Easter through the Eyes of a Terrified Peter -- a study of Mark 15:33-16:8
- mww
- Apr 17
- 16 min read
Jesus' resurrection is the most shocking event in history.
Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for Mark 15:33-16:8
The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in human history and the foundation of everything we believe and are as Christians. This year at Easter, I propose that we look at it through the lens of Peter, whose experience that day changed him into the bold leader of the church that Jesus charged him to care for.
But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee (16:7)
A Grab Bag of Content
For Easter 2025, we are studying Mark 15:33-16:8; we have studied those verses in different combinations at least twice in the past few years. This makes "not repeating myself" almost impossible, but I'll try.
In defense of Lifeway's choice of passage -- a resurrection passage that doesn't follow our ongoing study of 1 Peter --
The "Easter Only" crowd (which we hope comes to Sunday school!) won't know that we've been reading 1 Peter.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is basically the most important event in human history and the foundation of our faith; we can't study it too much.
Here are links to those other posts. If you need additional help prepping for this week's Easter lesson, I suggest skimming through them.
Post #1: Mark 15:24-39
Primary topics:
What is crucifixion?
How to summarize the Bible
The importance of the cross
That post also includes a question I still find fascinating:
What would have happened if Jesus had indeed decided to come down off the cross?
Post #2: Mark 16:1-20
Primary topics:
A summary of all of my Easter/resurrection posts
A harmony of the Gospels
The "longer ending of Mark"
That post works on understanding and empathizing with the women. Have you ever been made nervous by an important decision or encounter?
Post #3: Mark 15:42-16:8
Primary topics:
Why the resurrection is so important
Joseph of Arimathea
Angels
That post tries to correct some common misunderstandings about angels.
Getting Started: Things to Think About
Christmas or Easter?
This kind of "debate topic" will obviously work better with some groups than others. What's your more favorite (favoriter?) holiday: Christmas or Easter? And why?
But then you have to give a follow-up question: Which Christian holiday is more important: Christmas or Easter? And why?
I want y'all to think about this seriously, and I'm only going to offer one data point: the early church did not celebrate Christmas at all, and they celebrated the Resurrection every week. What do we do with that?
The Biggest Surprise You've Ever Had
We all know that the women (and the apostles) should not have been surprised that Jesus rose from the dead. But that didn't make them any less surprised.
So, what's the biggest surprise you've ever had? And, if we're staying on form, were there clues along that way that should have tipped you off?
Two Truths and a Lie
I subscribe to the free newsletter "Morning Brew". Every Thursday, they have a game called "Three Headlines and a Lie"; here are a few copies of it:
From March 6: 2025: Three of these headlines are real and one is faker than an early Midwest spring. Can you spot the odd one out?
Bill Murray says this golf book is helping him lower his handicap
Why was Red Sox OF Rob Refsnyder name-dropped on TV’s ‘Reacher’? He’s as confused as anyone
The tofu industry is trying to get in on competitive eating. One man stands in its way
Florida jewelry thief swallows $770K worth of Tiffany earrings just before arrest, police say
ANSWER
We made up the one about competitive tofu eating.
From May 2, 2024: Three of these headlines are real and one is faker than whatever’s cooking on a gas station roller. Can you spot the odd one out?
A startup hoping to bring back landlines has no employees who have used a landline
A little girl said monsters were in her bedroom. It was 60,000 bees
Wally the emotional support alligator stolen during trip to Georgia, released into swamp
The mysterious ‘dark’ energy that permeates the universe is slowly eroding
ANSWER
We made up the one about the landline startup.
From April 3, 2025: Three of these headlines are real and one is faker than a weird Chapstick flavor some food conglomerate tried to prank the internet with on April Fools’ Day. Can you spot the odd one out?
Cheeseburgers and chicken so far fail to entice a rescue dog who’s spent weeks on the run in Alaska
Old-school metal braces are making a comeback
Popular Japanese restaurant chain to shut 2,000 branches after rat found in soup
High demand with too few Zumba instructors has gyms looking to high schoolers
ANSWER
We made up the one about the Zumba instructors.
It's of course based on the classic icebreaker game, "Two Truths and a Lie". It's a simple game that really doesn't need any instruction, and certainly not any advice on how to construct a believable lie. (Parade can ruin anything.)
Morning Brew's version of the game puts a fun twist on it; news can be anywhere about anything, and they make fake news sound plausible (I get it right maybe once a month).
