Mockery And The Cross

Et praetereuntes blasphemabant eum, moventes capita sua, et dicentes: Vah qui destruis templum Dei, et in tribus diebus reaedificas: salvum fac temetipsum, descendens de cruce. Tangitur hic de irrisione crucifixi: irrisio autem haec facta est a tribus generibus hominum: scilicet , praetereuntibus, sacerdotibus, et latronibus et secundum haec tria recipit divisionem. Irrisio praetereuntium habet tria: blasphemiam, motus capitis, et improperium in verbis. Dicit igitur et prætereuntes qui vagos in mundi vanitatibus significant, stabiliter in veritate non manentes. Ierem, Populus hic dilexit movere pedes suos, et Domino non placuit. Vir vanus in superbiam erigitur, et tanquam pullunt onagri se natum liberum putat. Blasphemabant eum: dicentes eum virtutes quas fecerat in principe daemoniorum perfecifle. Qui blasphemaverit in Spiritum sanctum, non habebit remissionem in aeternum. Isa, Dereliquerunt Dominum blasphemaverunt ſanctum Israel, abalienati sunt retrorsum, in signum comminationis et irrisionis: unde de Sennacherib dicitur Ifa. Post te movebit caput virgo filia Sion. Et haec irrisio per comminationem Propheticam est causa captivitatis ipsorum, Caput circuitus eorum, labor labiorum ipsorum operiet eos. Quia movendo capita circumdabant ipsum, et dicentes, improperando, Vah, Interietio est indignantis. Cum audierit sonitum buccinae, dicet vah. Qui destruis templum Dei, sicut dixisti Ioan, et in tribus diebus reaedificas tua virtute, quae nunc tam infirma apparere. Habac. Ibi abscondita eſt fortitudo eius. Salvum fac temetipsum. Virtute quam de te in potestate reaedificandi templum praedicasti Descendens de cruce. Sed isti non cognoverunt quod non venerat ut seipsum temporaliter salvaret, sed omnes: et ideo non descendat de cruce, sed potius ascendat, loan, Ego si exaltatus fuero a terra, omnia traham ad me ipsum. Si serpens de palo deponitur Num, nullus a morsu serpentis liberatur . Ioan, Sicut Moyses exaltavit serpentem in deserto: ita exaltari oportet filium hominis, ut omnis qui credit in ipsum non pereat, sed habeat vitam aeternam Sanctus Albertus Magnus, Commentarium In Evangelium Divi Marci, Caput XV Source: Here p183

And passers by blasphemed Him, and shook their heads saying, 'Ha, you who would destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross.' 1 He touches here on the mockery of the crucified, and the mockery is performed by three types of men, that is, by the passers by and by the priests, and by the thieves, and according to these three the division is made. The mockery of the passers by has three parts, blasphemy and the shaking of the head, and the insult in words. It speaks, then, of the passers by as being those who wander in the vanity of worldly things, and who do not remain in the truth. 2 In Jeremiah, 'This people love to move their feet, and it does not please the Lord.' 3 The vain man is lifted up in his pride and as a wild ass brought forth he thinks himself nobly born. They had blasphemed Him before, saying that the powers He showed were performed by demons, as previously in the third chapter of Mark. 'He who blasphemes the Holy Spirit shall not have forgiveness in eternity.' 4 In Isaiah, 'They forsake the Lord, they blaspheme the Holy One of Israel, they have turned their backs,' 5 as a sign of condemnation and mockery. Hence is it said of Sennacherib in Isaiah, 'Behind you the virgin daughter of Sion shall shake her head. ' 6 And through the warning of the prophet this mockery is the cause of their captivity. 'Their heads surrounded me, the toil of their lips shall cover them.' Because with the shaking of their heads they surrounded him, 7 saying insultingly, 'Ha,' which is an indignant interjection. 'When he hears the sound of the trumpet, he will say, Ha.' 8 You who would destroy the temple, as was said in John, and in three days rebuild it with your power, that appears so very weak now, In Habakkuk, 'There his strength is lost,' 9 'Save yourself,'  with the power of the rebuilding of the temple which you foretold for yourself. But they do not know that He did not come to save Himself in temporal things, but to save all men, and therefore He does not come down from the cross, but rather He rises up to it. In the twelfth chapter of John, 'And if I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all things to myself.' If the serpent is not set up in Numbers, no one is delivered from the bite of the serpent. In the third chapter of John, 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so it is necessary that the Son of man shall be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.' 10 Saint Albert The Great, Commentary On The Gospel of St Mark, Chapter 15 1 Mk 15.29 2 Jn 8.44 3 Jerem 14.10 4 Mk 3.22-30 5 Isaiah 1.4 6 Isaiah 37.22 7 Ps 139.10 8 Job 39.25 9 Jn 2.19, Hab 3.4 10 Jn 12.32, Numb 21, Jn 12.14-15