Mark 15:29, commentary and pictures

As He hung on the middle cross at Calvary outside Jerusalem with crowds and travelers gathered around, those passing by insulted Him with shaking heads over His saying about tearing down the temple and raising it in three days. They twisted His words, for He spoke of the temple of His body being killed and raised again, not the Jerusalem building. They dared Him to rescue Himself and climb down from the cross to prove He was the Son of God, a jeer taken up by priests, rulers, scribes, soldiers, the crowd, and a fellow condemned man. Without knowing it they were carrying out what had been foretold about the abuse He would suffer, and they were repeating the wilderness demand that He prove His sonship. He refused to come down because His work was not yet finished, but almost finished, offering Himself outside the gate as the substitute under the curse to sanctify and redeem His people with His own blood.

Setting and Mockery

After condemnation a vast multitude of people of all classes and ranks followed Him on the road from Pilate's judgment-hall to Calvary. At the gate of Pilate's court the cross prepared for Barabbas was laid upon His bruised and bleeding shoulders, and crosses were also placed upon two companions of Barabbas to suffer death with Him. He had taken neither food nor drink since the Passover supper, and had endured agony in Gethsemane in conflict with Satanic agencies, betrayal and the forsaking of His disciples, being taken to Annas then to Caiaphas then to Pilate then to Herod then again to Pilate, and insult upon insult, mockery upon mockery, and two scourgings through the night. Through it all He did not fail but spoke no word except to glorify God and bore Himself with firmness and dignity, yet human nature could bear no more and He fell fainting beneath the burden when it was laid on Him. The crowd saw His weak and staggering steps and showed no compassion but taunted and reviled Him because He could not carry the heavy cross, and when the burden was laid on Him again He fell fainting again. His persecutors saw He could carry it no farther and were puzzled to find one to bear the humiliating load, which the Jews themselves could not do because defilement would prevent them from keeping the Passover and which none even of the mob would stoop to do.

At Calvary outside the boundaries of Jerusalem, where felons and murderers were executed, He hung on the central cross of three on the rocky hill. Crowds of onlookers and passersby gathered around the site and beneath the crosses. Those passing by railed on Him as He hung there, wagging their heads. They taunted Him with His saying about destroying the temple and building it in three days, using the claim to deride Him rather than recognize who He was. Their version was distorted, for He meant the temple of His body, not the Jerusalem temple, that He would be killed and raise it again in three days.

They challenged Him to save Himself and come down from the cross, and if He was the Son of God to prove it. Priests, rulers, scribes, soldiers, a thief, and people in the crowd joined in the mocking. The rulers demanded He come down before they would believe.

Prophecy and Temptation

The passersby wagged their heads and jeered at Him as He hung there by throwing back at Him the charge that He would destroy the temple and build it in three days, daring Him to save Himself and come down from the cross. In so speaking they uttered exactly what inspiration had foretold would be said on that occasion and the very abuse foretold He would receive. They did it without recognizing that they were fulfilling prophecy. Even those who professed to explain prophecy failed to recognize it, while priests and rulers and scribes and soldiers and a thief and people in the crowd joined in the mocking.

The demand to come down if He were the Son of God repeated the wilderness temptation. It echoed the devil's challenge to prove His sonship. The rulers added their own demand that He come down before they would believe. He did not come down because His mission was not yet accomplished, though it was nearly accomplished.

Calvary lay outside the boundaries of Jerusalem where felons and murderers were executed, and there He suffered without the gate. That suffering was as substitute for the transgression of God's law which had banished Adam and Eve from Eden. By it He sanctified the people with His own blood. He thereby redeemed them from the curse of the law by being made a curse for them. Even the mockers' derisive words about His trust in God expressed a true sentiment, though they spoke it in derision.

Meaning for Followers

Lifted up on the cross and dying as a malefactor while mocked, He was in the depths of humiliation in the hands of wicked men. This is the time when the Bridegroom is taken away from the disciples. It gives them cause to mourn and fast, for seeing Him in whom their hopes of eternal life were centered and whom they thought would take David's throne treated as the worst of criminals tries their faith and makes their hope and courage fail. His suffering and humiliation on the cross show what He gave up for humanity, making any self-denial asked of His followers small by comparison.