Introduction
We come back to the cross. The King, our champion, hangs on the cross for our salvation and continues to endure the mockery of his persecutors. They mock him as a fraudulent king; keeping up the sport they now ridicule him for his lack of power. The man who supposedly possessed great power to save cannot even save himself.
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27 They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.
It is probable that these men were fellow insurrectionists with Barabbas. In verse 7 Mark identifies Barabbas as one in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The term translated thief or robber was also used for the insurrectionists. John identifies Barabbas with the same term in his gospel (cf 18:40), and the historian Josephus used the same term for the Zealots who were Jewish rebels. These fellow crucified victims were not petty thieves, but men who regarded themselves as soldiers for God’s kingdom fighting against the pagan oppressors, much in the same way as the Al Qaeda men regard themselves.
Now that Jesus is hanging on the cross, the mockery continues. As if they can’t be satisfied with his capture and physical punishment, his enemies are compelled to heap abuse upon him.
29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!”
Those who passed by would seem to be people traveling along the road to and from Jerusalem. The crosses would have been placed in a conspicuous location, again as a warning to others who would defy Rome. Jesus is not far off the road, but near one of the main thoroughfares. Those hurling the insults are obviously either the leaders who have taken part in the Sanhedrin trial or who have received the gossip of what went on. Maybe they include the false witnesses who accused Jesus of saying he would destroy the temple and rebuild it. How ludicrous such a statement seems now. This man hanging from the cross, gasping for breath and tormented with pain claimed to be powerful enough to destroy the temple? Ha! And you were also going to rebuild it in three days? Wow, you must really be a powerful man! Do something simple and hop off the cross. That shouldn’t be tough for a superman. Come on, let’s see what you can do.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
8 “He trusts in the LORD;
let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him” (Psalm 22:6-8).
This mocking is good sport.
31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”
The religious leaders are overjoyed. Finally, after all the years of Jesus always getting in the last word to shame them, they now have their say. Where before their slander fell on deaf ears, such as accusing him of being demon possessed, now neither he nor his followers can contradict them. He saved others. He is the miracle-man who can overcome all obstacles. Isn’t he the one who could heal anyone? Deliver anyone from evil spirits? Isn’t he the big savior? What’s wrong? Why is he struggling? Why, are the nails too strong for him to break free? Doesn’t he have anything to say now? He made a supposed paralyze man walk. Surely getting free of a cross should be child’s play. Or maybe…remember how he forgave that man’s sins? Could it be his sins are not forgiven? He warned us of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Maybe he is the one who has blasphemed? Let this one who dares call himself the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down. Then we will believe.
Oh, those religious leaders! They really know how to milk a good joke, especially when they feel safe, as they finally do now. Finally, they are not having to react to yet another sensational miracle; finally, they are not fending off another sharp remark by Jesus about their hypocrisy. Finally, he is publicly shown to be a fraud, and they can have their way with him. Finally, life can get back to normal. But now is the time to savor their victory.
Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. Now where did that come from? What would Jesus’ fellow victims have against him? I know John records in his gospel that one of the thieves actually defended Jesus, but it would not conflict with the facts that at the beginning of the crucifixion they both railed against him and one eventually coming under conviction. Dying will often lead a person to finally become honest with himself.
So why do they insult Jesus? Think who Jesus is suppose to be – the King of Israel, the Messiah who delivers his people from oppression. These insurrectionists saw themselves as freedom fighters for their people, soldiers of God’s army. They were God’s army looking for their champion to come and lead them to victory. Here he is hanging on the cross next to them. What a bitter mockery to them. Perhaps the Roman soldiers even mocked them using Jesus. Here is your king! What a great king and army you make! His presence on the cross next to them would have been a cruel joke played on them.
