Mark 15:35-36: The Bystanders Mistake Jesus's Cry for a Call to Elijah. Some of the bystanders misunderstand Jesus's anguished cry to God and mistakenly think He is calling for the prophet Elijah. Someone runs to give Jesus sour wine from a sponge placed on a reed, while the bystanders wait to see whether Elijah will come to take Jesus down from the cross.
In Mark 15:35-36,some of the bystanders misunderstand Jesus's cry of "Eloi, Eloi" as a call for Elijah to rescue Him. Someone gives Jesus sour wine from a sponge placed on a reed, while the bystanders wait to see whetherElijahwill come totake Him down from the cross.
In the previous verse (Mark 15:34a), "Jesus cried out with a loud voice: 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?'"
Jesus's expression was in Aramaic. Aramaic was the common language spoken by first-century Jews. It is possible, if not likely, that everything Jesus said on the cross was in Aramaic and Mark's Gospel simply translated His other statements without comment. But Mark included Jesus's original expression and then translated its meaning because apparently some of the bystanders misunderstood what He meant.
Mark correctly translated Jesus's Aramaic outcry to mean: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34b).
The Aramaic expression "Eloi, Eloi" means "My God, My God." But "Eloi" also sounds similar to the name "Elijah."
Mark addresses this misunderstanding in his narrative:
When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, "Behold, He is calling for Elijah" (v 35).
The expression some of the bystanders refers to some of the people who were standing around watching Jesus die on the cross.
Mark does not explicitly identify these bystanders as being among Jesus's scoffers or His sympathizers. But it seems possible that the someone who gave Jesus a drink had at least some compassion for Him.
Some of these bystanders mistook Jesus's startling cry of "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" to be Him callingfor the prophet Elijah.
Apparently, they did not hear or understand, or they misapplied, what Jesus said immediately after "Eloi, Eloi"--"lama sabachthani?" or "why have You forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34).
When thebystanders heard it, theybegan saying among themselves: "Behold, He is calling for Elijah" (v 35).
They may have thought Jesus was asking Elijah why he had forsaken Him. They seem to have missed that Jesus was actually calling to God and alluding to Psalm 22 and its Messianic prophecies.
Elijah was a famous prophet in Israel's history. After a miraculous ministry where he confronted the prophets of Baal and ministered to the widow of Sidon, Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11).
The Jews had long believed that Elijah would return as a forerunner of the Messiah. In fact, the final two verses of the Old Testament predict Elijah's return before the day of the LORD:
"Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse." (Malachi 4:5-6)
John the Baptizer served the Elijah-role of being the Messianic forerunner of Jesus (Mark 1:2-4, 9:11-13).
Now some of the bystanders standing at the cross seem to have misunderstood Jesus to be rebuking Elijah for not helping Him, or calling for Elijah to come to His aid as He suffered on the cross.
Mark continues:
Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down" (v 36).
It seems that it was at this moment on the cross when Jesus also said: "I am thirsty" (John 19:28).
Mark omits Jesus's statement "I am thirsty" (John 19:28) likely for the sake of brevity, but John records it immediately before describing how the spongefilledwith sour wine (v 36) was brought to Jesus's mouth (John 19:28-29).
Taken together, the Gospel accounts indicate that Jesus expressed His thirst and someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine and gave Him a drink (v 36).
Perhaps a motive for why someone ran to give Jesus a drink may have been to give Him a chance to speak more clearly.
One of the common tortures of crucifixion was dehydration. After withering on the cross for six hours and suffering severe blood loss from the Roman scourging, Jesus's mouth would have doubtlessly been extremely dry. Speaking would have been difficult.
By taking a sponge and filling it with sour wine to give Him a drink (v 36), it may have been this individual's way to encourage and help Jesus, who was on the verge of death, to speak again or clarify what He meant by "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (Mark 15:34).
John adds:
"A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth." (John 19:29)
Mark says that the person put it on a reed. John says that the sponge was placed "upon a branch of hyssop" (John 19:29). These descriptions are not contradictory. The hyssop branch could have been attached to or used together with the reed, or the Gospel writers may be describing different components of the same instrument used to lift the sponge to Jesus's mouth.
The reason this person ran and filled awine-soaked sponge and put it on a reed (v 36) could either have been because Jesus was elevated on the cross and this was the only way for the person to give Him a drink, or because this individual wanted to avoid coming into contact with Jesus's bloody body and consequently becoming defiled during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
This drink of sour wine seems to have wetted Jesus’s parched mouth and helped Him speak His final two statements before He died.
"Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit." (Luke 23:46)
The person who ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink (v 36) fulfilled a Messianic prophecy from Psalm 69.
