Thursday, April 17, 2014

April 17 - Mark 15:16-39



Mark 15:16-39
Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

 They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.

 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews.’ And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!’ In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.’ Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.

 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling for Elijah.’ And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’ Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’
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What was it that the centurion saw that made him make this confession?  What do I see here?

Who would be a "bystander" at a crucifixion?  I understand the crosses were set up so that anyone coming to the city would see them, so "those who passed by" makes sense.  But I wonder about "bystander".  Could it have been sympathetic people?  (Mother, etc., as in the other gospels.)  Is running to fill a sponge with sour wine supposed to have been helpful for the pain?  And is waiting to see if Elijah will come to take him down maybe hoping for a miracle, rather than another jeering statement?

1 comment:

  1. Yeah, I, too, wonder what the centurion saw.

    Online Greek dictionary suggests that "bystander" could just refer to someone who was present at the time. Obviously people who weren't there wouldn't have heard and commented on what Jesus said.

    That's an interesting idea, about hoping for a miracle from Elijah. That would mean the people were Jewish enough to know about Elijah and to hope Elijah would save the (potential) Messiah, but not know enough Aramaic to follow what Jesus had actually said. With the diverse crowd of foreign-born Jews who were still around at Pentecost, this still seems possible.

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