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1–15. Christ on trial before Pilate. – 16–25. Mocking Christ, taking Him to Golgotha, crucifixion. – 26–41. At the Cross. Death of Christ. – 42–47. Burial of Christ. Mark 15:1. Immediately in the morning, the high priests with the elders and scribes and the entire Sanhedrin held a meeting and, having bound Jesus, took him away and handed him over to Pilate. Evangelist Mark in this entire section (verses 1–15) again speaks only about the most outstanding, leaving the readers to fill in the unsaid themselves. "Immediately" . The trial of Christ had to be ended as soon as possible, because by evening all the chief priests and others had to eat the Passover and complete rest from all activities began. Mark 15:2. Pilate asked Him: Are you the King of the Jews? He answered and said to him, “You speak.” Mark 15:3. And the chief priests accused Him of many things. Mark 15:4. Pilate asked Him again: “Are you not answering?” you see how many accusations are against you. Mark 15:5. But Jesus did not answer anything to this either, so Pilate marveled. Mark 15:6. For every holiday, he released to them one prisoner they asked for. Mark 15:7. Then there was a man in bonds named Barabbas, with his accomplices, who committed murder during the rebellion. Mark 15:8. And the people began to shout and ask Pilate for what he had always done for them. Mark 15:9. He answered and said to them: Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you? Mark 15:10. For he knew that the high priests had betrayed Him out of envy. Mark 15:11. But the high priests stirred up the people to ask that Barabbas be released to them instead. Mark 15:12. Pilate, answering, again said to them: What do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews? Mark 15:13. They shouted again: crucify Him. Mark 15:14. Pilate said to them, “What evil has He done?” But they shouted even more loudly: crucify Him. Mark 15:15. Then Pilate, wanting to do what was pleasing to the people, released Barabbas to them, and beat Jesus and handed him over to be crucified. “They accused Him of many things” (verse 3). For what these accusations were, see John 18:29 et seq.; Luke 23:2. “For every festival” (verse 6). The custom of releasing criminals on the occasion of the holiday, obviously, was not limited only to Easter (like Matthew, John the Theologian mentions only Easter, but does not exclude the possibility of release on other holidays - John 18:39). “Barabbas, with his companions...” (verse 7). Evangelist Mark makes a rather thorough remark about Barabbas. It was some kind of conspirator who made up a whole gang of rebels and even during the uprising he carried out, he committed murder. And according to the Law of Moses, murder was punishable by death (Ex. 21). “And ask Pilate about this” (verse 8), i.e. for him to do what he always did for them. “King of the Jews” (verse 9). This is how Pilate calls Christ in the Evangelist Mark (cf. Matthew 27:17, where Pilate calls Jesus “the one who is called Christ”), probably in order to show the people how unnatural it is for them to ask for the death of their own king, although, from Pilate’s point of view, he had no legal basis for his claims. Perhaps Pilate used both expressions in his dispute with the people - both “Christ” and “King of the Jews”, which is why the evangelists differ from each other here. “Desiring to do what is pleasing to the people” (verse 15). This remark of the Evangelist Mark characterizes Pilate as a weak ruler who could not insist on his own, but out of a desire to please the crowd, violated the demand of the inner voice of his conscience. Mark 15:16. And the soldiers took Him inside the courtyard, that is, to the praetorium, and gathered the whole regiment, Mark 15:17. and they clothed Him in scarlet, and wove together a crown of thorns, and laid it on Him; Mark 15:18. and they began to greet Him: Rejoice, King of the Jews! Mark 15:19. And they beat Him on the head with a cane, and spat on Him, and, kneeling down, bowed to Him. Mark 15:20. When they mocked Him, they took off His scarlet robe, dressed Him in His own clothes, and led Him out to crucify Him. Mark 15:21. And they forced a certain Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who was passing by, coming from the field, to carry His cross. Mark 15:22. And they brought Him to the place of Golgotha, which means: Place of Execution. Mark 15:23. And they gave Him wine and myrrh to drink; but He did not accept. Mark 15:24. Those who crucified Him divided His garments, casting lots as to who should take what. Mark 15:25. It was the third hour, and they crucified Him. “They took Him into the courtyard, that is, into the praetorium” (verse 16). Evangelist Mark uses the last term