29Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days,30save yourself, and come down from the cross!”
31Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, “He saved others. He can’t save himself.32Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him.” Those who were crucified with him also insulted him.
29 Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days,
30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!”
31 Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, “He saved others. He can’t save himself.
32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him.” Those who were crucified with him also insulted him.
TYNDALETyndale New Testament (1534)
29 And they that went by rayled on him: waggynge their heedes and sayinge: A wretche that destroyest the temple and byldest it in thre dayes:
30 save thy sylfe and come doune from the crosse.
31 Lyke wyse also mocked him the hye preestes amonge them selves with the scribes and sayde: He saved other men him sylfe he cannot save.
32 Let Christ the kynge of Israel now descende from the crosse that we maye se and beleve. And they that were crucified with him checked him also.
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GNVGeneva Bible (1599)
29 And they that went by, railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Hey, thou that destroyest the Temple, and buildest it in three dayes,
30 Saue thy selfe, and come downe from the crosse.
31 Likewise also euen the hie Priests mocking, said among themselues with the Scribes, He saued other men, himselfe he cannot saue.
32 Let Christ the King of Israel nowe come downe from the crosse, that we may see, and beleeue. They also that were crucified with him, reuiled him.
Matthew 27:44(v32)The robbers also who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach.
Luke 23:39-43(v32)One of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!” But the other answered, and…
Psalms 109:25(v29)I have also become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head.
Mark 14:58(v29)“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’ ”
Lamentations 1:12(v29)“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, with which Yahweh…
Show all 28 cross-references
Lamentations 2:15(v29)All that pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city that men…
John 2:18-22(v29)The Jews therefore answered him, “What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple,…
John 12:23-24(v31)Jesus answered them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into…
Genesis 37:19-20(v29)They said to one another, “Behold, this dreamer comes. Come now therefore, and let’s kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we…
Psalms 2:1-4(v31)Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together,…
Psalms 22:7-8(v29)All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying, “He trusts in Yahweh. Let him deliver him.…
Psalms 22:12-14(v29)Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open their mouths wide against me, lions tearing prey and…
Psalms 22:16-17(v31)For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all of my bones.…
Psalms 35:15-21(v29)But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t…
Psalms 69:7(v29)Because for your sake, I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face.
Psalms 69:19-20(v29)You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you. Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of…
Psalms 69:26(v29)For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.
Matthew 26:61(v29)and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.’ ”
Matthew 27:39-40(v29)Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save…
Matthew 27:41-43(v31)Likewise the chief priests also mocking, with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders, said, “He saved others, but he can’t save…
Luke 23:35-37(v31)The people stood watching. The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ…
John 11:47-52(v31)The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs. If we leave…
1 Peter 3:17-18(v31)For it is better, if it is God’s will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil. Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the…
Isaiah 44:6(v32)This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there…
Zephaniah 3:15(v32)Yahweh has taken away your judgments. He has thrown out your enemy. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is among you. You will not be afraid of…
Zechariah 9:9(v32)Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation;…
Matthew 1:17(v32)So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from…
2 Timothy 2:18(v32)men who have erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, and overthrowing the faith of some.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (11 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv29–32Let Christ the king of Israel,.... Who sets up…
Let Christ the king of Israel,.... Who sets up for the Messiah, and whose followers call him the king of Israel, whom the nation expected: and if he is so, let him
descend now from the cross, that we may see; see him come down, and be eyewitnesses of his power:
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and believe; that he is the Messiah that was prophesied of, and has been waiting for:
and they that were crucified with him reviled him; that is, the thieves, at least one of them; See Gill on Mat 27:44.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn v29Matt. xxvii, 39.
Matt. xxvii, 39.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn v32Verse 32. And believe] In him is added by…
Verse 32. And believe] In him is added by DFGHPBHV, and upwards of sixty others; as also the Armenian, Slavonic, and four Itala.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn v32Afterwards they saw Him arising out of the sepulchre…
Afterwards they saw Him arising out of the sepulchre whom they thought unable to descend from the cross. Where, O Jew, is thy infidelity? I ask you yourselves. You shall be your own judges. How much more astonishing is it to be able, when dead, to rise again, than, when living, to descend from the cross? You desired a small exertion of power, and a much greater is here performed: but still your infidelity would not be cured. All have turned out of the way, all have become useless. (St. Jerome) --- If the Scribes and Pharisees did not believe in Christ when he rose from the dead, neither would they have believed in him had he left the cross. Though the scripture had foretold in many places that he was to suffer, Psalm xxi, They have dug my hands and feet; and Psalm xcv, They shall look upon him whom they have pierced; He shall reign from the tree: (and which St. Justin assures us the Jews had erased from the psalm) yet were can the Jews point out that it was foretold he should descend from the cross? (Tirinus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv29, 31, 3229. railed on him] The instincts of ordinary pity…
29. railed on him] The instincts of ordinary pity were quenched in the fierceness of malignant hatred and religious bigotry.
Ah] “Fyz,” Wyclif. It is an exclamation of exultant derision = the Latin Vah.
