Mark 15:33-47

15:33 | Darkness descended on Judah from noon until 3 PM. No Gospel writer tries to explain the darkness or its cause, but all clearly see it as a sign from God (Matt. 27:45; Luke 23:44-45).

15:34 | The desolate words of Jesus match the terrible words of Psalm 22:1. But Jesus was not quoting them so much as living them. Who can imagine the depths of horror He faced as God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus was totally alone, abandoned by friends and now separated from the Father, becoming sin for us.

15:37 | When Jesus cried out and breathed His last, He probably was exclaiming either “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit” (Luke 23:46) or “It is finished” (John 19:30). Mark does not record His words.

15:38 | The thick veil of the temple separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, where in ancient times the ark of the covenant had rested. Mark perhaps heard about this even from one of the priests who came to faith sometime after Christ’s resurrection (Acts 6:7). The tearing of the veil from top to bottom signifies that God had opened the way for people to have a new and vital relationship with Him. The tearing of the veil from the top suggests it was torn by God.

15:39 | This Gentile soldier had seen everything Jesus endured, and the remarkable way Jesus died impressed him deeply. Luke says the centurion cried out, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” (Luke 23:47), but for Mark, it was another indication that Jesus was indeed the Son of God, as he wrote in the first verse of this Gospel.

15:43 | Mark describes Joseph of Arimathea as a prominent member of the Sanhedrin, the religious council that had condemned Jesus to death; Luke adds that he had not agreed with the council’s decision. To ask for the body of Jesus so boldly put him at serious risk from his fellow council members.

15:44 | Pilate marveled that Jesus had already died; normally, dying by crucifixion would take much longer.

15:46-47 | Some try to undermine the account of Jesus’ resurrection by claiming that on Sunday morning the women went to the wrong tomb, but this passage reveals that they witnessed the burial and knew exactly which tomb contained the Lord’s body.