Joel M Bradshaw

31So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.”–Mark 15, part 2

I’m not saying these statements were great theological moments, but rather sarcastic utterances. Faith would affirm the work of Jesus not question it. But there is often truth in sarcasm. Let’s take each statement in turn.

1. HE SAVED OTHERS; HE CANNOT SAVE HIMSELF. If it was uttered in faith, this first part would have been a profound admission from the religious leaders! But alas, they were using it against him. We all read their words this way: since he ‘couldn’t’ save himself, he didn’t really save others. If they only knew that him not saving himself from that cross was the very means by which he would save others!
2. LET THE CHRIST, THE KING OF ISRAEL COME DOWN NOW FROM THE CROSS. Another amazing admission! But again, this works backwards against Jesus in their minds. Read in their words: he won’t come down from the cross, so he really wasn’t the Christ, the King of Israel. Their concept of Messiah was more the ruling Son of Psalm 2 and less the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53.
3. THAT WE MAY SEE AND BELIEVE. We would hope that if Jesus had done exactly what they said that they would have believed. The problem is that they had seen many miracles of Jesus and still hadn’t believed. When God has to follow your preconditions in order for you to believe, he becomes less and you become more. Belief means to trust, not to get your conditions satisfied. I have a feeling that if Jesus did just what they said, they would have moved the goalposts and given him more conditions. Like, ‘Great, you’re no longer almost dead on a cross. Now be the Messiah and overthrow Rome. Then, we will see and believe.’

There is truth in sarcasm. The truth is Jesus did in fact save others. He couldn’t save others if he saved himself. He is the Christ, the King, and he proclaimed his rule by breaking he power of sin. He was that man of sorrows who bore our transgressions by his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53). They were seeing it in real time and yet didn’t believe.–JMB