Interpretation
Let’s step back and try to understand what’s behind all these insults. Why is everybody so angry with Jesus? It boils down to this – they believe he is a fraud and a failure. Consider the religious leaders. First of all, understand that they were not opposed to the idea of a messiah. They looked for the Messiah coming just like everyone else, at least the Pharisees and teachers of the law did. They were not religious hypocrites in the sense of having a façade of being religious but not really believing in their religion. If Jesus had met their expectations they would have proudly acclaimed him as Messiah. They were not jealous of maintaining the status quo just to keep their own positions. They would have gladly fallen in behind him. The problem, though, was that Jesus did not meet Messiah standards.
What were these standards? They can be summed up in one word – power. The Messiah was to come in power. He was going to overturn all empires, in this case Rome, and establish Israel as the empire of the world. Walking around the countryside preaching did not fit the bill, especially teaching love for enemies and being humble. The particular problem that Jesus presented was that he displayed just enough power to raise hopes of the people and make them attracted to him. He was a dangerous man, raising hopes of a deliverance, but not following through. Obviously he couldn’t follow through because he was not the Messiah and did not possess real power. If he kept on, sooner or later he would foment restlessness among the people and bring the wrath of Rome down on the nation.
There is also the matter that he publicly shamed them a number of times. They are not the kind to hold grudges, of course, but it is not right to sow discord among the people and turn them against their own leaders. From their perspective, Jesus, in his own self-righteousness, was sacrificing Israel to the Romans. They know he does not have the power that he makes people believe he possesses, and here is their proof – the cross.
We might protest at this point. How can the leaders fault Jesus for being on the cross when they are the ones who got him there? That is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter how Jesus ended up on the cross. If he were truly God’s Anointed Son sent to deliver God’s people, no one could have gotten the upper hand over him. The fact that he hangs before them proves not only that he is not God’s anointed but that he actually is cursed of God. Anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse (Deuteronomy 21:23).
Consider the perspective of the Zealots, the Jewish freedom fighters. The religious leaders may have been watching for the Messiah, but until he showed himself they were not about to risk their lives or status. They may not have liked being occupied by Rome, but neither were they eager to see their nation crushed, which they knew would happen if rebellion broke out. The Zealots, on the other hand, were dedicated to freeing their land of the pagan occupiers, not just out of love for freedom but out of zeal for God and his kingdom. Here comes Jesus proclaiming the message to repent for the kingdom of God is near. Great! That is the message they had been waiting for – the call to renounce accommodation with the Romans and joining the cause of God’s kingdom. Perhaps Jesus is the Messiah they have been waiting for to lead them into victorious battle. Perhaps his miracles are signs of God’s power that the time has come and he is the One. Instead, Jesus preaches love your enemies and shows little interest in the Roman issue. That statement, “Give to God what is God’s and to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” is a betrayal to their cause.
Consider the perspective of the common people. They really do want to know what’s going on. Did Jesus lose his power? Did he fall out of favor with God? His miracles cannot be denied. What happened? Why can’t he save himself? The disciples themselves convey the attitude of those who were not Jesus’ enemies, but still think that he failed. After Jesus’ resurrection, two of them are walking on the road to Emmaus when Jesus meets them. They don’t recognize him and Jesus asks them what they are talking about. They tell him about Jesus. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel (Luke 24:19-21). He was powerful and we had hoped he was the one. Obviously he is not; otherwise he would not have been crucified. That could not have happened to God’s anointed. Too bad; he was the best we ever knew.
Where is the power? If Jesus would show it now…if only he would, then that would win everybody over. They say it themselves: come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe. There it is. Jesus, all you have to do is come down. You stilled a raging storm, walked on water, cast out thousands of demons, even raised the dead, this ought to be simple. Do it! Show your enemies you are God’s Anointed; win over your skeptics; hearten those who have believed in you. Why won’t you do it?
He won’t do it because he possesses the power not to give in to the evil temptation of Satan to forsake the cross. As he said to Peter once, so he would say again: Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men (8:33). Because Jesus keeps before him the will of God, and because he possesses the power of God, he wills himself to remain on that cross. Because he is resolute to save us, he will not save himself.
