Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. – Mark 15:44

Today's Scripture Reading (January 3, 2021): Mark 15

Mark Twain was in London, England, when rumor hit the U.S. that he had taken ill. News that the humorist was ill was followed up with the news that the humorist had died in England. The report of Twain's death set the circumstances for one of the humorist's most quoted statements about death. "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." Well, actually, the quote is "greatly" exaggerated. Twain's actual statement excludes the word "greatly."

  I can understand perfectly how the report of my illness got about, I have even heard on good authority that I was dead. James Ross Clemens, a cousin of mine, was seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness. The report of my death was an exaggeration (Mark Twain, 1897).

In our modern world, false death reports have become something of a regular occurrence. But even in centuries past, the phenomenon of the media declaring the death of an individual when that just wasn't true was not an unheard-of event.

Pilate is surprised to hear that Jesus had already died. In fact, he refuses to believe the first report of the rabbi's death and sends for a second opinion. Was Jesus dead, or was this just an "exaggerated" report? Pilate's query might surprise contemporary readers, considering that Pilate had ordered Jesus's execution. But the Romans took pride in the concept of executing prisoners as slowly as possible. Death in a six or seven-hour span was an almost unheard of occurrence. The question in Pilate's mind was likely, "what had happened to allow this teacher to die so quickly?"

But, even if he was dead, the rabbi was still, by law, held under the command of Pilate. Customs dictated that the convicted criminals' bodies were to be left on their crosses to be ravaged by decay and animals. The criminal's humiliation did not end with their deaths; it continued well after the person had died.

However, it was also not unusual for a dead criminal's body to be released into the possessions of friends and family. But the point was that you had to bring the petition for release to Rome because even in death, they held the criminal's future in their hands.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Luke 23