Mark 15 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Death of Jesus

³³ And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. ³⁴ And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³⁵ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” ³⁶ And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” ³⁷ And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. ³⁸ And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. ³⁹ And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

⁴⁰ There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. ⁴¹ When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

Meditation

• The death of Jesus has been recorded in all four gospels. Different people reacted differently. Read this passage as if you were there in person, what did you see? Did you touch anything? Smell anything? Hear anything? What did you feel? How did you react?
• With a prayerful heart, read the following poem slowly.

Prayer

• With a grateful heart, read it very slowly as a prayer to God.

Thou has given so much to me,

Give me one more thing – a grateful heart.

Not thankful when it pleases me,  

As if Thy blessings had spare days.

But such a heart

Whose pulse may be Thy praise.                        – George Herbert