ACC ~ Mark 15 v21 - 32

OVERVIEW:

No death is more shameful than the public horror of crucifixion (EUSEBIUS). Its ironies continue to compound: Prophecy was being fulfilled even by his tormentors. He who had turned water into sweet wine is offered vinegar and gall (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS). The incomparably innocent one tasted the extreme bitterness of the degrading death of a criminal, spurning supposed comforts (AUGUSTINE, PRUDENTIUS). His deity was expressed through his humiliation (AUGUSTINE). He did not become king of glory without first being mocked on the cross as king of the Jews (TERTULLIAN). Derided by those who passed by and mocked by the chief priests, he was reviled even by one of those crucified by his side (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM). What they did with their tongues on the third hour they did with their hands on the sixth hour (AUGUSTINE). The penitent faithful even today pray on the third, sixth and ninth hour to recall and once again participate in his trial, crucifixion and death (APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS). The ultimate sentence came not at the trial but at the cross. There the final judge was placed with one criminal on his right and one on his left, as if to anticipate final judgment. He did not cease being Son of God on the cross. He who was able not to die unless he willed it did die because he willed it (AUGUSTINE, JOHN OF DAMASCUS).

15:21 | They Compelled a Passer-by, Simon of Cyrene

WHY SIMON WAS COMPELLED TO CARRY THE CROSS

THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS: [1] From the many blows and the weight of the cross he was unable to walk. … They gave the cross, then, to Simon of the city of Cyrene, who had also two sons by the name of Alexander and Rufus. [2] They did this not because they pitied Jesus, and wished to lighten his load, but because they ever more eagerly wanted to put him to death speedily. THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS 10.1. [3]

[1] An apocryphal Gospel probably redacted in the fifth century. Cf. Quast. 1.116.

[2] Cf. Mt 27:32; Mk 15:21; Lk 23:26.

[3] EA 302-303; ANF 8:429**.

THE BURDEN SHIFTED

CHRYSOSTOM: When they went out of the Praetorium, Christ was carrying it: but as they proceeded Simon took it from him and bore it. HOMILY ON THE PARALYTIC LET DOWN THROUGH THE ROOF 3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 9:214; TLG 2062.063, 51.53.56-58. A pilgrim at Passover from distant Africa, later known to the apostles, assisted him in his travail.

15:22 | The Place Called Golgotha

TWICE DAWNED ONE DAY

ANONYMOUS:

Already robed as king, he must sustain

Blows from rough palms.

With spit his face is covered.

A thorn-inwoven crown pierces his head,

While to the tree he is fixed.

Wine drugged with myrrh is drunk,

And gall is mixed with vinegar.

His robe is parted and on it lots are cast.

Each one keeps for himself what he has seized.

In this murky gloom,

God silently outbreathed his soul from fleshly body.

The trembling day took refuge with the sun.

Twice dawned one day.

FIVE BOOKS IN REPLY TO MARCION 5.227.

15:23a | Wine Mingled with Myrrh

WHY WINE AND MYRRH?

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: What sort of gall did they put in my mouth? “They gave him,” it says, “wine mixed with myrrh.” [1] Myrrh is like gall in taste, and very bitter. “Is the Lord to be thus repaid by you?” [2] Are these the offerings you make to your master, O vine? CATECHETICAL LECTURES 13.28. [3]

[1] Cf. Mt 27:34; Mk 15:23.

[2] Deut 32:6.

[3] TLG 2110.003, 13.29.11-14; FC 64:23.

THE TASTE OF BITTERNESS

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: He is given vinegar to drink [1] and gall to eat [2] —and who is he? Why, One who turned water into wine, [3] who took away the taste of bitterness, [4] who is all sweetness and desire. [5] ORATION 29, ON THE SON 20. [6]

[1] Cf. Mt 27:48; Mk 15:36; Lk 23:36; Jn 19:29.

[2] Cf. Mt 27:34.

[3] Cf. Jn 2:7-9.

[4] Cf. Ex 15:25.

[5] Cf. Song 5:16.

[6] FGFR 260; TLG 2022.009, 20.26-28.

