Luke 23:35

35 The people stood there watching. But the rulers were making sarcastic remarks. They said, "He saved others. If he's the Messiah that God has chosen, let him save himself!"

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 came to the place called The Skull, they crucified him. The criminals were also crucified, one on his right and the other on his left.

34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing." Meanwhile, the soldiers divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice.

35 The people stood there watching. But the rulers were making sarcastic remarks. They said, "He saved others. If he's the Messiah that God has chosen, let him save himself!"

36 The soldiers also made fun of him. They would go up to him, offer him some vinegar,

37 and say, "If you're the king of the Jews, save yourself!"