By evening Mark meant late afternoon. Friday was the day the Jews prepared for their Sabbath observance that began with sundown on Friday. Mark took special pains to explain this for his Gentile readers. [source][source][source]
Context Summary
Mark 15:22-47 - A King Upon His Cross
Our Lord refused to drink the potion prepared by the women of Jerusalem, in order to stupefy those who were crucified and so deaden the sense of pain, because He would drain the cup to its dregs. It was nine o'clock in the morning when He was nailed to the cross. His persecutors were, as they thought, destroying the Temple of which He had spoken in John 2:19, and making its restoration impossible. In fact, however, they were giving Him the opportunity of fulfilling His great prediction. He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Nature veiled her face from that awful spectacle. Christ was not really forsaken, but as our Redeemer he passed under the dark shadow of human sin. The access to the Holy of Holies is now forever free through the entry of our great High Priest. See Hebrews 9:7-8. What love inspired the women, Mark 15:40, to brave the horrors of the scene! And how good to see that God cares for the body as well as for the spirit of His beloved! For Joseph, see Matthew 27:57 and Luke 23:50-51. Born of the Virgin's womb our Lord was buried in a virgin tomb. [source]
Chapter Summary: Mark 15
1Jesus brought bound, and accused before Pilate 6Upon the clamor of the people, the murderer Barabbas is released, 12and Jesus delivered up to be crucified 16He is crowned with thorns, spit on, and mocked; 21faints in bearing his cross; 27hangs between two thieves; 29suffers the triumphing reproaches of the crowd; 39but is confessed by the centurion to be the Son of God; 42and is honorably buried by Joseph
Greek Commentary for Mark 15:42
The preparation [παρασκευη] Mark explains the term as meaning “the day before the sabbath” (προσαββατον prosabbaton), that is our Friday, which began at sunset. See discussion on Matthew 27:57. The Jews had already taken steps to get the bodies removed (John 19:31). [source]
The day before the Sabbath [προσάββατον] The fore-Sabbath. Peculiar to Mark, and only here. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Mark 15:42
John 19:14The Preparation of the passover [παρασκευη του πασχα] That is, Friday of passover week, the preparation day before the Sabbath of passover week (or feast). See also John 19:31,John 19:42; Mark 15:42; Matthew 27:62; Luke 23:54 for this same use of παρασκευη paraskeuē for Friday. It is the name for Friday today in Greece. About the sixth hour Roman time, about 6 a.m. (a little after 6 no doubt) when Pilate rendered his final decision. Mark 15:25 notes that it was the third hour (Jewish time), which is 9 a.m. Roman time, when the crucifixion began. Why should John give Jewish time writing at the close of the first century when Jerusalem and the Jewish state passed away in a.d. 70? He is writing for Greek and Roman readers. Behold your king Ιδε Ide is here an exclamation with no effect on the case of βασιλευς basileus just as in John 1:29. The sarcasm of Pilate is aimed at the Jews, not at Jesus. [source]
Colossians 3:14Put on love [την αγαπην] See Luke 3:20. The verb has to be supplied Neuter singular of the relative and not feminine like αγαπη agapē (the antecedent) nor masculine like συνδεσμος sundesmos in the predicate. However, there are similar examples of ο εστιν ho estin in the sense of quod est (id est), “that is,” in Mark 14:42; Mark 15:42, without agreement in gender and number. So also Ephesians 5:5 where ο εστιν ho estin = “which thing.” The bond of perfectness See note on Colossians 2:19 for συνδεσμος sundesmos Here it is apparently the girdle that holds the various garments together. The genitive (τελειοτητος teleiotētos) is probably that of apposition with the girdle of love. In a succinct way Paul has here put the idea about love set forth so wonderfully in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. [source]
Colossians 3:14Which is [ο εστιν] Neuter singular of the relative and not feminine like αγαπη agapē (the antecedent) nor masculine like συνδεσμος sundesmos in the predicate. However, there are similar examples of ο εστιν ho estin in the sense of quod est (id est), “that is,” in Mark 14:42; Mark 15:42, without agreement in gender and number. So also Ephesians 5:5 where ο εστιν ho estin = “which thing.” [source]
What do the individual words in Mark 15:42 mean?
Andalreadyeveninghaving arrivedsinceit was [the]Preparationthatisthe day before Sabbath
Greek Commentary for Mark 15:42
Mark explains the term as meaning “the day before the sabbath” (προσαββατον prosabbaton), that is our Friday, which began at sunset. See discussion on Matthew 27:57. The Jews had already taken steps to get the bodies removed (John 19:31). [source]
See on Matthew 27:57. [source]
The fore-Sabbath. Peculiar to Mark, and only here. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Mark 15:42
That is, Friday of passover week, the preparation day before the Sabbath of passover week (or feast). See also John 19:31, John 19:42; Mark 15:42; Matthew 27:62; Luke 23:54 for this same use of παρασκευη paraskeuē for Friday. It is the name for Friday today in Greece. About the sixth hour Roman time, about 6 a.m. (a little after 6 no doubt) when Pilate rendered his final decision. Mark 15:25 notes that it was the third hour (Jewish time), which is 9 a.m. Roman time, when the crucifixion began. Why should John give Jewish time writing at the close of the first century when Jerusalem and the Jewish state passed away in a.d. 70? He is writing for Greek and Roman readers. Behold your king Ιδε Ide is here an exclamation with no effect on the case of βασιλευς basileus just as in John 1:29. The sarcasm of Pilate is aimed at the Jews, not at Jesus. [source]
See Luke 3:20. The verb has to be supplied Neuter singular of the relative and not feminine like αγαπη agapē (the antecedent) nor masculine like συνδεσμος sundesmos in the predicate. However, there are similar examples of ο εστιν ho estin in the sense of quod est (id est), “that is,” in Mark 14:42; Mark 15:42, without agreement in gender and number. So also Ephesians 5:5 where ο εστιν ho estin = “which thing.” The bond of perfectness See note on Colossians 2:19 for συνδεσμος sundesmos Here it is apparently the girdle that holds the various garments together. The genitive (τελειοτητος teleiotētos) is probably that of apposition with the girdle of love. In a succinct way Paul has here put the idea about love set forth so wonderfully in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. [source]
Neuter singular of the relative and not feminine like αγαπη agapē (the antecedent) nor masculine like συνδεσμος sundesmos in the predicate. However, there are similar examples of ο εστιν ho estin in the sense of quod est (id est), “that is,” in Mark 14:42; Mark 15:42, without agreement in gender and number. So also Ephesians 5:5 where ο εστιν ho estin = “which thing.” [source]