Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 15:22
And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.
22. the place Golgotha ] St Mark gives the explanation of the Hebrew word “Golgotha.” St Luke omits it altogether. It was a bare hill or rising ground on the north or north-west of the city, having the form on its rounded summit of a skull, whence its name. It was ( a) apparently a well-known spot; ( b) outside the gate (comp. Heb 13:12); but ( c) near the city (Joh 19:20); ( d) on a thoroughfare leading into the country (Luk 23:26); and ( e) contained a “garden” or “orchard” (Joh 19:41). From the Vulgate rendering of Luk 23:33, “Et postquam venerunt in locum, qui vocatur Calvari ” (= a bare skull, “the place of Caluarie,” Wyclif), the word Calvary has been introduced into the English Version, obscuring the meaning of the Evangelist. There is nothing in the name to suggest the idea that the remains of malefactors who had been executed were strewn about, for the Jews always buried them.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mar 15:22
The place Golgotha.
Golgotha.
The place of execution
Calvary, or Golgotha, is not now distinguishable as a hill, partly because of the accumulation of rubbish from the ruin of the city, in the hollows and valleys, and partly because it is doubtful whether it ever was, properly, a hill. It stood below Zion, and was looked down on from Herods new palace, but it was slightly above the elevation of the lower town. Its name, Golgotha, more correctly, Golgoltha, comes from the same root as Gilgal, that signifies a hill, and the term golgoi was used for sacred stones, employed in the heathen rites of the Canaanites and Phoenicians, in their worship of Venus (Baaltis). As in Wales and Cornwall, and in Scotland, Pen means head and mountain, so this word golgol came to have a double meaning. Among the early Christians a legend existed, that Calvary took its name from Adams skull having been buried there, and it is possible that the Jewish rabbis had such a story; but the name Calvary, or Golgotha, properly means only the rounded stone, and by a corruption of the original signification was taken to signify the place of a skull. Just in the same way, the Capitoline hill, in Rome, was so called, because it was a rounded elevation, but afterwards a fable grew up that it took its designation from the head of a certain Tolus having been dug up there. The spot, Calvary, would seem to have been the place of execution from an ancient date. It is probably mentioned by Jeremiah (31:38, 39), in a prophecy concerning the rebuilding and enlargement of Jerusalem, in which he foretells that the wall would be built in an extended are from the hill of Gareb in the East, sweeping round, along the North, to the hill of Goath in the West-and Goath, here, answers to Calvary, and means the place of execution. His prophecy was fulfilled about seven years after the death of Christ, by Agrippa, when Golgotha was actually enclosed within the new walls; and at the present day it lies within the city. (S. Baring Gould, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
And they bring him unto the place, Golgotha,…. A famous, or rather an infamous one, well known, and much noted for the many executions there:
which is, being interpreted, the place of a skull; because the skulls of men that had been executed and buried there, being dug up again, lay scattered about; [See comments on Mt 27:33].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Crucifixion. |
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22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. 23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not. 24 And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. 25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. 26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 27 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. 28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors. 29 And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, 30 Save thyself, and come down from the cross. 31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. 32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
We have here the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus.
I. The place where he was crucified; it was called Golgotha–the place of a scull: some think, because of the heads of malefactors that were there cut off: it was the common place of execution, as Tyburn, for he was in all respects numbered with the transgressors. I know not how to give any credit to it, but divers of the ancients mention it as a current tradition, that in this place our first father Adam was buried, and they think it highly congruous that there Christ should be crucified; for as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. Tertullian, Origen, Chrysostom, and Epiphanius (great names), take notice of it; nay, Cyprian adds, Creditur piis–Many good people believe that the blood of Christ crucified did trickle down upon the scull of Adam, who was buried in the same place. Something more credible is the tradition, that this mount Calvary was that mountain in the land of Moriah (and in the land of Moriah it certainly was, for so the country about Jerusalem was called), on which Isaac was to be offered; and the ram was offered instead of him; and then Abraham had an eye to this day of Christ, when he called the place Jehovah-jireh–The Lord will provide, expecting that so it would be seen in the mount of the Lord.
II. The time when he was crucified; it was the third hour, v. 25. He was brought before Pilate about the sixth hour (John xix. 14), according to the Roman way of reckoning, which John uses, with which ours at this day agrees, that is at six o’clock in the morning; and then, at the third hour, according to the Jews’ way of reckoning, that is, about nine of the clock in the morning, or soon after, they nailed him to the cross. Dr. Lightfoot thinks the third hour is here mentioned, to intimate an aggravation of the wickedness of the priests, they were here prosecuting Christ to the death, though it was after the third hour, when they ought to have been attending the service of the temple, and offering the peace-offerings; it being the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, when there was to be a holy convocation. At that very time, when they should have been, according to the duty of their place, presiding in the public devotions, were they here venting their malice against the Lord Jesus; yet these were the men that seemed so zealous for the temple, and condemned Christ for speaking against it. Note, There are many who pretend to be for the church, who yet care not how seldom they go to church.
III. The indignities that were done him, when he was nailed to the cross; as if that had not been ignominious enough, they added several things to the ignominy of it.
1. It being the custom to give wine to persons that were to be put to death, they mingled his with myrrh, which was bitter, and made it nauseous; he tasted it, but would not drink it; was willing to admit the bitterness of it, but not the benefit of it.
2. The garments of those that were crucified, being, as with us, the executioners’ fee, the soldiers cast lots upon his garments (v. 24), threw dice (as our soldiers do upon a drum-head), for them: so making themselves merry with his misery, and sitting at their sport while he was hanging in pain.
3. They set up a superscription over his head, by which they intended to reproach him, but really did him both justice and honour, The king of the Jews, v. 26. Here was no crime alleged, but his sovereignty owned. Perhaps Pilate meant to cast disgrace upon Christ as a baffled king, or upon the Jews, who by their importunity had forced him, against his conscience, to condemn Christ, as a people that deserved no better a king than he seemed to be: however, God intended it to be the proclaiming even of Christ upon the cross, the king of Israel; though Pilate know not what he wrote, any more than Caiaphas what he said, John xi. 51. Christ crucified is king of his church, his spiritual Israel; and even then when he hung on the cross, he was like a king, conquering his and his people’s enemies, and triumphing over them, Col. ii. 15. Now he was writing his laws in his own blood, and preparing his favours for his subjects. Whenever we look unto Christ crucified, we must remember the inscription over his head, that he is a king, and we must give up ourselves to be his subjects, as Israelites indeed.
4. They crucified two thieves with him, one on his right hand, the other on his left, and him in the midst as the worst of the three (v. 27); so great a degree of dishonour did they hereby intend him. And, no doubt, it gave him disturbance too. Some that have been imprisoned in the common gaols, for the testimony of Jesus, have complained of the company of cursing, swearing prisoners, more than any other of the grievances of their prison. Now, in the midst of such our Lord Jesus was crucified; while he lived he had, and there was occasion, associated with sinners, to do them good; and now when he died, he was for the same purpose joined with them, for he came into the world, and went out of it, to save sinners, even the chief. But this evangelist takes particular notice of the fulfilling of the scriptures in it, v. 28. In that famous prediction of Christ’s sufferings (Isa. liii. 12), it was foretold that he should be numbered with the transgressors, because he was made sin for us.
