Mark 15:29-32

We see in the crucifixion the very heart of our Christian faith.

Even as we read the story, we stand before the cross with reverent and grateful hearts, giving thanks to God that he so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son.

There was nothing of this reverence and awe in the hearts of most of those who witnessed that redemptive event.

Instead, they mockingly wagged their heads in derision at this one who, as they understood it, had claimed to have the power to rebuild the magnificent Temple of Herod in three days 1. Why didn't he use that power to save himself from this shameful death?2

The chief priests and the scribes were no less brutal, no less irreverent. How is it, they wanted to know, that he who claimed to be able to save others could not save himself3? Let him come down from that cross that we may see and believe4. The plain fact is that, even then, they would have believed in him. He had demonstrated his power and his authority time and time again without avail.