EXCEEDINGLY BITTER

AUGUSTINE: The gall is mentioned with a view to express the bitterness of the potion. And wine mingled with myrrh [1] is remarkable for its bitterness. The fact may also be that gall and myrrh together made the wine exceedingly bitter. Again, when Mark says that “he did not receive it,” we understand the phrase to denote that he did not receive it so as actually to drink it. He did taste it. HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 3.11. [2]

[1] A sedative.

[2] HE BEGINNING OF THE GOSPEL | MARK 1:1-5

15:23b | He Did Not Take It

THE SEDATIVE REJECTED

AUGUSTINE: Be cautious and receive the words of our adversaries in order to spit them out, not to gulp them down and ingest them. Do in this instance what the Lord did when they offered him a bitter drink; he tasted it, and spat it out. [1] So also should you, taste and spit. TRACTATE ON JOHN 6.11. [2]

SPURNING THE CUP

PRUDENTIUS:

Thus did Christ in the hour of crucifixion

Spurn the cup that was offered when he thirsted, [3]

And refusing to drink, prolonged his anguish.

HYMN 6. [4]

[1] Cf. Mt 27:34; Mk 15:23.

[2] Cetedoc 0278, 6.11.6; FC 78:139*. As he spurned the supposed comforts of adversaries, so does the church reject the pseudo-comforting words of false teachers.

[3] Cf. Mk 15:23.

[4] Cetedoc 1443, 6.58; FC 43:171.

15:24 | They Crucified Him

HIS MANNER OF DEATH

EUSEBIUS: What death is more shameful than to be crucified? What death worse than this condemnation is conceivable? Even now he remains a reproach among all who have not yet received faith in him! PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 10.9. [1]

[1] POG 224*; TLG 2018.005, 10.8.55.4-9. Crucifixion is the most shameful reproach conceivable.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE CROSS

JOHN OF DAMASCUS: By nothing else except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ has death been brought low:

The sin of our first parent destroyed,

hell plundered,

resurrection bestowed,

the power given us to despise the things of this world,

even death itself,

the road back to the former blessedness made smooth,

the gates of paradise opened,

our nature seated at the right hand of God,

and we made children and heirs of God.

By the cross all these things have been set aright… .

It is a seal that the destroyer may not strike us,

a raising up of those who lie fallen,

a support for those who stand,

a staff for the infirm,

a crook for the shepherded,

a guide for the wandering,

a perfecting of the advanced,

salvation for soul and body,

a deflector of all evils,

a cause of all goods,

a destruction of sin,

a plant of resurrection,

and a tree of eternal life.

ORTHODOX FAITH 4. [1]

[1] FC 37:350*, spaces added to present in poetic stanzas; TLG 2934.004, 84.21-29, 43-48. By the cross all manner of wrongs have been set right.

15:25a | It Was the Third Hour

WORSHIPING AT SET HOURS

APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS: Let your prayers be made at “the third hour”; [1] for then it was that Pilate gave sentence upon our Lord and savior to have him crucified. … Let your prayers be made also at the sixth hour; for at that time he was crucified. … We observe also “the ninth hour” of prayer; for at that time the sun was darkened and the earth shaken with horror, as being not able to look upon those bitter cruelties. [2] CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 8.34. [3]

[1] Cf. Mk 15:25.

[2] Cf. Mt 27:24, 51; Mk 15:33; Lk 23:44-45; Acts 3:1; 10:3, 9, 30.

[3] PG 1:1135; GMI 423*.

THIRD OR SIXTH HOUR?

AUGUSTINE: One Evangelist says that the Lord was crucified at the sixth hour, [1] and another at the third hour. [2] Unless we understand it, we are left wondering. When the sixth hour was already beginning, Pilate is said to have sat on the judgment seat. In reality when the Lord was lifted up upon the tree, it was the sixth hour. … They had killed him already at the time when they were crying out. The government officials at the sixth hour crucified, the transgressors of the law at the third hour cried out. That which some did with hands at the sixth hour, others did with tongue at the third hour. More guilty are they that with crying out were raging, than they that in obedience were serving. PSALMS 64.5. [3]

[1] Cf. Jn 19:14.

[2] Cf. Mk 15:25.