This psalm speaks of the Messiah's suffering at the hands of His enemies and His ultimate triumph. The offering of sour wine fulfills the second prophecy of Psalm 69:21:
"They also gave me gall for my food And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." (Psalm 69:21)
Vinegar is a type of sour wine.
The first line of this prophecy was fulfilled a few hours earlier when the Roman soldiers offered Jesus wine mixed with myrrh before crucifying Him (Mark 15:23). Matthew describes this drink as "wine to drink mixed with gall" (Matthew 27:34).
These descriptions are not contradictory. The word "gall" can refer broadly to something bitter, while Mark identifies the particular bitter substance mixed into the wine as myrrh. Matthew therefore appears to describe the drink according to its bitter character, while Mark identifies what was mixed into it.
Jesus refused the intoxicating mixture offered Him at the beginning of His crucifixion so that He could have His full faculties for the spiritual war He was fighting on the cross.
But the sour wine which Jesus was offered in Mark 15:36 was not intoxicating, and was apparently different, so He drank it (John 19:30a). It was not mixed with myrrh or gall.
As this someone was giving Jesus the spongefilledwith sour wine to drink, the bystanders continued to be under the misimpression that Jesus was calling forElijah. Mark records:
"Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down" (v 36).
Matthew records the similar expression: "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him" (Matthew 27:49).
These statements are complementary.
Totake Him down from the cross would have been to physically save Jesus from crucifixion. Mark records the specific action the bystanders expected Elijah to perform, while Matthew expresses the intended result of that action.
The statement, Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down (v 35) may have been spoken out of curiosity or as another expression of mockery.
Mark does not explicitly identify the speaker. The expression could have been spoken by the someone who gave Jesus the drink, or by the surrounding bystanders as the person gave Jesus the sour wine.
Matthew's account distinguishes between the person who gave Jesus the drink and "the rest of them" who said, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him" (Matthew 27:49). Taken together, the accounts indicate that one person gave Jesus the sour wine while others continued watching to see whether Elijah would come to rescue Him.
Elijah did not come to take Him down from the cross because that was not part of God's plan.
God's plan was for Jesus the Messiah to remain on the cross, die for the sins of the world, and then be resurrected from the dead so that He could save the world from both sin and death (Isaiah 53:11).
Jesus would not comedown from the cross. He would finish the mission His Father gave Him.
And moments later, Jesus would die.
Mark 15:35-36
35 When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, “Behold, He is calling for Elijah.”
36 Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down.”
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Mark 15:35-36 meaning
The parallel gospel accounts of Mark 15:35-36 are found in Matthew 27:47-49 and John 19:28-29.
In Mark 15:35-36, some of the bystanders misunderstand Jesus's cry of "Eloi, Eloi" as a call for Elijah to rescue Him. Someone gives Jesus sour wine from a sponge placed on a reed, while the bystanders wait to see whether Elijah will come to take Him down from the cross.
In the previous verse (Mark 15:34a), "Jesus cried out with a loud voice: 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?'"
Jesus's expression was in Aramaic. Aramaic was the common language spoken by first-century Jews. It is possible, if not likely, that everything Jesus said on the cross was in Aramaic and Mark's Gospel simply translated His other statements without comment. But Mark included Jesus's original expression and then translated its meaning because apparently some of the bystanders misunderstood what He meant.
Mark correctly translated Jesus's Aramaic outcry to mean: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34b).
The Aramaic expression "Eloi, Eloi" means "My God, My God." But "Eloi" also sounds similar to the name "Elijah."
Mark addresses this misunderstanding in his narrative:
When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, "Behold, He is calling for Elijah" (v 35).
The expression some of the bystanders refers to some of the people who were standing around watching Jesus die on the cross.
Mark does not explicitly identify these bystanders as being among Jesus's scoffers or His sympathizers. But it seems possible that the someone who gave Jesus a drink had at least some compassion for Him.
Some of these bystanders mistook Jesus's startling cry of "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" to be Him calling for the prophet Elijah.
Apparently, they did not hear or understand, or they misapplied, what Jesus said immediately after "Eloi, Eloi"--"lama sabachthani?" or "why have You forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34).
When the bystanders heard it, they began saying among themselves: "Behold, He is calling for Elijah" (v 35).
They may have thought Jesus was asking Elijah why he had forsaken Him. They seem to have missed that Jesus was actually calling to God and alluding to Psalm 22 and its Messianic prophecies.
Elijah was a famous prophet in Israel's history. After a miraculous ministry where he confronted the prophets of Baal and ministered to the widow of Sidon, Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11).
The Jews had long believed that Elijah would return as a forerunner of the Messiah. In fact, the final two verses of the Old Testament predict Elijah's return before the day of the LORD:
"Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."
