The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (66 page)

14:62 I am:
Jesus unambiguously accepts the charge that he is the Son of God and the Messiah of Israel. See word study:
Christ.
the Son of man:
Jesus expects the Father will vindicate him soon after he is condemned. His words evoke the majestic imagery of Ps 110:1 and Dan 7:13. • The specific contexts of these OT passages are linked together by common images: the Messiah of Ps 110 and the Son of Man in Dan 7 both stand before God in a royal throne room (Ps 110:1; Dan 7:9), and both triumph over their enemies (Ps 110:2, 5-7; Dan 7:23-27). Merging the two texts into a single self-portrait, Jesus claims that God himself will overturn the death sentence of the Sanhedrin by raising him from the dead and enthroning him in glory (CCC 664).
See note on Mt 26:64
and essay:
Jesus, the Son of Man
at Lk 17. 
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14:63 tore his clothes:
The Bible often associates this gesture with overwhelming sorrow or distress (Gen 37:29; 2 Kings 19:1; Ezra 9:3). Here the
high priest
disregards the Mosaic Law, which forbids priests to tear their vestments (Lev 10:6; 21:10). •
Mystically
(St. Bede,
In Marcum):
the drama of Caiaphas tearing his vestments signifies the termination of the Old Covenant priesthood. In contrast, the seamless vestment of Jesus is not torn but remains intact (Jn 19:23-24), signifying that the new priesthood of Christ will endure forever (Heb 7:23-24). 
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Word Study

Christ
(
Mk 14:61
)

Christos
(Gk.): "the Anointed One". It translates the Hebrew word for "Messiah". Since kings (2 Sam 2:4; 1 Kings 1:34), prophets (Ps 105:15), and priests (Ex 29:7; Lev 8:12) were anointed with oil for their respective ministries, it was expected that the Messiah would take all these ministries upon himself as a covenant representative anointed by the Spirit (Is 61:1). Most linked the Messiah with an ideal king from the line of David (Mk 12:35). He would be born in David's hometown of Bethlehem (Mic 5:2), rule over the restored Davidic kingdom (Is 9:7; Mk 11:10), and enjoy a unique relationship with God as his son (2 Sam 7:14). The OT also hinted that the Messiah would suffer the scorn and rejection of his enemies (Ps 2:2; 89:38-51; Dan 9:26). All of this is fulfilled in Jesus. Anointed by the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38), he is the Son of God (Mk 1:1; Jn 1:49) and the Son of David (Mt 1:1; Lk 1:32-33), hailed by Christians as the Messiah (Jn 1:41).

