Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead.
We are here attending the funeral of our Lord Jesus, a solemn, mournful funeral. O that we may by grace be planted in the likeness of it! Observe, I. How the body of Christ was begged. It was, as the dead bodies of malefactors are, at the disposal of the government.
Commenting on Mark 15:42-47
Verse 44. And Pilate marvelled if, etc. Wondered if he was dead; or wondered that he was so soon dead. It was not common for persons crucified to expire under two or three days, sometimes not until the sixth or seventh. Joseph had asked for the body, implying that he was dead. That he was had been ascertained by the soldiers. See .