Mark 15:22-28 The Crucifixion
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: April 30 & May 1, 2018, Mark 15:22-28
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And when they had crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots on them, as, to what each should take. And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. And the inscription of His accusation was written over Him, THE KING OF THE JEWS. And with Him they crucified two thieves, the one off the right, and one off the left. And the Scripture was fulfilled which said, “And he was numbered with the lawless.”
(Understanding the Text) Where is Golgotha and why was it called the place of a skull? We don’t know for sure where it was, but the traditional location is on the map below. We know it was outside of the city and near a place where people passed by. The origin of the name is not known definitively, but many suggest that it was the shape of the hill with two caves that looked like eyes which made it look like a skull. However, that could be a myth.
Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrrh. F. F. Bruce’s commentary says “Here the victims were offered drugged wine, in order to dull their sensibilities, by the women of Jerusalem, who acted thus routinely out of regard for the words of Prov. 31:6.” We know that Jesus had said that He was thirsty. “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (Joh 19:28-30). The scripture being fulfilled is Psalm 22:15. This dehydration was a symptom of His blood loss and also simply being without drinking for a while. In Mark it says that He did not drink the wine offered to Him, but in John it says that He took it from a sponge. Thus, there were two incidents with wine. The first was the drugged wine at the beginning of the crucifixion, and the second was the sour wine at the end.
Evidently the upright posts were permanently placed which makes sense when I consider all the work involved in placing something upright in the ground from the digging of the dirt to the tamping down. I read that the prisoners carried only their own crossbeam, not the full cross and that when they got to the place of execution, their hands were nailed to the crossbeam. Then, the crossbeam was lifted into place on the upright beam. How far from the ground were the prisoners when they hung on the cross? Hastings Dictionary says “Arrived at the place of execution, which both with the Romans and the Jews was outside of the city (see art. Golgotha), the condemned was stripped of his clothing by the soldiers detailed to carry out the sentence, who immediately appropriated it as their lawful booty (Mat_27:35||). He was then laid on the ground, the crossbeam was thrust beneath his shoulders, and his hands were fastened to the extremities, sometimes with cords, but more usually, as in the case of Jesus (Joh_20:25, Luk_24:39 f.; cf. Col_2:14), with nails. The beam was next raised into position and securely fixed to the upright already planted in the ground. On the upright was a projecting peg (sedile) astride of which the victim was made to sit, thereby relieving the strain on the pierced hands, which might otherwise have been torn away from the nails. Finally the feet were fastened to the lower part of the upright, either with nails (Luk_24:39 f.) or with cords. The cross was not a lofty erection—much lower than it is usually represented in Christian art (cf. Mat_27:48 ||). Hanging thus quite near the ground, Jesus, in the midst of His last agonies, was all the more exposed to the jeers and insults of the bystanders and passers-by.”
The prisoners’ clothes were taken off before they were put on the cross. The soldiers divided the clothes up among themselves. Evidently, they threw “dice” or gambled to see who would get what. I sort of think of it as playing rock paper scissors to see who got what. John gives more detail about this act since he was there to see it. “When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier, and took his cloak as well. The cloak was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down. So they told each other, “Let’s not tear it. Instead, let’s throw dice to see who gets it.” This was to fulfill the Scripture that says, “They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they threw dice.” So that is what the soldiers did” (Joh 19:23-24).
The third hour is nine o’clock in the morning. Thus, from the official trial before the Jewish council to the crucifixion, it took about three hours. If Jesus was taken about 3-4:00 in the morning, His ordeal had taken about 12 hours to this point. He would die at 3:00 p.m. which was six hours after being nailed to the cross.
When the prisoners were taken to be crucified, a sign with the charge against them was taken along also. Either they carried it hung around their neck or a herald would carry it before them according to Hastings dictionary. In the case of a cross where the upright extended above the crossbeam, the sign was hung above the prisoner’s head. This is one reason that we know which of the different kinds of crosses Jesus died upon. The sign for Jesus said The King of the Jews. Pilate would have been the one to tell the soldiers what to put on the sign. They must have painted it on. I wonder what kind of paint and brush they used. Were the letters fancy or sloppy? The priests objected to the sign. “Pilate wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus from Nazareth, the King of the Jews. “Many Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. It was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. Then the Jewish high priests told Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this fellow said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’ ” Pilate replied, “What I have written I have written.” (Joh 19:19-22). I like one of the cross references that I found. “However, the LORD your God didn’t listen to Balaam. The LORD your God turned Balaam’s curse into a blessing, because the LORD your God loves you” (Deu 23:5). The sign was supposed to be an accusation and a reason for condemnation, yet in reality it was a blessing rather than a curse. Just as the cross was changed from an emblem of shame and dread to a symbol of hope and love.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) There were three men crucified that day. It may have been that there were only three uprights, so whenever they had a crucifixion, they did it in groups of three. Judging by Jesus’ experience, condemned men did not have to wait a long time before their sentence was carried out, so the two thieves may not have been in jail for long. He was executed with the guilty. One of the thieves confessed his guilt. “Now one of the criminals hanging there kept insulting him, “You are the Messiah, aren’t you? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him, “Aren’t you afraid of God, since you are suffering the same penalty? We have been condemned justly, because we are getting what we deserve for what we have done, but this man has done nothing wrong.” (Luk 23:39-41). Thus, this man confessed that he and the other man had been condemned justly and were just getting what they deserved for the bad that they had done. Just as Jesus was innocent but counted as one of the guilty in the worldly courts, the same was true in the heavenly courts. Jesus was innocent and yet took our sins as if He were guilty. He became one with us and suffered our punishment.
(Understanding the Text ) Here is one of those places where the KJV has an extra verse not found in the oldest manuscripts, “And the Scripture was fulfilled which said, “And he was numbered with the lawless.” The modern translations leave this out. It does sound more like commentary than Mark’s writing.
(Application) My application for myself is that sometimes tradition or people’s limited thinking, or culture or my own limited thinking has placed Jesus high above and out of reach, but just as the cross was much lower than traditionally shown and closer to people, just as people could have easily reached up and touched Jesus if the soldiers had allowed them to, Jesus is within reach for me also. Jesus is not high above me. Instead, He is right inside of me dwelling in me through the Holy Spirit. I do not have to make an effort to reach Jesus. He is already here with me.
(Prayer) There are no words that can express the gratitude that we humans should have for Your choice to die for us. The cross is beyond my depth of understanding. Oh, I can understand the physical aspect and even someone choosing to die for a person that they love, but You chose much more than the cross. You chose to become the very thing that You abhorred with every fiber of Your being in order to redeem us. That is what I cannot comprehend with my selfish heart. I cannot understand it, but I praise and thank You for it.