Crucify Him!

 

 Pilate answered and said to them again, "What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?"  So they cried out again, "Crucify Him!"  Then Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done?"  But they cried out all the more, "Crucify Him!"  So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified. 

Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison.  And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.  

Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross.

 

- Mark 15:12–21 

 

Yesterday we read that immediately, in the morning following Jesus' night trial at the home of the high priest, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council; and they bound Jesus, led Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate.  Then Pilate asked Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"  He answered and said to him, "It is as you say."  And the chief priests accused Him of many things, but He answered nothing.  Then Pilate asked Him again, saying, "Do You answer nothing?  See how many things they testify against You!"  But Jesus still answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled.  Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested.  And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion.  Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them.  But Pilate answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"  For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.  But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them.  

 Pilate answered and said to them again, "What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?"  So they cried out again, "Crucify Him!"  Then Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done?"  But they cried out all the more, "Crucify Him!"  So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.  Pilate turns to the crowd, hoping to release Jesus (whom he knows to be innocent) in spite of the chief priests, but the crowd senselessly follows wherever they are stirred up to go.  My study Bible comments here that Pilate's sin was less than that of the Jewish leaders who delivered Christ to him (John 19:11), because the Jews had the Law and the prophets to instruct them, and Pilate did not.  Pilate was not without sin, however, for in his own desire to gratify the crowd, he knowingly sent an innocent Man to death.  

 

 Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison.  And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.  My study Bible notes here that every king is proclaimed by his soldiers.  Although the intention here is to mock Christ, it is prophetic that Jesus should be crowned and hailed as King by soldiers of the governor.  In this understanding, see also John 11:49-51, in which Caiaphas unwittingly prophesies of Christ redemptive work.  My study Bible comments that this mockery shows Jesus as the One despised and rejected by human beings who bears the iniquity of all of us (see Isaiah 53:3-9).  Jesus is clothed with purple, a kind of deep purple-red called porphyra/πορφύρα in Greek, which represents both His royalty and the sins of humankind which He has taken upon Himself.

 

 Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross.  My study Bible notes here that Mark mentions Simon as the father of Alexander and Rufus.  It notes that this is likely so because they were still living, and therefore possibly known to Mark's hearers.  It says that the spiritual message here is that we, like Simon (whose name means "obedience"), are not simply called to carry the cross which Christ sets on us.  But we are also to see Christ in others, so we are called to bear each others burdens as well (Galatians 6:2). 

Possibly the most striking thing in today's reading is the way this crowd responds so easily to being "stirred up" by the chief priests, to demand to  put Jesus to death by crucifixion.  The crowd first demands, as is the custom, that a prisoner be released to them because of the Passover feast.  But it's as if they were simply waiting for a prompt, primed by their own mood to demand and to shout.  The crowd turns into a mob, not asking for clemency for a prisoner, but now demanding the blood of Christ in the most gruesome form of punishment reserved for the worst of criminals.  "Crucify Him!" they shout.  It is as if the worst in human nature is something the chief priests know well, and use to their advantage.  For this crowd would seek not just to release someone to freedom, but to demand that another be crucified, to demand the worst punishment for someone else.  It's not clear if this crowd knows Jesus.  It's not clear if they were present on the day of the Triumphal Entry, when Christ was welcomed into Jerusalem as Messiah.  As Jesus Himself said at His arrest at night in the garden of Gethsemane, "Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me?  I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me."  But were these people in the temple, listening to Jesus dispute with the religious leaders?  Are they pilgrims to Jerusalem for the feast?  It is hard to know, but it is easy to see what their motivations are, for as Jesus has said, "by their fruits you will know them."  We can see what they demand in the end.  This crowd is a good example of why the Church has historically taught that we ought not to be driven by our passions.  It's not that we are to be depleted of passions, but that they can so often lead us astray.  Rather, our passions, in the historical view of the Church, ought to be tempered by faith, put to use given to us by God.  St. Paul writes, "And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:24).   The bloodlust of the crowd is a primary example of what it is we don't want to be led by in life, of just why we seek to "crucify the flesh with its passions and desires."  The crowd essentially is led by being stirred up by these corrupt leaders who in turn are led by their own passion of envy against Christ.  While we're never told we won't feel any of these things, we're constantly counseled to cultivate a dispassion.  That is, not to be led by our passions, but to submit them to our faith, and to the cultivation of our own mastery of ourselves in service to faith, so that we won't be slaves to them.  Does this crowd know what it is doing?  Do these people understand they are demanding the Christ be crucified?  How can they understand the magnitude of the sin when they don't see the magnitude of the light of Christ's holiness and goodness for the world?  This brings us to yet another aspect of the danger of being led by passion -- they blind us to the full reality of what we do, of the things in which we engage ourselves.  We're blinded to holiness and subject only to being led by that which does not want us to be fully aware of what we're doing, and of the holiness of God who is always present to us.  For this reason the Church has throughout history (as well as Jewish spiritual tradition before us) given us ways to cultivate our own good discipline, with practices of worship and prayer, and fasting so that we learn we are capable of mastering our own passions.  We also seek to fast from sin, and the things that lead us astray.  Let us consider, especially at this time when so many passions seem to be stirring all over the world for so many reasons, how important it is to remember what we are to be about, to follow Christ's words regarding our own watchfulness (Mark 13:33, 14:38), especially in times of tribulation and fearful sights.  Our passions are that much more likely to be stirred, and we do not wish to be misled with a crowd that only follows the crowd.  Our Lord has taught us to be aware, discerning, alert -- and to be good disciples.  Let us especially remember this today, even when so many forget to do so.