Daily Devotion for April 9, 2006

To Jerusalem with the ComPassionate Christ
Day 40

 

Mocking Scorn

 

Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!"  Mark 15: 29-30

 

We sometimes are tempted to imagine that Calvary was in the middle of nowhere, and that the Savior suffered alone. No doubt the hill of crucifixion itself was a place set apart and shunned by the respectable, but Mark tells us that the passers by railed at Him. This must mean that Jesus suffered a horrible death within sight of a thoroughfare, perhaps one of the roads into the city. Even in the act of dying they stripped Him of His dignity.

 

Passers by found it good sport to shout insults at the crucified ones, and especially at Jesus. Their taunts were mirror images of those false accusations brought to the court that met at Caiaphas’ home. With jeering irony and wicked sarcasm they laughed at Jesus. "Hey! You boasted that you could demolish the temple and build it up again in three days, how about saving yourself. Come on! Get down from that Cross!" It is interesting to know that the word Mark chooses to describe their insults, ‘railing’ really means ‘blaspheming.’ The joke is actually on them! They had been the ones who had accused Jesus of blasphemy, and by their limited knowledge they had been right, because it had never entered their heads that Jesus could be telling the truth, and that He could be the Messiah. As His death approached, a death brought about by their false accusations, they themselves fell into blasphemy. The point is well made: when we pass judgment on Jesus, we are really passing judgment upon ourselves.

 

“destroy the temple and build it in three days” Little did they realize that Jesus had replaced the physical temple in Jerusalem which had become an idol to them with the true temple, Himself.  Truth is always tested in time, and time (three days later) would show the truth of Jesus’ statement that He was the true Temple.  Some 40 years later would show the truth of Jesus saying He would destroy the physical temple in Jerusalem (70 AD), and remove the idol that kept so many from seeing the true temple. 

 

What about us?  Do our temples, church buildings, get in the way of being the true church Christ has intended us to be?  Do we seek the good of the Kingdom of God or do we serve the buildings that we think house the people of God.  Let us learn from Jesus what happens to earthly things!

 

Prayer
Jesus, help me always stay focused on Building Your Kingdom.  Help me see the “eternal” in all that I do.  Amen

 

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