St Mark Chapter XV : Verses 16-25
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| Hail, king of the Jews! J-J Tissot |
[17] And they clothe him with purple, and platting a crown of thorns, they put it upon him.
[18] And they began to salute him: Hail, king of the Jews.
[19] And they struck his head with a reed: and they did spit on him. And bowing their knees, they adored him.
[20] And after they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own garments on him, and they led him out to crucify him.
[21] And they forced one Simon a Cyrenian who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and of Rufus, to take up his cross.
[22] And they bring him into the place called Golgotha, which being interpreted is, The place of Calvary.
[23] And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh; but he took it not.
[24] And crucifying him, they divided his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.
[25] And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
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| They divided his garments, casting lots... J-J Tissot |
Notes
16. into the court of the palace. The scourging had been inflicted in front of the prætorium. This was the official residence of the Roman governor, and was situated at the north-west angle of the Temple mount.
The word “prætorium” was also employed to designate —
(a) The general’s tent.(b) The quarters of his bodyguard.
the whole band : a cohort, the tenth part of a legion, i.e. 600 men.
17. clothe him with purple. St Matthew has scarlet. These words are interchangeable in the classics. The purple robe used on this occasion was probably the red military cloak (the sagum). This was put on the bleeding shoulders of Christ to signify that He was now invested with regal dignity. This cruel burlesque was the complement to Herod’s act, for he had clothed Jesus in a white garment, as an aspirant to royal honours.
platting a crown of thorns. It is not known for certain what plant was used for this purpose. It may have been the nabk, a shrub which grows abundantly on the slopes of the hills in Judea. It could be had close at hand, and its supple branches, with their ivy-shaped leaves and long spicules, would have been suitable for the purpose, since the leaves would represent the bay wreath worn by the emperors, while the sharp thorns would make it an instrument of torture. Thus does Jesus expiate our sins of thought.
they put it upon him. To cause Him greater suffering they drove in the thorns with blows of the reed which had been placed in our Saviour’s hand.
18. they began to salute him. Now the whole cohort files past Him, and each soldier offers his mock homage. They greet Christ as King of the Jews, they kneel before Him, their Satanic mockery is changed to brutal maltreatment, and they did spit on him and they took the reed and struck his head. To what a depth of humiliation does Jesus descend to save us !
19. with a reed. This mock sceptre may have been the stalk of a sugar-cane, a papyrus or arundo. Our Lord’s attire is now complete. The royal robe, the crown, and the sceptre. It is when Jesus has all these ensigns of royal power, that the mock obeisance begins.
Between verses 19 and 20 we must place the last attempt of Pilate to release Christ. After the flagellation, he once more appealed to the people and declared Him to be innocent, but seeing that he prevailed nothing, finally delivered Jesus up to their will.
20. after they had mocked him : they ( i.e . the Roman soldiers). Also after Pilate had presented Him to them robed, as a mock king. “ The Jews delayed but little between the finishing of judgment and the execution ” ( Lightfoot ).
they took off the purple. This must have given our Saviour excruciating pain, as His sacred body was furrowed with the blows of the scourges.
they led him out. It was customary both with the Romans and the Jews to execute the condemned without the city. By the law of Moses criminals were to be executed without the camp (Numbers xv. 35), and no executions could take place within the holy city, the camp of Israel. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people by his ovm blood, suffered without the gate (Heb. xiii. 12).
When a criminal was conducted to the place of execution, the procession started from the seat of judgment (before which the condemned had been scourged) in the following order. A mounted centurion led the way, followed by the soldiers marching in rank. Then came the herald, who proclaimed the crimes of the accused and his sentence. They were also inscribed on a white tablet which was borne aloft by the herald, or hung round the neck of the condemned, who, guarded by four soldiers, brought up the rear. There would be a mob following, larger or smaller, according to the interest aroused by the circumstances. When Jesus was conducted to crucifixion there seems to have been a great multitude, composed of His foes and friends. Certainly some had the courage openly to sympathize with our Saviour, for we learn from St Luke’s account that a multitude of people and of women , who bewailed and lamented him , followed Christ on the road to Calvary. From the Greek text it is clear that only the women bewailed, not the people in general.
21. they forced one Simon, etc. The word forced refers to impressed service for a monarch. Thus of old, in England the corvée was in usage ; buildings were constructed and roads made free of expense to the king. The original word here translated forced is also used in St Matthew (v. 41). Whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him other two. It is derived from the Persian, and was adopted from it into Greek and Hebrew.
