WEEK SIX Mark 15:21-47, 16:1-8

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1 WEEK SIX Mark 15:21-47, 16:1-8 Rock-cut tomb with rolling stone, Israel Day One: The Crucifixion (Mark 15:21-32) And they led him out to crucify him. (21) And they compelled a man named Simon the Cyrenian, father of Alexander and Rufus, who happened to be passing by coming from the countryside, to carry his cross. (22) and they brought him to Golgotha, which is interpreted as Place of the Skull. (23) They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he would not take it. (24) They crucified him, and they divided his clothes by casting lots to see who would get what. (25) It was the third hour (9:00 a.m.) when they crucified him. (26) And the inscription of the charge against him read the King of the Jews. (27) And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. (29) Those who passed by cursed him, wagging their heads and him, saying, Yah, you re the one destroying and rebuilding the temple in three days! (30) Save yourself! Come down from the cross! (31) Likewise, the high priests, ridiculing him to each other with the scribes, were saying, He saved others, but he can t save himself! (32) Let the Messiah, the King of Israel come down now from the cross, so that we can see and believe! Those crucified with him insulted him. Crucifixion was an execution method designed for humiliation more than for efficiency in killing. There were much faster methods of executing a criminal, ways that didn t require a detachment of soldiers to stand guard to prevent someone from removing the condemned person. One Roman author remarked that the sites chosen for crucifixions were especially public, often on the main roads leading into a city, so that the public could be reminded of Rome s power and willingness to use it. A crucified body was 61

2 Rome s public announcement: Don t try what this man did, or you ll suffer the same fate. Mark really spotlights the ridicule heaped on Jesus. A naked man, fastened to a cross, with a sign above him reading King of the Jews, is a bit of theater; no actual king would ever be in such a predicament, and king was never Jesus self-designation, so he dies mislabeled. The head-waggers and other abusers sound like Psalm 22:7: All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads. The soldiers, too, remind the audience of Psalm 22:18: they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots. Mark wants us to feel how utterly alone Jesus is, betrayed and abandoned by his disciples, rejected and vilified by the leaders of his own people. Simon the Cyrenian gets pressed into service, carrying the cross-beam, presumably because Jesus couldn t, having been weakened too much by the flogging (15:15). The fact that Mark knows his name and the names of his two sons suggests that the family became connected with the Jesus movement. We don t know, but it s possible that Simon only learned of Jesus through this chance encounter, and then decided to find out more. This would be consistent with Mark s theme of the life-changing nature of the cross which we ll start to see in tomorrow s selection. Reflections Most of the characters in this episode ridicule Jesus. The chief priests, perhaps, think they have good reason, since he had confronted them in their space, the temple. But the by-passers and the others who were crucified had no grudge against Jesus. Why do people do this sort of thing heap cruelty on someone who is already suffering? What does that tell us about our own humanity? Jesus has said that anyone who wanted to follow him should take up his cross and follow. How do you think Simon works as a contrast to all the other characters in this episode? Have you ever gotten pressed reluctantly into service, only to end up thinking it was God s providence that made it so? 62

3 Day Two: Jesus death (Mark 15:33-39) (33) When it was the sixth hour (noon), darkness fell over all the land until the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.). (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 abandoned me? (35) Some of the bystanders, when they heard, said, Look, he s calling for Elijah! (36) Somebody ran and dipped a sponge in sour wine, stuck it on a reed, and offered him a drink, saying, Stay let s see if Elijah comes to take him down. (37) But Jesus, giving a loud cry, expired. (38) And the curtain of the temple was ripped in two from top to bottom. (39) And when the centurion, who had been standing by facing him, saw the way he died, he said, Truly this man was God s son. As he suffers, on his way to death, Jesus cries out the first line of Psalm 22. It s a lament psalm, beginning with a moving description of a crippling condition. The psalm s author complains that God has abandoned him to his pain, leaving him open to the scorn of others who mock him for no longer being God s favorite. I cry out by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but find no rest (22:2) the author despairs of help, until midway through the psalm, the tone changes to one of hope: In the midst of the congregation I will praise you... God heard when I cried (22: 22, 24). The psalm certainly fits Jesus circumstances, dying alone with nobody to make it easier for him, but dying with the hope that God would do as Jesus had predicted. The darkness and the tearing of the temple curtain would have been interpreted as omens in Mark s day, signs that something important was happening. Mark leaves them uninterpreted: was the tearing of the curtain meant to signify that Jesus prediction of its destruction would soon come to pass? Was it a sign that God was abandoning the holy place? We don t know what Mark thought, except that it meant that Jesus death was not just an ordinary passing. The centurion who commanded the soldiers in charge of the execution, who watched everything, confesses that Jesus was God s son. That makes him the first human to say so, and echoes what God says at Jesus baptism (1:11) and at the transfiguration (9:7). The sign over the cross said King of the Jews, but that s not accurate; Jesus had no interest in taking over the government, and when the ages change, God will be King. But the centurion for Jesus, the sharp end of Roman rule, enforcing Rome s judgment that he should die sees Jesus for what he truly is. Mark s point is that the cross is the true measure of God s Son, or of those who follow him. Peter, James and John all saw Jesus transformed by God s power, so bright that they couldn t look upon him, and yet they ran away when hard times came. The cross, by contrast, converts this soldier without a word. How do you explain that? What s the power of the cross, and how are we changed by it? 63

