Mark 16:1-8-- The Unsatisfying End

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.'" They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

In the copies of Mark that we have, this is the final section.  Almost certainly, this is not the end of the book, but the true ending has been lost. Thus, this is the only resurrection story that still exists in the book of Mark.

  The two Marys and Salome went to the tomb where Joseph laid him in order to bury him properly, with full honor.  Such honor could possibly include up to a hundred pounds of spices and oils.  As they were walking to the tomb, they were wondering who was going to roll it away.  In their culture such heavy work as rolling a (possibly) 100+ pound stone was not usually done by women.  

When they arrived there, they found the stone had already been set aside, and there was a youthful-looking man in a white robe sitting on it.  The women were shocked—probably at the gall of a young man who dared to roll a tomb-stone away, but possibly also at his apparel, which was very odd.  White clothing is in Scripture almost exclusively worn by royalty or spiritual beings (Esther 8:15; Daniel 7:9; Mark 9:3).  This was most certainly an angel, as other gospels say (Matthew 27:5), and angels are sometimes called men when their appearance is rather ordinary (Genesis 19:1, 10-11).  

The angel said that what Jesus had prophesied had come true—he had been risen from the dead.  Now this prophecy may not have been made to the women, for the angel told them to tell Peter and the twelve that Jesus had told them he was to be risen and to meet them in Galilee (which Jesus did at the last supper in Mark 14:28).  

However, instead of telling the disciples immediately, the women ran and said nothing.  This turn of events was totally unexpected, from their perspective, and they didn’t know whether to believe the strange man or not.  And this is the earliest end of the book of Mark—with a strange young man claiming Jesus’ resurrection, but the women refusing to tell anyone about it.  Not really a proper ending at all, and it almost certainly didn’t end this way.  But how it really ended, no one knows for certain.

I have always hated movies that end in the middle of the story, with narrative threads hanging all over the place.  I want to know what happened to this person, or how the story really ended.

But, of course, in real life we don't get tidy endings.  When we die, it won't be the end of the story of all the people we know or love, but that will be the end for us.  It's just there.  The real ending of Mark gives us a hope, a real hope, that what happened to Jesus is just what he said it would be-- with his resurrection.  But we don't see Jesus, and we only have the word of a strange young man.  The women were scared and they didn't want to tell anyone what they saw.  So Jesus' story in Mark doesn't end triumphantly.  Just with fear and a hope.

Really, our life in Jesus isn't much better than that.  We can be bold in Jesus and faithful to Jesus and live in love and mercy, as he commanded and follow Jesus to the cross with all our hearts and minds.  But when we examine it closely, we find that all we have is our fears that drive us and the barest hope that all that Jesus promised will really happen.

For many, that just isn't enough.  They want certainty.  They want proof.  They want full assurance.  But Jesus doesn't give us that.  Instead, he gives us faith that a life of mercy and sacrifice for God is worth it.  And really, isn't that enough?  Isn't it enough to have lived our lives before God, with only the barest hope and the faith that Jesus gives us? 

Mark 15:40-47-- Variety of God's People

There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they used to follow him and minister to him; and there were many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate wondered if he was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead. And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Joseph bought a linen cloth, took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid.

Jesus did have female disciples and, in Mark, they were the only ones of the disciples who watched the crucifixion, and that from afar.  Mark mentions that these three—Mary Magdalene, another Mary (who was the mother of one of the twelve) and a woman named Salome.  Other gospel writers speak of other women who followed Jesus, including Jesus own mother, also called Mary (which is actually a Latinized form of the Hebrew name Miriam) (Luke 8:2-3; Luke 10:39-42; John 11:1; John 19:25).  These women were powerless to assist Jesus or to gain access to his body because they were not allowed to approach the Roman guards.  

Joseph of Arimathea did try to access Jesus’ body.  Not only was Joseph male, and wealthy, but also an important member of the Sanhedrin.  We don’t know about him until now, but it seems that he was a secret believer in Jesus’ teaching.  He forced himself to go up before Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body.  He was afraid to be known as a disciple of Jesus, and so it took some courage for him to do this.  

Pilate, however, thought nothing of a connection between Jesus and Joseph, but only expressed surprised that Jesus was already dead.  Six hours on a cross was a surprisingly short time to die, but considering the number of beatings Jesus went through (one by the Sanhedrin soldiers, one at Pilate’s command and one as the Romans soldiers were preparing him for the cross), it should have been expected.  Once Jesus’ death was confirmed, permission was granted for Joseph to take the body.  

