The Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Jesus

 


1. Gethsemane (14: 32-52)

Important points

Gethsemane was an olive grove, a garden on the Mount of Olives, which overlooks Jerusalem.

Jesus was terrified with the thought of death but he was still prepared to do it.

Jesus calls God ‘Abba’ in prayer which means Father or Dad – the Jews did not use it as a name for God because it was too informal. Early Christians used it in their worship.

The disciples abandon Jesus - they do not see him again until he rises from the dead.

The young man who runs away may have been an eyewitness who Mark knew, or even Mark himself.

Christians remember the Last Supper and these events on Maundy Thursday. It is remembered in the saying of the Rosary as ‘the Agony in the Garden’.

2. The Trial before the Sanhedrin (14:53-65)

Important points

Mark presents the Sanhedrin convening an unfair trial, because they are so determined to have Jesus put to death.

Witnesses are brought against Jesus, but they are lying, and their evidence does not agree.

The trial is held at night

Jesus is not able to bring any witnesses in his defence.

The High Priest asks Jesus a direct question to incriminate himself. This also was probably against the rules.

It is unlikely that the claim to be Messiah is, according to Jewish law, blasphemy.

Messianic Secret Ends: When Jesus is asked if he is the Messiah he openly admits that he is. This is the only time in Mark’s Gospel when Jesus admits he is the Christ and does not try and make witnesses silent.

Blasphemy: The tearing of the robes is a common Jewish reaction to the hearing of blasphemy. (Blasphemy is words or an act which insults God.) The penalty for blasphemy under the Jewish law is stoning. This sentence which was carried out on Stephen (Acts 7:58). The other Gospels explain that the Romans did not allow the Jews to carry out executions, so the Council had to take Jesus to Pilate for the sentence..

 

3. Peter’s Denial (14:66-72)

Important points

The crowd seem to recognise Peter because of his accent.

His denies Jesus three times – just as Jesus had predicted. (Notice – he denies that he knows Jesus, but he does not betray him).

Peter has always been the chief apostle, and later he is to be leader of the Church and the first Pope.

4. The Trial before Pilate (15: 1-20)

Important points

Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor ‘procurator’ or ‘prefect’) of Judea.

Jesus is condemned as the Messiah. This is translated as ‘king of the Jews’ for Pilate’s benefit: the crime is treason against Rome, the Jewish authorities cannot have him executed for a religious charge.

The tradition of a Passover amnesty - the release of a prisoner. Mark’s aim in this is to show that even though Pilate was a coward it was the Jewish authorities who were to blame. It might also have been wise to make out that Pilate was not responsible as Christianity was spreading throughout the Roman Empire and Christians did not want to cause friction.

Jesus’ suffering is emphasised - he is a king even though the soldiers ridicule him.

5. The Crucifixion (15: 21-41)

Important points:

Simon helps Jesus because he is now too weak to carry the cross. Simon’s sons are mentioned which implies that they were known to Mark’s church. Simon could therefore be an eyewitness who gave Mark information.

Golgotha is Aramaic for ‘place of the skull’. We are now not certain of the site.

Jesus refuses a painkiller - Wine mixed with myrrh

The execution squad is entitled to the condemned man’s clothes. They throw dice for them.

The notice above the cross is the charge. It may have been to frighten off would be Messiahs or Pilate may have intended to insult the Jewish authorities. It highlights that Jesus was executed as the Messiah.

Even at his death Jesus is with outcasts - the two bandits.

The jeering of passers by misses the point - if he is to be the Messiah he must stay and die on the cross - not come down from it.

The darkness may have been a thunderstorm or a dust storm. Mark is trying to show that God’s hand is at work. Amos, the Old Testament prophet predicted that God would make the sun ‘go down at noon.’

‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani’ means: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ This may highlight Jesus’ intense suffering – he even feels he has been abandoned by God. People mishear him say Elijah.

When Jesus died the temple curtain tore in two. The curtain separated the Holy of Holies, the most sacred part of the temple, from the rest of the building. This detail may mean one of three important things:

1. The Temple will be destroyed (as it was in AD70 by the Romans)

2. The barrier of sin which separates God from people has been destroyed by Jesus’ death

3. The temple is no longer the place to find God. God is now to be found in Jesus.

6. Jesus’ burial (15: 42-47)

Important Points

Jewish burial customs were strict, the Romans respected this, the body had to be buried on the day the person died. It was especially urgent and the next day was the Sabbath and burying someone counted as work.

 

7. The Resurrection  (16: 1-8)

Important Points

The original text of St Mark ended at verse 8.

Thisrecords the resurrection but not any appearances of the risen Jesus to the disciples.

The women who the young man spoke to were terrified. This is the type of fear that the disciples felt when Jesus calmed the storm or when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. It was the way people sometimes reacted when God was at work.

Christians remember Jesus’ resurrection on Easter day, and on every Sunday. The resurrection has always been at the heart of Christianity:

1. It showed that God approved of Jesus.

2. It showed that Jesus was who he said he was.

3. It was God’s new saving act. The crucifixion makes no sense without the resurrection. Jesus took away the sins of the world on the cross, and offers people a new life with his resurrection.

4. It shows that death is not the end, God raised Jesus to life and he will raise people to life as well.

8. Did it happen?

The first Christians thought it did - many died for that belief. It would be had to understand why they were willing to die if they had not really believed it.

St Paul mentions that there were people still alive who were eye witnesses to his resurrection.

The disciples genuinely believed they had seen the risen Jesus.

The disciples would not have been willing to die if they had made it up or they had stolen the body.

It could not have been an hallucination as so many claimed to see Jesus

Some say Jesus might have survived the crucifixion but this is impossible as the Romans were very thorough when executing people.

If Jesus did survive the crucifixion, what happened next?

If he did die, why could none of the opponents of Christianity produce the body or prove that the tomb was not empty?

 

9. The longer ending of Mark (16: 9-20)

Important Points

This is not part of the original text. It was added much later by a different author.

It looks as if it may have been compiled from others gospels or similar texts.

It is important to know the resurrection appearances which are in this passage, and the words of Jesus at the end.

 

 

 

 

 

REVISION ACTIVITIES

 

A       Go through each passage in your Bible and highlight or underline in red the words which Jesus says.

 

B       Use another colour to go through the same passages to highlight the words said by other speakers.

 

C       The Resurrection – Fact of Fiction

Do a table of arguments for and against the truth of the resurrection.