5. The spectators, that is, the generality of them, instead of condoling with him in his misery, added to it by insulting over him. Surely never was such an instance of barbarous inhumanity toward the vilest malefactor: but thus the devil showed the utmost rage against him, and thus he submitted to the greatest dishonours that could be done him.
(1.) Even they that passed by, that were no way concerned, railed on him, v. 29. If their hearts were so hardened, that their compassions were not moved with such a spectacle, yet they should have thought it enough to have their curiosity gratified; but that will not serve: as if they were not only divested of all humanity, but were devils in human shape, they taunted him, and expressed themselves with the utmost detestation of him, and indignation at him, and shot thick at him their arrows, even bitter words. The chief priests, no doubt, put these sarcasms into their mouths, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, now, if thou canst, save thyself, and come down from the cross. They triumph as if now that they had got him to the cross, there were no danger of his destroying the temple; whereas the temple of which he spoke, he was now destroying, and did within three days build it up; and the temple of which they spoke, he did by men, that were his sword and his hand, destroy not many years after. When secure sinners think the danger is over, it is then most ready to seize them: the day of the Lord comes as a thief upon those that deny his coming, and say, Where is the promise of it? much more upon those that defy his coming, and say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work.
(2.) Even the chief priests, who, being taken from among men and ordained for men, should have compassion even on those that are out of the way, should be tender of those that are suffering and dying (Heb 5:1; Heb 5:2), yet they poured vinegar instead of oil into his wounds, they talked to the grief of him whom God had smitten (Ps. lxix. 26), they mocked him, they said, He saved others, healed and helped them, but now it appears that it was not by his own power, for himself he cannot save. They challenged him to come down from the cross, if he could, v. 32. Let them but see that, and they would believe; whereas they would not believe, when he gave them a more convincing sign than that, when he came up from the grave. These chief priests, one would think, might now have found themselves other work to do: if they would not go to do their duty in the temple, yet they might have been employed in an office not foreign to their profession; though they would not offer any counsel or comfort to the Lord Jesus, yet they might have given some help to the thieves in their dying moments (the monks and priests in Popish countries are very officious about criminals broken upon the wheel, a death much like that of the cross); but they do not think that their business.
(3.) Even they that were crucified with him, reviled him (v. 32); one of them did, so wretchedly was his heart hardened even in the depth of misery, and at the door of eternity.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
They bring him ( ). Historical present again. See on Mt 27:33f. for discussion of Golgotha.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Golgotha. See on Mt 27:33.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And they bring Him unto the place Golgotha,” (kai pherousin auton epi ton Golgothan topon) “And they brought Him out and upon the place (known as) Golgatha,” North of the Holy temple area, outside the city walls, Mat 27:33; Heb 13:12.
2) “Which is being interpreted,” (ho estin methermneuomenos) “Which is (when) interpreted,” also known as Calvary, Luk 23:33. Golgatha is the Hebrew name and Calvary is the Greek name of the place.
3) ”The place of a skull.” (kramiou topos) “The place of a cranium,” or a skull, Mat 27:33; Note, as Jesus left the Judgement Hall, or court area, He was “bearing His cross,” Himself, but on the way to Calvary it was taken by Simon of Cyrene, Joh 19:17; Mat 27:32.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
‘And they bring him to the place Golgotha, which is being interpreted ‘the place of a skull’.’
There is no mention in the Gospels of a hill, but the site would be outside the city walls (Heb 13:12) and on a road leading in so that passers by might see and take warning. There may have been a skull shaped hill there or it may simply have been a place seen as ‘unclean’ because skulls had been found there. This might explain why it was a regular place for executions, because it was an unclean place. Or it may have been called this because it was a place of regular executions. But here it is seen as symbolic of the fact that Jesus has been brought to the place of death. The fact that Mark translate (there is no need to translate place names) confirms that the name is to be seen as significant.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mar 15:22-27 . See on Mat 27:33-38 . Comp. Luk 23:33 f., who here narrates summarily, but yet not without bringing in a deeply vivid and original trait (Mar 15:34 ), and has previously the episode of the daughters of Jerusalem.
] . corresponds to the subsequent , and is therefore to be regarded as a genitive . According to Mark, the place was called the “ place of Golgotha, ” which name ( ) interpreted is equivalent to “ place of a skull .”
Mar 15:23 . ] they offered . This is implied in the imperfect . See Bernhardy, p. 373.
.] See, on this custom of giving to criminals wine mingled with myrrh or similar bitter and strong ingredients for the purpose of blunting their sense of feeling, Wetstein in loc.; Dougtaeus, Anal. II. p. 42.
Mar 15:24 . ] according to Psa 22:19 : upon them (the clothes were lying there), as Act 1:26 . Whether the casting of the lot was done by dice, or by the shaking of the lot-tokens in a vessel (helmet), so that the first that fell out decided for the person indicated by it (see Duncan, Lex. , ed. Rost, p. 635), is a question that must be left open.
] i.e. who should receive anything, and what he was to receive . See, on this blending of two interrogative clauses, Bernhardy, p. 444; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 824; Winer, p. 553 [E. T. 783].
Mar 15:25 . This specification of time (comp. Mar 15:33 ), which is not, with Baur and Hilgenfeld, to be derived from the mere consideration of symmetry (of the third hour to that of Mar 15:33 ), is in keeping with Mat 27:45 ; Luk 23:44 . As to the difference, however, from Joh 19:14 , according to which, at about the sixth hour, Jesus still stood before Pilate, and as to the attempts at reconciliation made in respect thereof, see on John.
. .] . is not to be translated as a pluperfect (Fritzsche), but: and it was the third hour, and they crucified Him , i.e. when they crucified Him; [175] as also in classical writers after the specification of the time the fact is often linked on by the simple . See Thuc. i. 50, iii. 108; Xen. Anab. ii. 1. 7, vii. 4. 12. Comp. on Luk 19:43 . Stallbaum, ad Plat. Symp. p. 220 C.
[175] Euthymius Zigabenus here gives a warning illustration of forced harmonizing: , , , . , . So also Luther in his gloss, and Fr. Schmid; comp. Calovius: “hora tertia inde a traditione Pilato facta .” With more shrewdness Grotius suggests: “jam audita erat tuba horae tertiae, quod dici solebat donec caneret tuba horae sextae .” In the main even at this day Roman Catholics (see Friedlieb and Bisping) similarly still make out of the third hour the second quarter of the day (9 to 12 o’clock).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.
