TRV
Augustine of Hippo
Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 7,530 passages across 62 books
Commentary
Mark 15:25
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
One Evangelist says that the Lord was crucified at the sixth hour, and another at the third hour. Unless we understand it, we are left wondering. When the sixth hour was already beginning, Pilate is said to have sat on the judgment seat. In reality when the Lord was lifted up upon the tree, it was the sixth hour…. They had killed him already at the time when they were crying out. The government officials at the sixth hour crucified, the transgressors of the law at the third hour cried out. That which some did with hands at the sixth hour, others did with tongue at the third hour. More guilty are they that with crying out were raging, than they that in obedience were serving.
Mark 15:26
And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
It goes on: And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Mark 15:27
And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.
Amid the courtroom of the cross, one robber who believed was freed, the other who insulted him was condemned. He was then signifying in advance what he would do concerning the living and the dead, putting some on his right and some on his left. The one robber was like to those who would be on the left; the other, to those who would be on the right. He who was being judged was anticipating final judgment.
Mark 15:31
Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.
Such he appeared on the cross, such when crowned with thorns did he exhibit himself, disfigured, and without comeliness, as if he had lost his power, as if not the Son of God. Such did he seem to the blind.
Mark 15:32
Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
(de Con. Evan. 3. 16) How can this be, when according to Luke one only reviled Him, but was rebuked by the other who believed on God; unless we understand that Matthew and Mark, who touched but slightly on this place, put the plural for the singular number?
Mark 15:33
· 2 passages
And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
The Lord was crucified at the third hour by the tongues of the populace, at the sixth hour by the hands of the soldiers. When Pilate took his seat before the tribunal, it was “about the sixth hour,” or early in the sixth hour. When Jesus was nailed to the tree between two thieves, it was the end of the sixth hour. It was between the sixth and ninth hour that the sun was obscured and the darkness prevailed, as we have it jointly attested on the authority of the three Evangelists Matthew, Mark and Luke.
(de Con. Evan. 3, 17) Luke added to this account the cause of the darkness, that is, the darkening of the sun.
Mark 15:34
· 2 passages
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
In his most compassionate humanity and through his servant form we may now learn what is to be despised in this life and what is to be hoped for in eternity. In that very passion in which his proud enemies seemed most triumphant, he took on the speech of our infirmity, in which “our sinful nature was crucified with him” that the body of sin might be destroyed, and said: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” … Thus the Psalm begins, which was sung so long ago, in prophecy of his passion and the revelation of the grace which he brought to raise up his faithful and set them free.
Out of the voice of the psalmist, which our Lord then transferred to himself, in the voice of this infirmity of ours, he spoke these words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He is doubtless forsaken in the sense that his plea was not directly granted. Jesus appropriated the psalmist’s voice to himself, the voice of human weakness. The benefits of the old covenant had to be refused in order that we might learn to pray and hope for the benefits of the new covenant. Among those goods of the old covenant which belonged to the old Adam there is a special appetite for the prolonging of this temporal life. But this appetite itself is not interminable, for we all know that the day of death will come. Yet all of us, or nearly all, strive to postpone it, even those who believe that their life after death will be a happier one. Such force has the sweet partnership of flesh and soul.
Mark 15:36
· 2 passages
And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.
Among the other things prophesied about him, it was also written, “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” We know in the gospel how these things happened. First, they gave him gall. He took it, tasted it, and spit it out. Later while hanging on the cross, that all prophecies might be fulfilled, he said, “I thirst.” They took a sponge full of vinegar, fastened it on a reed, and offered it to him as he hung there. He took it and said, “It is finished.” What does “It is finished” mean? All that had been prophesied before my passion has been fulfilled. What then is there still for me to do?
(ubi sup.) Matthew has not related, that the man who brought the sponge filled with vinegar, but that the others spoke about Elias; from whence we gather that both said it.