14:64 blasphemy:
The Sanhedrin charges Jesus with the capital crime of Lev 24:16. They register his claim to a heavenly enthronement as an insult to God's name. In their eyes, he has no credentials to be Israel's Messiah and king, much less one who will rule the universe in the presence of God (15:32; Jn 10:36). 
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14:72 the cock crowed:
Possibly a bugle call that signaled the end of the third watch (3
A.M.
) of the night (13:35).
See note on Mk 6:48
.
Peter remembered:
He presumably recalled both the prophecy of Jesus (14:30) and his own rash overconfidence (14:31). 
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15:2 Pilate:
Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator of Judea (
A.D.
26-36). He was stationed in Jerusalem for the Passover feast.
See note on Mt 27:2
.
King of the Jews?:
The Jewish leaders give Jesus a title with obvious political overtones, fully aware that Roman law punishes the crime of sedition by death (Lk 23:2; Jn 19:12). The accusation dominates the subsequent narrative (15:9, 12, 18, 26). 
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15:11 Barabbas:
An Aramaic name that literally means "son of the father". Aramaic-speaking Christians surely detected the tragic irony: the guilty Barabbas is released in place of Jesus, the truly innocent Son of the Father (1:1, 11; 3:11; 9:7; 15:39). 
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15:15 to satisfy the crowd:
Pilate remained unconvinced of Jesus' guilt throughout the trial (15:14; Lk 23:4; Jn 19:4). Nevertheless, he lacked the integrity to release Jesus and crumbled instead beneath the pressure of the Jerusalem mob. As the Roman magistrate, Pilate alone had the authority to execute Jesus, since the Jewish leaders were powerless to enforce the penalty of capital punishment without him (Jn 18:31; 19:10; CCC 596-97). 
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15:16 the praetorium:
Pilate's official residence in Jerusalem, built by Herod the Great.
the whole battalion:
A military cohort of up to 600 men. 
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15:17-19
The soldier's mockery of Jesus is surrounded with paradox and irony. They remain unaware in their ridicule that Jesus is truly a king (Jn 18:36). Adorning him with a
purple cloak
and a
crown
and kneeling in false
homage,
the soldiers unwittingly bear witness to the royal identity of Jesus (Lk 1:32-33; Rev 19:16). 
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15:21 they compelled:
Roman garrisons in NT Palestine claimed the right to recruit Jews for temporary service (see Mt 5:41). Mark designates
Simon of Cyrene
as the individual forced to assist Jesus. His son
Rufus
may have been a well-known member of the early Roman Church (Rom 16:13). 
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15:22 Golgotha:
The Aramaic word for
skull.
The popular term "Calvary" is derived from the Latin Vulgate translation (Lat.
Calvariae
). Located outside Jerusalem's walls (Jn 19:20), Golgotha may have acquired its name as a common site for criminal executions. 
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15:23 wine . . . with myrrh:
A narcotic painkiller. Jesus refuses it, choosing instead to bear the full weight of suffering for man's sin (10:45; 1 Pet 2:24). 
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15:24 they crucified him:
A form of Roman execution adopted from earlier Persian practice. Crucifixion was torturous, degrading, and reserved for the most heinous criminals—usually insurrectionists. The victims' feet were nailed to an upright stake and their wrists to a wooden crossbeam (Ps 22:16). Death came slowly from a combination of blood loss and asphyxiation, a process that could be hastened by breaking the criminal's legs (Jn 19:33). Corpses were often left hanging for days as a public deterrent against criminal activity and a powerful symbol of Rome's domination of Palestine. • Christian tradition sees in Jesus' physical death on the tree (Acts 10:39) the antithesis of Adam's spiritual death at the tree of good and evil (Gen 3:6, 17-19). Whereas Adam's sin brought death to the entire human family, Jesus' death rescues man from sin and gives him new life in the family of God (Rom 5:12-19).
divided his garments:
The collection of spoil by the execution squad recalls the messianic prophecy of Ps 22:18. This text is explicitly quoted in Jn 19:24.
See note on Mk 15:34
. 
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15:25 the third hour:
About 9
A.M.
on Friday morning of Passion Week (15:42).
See note on Mt 20:1
. 
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15:29 derided him:
Literally, "they were blaspheming him". • By slandering and shaking their heads at Jesus, the angry crowd unwittingly fulfills messianic prophecy from Ps 22:7. 
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15:33 sixth hour . . . ninth hour:
i.e., from noon until 3
P.M.
Luke's account may suggest that the
darkness
was caused by an extended solar eclipse (Lk 23:45). • The OT associates such dreadful darkness with divine judgment on sin (Ex 10:21-23; Is 13:10-11; Amos 8:9).
See note on Mt 27:45
. 
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15:34 Elo-i, Elo-i:
Jesus quotes the opening line of Ps 22 in Aramaic (CCC 603, 2605). • Psalm 22 forecasts both the Messiah's suffering and his eventual deliverance. The full context of Ps 22, in light of its hopeful outcome, rules out the possibility that Jesus succumbed to despair (Lk 23:46).
See note on Mt 27:46
. 
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15:38 the curtain:
Two veils hung in the Jerusalem Temple to symbolize God's inaccessibility to sinners (Heb 9:8). One was visible, as it separated the outer courts from the sanctuary proper, and the other was invisible to all but the priests, as it hung inside the sanctuary in front of its most sacred chamber, the Holy of Holies (Ex 26:31-34; Heb 9:3, 7). Although the evangelist does not specify which of the two veils was torn, the lesson to be learned is clear: access to the Father is now open through Jesus, who as high priest has entered on our behalf (Eph 2:18; Heb 10:19-22). Moreover, as the curtain ripped
from top to bottom,
the barrier between the face of God and his people was removed, and the termination of the Old Covenant was prophetically announced.
was torn:
Mark uses the same Greek expression at 1:10 to describe God "tearing" the heavens at the Baptism of Jesus. If a connection is being made between these two events, as seems likely, it may have been the outer veil draped in front the sanctuary that was rent in two, since history testifies that it was embroidered with images of the heavens and the cosmos (Josephus,
Jewish War
5, 212-14). 
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