Ver. 22. St Mark very diligently describeth what happened at Calvary; what Christ did and said on the cross, what was done and said to him there, how he gave up the ghost, &c., that we might have these things as ready, and at our fingers’ ends, as he had who wrote the whole history of our Saviour’s passion upon the nails of his hands.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
22. ] must be regarded as accusative from , the name being Grcised. The construction is varied in the interpretation.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 15:22 . ., they carry Him: “ferunt, non modo ducunt,” Bengel. It would appear that Jesus was so weak through the strain of the last few days, and the scourging, that He was unable to walk, not to speak of carrying His cross. He had to be borne as the sick were borne to Him (Mar 1:32 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mark
THE DEATH WHICH GIVES LIFE
Mar 15:21 – Mar 15:39
The narrative of the crucifixion is, in Mark’s hands, almost entirely a record of what was done to Jesus, and scarcely touches what was done by Him. We are shown the executioners, the jeering rabble, the triumphant priests, the fellow-sufferers reviling; but the only glimpses we get of Him are His refusal of the stupefying draught, His loud cries, and His giving up the ghost. The narrative is perfectly calm, as well as reverently reticent. It would have been well if our religious literature had copied the example, and treated the solemn scene in the same fashion. Mark’s inartificial style of linking long paragraphs with the simple ‘and’ is peculiarly observable here, where every verse but vv. Mar 15:30 and Mar 15:32 , which are both quotations, begins with it. The whole section is one long sentence, each member of which adds a fresh touch to the tragic picture. The monotonous repetition of ‘and,’ ‘and,’ ‘and,’ gives the effect of an endless succession of the wares of sorrow, pain, and contumely which broke over that sacred head. We shall do best simply to note each billow as it breaks.
The first point is the impressing of Simon to bear the Cross. That was not dictated by compassion so much as by impatience. Apparently the weight was too heavy for Jesus, and the pace could be quickened by making the first man who could be laid hold of help to carry the load. Mark adds that Simon was the ‘father of Alexander and Rufus,’ whom he supposes to need no introduction to his readers. There is a Rufus mentioned in Rom 16:13 as being, with his mother, members of the Roman Church. Mark’s Gospel has many traces of being primarily intended for Romans. Possibly these two Rufuses are the same; and the conjecture may be allowable that the father’s fortuitous association with the crucifixion led to the conversion of himself and his family, and that his sons were of more importance or fame in the Church than he was. Perhaps, too, he is the ‘Simeon called Niger’ bronzed by the hot African sun who was a prophet of Antioch, and stands by the side of a Cyrenian Act 13:1. It is singular that he should be the only one of all the actors in the crucifixion who is named; and the fact suggests his subsequent connection with the Church. If so, the seeking love of God found him by a strange way. On what apparently trivial accidents a life may be pivoted, and how much may depend on turning to right or left in a walk! In this bewildering network of interlaced events, which each ramifies in so many directions, the only safety is to keep fast hold of God’s hand and to take good care of the purity of our motives, and let results alone.
The next verse brings us to Golgotha, which is translated by the three Evangelists, who give it as meaning ‘the place of a skull.’ The name may have been given to the place of execution with grim suggestiveness; or, more probably, Conder’s suggested identification is plausible, which points to a little, rounded, skull-shaped knoll, close outside the northern wall, as the site of the crucifixion. In that case, the name would originally describe the form of the height, and be retained as specially significant in view of its use as the place of execution. That was the ‘place’ to which Israel led its King! The place of death becomes a place of life, and from the mournful soil where the bones of evildoers lay bleaching in the sun springs the fountain of water of life.
Arrived at that doleful place, a small touch of kindness breaks the monotony of cruelty, if it be not merely apart of the ordinary routine of executions. The stupefying potion would diminish, but would therefore protract, the pain, and was possibly given for the latter rather than the former effect. But Jesus ‘received it not.’ He will not, by any act of His, lessen the bitterness. He will drink to the dregs the cup which His Father hath given Him, and therefore He will not drink of the numbing draught. It is a small matter comparatively, but it is all of a piece with the greater things. The spirit of His whole course of voluntary, cheerful endurance of all the sorrows needful to redeem the world, is expressed in His silent turning away from the draught which might have alleviated physical suffering, but at the cost of dulling conscious surrender.
The act of crucifixion is but named in a subsidiary clause, as if the writer turned away, with eyes veiled in reverence, from the sight of man’s utmost sin and Christ’s utmost mystery of suffering love. He can describe the attendant circumstances, but his pen refuses to dwell upon the central fact. The highest art and the simplest natural feeling both know that the fewest words are the most eloquent. He will not expressly mention the indignity done to the sacred Body in which ‘dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead,’ but leaves it to be inferred from the parting of Christ’s raiment, the executioner’s perquisite. He had nothing else belonging to Him, and of even that poor property He is spoiled. According to John’s more detailed account, the soldiers made an equal parting of His garments except the seamless robe, for which they threw lots. So the ‘parting’ applies to one portion, and the ‘casting lots’ to another. The incident teaches two things: on the one hand, the stolid indifference of the soldiers, who had crucified many a Jew, and went about their awful work as a mere piece of routine duty; and, on the other hand, the depth of the abasement and shame to which Jesus bowed for our sakes. ‘Naked shall I return thither’ was true in the most literal sense of Him whose earthly life began with His laying aside His garments of divine glory, and ended with rude legionaries parting ‘His raiment’ among them.
Mark alone tells the hour at which Jesus was nailed to the Cross Mar 15:25. Matthew and Luke specify the sixth and ninth hours as the times of the darkness and of the death; but to Mark we owe our knowledge of the fact that for six slow hours Jesus hung there, tasting death drop by drop. At any moment of all these sorrow-laden moments He could have come down from the Cross, if He would. At each, a fresh exercise of His loving will to redeem kept Him there.
The writing on the Cross is given here in the most condensed fashion Mar 15:26. The one important point is that His ‘accusation’ was-’King of the Jews.’ It was the official statement of the reason for His crucifixion, put there by Pilate as a double-barrelled sarcasm, hitting both Jesus and the nation. The rulers winced under the taunt, and tried to get it softened; but Pilate sought to make up for his unrighteous facility in yielding Jesus to death, by obstinacy and jeers. So the inscription hung there, a truth deeper than its author or its angry readers knew, and a prophecy which has not received all its fulfilment yet.
The narrative comes back, in Mar 15:27 , to the sad catalogue of the insults heaped on Jesus. Mar 15:28 is probably spurious here, as the Revised Version takes it to be; but it truly expresses the intention of the crucifixion of the thieves as being to put Him in the same class as they, and to suggest that He was a ringleader, pre-eminent in evil. Possibly the two robbers may have been part of Barabbas’ band, who had been brigands disguised as patriots; and, if so, the insult was all the greater. But, in any case, the meaning of it was to bring Him down, in the eyes of beholders, to the level of vulgar criminals. If a Cranmer or a Latimer had been bound to the stake with a housebreaker or a cut-throat, that would have been a feeble image of the malicious contumely thus flung at Jesus; but His love had identified Him with the worst sinners in a far deeper and more real way, and not a crime had stained these men’s hands, but its weight pressed on Him. He numbered Himself with transgressors, that they may be numbered with His saints.
