Mark 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. This chapter records the narrative of Jesus' passion, including his trial before Pontius Pilate and then his crucifixion, death and entombment. Jesus' trial before Pilate and his crucifixion, death, and burial are also recorded in Matthew 27, Luke 23, and John 18:28–19:42.
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 47 verses.
Textual witnesses Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Codex Vaticanus (~325–350) Codex Sinaiticus (~330–360) Codex Bezae (~400) Codex Washingtonianus (~400) Codex Alexandrinus (~400–440) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; complete)
Old Testament references : Psalm : Psalm : Psalm : Psalm
New Testament parallels
Trial before Pilate
Verse 1 Immediately, in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council; and they bound Jesus, led Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate. NKJV In the previous chapter, Mark has stressed that "all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes", "all the council", had taken part in the overnight trial of Jesus. "As soon as it was morning",: English Standard Version the council or Sanhedrin reaches a decision, and agrees to hand Jesus over to Pontius Pilate. Pilate was the Roman Prefect (governor) of Iudaea Province from 26 to 36, which was the Roman combination of Idumea, Judea and Samaria and did not include Galilee, which was under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas. William Robertson Nicoll suggests that the "consultation" should be understood as the "resolution" resulting from the consultation, given that the whole council had been involved in the trial,Nicoll, W. R., Expositor's Greek Testament on Mark 15, accessed 10 April 2020 and George Maclear suggests this was "a second and more formal meeting of the Sanhedrim" following the first, overnight, meeting.
According to Matthew, the Sanhedrin had decided to execute Jesus. Only the Romans were allowed to execute someone, not the local officials, according to John 18:31, yet records the Sanhedrin ordering the stoning of Saint Stephen and also James the Just according to Antiquities of the Jews (20.9.1), resulting in a rebuke from the Roman authority.Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 20.9.1
Verse 2 Pilate asked him, 'Are you the King of the Jews? He answered him, 'You say so.' (NRSV): NRSV
The Greek Textus Receptus/Majority Text reads: καὶ ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτὸν ὁ Πιλάτος, Σὺ εἶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων; ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Σὺ λέγεις.
Cross references: Matthew 27:11; Luke 23:3; John 18:37
An interpretation is that Pilate is asking Jesus if he is the messiah, just as the high priest before in , but with an explicit emphasis on the Messiah's political role, that of Jewish King.Brown et al. 627 According to John's gospel, in response to Pilate's question Jesus has a short conversation with Pilate and then answers, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." Historically it is likely that perceived insurrection against Rome was for what Pilate executed Jesus.Brown et al. 628 According to , however, Jesus said one should pay the Roman tax and was thus not a revolutionary.
The 1985 Jesus Seminar reached the conclusion that the temple incident was the cause of the crucifixion.
Verse 3 Then the chief priests accused him of many things,: New Revised Standard Version or And the chief priests accused Him of many things, but He answered nothing.: NKJV The chief priests remain in attendance before Pilate and make several further, unspecified, allegations, "heaping accusations on Him".Mark 15:3: Weymouth New Testament Nicoll surmises that the single accusation, that Jesus had declared himself king, was not sufficient to convince Pilate of any wrongdoing. Some sources state here that Jesus gives no reply, but these words do not appear in the "best manuscripts or versions".Pulpit Commentary on Mark 15, accessed 27 June 2017 Pilate pushes him for one but he still remains silent, which amazes or surprises Pilate. According to Luke, Pilate at this point sent Jesus to Herod Antipas because Jesus, as a Galilean, was under Herod's jurisdiction. Herod was excited to see Jesus at first, but ended up mocking him and sending him back to Pilate.
Verse 4 And Pilate again asked him, "Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.": ESV While Mark has Pilate highlight that there are multiple charges against Jesus, Irish archbishop John McEvilly notes that Luke's Gospel provides more specific details of the charges than either Matthew's gospel or Mark here: see Luke 23:2.McEvilly, J., An Exposition of the Gospels by The Most Rev. John Macevilly D.D. on Matthew 27, accessed on 4 November 2023 Jesus does not respond to any of their accusations.
Release of Barabbas According to Mark's account, it was a custom to release a prisoner at Passover, which was a celebration of freedom. No other historical record of the time records Pilate doing this, and he is known to have been cruel, for which he was eventually expelled from his post.Kilgallen 281 (JA18.4.2) All the other Gospels however also agree with Mark on this tradition. Some theologians suggest that Pilate did this once or a few times or that the Gospels accurately record this tradition even though other sources fail to mention. The Jesus Seminar argued doing this during a volatile situation like this would have been unlikely.Miller 49
According to Matthew, Pilate received a message from his wife that she believed Jesus was innocent because of a disturbing dream she had just had. He asks the crowd if they want the King of the Jews released to them because, according to Mark, Pilate knew the priests were envious of Jesus and so presumably wanted to free him without a fight with them.
