Mark 15:33-41, The Death of Jesus

³³ And when the sixth hour had come [12 noon], there was darkness [a mark of God’s displeasure] over the whole land until the ninth hour [3:00, when the lambs are killed in the temple]. 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?” [See Psalm 22. Jesus is totally alienated. This is the only time in the Synoptic Gospels that Jesus does not address God without calling him “Father.” He is now experiencing the cup that he has willingly accepted from the Father’s hand.] ³⁵ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” [They misunderstand the Aramaic “Eli” for the Hebrew “Elijah.”] ³⁶ And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine [Psalm 69:21], 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. [The strength of his voice indicates that Jesus did not die an ordinary death, but gave himself up.] ³⁸ And the curtain of the temple [in the holy of holies] was torn in two, from top to bottom [a symbol of the opening of access to God through the death of Jesus who enters heaven on our behalf that we too may be in the presence of God]. [Another way of looking at this is that God is desecrating his temple, foreshadowing the judgment events of AD 70.] 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!” [An unbelievable confession from a Gentile, which expresses the power of the cross and Jesus’ willing death. He restores the title “Son of God” to its rightful place.]

⁴⁰ There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene [her first mention in Mark], and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. [Who exactly are these women and where is Mary mother of Jesus?]  ⁴¹ When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.