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." In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked Him among themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but He can't save Himself. Let this Christ, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe."

Mark 15:29-32, NIV

I used to wonder why Jesus allowed the people to insult Him as they did. I wondered why He didn't just come down from the cross and save Himself so that these wicked men would be silenced and so that He would not have to die. But of course, there is a reason for everything that Jesus did, and there was a very obvious reason for Jesus not doing as these wicked men who were taunting Him suggested:

Jesus did not come into this world to save Himself, He came into this world to save us!

"The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost."

I Timothy 1:15. ESV

Jesus knew this truth. Paul showed that knew this truth. And now we know this truth as well. The question is, "What will we do about it?" That's the reason we are reading: To find the answers to the truths that God wants us to know, and then to live our lives according to these truths... otherwise, Christ would have died in vain.

Today's reading is Mark 15. It reveals much about the love that Jesus and God have for us.