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Mark 6:34 "…and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd… "

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The Crucifixion

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Text Used to Create the Splice “The Crucifixion”

Matthew 27:31-56 (Greek Text Analysis starting with Matthew 27:31)

Mark 15:20-41 (Greek Text Analysis starting with Mark 15:20)

Luke 23:25-49 (Greek Text Analysis starting with Luke 23:25)

John 19:16-30 (Greek Text Analysis starting with John 19:16)

 

Psalm 22:14
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within me. 

 

THE SPLICE

And Pilate released Barabbas who had been thrown into prison for 1insurrection and murder, but Pilate delivered Jesus to the Jews’ will, that is, to have Him 2crucified. Pilate gave Jesus to the soldiers and after they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet/purple robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him. He went out, bearing His own cross, and sometime during the walk to the site of the crucifixion,  the soldiers seized and pressed into service, a passer-by coming into Jerusalem from the country, 3Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus),4to bear His cross and the soldiers put the cross on Simon so he could carry it behind Jesus. And following Jesus was a large crowd of the people, and 5women who were mourning and lamenting Him. But Jesus, turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 6‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin 7TO SAY TO THE MOUNTAINS, ‘FALL ON US,’ AND TO THE HILLS, ‘COVER US.’ For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Two others, also, who were criminals/robbers, were being led away to be put to death with Him. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, the soldiers tried to give Him wine to drink mixed with 8gall/myrrh; and after tasting it 9He was unwilling to drink; He would not take it. And there 10they crucified Him and the criminals/robbers, one robber on the right side of Jesus and the other robber on His left side. And by being crucified with the robbers, the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 11“And He was numbered with transgressors.”. But during this time, Jesus was saying a prayer, concerning the  soldiers carrying out this gruesome, terrible duty of crucifying Him, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross, above His head. Pilate’s inscription was the charge against Him and it said:

“THIS IS JESUS THE NAZARENE THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; but that He said , ‘I am King of the Jews.’ “ Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” It was the 12third hour (9am) when they crucified Him. After the soldiers had nailed Jesus to the cross, then put Pilate’s inscription above Jesus’s head, and lifted the cross up off the ground in order to stand it upright, the soldiers took Jesus’s outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: 13“THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS.” Therefore the soldiers did these things. After dividing up Jesus’s clothes, they sat down, and they began to keep watch/guard over Him there. And the people stood by looking on. Standing by the cross of Jesus were 14His mother, Mary, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, John the disciple, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother, and 15John, the disciple whom He loved, standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to John, “Behold, your mother!” From  that hour John took Mary into his own household. And those passing by were hurling abuse at Jesus, wagging/shaking their heads, mocking Him, and saying, “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If  You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” In the same way the 16Jewish rulers, the chief priests, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. 17HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God. Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, 18so that  we may see and believe!” They also said,  “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.”  The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” 19The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words. But at some point, one of the robbers had a change of heart because when the other robber was hurling abuse at Jesus, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”. The other robber answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” It was now about the sixth hour (12 noon), and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour (3pm), because the sun was obscured; About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, 20“MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, “This man is calling for Elijah.” Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” And the rest of the onlookers said, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him.” Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, 21he filled it with sour wine from a jar of sour wine that was standing there. They put the sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop/reed and brought it up to His mouth and gave Him a drink, and said “Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down.” After this when Jesus had received the sour wine, Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, uttered a loud cry and He said, 22“FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT. 23It is finished!” And He bowed His head and 24gave up/yielded His spirit; 25He breathed His last.  And behold, the 26veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. 27The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now the centurion, who was standing right in front of Jesus, saw the way He breathed His last, saw what had happened with the earthquake and the other things that were happening, began praising God, as well as becoming frightened, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent. Truly this man was the Son of God.”  And those who were keeping guard with the centurion also became frightened and 28also said that Jesus was the Son of God.  And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, 29began to return, beating their breasts. All of His acquaintances and many women who came up with Him to Jerusalem were there looking on from a distance, seeing these things. Also among them was Mary Magdalene (who had been at the foot of the cross earlier), and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joseph/Joses,  the mother of the 30sons of Zebedee, and Salome. When Jesus was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him.

