If, Then

Unbelievable

And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”

Luke 23:35 (ESV)

Familiar words to many. They come out of the story of Jesus dying on the cross. The passion of Christ is the time of Jesus’s greatest suffering. It begins at the Garden of Gethsemane and ends at his death on the cross. Passion in this instance means Suffering.

The above verse comes right after Jesus and the two thieves are hung naked on crosses. In at least Jesus’s case, he was flogged to near-death and now all the action stops.

Time stops and people stare.

Those few who knew and loved him are horrified.

Most are entertained.

And some are gloating.

Momentarily, these so-called rulers seem to have the upper hand. They got exactly what they wanted, what they thought would strengthen their little  bases of power. And so they begin to mock Jesus.

“He saved others” they said.

Did they believe their own words?

Had they personally witnessed a miracle or two?

Perhaps they were recalling all those lame and blind riff-raff annoyingly healed on the Sabbath, making them look like impotent fools in front of the people.

“Let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”

The purpose of a Savior is not to save oneself; it is to save others, and Jesus could only do this, as God’s spotless sacrificial lamb, if he stayed where he was, if he did not come down.

On this Saturday before Easter Sunday, when time seems to stop and good appears defeated and neatly put away, when world rulers seem free to do their thing, it is fitting to remember that a glory is coming. Because Jesus accepted his suffering and did not come down from the cross alive, it enabled him to, in a few short hours, come out of the tomb in Resurrection Power.

This is the same power you and I are promised when we, like that one thief beside Jesus, who recognized Jesus for who he actually was, asked to be remembered.