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that destroyest the temple] This saying of our Lord at His first cleansing of the Temple was never forgotten. Perhaps some of the false witnesses of the previous night were now present.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv29, 30, 32(29) Ah.—The interjection, which in its Greek form expresses…
(29) Ah.—The interjection, which in its Greek form expresses a kind of inarticulate scorn, is peculiar to St. Mark, and may be noted as another instance of his habit of reproducing the very sounds that had been uttered.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv29, 31, 32Vers. 29, 30. And they that passed by railed…
Vers. 29, 30. And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads. Here was another fulfillment of prophecy, and other aggravation of the misery of Christ. "All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him; let him deliver him, seeing he delighteth in him". (Psa_22:7, Psa_22:8) The torment of crucifixion itself was terrible; but it was a still greater torment to the Crucified to be insulted in his agony. Our Lord may well have had these words in his mind, persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and they tell of the sorrow of those whom thou hast wounded". (Psa_69:26) They that passed by. Calvary was probably near to one of the thoroughfares leading to the city; so that there would be a continual stream of persons passing to and fro; more especially at this time, when Jerusalem was thronged with visitors. And no doubt the words of the accusation against him in its incorrect form would pass freely from mouth to mouth, Ha! thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If you could make such a boast as this, show your power by coming down from the cross.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v31Let Christ, the King of Israel, now descend from…
Mar_15:31-32
Let Christ, the King of Israel, now descend from the cross.
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A glorious reproach
In the Divinest sense He could not save Himself. Physically, of course, He could have delivered Himself, come down from the cross, and overwhelmed His enemies with destruction. But morally He could not, and His moral weakness here is His glory. He could not because He had promised to die, and He could not break His word. He could not, because the salvation of the world depended upon His death. The greatest man on earth is the man who cannot be unkind, who cannot tell a falsehood, who cannot do a dishonourable act or be guilty of a mean, selfish deed. The glory of the omnipotent God is, that He cannot lie. These men, therefore, should have honoured the weakness that they acknowledged; adored it. Their very confession condemns their conduct. (Homilist.)
The heroism of the crucified
The testimony of an enemy is always valuable. What is it that they testify? First, that He saved others: and second, that in order to save others-nay, they testify not that, yet it is implied in the assertion they make-in order to save others He was content not to save Himself. Perhaps there never was a sentence, that was in one sense so radically false, and in another sense so sublimely true, as this particular sentence. Take it in the abstract, and it contains a most outrageous and glaring falsehood. There was not a moment from beginning to end of His human career in which our blessed Lord might not have turned back from shame and suffering. Yet while these words are false absolutely, they are none the less true relatively. Relatively to the work which our blessed Lord had undertaken, it was necessary that He Himself should not be saved. Because He was the Son, there was a certain blessed, constraining influence which rendered it, in one sense, necessary that He should go forward: but the necessity was not imposed upon Him from without, but accepted from within. It was the necessity of love; love, first and foremost to His Father, and then love to thee and to me. When you look over His history, how much there was to lead Him to exercise this power which all along He possessed. How natural it would have been if He had done so. He has scarcely come into the world before He begins to meet with the worlds bad treatment. When He was born, they had no room for Him in the inn. Would it not have been most natural if our blessed Lord had even then thought better of it. These rebel sinners, these thoughtless beings, I have come into the world to save-they have not even a place whereon to lay My infant form. As He grew up to be a young man, He came unto His own: His very brethren did not believe in Him. When He found that there was cold incredulity, an absence of sympathy in His own family circle, might He not reasonably have been expected to say, Ah, well! this is not what I expected: I thought I should have been received with open arms; that every heart would have been full of sympathizing tenderness towards Me: but they have nothing but hard thoughts to think, and hard sayings to say of Me. Let them alone: from this time I give up the task: it is a hopeless one. We read that He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. How wonderful a thing it was that Jesus Christ should have stood all this, and yet continued true to His purpose still. They laid the cross upon Him, and He faints on the way to Calvary. O, Son of God! Thy body has fainted! Weakness has done its work! Surely Thou wouldest be justified in giving in now! He might reasonably have said, Flesh and blood will bear no more; My physical strength has absolutely yielded under the terrible shock; I can carry it no further. But no, no. He may faint; but He will not yield. Is it not wonderful? What made Him stand to His purpose? What gave Him that strange stability? Well, I can only say, He loved us. Why He loved us, I do not know; but He loved us, and He loves us still; and it is because He loved us that He saved others; Himself He could not save. But we are only skimming the surface. We must endeavour, if we can, to go deeper than this. There is a mystery of sorrow here. If we are to understand what is transpiring on yonder cross, we must endeavour to look within the veil; we must try to see things as God saw them. Yet it is an awful thing to think of that world descending in that gradually lowering scale into the very jaws of darkness and death. Where are we to find the hero of humanity? Who shall fight our battle for us? Who shall avail to lift that sinking world from the very depth of doom into which it is disappearing? No angel in heaven can do it. There is only One who can do it, and there is only one way in which He can do it. By a sovereign effort of His own will, Christ might have called a new world into existence; He might have blasted this world with judgment, and caused it to disappear altogether; but in doing so He would have been stultifying-shall I say?