(Malachi 4:5-6)
John the Baptizer served the Elijah-role of being the Messianic forerunner of Jesus (Mark 1:2-4, 9:11-13).
Now some of the bystanders standing at the cross seem to have misunderstood Jesus to be rebuking Elijah for not helping Him, or calling for Elijah to come to His aid as He suffered on the cross.
Mark continues:
Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down" (v 36).
It seems that it was at this moment on the cross when Jesus also said: "I am thirsty" (John 19:28).
Mark omits Jesus's statement "I am thirsty" (John 19:28) likely for the sake of brevity, but John records it immediately before describing how the sponge filled with sour wine (v 36) was brought to Jesus's mouth (John 19:28-29).
Taken together, the Gospel accounts indicate that Jesus expressed His thirst and someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine and gave Him a drink (v 36).
To learn more about the prophetic nature of Jesus's statement, "I am thirsty," see The Bible Says article: "What did Jesus Mean When He Said 'I am Thirsty?'"
Perhaps a motive for why someone ran to give Jesus a drink may have been to give Him a chance to speak more clearly.
One of the common tortures of crucifixion was dehydration. After withering on the cross for six hours and suffering severe blood loss from the Roman scourging, Jesus's mouth would have doubtlessly been extremely dry. Speaking would have been difficult.
By taking a sponge and filling it with sour wine to give Him a drink (v 36), it may have been this individual's way to encourage and help Jesus, who was on the verge of death, to speak again or clarify what He meant by "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (Mark 15:34).
John adds:
"A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth."
(John 19:29)
Mark says that the person put it on a reed. John says that the sponge was placed "upon a branch of hyssop" (John 19:29). These descriptions are not contradictory. The hyssop branch could have been attached to or used together with the reed, or the Gospel writers may be describing different components of the same instrument used to lift the sponge to Jesus's mouth.
The reason this person ran and filled a wine-soaked sponge and put it on a reed (v 36) could either have been because Jesus was elevated on the cross and this was the only way for the person to give Him a drink, or because this individual wanted to avoid coming into contact with Jesus's bloody body and consequently becoming defiled during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
This drink of sour wine seems to have wetted Jesus’s parched mouth and helped Him speak His final two statements before He died.
His final two statements from the cross were:
"It is finished!"
(John 19:30)
"Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit."
(Luke 23:46)
The person who ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink (v 36) fulfilled a Messianic prophecy from Psalm 69.
This psalm speaks of the Messiah's suffering at the hands of His enemies and His ultimate triumph. The offering of sour wine fulfills the second prophecy of Psalm 69:21:
"They also gave me gall for my food
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."
(Psalm 69:21)
Vinegar is a type of sour wine.
The first line of this prophecy was fulfilled a few hours earlier when the Roman soldiers offered Jesus wine mixed with myrrh before crucifying Him (Mark 15:23). Matthew describes this drink as "wine to drink mixed with gall" (Matthew 27:34).
These descriptions are not contradictory. The word "gall" can refer broadly to something bitter, while Mark identifies the particular bitter substance mixed into the wine as myrrh. Matthew therefore appears to describe the drink according to its bitter character, while Mark identifies what was mixed into it.
Jesus refused the intoxicating mixture offered Him at the beginning of His crucifixion so that He could have His full faculties for the spiritual war He was fighting on the cross.
But the sour wine which Jesus was offered in Mark 15:36 was not intoxicating, and was apparently different, so He drank it (John 19:30a). It was not mixed with myrrh or gall.
As this someone was giving Jesus the sponge filled with sour wine to drink, the bystanders continued to be under the misimpression that Jesus was calling for Elijah. Mark records:
"Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down" (v 36).
Matthew records the similar expression: "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him" (Matthew 27:49).
These statements are complementary.
To take Him down from the cross would have been to physically save Jesus from crucifixion. Mark records the specific action the bystanders expected Elijah to perform, while Matthew expresses the intended result of that action.
The statement, Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down (v 35) may have been spoken out of curiosity or as another expression of mockery.
Mark does not explicitly identify the speaker. The expression could have been spoken by the someone who gave Jesus the drink, or by the surrounding bystanders as the person gave Jesus the sour wine.
Matthew's account distinguishes between the person who gave Jesus the drink and "the rest of them" who said, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him" (Matthew 27:49). Taken together, the accounts indicate that one person gave Jesus the sour wine while others continued watching to see whether Elijah would come to rescue Him.
Elijah did not come to take Him down from the cross because that was not part of God's plan.
God's plan was for Jesus the Messiah to remain on the cross, die for the sins of the world, and then be resurrected from the dead so that He could save the world from both sin and death (Isaiah 53:11).
Jesus would not come down from the cross. He would finish the mission His Father gave Him.
And moments later, Jesus would die.