to explain to his readers the not entirely clear expression “inside the courtyard.” The Praetorium, or palace of the procurator, was at that time probably located in Castle Antonia, near the church square, to the north-west. “And they caused him that passed by...” (verse 21). Evangelist Mark adds to Matthew's note (Matthew 27:32) that Simon walked from the field and passed by the procession going to Golgotha. But the evangelist does not say what Simon did in the field. Maybe he didn’t work, but simply examined it, or maybe he worked. In the latter case, we have to assume that the Easter rest has not yet arrived. According to the generally accepted interpretation, Simon was returning precisely from work... Then the Evangelist Mark mentions that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus. Obviously, both of these persons are well known to the readers of the Gospel, Roman Christians, and, perhaps, Rufus is the same Rufus whom the Apostle Paul mentions in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 16:13). “Wine of myrrh” (verse 23). The latter substance, when mixed with wine, gave it stupefying properties. The Lord did not accept such wine because he wanted to die in a state of full consciousness. The Evangelist Matthew seems to have a slightly different thought: Christ did not want to drink vinegar mixed with bitter gall (Matthew 27:34), precisely because of the bad taste of the wine (cf. Ps. 68:22). But both motives for Christ’s non-acceptance of the wine offered to Him could in the present case be combined. “It was the third hour” (verse 25). Evangelist Mark does not quite accurately determine the hour of the crucifixion here; in fact, it was the 6th hour, as can be seen from the Gospel of John, written after the Gospel of Mark, apparently with the aim of supplementing and correcting some chronological inaccuracies found in the weather forecasters (John 19:14). Therefore, some ancient interpreters, for example, Blessed Jerome, said that there was a mistake in the Gospel of Mark: the copyist instead of the letter ς - “six”, put the letter γ - “three”. Others added the particle ὡς to the expression “hour three” - “as if,” “approximately.” But that Christ could not be crucified in the third, i.e. in our opinion, at the ninth hour of the morning, this seems to require no proof: so many events had happened before that time since the “morning”, when the high priests gathered for the second time for a meeting (verse 1). Mark 15:26. And the inscription of His guilt was: King of the Jews. Mark 15:27. Two thieves were crucified with Him, one on His right and the other on His left. Mark 15:28. And the word of Scripture came true: “and he is numbered among the evildoers.” Mark 15:29. Those passing by cursed Him, nodding their heads and saying: Eh! destroying the church, and building in three days! Mark 15:30. save yourself and come down from the cross. Mark 15:31. Likewise, the high priests and the scribes, mocking, said to each other: He saved others, but he cannot save himself. Mark 15:32. Let Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe. And those crucified with Him reviled Him. Mark 15:33. At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole earth and continued until the ninth hour. Mark 15:34. At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice: Eloi! Eloi! lema sabachthani? - which means: My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me? Mark 15:35. Some of those standing there heard it and said, “Look, he is calling Elijah.” Mark 15:36. And one ran, filled a sponge with vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave Him a drink, saying: wait, let's see if Elijah comes to take Him down. Mark 15:37. Jesus cried out loudly and gave up the ghost. Mark 15:38. And the veil of the church was torn in two, from top to bottom. Mark 15:39. The centurion standing opposite Him, seeing that He had given up the ghost after crying out like this, said: Truly this man was the Son of God. Mark 15:40. There were also women here who looked from afar: among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and Josiah, and Salome, Mark 15:41. who, even when He was in Galilee, followed Him and served Him, and many others who came with Him to Jerusalem. “And they crucified Him” (verse 25). Instead of this expression in some codes there is the expression: “and they guarded Him” (ἐφύλασσον αὐτόν). Since the “crucifixion” of Christ is already spoken of in verses 23–24, it seems best to accept the last reading. The soldiers, therefore, guarded Christ so that He would not be kidnapped from the cross by His friends. This message begins the Evangelist Mark’s description of what happened while the Lord was hanging on the cross. “And the word of the Scripture was