Lessons
Consider some lessons we can learn from Jesus and the cross. One, quite often it requires greater power not to fight than to fight. We regard a man a coward if he does not fight for himself. Certainly a coward is afraid to fight. But tell me, which is easier to give in to: striking back when slapped on the face or turning the other cheek in order to show the love and forgiveness of God? Which requires more strength: to lash out when offended or to forgive and bless the offender? How easy, how very easy it would have been for the almighty Son of God to avenge himself.
Two, let us take to heart the great power of humility. This is the power of the gospel and of the church – that through humility God exercises his great redemption. It began with Jesus,
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8)
And it continues through the church, i.e. through us – by sacrificing our interests for the good of our neighbor, by returning cursing with blessing, by going the extra mile when asked to do unreasonable favors. This is the gospel of God’s love which displays grace, and nothing is more powerful for turning away evil and winning over the hardened sinner.
Three, we believe what we want to believe. I explained why the religious leaders and Zealots, and others were disappointed with Jesus. But behind those reasons is this reality – we believe what we want to believe, and unless the Holy Spirit works in our hearts, we will not believe in Jesus no matter what hoops he jumps through for us.
Did it ever occur to all these “disillusioned” people that they needed to examine themselves and consider the possibility that their expectations are wrong? The truth of the matter is that Jesus was fulfilling the prophecies about him. He was doing all that the prophecies said the Messiah would do. Was Isaiah 53 cut out of their Bibles? Did their book of Psalms skip Psalm 22? Considering that Jesus had displayed power beyond anything anyone had ever done, including Moses, was it really a stretch to think that maybe Jesus had a purpose for hanging on the cross? Especially the disciples should have made some kind of connection considering that Jesus expressly told them that he must go to Jerusalem and be killed.
What Jesus said through one of his parables is true: If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead (Luke 16:31). If one will not listen to the plain message of Scripture, they will not be convinced in spite of what they might say about just needing more evidence. The gospel is not a mystery that takes great intellect to unravel, nor is it lacking in giving enough proof of its authenticity. Those who reject what it says about Jesus do so because they do not want to believe.
Finally, and this is the most important, Jesus did save others through hanging on the cross. The very act that made him seem powerless was his most powerful act of all: atoning for the sins of the world. At no other moment was his strength of will more tested and his power to withstand torment more tried. The Son of God who knew no sin was bearing all the guilt of hundreds of millions of sinners. He was enduring both the most terrible punishment that man could inflict and the awful wrath of God’s justice against sin, all the while not giving in to sin himself. On the cross was taking place the most dreadful struggle that has ever taken place in the history of the world, and only by his divine power could Jesus be victorious. Only by his victorious death on the cross could he ultimately overcome death.
Our powerful champion won our deliverance from sin’s guilt and death’s power. Our powerful champion won for us our reconciliation with God and acceptance into his kingdom. And by his power he continues to intercede for us, to protect us, and to lead us to our glorious destination in heaven. We may live in peace and with confidence today because of Christ’s power displayed on the cross and displayed now in us.
Don’t feel powerful? You don’t feel the power of Jesus in you? Let me remind you that it’s not about you. Jesus did not need, and certainly did not receive, cooperation from h, is disciples to endure the cross. His own power was sufficient, and so it is today. His power resides now in you; otherwise you would not be saved. Otherwise you could not
one day remain in his salvation. Some days you might feel very powerful; other days you might feel utterly defeated, but I want you to understand that your feelings have as much effect on Christ’s power in you as a spider web interfering with a train rolling down a track. I want you to feel the power of God, but you hope and my hope is that however we are feeling at any time, the power of God is indeed working in us, and oftentimes it is when we feel the most helpless that God is doing his most powerful work.
It is when our weakness becomes most evident that we should take peace and comfort in the power of Jesus to save and to protect us. It is when we fail God that we should take heart that it is Christ’s power, not ours, that saves us and keeps us safe in salvation. And the cross should serve as a lesson that it is precisely at times when we or the church appear powerless that God’s power is most at work.
Let us learn the apostle Paul’s lesson: [The Lord] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in headships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
