The Cross, and the Torn Veil
21 They 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. 22 They brought him to the place called Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, “The place of a skull.” 23 They offered him wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he didn’t take it. 24 Crucifying him, they parted his garments among them, casting lots on them, what each should take. 25 It was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 The superscription of his accusation was written over him: “THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 27 With him they crucified two robbers, one on his right hand, and one on his left. 28 The Scripture was fulfilled which says, “He was counted with transgressors.” 29 Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, “He saved others. He can’t save himself. 32 Let 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. 33 When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 At 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?” 35 Some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 One 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.” 37 Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit. 38 The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. 39 When 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!” 40 There 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; 41 who, when he was in Galilee, followed him and served him; and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. 42 When evening had now come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph 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. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead long. 45 When he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. 46 He 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. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses, saw where he was laid.
Darkness at noon, the cry of the psalm, the veil torn from the top — and the first human confession of the Son of God comes from the execution squad's officer.
They 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.
A stranger from Africa carries the cross behind Jesus — the literal picture of the discipleship saying Mark 8:34 — and Mark names his sons because his readers knew them: a Rufus stands in Rome's own greetings Romans 16:13. The crucifixion itself takes one participle: crucifying him Mark 15:24 — Mark spends his ink instead on the fulfillments crowding the scene: garments parted by lot Psalms 22:18, the mockers wagging their heads Mark 15:29 Psalms 22:7, counted with transgressors between two robbers Mark 15:27–28 Isaiah 53:12 — at his right and left, the places James and John once requested Mark 10:37.
"He saved others. He can't save himself" Mark 15:31.
The priests' taunt is the Gospel's theology stated by its enemies: exactly true, in the one sense they did not mean. He cannot save himself — not for want of power Mark 14:36 but because saving others is what he is doing; the offer — come down from the cross, that we may see and believe Mark 15:32 — asks the one miracle that would cancel the ransom.
At 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?”
Three hours of darkness at midday Mark 15:33 Amos 8:9, and out of it the only word Mark records from the cross: Psalm 22's opening line, in Aramaic, translated so no reader can miss it. The cry is real dereliction — the cup drunk to its floor — and it is also a psalm's first line, a psalm that descends through pierced hands and parted garments to end in vindication and the nations turning Psalms 22:1 Psalms 22:16–18 Psalms 22:27. Both truths stand: forsakenness fully tasted, Scripture fully kept.
38 The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. 39 When 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!”
At the death, two answers arrive at once. The veil — torn from the top, God's side, the same verb as the heavens at the baptism Mark 1:10: the way into the holiest standing open Hebrews 10:19–20. And the book's title finally spoken by a human being — a Gentile centurion, watching how he died. The women watching from afar Mark 15:40–41 become the witnesses' unbroken chain: at the cross, at the burial Mark 15:47, at the tomb — while Joseph of Arimathea, a council member, boldly asks Pilate for the body Mark 15:43 and seals it in rock, with Pilate's own death-certification by the centurion entered on the record Mark 15:44–45.
settled What this mark means