I challenge you to take on your group with a "Three Headlines and a Lie" of your own. Can you convince your group of a headline that's fake?
A lot of skeptics will point to our ability to fall for fake news as "proof" that the women (and/or apostles) made up the story about Jesus rising from the dead. So, as we study this week's passage, make some notes about the details that make you believe this event happened. Point them out as you go through the lesson.
Where We Are in 1 Pe..... er, Mark
This week, being Easter Sunday, we are studying a standalone lesson on one of the resurrection passages. But that doesn't mean you can't bring what we've been learning in 1 Peter into this week's lesson!
Every week, I try to bring something to my own Bible study group that isn't in the post. This past Sunday, it was "the difference between Paul and Peter". Last week, we read Peter's wonderfully simple instruction to leave your life of sin in the flesh and instead live and serve in the power of God. I compared that with Paul's amazing take on this same topic in Galatians 5. For me personally, I can "follow" Paul's argument and explanation a little better than Peter's -- it's an undeniable philosophical truth about the difference between "flesh" and "spirit". Peter, on the other hand, always traces things back to "this is what Jesus did; this is how Jesus lived; we ought to emulate Him". Equally undeniable; just different.
Why are the two different? Why do you think? Peter was Jesus' disciple for the entire time of Jesus' earthly ministry. Paul came around much later, after Jesus had already ascended into heaven. Paul didn't have those personal experiences.
With that in mind, I'd love for y'all to read this week's passage with the additional question: "How did what Peter experienced on Easter morning affect his future ministry?"
Mark's version (and remember, we believe that Mark picked up most of his content from Peter's sermons!) has a few different details than the others. You really don't have time to dive into that comparison this week, but if you're interested, you can look at my other posts linked above.
This Week's Big Idea: Fear and Boldness
In my opinion, the biggest overlap between Peter's letter and Mark's Gospel comes at the end of the passage. It's important enough that I want to put it at the beginning of my notes.
At the end of Mark's Gospel (remember, I believe the "longer ending" was added by a later scribe; see above if you want to learn more), the women don't immediately go and tell the disciples what they had seen. Instead, they remained silent, terrified.
This is a far cry different from the kind of follower Peter describes in his letter, isn't it? Peter talks about being bold, about not giving into fear, about following Jesus without hesitation. Why would he endorse "his" Gospel to end so underwhelmingly?
You'll have to pull in what you know about the other Gospel accounts. While the women are going to the tomb, what is Peter doing?
What is Peter's last earthly interaction with Jesus (John 21)?
Based on those truths, why do you think Peter writes to those churches about boldness? Is he, perhaps, being truly sympathetic and encouraging?
Part 1: Crucified and Mocked (Mark 15:33-36)
33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” 35 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “See, he’s calling for Elijah.” 36 Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, fixed it on a stick, offered him a drink, and said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
I find it strange that Lifeway titled this section "Mocked" -- the mocking took place in the verses immediately preceding. These verses are about Jesus dying and how the people immediately around reacted to it.
Your Lifeway material (and every study Bible) gives an explanation of the time references. Jesus was hung on the cross at 9:00 AM, darkness covered the land at 12:00 PM, and Jesus died at 3:00 PM. Primary takeaways, we note that Jesus hung on the cross for 6 hours -- the longest 6 hours in the history of existence. The "noon" reference also clarifies that any darkness must have been supernaturally caused (think the 9th plague of Egypt).
In His death throes, Jesus cited Psalm 22. People who haven't memorized the Bible probably don't appreciate that when someone in the Bible quotes a verse, they are accurately using it in context. Jesus quoting a verse of a psalm means that He was thinking about the entire psalm.
(Today, we can't even cite song lyrics in context. "Born in the USA", anyone?)
We will hear much of Psalm 22 on Thursday night in our Lord's Supper service. If you're not there, you'll want to read it in its entirety. The psalmist (in this case David) is at the end of his rope, surrounded by his enemies, and feeling abandoned by God. But even in those terrible circumstances, he still has faith that God can deliver him!
So, had Jesus been forsaken by God, or was He proclaiming His hope in God's deliverance? Well, both. Remember that Jesus "knew God's plan" -- He was part of authoring it. He "volunteered" to be the atoning sacrifice for our sin:
He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5:21)
Only in this could our sins be forgiven while God's holiness remained uninjured. That means that Jesus was truly separated from God the Father as part of God's wrath against sin. We cannot comprehend that loss.