Cyrus organised a system of postal service by which mounted couriers were obliged to be in readiness at certain places, so that there should be no delay in carrying the royal dispatches. These couriers were not paid, but were impressed for the royal service. From the use of the word forced we may conclude that Simon did not render our Lord willing service.
a Cyrenian. Cyrene is in Libya, and was thickly populated by Jews. These Jews had a synagogue in Jerusalem, which shews their importance, and we find Jews from Cyrene mentioned as being present in Jerusalem at the Feast of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles. They also took part in the martyrdom of St Stephen (cf. Acts vi. 9). Some were early converted to the truth, as we read that certain men of Cyrene spoke also to the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus (Acts xi. 20). St Mark alone refers to Simon as the father of Rufus and Alexander , from which we may infer that these two men were well known to the Christian Church. St Paul, writing to the Corinthians, speaks of one Rufus, elect in the Lord. We do not know whether Simon was a Jew or a Gentile.
who passed by. Probably Simon was one of the pilgrims who had come up for the Feast of the Pasch, or he may have recently settled in Jerusalem.
of the country. Those writers who hold the opinion that Jesus was crucified on the eve of the Pasch, and not on the day itself, adduce these words in support of their views. But they do not prove that Simon was coming from the fields, nor that he had been labouring ; moreover, it was early in the morning, between nine and ten o’clock, which was not the hour for labourers to leave off work.
to take up his cross. A tradition points out the spot outside the city walls, where Simon took up the cross of Jesus. Some commentators have thought that Simon merely helped our Lord to carry the cross by relieving Him of part of the weight, but it seems more probable that Simon carried it alone, since St Luke says they laid the cross on Simon to carry after Jesus. In this case we can picture our Lord painfully toiling along the road, bearing round His neck the tablet, on which the cause of His condemnation was inscribed, while Simon followed.
22. they bring him into the place called Golgotha. This is the Aramaic form of the Hebrew Golgotha, meaning a skull. Calvary, from the Latin calvaria, also means a skull.
An ancient tradition asserts that the hill of Calvary lay north-west of Jerusalem between the city and Mount Scopus, The land here rises even higher than Jerusalem, so that the crosses could be seen from the city. The name seems to have been derived from the shape of this elevation, which sloped gradually up from south to north, while the northern, western and eastern sides w'ere steep. The ground was rocky, and as executions took place here, it is probable that holes were already cut in the rocks to receive the crosses. The place of execution chosen was always either a thronged highway or some raised spot, so that the mob might the more easily mock at the crucified, and also that the sight of the criminals might inspire terror to the beholders. From holy Scripture we gather that—
(a) Golgotha was without the gate (Heb. xiii. 12).
(b) nigh to the city (St John xix. 20).
(c) there was in the place where he was crucified a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre , wherein no man yet had been laid (St John xix. 41).
(d) It was close to the highway from “ the country.”
A tradition that has found favour among mystic writers states that the cross of Jesus was reared over the sepulchre of Adam, and that it stood exactly over his skull. This is the origin of placing a skull and crossbones on crucifixes, just under the feet of the image of Christ. (See note on The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Part IV.)
23. wine mingled with myrrh. It was customary to give the condemned strong narcotic drinks to deaden the pain. This practice was based on the advice of the mother of King Lamuel. Give strong drink to them that are sad , and wine to them that are grieved in mind (Prov. xxxi. 6). The Jewish Sanhedrin therefore ordered a grain of incense to be mixed with a cup of wine and given to the condemned in order to stupefy him, and a society of noble Jewish ladies undertook to provide this drink. From the words of St Matthew, wine mingled with gall, a Lapide and other commentators have thought that the soldiers, in refinement of cruelty, threw gall ( i.e. a kind of wormwood) into the myrrhed wine. Others think that St Matthew refers rather to the bitter taste which the myrrh gave to the wine. The wine used would have been the sour wine or posca, the common drink of the Roman soldiers. It was almost as sour as our vinegar.
he took it not : that is, when he had tasted it, he would not drink (St Matt, xxvii. 34). Jesus tasted it to shew that He appreciated the kindness of those who provided the beverage ; He refused to drink because He willed to suffer without any alleviation, and to drain to the dregs the chalice presented to Him by His Father.
24. crucifying him. Jesus having arrived at the place of execution, was stripped of His garments and nailed to the cross, which was probably the shape of the crucifix with which all Catholics are familiar, and on which there would have been space for the title.
The condemned was either laid upon his cross and fastened to it, or the cross was first erected, after which the prisoner was bound or nailed to it. It is generally thought that our Saviour, when on the cross, faced the west, and thus had His back to Jerusalem, as a sign of the rejection of Israel, and the calling of the Gentiles : I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their destruction (Jer. xviii. 17).
they divided his garments. The Roman guard. Four soldiers were told off for each prisoner. They kept guard, lest a rescue should be attempted. It was the custom for them to appropriate the clothes of the crucified. The guards of the two thieves would also have divided the clothes of their respective prisoners.
casting lots upon them what every man, etc. From St John’s gospel we find that they cast lots for the outer coat, which was without seam, woven from the top throughout (xix. 23). The outer garment may have been divided into four parts, or the four parts were perhaps composed of the cloak or abba, under garment, girdle and sandals. The lots therefore may have been these four articles and the seamless coat. From St John it appears that lots were cast only for the coat, while St Mark uses garments in the plural, as though they settled the whole distribution by lottery.
