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Mark 15

Mark follows Jesus through condemnation, mockery, and death, where a Roman centurion recognizes him as the Son of God.

The council brings Jesus bound before Pilate, where the chief priests accuse him and the crowd demands his crucifixion. Pilate releases Barabbas and hands Jesus over to the soldiers. They mock him as king, then crucify him at Golgotha. Darkness covers the land before Jesus cries out and dies. The temple veil tears, and a centurion calls him the Son of God. Joseph of Arimathaea buries his body while two women watch where he is laid.

grieffeeling distant from God
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1Immediately in the morning the chief priests, with the elders, scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, bound Jesus, carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate.
2Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered, “So you say.”
3The chief priests accused him of many things.
4Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer? See how many things they testify against you!”
5But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate marveled.
6Now at the feast he used to release to them one prisoner, whomever they asked of him.
7There was one called Barabbas, bound with his fellow insurgents, men who in the insurrection had committed murder.
9Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
10For he perceived that for envy the chief priests had delivered him up.
11But the chief priests stirred up the multitude, that he should release Barabbas to them instead.
12Pilate again asked them, “What then should I do to him whom you call the King of the Jews?”
14Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they cried out exceedingly, “Crucify him!”
15Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them, and handed over Jesus, when he had flogged him, to be crucified.
16The soldiers led him away within the court, which is the Praetorium; and they called together the whole cohort.
17They clothed him with purple; and weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on him.
18They began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
19They struck his head with a reed and spat on him, and bowing their knees, did homage to him.
20When they had mocked him, they took the purple cloak off him, and put his own garments on him. They led him out to crucify him.
21They compelled one passing by, coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them that he might bear his cross.
22They brought him to the place called Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, “The place of a skull.”
23They offered him wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he didn’t take it.
24Crucifying him, they parted his garments among them, casting lots on them, what each should take.
25It was the third hour when they crucified him.
26The superscription of his accusation was written over him: “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
27With him they crucified two robbers, one on his right hand, and one on his left.
29Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days,
31Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, “He saved others. He can’t save himself.
32Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him.” Those who were crucified with him also insulted him.
33When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
34At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
35Some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”
36One ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”
37Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit.
38The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.
39When the centurion, who stood by opposite him, saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
40There were also women watching from afar, among whom were both Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;
41who, when he was in Galilee, followed him and served him; and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
42When evening had now come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,
43Joseph of Arimathaea, a prominent council member who also himself was looking for God’s Kingdom, came. He boldly went in to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body.
45When he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.
46He bought a linen cloth, and taking him down, wound him in the linen cloth and laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of a rock. He rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.
47Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses, saw where he was laid.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Mark 15:34Jesus’ cry brings the language of Psalm 22 into the darkness, voicing his anguish before his death.
Mark 15:29The passersby turn the claim about destroying and rebuilding the temple into an insult against the crucified Jesus.
Mark 15:33Three hours of darkness mark the crucifixion before Jesus cries out to God and breathes his last.
Where this chapter reaches

Matthew, Luke, and John recount the shared events of Jesus’ trial before Pilate, crucifixion, death, and burial, with differences in detail. Psalm 22 supplies Jesus’ cry and parallels the mockery and divided garments, while Isaiah 53 supplies the wording about being counted with transgressors.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about the repeated title King of the Jews as the chapter unfolds?

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How does Jesus’ cry to God shape what you would write about suffering and faith?

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Questions people ask about Mark 15

Why did Jesus say God had forsaken him in Mark 15:34?

Jesus quotes Psalm 22:1: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The words express anguish while still addressing God as his God. Mark places this cry after three hours of darkness, just before Jesus dies. He offers no further explanation of the forsakenness Jesus voices.

What does the darkness mean in Mark 15:33?

Mark says darkness covered the whole land from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, about noon to three in the afternoon. It marks Jesus’ final hours on the cross. The text gives no physical cause or explicit explanation, though the darkness fits the gravity of his suffering and death.

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Mark · 16 chapters

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).