And the scripture was fulfilled, which said, And he was numbered with the transgressors.
All Commentaries on Mark 15:28 Go To Mark 15
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
De. Con. Evan., iii, 11: This we must understand to be what Matthew expresses by, “mixed with gall”; for he put gall for anything bitter, and wine mingled with myrrh is most bitter; although there may have been both gall and myrrh to make the wine most bitter.
That which follows, “But He received it not,” must mean, He received it not to drink, but only tasted it, as Matthew witnesses. And what the same Matthew relates, “He would not drink, "Mark expresses by, “He received it not,” but was silent as to His tasting it.
Quaest. Vet. et Nov. Test. 65: Therefore he wishes to imply that is was the Jews who passed sentence concerning the crucifixion of Christ at the third hour; for every condemned person is considered as dead, from the moment that sentence is passed upon him. Mark therefore showed that our Saviour was not crucified by the sentence of the judge, because it is difficult to prove the innocence of a man so condemned.
Still there are not wanting persons who assert that the preparation, mentioned by John, “Now it was the preparation about the sixth hour,” was really the third hour of the day. Forthey say that on that day before the sabbath day, there was a preparation of the passover of the Jews, because on that sabbath, they began the unleavened bread; but however that the true passover, which is now celebrated on the day of our Lord’s Passion, that is, the Christian not the Jewish passover, began tobe prepared, or to have its “parasceue”, from that sixth hour of the night, when His death began to be prepared by the Jews; for “parasceue” means preparation. Between that hour therefore of the night and His crucifixion occurs the sixth hour of preparation, according to John, and the third hour of the day, according to Mark. What Christian would not give in to this solution of the question, provided that we could find some circumstance, from which wemight gather that this preparation of our Passover, that is, of the death of Christ, began at the ninth hour of the night? For if we say that it began when our Lord was taken by the Jews, it was still early in the night, but if when our Lord was carried away to the house of the father in law of Caiaphas, where also He was heard by the chief priests, the cock had not crowed; but if when Hewas given up to Pilate, it is very plain that it was morning. It remains therefore that we must understand the preparation of our Lord’s death to have commenced when all the Chief Priests pronounced, “He is guilty of death.” For there is nothing absurd in supposing that was the ninth hour of the night, so that we may understand that Peter’s denial is put out of its order after it really happened. It goes on: “And the superscription of His accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