4 Reflections The cross... converts this soldier without a word. How do you explain that? What s the power of the cross, and how are we changed by it? We ve been on this Lenten journey to try to answer that question. What do you think? Darkness: To go in the dark with a light is to know the light. To know the dark, go dark. Go without light, and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings, and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings. - Wendell Berry What does meditating on the death of Jesus that very dark moment teach us? 64

5 Day Three: There were women (Mark 15:40-41) (40) Now there were women who were watching from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the less and Joses, and Salome, (41) who were among those who had followed him in Galilee and had ministered to him, and many others who had come with him to Jerusalem. Mark: Oh, yeah, that s right I know I ve gone almost the whole gospel without mentioning this fact, but there were women among the disciples, and they were the ones who watched Jesus die and saw where he was buried. Good thing, too, since all the male disciples had scattered. The author of Mark, at other times, uses women to exemplify virtuous behavior. Jesus praised the anonymous woman who anointed him at Bethany, stating that she had prepared him for his burial (14:3-9). Jesus praised the widow who gave two small coins to the temple, saying that she had given more than anyone else (12:41-44). So why wait until the very end to point out to the readers that there were women among Jesus followers? Maybe it seemed obvious to Mark that there must have been women among the first followers; it s also possible that Mark, who often depicts the twelve as faithless (4:40), stubborn (6:52), and uncomprehending (8:17-21), wanted to leave the women out of that negative characterization. At any rate, they are present. Magdalene means someone from the Galilean fishing village of Magdala there are so many Mary s in the early Jesus movement that they each need nicknames. The second Mary is probably the mother of James the son of Alpheus (3:15-19), although it s possible that Mark means Jesus mother, who had sons named James, Joses, Judas, and Simon (6:3). Mark gives us no information about Salome. Ministered to him is also said of Simon Peter s mother-in-law (1:31); perhaps Mark meant that they had provided meals for Jesus in the past, but the verb (diakoneō, from which our word deacon is derived) can mean that they shared in his ministry. At this moment in the story, they are all that s left of the Jesus movement, so I think it likely that Mark meant minister in the broader sense. They had done it before, and they were about to do it again, so there we leave them for a few verses. 65

6 Reflections Were You There Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Does this African American spiritual bring particular memories for you of settings or times when you ve sung or heard it? The only Jesus-followers who watched him die were these women, and we have to imagine that the testimonies of how he died came from them. Can you imagine standing in their shoes? Try to retell the scene as if you were Mary Magdalene describing it to the rest of Jesus followers. 66

