Mark 15

vs 16

Because he was about to give a speech, perhaps?

vs 17

No, apparently to torture him. Soldiers were official torturers, it seems - one imagines you had to be probably a little bloodthirsty to take the job back then. If only it were different now - soldiering does funny things to people, even in the most advanced and disciplined armies in the world.

vs 18

For them of course, it was less a religious thing, and more an opportunity for them to assert Roman dominance over what could be seen as a political activist against Rome. Which Jesus never was. Oops. Still, what someone is and what you can make them out to be are two different things, and only the latter really is important for propaganda.

vs 19

It's some serious mockery, and one assumes it was done publicly enough for everyone to see that the 'king of the Jews' was a joke, crushed under the Roman military sandal.

vs 20

Then they led him out to crucify him. See, I think Pilate would have been happy with the mockery and the beating. Those, nasty as they seem to us today, were just a fact of life back then. Sure, you might not have always been guilty, but a quick institutional beating might make everyone happy, and you get to go home. But Jesus doesn't get to go home.

vs 21

And he becomes forever remembered.

vs 22

There are arguments about where this is. There is an awesome cave in Jerusalem somewhere that really does look like a skull (Google it), but it could be somewhere else.

vs 23

This is one of those verses that does not directly correlate with other verses - my understanding is, though, that this is an offering of a painkiller, so that the nailing etc is not so bad, whereas later offers of wine vinegar are different.

vs 24

We sometimes spend a lot of focus on where nails went, how painful it was, how someone died, because for us it's gruesome. But this was a regular occurrence in the ancient world, and so it passes with this simple message - they crucified him. To think that such a death penalty, not used anywhere in the world any more as far I know, would remain well-known for millennia because of its use here.

vs 25

I have no idea how the time works in the ancient world, it always confuses me. I like this translation - I know when 9am is. The oKJV says "the third hour", which is probably more literal, but meaningless to me.

vs 26

Once again, political points-scoring means the Romans put up a sign saying that this man is being killed because he is King of the Jews. That no doubt caused a little consternation.

vs 27-28

Very interestingly, the TNIV drops 27 and 28, but includes some words from 27 in 26. So that's confusing.

vs 29

Because, of course, it is the right of every person to mock someone who is dying. It's just what you do... I guess. Perhaps they felt betrayed - like they had put some hope in Jesus, and now he obviously was not their messiah.

vs 30

This is the classic argument of all people in all things where they do not understand. They base success on some specific model - for example, to be messiah, you have to be victorious at the head of an army - and so therefore any other thing you do will be failure.

Having said that, being put on a cross does look a lot like failure. But we should remember God likes using failure type things to succeed. It makes him more awesome.