Then follows Mar 15:29 – Mar 15:32 the threefold mockery by people, priests, and fellow-sufferers. That is spread over three hours, and is all which Mark has to tell of them. Other Evangelists give us words spoken by Jesus; but this narrative has only one of the seven words from the Cross, and gives us the picture rather of the silent Sufferer, bearing in meek resolution all that men can lay on Him. Both pictures are true, for the words are too few to make notable breaches in the silence. The mockery harps on the old themes, and witnesses at once the malicious cruelty of the mockers and the innocence of the Victim, at whom even such malice could find nothing to fling except these stale taunts. The chance passengers, of whom there would be a stream to and from the adjacent city gate, ‘wag their heads’ in gratified and fierce hate. The calumny of the discredited witnesses, although even the biased judges had not dared to treat it as true, has lodged in the popular mind, and been accepted as proved. Lies are not killed when they are shown to be lies. They travel faster than truth. Ears were greedily open for the false witnesses’ evidence which had been closed to Christ’s gracious teaching. The charge that He was a would-be destroyer of the Temple obliterated all remembrance of miracles and benefits, and fanned the fire of hatred in men whose zeal for the Temple was a substitute for religion. Are there any of them left nowadays-people who have no real heart-hold of Christianity, but are fiercely antagonistic to supposed destroyers of its externals, and not over-particular to the evidence against them? These mockers thought that Christ’s being fastened to the Cross was a reductio ad absurdum of His claim to build the Temple. How little they knew that it led straight to that rebuilding, or that they, and not He, were indeed the destroyers of the holy house which they thought that they were honouring, and were really making ‘desolate’! The priests do not take up the people’s mockery, for they know that it is based upon a falsehood; but they scoff at His miracles, which they assume to be disproved by His crucifixion. Their venomous gibe is profoundly true, and goes to the very heart of the gospel. Precisely because ‘He saved others,’ therefore ‘Himself He cannot save’-not, as they thought, for want of power, but because His will was fixed to obey the Father and to redeem His brethren, and therefore He must die and cannot deliver Himself. But the necessity and inability both depend on His will. The priests, however, take up the other part of the people’s scoff. They unite the two grounds of condemnation in the names ‘the Christ, the King of Israel,’ and think that both are disproved by His hanging there. But the Cross is the throne of the King. A sacrificial death is the true work of the Messiah of law, prophecy, and psalm; and because He did not come down from the Cross, therefore is He ‘crowned with glory and honour’ in heaven, and rules over grateful and redeemed hearts on earth.
The midday darkness lasted three hours, during which no word or incident is recorded. It was nature divinely draped in mourning over the sin of sins, the most tragic of deaths. It was a symbol of the eclipse of the Light of the world; but ere He died it passed, and the sun shone on His expiring head, in token that His death scattered our darkness and poured day on our sad night. The solemn silence was broken at last by that loud cry, the utterance of strangely blended consciousness of possession of God and of abandonment by Him, the depths of which we can never fathom. But this we know: that our sins, not His, wove the veil which separated Him from His God. Such separation is the real death. Where cold analysis is out of place, reverent gratitude may draw near. Let us adore, for what we can understand speaks of a love which has taken on itself the iniquity of us all. Let us silently adore, for all words are weaker than that mystery of love.
The first hearers of that cry misunderstood it, or cruelly pretended to do so, in order to find fresh food for mockery. ‘Eloi’ sounded like enough to ‘Elijah’ to suggest to some of the flinty hearts around a travesty of the piteous appeal. They must have been Jews, for the soldiers knew nothing about the prophet; and if they were Scribes, they could scarcely fail to recognise the reference to the Twenty-second Psalm, and to understand the cry. But the opportunity for one more cruelty was too tempting to be resisted, and savage laughter was man’s response to the most pitiful prayer ever uttered. One man in all that crowd had a small touch of human pity, and, dipping a sponge in the sour drink provided for the soldiers, reached it up to the parched lips. That was no stupefying draught, and was accepted. Matthew’s account is more detailed, and represents the words spoken as intended to hinder even that solitary bit of kindness.
The end was near. The lips, moistened by the ‘vinegar,’ opened once more in that loud cry which both showed undiminished vitality and conscious victory; and then He ‘gave up the ghost,’ sending away His spirit, and dying, not because the prolonged agony had exhausted His energy, but because He chose to die, He entered through the gate of death as a conqueror, and burst its bars when He went in, and not only when He came out.
His death rent the Temple veil. The innermost chamber of the Divine Presence is open now, and sinful men have ‘access with confidence by the faith of Him,’ to every place whither He has gone before. Right into the secret of God’s pavilion we can go, now and here, knowledge and faith and love treading the path which Jesus has opened, and coming to the Father by Him. Bight into the blaze of the glory we shall go hereafter; for He has gone to prepare a place for us, and when He overcame the sharpness of death He opened the gate of heaven to all believers.
Jews looked on, unconcerned and unconvinced by the pathos and triumph of such a death. But the rough soldier who commanded the executioners had no prejudices or hatred to blind his eyes and ossify his heart. The sight made its natural impression on him; and his exclamation, though not to be taken as a Christian confession or as using the phrase ‘Son of God’ in its deepest meaning, is yet the beginning of light. Perhaps, as he went thoughtfully to his barrack that afternoon, the process began which led him at last to repeat his first exclamation with deepened meaning and true faith. May we all gaze on that Cross, with fuller knowledge, with firm trust, and endless love!
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar 15:22-26
22Then they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. 23They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. 24And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. 25It was the third hour when they crucified Him. 26The inscription of the charge against Him read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
Mar 15:22 “Golgotha” This is an Aramaic term. The term “calvary” is Latin for “skull.” The terms do not refer to the full skull, but the forehead. The location is uncertain, but it was outside the old walls of Jerusalem, probably on a low, bald hill on a major thoroughfare into the holy city (cf. Lev 24:14; Num 15:35-36; Joh 19:20).
Mar 15:23 “They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh” This is imperfect tense meaning they tried several times. Talmudic tradition says that the women of Jerusalem did this as a ministry to condemned prisoners. It was in effect a strong drug to ease the pain and dull the mind.
“but He did not take it” The reason is unknown.
Mar 15:24 “crucified Him” The Romans did not nail through the palms of the hand but through the wrists with the body supported mostly by ropes around the arms. The legs were slightly bent with the feet nailed to a small triangular box. This was done to cause a person to continually lift themselves up in order to breathe. There was also a small piece of wood, called the saddle, on which the person could sit and briefly rest their weight. Most crucified people died from asphyxiation. The person was suspended off the ground only high enough to get their feet about one foot above the ground.
“divided up His garments” The Roman soldiers who crucified criminals got to keep their possessions as part of their pay.
“casting lots” This was predicted in Psa 22:18. This psalm describes Jesus’ crucifixion (Christological typology). Jesus quotes the first line of this Psalm in Mar 15:34. Also Psa 22:7-8 foreshadows the comments of those who passed by and mocked Jesus (cf. Mar 15:29).
Mar 15:25 “the third hour” In Joh 19:14 it says “the sixth hour.” The Synoptic Gospels consistently use Jewish time, while John, often, but not exclusively, uses Roman time.
“they crucified Him” The Gospel writers do not play on our emotions describing the gruesome physical steps that were involved. The theological issue is not how (although Deu 21:23 is significant, cf. Gal 3:13) He died, but who He is and why He died!
Mar 15:26
NASB, NRSV,
NJB”the inscription. . .read”
NKJV”the inscription. . .written above”
TEV”the notice of the accusation against him said”
The information that this inscription was in three languages comes from Joh 19:20. The information that it was nailed over Jesus’ head comes from Mat 22:37.