7 Day Four: Jesus Burial (Mark 15:42-47) (42) When evening came, since it was Preparation the day before Sabbath (43) Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent councilor, who was himself also expecting the Kingdom of God, bravely went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. (43) Pilate was amazed that he was already dead, and calling the centurion, interrogated him about whether he had died. (45) And being informed by the centurion, he gave the corpse to Joseph. (46) Buying linen cloth, taking him down, he wrapped Jesus in the cloth and laid him in a tomb which had been carved out of rock, and put a stone over the door of the tomb. (47) Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid. Arimathea, at least by that name, is unknown to us, but presumably Mark expected it to mean something to his audience. Each Gospel treats Joseph a little differently. Matthew and John move Joseph s conversion up a bit: Matthew says a rich man... who was Jesus disciple (27:57), whereas John makes Joseph a secret disciple (19:38). Luke explains why a member of the Sandhedrin (the Jerusalem council) would do anything good for Jesus, saying that Joseph was a good and just man who had not agreed when the council condemned Jesus (23:50-51). Mark s prominent councilor seems to indicate that Mark thought that Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin, the group that advised the high priest and that voted to put Jesus to death. That seems at odds with expecting the Kingdom of God, although you ll recall the scribe in 12:34 who was not far from the Kingdom of God. Joseph, then, was either a member of some council other than the Sanhedrin maybe he was a leader in some other Jewish city, just not in Jerusalem or he was part of the Sanhedrin, but then wanted to do the right thing for Jesus corpse. Jews interpreted Deuteronomy 21:22-23 to mean that executed criminals must be buried on the day they died, lest their corpses defile the land itself. Joseph, if he knew that Pilate was unconcerned about such things, may have simply wanted to prevent Jesus body from defiling the land, especially since the next day was the Sabbath if that was his motive, he would not necessarily have been a follower of Jesus at the time that he provided a tomb. But expecting the Kingdom of God probably means that he became Jesus follower, and that would explain why his name got remembered in the traditions about Jesus death. Again, notice how the cross changes things. If I m reading Mark correctly, the centurion who presided over Jesus crucifixion concluded that he was God s Son; the man compelled to carry part of the cross later joined the movement, as did the man who provided the tomb. If Mark thought Joseph had voted with the Sanhedrin to condemn Jesus, then both a Jew and a Roman who were partly complicit in his death were converted by it. Rather than offering a formal theory or theology of the atonement, Mark provides examples of people changed by the cross. 67

8 Reflections Mark really likes things to happen in threes Jesus predicts his death three times, Peter denies him three times, etc. so Simon the Cyrenian, the centurion, and Joseph of Arimathea are probably supposed to be a trio. What holds them together? How are they like each other? What do they show us about the proper response to Jesus death? Mark provides examples of people changed by the cross in what ways have you been changed by the cross? Has something changed for you in this Lenten journey? 68

9 Day Five: The Empty Tomb (Mark 16:1-8) When the Sabbath had passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they could go and anoint him. (2) Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb as the sun was rising. (3) They were saying to each other, Who will roll the stone for us away from the door of the tomb? (4) Looking up, they saw that the stone was removed for it was very large. (5) When they entered the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a long white robe, and they were astonished. (6) He said to them, Don t be astonished. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look at the place where they laid him. (7) Now go, tell his disciples, including Peter, that he goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. (8) And going out, they fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. The ending of Mark was so unsatisfactory to early Christians that they modified it several different ways. While the earliest manuscripts of Mark end with they were afraid, beginning in the second and third centuries, scribes composed additional verses that describe Jesus resurrection and appearances to the disciples. Matthew and Luke, who edited Mark, likewise expanded the ending substantially, so that readers have stories of people seeing Jesus alive. It is also possible that Mark originally had Jesus appearing to the disciples in Galilee, as is promised in verse 7, and that the ending at verse 8 is an accident, the result of a page getting torn off. I think it s more likely that this is the original ending. If that s so, then it is brilliant, because it puts the readers in the position of the women. As we noted earlier this week, these women had been with Jesus since the beginning, and had shared in his ministry. Because Mark never names them until the end, we don t expect them to be as faithless, stubborn, and uncomprehending as the twelve. In fact, since women in Mark are almost always positive examples of the virtues Jesus teaches, we expect that these women will do as the angel commands and go repeat the good news to the twelve. But then they don t. They fail to pass along the most important news of all, that Jesus is alive! How could they do that? Didn t they realize what they were keeping to themselves? Their disobedience, caused by fear, put the whole future of Christianity in jeopardy. If they never told, then what would become of the Jesus movement? Exactly so they must have gotten over their fear, right? Because otherwise, how could we be reading about it? 69

10 Reflections In Mark, even the most exemplary characters fail. Peter sleeps when he should have been watching and denies Jesus when he should have spoken up. These women, who had worked with Jesus, allow their fear to overcome their commitment. Even Jesus, on the cross, cries out that God has abandoned him. Through it all, God is faithful and draws all to the cross, where weakness is transformed and humiliation is overcome. Assume for the present that Mark was originally supposed to end at 16:8. Do you find the ending compelling? Unsatisfactory? Perplexing? Do you think it s correct to say that in Mark, even the most exemplary characters fail? If it is correct, does it help you as you think of your own failures and struggles? Look back over the weeks of this Mark study. What has engaged your attention as you ve walked with Jesus through his last days in Jerusalem? What have you noticed about yourself? How have you reflected on discipleship? 70