15:21 Probably only Mark mentioned Simon's sons because the Christians in Rome knew them or knew of them (cf. Rom. 16:13). Evidently Simon became a believer in Jesus. Mark mentioned very few people by name other than the Twelve. Simon was evidently a North African Jew who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover season. Since there was a large population of Jews in Cyrene it is probable that Simon was racially a Semite rather than a Negro.389Simon had to do literally what all followers of Jesus must do figuratively, namely bear His cross (cf. 8:34; Luke 23:26).
15:22-23 "Golgotha"is a loose transliteration of the Aramaic word for "skull."Evidently the place resembled a skull or had some association with a skull or skulls. An ancient tradition that Jerome referred to identified the place as the one where Adam's skull lay.390The myrrh was not a narcotic to deaden Jesus' pain but a bitter substance that made the wine undrinkable. The soldiers mocked Jesus by offering Him something refreshing but which would have tasted bitter (cf. Matt. 27:34). This is another indication of the fact that the soldiers were treating Jesus as no more than a slave.
15:24 Mark probably described Jesus' actual crucifixion simply because his Roman readers would have been only too familiar with its horrors. Yet for modern readers some explanation is helpful. Davis described it as follows.
"Simon is ordered to place the patibulum [crosspiece] on the ground and Jesus is quickly thrown backwards with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The patibulum is then lifted in place at the top of the stipes [the vertical beam]. . . .
"The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain--the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.
"At this point, another phenomenon occurs. As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. . . . Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically He is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen. . . .
"Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins. A deep crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. . . .
"It is now almost over--the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level--the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues--the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. . . .
"The body of Jesus is now in extremis, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. . . .
"His mission of atonement has been completed. Finally He can allow His body to die."391
Mark's quotation of Psalm 22:18, the psalm that predicted more detail of Messiah's sufferings in death than any other passage, contrasted the soldiers callused actions with Jesus' agony.
15:25 This time reference is unique to Mark's Gospel. The third hour was 9:00 a.m. John located Jesus' trial before Pilate at "about"the sixth hour (John 19:14). This would have been noon. Consequently we should probably understand Mark's reference as being to the approximate beginning of Jesus' crucifixion rather than the precise time when the soldiers nailed Him to the cross.392
15:26 Typically Mark recorded only the essence of the charge that Pilate wrote and had displayed over Jesus' head on the cross.
15:27-28 Jesus' position between the two insurrectionists, perhaps cohorts of Barabbas, portrayed Him as the chief offender. The soldiers probably put Jesus in this position as a further insult to the Jews as well as to Jesus.
Most ancient manuscripts of Mark's Gospel omit verse 28. Many textual experts consider it an interpolation from Luke 22:37. Mark rarely pointed out the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.393
15:29-30 Evidently Jesus' predictions about destroying and raising the temple were well known (cf. 14:58-60). Unbelieving Jews seem to have focused on those statements as proof that Jesus could not be their Messiah. They viewed the temple with extreme veneration.
"The jest was the harder to endure since it appealed to a consciousness of power held back only by the self-restraint of a sacrificed will."394
This public abuse heaped further suffering on the Suffering Servant. The Greek word Mark used to describe their abuse was eblasphemounmeaning "they were blaspheming."Earlier the high priest had charged Jesus with blasphemy of which He was innocent (14:64). Now the people did blaspheme God. Their comments fulfilled Psalm 22:7 and Lamentations 2:15.
15:31-32 The chief priests and scribes also blasphemed by mocking Jesus and claiming that He could not save Himself. Their abuse must have wounded Jesus grievously since they were Israel's leaders. Their title for Jesus, "King of Israel,"focused on the apparent irony of Jesus being the leader not only of the Jews but of their nation. They were the leaders of the nation, not Jesus. The fact that Jesus was apparently helpless on the cross was the supreme irony from their viewpoint. Their Messiah of all people needed to be in control. This was the climax of the religious leaders' opposition to Jesus (cf. 3:6; 11:18; 12:12; 14:1, 64; 15:1, 11-13).
"Situational ironyoccurs when there is a discrepancy between what a character naively expects to happen and what actually happens, or between what a character blindly thinks to be the case and what the real situation is. . . .
"In situational irony the speaker is confident that what he or she says or expects is true, but is unaware that the real situation is, in fact, the opposite. The characters in the story are blind victims of the irony of the situation, while the reader sees the ironic contrast between what the speaker says and the way things really are."395
The rebels crucified with Jesus joined the others who were ridiculing Him. Rejection, abuse, and derision assailed Jesus from the highest to the lowest in society.
The total humiliation of Jesus that this pericope records presents Him as the completely submissive Servant of the Lord even to the point of dying on a cross. What an example He is for all whom God has called to be His servants!
