Morning Bible Study: Mark:15:33-41

“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, 

“I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad  daylight."   Amos 8:9

33  At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 

34  And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?").[1] 

35  When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah." 

36  Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said. 

37  With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. 

38  The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 

39  And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died,[2] he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!" 

40  Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph,[3] and Salome. 

41  In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there. NIV

Footnotes
[1] 15:34 Psalm 22:1
[2] 15:39 Some manuscripts "saw that he died with such a cry"
[3] 15:40 Greek "Joses," a variant of "Joseph" ; also in verse 47

(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary -- www.christianity.com)

"There was a thick darkness over the land, from noon until three in the afternoon. The Jews were doing their utmost to extinguish the Sun of Righteousness. The darkness signified the cloud which the human soul of Christ was under, when he was making it an offering for sin. He did not complain that his disciples forsook him, but that his Father forsook him. In this especially he was made sin for us. When Paul was to be offered as a sacrifice for the service saints, he could joy and rejoice, Philippians 2:17; but it is another thing to be offered as a sacrifice for the sin of sinners. At the same instant that Jesus died, the veil of the temple was rent from the top to the bottom. This spake terror to the unbelieving Jews, and was a sign of the destruction of their church and nation. It speaks comfort to all believing Christians, for it signified the laying open a new and living way into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. The confidence with which Christ had openly addressed God as his Father, and committed his soul into his hands, seems greatly to have affected the centurion. Right views of Christ crucified will reconcile the believer to the thought of death; he longs to behold, love, and praise, as he ought, that Saviour who was wounded and pierced to save him from the wrath to come."