fulfilled...” (verse 28). Many respected codes do not have this verse. Modern critics also consider the bringing of fulfilled prophecies to be inconsistent with the nature of Mark's Gospel. But one might think that the 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah, from which this prophecy was taken (Is. 53:12), was well known to pagan Christians (cf. Acts 8:32). "Eh!" (verse 29; in Greek - οὐᾶ, in Latin - vah) used only here. This exclamation is mocking. "My God! My God!..” (verse 34). If the Evangelist Matthew asks Christ in the words of the psalm why God left Him (ἵνα τι), then in Mark His words sound like an exclamation: “Why (εἰς τί) have you left me!” This is an exclamation of grief: “What a situation you have brought Me to!” “One gave Him a drink, saying...” (verse 36). According to the Evangelist Mark, this warrior repeated what others said (Matthew 27:49). Thus, by forcing Christ to drink nasty vinegar, he thereby intensified His suffering and at the same time indicated that no Elijah would protect the crucified man from the bullying of soldiers and would not save him from death. “The centurion: when he saw that he thus cried...” (verse 39). The last word "whooping" is not found in very many respected codes. It really only complicates the meaning of the speech, since it gives reason to think that the centurion was converted to faith in Christ only by his loud cry (κράξας). Meanwhile, upon an abbreviated reading, the idea of ​​the verse is clear: the centurion was affected by the fact that Christ “gave up the ghost like this” (οὕτως ἐξέπνευσεν), i.e. with such amazing signs as, for example, darkness and an earthquake (Matthew 27:45, 54) 16. “James the less” (verse 40) – more correctly: “James the little” (in the Greek text it is μικροῦ, not νεωτέρου). "Salome". The Evangelist Mark apparently calls by this name the mother of the sons of Zebedee (Matt. 27:56), John and James (cf. Matt. 20:20). If we take into account John 19:25, we can conclude that Salome was the sister of the Mother of God. Mark 15:42. And when evening had already come, because it was Friday, that is, the day before Saturday, Mark 15:43. Joseph came from Arimathea, a famous member of the council, who himself expected the Kingdom of God, dared to enter Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. Mark 15:44. Pilate was surprised that He had already died, and, calling the centurion, asked him how long ago He had died? Mark 15:45. And, having learned from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. Mark 15:46. He bought a shroud and took Him off, wrapped him in the shroud, and laid Him in a tomb, which was hewn out of the rock, and rolled the stone to the door of the tomb. Mark 15:47. Mary Magdalene and Mary of Joseph looked where they laid Him. “Because it was Friday” (verse 42). Evangelist Mark notes why Joseph is in a hurry to complete the burial of Christ. Friday evening was already approaching, only two or three hours remained before the start of Saturday, when, according to the law, it was no longer possible to carry out any work, even the removal from the cross. In addition, the beginning of Saturday was the beginning of the Easter holiday this year, and this all the more forced us to rush to finish all work. “Famous” (verse 43) – more correctly: “a wealthy and respected person” (εὐσχήμων). "Council Member". This expression is a free-standing epithet. It denotes a member of the Sanhedrin. “I was waiting for the Kingdom of God” - the Kingdom of the Messiah, but probably as a glorious, external, political kingdom. What is important, in any case, is that not only the lower classes of the people, but also noble people sympathized with the new Teacher. "Dared". Evangelist Mark alone notes this character trait of Joseph. He could have feared not so much Pilate as his own comrades in the Sanhedrin, who, of course, would not have forgiven him for his intercession for Christ, even when this intercession concerned only Christ’s right to a decent burial. “Pilate was surprised...” (verse 44). Those crucified sometimes suffered on the cross for several days, and therefore Pilate’s surprise is natural. G.A. Kholmovsky “Christian Reading”, 1910, Jan., p. 41–42) finds the translation of the centurion’s exclamation given in our Russian text incorrect. According to this translation, the centurion confessed Christ as the “Son of God,” i.e. The Only Begotten, as shown by the fact that in our translation these two words are printed in capital letters. Meanwhile, it is hardly possible to allow a polytheistic centurion to immediately rise to such an understanding of the face of Jesus Christ. Therefore, Mr. Kholmovsky translates this exclamation as follows: “In fact, this man was the son of some god!” You might be interested in: