Part 67, Mark 15:1-15 ‘Jesus is Charged with High Treason’ (Sean Stillman)
The religious leaders wanted Jesus dead. But they didn’t have the legal powers to execute him, so they took him before the local Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, in a desperate attempt to be rid of him. Trumped up charges, a kangaroo court, a feisty crowd - it all became something that resembled a gladiatorial arena.
Human greed, cloaked in the power of empire, hypocritical self-absorbed religion, with a disregard for the Living God brought mocking, contempt and a brutal verdict. The assembled masses didn’t see God among them, and accused Jesus of blasphemy. They didn’t see liberation and new way of being community, and accused him of high treason.
Like the Suffering Servant of Isaiah ch 53, Jesus is led like a lamb to the slaughter. Sean Stillman concludes this episode with, “The noise of the crowd, the wielding of power and the desires of the human ego, called out, ‘Crucify him’ … Jesus stayed silent, but God, would not, be silent for long.”
The full transcript follows below.
—————————————————————
You can also read the relevant bible passage, Mark 15:1-15 online at:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2015%3A1-15&version=NIV;MSG
You can also subscribe to this series playlist on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL17ig7Gb4cmCknxZs7IVgFlJgIPREKISf&si=IrQfzXaoSovNUIr7 and also find 150+ additional bible reflections and stories, from various God’s Squad members around the world.
_________________________________________
This reflection is part of series produced by God's Squad CMC International, of which Sean Stillman is International President and member of GSCMC South Wales, UK.
This presentation, and many of the previous and following ones in this series that Sean will present, includes references, quotes and research from the following sources;
Meeting God in Mark, Rowan Williams, 2014.
Binding the Strong Man, Ched Myers, 1998, (2008 edition)
Mark, Paideia Commentary on the New Testament, Mary Ann Beavis, 2011.
The Gospel of Mark, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, William L. Lane, 1974.
The Gospel According to St. Mark, Black’s New Testament Commentaries, Morna D. Hooker, 1981, (2003 edition)
Life on the Road, Athol Gill, 1992.
Mark, New International Biblical Commentary, Larry W. Hurtado, 1983, (1998 edition).
Mark, Tyndale New Testament Commentary, R. Alan Cole, 1961, (1989 edition)
Mark Gospel of Action: Personal and Community Responses, Ed. John Vincent, 2006
———
The Full Transcript is below:
Welcome back to our series exploring Mark’s Gospel.
We’re at Part 67, & into chapter 15, and very much on the home straight of this road trip into the life, ministry and call of Jesus.
Let’s remember, it was written for the young, emerging church community who were facing extreme persecution, at the hands of the Roman Empire. This is particularly poignant in today’s reading, as Jesus is himself, is hauled before the brutal Roman court system.
Let’s recap for a moment, to the beginning of this journey.
Right at the start Jesus made a bold statement to his would-be-followers, “Repent” - wake up, turn around, come alive to a complete change of direction, understanding and priorities, because he continued, “The Kingdom of God” - or “Kingdom of Heaven is near”, is “at hand” - KoG is tangible enough to touch and embrace.
Right at the start, Jesus declared that something radically new was about to happen.
A new challenge, a new order, a new ‘Way’, was about to be demonstrated before their very eyes.
A new ‘Way’, with an invitation to live differently.
In the first sections of this book, some common themes really stuck out. Jesus attracted the marginalised and the beaten down.
Those that were excluded by a religious system that had lost its way.
They were tired of the hypocrisy.
It no longer seemed to be about genuine God-worship, but greed and a religious performance.
They were also beaten down by the pressures of living under the oppressive regime, of the Roman Empire.
They felt trapped, and wanted a way out.
Here came Jesus, declaring, and showing, there was an alternative. God wasn’t like their corrupt priesthood, and true community, could function much better, motivated by love, rather than a lust for power.
Inevitably, things would come to a head.
Eventually the corrupt religion experts, challenged by Jesus, now wanted him out of the picture.
He was a risk to destabilising their privileged existence.
The duplicity of the Temple, and the abusive power of Empire, had been radically challenged.
In the last two weeks we heard how Jesus had been handed over to the religious leaders.
His mate Judas had betrayed him, and other mates, especially Peter, who eventually came to influence the writing of this Gospel, deserted him when he was arrested.
The Jewish Sanhedrin leaders, have just put him on trial over night, and typical of a political prisoner, the rules were bent.
They accused him of ‘blasphemy’, on Jesus’s admission that he was indeed the ‘Messiah’.
There was a problem though.
Although they considered him guilty, and punishable by death, they didn’t have the authority to pass sentence.
As high up as they were within their Jewish culture and society, they were still under Roman occupation, and subservient to their rules.
The ruling Roman boss for the area, Pontius Pilate, was in town and enjoying hospitality at Herod’s Palace.
Just in case anyone had any ideas of an uprising when spirits were high, a show of strength was important during this Jewish festival time.
Pilate had a reputation for hating the Jewish population.
He was known for being merciless, obstinate and inflexible.
Roman historian Josephus, even records how he was once recalled to Rome, for a huge massacre of Samaritans as well.
And so, it was to Pilate, that the Jewish religious leaders had to take Jesus before, for a Roman court trial, if they wanted him executed.
Execution could only be at the ‘say so’ of the Roman governor, on grounds that satisfied the Roman laws - and blasphemy, wasn’t on their list of offences.
High Treason however, was.
Rome wasn’t threatened by talk of a ‘Messiah’, but claims some kind of regional King, was a threat to the stability of the neighbourhood.
So with a twist of the language used, the religious court, brought a secular charge against Jesus. The ‘King of the Jews’.
Let’s read the text, starting at chapter 15v1 through to v 15.
Jesus Before Pilate
v1 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
Confirming what Jesus told them would happen on their way to Jerusalem, back in 10:33-34. “We’re going to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him, spit on him, flog him and kill him”
v2 continues, “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.
“You say so,” Jesus replied.
Pilate is asking here; Are you some kind of leader to the resistance? Should we be threatened by this? “Apparently so”! “Read into it what you will” Jesus is suggesting, “You say so!”
v3 The chief priests accused him of many things.
Luke’s Gospel gives more detail here; including accusing him of subversion & promoting tax evasion
v4 So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”
v5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
This was an astonishment that similar to the crowds who saw Jesus’s miracles (5:20), and Jesus’s astonishment at the lack of faith back home in Nazareth (6:6). Pilate was suggesting here, that something remarkable, even bizarre, was happening right in-front of him.
Did Mark include this as an example for those facing similar trials under Rome as he predicted back in chapter 13? Keep your cool, rely on the Holy Spirit to guide you CR 13:11. All a stark contrast to Jewish martyr accounts where heroes facing death, would make a final speech of defiance - Jesus was silent.
v6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner who the people requested. v7 A man called Barabbas (which means ‘son-of-the-father’ in Aramaic), was in prison with the insurrectionists who’d committed murder in the uprising. (These uprisings were frequent and stamped on quickly)
v8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
Rome was wise to the underground movements, like the urban terrorist Zealots, or the stealth like ‘dagger men’ of the Sicarri revolutionaries.
This man, Barabbas, was a murdering terrorist, probably part of one of these extremist groups - the perfect candidate for crucifixion under Roman law, that sought to eliminate rebellious influencers
So Mark, has carefully brought together all the major players in place for this showdown, that now resembles a gladiator ring at the Collosseum.
- The Roman & Jewish Authorities
- A Violent revolutionary
- The popular mass of the crowds
- And Jesus, the non-violent revolutionary, now becoming more and more alone
Pilate then addresses the assembled crowd,
v9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
12 “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.
13 “Crucify him!” they shouted.
14 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
Pilate taunts the crowd. He sees no basis to convict Jesus. He doesn’t really care. He hates the crowd, he hates the Jewish authorities, he’s intrigued by Jesus, perhaps like Herod was intrigued by John the Baptist, but has no allegiance to him. Yes, he’d be concerned about his ‘kingly’ ambitions, but he certainly feels there’s more reason to be rid of Barabbas.
But let’s not be fooled here, Pilate was no push over. Roman governors weren’t about to be manipulated by the locals. ‘Give them a little of what they want, and keep them in their place’ — under Roman domination. The Sanhedrin on the other hand, were prepared to build alliances with anyone, to see Jesus gone.
So Pilate, not wanting to offer any assistance to the Sanhedrin in charging Jesus, because it’s not in his nature to do them any favours whatsoever, puts it to the crowd, assuming they’ll call for Jesus’s release and snub the Sanhedrin. But it back-fired. The crowd has been swayed — Barabbas is a better shot as a freedom fighter. Whatever hopes the masses had for Jesus in this role, didn’t look like they thought it should.
(v14 cont’d) But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
The Jewish masses and their leaders, plus the Roman authorities considered Mark’s Jesus, disposable. The cries of the crowd resembled the cries of the demons ‘possessed by powers’ earlier in the story and the demands of Salome for John the Baptist’s head on a plate.
Marks paints an ironic picture here, as the secrecy of Jesus’s identity he carefully guarded throughout this story, is now being confirmed by the Jewish and Roman authorities and the popular masses. Jesus was indeed the Messiah, this King of a revolutionary Kingdom that stood in stark contrast to all that the power of Rome could muster, and the self indulgence, of diluted religion.
The Messiah was always going to bring a revolution that turned everything on its head. “Repent” - wake up, turn around, come alive to a complete change of direction, understanding and priorities, because, “The Kingdom of God”, is “at hand” - turns out is a demanding call for revolution. There was something about the way he lived that posed a threat. And crucifixion, was reserved for the most rebellious.
As we weigh up ‘Why did Jesus die?’, ‘How did Jesus die?’ and ‘Who killed Jesus?’ - we should also be asking, ‘How did Jesus live?’, ‘Why did he live the way he did?’ and ‘Who gave Jesus life?’ And … what exactly does that demand of us, as his followers?
v15 continues to close today’s reading, Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
The convicted murdering extremist is released, and Jesus is condemned to scourging, before brutal execution.
- He would be stripped, bound to a post and kicked to the floor.
- He would be beaten by guards until his flesh was in shreds.
- What was left of his flesh, would then be scourged with leather lines embedded with bone and lead.
- Historian Josephus records, this would often be until, ‘entrails were visible’
Like the Suffering Servant of Isaiah ch 53, Jesus is led like a lamb to the slaughter. Paying the price of human greed, cloaked in the power of empire, the hypocrisy of self-absorbed religion, with a disregard for the Living God. With mocking and contempt, they didn’t see God among them, and accused him of blasphemy. They didn’t see liberation and new way of being community, and accused him, of high treason.
There was an absence of loving God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. There was an absence of loving their neighbours.
That absence of righteousness; that blindness, didn’t see, and it did not hear.
The noise of the crowd, the wielding of power and the desires of the human ego, called out, ‘Crucify him’. We do not want this ‘Way’.
Jesus stayed silent, but God, would not, be silent for long.
Join us next week, as the journey through Mark’s Gospel, heads towards its darkest hours.