24 And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take. 25 Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. 26 And the inscription of His accusation was written above: THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Mark 15:24-26
The third hour is 9 a.m. to the Jews. Yet John seems to give us a different story:
13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” 16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away.
John 19:13-16
According to John, three hours after Mark said that Jesus was on the cross, Jesus was in the judgment area of the Praetorium. There seems to be a contradiction here, yet in my study of the Bible, I have come to realize that the conflict is in our understanding, rather than in the Holy Spirit’s perfect inspiration.
Though the Gospel of Mark is the only one to emphasize the third hour as being the time of the crucifixion of Jesus, Mark is in complete agreement with Matthew and Luke when it comes to darkness falling over the land for three hours (Matthew 27:45-56, Luke 23:44-49 and Mark 15:33-34). Based on the accounts of the gospels, we don’t know what time the arrest of Jesus took place, but we do know that after that time, He was taken to Annas, the father-in-law of the high priest; He was taken to Caiaphas; He was taken to Pontius Pilate; He was taken to Herod; He was taken back to Pontius Pilate. At each of these locations, there was a trial of sorts. We do know that each of those locations was nearby. That seems like a lot of trials to occur early in the morning along with a march carrying the cross to Calvary. Yet the Jews were incredibly angry at Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God. They wanted to have Him killed immediately.
Some scholars have tried to explain the time difference as having to do with the Gospel of Mark using the common Jewish time, while stating that John was using the common Roman time. Possible and plausible. Yet this is not the only explanation.
As I was reading the gospels, a different thought came to my mind. Scholars believe that Mark was Peter’s secretary, and hence, the Gospel of Mark describes Peter’s observance or experience. Peter was a broken man after the events of the night before. He began by bragging that though everyone else might turn their backs on Jesus, he loved Jesus more than the rest. Jesus told Peter that he would deny the Lord three times before the cock crowed. The Gospel of Mark says that Peter would deny the Lord three times before the cock crowed twice, while the other gospels all stated that Peter would deny the Lord three times before the cock crowed once. In this discrepancy I tend to agree with the minority report. Why? Peter was the one in question, and being that the Gospel of Mark is Peter’s eyewitness report, it is plausible that Peter never would forget the events of that evening. Along with that, is it possible that after denying the Lord, Peter was no longer an eyewitness to the events? I cannot imagine Peter hanging around after he denied Jesus! His assessment of 9 a.m. could be a mere estimation from an absent Peter. He certainly was not in his right frame of mind when the crucifixion occurred. We know that John was an eyewitness, as Jesus spoke to him from the cross, telling John to take care of Mary and telling Mary to take care of John! Peter is not mentioned as being present there. As Peter was normally filled with courage, Satan attacked him that night in his strength, rather than in his weakness.
That might seem strange to some, but it is more likely in each of our lives as believers. Why? When we are weak in an area and are aware of that weakness, we have more of a tendency to hand that weakness over to Jesus. Where we are weak, He is strong. Instead, when we are strong in an area, our pride tells us that we can handle it alone, and consequently, leave ourselves open to attack by Satan and his demons!
After the resurrection of Jesus, one of His first acts was to restore the broken Peter. He asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” As Jesus continued to ask Peter that question, I can only imagine how sad it made Peter, while each time reminded him of an additional denial of the Lord.
I have no idea what time Jesus was crucified. Yet I know that He was! As I know that God’s Word is perfect, He has a perfect explanation. I just don’t know what it is! In the meantime, the lesson for us is to trust God and to trust God’s Word! The story of Peter is one of the saddest of that day. Some people feel like God cannot forgive the depth of sin in their lives. Is there anything worse than denying the Lord? I don’t believe so, yet Jesus restored Peter to His flock almost immediately. That is just another example of how much the Lord loves each one of us! As a wise man stated, “The nails didn’t hold Him to the cross. It was His love for you and me!” There is no greater love than what Jesus did for each of us!
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