Bible Commentaries
Mark 15

Verses 1-6

53-59 Compare Mat_26:57-61 ; Luk_22:54-55 ; Luk_22:66 ; Joh_18:12-16 .

57 The priests were the teachers of the people. We might reasonably expect the chief priest to have a measure of spiritual intelligence. No one in Israel should know more than he concerning the dwelling place of God. He alone, once a year, went into the most holy place.

Yet he did not even know that it was empty! God was not there. The glory had departed. Ezekiel describes how it left the cherubim for the threshold of the house ( Eze_9:3 ), then went to the east gate ( Eze_10:18-19 ), and thence to the mountain on the east ( Eze_11:23 ). Now the glory returned, yet he did not recognize the Lord of Glory, or he would not have crucified Him. The glory returned by the same path which marked its departure. It was, in humiliation, at the foot of the mountain on the east, and came through the east gate into the sanctuary, not, as they would expect, with a marvelous display of visible splendor, amid the plaudits of the people and the praises of the priests, but as the despised and forsaken impostor. The high priest in Israel has sunk so low that he does not even recognize the Shekinah!

58 See Joh_2:18-22 .

58 The testimony ought to have opened the high priest's eyes, if anything could. Though paid to testify against Him, they were repeating the great truth that He was the true Temple. No man in Israel could commit a greater crime than to demolish the temple. Yet this was what the chief priests were determined to do. This they charged against Him while they themselves were plotting it.

60-61 Compare Mat_26:62-63

62 Compare Mat_26:63-64 ; Luk_22:66-70 Joh_18:19-24

63-64 Compare Mat_26:65-66 ; Luk_22:71 . See Lev_21:10

62 Christ is the faithful and true Witness. When Moses was sent to the sons of Israel, they were to recognize his credentials when he told them "I WILL BE sends me to you" ( Exo_3:14 ). So now the greater Mediator's final testimony is "I am". Then the high priest utters the blasphemy: "Lo! now you hear the blasphemy." He convicts himself of all the charges against Christ.

65 Compare Mat_26:67-68 ; Luk_22:63-65 . See Mic_5:1

66 Poor Peter! Recklessly brave when his courage was called into question, he finds himself a contemptible coward, in spite of all his protestations. Only a few hours before he was ready to die for His Master and was proud of being not merely one of His disciples, but one of the three most intimate with Him. Of course, all the others might renounce Christ, but not he! His thoughts should have remained fixed on the fate of his Master. Instead he is concerned about himself and does not hesitate to find comfort in the enemy's camp. He was not risking his life to save his Master, but deserting his Master to save his own life. But let us not blame Peter too severely. He is the great and fearless apostle in the making. Satan is sifting the chaff out of him. God is teaching him the lesson of his own untrustworthy self, and leading him to confidence in Him.

66-71 Compare Mat_26:69-74 ; Luk_22:55-60 Joh_18:15-18 .

69-71 Compare Joh_18:25-27 .

72 Compare Mat_26:75 ; Luk_22:61-62 .

1-8 Compare Mat_27:1-2 ; Mat_27:11-12 ; Luk_23:1-17 Joh_18:28-39 . See Psa_2:2 .

1 The Sanhedrin had jurisdiction in religious affairs only. They did not have the power of death. That was reserved by the civil authorities. Hence it was necessary to secure Pilate's sentence in order to have Him executed. The governor was not interested in their religious differences. His only concern was to guard the state. Hence his first question was concerning His royal pretentions. Christ does not deny that He is a king. In John's account we are told that He explained to Pilate that, at that time His kingdom was not of this world, and that His deputies would not fight ( Joh_18:36 ). That was all that Pilate needed to know. If Christ was not planning violence, He was no menace to the Roman power. Moreover, when the Lord calmly told Pilate that he had no authority over Him at all except what was given him from above ( Joh_19:11 ), He practically takes the scepter from his hand and assumes the government Himself. The despised Prisoner is kingly, sublime; the cringing governor nothing but a political pawn.

