Mark 15:33-41--The Death of Jesus

Mark 15:33-41
English Standard Version

The Death of Jesus
33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

​40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

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I'm adding a few hymns today that may help you ponder and meditate on this passage and the others that we studied recently--there are many, many more as well, so please don't think I tried to include everything as I didn't even include most of my favorite Good Friday hymns.

​Last time the text told us that Jesus was hung on the cross at the third hour.  Three hours later, at the sixth hour (which would be high noon), there was complete darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour (3pm).  This was a physical response of all creation to what was going on.  It was at the ninth hour when Jesus had been on the cross for six hours that He cried out with a loud voice the beginning words and the title of the hymn in Psalm 22, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?--"My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?"  This Psalm is prophetic in nature and perfectly describes everything that was going on there that day.  Jesus was experiencing the feelings expressed in that Psalm, but He also wanted Israel to realize, "That Psalm is about Me and what's going on right now."  Unfortunately, the people didn't even recognize what He was saying.  They instead thought He was trying to call on Elijah to save Him.

The soldiers didn't understand for sure, but they tried to give him some sour wine (vinegar) to put some moisture in Him mouth to deal with the issue described in Psalm 22 where He was so thirsty that His tongue was sticking to the roof of His mouth (that's likely one of the reasons that people didn't understand what He was saying).  Jesus took a sip of this vinegar (this was not the wine mixed with myrrh that He rejected earlier that would have dulled His pain).  The crowd of Jews continue to mock Him saying, "Let's see if Elijah comes and saves Him," not realizing that Jesus was the one that was saving them from sin, death and themselves.

The centurion in charge of the crucifixion saw and heard all these things, especially how the sky grew dark and the earth quaked in response to His death, and that (we assume pagan) Roman soldier offered testimony, "Surely this was a son of the gods," (I don't think he meant to use the title Son of God as it is often translated in English, but it is possible that the Holy Spirit used him to speak these words that he didn't understand in much the same way that Caiaphas spoke of one man dying for the whole nation and didn't understand the spiritual implications of what he was saying).  This centurion may have only thought Jesus to be a demigod like Hercules, but he recognized the divinity in Jesus that the Jews in the crowd did not see.  Mark wants us to see that a Gentile saw more clearly than those who had the Law and Prophets to point them to what was going on, yet they were blinded by their unbelief.

The Romans loved to make the relatives of those being crucified watch their public executions.  Mary, the mother of Jesus was off in the distance along with several other women who had come with her.  We also know that the apostle John had returned to follow Jesus to the cross--he was the only one of the Twelve that was there that day, but he was so close to Jesus and his family, that Jesus gave the responsibility of leading His family to John (Jesus was the oldest and, typically, that job would go to the next oldest, but Jesus knew their spiritual condition, and some of His last words from the cross were to make sure that His mother was taken care of not only during the time He was in the grave, but after He ascended back to heaven).  With the exception of Mary, the mother of Jesus, these are the same women we will see on Resurrection Sunday going to care for the body of Jesus.  They will be the first witnesses to His resurrection in just a few days.

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