-His own designs; He would have been withdrawing from His own eternal purposes of mercy and love. Nay, nay; the ruinous world must be saved-How is it to be done? The Son of the Fathers bosom steps into that ascending scale. Now look! He does it voluntarily. I lay down My life, He says; no man taketh it from Me; I give it; for it was His own free gift for man, for you, for me. What means this strange sense of desolation! Through all His human life, there was one thing that had sustained Him, one joy that had ever been present to Him. It was the joy of His Fathers presence. He had lived in the light of His countenance. He had refreshed Himself with His fellowship. He had drank of the brook by the way, and therefore He lifted up His head. But lo! the brook by the way seems to be dried up. It was no mere natural thirst that parched Emmanuel. That outward thirst was but the indication, the type, the symbol, of the inward thirst which burned within His soul. What means this strange sense of desolation? What is it? Is it the loss of human friends? No; something more than that. That is bad enough to bear; but it is something more than that. What is it? For the first time in His human life He finds Himself alone. The light is eclipsed; the sun has disappeared from His heaven, and the joy of existence is gone. He gazes round and round-east, and west, and north, and south. What is it? It is but a little matter that the outward sun was eclipsed; but there was a dread eclipse had taken place within the soul of Emmanuel, of which that outward darkness was but the type. What was it? Wherever sin goes it brings its own deadly shame of everlasting night along with it. And because He had taken the burden of the worlds sin upon Him, therefore the shadows of night were resting upon Him now. One shrinks from following out these words, yet one can fancy-and it is no mere fancy-what must have passed through His heart. I could have borne that My own people should treat Me thus: I could have borne that My own disciple should betray Me for thirty pence: I might have borne that Simon Peter should deny me with oaths and curses: I might have borne the outward pain, the bodily anguish: but O, My God, My God, Thy smile has been my light: Thy presence has been My joy. What have I done? How comes it to pass that instead of fellowship I have desolation; instead of Thy joyful company, Thy blessed society, I have this awful sense of loneliness? What is it? What means it? My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? What did it all mean? It meant that He saved others: and because He saved others, Himself He could not save: and so the scale that bore the Christ descended into the deepest darkness, and the scale that bore a ruined world began to rise, and to rise. Lo! the gloom is settled on that, and the sunlight on this: that, is sinking down into the darkness of death; this, is rising into the glories of life. The angels are veiling their faces in horror as they behold the Son of God disappear beneath the cloud: the sons of God are shouting in triumph as they behold a ransomed world rising into the very sunlight of the Divine smile, the curse revoked, the doom recalled, the gates of everlasting life opened to a ruined world. So He carried it through,-that wonderful enterprise-through to the bitter end: and so He drank the cup to the last drop, and He paid the ransom to the last penny, sinner, for thee, and for me. I want to ask you, Have you accepted that which He has purchased at such a price? What is it that renders sin inexcusable? Just this glorious fact we are gazing at. Your condemnation, my friend, lies in this: that at the cost of such indescribable agony as we shall never know, until we get to the other side: and not even then, Christ has bought everlasting life for you, and you have refused to accept it. Tonight, that pierced hand seems to hold it out for you. It seems as though He pleaded with you; as if He were saying, Now, my dear brother, I have saved, not Myself, that I might save thee: I turned not my face from shame and spitting, that thy face might be irradiated with Divine glory: I wore that crown of thorns that thou mightest wear the crown of glory: I carried that cross that thou mightest sway the sceptre: I hung in agony that thou mightest sit in triumph: I fathomed the depth that thou mightest rise to the height. Men! do you think there is anything manly in trampling such love as that under your feet? Women! do you think there is anything womanlike in turning your back upon such love as that? Oh, let us be ashamed of ourselves tonight, that we have sinned against that love so long! (W. H. Aitken, M. A.)
The demand of sinners unreasonable
These words are a demand that He would prove His claims to the Messiahship by coming down from the cross, and a promise that, if He would do this, they would receive Him as the Messiah. It strikes us at once that this demand is unreasonable, even to effrontery.
I. You make demands which are unreasonable, because compliance with them would defeat the Divine plan of redemption. This was one characteristic of the unreasonable demand of the Pharisees. If Christ had come down from the cross, the work of redemption would never have been finished. Similar demands are often made by ungodly men-demands that Christ would come down from the cross-that He would save them in some other way than by His atoning sacrifice, and His blood.
II. Your demands are unreasonable, because you create for yourselves the very difficulties which you claim to have removed. Jesus was moving among the Jews, working the most convincing miracles. They seized Him, and nailed Him to the cross: then they demanded that He should undo what their own malice had done-Come down from the cross, and we will believe. A similar unreasonableness belongs to many of your demands. Is it not your own hand that has plunged your soul into this flood of worldliness, etc.? With what reason can you urge, as your apology for inaction, the chains which your own hands have fastened on your souls?
III. Demands are unreasonable which require additional evidence of the importance of religion, when sufficient has been already given. Unreasonableness of this kind characterized the demand of the Pharisees. They had seen the Saviours miracles, etc. It was unreasonable in them to propose that, if a single miracle should be added to the multitude already given, they would be ready to receive Jesus as the Christ. Precisely similar is the unreasonableness of many of your demands. You say, If I had lived in Christs day, and had seen His miracles, I should have been His disciple. Other demands exhibit the same unreasonableness. The reason most commonly given for indifference to religion, is the inconsistency of professors. I presume every one of you knows some whom he acknowledges as real Christians. You are no stranger to these triumphs of the cross, to these demonstrations of its Divine power. And yet you plead that, because A, B, and C do not live consistently with their profession, you will neglect religion, and treat it as if it were a worthless imposture. Similar are all the reasons for neglecting religion, founded on its mysteries. If men never engaged in worldly business till all who engage in it manage it wisely, honestly, and successfully; if they never acted except on certainty-never acted till everything dark was cleared up, and every objection removed, they would never act at all.
IV. It is unreasonable to demand more, when God has already done so much in your behalf, especially when you have not made improvement of what He has done. The Jews might have known, from the ancient prophecies, that Christ was to suffer an ignominious death. It was unreasonable.
V. Your demands are unreasonable, because God has proved it by testing them. You have made similar demands before; God has condescended to comply with them, and yet you did not, even then, keep the promises you had made. Time and again had the Pharisees asked Jesus to give them a sign that they might see and believe. Signs He had given them, the most stupendous and convincing; yet they were not more ready to receive Him than before. And even when He rose from the dead, they still rejected Him.
