Mark 15:31, commentary and pictures

On the cross Jesus was mocked by the chief priests together with the scribes, also called rulers and elders, who admitted He had rescued others yet charged that He was powerless to rescue Himself, jeering at His claim to be the Son of God and King of Israel and daring Him to descend as proof. He could have come down but deliberately stayed in suffering and death because His work was not yet finished, while angels burned to intervene yet were held back. By refusing to save Himself and giving His own blood to bear sin's penalty and satisfy the just demands of God's law, He opened pardon, favor with God, and hope to sinners. Those jeers fulfilled prophecy without the mockers knowing it, and afterward their taunt shook earnest disciples who struggled to reconcile such a shameful death with His claims.

Words and Setting at Calvary

Likewise also the chief priests with the scribes, also described as rulers and elders, mocked Jesus as he suffered and died on the cross, acknowledging that he had saved others while claiming that he himself he could not save. Their taunt ridiculed his claim to be the Son of God and King of Israel and demanded that he come down from the cross as proof. Their challenge to come down and then they would believe was derision rather than a genuine offer of belief. The reviling and challenge were spoken while he hung on the cross and were heard by thousands, as part of a wider abuse joined in by rulers, soldiers, a thief, and the crowd.

The verse belongs to the leading of Jesus from the judgment-hall to Calvary after news of his condemnation had spread throughout Jerusalem, when people of all classes and all ranks flocked toward the place of crucifixion. Priests and rulers were present under promise not to molest his followers if he himself were delivered to them, and disciples and believers from the city and the surrounding region joined the throng that followed the Saviour. On the way he was taunted and reviled for weakness when he could not carry his cross, the cross prepared for Barabbas laid on his bruised and bleeding shoulders at the gate of Pilate's court. Since the Passover supper he had taken neither food nor drink, had agonized in Gethsemane in conflict with satanic agencies, had endured betrayal and the flight of his disciples, had been taken to Annas, then to Caiaphas, then to Pilate, then to Herod, then again to Pilate, and through that night had passed from insult to insult and mockery to mockery and had twice been tortured by the scourge, bearing himself with firmness and dignity and speaking no word but to glorify God.

When the cross was laid on him human nature could bear no more and he fell fainting beneath the burden, staggered in weak steps before the crowd, was given the burden again and fell again, and the multitude showed no compassion but taunted him for inability to carry it. His persecutors saw it was impossible for him to go farther and sought someone else to bear the humiliating load, which the Jews themselves would not do lest defilement prevent them from keeping the Passover. The crucifixion was at the place called Calvary outside the gate, where he was crucified to sanctify the people with his own blood. As substitute he suffered without the boundaries of Jerusalem, answering the banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden for transgression of the law of God; he died outside the gate where felons and murderers were executed, and in that death redeemed from the curse of the law by being made a curse.

The verse shows the taking away of the Bridegroom as he approached the cross and descended into humiliation, witnessed by disciples in whom their hopes of eternal life were centered. They saw him in the hands of wicked men, heard his own nation clamoring for his blood, saw Herod and his soldiers plaiting the crown of thorns for his brow, saw him clad in the purple robe with his persecutors bowing before him and striking him with the reed placed in his hand. They saw him who they thought was to take his place on David's throne scourged as the worst of criminals with the murderer Barabbas chosen in place of their teacher, and saw him lifted up on the cross dying as a malefactor. That was a time of trial and temptation when the presence of the Comforter was not clearly discerned, giving cause to mourn and fast, with faith tried and hope and courage failing.

Meaning and Saving Effect

He could have come down from the cross, but He would not, and His remaining there in suffering and death was choice, not lack of power. He did not deliver Himself because His mission was not yet accomplished, indeed was nearly accomplished, and He remained silent while He suffered. Angels looked on indignant at the mockery and desired to rescue Him, but they were not permitted to do so. By remaining and giving His life to ransom His people with His own blood, bearing the penalty for sin and meeting the just claims of God's law, He made pardon and favor with God possible for sinners and gave them hope.

The taunt was part of the abuse foretold in prophecy, and in uttering it the mockers fulfilled prophecy without recognizing that they were doing so. After the crucifixion that word, thrown in His teeth at His shameful death, troubled earnest believers and disciples as they tried to reconcile that death with His claims to be the Son of God, making them fear the taunt might be true. It raised the question whether, though no pretender, He had deceived Himself about His mission and His future glory. Against that conclusion stood His repeated reading of the hearts of others, while the strange reports of the women added further uncertainty, leaving them wondering how He could have been mistaken about His mission despite such evidence. His suffering on the cross under derision and mockery shows the cost of what He gave up for humanity, beside which any self-denial for Him seems small.