'They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha ... And they crucified him ... Some women were watching from a distance' (Mark 15:22, 24, 40).

At the climax of Mark's Gospel, Jesus of Nazareth is put to death on a Roman cross. The text tells us that, in that lonely hour, a group of women were watching the crucifixion 'from a distance'. In a sense, they are given a stance towards the cross that we can share. It is an event that occurred so long ago, in a world that in many ways seems so foreign to our own.

In this exploration of Mark's Gospel, Peter Bolt looks at why the cross is so prominent in the narrative; asks what contribution Mark's teaching can make to our understanding of the atonement; and shows how this teaching can inform, correct and enrich our own preaching of the gospel in the contemporary world. He helps us to stand in wonder before the God who has come close to us in the cross of Jesus Christ, and to live in hope of the better things to come.