"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (14)

"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (14)

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. (15:37)

The last moment of Jesus’ earthly life mentioned in Mark 15:33-37 is a description of total submission. The Lord was hung on the cross only for six hours. In those days a strong man was usually hanged on the cross for one week. It rarely took two weeks. Crucifixion itself is not very much critical. A practical threat is the blood oozed out of the nail mark on the palm. The severity varies according to physical constitution of the victim. In some, blood gashes out quickly while in some, blood flows out slowly and normally. Crucifixion is painful for one to bear as it takes a long time to die. It is considered abnormal that Jesus could die within only six hours of suffering on the cross.

It is assumed that Jesus became so weak physically and mentally. Perhaps he had fasted for a week after entering to Jerusalem. Jesus foresaw what would happen in Jerusalem. So he was perhaps mentally and emotionally prepared to face the agony of death. Peter stopped Jesus from entering to Jerusalem. For this Jesus rebuked him and called him Satan. It means Peter’s word might be sounded for Jesus as an alluring temptation of Satan. It is the same that three forms of temptations Jesus had gone through in his early public life, that are seductive to the entire mankind. However, Jesus was completely exhausted in a week after his entry to Jerusalem. His sweat of intense pain was like the pain of bleeding as he spent time in prayer in the Gethsemane. His tortured body could not endure more than six hours on the cross and finally he had to give in.

The author of the gospel shows the picture of the last moment of Jesus in a calm atmosphere. There is no empathy and embellishment. It could not but do like that for an unacceptable thing- dying of a son of God- has happened. He only could deliver us the true relationship that Jesus died with loud cry. Others are nothing but a something superfluous