[3] Cetedoc 0283, 39.63.5.1; NPNF 1 8:264*. Cf. an alternative interpretation in HOG 3.13, NPNF 1 6:203.

15:25b | When They Crucified Him

HE DIED VOLUNTARILY

AUGUSTINE: He who was able not to die unless he willed it, did die because he willed it. So he made a show of principalities and powers, openly triumphing over them in himself. By his death the one and most real sacrifice was offered up for us. Whatever were the charges by which the principalities and powers held us under bondage, he cleansed, abolished, extinguished. [1] ON THE TRINITY 4.13.17. [2]

[1] Cf. Eph 6:11-12.

[2] Cetedoc 0329, 50.4.13.49; NPNF 1 3:78.

15:26 | The King of the Jews

KING OF GLORY

TERTULLIAN: He was not hailed as the king of glory by the angels until he had been censured on the cross as “King of the Jews.” [1] … You owe your life to him as a debt for these favors. So try as best you can to be accountable to him in the same way that he became accountable for you. Or, be not crowned with flowers at all if you cannot bear the thorns, [2] because with flowers you cannot be crowned. THE CHAPLET 14. [3]

[1] Mt 27:37; Mk 15:26; Lk 23:38; Jn 19:19.

[2] Cf. Mt 27:29; Mk 15:17; Jn 17:2.

[3] Cetedoc 0021, 14.27; FC 40:266*.

15:27a | With Him They Crucified Two Robbers

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO THIEVES

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Of the robbers crucified with him, it was said: “He was reckoned among the wicked.” [1] Up to this time both were wicked, but one of them was wicked no longer. For one was wicked to the end, yielding not to salvation, and, though his hands were fastened, he struck blasphemously with his tongue. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 13.30. [2]

[1] Is 53:12; Mk 15:28.

[2] TLG 2110.003, 13.30.1-5; FC 64:24. One was wicked and redeemed, the other wicked and unredeemed.

15:27b | One on His Right and One on His Left

THE COMING JUDGMENT

AUGUSTINE: Amid the courtroom of the cross, one robber who believed was freed, the other who insulted him was condemned. [1] He was then signifying in advance what he would do concerning the living and the dead, putting some on his right and some on his left. [2] The one robber was like to those who would be on the left; the other, to those who would be on the right. He who was being judged was anticipating final judgment. TRACTATES ON JOHN 31.11. [3]

[1] Cf. Lk 23:39-43.

[2] Cf. Mt 25:31-33.

[3] Cetedoc 0278, 31.11.37; FC 88:40*.

15:29 | Those Who Passed By Derided Him

THE PSALM REMEMBERED

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Those who passed by wagged their heads, mocking the crucified, fulfilling the Scripture: “When they see me, they shake their heads.” [1] CATECHETICAL LECTURES 13.30. [2]

[1] Ps 109:25.

[2] TLG 2110.003, 13.30.5-7; FC 64:24.

15:31 | The Chief Priests Mocked Him

WITHOUT COMELINESS

AUGUSTINE: Such he appeared on the cross, such when crowned with thorns did he exhibit himself, disfigured, and without comeliness, as if he had lost his power, as if not the Son of God. Such did he seem to the blind. [1] SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS 138.6. [2]

[1] Cf. Is 53:2.

[2] Cetedoc 0284, 138.38.766.2.1; NPNF 1 6:524; cf. WSA 3 4:388, Sermon 138.6.

15:32 | They Who Were Crucified with Him Also Reviled Him

ONE WAS PENITENT

CHRYSOSTOM: In the case of the robbers, one Evangelist says that the two blasphemed, [1] another that one of them reproved him who was reviling the Lord. [2] Yet in this again there is no contradiction. Both things took place, and at the beginning both the men behaved badly. Afterwards when signs occurred, when the earth shook and the rocks were torn apart, and the sun was darkened, one of them was penitent, became more chastened, recognized the crucified One and acknowledged his kingdom. THE PARALYTIC LET DOWN THROUGH THE ROOF 3. [3]

[1] Cf. Mt 27:44; Mk 15:32.

[2] Cf. Lk 23:40.

[3] TLG 2062.063, 51.53.59-54.9; NPNF 1 9:214*. Two blasphemed, one repented.