"They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha. . . . And they crucified him. . . . Some women were watching from a distance" (Mark 15:22, 24, 40). At the climax of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus of Nazareth is put to death on a Roman cross. The text tells us, in that lonely hour, that a group of women were watching the crucifixion “from a distance.” In a sense, they are given a stance toward the cross that we can share.
Peter G. Bolt explores why the cross is so prominent in Mark’s Gospel. He asks what contribution Mark’s teaching can make to our understanding of the atonement. He shows how this teaching can inform, correct, and enrich our own preaching of the gospel in the contemporary world. He helps us to stand in wonder before God who has come close to us in the cross of Jesus Christ and to live in hope for the better things to come.