25. it was the third hour. This, strictly speaking, would be nine o’clock, but the expression may refer to the whole period of time between nine and twelve o’clock. The ancient tradition states that Jesus was crucified about noon, and that He expired at three o’clock.
Additional Notes
According to an ancient tradition, Jesus was laden with His cross, close to the archway, where He had been presented to the people as a mock king by Pilate.
Jesus is nailed to the Cross.
On the Crucifixion. Crucifixion is a very ancient form of capital punishment. It was in use in Persia, Rome, and Egypt, and the Jews probably adopted it from the Romans. The methods employed varied, as did the shape of the cross. The unfortunate victims were generally infamous criminals, slaves, brigands, or prisoners of war. Thus, at the siege of Jerusalem, we read that five hundred Jews, and even more, were daily crucified by the Romans, on the same side of the city where Christ was crucified; Josephus relates how the Roman soldiers, “ out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, one after another, to the crosses, by way of jest, when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses and crosses wanting for their bodies” ( Wars , v. 11. 1).
Kinds of Crosses.
(1) The “ crux simplex.” This was a stake which was driven through the prisoner’s breast, or an upright beam to which he was attached, with his hands tied and raised above his head. The victim was either nailed or bound to the cross.
(2) The “ crux compacta” Of these there were four kinds —
(a) “ Crux immissa ,” which was of the form we now see in all pictures of the crucifixion. The upright beam was called the “ staticulum,” and the transverse portion the “ antenna.”
(b) “ Crux commissa” which was shaped like a T, and in which the “ staticulum ” did not project beyond the “ antenna.”
(c) “ Crux decussata .” This resembled an X in shape. We know it as “ St Andrew’s cross.”
(d) The “ patibulum” which was a forked or V-shaped gibbet (hence called “furca”), frequently mentioned in the classics.
In general the cross measured from 9 to 12 feet in length, so that the feet of the victim were only about 2 feet from the ground. As regards the wood of which our Lord’s cross was formed, opinions differ. Durandus believes the upright beam to have been of cedar or cypress, the cross beam of palm wood, and the “ titulus ” of olive. It is not known whether Jesus was nailed to the cross before, or after it was placed in the socket. It was the more usual custom to nail or bind the hands of the condemned to the cross beam, and then to raise the body and to bind the cross beam to the upright beam. Tradition, however, represents our Lord as having been nailed to the cross before it was placed erect. Some writers think that only three nails were employed in our Lord’s crucifixion, one for each of the hands and one for the two feet. It seems more probable that each foot was nailed separately, since we are told that St Helena found four nails when she discovered the cross. St Gregory of Tours was the first who referred to a ledge or foot-rest being placed on our Lord’s cross. This view is not supported by any writer before the sixth century, nor does early art confirm this view. It does seem probable, however, that a peg or wooden horn projected from the cross of our Lord, forming a kind of saddle on which He partly sat, and that thus the weight of the body was prevented from tearing the hands. This peg would have been hidden by the linen cloth around our Lord’s loins. Justin Martyr, Irenteus, and Tertullian all assert this to have been the case ; and as they lived in an age when crucifixion was still practised, they had 'ample means of knowing how it was performed.
Jesus’ suffering’s on the Cross. These were of two kinds: (1) bodily. (2) mental.
(1) The bodily sufferings of Christ. These were greater than those endured by any ordinary human being who expired on the cross, on account of the extreme sensibility of our Lord’s all-perfect human body. Among the awful bodily torments we may mention —
(a) The terrible strain of the position, which threw the greater part of the weight of His body on His pierced hands and feet.
(b) The agony of the wounds in the hands and feet.
(c) The swelling of His sacred limbs.
(d) The burning fever, and the awful thirst that accompanied it.
(e) The suffering caused by the crown of thorns that pierced His sacred head, and the lack of support for His head.
(f) The intense weakness and prostration as life slowly ebbed away.
(2) The mental sufferings of Christ. Human thought and language are powerless to fathom and to express the interior Passion of Christ. We can but guess what He endured, and our poor human conception will give but the faintest outline of the reality.
Among the interior sufferings, commentators have placed the following : —
(a) The intense anguish of the soul of Christ when on the cross. God hid, as it were, His face from Him, and treated Him as guilty of the crimes which He had taken upon Him as our substitute.
(b) The awful humiliation of being an outcast ; rejected by God and man, mocked and jeered by His own nation, even in His death agony.
(c) The ignominy of the death of the cross.
(d) The black ingratitude, hatred, and vengeance of those for whom He suffered, and whom He loved so tenderly.
(e) The betrayal by Judas, the denial by St Peter, the desertion of all His disciples.
(f) The sorrows which our Blessed Lady endured at the foot of the cross.
(g) The inutility of His sufferings, since souls would be lost in spite of His redemption ; notably the damnation of Judas, and perhaps of one of the thieves.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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