Save Thyself, Come Down Off The Cross - Mark 15:29-30

When I read the account of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ I get more than a little angry with the characters that took part in this act.  My anger is probably unjustified because one of the last things that Jesus did before giving up the ghost was to offer them not a pardon but an alibi for their actions.  He testified that what they had done, they did because they didn't know what they were doing.

As Jesus hung on the cross, people were passing by, it's hard to picture that kind of a scene in my mind; the brutality of the setting, the reality of true suffering taking place, and people were just passing by. The word that is translated in the Greek gives the impression that people were simply going to and from on a normal life trajectory.  There may have been some that were there simply to hurl accusation at the King of the Jews, like the priests and counsel members that derided Him, but I have the impression that people were passing by because they were just coming or going somewhere other than this place of suffering and punishment. Their path, that one day perhaps, brought them into this drama.  Amazing to me.

The taunt that is recorded in this chapter of scripture by some passers-by is "Ah, you who destroy the temple and build it again in three days, SAVE THY SELF and come down from the cross".  Save Thyself? Jesus did not need saving from this situation.  This was the careful execution of a plan that had been crafted before anything and everything existed.  This scene was destined to be fulfilled before the foundation of the world. Before any other thing was conceived this Lamb was Slain. As these people passed by they saw only the horrible nature of the event and contrasted it with what they had heard of this Jesus and concluded, "if he were really were who he said he was, surely he would save himself and get down off that cross.  I know I would!!"

Even those closest to Him had either fled or were only able to stand at the foot of the Cross and mourn His murder. No hope in any heart. No bright morning just over the horizon for anyone. No anticipation of the three day restoration project that this plan would climax with.  Just a sunless scene of blood and blasphemy and questions about tomorrow.

Save Thyself and Come Down from the Cross!!!!  Where would that have left them? Where would that have left us? You? Me?  Drowning and abandoned. Separated from God. Strangers and aliens from the covenants and promises of the Creator; the Father. Ephesians 2:12 is one of the most bleak, dark, and hopeless descriptions that I can read regarding the condition of the lost. It doesn't end there in bleakness though !

But now in Christ...I know a completely different reality because He didn't come down from the Cross and let me be lost.  He was obedient to this death and endured its shame and pain for the Joy that he saw ahead.  The Joy of redeeming man from the enemy's enslavement and taking back what was always His. Of leading captivity captive. Of taking the sting and victory OUT of death for us.

The Cross of Christ was the instrument of His death. It was the instrument of His complete ransacking of  the enemy's kingdom. The Devil and his minions were shouting, "Put the Son of God in the ground now and seal the hole with a stone!! Start the party boys, we have free reign over this earth and on Monday it's under new management!"  Their shock at hearing hells gates come off its hinges was one thing, but to hear the Lion of the Tribe of Judah roar and demand the keys to death and hell and the grave, would have been enough to send every dark thing into, well, the dark.  HA HA!!

I can't take Jesus down from the cross. If I do then there is no hope for anyone.  I can't keep him on the Cross either because if Christ isn't raised from the dead, then I am still in my sins. I must know and declare the whole Gospel to the Whole World.  Like Paul said, the thing that I first received, I have to tell that to others, how that Jesus Christ was crucified, dead, buried and rose again on the third day.

The Cross of Christ crushed the gates of hell, rent the veil in the temple and opened the doors of heaven to anyone who would hear and believe the good news of Jesus Christ.