Notes

  1. insurrection and murder: It is important to understand that during Jesus’s time, the Romans ruled much of the world, including Israel. The Jewish people were filled with resentment over this invasion of Roman power, and therefore there were many insurrections and consequently, murders, committed by the Jewish people during this time. Jesus never became involved with these acts of violence and never sanctioned them. There is no excuse, even if you think a person is wrongly installed in government or that an election is stolen, for involving oneself in an attempt to “take over” or even “take back”. The Bible pointedly tells us to pay our taxes, pray for our government officials, obey the laws of the land and that any authority or ruler on earth was put into power by God. See Matthew 17:24-27, Mark 12:14-17, Romans 13:1-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-3, Titus 3:1-2, 1 Peter 2:13-15. ↩︎
  2. crucified: Why did God allow Jesus to be crucified? Jesus was ultimately crucified because God the Father deemed it right as the substitute payment for the sins of the elect He calls to be His own. But what about the human justification for Jesus’s crucifixion? The human reason and human method of death was political. The chief priests told Pilate that Jesus called Himself a King and Rome didn’t like self-styled kings (especially with real followers) or anyone else who made a move towards overthrowing the government. Therefore, even though Pilate knew Jesus to be innocent of the insurrection charges (which makes Pilate’s role even more of a disgrace), Jesus was “officially” murdered for insurrection or conspiracy to insurrect, in modern terms. ↩︎
  3. Simon of Cyrene: How did this affect Simon afterwards? It is unknown whether or not he was then or later became a true disciple of Jesus. Simon is mentioned in Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26. Mark tells us that Simon was the father of Rufus and Alexander. It is possible that the Rufus mentioned in Romans 16:13 is the same person as Simon’s son, but it is impossible to know for sure. There are mentions of Alexander, as well, in Acts 4:6, Acts 19:33, 1 Timothy 1:20, 2 Timothy 4:14. It is unknown if any of the Alexanders mentioned in these verses are Simon’s son. It is highly improbable that the Alexander mentioned in Acts 4:6 and 19:33 is Simon’s son since the Alexander mentioned in the Acts verses is Jewish. We don’t even know if it is one person or two separate Alexanders for Acts 4:6 and 19:33. The same goes for 1 Timothy 1:20 and 2 Timothy 4:14. ↩︎
  4. to bear His cross: Jesus had been awake all night, probably more than 24 hours and He had been beaten and scourged. Scourging alone was a death sentence for many people and its purpose was to humiliate and weaken an individual before crucifixion. By showing the reader that Jesus allowed someone else to carry the cross the rest of the way to Golgotha, we receive an underscore of the true suffering He went through. This also gives us a look into His humanity, just like the time He fell asleep in the boat in Matthew 8:24 and when He was hungry in Mark 11:12. In His humanity, Jesus was already probably close to death. But remember, at any time Jesus could have called on God for assistance through the ordeal (Matthew 26:53), but He chose to fulfill the Scriptures, being in obedience to His Father (Matthew 26:39, 54, 56). ↩︎
  5. women who were mourning: it is unknown whether these were hired professional mourners (a common practice in ancient Israel), or followers of Jesus, or women who lamented anyone subjected to crucifixion, or a mix of all three. We don’t know who they are exactly. We only know from Luke 23:28-31 that Jesus spoke to them directly, with a warning. ↩︎
  6. Blessed are the barren: Jesus is referring to the tribulation at the very end of the era, where He says that the blessed women would be the ones not nursing or pregnant (Matthew 24:19, Mark 13:17, Luke 21:23). To see Jesus’s warnings concerning the end times, see Matthew 24:1-31, Mark 13:2-37, Luke 17:20-37, 21:6-36. ↩︎
  7. TO SAY TO THE MOUNTAINS: Jesus is quoting from Hosea 10:8. ↩︎
  8. gall/myrrh: Matthew 27:34 says “gall” and uses the Greek word cholé which means “gall, bitter herbs”. Mark 15:23 says “myrrh” and  uses the Greek word smurnizó which means “mixed with myrrh” or “to be like myrrh” “to embitter (as a narcotic)”. This concoction of myrrh/gall was given to help deaden pain as well as the senses. It was made of wine (unknown what kind of wine) and then the painkiller. No drink or drug available back then (or even now, I would think) would deaden that kind of pain or dull the senses enough for the horrors of crucifixion, but it was probably all that could be done, other than not using such a cruel form of capital punishment. Also, since it couldn’t make much difference in the torture being inflicted, it may have been given in mockery, for extending the torment, and for the amusement of the soldiers, to see a desperate soul drinking it in hope. ↩︎
  9. He was unwilling to drink: Jesus refused the help of this laced wine, because drunkenness/being out of one’s senses (such as with narcotics or alcohol) is not Godly, but sound mind and soberness of mind is (see Eph 5:18, 1 Peter 4:7). Jesus still had work to do on the cross, such as giving His mother over to John and speaking to the repentant criminal, and being dull of senses was not part of the picture. Also, it would only be fitting that Jesus would face His death in all consciousness and sagacity. ↩︎