There were two reasons for rush.  For one, it was just about the Sabbath, and the bodies should not be prepared once the Sabbath came that Friday night at sunset.  Second, it says in the law (Deuteronomy 21:22-23) that a body of an executed criminal may not hang overnight.  Joseph, at this point, buried Jesus’ body with the bare minimum required.  He placed him quickly in a burial cloth and placed him in a new tomb (other gospels say it was Joseph’s own—Matthew 27:60) and placed a stone over the tomb, so no one would disturb the body.  This burial was not to the woman’s liking, but they planned one of more honor after the Sabbath was finished, Sunday morning.

The people of God are made up of different members, all working toward God's purposes.  Joseph was wealthy but fearful-- he had much to lose.  Still, he requested that respect be made for Jesus.  He may have done nothing else for Jesus during his life, we don't know, but we know that he did this one work and so is respected by people for all ages.

There were also women that we know little about. They were supposed to remain silent, to stay in the background.  And it is because of their skill of staying in the background that they accomplished the greatest deed of all.  Those who are not noticed, those who have few resources and are weak in they eyes of the world-- keep your eye on them.  God will use them to accomplish his greatest purposes. 

Mark 15:37-39-- Opening Up The Way of God

And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, "Truly this man was a son of God!"

In the ninth hour, after having been hung on a cross for six hours, being mocked the whole time, Jesus had finished his suffering.  He quoted Psalm 22 briefly, and then cried out loud.  This may have been a cry of suffering, or it could have been purposefully ending the long process of dying through lack of oxygen.  He could have cried out, emptying his lungs of air, and then allow exhaustion to take him—he would have fainted and died.  

At that moment, an interesting detail occurred.  In the temple, there was a veil to separate the place of God from mankind.  If anyone entered in the room of God, called the Holy of Holies— except for the high priest once a year— they would die.  At Jesus’ death, however, access to God was opened up.  Jesus’ whole ministry was about providing access to God outside the temple in Jerusalem.  Now, through the ripping of the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the world, at the time of Jesus’ death, it is indicated that access to God has been provided to everyone through the death of Jesus.    

A centurion saw the manner of Jesus’ death—how he sought salvation from God, the darkness that came on the whole land and the way Jesus died so suddenly and he made a remarkable statement—“This man was son of God.”  This Gentile, who did not know the ways of God, yet recognized Jesus as being a holy man, a power of God.  At this hour as well, the darkness lifted from the land.  The centurion’s statement, as well as the many times in Jesus’ passion that he was called “the king of the Jews” were all unintentionally highlighting who Jesus really is—and who he succeeded in being through the obedience of God in his death.  

Every church that has cast someone out for not following their rules owes Jesus an apology.  All that a church should ever do is provide opportunities for connecting with God, and providing a place of growth.  Churches tend to forget that every person will go to God on a different path, and every person following Jesus must do so in a different way.  If a person looks too unpure, or a follower of Jesus too imperfect, then we need to remember that is why Jesus died.  If we have a problem with someone's struggles, then we need to remember that it is not our issue-- Jesus will deal with it himself.

If we throw someone out of church for being too unlike us, for not living up to our standards, for being too impure, then we should apologize to Jesus.  Jesus died so that the veil might be ripped, but churches spend so much effort trying to sew the veil back up, to restrict access to God. We don't have that right.

Mark 15:29-36-- Fellowship of Suffering

Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, "Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!" In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; He cannot save Himself. Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!" Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him. When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" which is translated, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, "Behold, He is calling for Elijah." Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down."

Crucifixion is a successful propaganda machine.  Those who see one crucified assumes that they are terrible criminals.  

Those passing by either had been at the Sanhedrin’s council or had heard of Jesus’ statement that he would raise the temple in three days (John 2:19).  So they made fun of Jesus, saying that his words were of no account as he claimed that he could do a miracle with the Temple, but he could not save himself from humiliation by taking himself from the cross.  Members of the Sanhedrin themselves were there making sure Jesus was properly mocked.  They also claimed that a miracle should come from Jesus to take himself off of the cross.  

The sixth hour after sunrise was about noon, but it became unnaturally dark, and this darkness lasted for three hours.  But those mocking were not looking for the miracle of the judgement of God, but his own salvation would be the only miracle they would recognize.  

In response to the whole situation, Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  In crucifixion, one can only speak short sentences, for one’s breathing is limited (one dies of a lack of oxygen in crucifixion).  He was not saying this because he felt rejected by God—rather he was quoting the text to indicate what he was experiencing.  Often a quote of a single verse is not just one verse, but the whole context.  In Psalm 22, David was speaking about his oppression and rejection, especially being mocked and sarcastic comments about salvation.  Yet, David claims that even though God is leaving him alone temporarily to be abused (which is what the verse Jesus quotes is about), God is faithful and will vindicate him before his enemies.   (for more on Psalm 22, check out my commentary on that passage--http://livingpsalms.blogspot.com/2007/11/david-and-jesus-suffering-psalm-221-18.html
http://livingpsalms.blogspot.com/2007/11/anawims-deliverance-psalm-2219-32.html    )

So Jesus is not only speaking of his suffering and God’s temporary absence, but also about his eventual deliverance, even in the face of death.  His words were misunderstood, however, perhaps due to his Galileean accent.  They thought that the Aramaic “Eli” was speaking about Elijah, not God.  So they made fun of him about calling for Elijah.  

