Mark 15.1-39 As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” Then the chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate asked him again, “Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed.
Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked. Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom. Then he answered them, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. Pilate spoke to them again, “Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” They shouted back, “Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.
Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.
It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.
When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah.” And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”
Reflection Remembering the musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, I can almost hear Judas singing,
“Listen, Jesus, do you care for your race?
Don't you see we must keep in our place?
We are occupied; have you forgotten how put down we are?
I am frightened by the crowd.
For we are getting much too loud.
And they'll crush us if we go too far.
If they go too far....
Listen, Jesus, to the warning I give.
Please remember that I want us to live.
But it's sad to see our chances weakening with every hour.
All your followers are blind.
Too much heaven on their minds.”
When Jesus begins his ministry the Jews have long been waiting for a superstar to rescue them from their Roman oppressors. Even though the homeless Jesus of Nazareth seems to have no shortage of superpowers to heal, cast out demons and teach with authority, he fails when it comes to miraculously freeing the masses from their afflictions. So it is not surprising that the same crowd that waves palms and sings “Hosannas” as Jesus enters Jerusalem a mere week later exchanges their praises for the piercing cries, “Crucify him. Crucify him.”
It is the morning after his donkey ride into Jerusalem when Jesus enters the temple and immediately “drive(s) out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturn(s) the tables of the moneychangers…” And then Jesus dares to declare, “Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
Can you hear the people protest? “Jesus, what are you doing? You are making things worse for us? The Temple is the centre of our worship, commerce and national identity. Not only does it house our religious scripture but also the national literature. It is the meeting place of the highest court of Jewish law, the Sanhedrin. Jesus, you are upsetting the chief priests and scribes, making them afraid. Nothing good can come of this.”
Undeterred, the next day Jesus and his disciples return to the temple. Once again Jesus foils both religious and political officials when they plot to entrap him and then in a fate filled turn of tongue he hammers the proverbial nail into his cross when as he leaves the temple he says, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” (Mk 13.2)
And we hear CAIAPHAS singing.
“Tell the rabble to be quiet, we anticipate a riot.
This common crowd, is much too loud.
Tell the mob who sing your song that they are fools and they are wrong.
They are a curse. They should disperse.”
Jesus is silent.
Realizing it is out of jealousy that the chief priests have handed Jesus over, Pilate asks the crowd, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” Meanwhile, hoping to secure their place of privilege with the Romans the chief priests stir up the crowd. Should such a thing happen today I suspect the instigators would use social media to incite the crowd. But I digress.
Pilate spoke to them again, “Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” They shouted back, “Crucify him!” So “Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd… handed Jesus over to be crucified.”
Here it is tempting to reference the sociology of crowd behavior; how a combination of social conditions that cause people to be frustrated and angry (being occupied and oppressed by the ruling class), a distinctive precipitating event (someone or something is identified to blame, the superstar has failed to save them) and a lack of social control (no fear of punishment or reprisal for acting out, the officials are actually inciting the crowd), are the ground from which protest and violent collective behavior arise. *
Returning to our story we see Jesus nailed to a cross. All who pass by him, including the chief priests and scribes, mock him and demand that if indeed he “would destroy the temple and build it in three day,” he should use his superpowers to save himself. And when Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” we are not surprised that other bystanders call for another superstar, Elijah, to intervene.
What is surprising is this. A Roman centurion, no doubt the soldier responsible for Jesus’ execution, a man with neither connection nor affection for the Temple or the Jewish God, the centurion is the only person in the crowd who recognizes God in the presence of the crucified Jesus. The centurion is the first person to see, know and believe the paradox of the cross which he declares saying, “Truly this man was God’s son.”
I have no idea what awakened the centurion. I wonder if it was the dignity with which Jesus faced his accusers. Perhaps Jesus’ courage and composure while enduring unspeakable humiliation broke something open inside him. However we explain this, in some way the soldier was profoundly present. With no personal stake in the outcome he was able to see beyond the chaos of the circumstance to the mysterious presence of God with the suffering Jesus.
Another surprising thing about this story is the unlikely superstar; a homeless Jewish man who wanders the Judean countryside loving on people, preaching peace and praying, a superstar murdered by political and religious officials who are afraid of his superpower love, a superstar who consents to his life and his death without ever turning away from God.
Therein hides the secret of the superstar’s power. He finds his superpower in God alone. Which makes me wonder if as Jesus faced Herod, Pilate and all those who mocked, scorned and betrayed him, if he might have been silently singing the words of David’s Psalm?
“”For God alone my soul waits in silence…
God alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress;
I shall never be shaken.” (Ps 62.1-2)
I wonder if in some mysterious way the centurion heard Jesus’ silent song. Do you?
*Smelser, N. J. (1963). Theory of collective behavior. New York, NY: Free Press.
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