  10. they crucified Him: Crucifixion was the worst way to die in Roman times and a most disgraceful curse to the Jews (see Deuteronomy 21:22-23; 1 Corinthians 1:23). There are many websites dedicated to describing the horrors of dying by crucifixion (do an internet search on “medical details of crucifixion”). What is important to know is that Jesus became the disgraceful curse in our place, by His death on the cross, in order to reconcile us with God (Galatians 3:13). ↩︎
  11. And He was numbered with transgressors:  This is a reference to Isaiah 53:12. Isaiah 53 contains a lot of information about the Messiah. ↩︎
  12. third hour (9am): Mark 15: 25 tells us that Jesus was crucified at the third hour (9am). Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44 says that from 12pm to 3pm there was darkness over the land and Luke 23:45 says it was because the sun was obscured. Jesus died around 3pm (Matthew 27:46-50, Mark 15:34-37; Luke 23:44-46). Darkness is symbolic of judgment from God. For a sampling of this symbolism see Isaiah 5:30; Job 5:14; Nahum 1:8; Matthew 22:13; 2 Peter 2:17 and Revelation 16:10. Also, there seems to be a discrepancy in the time keeping, as John 19:14 says it was the sixth hour while Jesus was still with Pilate. John is possibly using Roman time-keeping or keeping track of how many hours passed by since Jesus’s arrest. Matthew, Mark and Luke are using Jewish time-keeping. See What is the sixth hour in John 19:14? – The Bible Made Plain (www.thebiblemadeplain.com) for a great explanation. ↩︎
  13. “THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS: This is from Psalm 22:18. ↩︎
  14. His mother: What must have been going through Mary’s mind this entire time, while her Son was being crucified? When Jesus was a baby, Simeon told Mary that “a sword will pierce even your own soul…” and these words must have come to her mind watching Jesus suffer. See Luke 2:25-35 to learn about Simeon and his message to Mary. ↩︎
  15. the disciple whom He loved: This is John, the writer of the Gospel book. After all the disciples scattered to their homes, John must have come back. Some think that he came back with Peter (John 18:15-16). But the truth is we don’t know which disciple came back with Peter. We know that the “disciple that Jesus loved” is John because of John 21:20-24, and this connects it with any other verse that states “disciple that Jesus loved”. But John 18:15-16 does not use that phrasing. It is possible it was John; it is possible it was another disciple. And, although John is mentioned at the cross (did he walk beside Jesus to Golgotha?), we do not know if he was the only disciple there. ↩︎
  16. Jewish rulers: These people had been up all night and early morning obtaining false testimonies (Matthew 26:59-62; Mark 15:55-59; Luke 22:66-71) and convincing Pilate to crucify Jesus (Matthew 27:1-2, 12; Mark 15:1-3, 11; Luke 23:1-5, 13-24; John 18:28-31, 38-40, 19:6-7, 12, 15, 21). Their hate and jealousy of Jesus never runs its course. It is still fueling them, through that day, to ridicule and mock Him. ↩︎
  17. HE TRUSTS IN GOD: This is in reference to Psalm 22:8. ↩︎
  18. so that we may see and believe: Jesus performed many miracles and showed many signs that the Jews, scribes and Pharisees were witness to. They wouldn’t have believed Him to be the Messiah, even if He chose to come down off the cross. It’s the same way with people today. We are all given enough in our lives in order to believe Him (Romans 1:18-20).  No miracle or even a visitation from the dead will change any person’s mind. I think that a person who doesn’t want to believe God would attribute such a miracle to mental hallucinations, the bad pizza they ate last night, anything but a miracle from God. For a sampling of miracles witnessed by the Jews and religious elders, see Matthew 8:1-3; 9:2-8; 12:10-15; Luke 13:10-17; 14:1-6; John 6:1-14; John 9:1-34, 11:1-46. ↩︎
  19. The robbers who had been crucified: These robbers walked with Jesus, presumably carrying their cross beams, too (Luke 23:32-33). Were they in cahoots with Barabbas, who was also a robber, murderer, and insurrectionist (Luke 23:19, 25; John 18:40)? Very possible, but the Bible doesn’t specify. ↩︎
  20. MY GOD, MY GOD: Jesus references Psalm 22:1. ↩︎
  21. he filled it with sour wine: This was cheap wine, even more akin to vinegar, kept for the soldiers to drink. They probably offered wine to any and all crucified victims for mockery and to extend the horrors of crucifixion. For anyone who would be a part of hammering someone to a cross, it seems that this was probably a form of amusement for them, to see people struggling from such a horrific death. They didn’t care if Jesus or anyone else was actually thirsty. You could say that they didn’t have a choice (everyone has a choice), as they were lowly soldiers with a centurion over them (Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:39; Luke 23:47) but they seem to be gleeful as they mocked Jesus (Matthew 27:27-30; Mark 15:16-20; Luke 23:36) and nonchalant as they gambled for Jesus’s clothing (Matthew 27: 35; Mark 15:34, Luke 23:34; John 19:23-25). And the soldier who pierced Jesus’s side didn’t have to stab Him—they could see He was already dead (John 19:33-34). ↩︎
