‘And those who passed by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying, “Ha, you who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross.” '
The crosses would be in a public place by the roadside so that passers by would see them clearly and take warning. Derision of such men was not unusual and many would be the insults thrown.
The railing and the wagging of the head have in mind Lamentations 2:15. There it was by-passers at Jerusalem as they saw its humiliation. They did it because Jerusalem, then destroyed, had been called ‘the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth'. Now Jerusalem was doing the same to its king. He too, Mark insinuates, is the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth, and is equally unrecognised.
Mark especially draws attention to those who made the same accusations as those presented at His trial. He was very much aware of the hidden meaning of which they were unaware, that the temple which would be ‘rebuilt' by resurrection was the temple they were mocking, the temple of His body (John 2:21). They thought that He could not do what they said, but Mark and his readers knew that He had. There is an indication here that the rumour that He would destroy the Temple had bitten deep. And now for all His boasts He was on the cross and unable to do anything about it.
‘Save yourself and come down from the cross.' This is reminiscent of Psalms 22:7-8 where those who derided and shook their heads also challenged the possibility of deliverance for the one of whom the Psalmist spoke. There is irony here in that as Jesus had Himself declared, the Temple would be destroyed, and the new Temple of His body would be raised within three days.