VI. Your demands are unreasonable, because, in the very act of making them, you admit what justifies your condemnation. The Pharisees said, He saved others. They admitted that He had wrought miracles. Thus, by the very justification which they attempted, they condemned themselves. So it is with you. Whatever reason you may give for neglecting religion, you admit its Divine authority, its reality, and importance. Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant.
VII. Your demands and apologies are unreasonable, because they lay the blame of your continued impenitence on God. (S. Harris.)
The sight of the Saviours suffering
Do you not know that this simple story of a Saviours kindness is to redeem all nations? The hard heart of this worlds obduracy is to be broken before that story. There is in Antwerp, Belgium, one of the most remarkable pictures I ever saw. It is The Descent of Christ from the Cross. It is one of Rubens pictures. No man can stand and look at that Descent from the Cross, as Rubens pictured it, without having his eyes flooded with tears, if he have any sensibility at all. It is an overmastering picture-one that stuns you, and staggers you, and haunts your dreams. One afternoon a man stood in that cathedral looking at Reubens Descent from the Cross. He was all absorbed in that scene of a Saviours sufferings when the janitor came in and said: It is time to close up the cathedral for the night. I wish you would depart. The pilgrim, looking at that Descent from the Cross, turned around to the janitor and said: No, no; not yet. Wait until they get Him down. O, it is the story of a Saviours suffering kindness that is to capture the world. (Dr. Talmage.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey1900 · Public DomainOn v29Mar 15:29-32; Luk 23:35-43; Mat 27:39-44. “And passing by,…
THEY REVILE HIM ON THE CROSS
Mar 15:29-32; Luk 23:35-43; Mat 27:39-44. “And passing by, they continued to blaspheme Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save Thyself. If Thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise the high priests mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, continued to say, He saved others; Himself He is not able to save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe on Him. He trusted in God; let Him now deliver Him, if He wishes Him: for He said, I am the Son of God.” This scene, led off by the high priests, elders, and scribes, whose honorable example, of course, many thoughtless people followed, both citizens and soldiers, was not only barbaric in the extreme and infinitely worse than brutal, but diabolical in the superlative degree. And yet it was perpetrated by the ministers and elders standing at the head of the Church, illustrating the significant fact that collegiate education, religious professions, official dignity, and clerical sanctity are no guarantee against the vilest and most demoniacal persecutions when the devil is in them. Shall we not all learn a profitable lesson by this scene, and that is, to have no faith in man, but all in God?
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“The thieves also, being crucified along with Him, continued to cast this same reproach on Him.” Luk 22:39-43 : “But one of the malefactors, having been hanged up, continued to blaspheme Him, If Thou art the Christ, save Thyself and us.” There is no contradiction of the preceding with the following. Simply recognize the fact that both of the robbers at first joined with the high priest and the rabble in reproaching Him. But after so long a time, something in the look or the manner of Jesus sent conviction deep into the heart of one of the malefactors, superinducing a tremendous reaction, such as to evoke from the repentant thief the following: “And the other one, responding, continued to rebuke him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, because thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the punishment worthy of the crimes which we have committed; but this One has done nothing wrong. He said to Jesus, Lord, when Thou mayest come in Thy kingdom, remember me. And Jesus said to him, Truly I say unto thee, This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise.” On the resurrection morn, three days subsequently, Jesus said to Mary, “I have not yet ascended unto My Father,” setting forth the indisputable fact that He had not met the thief in heaven. He was a Jew, and was saved under the Abrahamic covenant, which all concentrates in Christ. So he went to Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16), whither Lazarus and all of the Old Testament saints had been gathering since the days of Abel. Jesus, expiring on the cross, His disembodied human soul (1Pe 3:19) went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison — i. e. the inmates of hell — the victory won on Calvary (Act 2:27-31); then, crossing the impassable chasm, entered the intermediate paradise — i. e., Abraham’s bosom — and met the thief before the expiration of that day at midnight; spent a wonderful hallelujah Sabbath with the patriarchs and prophets and all of the Old Testament saints; early, the first day of the week, abolished the intermediate paradise, and led up all the inmates with Him (Eph 4:8-10), and, coming to the tomb, received His body, the mighty host of Old Testament saints — being invisible, because not having their bodies — accompanied Him the forty days, and finally ascended with Him up to heaven. The prophetic eye of David (Psalms 24) catching the vision of the triumphant host, hears the shout, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and let the King of glory come in.” Then the shout roars back from the celestial portals, “Who is this King of glory?” The answer is prompt, “The Lord, mighty to save and strong to deliver; He is the King of glory.” Now the gates swing high, and millions of glorified spirits shout Him welcome, with the triumphant host captured from the cruel clutches of Satan. The grandest ovation heaven has seen in all the ages now monopolizes the interest of the celestial universe, while the Conqueror of Mount Calvary leads His blood-washed pilgrims up into the august presence of the Almighty Father, presenting them before Him, “Behold, I and the children whom Thou hast given unto Me.” O what a thrilling testimony-meeting follows, Father Abraham, the patriarchs and prophets, all participating, to the most delectable edification of angels, archangels, cherubim, and seraphim! A false exegesis has been put on this passage, in order to sustain that miserable materialistic heresy which deprives man of his soul, ignoring the idea that the soul is ever separate from the body, as this false dogma does not concede that you have a soul. As this positive statement of Jesus to the thief, “This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise,” so clearly and unequivocally recognizes the soul of the thief as going out of the body hanging on the cross and entering paradise that very day, to their ineffaceable shame be it said, they have condescended to the diabolical audacity to change the punctuation of the very identical words which Jesus spoke, so moving the comma as to make it read, “Truly I say unto thee this day, Thou shalt be with Me in paradise,” making the adverb semeron, “this day,” qualify “say unto thee,” instead of “thou shalt be with Me in paradise,” thus making our Savior commit a solecism and talk nonsense. As this occult form of infidelity — i. e., soul-sleeping materialism has been sown by Satan throughout this continent, we feel it our duty to expose it, as it is utterly destitute of truth. The salvation of the thief on the cross is infinitely consolatory to penitent sinners in the hour and article of death. However, it is awfully risky to make our Lord’s mercy in this notable instance an apology for continuing in sin. All should bear in mind the obvious fact that this poor thief had never seen Jesus before, nor hardened his heart by slighting opportunities.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv29, 31shaking their heads
shaking their heads
This is an action people do to show that they disapproved of Jesus.
