Luke 23:35

‘And the people stood watching, and the rulers also scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others, let him save himself, if this is the Christ (Messiah) of God, his chosen.” '

Meanwhile the people, and the rulers, combined in gazing at the spectacle before them (compare Luke 23:13 where they had united in condemning Him). The use of ‘watched' may reflect Psalms 22:7 (in LXX Luke 21:8). And the rulers scoffed at Him. This mirrors Psalms 22:7 where the description of the treatment of ‘David' is remarkably apposite. Here was the greater David was suffering it to an even greater extent, another case of prophecy being ‘filled full'. This idea of the attitude of the rulers will later be taken up in Acts and compared with the action of the rulers in Psalms 2 towards the Davidic house (Acts 4:25). But here all concentration is on their act. And they jeered at Jesus and congratulated themselves on the fact that in spite of His bold words at His trials He was unable to do anything to help Himself. They clearly felt that it vindicated them. He had ‘saved others'. Even they had at this time had to admit to the reality of His healings and exorcisms. But He could not save Himself. Surely if He really were the Messiah of God He would now be able to save Himself? Why then did He not do so? Peter could have given them the answer, ‘He suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18). Paul could have informed them, ‘He was made sin for us, He Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him' (2 Corinthians 5:21). Luke could have told them, ‘He was reckoned among the transgressors' (Luke 22:37). He was buying His people with His own blood (Acts 20:28). He was sealing the new covenant with His blood (Luke 22:20).

The suggestion here is probably not that the people did not scoff, but that they scoffed in their hearts while their representatives did it vocally for them. They were there supporting what their leaders did. Others who were simply passers-by also scoffed (Mark 15:29), but Luke is concentrating on those who were there more permanently. ‘The people' here represents the unbelieving mass of Judaism. It is the vox populi. It does not have in mind those who have believed. Note the direct connection between ‘the Messiah' and ‘His chosen'. The latter expression reflects Isaiah 42:1 and the voice at Jesus' transfiguration (Luke 9:35). The One Whom God has sent, and has revealed in glory on the mountain before His own people as represented there by the three Apostles (Luke 9:28), is now mocked on the cross, before a rejecting people. The believer therefore has seen what the rulers cannot see. He has seen the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4). That is the difference between the believer and the unbeliever.