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, come down from the cross and save yourself!” Mark 15: 29, 30.
During the Lenten season we are reminded of the sufferings of our Lord. They began at the beginning of his ministry. He was rejected by those who were dearest to him when he needed them most. He was granted an illegal trial without a proper hearing. He was scourged until his back was bloody. They spit on him. They laid upon his shoulder a cruel cross and made him carry it to Calvary. Having driven nails through his hands and feet they hailed him to the cross-bar. Often-times at this season of the year we think of the words that he spoke, but certainly he must have had anguish when he heard the words that were spoken to him while he was on the cross.
“If you are the Son of God come down from the cross.” In the first place, these people wanted a religion that they could understand. The people passed by wagging their heads; that is, they said “no” with their heads and with their mouths they said two different things. “If they will destroy this temple in 3 days I will build it up again.” They wagged their heads as if to say “nonsense.” “You who predict the destruction of the temple and you who say you are the Son of God, come down from the cross and we shall believe.” They knew who Jesus was for they could quote his words. Today many see the Christ hanging on the tree, they come to a church where the word is preached and they are uncomfortable. “Come down from your judgments,” they say. Make it more palatable. I want a religion which I can understand, and they say to the church, “let me alone.” Let me work out my own salvation. Permit me to bask in what I want. I want a religion but don’t tell me how to live. The Jews remembered that Jesus was to be a shepherd and that he would relieve them of the burdens of the day and deliver them from Rome and all of their oppression. Outside the church we also have those that are impinging on the message of the cross. They call themselves the humanists of the day. They want God without justice. Jesus held his popularity until he said, “You must take up your cross and follow me.” When he told the crowds that, his miracles were over and they turned and rejected him, and he found himself with only a handful of his disciples.
We as a nation want to help the nations if it won’t hurt us too much. What this world really needs are men who are willing to help one another and who will speak the truth even through it costs and means getting hurt. The first temptation that Jesus experienced in the wilderness was when Satan said, “Why don’t you change these stones to bread?” Satan told him how to use his power, how he could rule by jumping down from the temple and proving to the people he was great and powerful. The long road by the way of the cross was the hard way and Satan tempted Jesus to follow the easy road. Salvation without a cross – no calvary. The cross was the only way he could deal with sin. The wages of sin is death. What kind of love would it be if he had turned his back and come down from the sufferings and the cross. To the Christian comes the command “take up your cross.” Christ could not redeem without a cross and you cannot be a Christian without a cross. Did you ever think of what it means? The cross we bear is the cross that we take upon ourselves. He was a volunteer and he decided to stay on the cross. What have you volunteered to do for God because you love your neighbor as yourself? Do we too want a religion without a cross? People today are still asking for a religion without a sacrifice. They want a religion with quick results. “Give us a sign and we will believe you.” “Certainly you should not hang on such a cross, you who did all these miracles, raised the dead, ,healed the sick. Demonstrate for us.” People today are looking for that same thing. The work of the church takes time. Peoples’ lives are changed one by one. There is no such thing as a mass conversion of an individual. Every soul must be taught. This comes from within the heart. But in answer to the prayer of Jesus, “Forgive them for they know not what they do,” the thief confessed, and those who stood by said, “Surely this was the Son of God.” He transforms lives and it is done through the cross.
Some day he will return without a cross and people will stand before him without an opportunity of forgiveness. Then it will no longer be the day of salvation — for this is the day of grace. What kind of a religion have you? What are you saying in this season to the Christ who hung on a cross? Are you bowing in adoration to Him who loved you even unto death and now lives to offer you life?
know who you are 