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Aha!
This is a exclamation of mockery. Use the appropriate exclamation in your language. (See: Exclamations)
You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days
The people refer to Jesus by what he earlier prophesied that he would do. AT: "You who said you would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv29, 3215:29-32 Jesus was being mocked and abused by the…
15:29-32 Jesus was being mocked and abused by the people passing by, the religious leaders, and the revolutionaries. • The people passing by shouted abuse (literally blasphemed), wagged their heads in contempt (see Lam 2:15), and ridiculed his claim that he would destroy the Temple (see Mark 14:58).
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv29–32 Let Christ the king of Israel,.... Who sets up…
Let Christ the king of Israel,.... Who sets up for the Messiah, and whose followers call him the king of Israel, whom the nation expected: and if he is so, let him
descend now from the cross, that we may see; see him come down, and be eyewitnesses of his power:
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and believe; that he is the Messiah that was prophesied of, and has been waiting for:
and they that were crucified with him reviled him; that is, the thieves, at least one of them; See Gill on Mat 27:44.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v29 Matt. xxvii, 39.
Matt. xxvii, 39.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v32 Verse 32. And believe] In him is added by…
Verse 32. And believe] In him is added by DFGHPBHV, and upwards of sixty others; as also the Armenian, Slavonic, and four Itala.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v32 Afterwards they saw Him arising out of the sepulchre…
Afterwards they saw Him arising out of the sepulchre whom they thought unable to descend from the cross. Where, O Jew, is thy infidelity? I ask you yourselves. You shall be your own judges. How much more astonishing is it to be able, when dead, to rise again, than, when living, to descend from the cross? You desired a small exertion of power, and a much greater is here performed: but still your infidelity would not be cured. All have turned out of the way, all have become useless. (St. Jerome) --- If the Scribes and Pharisees did not believe in Christ when he rose from the dead, neither would they have believed in him had he left the cross. Though the scripture had foretold in many places that he was to suffer, Psalm xxi, They have dug my hands and feet; and Psalm xcv, They shall look upon him whom they have pierced; He shall reign from the tree: (and which St. Justin assures us the Jews had erased from the psalm) yet were can the Jews point out that it was foretold he should descend from the cross? (Tirinus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv29, 31, 32 29. railed on him] The instincts of ordinary pity…
29. railed on him] The instincts of ordinary pity were quenched in the fierceness of malignant hatred and religious bigotry.
Ah] “Fyz,” Wyclif. It is an exclamation of exultant derision = the Latin Vah.
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that destroyest the temple] This saying of our Lord at His first cleansing of the Temple was never forgotten. Perhaps some of the false witnesses of the previous night were now present.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv29, 30, 32 (29) Ah.—The interjection, which in its Greek form expresses…
(29) Ah.—The interjection, which in its Greek form expresses a kind of inarticulate scorn, is peculiar to St. Mark, and may be noted as another instance of his habit of reproducing the very sounds that had been uttered.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv29, 31, 32 Vers. 29, 30. And they that passed by railed…
Vers. 29, 30. And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads. Here was another fulfillment of prophecy, and other aggravation of the misery of Christ. "All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him; let him deliver him, seeing he delighteth in him". (Psa_22:7, Psa_22:8) The torment of crucifixion itself was terrible; but it was a still greater torment to the Crucified to be insulted in his agony. Our Lord may well have had these words in his mind, persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and they tell of the sorrow of those whom thou hast wounded". (Psa_69:26) They that passed by. Calvary was probably near to one of the thoroughfares leading to the city; so that there would be a continual stream of persons passing to and fro; more especially at this time, when Jerusalem was thronged with visitors. And no doubt the words of the accusation against him in its incorrect form would pass freely from mouth to mouth, Ha! thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If you could make such a boast as this, show your power by coming down from the cross.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v31 Let Christ, the King of Israel, now descend from…
Mar_15:31-32
Let Christ, the King of Israel, now descend from the cross.
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A glorious reproach
In the Divinest sense He could not save Himself. Physically, of course, He could have delivered Himself, come down from the cross, and overwhelmed His enemies with destruction. But morally He could not, and His moral weakness here is His glory. He could not because He had promised to die, and He could not break His word. He could not, because the salvation of the world depended upon His death. The greatest man on earth is the man who cannot be unkind, who cannot tell a falsehood, who cannot do a dishonourable act or be guilty of a mean, selfish deed. The glory of the omnipotent God is, that He cannot lie. These men, therefore, should have honoured the weakness that they acknowledged; adored it. Their very confession condemns their conduct. (Homilist.)
