ANOTHER DISPLAY OF STRENGTH
Matt 27:39-44 NKJV
39 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
41 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, 42 “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. 43 He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
44 Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.
This is a partial account of Jesus on the cross. These verses are also a display of the strength of Jesus.
Can you imagine being in the most vulnerable, exposed place you have ever been in your life? And you did nothing wrong to get there. You have spent your whole life helping others and exposing religious hypocrisy. You have lifted the poor and forgotten. You have healed the sick and raised the dead. You have fed multitudes with natural food and spiritual food. But now you find yourself beaten, scourged, and nailed to the cross. To literally add insult to injury, you are now being mocked by the very leaders you had confronted. The flesh response would be to respond harshly to the mocking, particularly if you had the ability to flip the script in a flash. You have the ability to physically wipe out everyone who mocks you. And we would be less than honest if we said we would not be severely tempted to clean house.
This was the situation that Jesus faced on the cross. The very Pharisees that He had silenced and confounded for three-plus years had now found their voice. And with the venom of people looking to pay back and get revenge they lashed out at Jesus. Now that He was in a weakened place they found strength. “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” There seems to be another level of meanness when it comes to religious people trying to get even.
The chief priests also got in on the mocking. “Himself He cannot save.” And “let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.” They mocked Jesus for helping the very people these religious leaders overlooked. They threw His own words back at Him. Quoting Jesus talking about destroying the temple and building it back in three days. Of course, they completely missed the point. They completely missed Jesus. The leaders even mocked Jesus for His trust in God. And His declaration that He was the Son of God.
And yet Jesus did nothing. He did not answer them. He did not come down from the cross. He could have. And He could have called on those 60,000 angels He spoke of in the garden. Jesus could have had the last laugh. He could have come down from the cross to prove He was right, and they were wrong. But that would have defeated the purpose of the cross. To pay the price for the sins of mankind, Jesus had to stay. He had to move past the pain and the shame and stay. And Jesus stayed because He wanted to, not because He had to. That is strength.
APPLICATION
Strength is not getting rid of all the cookies and ice cream when you go on a diet. Strength is still having the cookies in the pantry and the ice cream in the freezer and walking past them. Strength is not avoiding all contact with people, so you stay kind and nice. Strength is being right in there with them and staying kind even though people do stuff to make you angry.
Jesus could have come down from the cross. He could have saved Himself. But He chose to stay. So when we need strength to respond the right way to a situation we can go to Him. He understands and He can strengthen us to make the right choices. He is our example of strength and can become our source of strength.
PRAYER
Thank You, Lord, for Your strength and courage to make the choice to stay on the cross. Strengthen me so that I will make the tough choices even in the face of feelings and emotions that would steer me in the wrong direction.