5 See Isa_53:7 .

Verses 7-35

7 Bar-Abbas, which means son of the father, had committed the political crime against the Roman government which they tried to fasten on our Lord. He was a murderer. The Lord was a life giver. Yet, because he was the son of their father, the Slanderer ( Joh_8:44 ), they preferred him to the Beloved Son of God. It seems, however, that the people might have made a different choice had they not been excited by the priests. So that we may trace the crucifixion of Christ backward, with varying degrees of responsibility, through Pilate, the strong governor, who weakly yielded to the people who were swayed by the priests, who were controlled by Satan, who was carrying out the purpose of God. Most of these were bitterly opposed to God, and none of them had any desire to work His will, yet all are moved by motives of which they are unconscious, to do what He has determined shall be done.

9-15 Compare Mat_27:17-26 ; Luk_23:16-25 ; Joh_18:39

11 Compare Joh_18:40 . See Act_3:14

12 Compared to the malignant hatred of the priests, Pilate's weak submission to the will of the people is merely censurable. Indeed, they are to be contrasted, for Pilate, in his ignorance, was much impressed by the claims of Christ, and sought to release Him. The priests, whose whole life had been devoted to a study of God's law, were blind to the plainest indications of His messiahship. Pilate marveled that He did not reply to the priests. They should have known Him by His silence, even if they had no ears for His words, for the prophet had foretold ( Isa_53:7 ): He is hard pressed, and He is humiliated, Yet He is not opening His mouth: He is fetched as a flockling to the slaughter. And as a ewe before its shearers is mute, So He is not opening His mouth. His silence before the deaf leaders of religion was not dictated by haughty contempt. It was useless to speak. They could not hear. So His silence is the God-given sign which they should have heeded.

14 Compare Joh_19:4-16 .

16-20 Compare Mat_27:27-32 ; Joh_19:1-3 .

19 See Mic_5:1 .

21 Compare Luk_23:26-31 ; Joh_19:17 .

22-28 Compare Mat_27:33-38 ; Luk_23:36-43 Joh_19:17-24 . See Psa_69:21 ; Psa_22:18 .

26 Mark, with characteristic brevity, gives only the charge on the inscription. This was probably included in the full title, which probably read THIS IS JESUS THE NAZARENE THE KING OF THE JEWS John's account has almost all of it ( Joh_19:19 ), Matthew says nothing of the appellation "Nazarene" ( Mat_27:37 ), Luke (23:38) and Mark omit His personal name. These were written in the three languages of the day, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. It is not likely that Pilate allowed any changes to be made after he said "What I have written, I have written!" ( Joh_19:22 ). Each account accords with its peculiar character. Mark, as befits the record of a Servant's death, gives only the charge, and says nothing of the various languages. In the inspired accounts of this inscription we have an illustration of the way in which the spirit culls only such facts for each account of our Lord's life as are pertinent to the particular aspect of His character which is being presented.

27 See Isa_53:12 .

29-30 Compare Mat_27:39-44 ; Luk_23:35-37 Joh_2:19-21

29 How profanely silly are man's comments on the cross of Christ! He had never said that He would demolish the temple of God. They were doing that! Should He descend He could not fulfill this word that they are casting in His teeth. Likewise, the insufferable stupidity of the priests could not apprehend that, if He would save others, He could not save Himself.

33-34 Compare Mat_27:45-46 ; Luk_23:44-45 .

33 God draws the veil of darkness over the scene during the awful hours in which He abandoned His Son. Then it was that He was accursed ( Deu_21:23 ; Gal_3:13 ). Then it was that it pleased Jehovah to bruise Him, to put Him to grief, to make His soul a trespass offering ( Isa_53:10 ). Here is a holy of holies into which we dare not come but with bowed hearts and unshod feet. It was the moral crisis of universal history, the grand, long-heralded event that will make this earth the shrine of all creation.

34 See Psa_22:1 .

35-36 Compare Mat_27:47-49 ; Joh_19:25-29 .