The KJV and NKJV translate Mar 15:26 in such a way as to imply it clearly states “above,” but the term “inscription” is repeated in the verb, which means to engrave, inscribe, imprint, write on, but not “above.”
“the charge read” This small sign was called the Titulus by the Romans. It was usually black letters on a white background. This official charge was either (1) carried before the condemned or (2) hung around the neck of the condemned. At the place of crucifixion it was placed above Jesus’ head on the cross (cf. Mat 27:37). See Manners and Customs of the Bible by James M. Freeman, pp. 395-6.
“‘THE KING OF THE JEWS'” It is interesting to note the variety among the Gospels as to the exact wording of the charge placed over Jesus’ head on the cross.
1. Mat 27:37 “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews”
2. Mar 15:26 “The King of the Jews”
3. Luk 23:38 “This is the King of the Jews”
4. Joh 19:19 “Jesus, the Nazarene, the King of the Jews”
Each one is different, but basically the same. This is true of most of the variety of historical details among the Gospels. Each writer recorded his memories (and sources) in slightly different ways, but they are still the same eyewitness account.
Pilate meant to irritate the Jewish leaders by putting the very title they feared on Jesus’ cross (cf. Mar 15:21-22).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
unto. Greek. epi. App-104. As in Mar 15:46. Not the same word as in verses: Mar 15:41, Mar 15:43.
Golgotha. See note on Mat 27:33.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
22.] must be regarded as accusative from , the name being Grcised. The construction is varied in the interpretation.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mar 15:22. , they bring [bear or take]) not merely lead.-) The genitive.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mar 15:22-28
15. THE CRUCIFIXION
Mar 15:22-28
(Mat 27:33-38; Luk 23:33-34; Luk 23:38; Joh 19:17-24)
22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.–“Golgotha” is Hebrew for skull. “The place of a skull” was the place of execution of criminals. “The place of a skull” has about the same significance as “bone yard,” as sometimes a place of execution of criminals is called in a slangy way. “Calvary” means a bare skull, and is applied to the same place. Golgotha is Hebrew; Calvary is Greek for skull. There is nothing in the Bible that justifies it being called “Mount Calvary.” They who bring him on are the soldiers, to whom he has been delivered to be crucified. The band is under the command of a centurion.]
23 And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh:– [Matthew says “wine to drink mingled with gall.” Myrrh was bitter, hence called gall by Matthew. Vinegar was soured wine. This was given to persons about to be executed on the cross to stupefy the senses and deaden pain.] To give it was a custom of the Jews.
but he received it not.– [Matthew says, “When he had tasted it, he would not drink.” He tasted, learned what it was, and refused to be stupefied by the potion. This was given before he was nailed to the cross.] He would not do his work stupefied or intoxicated. In the full possession of all his mental faculties he would “tread the winepress.” He was determined not to ward off the sufferings that had been appointed for him.
24 And they crucifiy him,–[The crucifixion consisted in nailing the outstretched hands to the cross and leaving him to die by the suffering and exposure. The victim, with outstretched arms, was nailed to the cross, his feet nailed or tied to the upright post, and a peg was fixed in the post between the legs to support his weight. He lingered in this way until relieved by death. Sometimes he lingered in this torture two or three days. Who can imagine torture greater than this? The body was watched by soldiers until death came, otherwise the friends might take it down and the person be restored to freedom.] Crucifixion was unanimously considered the most horrible form of death.
and part his garments among them,–The garments of which he had just been stripped.
casting lots upon them, what each should take.–[They parted his garments. They divided them into four parts, corresponding to the number of soldiers engaged in his crucifixion. John says: “When they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which said, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.” (Psa 22:18.) The soldiers, knowing nothing of this prophecy, in their course fulfilled it. When they crucified him, Luke reports that he said: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” This prayer for forgiveness, I take it, was more especially for the soldiers, who ignorantly did what others planned.]
25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.–[The third hour, by the usual computation of time, would be nine o’clock a. m. He was betrayed during the early part of the night, Thursday, 14th. He was carried to Annas, then to Caiaphas, and tried. Then when it was day they again assembled and confirmed what had been done during the night. They brought him to Pilate; he tried him, and sent him to Herod, who heard the accusations, and questioned him, and returned him to Pilate. He parleyed with the Jews, finally yielded, signed the death warrant, and again and again pleaded with the Jews for him. He is delivered to the soldiers, carried to Calvary, and is crucified, nailed to the cross. It seems impossible that this could be done by nine o’clock a.m., but John (Joh 19:14) says: “It was the Preparation of the Passover: it was about the sixth hour” when he delivered him “unto them to be crucified.” (Verse 16.) This places the crucifixion after twelve o’clock. The explanation usually accepted is that the day was divided into four parts of three hours each–the first from six to nine; second from nine to twelve; third from twelve to three; fourth from three to six. Mark called the third division, beginning at twelve noon, the third hour.]
26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, The King of the Jews.–[Over the head of the criminal was usually a board with a label telling who the criminal was, and the crime for which he was convicted. Mark says Pilate wrote, “The King of the Jews”; Matthew, “This is Jesus the King of the Jews”; Luke, “This is the King of the Jews”; John, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Three of these could be easily explained by their having been written in terms a little different in the different languages–Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. This would leave the fourth unexplained, so we must conclude the writers presented the sense without being exact as to the words. John (Joh 19:21) says: “The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but, that he said, I am King of the Jews.” This inscription and the reply to the request show Pilate was chagrined–that he was petulant toward them. He had trampled on right to please them, and would do no more. But when the great deed was done, the smaller matters were nothing.]
27 And with him they crucify two robbers;–Meyer says that this is spoken with reference to another band of soldiers, the others, according to Matthew, having sat down to watch Jesus. The two may have been those companions of Barabbas mentioned in verse 7.
one on his right hand, and one on his left.–They might well be considered as representatives of the two classes who had secured his death, the priests and the scribes. John was standing somewhere near the cross, and how vividly must have come to his mind the request which he and James had once made, to be on his right and left, and the answer that Jesus made. [This was the work of the Romans, not of the Jews. The thieves were likely already condemned and they concluded to crucify all at once. They placed one on his right hand, the other on his left. This was done to heap ignominy on Jesus. The Roman soldiers entered fully into the spirit of the Jews in heaping shame upon him, so they place him between the two thieves, utterly unconscious in so doing that they are fulfilling prophecy concerning him.]
28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was reckoned with transgressors.–This verse is omitted in the American Revised Version, but retained in the footnotes. [In that wonderful prophecy of the Savior (Isa 53:12) it was foretold, he “was numbered with the transgressors”; and now, under the providence of God, wicked men, who know nothing of God or these scriptures, carry out the predictions in the most striking manner. What they do to degrade him proves him beyond doubt to be the sent of God, and secures to him everlasting honor and glory. God turns ignominy, suffered by his children for his sake, into everlasting honor and glory. If we suffer with him we will reign with him.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
a King upon His Cross
Mar 15:22-47
Our Lord refused to drink the potion prepared by the women of Jerusalem, in order to stupefy those who were crucified and so deaden the sense of pain, because He would drain the cup to its dregs. It was nine oclock in the morning when He was nailed to the cross. His persecutors were, as they thought, destroying the Temple of which He had spoken in Joh 2:19, and making its restoration impossible. In fact, however, they were giving Him the opportunity of fulfilling His great prediction. He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Nature veiled her face from that awful spectacle. Christ was not really forsaken, but as our Redeemer he passed under the dark shadow of human sin. The access to the Holy of Holies is now forever free through the entry of our great High Priest. See Heb 9:7-8. What love inspired the women, Mar 15:40, to brave the horrors of the scene! And how good to see that God cares for the body as well as for the spirit of His beloved! For Joseph, see Mat 27:57 and Luk 23:50-51. Born of the Virgins womb our Lord was buried in a virgin tomb.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Golgotha: Mat 27:33-44, Luk 23:27-33, Calvary, Joh 19:17-27
Reciprocal: Luk 23:33 – when
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE MORTIFICATION OF BODILY DESIRES
And they bring Him unto the place Golgotha. And they gave Him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but He received it not.
