(Mark) War Club Tells the Good Story 15
15
TAKEN TO THE PEOPLE OF IRON
1As the sun began to rise, the head holy men counseled together with the tribal elders, the scroll keepers, and the Grand Council. Then with ropes they bound Creator Sets Free (Jesus) once again and took him to Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate).
Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) was the local governor representing the People of Iron (Romans). He had the power to decide who would live and who would die.
2“Are you the chief of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel)?” he asked Creator Sets Free (Jesus).
3“You have said it,” he answered as the head holy men kept accusing him.
4“Why are you silent?” Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) said to him. “Do you not hear all their accusations?”
5But, to the amazement of the governor, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered not one word.
WHO SHOULD BE RELEASED?
6It was a tradition during the Passover festival to release to the crowd one criminal, whomever they wanted. 7At that time they were holding a man in prison, a killer who had been part of an uprising against the People of Iron (Romans), whose name was Son of His Father (Barabbas). 8So the crowd began to ask Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) to release a prisoner.
9The governor raised his voice and asked the crowd, “Should I release to you the chief of your tribal nation?”
10He said this because he knew the head holy men and elders had handed over Creator Sets Free (Jesus) because they were jealous of his reputation with the people. 11But the head holy men and the elders stirred the crowd into asking for Son of His Father (Barabbas) to be released instead.
12“What then would you have me do with the one you call chief of your tribal nation?” he asked them again.
13“Nail him to the cross!” they shouted with one voice.
14“Why? What wrong has he done to deserve this?” he said back to them.
But they only shouted louder and stronger, “Nail him to the cross!”
CONDEMNED TO DIE
15So Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate), to satisfy the crowd, released the man of violence, Son of His Father (Barabbas), to them. He then turned over the man of peace, Creator Sets Free (Jesus), to the soldiers to be whipped with cowhide strips and then nailed to a tree-pole—the cross.
The People of Iron (Romans) used a whip with many strips of leather, each braided together with bone and metal. The victim would be tied to a large rock, exposing his bare back, and then whipped. The pieces of bone and metal would rip and tear the skin from the body, leaving the victim almost lifeless.
16The soldiers took Creator Sets Free (Jesus) away into the great hall of the governor’s lodge, and all the soldiers gathered around him. 17They wrapped a purple chief blanket around him and twisted together a headdress from a thorn bush and pressed it onto his head.
18“Honor! Honor! To the chief of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel),” they said, mocking him 19as they bowed to the ground in front of him. Then they spit on him and beat his head over and over again with a wooden staff.
HIS TRAIL OF TEARS
20When they were finished putting on their big show, they stripped him of the purple chief blanket and dressed him in his own clothes.
The soldiers forced Creator Sets Free (Jesus) to carry a heavy wooden crossbeam on his back. He stumbled under the weight, because he was weak from the beating he had endured, too weak to bear the burden.
But they continued to march him down the road to the place where they would nail him to the cross.
21On the way they came across a man who was just passing by, coming in from the countryside. The man’s name was Listening Man (Simon), the father of Man Fighter (Alexander) and Red Man (Rufus). The soldiers forced him to carry the heavy crossbeam for Creator Sets Free (Jesus).
NAILED TO THE CROSS
The cross was an instrument of torture and terror, used by the People of Iron (Romans) to strike fear into the hearts of any who dared to rise up against their empire. The victim’s hands and feet would be pierced with large iron nails, fastening them to the tree-pole. The victims would hang there, sometimes for days, until they were dead. This was one of the most cruel and painful ways to die ever devised by human beings.
22They brought Creator Sets Free (Jesus) to the Place of the Skull (Golgotha). 23There they gave him wine mixed with bitter herbs, but he would not drink it. 24Then they stripped him of his clothes and nailed him to a wooden tree-pole—the cross—and gambled for his clothes by drawing straws to see who would win.
25It was the third hour of the day when they nailed him to the cross. 26Carved above his head onto a piece of wood was the accusation against him:
CHIEF OF THE TRIBES OF WRESTLES WITH CREATOR
27They also nailed two thieves to their own crosses, one to his right, the other to his left. 28And so this gave full meaning to the Sacred Teachings that said, “He will be counted among the outlaws.”#15:28 Isaiah 53:12. Some less ancient manuscripts omit verse 28.
MOCKED BY HIS OWN PEOPLE
29The people passing by wagged their heads and heaped insults on him.
“Aha!” they laughed out loud. “So you can destroy the sacred lodge and build it again in three days! Can you? 30Why not come down from that cross and save yourself?”
31The head holy men along with the scroll keepers also mocked him.
“He set others free,” they said, “but he cannot even set himself free! 32Let the Chosen One, the Chief of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel), come down from the cross now. Then we will believe.”
The men on crosses to his left and right also heaped insults upon him.
33At the sixth hour of the day, when the sun was high, darkness covered the whole land like a blanket for three hours.
HE CRIES OUT IN SORROW
34At the ninth hour Creator Sets Free (Jesus), speaking in his own language, cried out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”—which means, “O Great Spirit, my Creator, why have you left me alone?”
35Some of the people standing there heard him and said, “He is calling on the prophet, Great Spirit Is Creator (Elijah), to help him.”
36Someone then ran and soaked a cloth with bitter wine, put it on a staff, held it to his mouth, and said, “Wait, let us see if Great Spirit Is Creator (Elijah) will come and take him down.”
HE BREATHES HIS LAST
37Then Creator Sets Free (Jesus), with his dying breath, lifted his voice and with a loud cry gave up his spirit.
38 At that very moment in the sacred lodge, the great heavy blanket that hung over the entry to the Most Holy Place was torn from top to bottom.
For the first time the inner chamber, where only the chief holy man could go, was open to all.
39When the head soldier of the People of Iron (Romans), who was standing in front of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), saw how he died, he said, “This man must truly be the Son of the Great Spirit!”
THE WOMEN WHO WALKED WITH HIM
40Watching from a distance were some of the women who had walked the road with him. Among them was Strong Tears (Mary) of the village of Creator’s High Lodge (Magdala), Brooding Tears (Mary) the mother of He Takes Charge (James) the Small One and He Increases (Joses), and Peaceful Woman (Salome). 41These were some of the women who had served Creator Sets Free (Jesus) during the times when he was at Circle of Nations (Galilee). There were also many others who had made the journey with him to Village of Peace (Jerusalem).
PREPARING FOR HIS BURIAL
42The sun would soon set, ending the Day of Preparation, and marking the beginning of the Day of Resting. 43He Gets More (Joseph) from the tribal village of High Mountain (Arimathea), who was also looking for Creator’s good road, was a respected member of the Grand Council. He found the courage to ask Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) for the body of Creator Sets Free (Jesus).
44Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) was surprised to hear that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had already died, so he summoned the head soldier and asked how long he had been dead. 45Once he was assured that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was truly dead, Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) released his body to He Gets More (Joseph).
46He took the dead body down from the cross and wrapped it in a soft blanket in the traditional way. He laid the body of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) in a burial cave freshly cut from the rock hillside and then rolled a large stone in front of the cave.
47Strong Tears (Mary) of the village of Creator’s High Lodge (Magdala) and Brooding Tears (Mary) the mother of He Increases (Joses) were nearby watching closely where the body of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had been laid.
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(Mark) War Club Tells the Good Story 15: FNVNT
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