The sour wine was also mockery, for at times someone wanting to be merciful would give one wine while up on the cross, but sour wine was like vinegar, and tasted horribly.

Abel, Joseph, Moses, Ruth, David, Jeremiah, Esther and numerous others had to suffer for doing what is right.  Many even had to die for the sake of others.  Jesus put himself at the head of this mass of sufferers, accepting what they did not have to, for the sake of doing good for the sake of God's love.  

When we suffer for God's love, then we stand with this crowd.  When we endure hardship and suffering, but respond with love and humility, then we are in this fellowship of sufferings, this cloud of witnesses, this communion of saints. When we love through the suffering others put us through, when we are guilty by association instead of by deed, when we are blamed instead of rewarded for doing as Jesus would do, then we join the group of saints that are the family of Jesus.

That group of saints are why God created resurrection.  To join in that group is to be guaranteed a place in God's kingdom. 

Mark 15:20-28-- Where Is Our Line Drawn?

And they led him out to crucify Him. They pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross. Then they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. It was the third hour when they crucified Him. The inscription of the charge against Him read, "THE KING OF THE JEWS." They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with transgressors."

For the rest of the chapter, Mark describes the crucifixion of Jesus, his degradation and mockery.  

Usually a criminal who was to be crucified would carry their own cross.  However, Jesus was beaten more than the usual criminal, and given no time to rest.  So he was unable to carry his own cross.  Another man, Simon, whose sons evidently became a part of the Christian community, carried Jesus’ cross for him.  

Golgatha, which was an Aramaic word meaning “the skull”, and the place was outside of Jerusalem, which also indicated that he was not accepted as a citizen of Judea, let alone a king.  

Wine was offered Jesus as an anesthetic against the pain, but Jesus refused it, in accordance with his prophecy that he would not “drink of the fruit of the wine” (Mark 14:25).  An anesthetic was offered because crucifixion is not really about pain and death, although that is the ultimate goal.  Rather, it was about humiliation for a long period of time, ending in death.  Whoever was crucified was put up, like a billboard, saying, “This person is rejected by our society— reject him and do not be like him.”  

Jesus’ clothes (which were taken off during his beatings) are now taken from him and gambled over by the soldiers. This was prophesied by Psalm 22 (important in the next section as well), verse 18.  

A sign was placed over criminals to indicate their crime.  Jesus’ crime was that he was “The king of the Judeans”.  This had a triple meaning.  To the Jews, it was his claim that caused them to desire to kill him.  To the Romans, it was a mockery of all Judeans that any king they might have ought to be crucified.  However, to Christians it is the truth that the king of God over all of God’s people would be rejected and killed and then resurrected.  

The Scripture prophecies that the chosen servant of God would be grouped with evildoers.  In this case, those being crucified with Jesus were lestes, brigands and rebels against the Romans.  This was the charge brought against Jesus in his trial before Pilate.

Jesus told us all that we need to "deny yourselves, take up your cross and follow me."  The end of Jesus is to be rejected by everyone he knew and by all the leaders of his nation.  The cross of Jesus is not just suffering, but shame and being despised.  He accepted on himself the place of the ultimate outcast, even though he didn't deserve it.  

When we follow Jesus, are we really ready to go the extent of cross-carrying that Jesus took?  Are we willing to follow Jesus, but only to a certain place?  Do we draw a line and say, "Lord I will follow you anywhere, but I won't go there."  What is the limit we won't accept?  Will we not accept rejection?  Will we not accept the weakening of our health for Jesus' sake?  Will we not accept mocking?  Will we not accept identification with the outcast?  

We need to examine our hearts before the Lord and truly discover what Jesus asks us to accept, but we refuse.  We need to count the cost, look at all that Jesus accepted for us and discover if we would do the same for him. 

Mark 15:16-20-- Taking Another's Shame

The soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman cohort. They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; and they began to acclaim Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him.

 Jesus was whipped (v. 15) and then he was taken into the Roman palace in Jerusalem.  There he was in the hands of soldiers, where he was mocked.  

