Mark Chapter 15
Read verse 1 . The Jewish leaders did not have the right to punish anyone by killing him. Only the representative of the Roman Empire had this right . So the Jewish leaders had to ask the Roman representative to judge Jesus . The Roman representative’s name was Pilate .
Read 2 to 5 . Jesus kept quiet because Isaiah 53 : 7 said that the Messiah would keep quiet .
Read 6 to 11 . The Jewish leaders urged the crowd to ask Pilate to set Barabbas free , and to kill Jesus .
Read 12 to 15 . Notice Pilate’s reason for killing Jesus . A king should wear a crown , so they made a crown . Their only purpose was to make fun of Jesus .
Read 21 . The early Christians must have known who Alexander and Rufus were , so that Mark mentions their names to introduce them to the reader . Cyrene is a country near Egypt . Today we call it Libya .
Read 22 . The reason for the hill’s name is that it was round , like a skull .
Read 23 . It was common to give a pain – killing drug to someone who was on the cross . Jesus did not take the drug . Jesus was willing to experience all the pain , in order to receive all the punishment for our sins . Read Isaiah 53 : 4 and 5 .
Read 24 . Gambling for Jesus’ clothing was prophesied in Psalm 22 : 18 .
Read 25 and 26 . A sign was nailed to the cross above Jesus’ head to tell people who Jesus was . We don’t know whether this sign was put there to make fun of Jesus , or whether it was because Pilate wanted to embarrass the Jews by accusing them of killing their king .
Read 27 . Isaiah 53 n: 12 prophesied that the Messiah would be killed along with evil men .
Read 29 to 32 . Psalm 22 : 7 – 8 prophesied that people would make fun of the Messiah . The part about ” tearing down the Temple ” is based on the words Jesus said in John 2 : 18 to 21 .
Read 33 . We do not know the cause of the darkness .
Read 34 . The foreign words in this sentence are written in a language called Aramaic , which was a common language used in the Middle East at that time . These words quote Psalm 22 : 1 . From these words, we can imagine the depth of Jesus’ suffering . From these words , we acn realize that the most terrible part of punishment from sin is to experience being forsaken by God . ( Even while Jesus experienced this , He continued to be God the Son ) . Finally , when we recognize that Jesus quoted from the beginning of Psalm 22 , we can assume that He had the rest of Psalm 22 in mind as well : almost all of Psalm 22 gives us insights into the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross .
Read 35 . Some people did not understand the Aramaic language . When they heard ” Eloi ” , they thought it meant ” Elijah ” ( the name of a prophet ) , but in fact it means ” my God ” .
Read 36 . This person wanted to give Jesus a drink .
Read 37 . Isaiah 53 : 10 told us that the Messiah would die to bring us forgiveness .
Read 38 . The part of the Temple behind the curtain was called ” The Most Holy Place ” ; it represented the presence of God . The curtain meant that the common people could not come near to God directly . They needed to have a priest represent them . Hebrews 10 :19 – 20 explains that the death of Jesus allows us to come near to God . I Peter 2 : 9 explains that the death of Jeus allows us to come near to God . I Peter 2 : 9 explains that now all of us have the function of priests : that means , we can go to God directly .
Read 39 . The sentence is significant because the army officer was a Roman , not a Jew .
Read 40 and 41 . These women knew for sure that Jesus had died . That is why they were so surprised when they discovered that Jesus was not in his grave ( Mark 16 : 1 and 6 ) .
Read 42 and 43 . This Joseph was from a city called Arimathea . Joseph was very brave to ask for the body , because therefore the Jewish leaders would know that he was Jesus’ friend .
Read 44 to 47 . Joseph was a rich man, and that is why he had a large cave where he could put Jesus’ body . Isaiah 53 : 9 said that Jesus would be in a rich person’s tomb . The large stone was to prevent anyone from disturbing the body during the next day , which was the Jewish day of rest ( the Sabbath ) .
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