Nathan Eubank, «Dying with Power. Mark 15,39 from Ancient to Modern Interpretation», Vol. 95 (2014) 247-268
This article examines the reception-history of Mark 15,39 to shed new light on this pivotal and disputed verse. Mark's earliest known readers emended the text to clarify the centurion's feelings about Jesus and to explain how the centurion came to faith. Copyists inserted references to Jesus' final yell around the same time that patristic commentators were claiming that this yell was a miracle that proved Jesus' divinity, an interpretation which was enshrined in the Byzantine text and the Vulgate. The article concludes that a 'sarcastic' reading is a more adequate description of 15,39 as found in B, NA28 etc.
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DYING WITH POWER 263
Another striking example appears when members of the San-
hedrin, while spitting on and striking Jesus, demand that he proph-
esy for them (14,65). At the story level we see Jesus being mocked
for claiming to be the Christ. But at the discourse level it is clear
the soldiers themselves are at that moment unknowingly fulfilling
Jesus’ prophecies that he would be mocked and spit upon by the
leaders of the people (10,33-34; cf. also 8,31; 9,12, 31). Then, in
the very next verse, Mark turns to the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy
that Peter would deny him three times (14,66-72; cf. 14,30). Thus,
the Sanhedrin proves Jesus to be a prophet by mocking him as a
false prophet.
The ironic tension between story and discourse continues when
an entire cohort of soldiers gathers together, dresses Jesus in purple,
gives him a crown, hails him as king, and genuflects before him
(15,16-20). Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 315-386) noted the contrast be-
tween the intentions of the soldiers and the flow of the narrative:
The soldiers crowding around mock him, and the Lord becomes a
sport to them, and the master is mocked. “They see me, they wag their
heads” [Ps 109,25]. Yet the figure of kingly dignity appears. For
though they mock, they do bend the knee! And before they crucify
him the soldiers clothe him in purple and set a crown on his head – so
what that it is of thorns? Every king is proclaimed by soldiers. It was
necessary also for Jesus to be crowned figuratively by soldiers 44.
Only Mark’s readers can see Jesus’ parodic enthronement is an actual
one, complete with obligatory obeisance from soldiers.
After Jesus is crucified nearly every word of the narrative is
heavy with this same sort of irony. Jesus is lifted up high with a
revolutionary on his right and left, parodying a royal retinue (cf.
10,35-45) 45. The soldiers divide up Jesus’ clothes, and passers-by
mock him, shaking their heads and jeering at his inability to save
himself. For the characters in the narrative this is simple taunting,
but both the head-wagging and jeering of the passers-by as well as
the callous vulturing of the soldiers allude to Psalm 22, a fact that
hints that these events are taking place according to the Scriptures.
44
Catecheses ad illuminandos, 13.17.
45
See J. MUDDIMAN, “The Glory of Jesus: Mark 10.37”, The Glory of
Christ in the New Testament (eds. L.D. HURST – N.T. WRIGHT) (Oxford –
New York 1987) 51-58.