Luke 23:35

35 The people stood there staring at Jesus, and the ringleaders made faces, taunting, "He saved others. Let's see him save himself! The Messiah of God - ha! The Chosen - ha!"

Luke 23:35 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 23:35

And the people stood beholding
This dismal and affecting sight; insulting and reviling him, and wagging their heads at him, as did also those that passed by: and the rulers also with them derided him; the chief priests, Scribes, and elders, the members of the sanhedrim, whose characters should have restrained them from such an inhuman conduct. The phrase, "with them", is wanting in the Oriental versions, and in one of Beza's copies: saying,

he saved others;
by healing their diseases, or raising them from the dead:

let him save himself;
from death, by unnailing himself, and coming down from the cross; (See Gill on Matthew 27:42)

if he be Christ;
the Messiah, he and his followers give out he is; even the chosen of God, referring to ( Isaiah 42:1 ) . The Arabic version reads, "the chosen Son of God", very wrongly; for Christ was not chosen to be the Son of God; he was so by nature; but he was chosen to be a servant, as the text cited shows, to be a Mediator between God and man, and the Saviour of his people.

Luke 23:35 In-Context

33 When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.

34 Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them; they don't know what they're doing."

35 The people stood there staring at Jesus, and the ringleaders made faces, taunting, "He saved others. Let's see him save himself! The Messiah of God - ha! The Chosen - ha!"

36 The soldiers also came up and poked fun at him, making a game of it. They toasted him with sour wine

37 "So you're King of the Jews! Save yourself!"