15:1-5
The Sanhedrin in the morning decided to send Jesus to Pilate and seek the death penalty. They “delivered him over to Pilate”. (1)
Jesus had said “…the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief press and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles”. (Mark 10:33)
Mark’s account of the whole process is brief.
Pilate was the prefect of the area, appointed by the emperor Tiberius. He normally lived in a palace in Caesarea Maritina. Herod built a small town into a large Roman town by the sea, complete with a stadium and a temple dedicated to the emperor. By this time, the Roman emperors were claiming to be deities.
Above is a picture of the stadium ruins in Caesarea Maritina.
A stone was found in 1961 that was part of that temple. It has Pilate’s name on it and a dedication to the emperor. It is commonly called the Pilate Stone today.
We believe the Bible is true on its own. But it is fun to see evidence of its truth, especially in areas that have been denied by non-believers.
Pilate would come to Jerusalem during Passover to quell any rebellions or riots that might occur, because it had happened in the past. He stayed at Herod’s Palace. It was built on the western wall of the city.
The chief priests made accusations. Jesus did not respond to them. Pilate would not have cared about charges of blasphemy. But, he would care about insurrection.
So, Pilate asked him if he was the King of the Jews. This is the one thing Jesus’ answer was enigmatic. In the Greek, it is: “you are saying”. It is difficult to know what Jesus meant by that, so many translations try to interpret it. For example, the New International Version reads “yes, it is as you say”.
The King James Version reads: “Thou sayest it”, with the word “it” in italics to indicate it is not in the original text but is implied. The New American Standard 1995 reads: “It is as you say”. Again the italics show the added, or implied, words.
The English Standard Version reads: “You have said so”.
Jesus did not confirm or deny the claim. He seems to have put it back to Pilate to decide for himself who Jesus is. Other than this answer, Jesus remained silent. As Isaiah 53:7 says, “he opened not his mouth”.
Pilate Gives In To The Crowd
15:6-14
Pilate clearly finds Jesus innocent of violating Roman law. He perceived that the chief priests delivered Jesus to him out of envy. (10) He thought he had figured a way out of the situation. It was his custom to release a prisoner during Passover to get some favor with the Jews. In fact, a crowd had gathered demanding release of a prisoner. So, he offered them Jesus. (9) But he called him “King of the Jews”, which did not help the situation.
The chief priests were a step ahead of Pilate, though. They had stirred up the crowd. They demanded the release of Barabass, an insurrectionist and murderer, and the crucifixion of Jesus.
So Pilate gave into the crowd. He was likely wanting to prevent a riot, which would get him in trouble with Rome.
The Scourging
15:15-20
Once the decision was made, cruelty set in. Even though he believed Jesus to be innocent, Pilate turned him over to be scourged. A whole battalion gathered to participate. That was 480 men.
The soldiers mocked him for claiming to be king. they dressed him in a purple cloak and crown of thorns. They struck him on the head and spit on him. (20)
Mark does not describe the scourging, focusing instead on the mocking. But a scourging would involve two soldiers using whips to beat the victim almost to death.
The Crucifixion
15:21-32
Finally, they led him out to the site of crucifixion. The soldiers made Simon of Cyrene carry the cross, probably because Jesus was too weak from the scourging to do it.
They put Jesus on the cross. The offered him a mild sedative, consisting of wine and myrrh, but Jesus would not take it. As he did not share his suffering with his friends, he did not diminish his suffering with a sedative.
Jesus was stripped of his clothes, a further humiliation. The mocking continued. Some taunted him to come down from the cross and save himself. He was crucified between two robbers, fulfilling Isiah 53:12. Even the robbers crucified with him reviled him.
Jesus’ Death
15:33
Jesus hung on the cross for six hours, from the third hour (9 a.m.) to the ninth hour (3 p.m.). At the sixth hour (noon), darkness came over the land. At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out, asking God why he had forsaken him. (34) Those are the words of Psalm 22:1, but in Aramaic, the common language. Some obviously did not understand what he was saying and believed he was calling for Elijah to come and take him down from the cross. (15:35-36)
They offered Jesus a sponge with sour wine to drink. This fulfills Psalm 69:21, which says: “…for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink”. Then he gave a loud cry and died. (37)
In contrast to the mocking of the Jews, Jesus’ people, a centurion confessed: “truly this man was the Son of God”. (40)
Takeaways
Jesus took all of the punishment alone and with nothing to alleviate it.
He bore the full weight of it.
He was despised & rejected (Isaiah 53:3).
He was fully obedient to the Father.
He did this for us.
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