The soldiers were mocking Jesus—the crucified king— but they had also picked up on Pilate’s mocking tone of the Judeans he was speaking to.  Pilate didn’t understand Jewish concerns, and he despised them, which is why he was so violent to those who broke Roman law.  So when Pilate called Jesus the one whom “you called the king of the Jews,” he was mocking them—but they didn’t respond to the mockery.  Now the soldiers were having their opportunity to mock the Judeans, and they took it out on Jesus.  They figured that if Jesus was called “the king of the Jews” then they would dress him up in the semblance of a king and then beat him and make fun of him, at the expense of the Jews.  

Purple was only worn by royalty and sometimes by the very wealthy, and so they put some of these clothes on him in order to make fun of him.  The crown of thorns wasn’t meant to hurt, so much as to mock.  They gave him praise as an equal of Caesar, “Hail, king of the Jews”.  The reed was supposed to replace a scepter, the symbol of a king’s authority—but they beat him with it.  Even as they were calling him a king, they were humiliating him, beating him and spitting at him.  

Here and throughout the rest of the passion story, Mark emphasizes the humiliation and lowliness Jesus experienced, and that willingly.

Jesus was placed in this position of shame because he identified with the lowly of those who loved God-- women, the sick, Gentiles and sinners.  Because of this position, he is now experiencing the shame of all his people.  The leaders of his people placed him there because Jesus allowed himself to be vulnerable before them.  They have thrown Jesus to their enemies so that he might take on all of their shame for them.

We all will experience shame at times, but it is rare for us to accept shame that isn't ours.  And if we don't have to take mocking or pain, then we will step back quickly and say, "Hey, this isn't about me.  You want to mock them."  We don't want be vulnerable.  We certainly don't want to take someone else's mocking or pain.

But that's why Jesus was in this position, specifically.  To accept that which he did not deserve, at the hands of those who find he is politically expedient.  I hate to say this, but this is at times what Jesus calls us to do as well.  To accept the shame and pain that is not ours, but we take it on because we want to help others get relief.  If we can accept this, head held high, and strong knowing that God will give us release from all this pain, all the better. 

Mark 15:6-15-- Undermining Justice

Now at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. Pilate answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?" For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. Answering again, Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with him whom you call the King of the Jews?" They shouted back, "Crucify him!" But Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him!" Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified.

Now Barabbas actually was the kind of man the priests were accusing Jesus of being.  He was a brigand, a rebel, and he not only attacked Romans and Jews, but he had killed one.  

Pilate suspected that the chief priests’ accusations were an exaggeration and so he used a custom he had to determine their seriousness.  Pilate was well-known in Judea and Galilee as a harsh, violent ruler.  To try to placate the people, he allowed the Judeans to chose one person whom he had imprisoned to set them free.  He did this on Passover, one of three feasts a year where Jews from all over the world would come together in Jerusalem.  So Pilate offered the crowds a choice: Barabbas, a rebel and criminal, or Jesus, a religious leader dependent on God.  The priests had already selected the crowd before Pilate, so they all called out for Barabbas to be freed.  

Pilate was extremely frustrated and he asked, “So what do you want me to do with this man whom you call king?”  Pilate was purposing to goad them into denying that he was a king, and so deny their testimony.  But they just called out for Jesus to be crucified.  Pilate tried to argue with them, but they called out “Crucify” again and again until Pilate gave into their wishes.  Pilate wasn’t just wishy-washy here—he couldn’t afford for the people to raise a complaint to Caesar about him, and so he was hesitant to go against the people in such a questionable case.  

Crucifixion is an execution given to a non-citizen or a traitor.  A Roman citizen who was so evil to need to be executed would be killed by beheading.  A Jewish citizen who was so evil to need to be executed would be killed by stoning. But the one who is crucified is accepted by no nation, an outsider.  For the Judeans and Pilate to command him to be crucified means that Jesus was rejected by both Jews and Gentiles—he was an outcast.

Who are these people shouting "Crucify him!"?  They are supporters of the high priest and the Sanhedrin.  They are the people who believe that their leaders are always right and that their people should be supported no matter what.  They are the common party-members, patriots and lovers of their nation.  They heard their leaders say, "This is the enemy of our nation.  This is the destroyer of our peace.  He must be gotten rid of."  And so they work toward the destruction of the enemy for which they have no evidence to condemn.

In the Bible, condemning and punishing the innocent is one of the most serious crimes.  It is not just a criminal act, it is the undermining of all justice and peace in one's nation.  Every time that we condemn a whole people, then we are setting aside the righteousness of God for our own prejudice.  Every time that we agree with other people's condemnation, instead of looking for proof, then we are the guilty one.  Every time we point the finger at someone when we don't actually know, we are condemning Jesus all over again.

True patriotism judges with a right judgment, so that justice might not be undermined.