Mark 15, Part One

Jesus before Pilate (vs. 1-15)—Mark follows Matthew pretty closely on Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, so I will be borrowing fairly heavily, though not totally, from my writings in Matthew 27. Here are my comments on Matthew 27:11-25: “This is actually the second time Jesus appeared before the Roman governor. The first time, Pilate sent Him to Herod Agrippa because Jesus was from Galilee and that was Herod’s jurisdiction—though Pilate was the ultimate authority in Palestine. Luke is the only author that records the trial before Herod, and I’ll look at that when we get there. But, in this second trial before Pilate (Herod obviously sends Jesus) back, the governor, after trying to release Christ, finally is persuaded to crucify Him. Pilate even asked Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?", to which Jesus replied, "It is as you say," or “yes.” This is what the Jews were actually hoping that Pilate would condemn Jesus for; the Romans wouldn’t put Him to death for blasphemy, but if there was a “king” rivaling Caesar, then yes, that could be a capital crime. But it didn’t seem to bother Pilate; I’ve always thought the governor probably figured Jesus was a harmless nut. But Pilate was in somewhat of a bind here. The Jewish mob before him wanted Jesus’ head. His wife sent him a message saying, “'Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him'" (v. 19). Then he had to worry about the Romans. If he executed an innocent man, that was definitely contrary to Roman law, and that could get him in trouble with his overseers. But if he didn’t execute Jesus, it looked like he was going to have a riot on his hands, and that could get him in trouble with the Roman authorities, too—“can’t you control the territory? If you can’t, we’ll get somebody who can.” I’m not defending Pilate here, but he was in a bit of a pickle. He wasn’t a good man, but he was in probably the most difficult province to control in the Roman empire.

Bottom line here, is that “when Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, ‘I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.’ And all the people answered and said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children’" (vs. 24-25). It’s not uncommon in modern times for the Jews to be exonerated from the crucifixion of Jesus, but they accepted the blame at the time, and the rest of the New Testament also fixes the guilt upon them. They couldn’t have done it without the Romans; but the Romans wouldn’t have done it if the Jews hadn’t insisted.”

Mark isn’t as detailed as Matthew, and adds nothing substantial to it, I’d like to add a note on part of verse 15 of Mark’s account: “So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd…” This is not the multitudes that followed Jesus; it was the “crowd” of chief priests and elders, plus whatever rabble they could gather together. As I've pointed out in earlier sections, the Jewish leaders tried Jesus and put Him on the cross at night because they didn’t want the people as whole to know what they were doing. Jesus never lost His following among the masses.

Mocked by the soldiers (vs. 16-20)—The Romans hated the Jews and so they take the opportunity here to make sport of the “king of the Jews.” The cloth Him in purple (the royal color), and put a crown of thorns on His head (v. 17). They also beat Him and spat on Him (v. 19). If they had only known what they were really doing! Slapping God in the face and spitting on Him is not the height of wisdom and propriety.