  22. FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS: Jesus references Psalm 31:5 ↩︎
  23. It is finished: The Greek word used for this last and important sentence from our Lord is tetelestai and it means “to bring to an end, complete, fulfill, I pay”. It was also used in merchant accounts, to stamp across bills, meaning “paid in full”. ↩︎
  24. gave up/yielded His spirit: Jesus willingly went to the cross to die, in obedience to the will of God. This was the work He was born into the world to fulfill. See John 10:18; 18:37. ↩︎
  25. He breathed His last: He breathed His last with quite a bit of strength left, as He was using a loud voice (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34; Luke 23:46). After a scourging that left His entire backside flesh-less, the loss of blood, being nailed to the cross and hanging for 6 hours in an awkward position, pushing Himself up for each breath, Jesus still had the strength for a loud voice. Most victims of crucifixion would have no strength to talk at the end of all of this trauma. Jesus could talk and could do so loudly. ↩︎
  26. veil of the temple was torn in two: The importance of this imagery cannot be stressed enough. The veil was the partition between the Holy Place and Holy of Holies (Exodus 26:33). The Holy of Holies was where God was present, above the mercy seat which was on the top of the Ark of the Covenant. Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies and only once a year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29-34). The veil was torn from top to bottom, as God (top) is granting freedom to people (bottom) to come into His presence through Christ. To read about the veil and mercy seat, see Exodus 26:31-34. To read about the purposes and ceremony of atonement, see Leviticus 16 and 17. The ceremony itself was quite intricate. ↩︎
  27. The tombs were opened: Only Matthew tells us this detail. He says that the bodies of the saints were raised, but they only came out of the tombs after Jesus’s resurrection, appearing to many. See Matthew 27:52-53. ↩︎
  28. also said that Jesus was the Son of God: This is only the beginning of walking towards a God-gifted faith in Christ. Even the demons recognize God as God (James 2:19) and knew Jesus was the Son of God (Matthew 8:29). It’s not enough to just “know” this. God’s faith that He gives as a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9) is different than human-conjured faith. 11 Important Biblical Evidences Of Salvation: (Bible Study) at biblereasons.com has a nice layout of evidence of salvation and so does Grace to You’s How can I be sure of my salvation? ↩︎
  29. began to return, beating their breasts: This is a fulfillment of Zechariah 12:10. ↩︎
  30. sons of Zebedee, and Salome: Because we are not told specifically that Salome is the mother of James and John/wife of Zebedee, I treat her as a separate person. Many writers and pastors insist that Salome was the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee and therefore, she was the wife of Zebedee. It’s possible, but there isn’t a shred of proof for that, in the English or the Greek. If there was a cross-reference connecting Salome to J & J’s mother/Zebedee, the problem is that the cross references, along with chapters and verse numbers are not a part of the original manuscripts of the Bible. All of those things were added much, much later on. The Bible itself is infallible, as the writers were under the inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit, Who uses the Bible book writers’ own styles and personalities in the writing – God didn’t create us to be robots, including in the writing down of His Word on papyrus. However, the cross references are fallible; they were added by people who were not necessarily inspired by the Holy Spirit. Thus, sometimes the cross references are wrong or influenced by someone’s agenda or personal belief, or often times truncated/incomplete, and therefore not perfect. They can be helpful, but as always, we shouldn’t try to make the Bible say anything that it doesn’t say (such as Salome is actually J & J’s mother, and the wife of Zebedee).
    We are told that there were many women, all of Jesus’s acquaintances, there, looking on at the cross from a distance, and among them, was Salome and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. In my opinion, with substantial proof throughout the NT, women who were mothers or wives had the names of their sons or husbands referred to (depending on which one/s are relative to the story), as an identifier. Women like Mary Magdalene, Susanna and Salome have no husbands or sons mentioned after their names. Because of this, I believe they were unmarried or widowed/without sons. Luke gives us Joanna’s husband’s name in Luke 8:3 and therefore, since she’s already been introduced, he either doesn’t bother with the identifier in Luke 24:10 or, Joanna in 24:10 is a different Joanna from the one in Luke 8:3. The Bible never gives us a guide to distinguish married women from unmarried women, so we don’t know for sure. Places where James and John are mentioned as the sons of Zebedee: Matthew 4:21;10:2; Mark 1:19; 10:35; Luke 5:10; John 21:2. Mentions of their mother: Matthew 20:20-23; Matthew 28:56. Mentions of Zebedee himself: Matthew 4:21; Mark 1:20. ↩︎