1 Early in the morning, the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the Law (that is, the whole Council or San hedrin) had their plan ready. They put Jesus in chains, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
2 Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “You say so.” 3 As the chief priests accused Jesus of many things, 4 Pilate asked him again, “Have you no answer at all? See how many charges they bring against you.” 5 But Jesus gave no further answers, so that Pilate wondered.
6 At every Passover festival, Pilate used to free any prisoner the people asked for. 7 Now there was a man called Barabbas, jailed with the rioters who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 When the crowd went up to ask Pilate the usual favor, 9 he said to them, “Do you want me to set free the King of the Jews?” 10 For he realized that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him out of envy. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask instead for the release of Barab bas. 12 Pilate replied, “And what shall I do with the man you call King of the Jews?” 13 The crowd shouted back, “Crucify him!” 14 Pilate asked, “What evil has he done?” But they shouted the louder, “Crucify him!”
15 As Pilate wanted to please the people, he freed Barabbas and after the flogging of Jesus had him handed over to be crucified.
16 The soldiers took him inside the courtyard known as the prae torium and called the rest of their companions. 17 They clothed him in a purple cloak and twisting a crown of thorns, they forced it onto his head. 18 Then they began saluting him, “Long life to the King of the Jews!” 19 With a stick they gave him blows on the head and spat on him; then they knelt down pretending to worship him.
20 When they had finished mocking him, they pulled off the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him.
The soldiers led him out of the city to crucify him. 21 On the way they met Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, who was coming in from the country, and forced him to carry the cross of Je sus.
22 When they had led him to the place called Golgotha, which means the Skull, 23 they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he would not take it. 24 Then they nailed him to the cross and divided his clothes among themselves, casting lots to decide what each should take.
25 It was about nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The statement of his offense was displayed above his head and it read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 They also crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.
29 People passing by laughed at him, shook their head and jeered, “Aha! So you are able to tear down the Temple and build it up again in three days. 30 Now save yourself and come down from the cross!”
31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the Law mocked him saying to one another, “The man who saved others cannot save him self. 32 Let’s see the Mes siah, the king of Israel, come down from his cross and then we will be lieve in him.” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus insulted him.
33 When noon came, darkness fell over the whole land and lasted until three o’clock; 34 and at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabach thani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?” 35 As soon as they heard these words, some of the bystanders said, “Listen! He is calling for Elijah.” 36 And one of them went quickly to fill a sponge with bitter wine and, putting it on a reed, gave him to drink saying, “Now let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”
37 But Jesus uttered a loud cry and gave up his spirit. 38 And immediately the curtain that enclosed the Temple sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.
39 The captain who was standing in front of him saw how Jesus died and heard the cry he gave; and he said, “Truly, this man was the Son of God.”
40 There were also some women watching from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and Joset and Salome, 41 who had followed Jesus when he was in Galilee and saw to his needs. There were also others who had come up with him to Je ru salem.
42 It was now evening and as it was Preparation Day, that is the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea boldly went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Joseph was a respected member of the Council who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God.
44 Pilate was surprised that Jesus should have died so soon; so he summoned the captain and inquired if Jesus was already dead. 45 After hearing the captain, he let Joseph have the body.
46 Joseph took it down and wrap p ed it in the linen sheet he had bought. He laid the body in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock and rolled a stone across the entrance to the tomb. 47 Now Mary of Mag dala and Mary the mother of Joset took note of where the body had been laid.
In verse 8 there is an abrupt ending to Mark's Gospel. We were looking forward to the meeting between Jesus and the apostles in Galilee, but it does not take place. Why? We do not know. We find only a series of brief references to Jesus' appearances after his resurrection.
Proclaim the Good News to all creation. The Good News is the seed that will be planted in the world and will flourish, in its proper time, in every field of human endeavor. Salvation is not a matter of saving isolated souls or individual beings. The Gospel is to be proclaimed to all creation in all activities and acts of those who have been renewed by baptism. They are to be the yeast that transforms human history.
THE NAME OF JESUS
On the day of his resurrection, Jesus' human nature begins to participate fully in divine Glory (Rom 1:1). Jesus now asks us to believe in his Name, that is, in the divine power he has just received and that works through him.
The Name is a word that has little or no meaning for us. For the Jews it meant the active presence of God. This term allowed them to speak of God's mysterious presence in the world without disregarding his greatness. The Bible does not say that God walked with the Hebrews toward the promised land (for God does not walk); instead it says that his Name or his Face (Ex 33:14) was among them. God's presence could not be confined within his temple, but the Bible says that his Name dwelt in this temple, from whence he blessed all the activities of his people (1 K 8:27).
The Name, thus, means divine presence or power. Paul says that the resurrected Jesus has received this Name that outshines any other (Phil 2:9). God the Father has given it to him and Jesus, who has received it, is not less than him, since whatever belongs to his Father is now his as well. Jesus does not receive glory as one receives a title or an honor (as already proclaimed in Is 9:5), for divine glory can be granted only to God. If he receives a divine title, it is because he actually received divinity from the Father in the beginning - divinity is his very being.
Thus, Jesus is as much God as the Father, but he is so in a different way, by receiving everything from God who possesses all. That is why it is written that his Name is the Son (Heb 1:4). When we speak to the Father in the Name of Jesus, this means much more than bolstering ourselves with his merits (Heb 5:9) or making use of his valuable intercession (Heb 7:25). We present ourselves as sons and daughters, knowing that God embraces us with the same paternal love he has for his own Beloved One (Eph 1:6).
From then on our Lord Jesus Christ, with divine power, begins little by little to direct human history and the personal path of each one of us to himself. The apostles were sent into the world to heal and sanctify it. The miracles and healings are not ends in themselves; they are only signs and means. The goal of evangelization is that all creation may be gathered around the person of the Son-of-God-become-human, through the power of his Spirit. "Do not fear," the Lord says, "my Church is not a shelter against the world, its temptations and problems; rather each of you is baptized to be an apostle."
Signs like these will accompany those who have believed. The Acts of the Apostles reports these signs and miracles. Even today they can be seen wherever Christians fulfill their mission of evangelizing the world.