No Color

Mark tells it straight.

Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews." And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left.    Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!" In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe." Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.  - Mark 15:22-32

In other Gospel acocunts of the crucifixion, we have some color, some explanation of the meaning of things.

For example, there is no mention of the words of the prophets foretelling the event.  They cast lots for his clothing and they gave him sour wine to drink.

Mark expects the listener or reader to make the connections.  He is just stating the facts as he knows them.

We aren't used to this approach in today's world, where everything is colored and peppered with implications supporting an agenda.

It is hard to get pure facts and decide for ourselves.

We could use more of Mark's brand of storytelling these days, where the assumption is the audience comes to the table with a brain to think for themselves.

More to come...