In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself.* He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, “I am God’s Son.” 4243 44 (Mt. 27:41-43)
'Let's see him try that now!' 'Yeah, let's see what he can do now!' It's the jibe they glibly banter among themselves, in staged voices, no doubt projected for his ears. All the while they also refer to him in the third person as if he weren't there. Ironically, the fact that he is stuck there rallies and delights them.
"Now" is their condition. By now they also mean 'finally, now it's our turn!' But that still isn't enough to satisfy them. So after disparaging Jesus for not miracling on cue, after slighting him, they bypass him altogether. Heady with power, they go over his head to appeal to God's very self.
Let God deliver him now, if he wants to. Still now, of course. Yes, it should be now. It must be now...
What they claim as if they know it all, will, in time, come true in ways they cannot now imagine.
Their timing is way off. "He saved others," they taunt, perhaps unconsciously using past tense, surely assuming he was finished with that. Yet, saving others is precisely what Jesus is doing now -- yes, now.
When you think of it, the mocking phrase, "let God deliver him" was probably also the whispered prayer of the weeping women that day. And "if he wants to" is not so far from "Thy will be done," is it? By God's grace, in God's time, redemption comes and sets life right.
Pastor Shirley
