Come down from the
cross and save yourself!
—Mark 15:30
“Those who passed by hurled insults at him . . . ‘save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!’” (Mt 27:39, 40).
“In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ‘Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him’” (Mt 27:41, 42).
“In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him” (Mt 27:44).
“The soldiers also came up and mocked him . . . ‘If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself’” (Lk 23:36).
He could have, but he didn’t.
His love for us kept him on the cross: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree . . . by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Pt 2:24).
He could have come down from the cross.
But for our sake, he didn’t.