s Gospel to confess Jesus as the Son of God (cp. 1:11,24; 3:11; 5:9; 9:7). His confession matched Mark’s opening statement (1:1).

15:40 This is the first reference to Mary Magdalene in Mark. Jesus expelled seven demons from her (16:9; Lk 8:2). She came from Magdala on the western side of the Sea of Galilee. Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses is called “the other Mary” in Mt 27:61. Possibly she was the mother of James the son of Alphaeus (Mk 3:18). Salome is named only in Mark (v. 40; 16:1). She was the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Mt 20:20; 27:56).

15:41 In Mark, only women (v. 41; 1:31) and angels (1:13) serve or help Jesus. The many other women who made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem did so for Passover.

15:42-47 Jesus’s burial, an important element in early Christian proclamation (1Co 15:3-4), is recorded also in Mt 27:57-61; Lk 23:50-56; and Jn 19:38-42.

15:42 Jesus’s burial was hastily performed because it was already evening on Friday. The Sabbath was soon to begin, a time when burial labors were not permitted. The day of preparation (the day before the Sabbath) was when pious Jews prepared whatever they needed for the Sabbath.

15:43 Joseph of Arimathea was a secret follower of Jesus (Mt 27:57; Jn 19:38). That he was a prominent member of the Sanhedrin and opposed their verdict (Lk 23:51) shows that this group was not unanimous in its decision to seek Jesus’s execution (cp. Mk 14:55,64; 15:1). Joseph went boldly to Pilate to ask for Jesus’s body. This contrasts with his formerly secret discipleship (Jn 19:38). The Romans often let criminals rot on their crosses, but the Jews objected to leaving the dead hanging overnight (Dt 21:22-23).

The Greek verb enkataleipo is a double compound that produces an intensive form of a verb meaning “to lack or leave” (leipo). With one exception (Rm 9:29), each occurrence of the term in the NT means forsake or abandon. In Mk 15:34 and Mt 27:46, enkataleipo is used to translate the Aramaic word sabach, which in turn translates the original Hebrew ’azab in Ps 22:1. Jesus’s quoting of this verse occurred toward the end of three hours of darkness (Mk 15:33) during which he endured God’s wrath by being separated from the Father as payment for the sins of mankind. The word enkataleipo also occurs in Heb 13:5: “I will never . . . abandon you.” Since this promise is addressed to believers, it indicates that while God was willing to abandon Jesus on the cross in order to redeem us, he is not now willing to abandon those whom he has redeemed.

15:44 Crucifixion victims often survived for days before dying. Jesus died in about six hours. Thus he surprised Pilate a second time (v. 5).

15:45 Pilate gave Joseph Jesus’s body without demanding the bribe that families sometimes had to pay to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones.

15:46 Only Mark mentions that Joseph bought some linen cloth in which Jesus was wrapped. Matthew (Mt 27:60) informs readers that the tomb was Joseph’s own. Luke (Lk 23:53) and John (Jn 19:41) add that it had never been used. Readers should understand the tomb as a family tomb, not an individual burial crypt. To seal the tomb and prevent looting, they rolled a stone against the entrance. The large, circular, flat stone rolled in a track cut into the rock at the tomb entrance.

15:47 The women who witnessed Jesus’s death also witnessed his burial.