Constrained by Love

For my Mark Bible Study, on Mark 15, regarding the derision of the chief priests and teachers of the law, in Mark 15:31-32.

“Their jeers underscore Mark’s point. He saved others -- the disciples in the midst of a sea storm; the woman with a hemorrhage -- and he truly cannot save himself. Were he to save himself, he could not save others from something more deadly than storms or illnesses. The nails do not hold him fast to the cross; the love of God constrains him. He himself taught that whoever wants to save his life will ultimately lose it (8:35). His detractors cannot understand this way of looking at life. They cannot see that he dies as a ransom for many (10:45) or that his body is being broken andhis blood is poured out for the many (14:22-25) … Jesus taught his disciples to ‘take up’ the cross, not to ‘come down’ from one. A miraculous rescue would have proven only that he was a superman, not the Messiah, the Son of God.”

David Garland, Mark 591 (italics mine)