June 9

“Lord Jesus, This day expressed the depth of your love. All we want to do and be are people who understand your love, then live it and share it.  Amen.”

Mark 15 – Jesus is taken by the leading priests and elders to Pilate since they were not getting anywhere with their illicit trial.  Pilate had no interest in killing Jesus since Jesus had done nothing wrong.  As we all remember, a prisoner Barabbas is released, instead of Jesus, since that is whom the crowd was goaded to cry for the release of.  The part where Pilate stalls for time by sending Jesus to Herod is found in Luke, not Mark – in case anyone was wondering.

When the crowd demands, “crucify him!”, Pilate’s question is so good: “why, what evil has he done?”  And to that, they have no answer.  They only demand, “crucify him!” over and again like a frothing mob of crazed drunks.  Pilate hands Jesus over to be whipped, and then to the Romans who mock and beat him and put a crown of thorns on his head.

When he was led out to Golgotha, Simon from Cyrene was compelled to carry Jesus’ cross for him. Jesus is offered wine and myrrh but he refuses to drink it. The Romans crucified him and divided his garments by lot v.s. cutting it – each getting a piece. It was now 9 a.m.  Mt/Mk/Lk say almost identical reports about the sign above Jesus’ head “The King of the Jews”.  John’s report of the crucifixion tells of the sign being in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. The squabble about what it said and the chief priests’ fussing about it , the details about the dividing the garment since it was seamless and they opted not to cut it because it was seamless.

Matthew and Mark have the detail about people chiding and deriding Jesus on the cross, telling him to save himself. Luke has very little of this. John has none of it.  [The confession of one of the thief wanting Jesus to remember him is in Luke; none of the other gospels]

“My God…why have you forsaken me? is in Matthew and Mark only for they were writing to the Jewish world.  The distinction at his point of death is interesting.  Mt/Mk tell of Jesus giving a loud cry, Matthew says Jesus yielded up his spirit, Mark says Jesus breathed his last, Luke has, “father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” John concludes Jesus’ life with “it is finished.”

The centurion is impressed to say, “truly this man was the Son of God!”  All four gospels note the women who were there observing all of this.  The Burial of Jesus is given the fullest description in Mark.

16 – The women came to the tomb on the first day of the week, bringing spices to further anoint Jesus and find the stone rolled away, an angel there beside it who told them Jesus had risen and was not here.  The angel told them to go tell the disciples.  Amazing that the news that is most important in history is trusted to the women who are to pass it to the disciples.  What better and most sure way to spread news but the inform the ladies of this grandest of events. Ladies must talk about what they have experienced and are feeling about it.  A culture that had females to be secondary status was about to be altered some and ladies were to be very involved with the men in sharing the gospel everywhere they go.  That still holds true today.