The priests however convince the crowd to ask for the release of Barabbas, a prisoner. Mark says he was in prison chained "with" insurrectionists who had committed murder during a recent στασισ (stasis, a riot), probably "one of ... numerous insurrections against the Roman power".Maclear, G. F., Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Mark 15, accessed 11 December 2017 Theologian John Gill says he was "at the head" of the rebels.Gill's Exposition of Mark 15, accessed 11 December 2017 Both Luke and John say he was a revolutionary. Jesus seems to have already been declared guilty as this seems a choice between releasing two prisoners.
Verse 12 Pilate answered and said to them again, "What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?": NKJV Pilate might have asked what should be done "with Jesus", but in his choice of words, "him whom you call the King of the Jews", he may "have hoped that the sound of the title might have not been in vain on the ears of those who had lately cried, 'Blessed is the king that cometh in the name of the Lord'" when Jesus had arrived in Jerusalem.
The crowd reply that Jesus should be crucified, but Pilate asks what he is guilty of. They still demand he be crucified so Pilate turns Barabbas over to the crowd and has Jesus flogged and then sent out to be crucified. Matthew has Pilate washing his hands and declaring the crowd responsible, which the crowd accepts.
For his flogging Jesus would have been tied to a pillar, and hit with bone or metal studded whips.Brown et al. 628 Crucifixion was a particularly shameful or unmentionable form of death,Wright, N. T. (2001), Mark for Everyone, p. 207 with a stigma put onto even the condemned's family.Kilgallen 284
Roman magistrates had wide discretion in executing their tasks, and some question whether Pilate would have been so captive to the demands of the crowd. Summarily executing someone to calm the situation however would have been a tool a Roman governor would have used.Miller 49–50
The soldiers mock Jesus
Mark says that the soldiers took Jesus to the Praetorium, either Herod's palace or the Fortress Antonia. They gather together all the other soldiers. The English Standard Version suggests that "the whole company" would have consisted of around 600 men, one tenth of a Roman legion.Crossway Bibles, Footnote c at Mark 15:16, accessed on 20 December 2024 These were probably mostly recruits from the area of Palestine or Syria.
The soldiers put a purple robe on Jesus and put a crown of thorns on his head and mockingly hail him as the King of the Jews. They hit him in the head with a staff and pay false homage to him. According to Matthew they put the staff in his hand first before beating him with it. They dress him in his own clothes and take him out to be crucified. According to John they left his purple robe and crown on. Jesus is given the trappings of a King. Purple is a royal color. He wears a crown and is hit with a staff, also a royal symbol. Theologian Christopher Tuckett notes that "for Mark, what is said here in mocking jest is in fact profound truth. Jesus is the king of the Jews".Tuckett, C. M., 57. Mark, in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 919, archived on 2 November 2017, italics in original The whole scene is colored with divine irony, as everything the soldiers do to mock Jesus' claim of being a King is used by Mark to show this, at the height of the Passion, as Jesus' crowning as messiah according to God's plan.Miller 50
According to John's account, after the flogging Pilate brought Jesus back a second time and tried to convince the crowd that he was innocent, but the crowd still demanded Jesus' death and so then Pilate had him crucified. Luke has no account of the soldiers beating Jesus.
Jesus' crucifixion
On the way to their final destination the soldiers force a man passing by, Simon of Cyrene, to carry Jesus' cross for him, though Mark does not say why. Cyrene was in North Africa and Simon would have moved from there or would have been visiting. Mark lists his children, Alexander and Rufus.
Verse 21 Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross. NKJV
That Mark takes the time to list only Alexander and Rufus as the names of Simon's children suggests they might have been Early Christians known to Mark's intended audience. Paul also lists a Rufus in Romans . A burial cave in the Kidron Valley discovered in 1941 by E. L. Sukenik, belonging to Cyrenian Jews and dating before AD 70, was found to have an ossuary inscribed twice in Greek "Alexander son of Simon". It cannot, however, be certain that this refers to the same person.N. Avigad, "A Depository of Inscribed Ossuaries in the Kidron Valley," Israel Exploration Journal 12 : 1–12; cited in D. A. Carson, "Matthew". In The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Frank E. Gaebelein, ed. Vol. 8. Grand Rapids: Regency (Zondervan), 1984. p. 575.James H. Charlesworth (editor), Jesus and Archaeology, p. 338 (Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2006).
Luke has Jesus talking to some of his women followers along the way.
They arrive at Golgotha, which Mark says means the place of the skull. This was probably an exhausted rock quarry whose remaining rock had been damaged in an earthquake.Kilgallen 286
They offer Jesus wine laced with myrrh to lessen the pain, but he refuses. Mark then simply says they crucified him. They then take his clothes and draw lots to distribute them. Maclear suggests that they are "unconsciously fulfilling" the words of , which John actually quotes as a fulfillment of prophecy.