Mar 15:22-23
The first great law of Christian life as revealed in the Passion is obedience; the second finds expression in this incident. It is that great law of the mortification and of the disciplining of our bodily passions and desires, which is only possible through abstinence. Obedience is not within our powers, except it be through our yielding ourselves submissively to this great law of mortification, for we can only walk with quick footsteps along the path of holy obedience as we acquire Christian liberty through self-discipline and self-control.
I. The Christian life is essentially a mortified life. Why? Because mortification is the condition under which we can alone yield obedience to the will of God. In a measure this is true, even of man in his sinless condition during the time that he was in a state of probation in this world. Nothing could have been of any avail in the fierceness of mans temptation but the self-control which, alas! was lacking in that crucial hour; and so with ourselves, we can only be safe as long as our passions and desires are held within the limits of a wise restraint, only safe as long as we have that power of self-mastery, which can keep the gratification of passion within the limits of revealed law.
II. But if mortification of desire is an essential feature of mans life as man, it is an essential feature because man is sin-stricken.We have inherited, alas! a turbulence of passions. When Adam sinned that great sin, the controlling power of the indwelling Spirit was withdrawn from him; and immediately the glory of the Divine presence was withdrawn. St. Paul, in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, describes what the carnal state is. He who is in it has known what converting grace is. The mind, and heart, and will are turned towards God; but, alas! when he tries to respond to the conviction, and the aspiration, and the resolve of the heart acted upon by the Spirit of God, he finds himself so hindered by the flesh within him, stirred into activity by the temptation without him, that the good that he would he does not, and the evil which he would not, that he does. The position is not one of death, but it is at least a position of awful peril; and the question is, Which of the two natures will triumph? Will the lower nature triumph, until he becomes captive to sin? or will the higher nature triumph, until he becomes spiritual? The answer to this perplexing question depends on the answer to another question: Will the man live a mortified life? Will he obey the leading of the Spirit? Or will he give himself up to a life of luxury? Will he be a slave to his passions, or will he beat these passions into subjection until he leads about his lower nature as the slave of his higher self? No mere desires will win this great victory. No penitent confessions of themselves will avail to secure it, no diligent attention to means of grace in the closet and in the sanctuary will of necessity save you from peril and lead you into the life of obedience. All these are helps, I grant. High desire, generous repentance, continual seeking of the grace of God, all are necessary; but in vain the desire, in vain the penance, in vain the diligent using of means of grace, unless all these be crowned by mortification, by grappling with the lower nature, by imitation of the mortified life and death of Jesus Christ.
III. Lack of mortification is a too common feature of Christian life to-day.
(a) In the world. Of necessity we live in the world more or less under the conditions in which human life is lived around. We cannot, if we would, isolate ourselves from its influences. We are living in an age which is characterised by this self-indulgence more than by anything else, by the unlimited gratification of every craving and every desire. And we in the world, breathing its atmosphere and acted on by its spirit, are hindered in our inner spiritual character by the luxurious atmosphere in which we live.
(b) In the spiritual life. In another way we see in the spiritual life of to-day a sad result of the lack of mortification. The religion of to-day is so emotional. In the Christianity of to-day there seems to me to be an over-emotional sensitiveness, wedded to intense weakness of will. You stand in the pulpit before crowded congregations. As you speak, the emotions are quickened, hearts are softened. In one the tear trickles down the cheek: you hope it is the tear of real contrition; in another joy shines in the upturned face: you wish it were the joy of pardon realised. But it is nothing of the kind. All this emotion is simply psychical; and we have the strange phenomenon before us at the present time of men and women crowding Gods church and crowding Gods altars, and going out into the world and talking as the world talks, and sinning as the world sins. The vast distance that there is in many a character between religious emotionalism and moral state, is a scandal and a weakness to the Church. God is calling us at the present time with clear voice to recognise this truth, and to correspond with it.
Rev. Canon Body.
Illustration
Crucifixion, as we know, of all forms of death was the most painful, and the thought of it appealed with the strongest force to the pitying mind of the women in Jerusalem; and so of their charity they were wont to provide a stupefying draught to those who were about to endure that great pain, and by permission of the Roman authorities this cup of pity was lifted to the lips of those condemned to die by crucifixion before they were finally nailed to the cross. In accordance with this charitable practice, when Jesus Christ is about to be fastened to the wood of the Tree of Life, some one comes near to Him, and offers Him that draught, the purpose of which is to alleviate His pain. But He was not willing to drink of that cup which would give Him relief; we are expressly told He received it not; He put away from Him that which would soften the keenness of the pain that He was enduring. Not that He did not shrink back from the pain, as well as from the shame, of the Cross. We know that He did shrink from it with all the shrinking of a highly strung and sensitive nature; but though He felt that pain and that shame, and shrank from it in anticipation with intensest shrinking, yet His will so triumphed over the shrinking of His flesh and of His soul that He refused to drink of that which would mitigate the greatness of His suffering. So He teaches us through all time this great truth, that if we would walk along the path of obedience and tread in His sacred footsteps, we must be content not to encumber ourselves with all that makes life luxurious and pleasing.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Chapter 20.
The Crucifixion
“And they bring Him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. And they gave Him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but He received it not. And when they had crucified Him, they parted His garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. And the superscription of His accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. And with Him they crucify two thieves; the one on His right hand, and the other on His left. And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And He was numbered with the transgressors. And they that passed by railed on Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, Save Thyself, and come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with Him reviled Him.”-Mar 15:22-32.
The Cross and its Significance.
Zophar, one of the friends of Job, speaking of the character of Almighty God says to the rebellious patriarch, “It is high as heaven, what canst thou do? Deeper than Sheol, what canst thou know?” (Job 11:8). That verse can be applied with perfect fitness to the dying of our Lord. Who can hope to find out its meaning to perfection? It is as high as heaven; it is deeper than hell. It is as high as heaven, for all the grace of God is in it. It is as deep as hell, for all the hate and fury of wickedness is in it. It is a subduing revelation of love; it is a shuddering exhibition of sin. It is at once glorious and shameful, humbling and exalting, radiant with the light of heaven, and dark with all the darkness of the pit. The Cross of Christ is the meeting-place of the ages. It is the great watershed of history. To it all preceding ages pointed; from it all subsequent history takes its trend and shape. Back to that Cross millions of men and women look back today as the ground of all their hopes and the source of all their joys.