Verses 36-47

36 See Psa_69:21 .

37-39 Compare Mat_27:50-54 ; Luk_23:45-47 ; Joh_19:30-37 .

37 No man could take His life from Him. All the weariness and wounds did not exhaust His vitality. At the very last He cries out with aloud voice. He laid down His soul of His own will. No mere man could die as He did. Thus it was that the Roman centurion recognized His divinity. And thus it is that the alien nations have learned that He is indeed God's Son.

38 See Heb_10:19-20 .

38 The curtain of the temple was a symbol of His physical body. It is a mistake to suppose that God was manifest in His flesh ( 1Ti_3:16 ). He was veiled, just as the curtain in the holy place veiled the holiest of all from view. It was the rending of the curtain by God which made manifest the way into the presence of God. So His rending on the cross, not the body of His humiliation, clears the way for all into the inmost precincts of God's dwelling.

40-41 Compare Mat_27:55-56 ; Luk_23:48-49 .

41 See Luk_8:3 .

42-47 Compare Mat_27:55-66 ; Luk_23:50-56 ; Joh_19:38-42 .

42 The Passover was always on the fourteenth day of the first month, and the festival of unleavened bread began on the fifteenth. The first day of unleavened bread was a special sabbath. This was followed by the weeldy sabbath ( Mat_28:1 ), so that two sabbaths came together on this occasion. The Lord was crucified on the preparation day before the great sabbath and rose on the weekly sabbath which followed.

42 The sufferings of Christ are over. His humiliation is past. Henceforth no honors are too high for Him, no glories too great. Even before His resurrection we see the symptoms of His exaltation. Joseph of Arimathea may be construed as "the heights shall be added". His name is a prophecy of coming glories. He comes without fear and takes the incorruptible body to the tomb. As the prophet foretold, He was given a tomb with the wicked, nevertheless, He was with the rich in His death ( Isa_53:9 ).

43 See Luk_2:25-38 .

40-47 Compare Mat_27:50-66 ; Luk_23:53-56 ; Joh_19:38-42 .

1 Compare Luk_23:56 .

1 In the hot climate of the orient it is necessary to embalm the bodies of the dead promptly. As the first sabbath of the festival of unleavened bread was so near, in which no servile work could be undertaken ( Lev_23:7 ), they simply swathed the body in a mixture of myrrh and aloes, until the time when they could rub it with spices and prepare it properly, for they were not aware how unnecessary this was in His case, seeing that He was not tainted with corruption even in death. At first it seems very strange that they should so hurriedly buy the spices that evening, before the sabbath came, for they could not use them until the sabbath was past. We would expect them to wait until the day after the sabbath. The reason for this lies in the fact that there were two sabbaths in conjunction. The weekly sabbath followed immediately after the first day of unleavened bread, hence they could not buy spices on it. His own teaching would give them leave to do this good work on an ordinary sabbath. Hence their haste in buying the spices on the day of preparation.

2-4 Compare Mat_28:1 ; Luk_24:1-2 .

5-7 Compare Mat_28:2-7 ; Luk_24:3-7 .

7 See Mar_14:28 .

8 Compare Mat_28:8-10 ; Luk_24:8-12 . See Mat_28:11-15 .

9-11 Compare Joh_20:1-18 .

9 "The first sabbath", which elsewhere is called "one of the sabbaths" was the first of the series of seven sabbaths from the waving of First fruits till Pentecost. Our Lord was roused from the dead on the day which denoted a finished work, not upon the day that began the weekly toil.

9-12 Both Vaticanus and Sinaiticus omit the last twelve verses, but 8 tacitly admits a longer conclusion to Mark, by spacing out the text of the last few pages, and by the fact that the last four pages are .'cancel leaves", written by a different scribe. The original conclusion of Mark was torn out, and a shorter one substituted for it. Likewise B admits a longer conclusion by leaving a blank column after verse eight, the only blank column in the whole manuscript. Our text is taken from Alexandrinus.