This is part of a year-long series. Learn more about this series here.

Mark 15:16-20, 29-32 (HCSB)

Then the soldiers led Him away into the courtyard (that is, headquarters) and called the whole company together. ¹⁷ They dressed Him in a purple robe, twisted together a crown of thorns, and put it on Him. ¹⁸ And they began to salute Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹ They kept hitting Him on the head with a reed and spitting on Him. Getting down on their knees, they were paying Him homage. ²⁰ When they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the purple robe, put His clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him… Those who passed by were yelling insults at Him, shaking their heads, and saying, “Ha! The One who would demolish the sanctuary and build it in three days, ³⁰ save Yourself by coming down from the cross!” ³¹ In the same way, the chief priests with the scribes were mocking Him to one another and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself! ³² Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe.” Even those who were crucified with Him were taunting Him.

Mark’s narrative of Jesus’ Passion continues, and we learn that the Christ spent His final hours being mocked and hated. Crucifixion was brutal enough, but the story only gets worse as it develops. Not only is he crucified, but He is mocked and beaten by Roman soldiers, the occupiers, the gentiles, the ones who uphold and enforce Caesar’s decrees — even the ones that assert Caesar himself is a divine son and savior.

But in an even more devastating turn, He is mocked and derided by His own people as He hangs on the cross. He received insults from both the people and the chief priests, one of which was highlighting His “inability” to save Himself. Their hatred of Him manifested in one final twist of the screw: “Let the Messiah, the King of Israel” come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe.” Israel’s chief priests taunted their Messiah by challenging Him to deliver Himself from their scheming and Rome’s iron boot.

As I meditate and reflect on Mark’s Passion narrative, I do my best to place myself in these scenes. What would it have been like to witness this? What sounds would I hear? What smells? Just how uncomfortable would I have been? Mark did a masterful job throughout his Gospel of building the developments of Christ’s suffering to these moments in chapter 15, and I think it is only right for us to seek an understanding about what he is telling us to the fullest extent.