Mark 15 explained: Jesus Is Crucified and Buried

Jesus before Pilate (vv. 1-5)

At dawn the whole Jewish council ties Jesus up and hands him to Pilate, the Roman governor. Mark does not say why, though many historians think only Rome could order an execution, and since 'king of the Jews' could sound like rebellion, Jesus gives a guarded reply and then stays silent, which amazes Pilate.

Barabbas freed instead (vv. 6-15)

The custom of freeing a prisoner at the festival is known only from the Gospels, and Barabbas was in prison with rebels who had committed murder in an uprising. Pilate sees that the leaders acted out of envy, but he gives in to the crowd they stirred up, has Jesus whipped, and sends him to be crucified.

Soldiers mock the king (vv. 16-20)

Purple was the color of royalty, so the soldiers stage a fake coronation with a crown of thorns and mock salutes. They mean it as a cruel joke about a beaten prisoner, but Mark tells it so readers catch the irony that, to him, Jesus truly is a king.

Crucified and insulted (vv. 21-32)

Simon, a man from Cyrene in North Africa, is forced to carry the cross, and his sons are probably named because Mark's first readers knew them. The sign 'King of the Jews' and the jeers telling him to save himself are meant as mockery, yet Mark presents them as true in a way the mockers cannot see.

Darkness, the cry, and death (vv. 33-39)

In Aramaic, his everyday language, Jesus cries out the opening line of Psalm 22, a prayer that asks God why he has abandoned the one praying and later turns to trust. As he dies, the curtain screening off the temple's holiest room tears from top to bottom, which Christians read as the way to God thrown open, and a Roman officer becomes the first human in Mark to declare him the Son of God.

Witnesses and burial (vv. 40-47)

Women who had followed Jesus from Galilee watch him die and see where he is laid, which makes them key witnesses for what comes next. Joseph, a respected council member, boldly asks Pilate for the body to bury it before the Sabbath begins at sunset, and the Roman officer confirms that Jesus is truly dead.

Key verse: Mark 15:39

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on what Jesus' cry of abandonment means: some believe God truly turned away from him as he bore the world's sin, while others hear him praying all of Psalm 22, holding on to trust in the middle of agony.

Something to think about

When a crowd turns against someone, what helps you tell whether the crowd is right?