The heroism of the crucified
The testimony of an enemy is always valuable. What is it that they testify? First, that He saved others: and second, that in order to save others-nay, they testify not that, yet it is implied in the assertion they make-in order to save others He was content not to save Himself. Perhaps there never was a sentence, that was in one sense so radically false, and in another sense so sublimely true, as this particular sentence. Take it in the abstract, and it contains a most outrageous and glaring falsehood. There was not a moment from beginning to end of His human career in which our blessed Lord might not have turned back from shame and suffering. Yet while these words are false absolutely, they are none the less true relatively. Relatively to the work which our blessed Lord had undertaken, it was necessary that He Himself should not be saved. Because He was the Son, there was a certain blessed, constraining influence which rendered it, in one sense, necessary that He should go forward: but the necessity was not imposed upon Him from without, but accepted from within. It was the necessity of love; love, first and foremost to His Father, and then love to thee and to me. When you look over His history, how much there was to lead Him to exercise this power which all along He possessed. How natural it would have been if He had done so. He has scarcely come into the world before He begins to meet with the worlds bad treatment. When He was born, they had no room for Him in the inn. Would it not have been most natural if our blessed Lord had even then thought better of it. These rebel sinners, these thoughtless beings, I have come into the world to save-they have not even a place whereon to lay My infant form. As He grew up to be a young man, He came unto His own: His very brethren did not believe in Him. When He found that there was cold incredulity, an absence of sympathy in His own family circle, might He not reasonably have been expected to say, Ah, well! this is not what I expected: I thought I should have been received with open arms; that every heart would have been full of sympathizing tenderness towards Me: but they have nothing but hard thoughts to think, and hard sayings to say of Me. Let them alone: from this time I give up the task: it is a hopeless one. We read that He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. How wonderful a thing it was that Jesus Christ should have stood all this, and yet continued true to His purpose still. They laid the cross upon Him, and He faints on the way to Calvary. O, Son of God! Thy body has fainted! Weakness has done its work! Surely Thou wouldest be justified in giving in now! He might reasonably have said, Flesh and blood will bear no more; My physical strength has absolutely yielded under the terrible shock; I can carry it no further. But no, no. He may faint; but He will not yield. Is it not wonderful? What made Him stand to His purpose? What gave Him that strange stability? Well, I can only say, He loved us. Why He loved us, I do not know; but He loved us, and He loves us still; and it is because He loved us that He saved others; Himself He could not save. But we are only skimming the surface. We must endeavour, if we can, to go deeper than this. There is a mystery of sorrow here. If we are to understand what is transpiring on yonder cross, we must endeavour to look within the veil; we must try to see things as God saw them. Yet it is an awful thing to think of that world descending in that gradually lowering scale into the very jaws of darkness and death. Where are we to find the hero of humanity? Who shall fight our battle for us? Who shall avail to lift that sinking world from the very depth of doom into which it is disappearing? No angel in heaven can do it. There is only One who can do it, and there is only one way in which He can do it. By a sovereign effort of His own will, Christ might have called a new world into existence; He might have blasted this world with judgment, and caused it to disappear altogether; but in doing so He would have been stultifying-shall I say?-His own designs; He would have been withdrawing from His own eternal purposes of mercy and love. Nay, nay; the ruinous world must be saved-How is it to be done? The Son of the Fathers bosom steps into that ascending scale. Now look! He does it voluntarily. I lay down My life, He says; no man taketh it from Me; I give it; for it was His own free gift for man, for you, for me. What means this strange sense of desolation! Through all His human life, there was one thing that had sustained Him, one joy that had ever been present to Him. It was the joy of His Fathers presence. He had lived in the light of His countenance. He had refreshed Himself with His fellowship. He had drank of the brook by the way, and therefore He lifted up His head. But lo! the brook by the way seems to be dried up. It was no mere natural thirst that parched Emmanuel. That outward thirst was but the indication, the type, the symbol, of the inward thirst which burned within His soul. What means this strange sense of desolation? What is it? Is it the loss of human friends? No; something more than that. That is bad enough to bear; but it is something more than that. What is it? For the first time in His human life He finds Himself alone. The light is eclipsed; the sun has disappeared from His heaven, and the joy of existence is gone. He gazes round and round-east, and west, and north, and south. What is it? It is but a little matter that the outward sun was eclipsed; but there was a dread eclipse had taken place within the soul of Emmanuel, of which that outward darkness was but the type. What was it? Wherever sin goes it brings its own deadly shame of everlasting night along with it. And because He had taken the burden of the worlds sin upon Him, therefore the shadows of night were resting upon Him now. One shrinks from following out these words, yet one can fancy-and it is no mere fancy-what must have passed through His heart. I could have borne that My own people should treat Me thus: I could have borne that My own disciple should betray Me for thirty pence: I might have borne that Simon Peter should deny me with oaths and curses: I might have borne the outward pain, the bodily anguish: but O, My God, My God, Thy smile has been my light: Thy presence has been My joy. What have I done? How comes it to pass that instead of fellowship I have desolation; instead of Thy joyful company, Thy blessed society, I have this awful sense of loneliness? What is it? What means it? My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? What did it all mean? It meant that He saved others: and because He saved others, Himself He could not save: and so the scale that bore the Christ descended into the deepest darkness, and the scale that bore a ruined world began to rise, and to rise. Lo! the gloom is settled on that, and the sunlight on this: that, is sinking down into the darkness of death; this, is rising into the glories of life. The angels are veiling their faces in horror as they behold the Son of God disappear beneath the cloud: the sons of God are shouting in triumph as they behold a ransomed world rising into the very sunlight of the Divine smile, the curse revoked, the doom recalled, the gates of everlasting life opened to a ruined world. So He carried it through,-that wonderful enterprise-through to the bitter end: and so He drank the cup to the last drop, and He paid the ransom to the last penny, sinner, for thee, and for me. I want to ask you, Have you accepted that which He has purchased at such a price? What is it that renders sin inexcusable? Just this glorious fact we are gazing at. Your condemnation, my friend, lies in this: that at the cost of such indescribable agony as we shall never know, until we get to the other side: and not even then, Christ has bought everlasting life for you, and you have refused to accept it. Tonight, that pierced hand seems to hold it out for you. It seems as though He pleaded with you; as if He were saying, Now, my dear brother, I have saved, not Myself, that I might save thee: I turned not my face from shame and spitting, that thy face might be irradiated with Divine glory: I wore that crown of thorns that thou mightest wear the crown of glory: I carried that cross that thou mightest sway the sceptre: I hung in agony that thou mightest sit in triumph: I fathomed the depth that thou mightest rise to the height. Men! do you think there is anything manly in trampling such love as that under your feet? Women! do you think there is anything womanlike in turning your back upon such love as that? Oh, let us be ashamed of ourselves tonight, that we have sinned against that love so long! (W. H. Aitken, M. A.)