Golgotha.
Golgotha has become the most sacred place in the world because Christ died upon it. Before Christ died there it was a place of shame and contempt-just the place where criminals died. If people thought of it at all, it was with shuddering and loathing. But Christ died upon it, and the place has become holy ground. With what tenderness of heart Christian people think of the “green hill far away!” How the flood gates of the heart are opened when they think that “He hung and suffered there!” Most nations have some spot invested with special interest for them because of its association with some event of national importance. But Calvary is of interest not to a nation but to a world. On it the mightiest deliverance was wrought. On it the greatest emancipation of all was accomplished. On it, the Lord, by dying, won for all who believe in Him the forgiveness of their sins. And, just as Christ by His dying on Golgotha has converted that awful place into a veritable gate of heaven, so has He converted the Cross, that instrument of insult and of shame, into a thing of glory.
The Cross Itself.
I have no mind to dwell upon the horrors of the crucifixion; and yet we must follow Christ to Golgotha, and with awed and humbled hearts listen to what they did to Him when He hung and suffered there. And, first of all, of the Cross itself. There were three types of cross. One was shaped like an X and is popularly known as St Andrew’s Cross, from the tradition that the Apostle was put to death on a cross of that kind. Another was shaped exactly like a T, that is, it consisted of an upright beam and a crossbeam at the top of it. But in the Roman Cross the upright projected above the crossbeam, and it was upon this kind of cross that Jesus died, as is evident from the fact that there was room above the cross-bar for a superscription to be written indicating the charge on account of which Jesus was put to death. Usually the victim was fastened to his cross before it was fixed in its socket. He was laid upon this instrument of torture after being stripped of his raiment, and first of all his hands were fastened to the transom by nails driven through the palms. The arms, too, were usually bound to the beam by means of cords lest the weight of the body should tear the hands away from the nails that fastened them. For the same reason, there was in the middle of the upright beam a peg or narrow shelf on which the body was made to rest. Finally, the feet were either tied or nailed to the base of the upright. And then the cross with its quivering load was lifted up and the victim was left to die a lingering death. Sometimes his sufferings lasted for two or three days. The death of the cross was, in fact, the cruellest, the most agonising form of death ingenuity could devise. “And they crucified Him.”
“They Parted His Garments among Them.”
But Christ was not even allowed to die in peace. His last hours were marked by accumulated insult and reviling. First of all, and nearest to the Cross, were the Roman soldiers in charge of the crucifixion. As soon as their brutal work was done, they had no more concern for their victim. All they cared about was their share of his property. It appears that the garments of the suffering were always regarded as the perquisites of the executioners. Christ had not much in the way of personal apparel to leave. He was not one of those who were clothed in purple and fine linen. But there was His cloak for one of them, and His girdle for another, and His sandals for the third, and His turban for the fourth. There was just one other garment, the tunic, which tradition says, that Mary His mother had woven for Him with her own hands. They were about to tear this into four equal portions when the fact that it was seamless arrested their notice. And one of them proposed that instead of tearing it up and so rendering it worthless they should cast lots for it. So the dice-box with which the Roman soldier was only too familiar was speedily forthcoming. And with a callousness that is beyond speech these soldiers gambled lor the Lord’s seamless cloak at the very Cross’s foot.
The Title on the Cross.
Pilate, too, had a hand in making Christ’s death more bitter. It was the Roman fashion to placard above the criminal the crime on account of which he was suffering. Pilate ordered this to be written over Christ’s head, “The King of the Jews.” No doubt the insult embodied in that superscription was levelled primarily at the Jewish leaders. Pilate was repaying them for the humiliation they had inflicted upon him. And from that point of view it answered its purpose, for it stung the Jews to something like madness. But in insulting the Jews, Pilate insulted Jesus too. For that inscription meant the repudiation of Christ’s kingship, it meant that this Man Who claimed to be a king deserved to be treated only as a criminal and a slave.
The “Busy Mockers.”
But what embittered Christ’s death most of all was the mockery of His own people and their leaders. “Those that passed by,” the indiscriminate crowd, “railed on Him and wagged their heads and said, ‘Ha! Thou that destroyest the Temple and buildest it in three days, save Thyself and come down from the Cross.'” And the chief priests and scribes, while refraining from the open jeering of the common people, yet mocked Him among themselves in tones loud enough for Him to hear. “He saved others, Himself He cannot save.” “Let the Christ the King of Israel now come down from the Cross that we may see and believe.” The very brigands who were suffering with Him joined in the chorus of insult. “They that were crucified with Him reproached Him.”
Human Depravity Revealed.
What a commentary this all is upon the evil possibilities of our human nature. The human nature I see revealed in the soldiers and the priests and the scribes and the people is not so much divine as devilish. That men should be able to make a jest and joke of the suffering of anyone would have been bad enough. But that they should turn the dying Christ into an object of mockery argues a wickedness almost beyond speech. For this Christ Who they mocked was One Who had never done an evil deed. He had gone about doing good. He had healed the sick; He had cleansed the leper; He had turned houses of mourning into houses of rejoicing. He had carried joy and blessing with Him wherever He went. He was absolutely good, utterly loving, entirely holy. And they mocked at Him. They turned His dying into a jest. They hanged the Incarnate Goodness, and the Incarnate Love, and the Incarnate Holiness to a tree, and reviled Him as He suffered there.
The Last Temptation.
The very taunts they levelled at Christ made His dying more difficult, because they thrust upon Him once again the temptation He had fought in the Wilderness and in the Garden. They said, “Come down from the Cross!” They said, “Save Thyself!” They said that if He came down from the Cross they would believe. In a word they invited Christ to take another and an easier way to the throne than the way of the Cross. That was the temptation that had dogged His steps all the way through. It faced Him first in the Wilderness when the devil offered Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them if He would but fall down and worship him. It assailed Him again when Peter at the mention of the Cross took Him and began to rebuke Him saying, “This shall never be unto Thee.” It assailed Him once more in the Garden. It was the fight against the temptation to take an easier way that made His sweat as it was great drops of blood falling to the ground. And through the taunts of the people and the priests it assailed Him once again on the very Cross itself. “The devil,” says Luke in his account of the Temptation in the Wilderness, “departed from Him for a season.” Yes, it was only “for a season.” The attack was again and again renewed. The final victory was won only when that cry, “It is finished,” broke forth from the lips of the dying but triumphant Lord. When He chose to hang there, bearing all the pain and shame, there was no more that Satan could do. Then was fulfilled that saying of our Master’s, “I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven.” But it all added to the pains and sufferings of Christ.
The Cup He Refused.
The Cup He Drained.
