“And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.”

Matthew 27:39-42

Jesus hung from the cross in the final moments of his life. His body a broken shell of what it was only hours before. Some stood by weeping, others were casting lots, some walked by and began mocking Jesus. They called to Him, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross”. The chief priests, scribes and elders joined in, “let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.”

What if Jesus listened to them? What if Jesus did exactly what the chief priests and scribes asked? What if He came down from the cross? If only they knew the frightful irony of the words they spoke. They thought it was the nails holding Jesus to the cross, but to the one who calmed the storm, to the one who walked on water, to the one who made the blind see, the lame walk, and the dead rise, what would it be to remove just a few nail? It would be no more difficult to knit together His own wounds than to feed 5000 with just five loaves of bread and two fish.

If only his mockers knew the legions of angels standing at the ready to respond to the word of their Lord, perhaps they would have reconsidered their words. Yet far more frightening still, what if Jesus came down from the cross? It would not matter then if the chief priests, scribes, and elders believed in Him. Their faith in Jesus would fall on deaf ears before God and they would remain in their sin, objects of God’s wrath. Not only they, but every other person across the world and throughout the whole span of time would stand condemned.

There would be no justification of our sins, there would be no forgiveness, there would be no mercy, and there would be no hope. Yet in His love for us, Jesus did not listen to the jeers of his tormentors, rather, He listened to the will of His father. It was not the nails that held Him to the cross, but His love for the Father, and His love for us. He bore our sins on the cross, so when we believe in Him, we will be forgiven and redeemed.