The demand of sinners unreasonable
These words are a demand that He would prove His claims to the Messiahship by coming down from the cross, and a promise that, if He would do this, they would receive Him as the Messiah. It strikes us at once that this demand is unreasonable, even to effrontery.
I. You make demands which are unreasonable, because compliance with them would defeat the Divine plan of redemption. This was one characteristic of the unreasonable demand of the Pharisees. If Christ had come down from the cross, the work of redemption would never have been finished. Similar demands are often made by ungodly men-demands that Christ would come down from the cross-that He would save them in some other way than by His atoning sacrifice, and His blood.
II. Your demands are unreasonable, because you create for yourselves the very difficulties which you claim to have removed. Jesus was moving among the Jews, working the most convincing miracles. They seized Him, and nailed Him to the cross: then they demanded that He should undo what their own malice had done-Come down from the cross, and we will believe. A similar unreasonableness belongs to many of your demands. Is it not your own hand that has plunged your soul into this flood of worldliness, etc.? With what reason can you urge, as your apology for inaction, the chains which your own hands have fastened on your souls?
III. Demands are unreasonable which require additional evidence of the importance of religion, when sufficient has been already given. Unreasonableness of this kind characterized the demand of the Pharisees. They had seen the Saviours miracles, etc. It was unreasonable in them to propose that, if a single miracle should be added to the multitude already given, they would be ready to receive Jesus as the Christ. Precisely similar is the unreasonableness of many of your demands. You say, If I had lived in Christs day, and had seen His miracles, I should have been His disciple. Other demands exhibit the same unreasonableness. The reason most commonly given for indifference to religion, is the inconsistency of professors. I presume every one of you knows some whom he acknowledges as real Christians. You are no stranger to these triumphs of the cross, to these demonstrations of its Divine power. And yet you plead that, because A, B, and C do not live consistently with their profession, you will neglect religion, and treat it as if it were a worthless imposture. Similar are all the reasons for neglecting religion, founded on its mysteries. If men never engaged in worldly business till all who engage in it manage it wisely, honestly, and successfully; if they never acted except on certainty-never acted till everything dark was cleared up, and every objection removed, they would never act at all.
IV. It is unreasonable to demand more, when God has already done so much in your behalf, especially when you have not made improvement of what He has done. The Jews might have known, from the ancient prophecies, that Christ was to suffer an ignominious death. It was unreasonable.
V. Your demands are unreasonable, because God has proved it by testing them. You have made similar demands before; God has condescended to comply with them, and yet you did not, even then, keep the promises you had made. Time and again had the Pharisees asked Jesus to give them a sign that they might see and believe. Signs He had given them, the most stupendous and convincing; yet they were not more ready to receive Him than before. And even when He rose from the dead, they still rejected Him.
VI. Your demands are unreasonable, because, in the very act of making them, you admit what justifies your condemnation. The Pharisees said, He saved others. They admitted that He had wrought miracles. Thus, by the very justification which they attempted, they condemned themselves. So it is with you. Whatever reason you may give for neglecting religion, you admit its Divine authority, its reality, and importance. Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant.
VII. Your demands and apologies are unreasonable, because they lay the blame of your continued impenitence on God. (S. Harris.)
The sight of the Saviours suffering
Do you not know that this simple story of a Saviours kindness is to redeem all nations? The hard heart of this worlds obduracy is to be broken before that story. There is in Antwerp, Belgium, one of the most remarkable pictures I ever saw. It is The Descent of Christ from the Cross. It is one of Rubens pictures. No man can stand and look at that Descent from the Cross, as Rubens pictured it, without having his eyes flooded with tears, if he have any sensibility at all. It is an overmastering picture-one that stuns you, and staggers you, and haunts your dreams. One afternoon a man stood in that cathedral looking at Reubens Descent from the Cross. He was all absorbed in that scene of a Saviours sufferings when the janitor came in and said: It is time to close up the cathedral for the night. I wish you would depart. The pilgrim, looking at that Descent from the Cross, turned around to the janitor and said: No, no; not yet. Wait until they get Him down. O, it is the story of a Saviours suffering kindness that is to capture the world. (Dr. Talmage.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v29 Mar 15:29-32; Luk 23:35-43; Mat 27:39-44. “And passing by,…
THEY REVILE HIM ON THE CROSS
Mar 15:29-32; Luk 23:35-43; Mat 27:39-44. “And passing by, they continued to blaspheme Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save Thyself. If Thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise the high priests mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, continued to say, He saved others; Himself He is not able to save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe on Him. He trusted in God; let Him now deliver Him, if He wishes Him: for He said, I am the Son of God.” This scene, led off by the high priests, elders, and scribes, whose honorable example, of course, many thoughtless people followed, both citizens and soldiers, was not only barbaric in the extreme and infinitely worse than brutal, but diabolical in the superlative degree. And yet it was perpetrated by the ministers and elders standing at the head of the Church, illustrating the significant fact that collegiate education, religious professions, official dignity, and clerical sanctity are no guarantee against the vilest and most demoniacal persecutions when the devil is in them. Shall we not all learn a profitable lesson by this scene, and that is, to have no faith in man, but all in God?