Mark 15:37
· 2 passages
And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
Those robbers crucified next to him, did they breathe their last when they wanted to? They were held fast by the chains of the flesh because they were not the creators of the flesh. Fastened by nails, they were tormented for a long time because they were not masters of their infirmity. But the Lord took on flesh in the virgin’s womb when he wished it. He came forth to humanity when he wished it. He lived in history as long as he wished it. He departed from the flesh when he wished it. This is a sign of power, not of necessity.
He departed by his [own] power; for he had not come by necessity. And so some marveled more at his power of dying than at his power of performing miracles.
Mark 15:39
And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.
(de Trin. 4, 13) This also he most of all wondered at, that after that voice which He sent forth as a figure of our sin, He immediately gave up His spirit. For the spirit of the Mediator showed that no penalty of sin could have had power to cause the death of His flesh; for it did not leave the flesh unwillingly, but as it willed, for it was joined to the Word of God in the unity of person.
Mark 15:40
· 2 passages
There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;
As they were “looking on,” so we too gaze on his wounds as he hangs. We see his blood as he dies. We see the price offered by the redeemer, touch the scars of his resurrection. He bows his head, as if to kiss you. His heart is made bare open, as it were, in love to you. His arms are extended that he may embrace you. His whole body is displayed for your redemption. Ponder how great these things are. Let all this be rightly weighed in your mind: as he was once fixed to the cross in every part of his body for you, so he may now be fixed in every part of your soul.
How can we understand the same Mary Magdalene both to have stood afar off along with other women as the accounts of Matthew and Mark bear, and to have been by the cross, as John tells us? It could have been the case that these women were at such a distance as made it quite natural to say at once that they were near because they were at hand there in the sight of him, and yet afar off in comparison with the crowd of people who were standing round about in closer vicinity along with the centurion and the soldiers. It is open for us, then, to suppose that those women who were present at the scene along with the Lord’s mother, after he commended her to the disciple, began then to retire with the view of extricating themselves from the dense mass of people, and from a greater distance looking on at what remained to be done.
Mark 15:42
And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
Scripture again witnesses that the space of those three days did not imply whole days in their entirety. Rather the first day is counted as whole from its last part, and the third day is itself also counted as a whole from its first part; but the intervening day, i.e., the second day, was absolutely whole with its twentyfour hours, twelve of the day and twelve of the night. For he was crucified first by the voices of the Jews in the third hour, when it was the sixth day of the week. Then he hung on the cross itself at the sixth hour, and yielded up his spirit at the ninth hour.
Mark 15:44
And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.
As the Gospel declares, those who were present particularly marveled at this: After the lament in which he expressed the figure of sin, he immediately gave up his spirit. For those who were suspended on the cross were tortured by a lingering death. Consequently, the legs of the thieves were broken, in order that they might quickly die and be taken down from the cross before the Sabbath. But that he was found to be already dead was a cause for amazement. And we read that Pilate also wondered at this, when the body of the Lord was asked of him for burial.
Mark 16:2
· 2 passages
And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
(Con. Evang. iii. 24) What Luke expresses by very early in the morning, and John by early when it was yet dark, Mark must be understood to mean, when he says, very early in the morning, at the rising of the sun, that is, when the sky was growing bright in the east, as is usual in places near the rising sun; for this is the light which we call the dawning. Therefore there is no discrepancy with the report which says, while it was yet dark. For when the day is dawning, the remains of darkness lessen in proportion as the light grows brighter; and we must not take the words very early in the morning, at the rising of the sun, to mean that the sun himself was seen upon the earth, but as expressing the near approach of the sun into those parts, that is, when his rising begins to light up the sky.
All the Gospels refer to the period when the heavens were just beginning to brighten in the east. This, of course, does not take place until the sunrise is at hand. For it is the brightness which is diffused by the rising sun that is familiarly designated by the name of the dawn. Mark does not contradict the other Evangelist who uses the phrase, "When it was yet dark." For as the day breaks, what remains of the darkness passes away just in proportion as the sun continues to rise.