Mark 15

     15:2.  Jesus confesses to this charge (also at 14:61-62).  God is the king of the Jews, and Jesus has come as King to bring that very Kingdom (cf.26 and 43).

     15:4-5.  Jesus did not answer anything to all these other charges, because they were all false and not provable.

     15:7.  Barabbas means “Son of Father”, and like every man, he is the son of his father Adam (Ro.5:12).  All of us are murderous rebels by nature, and Jesus came to die in our place.

     15:10.  Pilate well understood that Jesus was innocent.

     15:17.  This is the robe in which Herod had sent him back to Pilate (Luke 23:11).

     15:25.  Matthew, Mark, and Luke use Jewish time reckoning, marking twelve hours of dark and twelve hours of light.  Thus the third hour would be about 9:00 a.m. our time.  John, writing later for Gentiles, uses Roman time, which is the same as ours.

     15:31.  “He saved others.”  These evil men knew of and acknowledged his good works.  See John 10:32.

     15:33.  Cf. Amos 8:9.

     15:34.  By citing the first verse of Ps.22, Jesus calls our attention to the entire Psalm.  A thousand years before, David was moved by the Holy Spirit to reveal the mind of Christ as he suffered on the cross.  Why he was forsaken is the most important question you will ever ask yourself.

     15:40-41.  There were many women.  A few are named here (Luke 24:10 adds Joanna).  “Joses” is another rendering of Joseph (Mt.27:56).

     15:42.  Mark here defines exactly what preparation day is.  This is important.   It is the day before the Sabbath, i.e. Friday.  Cf. Ex.16:5.  See notes at John 19:14.

     Also in v.42, when Mark says that evening had already come, he may not mean that it is already dusk.  Rather, he probably is thinking of the evening watch (3 to 6 p.m.).

     15:43.  Joseph not only has civil courage, but religious courage as well (compare the fears of defilement shown by Jesus’ enemies, John 18:28).

     15:44.  The Centurion was quite certain of Jesus’ death.  This was no swoon.  (39; John 19:33-35.)

     15:46-47.  The linen was fine, unused, very costly.  (John 19:39 mentions Nicodemus bringing spices.)  Mary the mother of Joses (Joseph) is the same as Mary the mother of James in 16:1 (15:40).