But Jesus also believed that God's love for Him would overcome even separation in death (see my cite of John 10 below). Jesus' resurrection from the dead would be the ultimate validation of His righteousness and the proof of salvation in His name (which is a big part of the reason why "resurrection" is a fundamental part of the Christian faith).
So that's a lot packed into a dying man's dying words!
Leave it to a bloodthirsty crowd to miss the point completely.
In Hebrew, the name Eli means "My God"; in Aramaic, the pronunciation shifts slightly to "Eloi". In any event, the name Elijah means "My God is Yahweh". So when Jesus cries out to "My God", the not-entirely-theologically-astute crowd thought He was crying out to Elijah. The Lifeway material mentions a first-century belief that Elijah the prophet would help Jews in need (see Mark 6:14-15), noting that some of the hateful crowd would have been Jewish.
That led somebody to give Jesus some sour wine. This is a pretty representative sketch of what people think of when they think "the crucifixion". Please excuse the anachronisms; it was sketched in 1835, and they didn't really have a strong sense of "period correctness". The people being crucified might have been a little lower to the ground, but they would have been too high for someone to reach by hand. (Romans wanted crucifixion victims to make a political statement to everyone around.)
Why would someone offer Jesus sour wine and then make a comment about Elijah? Seems ... odd.
Well, everyone in the crowd would have formed an opinion about Jesus, and everyone would have known that He was a miracle-worker. That implies that some people who thought He was falsely accused wanted Him to live, some who thought He was a blasphemer wanted Him to die, but others were genuinely curious what would happen. Yes, there is some mockery in this statement about Elijah, but I think we can believe that some of the crowd (and even some of the soldiers, who would have allowed this action) wanted Jesus to stay alive, hoping that He would "do something dramatic". The wine vinegar might have done a little to quench thirst and also deaden pain, enabling the body to continue.
[Note: to be fair, Jesus had been beaten far more than most crucifixion victims, so He was covered by open wounds. The wine vinegar might have been given precisely to cause Him pain via the vinegar dripping into His wounds, or the person might not have been thinking about that, giving Jesus whatever beverage was handy.]
For discussion purposes, here are some focal topics:
This was an unbearably long six hours.
Crucifixion was designed to be utterly humiliating; on top of that, the people around Jesus were also mocking His faith and His Bible (so to speak).
The darkness hints at God's mournful observation.
Make sure your group makes the connection with what we've been studying in 1 Peter:
1 Pet 3:21 For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth; 23 when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
How did Peter connect Jesus' unjust condemnation and crucifixion with the Christian's life?
The Seven Sayings of Christ
Luke 23:34
Luke 23:43
John 19:26-27
Matthew 27:46
John 19:28
John 19:30
Luke 23:46
This is worth your time. You may not have time to do this on Sunday morning, so I recommend a few minutes of "self prep".
The Gospels each emphasize a different statement made by Jesus while on the cross. I don't think you need to go into why an author would include one and not another (there are full-length books on the subject), but you might try to put them in sequence. What is the totality of what Jesus said on the cross?
Part 2: Jesus' Death (Mark 15:37-39)
37 Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 Then the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion, who was standing opposite him, saw the way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
I'm hesitant about the title "Killed" used by Lifeway here.
John 10:14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.
Jesus allowed Himself to be sacrificed.
I think the "loud cry" says more about Jesus' control over the situation than "breathed His last" -- everyone eventually takes a final breath before death. But the loud cry combined with the final breath implies that Jesus made the decision to die. Death did not overtake Him. With His final breath, He uttered a loud cry. That cry was probably either "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit" (Luke 23:46) or "It is finished" (John 19:30). Death did not sneak up on Him; there was nothing left that He was unable to say.
I agree with the majority of commentators that Mark was referring to the inner curtain of the Temple -- the curtain separating the Most Holy Place -- symbolizing that there was no more separation between God and man; sinful humanity no longer needed to make sacrifices for one priest to approach the mercy seat -- Jesus had opened wide the path for all believers to approach the throne of God with confidence.
[Note: I've always wondered how the Jewish leaders covered that up. It's not like people wouldn't notice that the curtain had been torn in two! They could strictly control who would be able to see it, but they couldn't make it go away. I think that the Jewish leaders had just as much "faith" that Jesus wasn't the Son of God as the disciples that He was.]