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“The thieves also, being crucified along with Him, continued to cast this same reproach on Him.” Luk 22:39-43 : “But one of the malefactors, having been hanged up, continued to blaspheme Him, If Thou art the Christ, save Thyself and us.” There is no contradiction of the preceding with the following. Simply recognize the fact that both of the robbers at first joined with the high priest and the rabble in reproaching Him. But after so long a time, something in the look or the manner of Jesus sent conviction deep into the heart of one of the malefactors, superinducing a tremendous reaction, such as to evoke from the repentant thief the following: “And the other one, responding, continued to rebuke him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, because thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the punishment worthy of the crimes which we have committed; but this One has done nothing wrong. He said to Jesus, Lord, when Thou mayest come in Thy kingdom, remember me. And Jesus said to him, Truly I say unto thee, This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise.” On the resurrection morn, three days subsequently, Jesus said to Mary, “I have not yet ascended unto My Father,” setting forth the indisputable fact that He had not met the thief in heaven. He was a Jew, and was saved under the Abrahamic covenant, which all concentrates in Christ. So he went to Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16), whither Lazarus and all of the Old Testament saints had been gathering since the days of Abel. Jesus, expiring on the cross, His disembodied human soul (1Pe 3:19) went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison — i. e. the inmates of hell — the victory won on Calvary (Act 2:27-31); then, crossing the impassable chasm, entered the intermediate paradise — i. e., Abraham’s bosom — and met the thief before the expiration of that day at midnight; spent a wonderful hallelujah Sabbath with the patriarchs and prophets and all of the Old Testament saints; early, the first day of the week, abolished the intermediate paradise, and led up all the inmates with Him (Eph 4:8-10), and, coming to the tomb, received His body, the mighty host of Old Testament saints — being invisible, because not having their bodies — accompanied Him the forty days, and finally ascended with Him up to heaven. The prophetic eye of David (Psalms 24) catching the vision of the triumphant host, hears the shout, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and let the King of glory come in.” Then the shout roars back from the celestial portals, “Who is this King of glory?” The answer is prompt, “The Lord, mighty to save and strong to deliver; He is the King of glory.” Now the gates swing high, and millions of glorified spirits shout Him welcome, with the triumphant host captured from the cruel clutches of Satan. The grandest ovation heaven has seen in all the ages now monopolizes the interest of the celestial universe, while the Conqueror of Mount Calvary leads His blood-washed pilgrims up into the august presence of the Almighty Father, presenting them before Him, “Behold, I and the children whom Thou hast given unto Me.” O what a thrilling testimony-meeting follows, Father Abraham, the patriarchs and prophets, all participating, to the most delectable edification of angels, archangels, cherubim, and seraphim! A false exegesis has been put on this passage, in order to sustain that miserable materialistic heresy which deprives man of his soul, ignoring the idea that the soul is ever separate from the body, as this false dogma does not concede that you have a soul. As this positive statement of Jesus to the thief, “This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise,” so clearly and unequivocally recognizes the soul of the thief as going out of the body hanging on the cross and entering paradise that very day, to their ineffaceable shame be it said, they have condescended to the diabolical audacity to change the punctuation of the very identical words which Jesus spoke, so moving the comma as to make it read, “Truly I say unto thee this day, Thou shalt be with Me in paradise,” making the adverb semeron, “this day,” qualify “say unto thee,” instead of “thou shalt be with Me in paradise,” thus making our Savior commit a solecism and talk nonsense. As this occult form of infidelity — i. e., soul-sleeping materialism has been sown by Satan throughout this continent, we feel it our duty to expose it, as it is utterly destitute of truth. The salvation of the thief on the cross is infinitely consolatory to penitent sinners in the hour and article of death. However, it is awfully risky to make our Lord’s mercy in this notable instance an apology for continuing in sin. All should bear in mind the obvious fact that this poor thief had never seen Jesus before, nor hardened his heart by slighting opportunities.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv29, 31 shaking their heads
shaking their heads
This is an action people do to show that they disapproved of Jesus.
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Aha!
This is a exclamation of mockery. Use the appropriate exclamation in your language. (See: Exclamations)
You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days
The people refer to Jesus by what he earlier prophesied that he would do. AT: "You who said you would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
temple
cross
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv29, 32 15:29-32 Jesus was being mocked and abused by the…
15:29-32 Jesus was being mocked and abused by the people passing by, the religious leaders, and the revolutionaries. • The people passing by shouted abuse (literally blasphemed), wagged their heads in contempt (see Lam 2:15), and ridiculed his claim that he would destroy the Temple (see Mark 14:58).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.