Save Yourself

Luke 23:35-39 (ESV) And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

Just after Jesus was nailed to the cross, three different groups of people called on him to save himself. The first was the Jewish leaders. They were more responsible for Jesus’ execution than any others. They took him to Pilate on trumped up charges. When Pilate sought to release him, they prevailed and persuaded him to crucify Jesus instead. They gloatingly taunted Jesus to save himself because they had won their victory (or so they thought).

The second group was the Roman soldiers who had just crucified him. These men were likely far from home in a land and among people they neither loved nor understood. To them Jesus may have been just another criminal to be executed until their leader, at least, recognized there was something more to this Jesus (See Luke 23:27 and Matthew 27:54).

The third was a criminal on the cross next to Jesus. This bitter taunt was the last in a bitter life. Each of these called on Jesus to save himself if he were the King of the Jews, as the sign over his head read, or if he were the Christ – the promised anointed one of the Jews: prophet, priest, and king.

The irony is Jesus was and is Christ and King, but saving himself would have eliminated those titles. The only one who got it right that day was the thief on the other cross, who asked Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42) He alone understood that if Jesus had saved himself, he could not have saved anyone else. Because he did not save himself, he can and will save anyone who calls to him, no matter how guilty (as that guilty and convicted murder and thief proves). The only way you can save yourself is to go to the one who did not save himself so he could save you.