And then there's the Roman centurion (once bewilderingly played by John Wayne in a movie). A centurion was a non-commissioned officer in command of a "century" (100 soldiers). The Gospels put multiple centurions in a positive light (helping the readers to see that even Gentiles "deserved" to hear the gospel), which is why I think that this centurion was declaring Jesus "the Son of God" in a divine sense.
To be fair, Augustus Caesar accepted the title, "The Son of God", so some skeptics claim that the centurion was giving Jesus a similar respect as to the emperor.
But a Catholic author did a good job of convincing me that even if you try to say that the centurion was thinking in terms of "Roman divinity", the centurion was still saying that Jesus, not the emperor, was the true "Son of God".
In other words, even if he didn't know exactly what "Son of God" meant, the centurion was still making a powerful statement on par with "Jesus is Lord, not Caesar".
But I like what "The Chosen" has done, making Romans intimately aware of Jesus' ministry and teachings. In their perspective, why couldn't the centurion come to believe that Jesus was "the Son of the Father" in the sense that we do today? I lean toward their view. But my point is that even if you think the centurion was speaking from a Roman perspective, it's still a profound and world-changing statement.
Part 3: The Empty Tomb (Mark 16:1-8)
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they could go and anoint him. 2 Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb at sunrise. 3 They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?” 4 Looking up, they noticed that the stone—which was very large—had been rolled away.
5 When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side; they were alarmed. 6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they put him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there just as he told you.’”
8 They went out and ran from the tomb, because trembling and astonishment overwhelmed them. And they said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid.
This passage is probably what everybody expected to focus on. After all, it is Easter morning!
[Note: if you want your mind to be numbed on how Easter is placed on the calendar,
I'm not going to add a whole lot here. In my previous posts on the passage, I've gone into a lot of detail on
how Mark's Gospel harmonizes with the others
the importance of the women as witnesses
"They were saying" just means that the women were aware of the obstacle
Matthew identifies the man as an angel; he doesn't have wings
what to do with the "longer ending of Mark"
Use those posts if you have questions about any of that stuff.
I want to talk about the difference between the women and Peter (in particular).
The women were aware of a significant obstacle to their being able to serve Jesus -- a literal giant stone. But that did not stop them from taking their steps of "discipleship". They wanted to pay their respects to Jesus' body and deal with it according to their customs. They figured that a solution to the stone would reveal itself, and they did all of the things they needed to do to prepare as if the stone would be rolled away.
Should the women have believed that Jesus would rise from the dead as He said He would? Of course! Did anybody believe that? Apparently not.
And that takes us to Peter (and the other male disciples).
While the women were taking the time, the energy, the financial investment, and the physical risk to travel to Jesus' tomb, what were Peter and the disciples doing? They were hiding. They were certainly not doing what Jesus had previously instructed them to do!
27 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will fall away, because it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. 28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”
29 Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away, I will not.” 30 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “today, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” 31 But he kept insisting, “If I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And they all said the same thing. (Mark 14)
Even after Mary Magdalene eventually comes to them with the news, they don't believe her. Peter eventually travels to the empty tomb, and he still doesn't understand what it means (see John 20:9). Jesus has to physically appear to the disciples before they start to believe (see the rest of John 20). I'm sure this was on Peter's mind when he wrote his letters.
I think this helps us understand 1 Peter better.
Peter was there. Peter had heard everything Jesus said and did, before and after His resurrection. Having experienced it for himself, Peter realized just how important the truth of the empty tomb was. Look at Peter's behavior before and after the Resurrection (or more specifically, Pentecost) -- from a hotheaded blowhard to a man who believed that telling people about salvation in Jesus was more important than anything, even his own death.
Paul says,
Rom 10:9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame, 12 since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him. 13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Peter obviously believed this to be the definition of salvation because he always preached a Risen Savior to Jew and Greek.
In 1 Peter, Peter was writing to Christians, people who believed that Jesus was their Risen Lord. He wanted them to have the same life-changing experience with that truth that he did. Knowing that Jesus was alive changed everything about Peter. It was a fact, an incontrovertible truth on which he could build the rest of his life and ministry.
As a fact, that makes it a fact for every person in history (whether they believe it or not). For those who believe, Peter wants them to have the same boldness that he grew to have. (For those who reject, Peter wants them to be truly warned.)
Do you have an unshakeable belief in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ? Could you come up with a list of all the ways that fact has affected your faith and discipleship?