And now I turn from the contemplation of the wickedness of men to consider the glory of the Christ as we see it revealed in this paragraph. And first notice the courage of Christ. It seems to have been the custom amongst the wealthy and charitable ladies of Jerusalem to provide a portion of medicated wine for such as were condemned to die by the slow agony of the cross in order to make them less sensible to the pain. It was a humane practice, and in accordance with their custom they handed to Christ a vessel containing wine mingled with myrrh or gall. Our Lord seems to have put this drink to His lips, for the exhaustion of the scourging had left Him parched and faint; but when He realised what it was, He refused the drink. “He received it not.” Why was it that Christ refused to avail Himself of this merciful provision? Martyrs in the Marian persecution did not hesitate to accept the bags of powder provided for them by the kindness of friends, in order to escape the slow agony of the flames. Why did Christ refuse this stupefying draught? Two or three reasons have been suggested and I think there is something in all of them. He did it because He would not omit one bitter drop in the cup the Father held to His lips. That is a significant phrase the writer to the Hebrews uses, “He tasted death for every man.” He tasted death-all there was in death. He did not want, shall I say, to slip through death without knowing what it was. He tasted death in all its darkness and horror. For a refutation of the charge of cowardice you need go no further than this. When they offered Christ an opiate, He refused to take it. You remember the story of Dr Johnson’s passing. One day he asked his doctor to tell him plainly whether he could recover. “Give me,” said he, “a direct answer.” The doctor, having first asked him if he could bear the whole truth, which way soever it might lead, and being answered that he could, declared that he could not recover without a miracle. “Then,” said the brave old moralist, “I will take no more physic, not even my opiates: but I have prayed that I may render up my soul to God unclouded.” That was splendid courage, but it pales before Christ’s courage on the Cross. There was an agony of physical pain, there was a depth of spiritual horror in His death which leaves us speechless and appalled, and yet with open eye and mind unclouded, He faced it all. “They offered Him wine mingled with myrrh, but He received it not.”
The Meekness of Christ.
And secondly, notice the meekness of Christ. I have read somewhere that oftentimes the victims of this awful punishment would rend the air with their imprecations. Hanging there, bound and helpless, speech was left to them. And maddened by the fiery torture they would assail the agents of their death with all manner of insult and abuse and furious maledictions. But our Lord bore all with patience and majestic meekness. “As a sheep before her shearers is dumb so He opened not His mouth.” I believe it was the meekness and patience of Christ on the Cross that Peter had in his mind when he wrote, “Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, threatened not” (1Pe 2:23). I sometimes fancy that we are still inclined to look for proofs of the Lord’s divinity in the wrong place. We are in danger today of the error of which these priests and scribes were guilty long ago. Power is our proof of Deity. If Christ would only display His power in some striking way so that we might see it, we would believe. But to me the meekness of the Lord seems always more impressive even than His mighty works. Here is meekness nothing less than divine, amid all the tortures of the Crucifixion, overwhelmed as He was with insult and abuse “no ungentle murmuring word escaped His silent tongue.” The only reply He made to His tormentors was to pray for them. Surely this was the Son of God.
The Self-Sacrifice of Christ
Finally, what an illustration we have here of the self-sacrifice of Christ. “He saved others,” they jeered at Him, “Himself He cannot save.” The taunt has been converted into a tribute. It is quite true. Just because he wanted to save others, He could not save Himself. Only the cannot was not the cannot of physical impossibility. The chief priests and scribes thought He could not come down because the executioners had done their work too well, because of the nails driven through His hands and His feet, and the ropes around His arms. But not all the nails and ropes in Jerusalem could have held Christ there had he wished to come down. What were nails and ropes to One Who could still the tempest with a word, Who had legions of angels at His command? No, it was not the nails and ropes that held Him there-but His own mighty and sacrificial love. No one took His life from Him, He laid it down of Himself. And He laid it down because that was the only way of gaining redemption for the world.
He could not save Himself because He was intent upon saving others. I was in Salisbury Cathedral recently, and I saw there a tablet to a doctor who in a visitation of cholera had given himself with unstinted devotion to the task of ministering to the stricken and especially the poor; who as a result caught the deadly sickness himself, and died at thirty-two. It reminded me of my Master. There was great and self-sacrificing love in both cases. Only the love of the Lord was infinitely nobler and more beautiful. The young doctor perhaps hoped that he might escape. Jesus knew that He must die. And He died willingly. To save others He sacrificed Himself; “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:2).
Fuente: The Gospel According to St. Mark: A Devotional Commentary
2
See a full explanation of Golgotha at Mat 27:33.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mar 15:22. To the place Golgotha. More correctly perhaps: place of Golgotha, answering to Place of a Skull, since Golgotha means skull, and Luke (Luk 23:33) calls the place simply skull. This is an additional reason for supposing that the name was owing to the conical shape of the ground. See on Mat 27:33.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mar 15:22-28. They bring him, unto the place Golgotha See these verses elucidated in the notes on Mat 27:33-44. When they had crucified him, they parted his garments Mark seems to intimate, that they first nailed him to the cross, then parted his garments, and afterward reared up the cross. The English word to crucify, denotes properly, to put to death by nailing to the cross; but the Greek word , here used, means no more than to fasten to the cross with nails. In strict propriety, we should not say, a man cried out after he was crucified, but after he was nailed to the cross. And it was the third hour Or nine oclock in the morning, when they thus brought him to mount Calvary. John says, it was about the sixth hour, even when he was condemned to be crucified. But then, it must be observed, that the Greek manuscripts produced by Camerarius, Beza, and R. Stephanus, read in John, , about the third hour; that Nonnus seems to have read so, his paraphrase running after this manner, the third hour was not yet past; that Theophylact contends it ought to be so read, and that because the three other evangelists unanimously say that the darkness began at the sixth hour, which yet began not, till after our Lord had hung upon the cross some considerable time; till after the soldiers had divided his garments, the Jews had mocked him, and bid him come down from the cross, and the discourse had passed between the two thieves among themselves, and between the repenting thief and our Lord. And lastly, the author of the Constantinopolitan Chronicle saith expressly, that the exacter copies, and the manuscript of St. John, kept till his time at Ephesus, read , about the third hour. See Jerome on Psalms 77. And the change from , the third, to , the sixth, is so easy, that this may very reasonably be owned in the later copies of Johns gospel; especially if we consider how punctual Mark is in the enumeration of the hours, saying, it was the third hour, and they crucified him, or began to lead him away to be crucified; and, Mar 15:33, when the sixth hour was come, from that time there was darkness over the whole land till the ninth hour; and, Mar 15:34, at the ninth hour Jesus expired. Whitby. And the scripture was fulfilled Namely, Isa 53:12, And he was numbered with the transgressors The prophet thus speaking with amazing plainness of the sufferings of the Messiah.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
15:22 {4} And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.
(4) Christ is led out of the walls of the earthly Jerusalem into a foul place of dead men’s carcasses, as a man most unclean, not because of himself, but because of our sins, which were laid upon him, with the result that we, being made clean by his blood, might be brought into the heavenly sanctuary.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
"Golgotha" is a loose transliteration of the Aramaic word for "skull." Evidently the place resembled a skull or had some association with a skull or skulls. An ancient tradition that Jerome referred to identified the place as the one where Adam’s skull lay. If you visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, you can see this traditional site of Adam’s grave under what the authorities claim is the site of the crucifixion.
"According to an old tradition, respected women of Jerusalem provided a narcotic drink to those condemned to death in order to decrease their sensitivity to the excruciation pain (TB [Babylonian Talmud] Sanhedrin 43a)." [Note: Lane, p. 564.]
"They" (Mar 15:23) could refer to the soldiers, but it seems unlikely that they would have done anything to ease Jesus’ pain.