Numbers 23-24 Balaam’s First Oracle
Mark 15 Jesus Delivered to Pilate, Condemned
Like a Roman Triumph
Mark 15:16-32 certainly provides an account of irony in the way that Roman soldiers unwittingly pronounce Jesus as King of the Jews, parade him around in a purple robe and adorn him with a crown. It proves to be strikingly ironic for First Century Roman readers of Mark’s gospel. This interpretation highlights how the Roman soldiers attempt to mock Jesus, but Mark’s readers see through the mockery as an ironic portrayal of Jesus’ true kingship.
In showing how Mark presents Jesus’ death as a Roman triumphal procession, it is necessary to examine the historical plausibility of a purple robe, and the locale of Golgotha as “the place of the skull/head.” Then, it will be important to assess the symbolism of a crown, the mock-praise of the soldiers, Jesus walking with Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross, Jesus’ refusal of wine, and how Jesus was lifted up to be crucified between two criminals. The symbolic images in 15:16-32 draw the connection to a Roman triumphal procession. Mark designs this “anti-triumph” to suggest that the seeming scandal of the cross is an exaltation of Christ.