Mark 15: 'Crucify him!'

Captain Callum McKenna reflects on a cry for blood.

Key texts

• Mark 15:1-15

‘Daddy, would you rather be able to teleport or time travel?’ asked our then eight-year-old, freshly armed with a Would You Rather? book. Caught off guard, I spent far too long pondering time-space theory before settling on teleportation … then changing my mind to time travel.

The next question: ‘Would you rather go without shampoo or toothpaste for ever?’ This was much easier for someone as follicularly challenged as I am. However, many of the questions that followed were the kind I dread – choices with no clear right answer, designed to provoke indecision. Some decisions can feel almost impossible.

Pause and reflect

• Can you think of a time when you had to make a genuinely hard decision – one where every option felt costly?

Mark’s account of Jesus’ trial before Pilate is filled with decisions, which are far more pressing than my hypothetical dilemmas. The choices concern who Jesus really is and the implications of this for our own discipleship. Each person in the story – the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the Law and the whole Sanhedrin, Pilate, and those in the crowd – must decide how they will respond to Jesus. Their decisions hold up a mirror to us about our own choices.

Pause and reflect

• What different decisions do you notice being made by the various parties in the study passage?

By the time we reach Mark 15, the direction of the story is clear. Jesus has consistently been presented as the Messiah, whose mission is shaped by the cross. He has called each of his followers to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow him. This shapes how we are to read the trial before Pilate. Although events appear to be spiralling out of control – with political powers and angry crowds determining Jesus’ fate – Mark invites us to see something else at work, as God’s redemptive purpose unfolds even through injustice and chaos. The question for those who have watched Jesus closely is whether they will still follow when the cost has become apparent, when the heat is on.

The chief priests have clearly decided against Jesus (see v3). Throughout Mark’s Gospel, we note the growing tension as Jesus confronts the religious authorities by exposing the corruption of their Temple system and their hollow religiosity (see Mark 11:15–18). Faced with Jesus’ challenge, they conclude that he must be the one in the wrong. Therefore, he must be dealt with. Their decision against Jesus highlights a temptation we face too – to reject Jesus and treat him as the problem when his truth threatens our authority, comfort or assumptions.

Pause and reflect

• In what areas of our lives might we be tempted to try to silence Christ?

Pilate represents the next type of decision in this account – indecision. His primary concern seems not to be justice or a fair trial, but for stability on the political scene. He settles on what is convenient and the need to get through the Passover season without unrest.

We see that Pilate glimpses the truth about Jesus as he questions him directly: ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ (v2). He discerns the Temple leadership’s true motives of envy and self-interest (see v10). He even acknowledges the injustice of the situation (see v14). Yet, such insights do not lead him to act. Instead, Pilate hands responsibility to the crowd.

Pilate’s tragic indecision is a warning to us about the danger of half-hearted conviction and the disastrous outcomes that ensue when we recognise the truth but choose convenience, safety or self-interest instead.

Pause and reflect

• When faith calls for courageous discipleship, why might we be tempted to remain neutral or silent?

The crowd embodies a third response – choosing the easy option. Pilate’s indecision proffers the people a choice between Barabbas, an insurrectionist convicted of murder, and Jesus. It’s striking how easy this choice seems to be for them. Both figures have promised the crowd liberation and deliverance from Roman rule. The stark difference is that Barabbas believes that this can be achieved by violent and murderous revolution whereas, for Jesus, such salvation will be achieved on crossshaped terms. The crowd’s choice of Barabbas, and their confident cries of ‘crucify’ directed at Jesus, is them choosing what looks like the easy way – liberation on their terms and conforming to their expectations. Yet the decisions that look easy or appealing in the short-term rarely yield the fruit they promise.

Pause and reflect

• How do cultural expectations of power and success shape our understanding of salvation?

As a nine-year-old in the singing company at my home corps, we used to sing with confidence the chorus ‘I Have Decided to Follow Jesus’. I’m thankful for those early decisions and the people who helped shape them. However, the older I get, the more I wonder about the past tense of that song. Discipleship isn’t a moment of decision, but rather a lifetime of positive choices to follow Jesus all the time.

Every day we are faced with decisions about what it means to choose to follow Jesus. Will we, like the Temple leaders, reject Jesus when his Kingdom threatens our power or comfort? Will we, like Pilate, recognise the truth but choose safety and approval over costly obedience? Will we, like the crowd, prefer an easier, more familiar vision of salvation to the demanding way of the cross?

Following Jesus means deciding again and again whether we will accept Jesus’ way of the cross and embrace a life of self-denial and dedication. Will you join me?

I have decided to follow Jesus…

The world behind me, the cross

before me…

Though none go with me, still I

will follow...

No turning back, no turning back.