Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified. It was the third hour when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews. They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him. In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Mark 15:15, 29, 31–32, NIV 1984).
My Musings – “Come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” That would have been man’s way. But not God’s. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” (Mark 16:6–7, NIV 1984). Coming down from the cross would have merely put a period at the end of His ministry. Rising from the grave put an exclamation point there. Yet the “chief priests and the teachers of the law,” by in large, still did not believe.
My Advice – “[God did] not abandon [Him] to the grave, nor [did He] let [His] Holy One see decay.” (Psalm 16:10, NIV 1984). We must “see and believe.“
The Brew Is A Musing 