Mark 15 · WEB
Trial Before Pilate, Crucifixion, and Burial
Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.
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Immediately in the morning the chief priests, with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, bound Jesus, carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate.
2Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" He answered, "So you say."
3The chief priests accused him of many things.
4Pilate again asked him, "Have you no answer? See how many things they testify against you!"
5But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate marveled.
6Now at the feast he used to release to them one prisoner, whomever they asked of him.
7There was one called Barabbas, bound with his fellow insurgents, men who in the insurrection had committed murder.
8The multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do as he always did for them.
9Pilate answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"
10For he perceived that for envy the chief priests had delivered him up.
11But the chief priests stirred up the multitude, that he should release Barabbas to them instead.
12Pilate again asked them, "What then should I do to him whom you call the King of the Jews?"
13They cried out again, "Crucify him!"
14Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they cried out exceedingly, "Crucify him!"
15Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them, and handed over Jesus, when he had flogged him, to be crucified.
16The soldiers led him away within the court, which is the Praetorium; and they called together the whole cohort.
17They clothed him with purple, and weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on him.
18They began to salute him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
19They struck his head with a reed, and spat on him, and bowing their knees, did homage to him.
20When they had mocked him, they took the purple off of him, and put his own garments on him. They led him out to crucify him.
21They compelled one passing by, coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear his cross.
22They brought him to the place called Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, "The place of a skull."
23They offered him wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he didn't take it.
24Crucifying him, they parted his garments among them, casting lots on them, what each should take.
25It was the third hour, and they crucified him.
26The superscription of his accusation was written over him, "THE KING OF THE JEWS."
27With him they crucified two robbers; one on his right hand, and one on his left.
28The Scripture was fulfilled, which says, "He was numbered with transgressors."
29Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, "Ha! You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days,
30save yourself, and come down from the cross!"
31Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, "He saved others. He can't save himself.
32Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him." Those who were crucified with him also insulted him.
33When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
34At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is, being interpreted, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
35Some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, "Behold, he is calling Elijah."
36One ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Let him be. Let's see whether Elijah comes to take him down."
37Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit.
38The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.
39When the centurion, who stood by opposite him, saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"
40There were also women watching from afar, among whom were both Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;
41who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and served him; and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
42When evening had now come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,
43Joseph of Arimathaea, a prominent council member who also himself was looking for God's Kingdom, came. He boldly went in to Pilate, and asked for Jesus' body.
44Pilate marveled if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead long.
45When he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.
46He bought a linen cloth, and taking him down, wound him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of a rock. He rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.
47Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses, saw where he was laid.
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Summary
The Sanhedrin hands Jesus to the Roman governor Pilate, who finds no real charge but caves to the crowd's demand to crucify him and release Barabbas. After mocking and flogging, soldiers crucify Jesus at Golgotha between two robbers. Three hours of darkness cover the land before Jesus cries out in dereliction and dies; the temple veil tears, and a Roman centurion confesses, "Truly this man was the Son of God." Joseph of Arimathea boldly requests the body and lays it in a rock-hewn tomb, watched by faithful women.
Themes
- The substitution of the innocent for the guilty (Barabbas / Jesus)
- The mocked king who is the true King
- The cry of forsakenness as Jesus bears sin
- Open access to God through the torn veil
- The Gentile centurion's confession as foretaste of the gospel to all nations
Key verses
- Mark 15:15 — “Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them, and handed over Jesus, when he had flogged him, to be crucified.”
- Mark 15:34 — “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
- Mark 15:38 — “The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.”
- Mark 15:39 — “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
Context & background
Mark writes for a Roman audience around AD 60-65, and the centurion's confession is the climax he has been building toward since 1:1. Pontius Pilate was the Roman prefect of Judea (AD 26-36), based in Caesarea but in Jerusalem for Passover to keep order. Golgotha — Aramaic for "place of a skull" — was just outside Jerusalem's walls, on a hill near a public road, designed for maximum visibility. Crucifixion was Rome's most shameful execution, reserved for slaves and rebels. Simon of Cyrene came from a Jewish community in modern Libya, North Africa; his sons Alexander and Rufus were apparently known to Mark's Roman readers (compare Romans 16:13).
Cross-references
- Exodus 26:31-33 — the original temple veil separating God's presence
- Hebrews 10:19-20 — the torn veil giving access through Jesus' flesh
- Isaiah 53:7, 12 — silent before accusers, numbered with transgressors
- Psalm 22:1, 18 — "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" and dividing garments by lot
- Romans 5:8 — God demonstrating his love by Christ's death for sinners