Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (March 28, 2021) Mar 15:1-39

Jesus Delivered to Pilate

1 And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate.

The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, PSA 2:2

Rashi

Kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel, etc.—Heb. רוזנים, senors (seigneurs) in Old French, lords.

Take counsel—Heb. נוסדו, an expression of counsel (סוד), furt konsilez in Old French (furent conseilles), they hold counsel (see below 55:15). And what is the counsel? . . .

2 And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.”

3 And the chief priests accused him of many things.

4 And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.”

John Gill

And Pilate again asked him—In the presence of the chief priests, who laid so many things to his charge; for the former question was put, when Jesus and he were alone in the judgment hall, whither the Jews would not enter for fear of being defiled; see Joh 18:28, 33;

Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you—The charges were many, and very heinous, and which Pilate thought called for self-defence (see Gill on Mat 27:13).

5 But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified

6 Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked.

John Gill

Now at the feast—The Feast of the Passover, which was at that instant; see Joh 18:39. The Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read, “at every feast”; as if the following custom was used at every feast in the year, at the day of Pentecost and the Feast of Booths, as well as at the Passover; whereas it was only at the latter:

He used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked—Of this custom (see Gill on Mat 27:15).

7 And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.

8 And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them.

John Gill

And the crowd came up—The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read, and when the “crowd,” or “people went up,” to the place called the pavement, where the judgment seat was; and so it is read in Beza’s most ancient copy; but the former reading is to be preferred:

Began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did to them—That is, release a prisoner to them, as he had done at every Passover, since he had been a governor over them.

9 And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”

10 For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.

John Gill

For he perceived that . . . the chief priests—The Persic version reads in the singular, “the chief of the priests,” or the high priest, Caiaphas,

It was out of envy that . . . had delivered him up—At his popularity through his doctrine and miracles, and not from any principle of equity and justice, or from any regard to Caesar (see Gill on Mat 27:18).

11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead.

12 And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?”

13 And they cried out again, “Crucify him.”

John Gill

And they cried out again, “Crucify him”—For they had cried so once before, though Matthew and Mark relate it not, yet Luke does (Luk 23:21).

14 And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.”

15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion.

John Gill

And the soldiers led him away inside the palace—From the place called the pavement, where was the judge’s bench, from which he passed sentence on Christ, to a large room,

That is, the governor’s headquarters—Or judgment hall; being the hall, or room, where the Roman magistrate, kept his court of judicature; and is the same place the Jews would not go into, lest they should be defiled, and become unmeet to eat the Chagigah that day; and into which Pilate had Jesus more than once alone (Joh 18:28, 33; 19:9), but now he had a large company with him:

And they called together the whole battalion—Very likely the soldiers, into whose custody Jesus was put, and who led him away, were the four soldiers that attended his crucifixion, and parted his garments; but for greater diversion they got together the whole band to which they belonged (see Gill on Mat 27:27).

17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him.

18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

John Gill

And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”—In a mock way, wishing him long life and prosperity, as if he was a king just come to his throne, and this was his coronation day.

19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him.

20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

John Gill

And they compelled . . . Simon of Cyrene—(See Gill on Mat 27:32);

A passerby—As they were leading Jesus to be crucified:

Coming in from the country—From some country village hard by, according to the Syriac, and Vulgate Latin versions; or in from the field, as the Persic and Ethiopic: he might have been in the field, about some rural business; or, as Dr. Lightfoot conjectures, to fetch wood from thence, which was lawful to be done on a feast day, with some provisos, according to the Jewish canon, which runs thus;

“they may bring wood in from the field, (i.e. on a feast day, as this was,) of that which is gathered together, and out of a place that is fenced about, and even of that which is scattered abroad: What is a fenced place? Whatever is near to a city, the words of R. Judah. R. Jose says, whatever they go into by a door, and even within the border of the Sabbath.”

And according to the commentators, it must be wood that is gathered together, and that lies not in an open field, but in a fenced place, and this near the city; at least with in two thousand cubits, a Sabbath day’s journey.

The father of Alexander and Rufus—Who were men well known when Mark wrote his gospel, and very likely men of eminence among Christians: mention is made of Alexander in Act 19:33 and of Rufus, in Rom 16:13, which some have thought the same as here; but whether they are or not, is not certain: however, they obliged “Simon”

To carry his cross—The cross of Christ, after him (see Gill on Mat 27:32).

22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull).

23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.

24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take.

John Gill

And they crucified him—Had fastened him to the cross, and reared it up, and he was hanging upon it:

And divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take—This last clause, “what each should take,” is left out in the Arabic version. His garments they divided into four parts; and each soldier, as there were four of them, took a part; and upon his vesture, or seamless coat, because they would not rend it, they cast lots who should have it, and so fulfilled a prophecy in Psa 22:18 (see Gill on Mat 27:35).

25 And it was the third hour when they crucified him.

26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”

27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.

John Gill

And with him they crucified two robbers—For his greater reproach;

One on his right and one on his left—As if he had been one of them, and a principal among them (see Gill on Mat 27:38).

29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!”

John Gill

Save yourself, and come down from the cross—Suggesting that if he was what he had pretended to be, and could do what he gave out he could, he might easily free himself from the cross, and make his escape (see Gill on Mat 27:39-40).

31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.

32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

The Death of Jesus

33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

John Gill

And when the sixth hour had come—Or twelve o’clock at noon, having hung upon the cross from about the third hour, or nine in the morning:

There was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour—Or three o’clock in the afternoon. The Ethiopic version renders the whole thus, “and when it was noon, the sun was darkened, and the whole world was darkened until the ninth hour”; (see Gill on Mat 27:45).

34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”

John Gill

And some of them that stood by—The cross:

Hearing it—The loud voice of Jesus, and the words he uttered:

Said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah”—Whom they ignorantly, or wilfully took for Eloi (see Gill on Mat 27:47).

36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.”

37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.

38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

John Gill

And when the centurion, who stood facing him—To watch him, that nobody released him, and that he did not come down from the cross himself;

Saw that in this way he breathed his last—That he cried with so loud and strong a voice, and the next moment expired:

He said, “Truly this man was the Son of God”—And so said the rest of the soldiers that were with them, as appears from Mat 27:54 (see Gill on Mat 27:54).