Introduction
The last couple of times we met together on a Wednesday evening, we studied the Lord’s trial before the Sanhedrin and the Lord’s trial before Pilate. The Sanhedrin was the Jewish court of the law and they were looking for evidence against the Lord Jesus, so that they could put him to death. And in the end, they accused him of blasphemy and said he deserved to die. However, they didn’t have the authority to execute anyone; and so they had to persuade Pilate, the Roman governor, that the Lord deserved to die. And in order to do that, they accused the Lord of claiming to be a king. And therefore they accused him of being a trouble-maker who would make trouble for the Romans. And though Pilate was convinced that the Lord had not done anything to deserve the death penalty, he gave in to the pressure of the crowd, who demanded that the Lord should be crucified.
And so, we come to Matthew’s account of the crucifixion. The passage can be divided into three parts. In the first part, the Roman soldiers mock the Lord Jesus. In the second part, the Lord is crucified. And in the third part, the Jews mock the Lord Jesus. And one of the features of this passage is the spiritual blindness of the people, because much of what the Romans and Jews said about the Lord Jesus as they mocked him is actually true. They knew the truth, but they did not believe it. This once again confirms what Paul says in Romans 1 that we sinfully suppress or we sinfully repress the truth about God. Because we’re sinners by nature and are unable to accept the truth, we push it out of our thoughts. And we need the Holy Spirit to come into our lives, because he’s the one who enables us to believe what we previously could not believe.
Verses 27 to 31
And so we read in verse 27 that Pilate’s soldiers took the Lord Jesus into the Praetorium, which was Pilate’s official residence when he was in Jerusalem. And the whole company of soldiers gathered around the Lord. But they did not gather around him to pay tribute to him as their king, but to mock him. They stripped him of his clothes and put a scarlet robe on him. Mark refers to it as a purple robe. Whether it was scarlet or purple, the point is that it resembled the kind of robe a king might wear. And so, they were playing a cruel game of ‘dress up’ while they waited to take the Lord Jesus out to the site of the crucifixion. And since a king normally wears a crown, the soldiers made a crown for the Lord to wear. But this crown was made of thorns which they twisted together and placed on his head. And since kings normally held a sceptre in their hand to signify their authority, the soldiers gave the Lord a staff to hold. And then they knelt before him, as they would bow before the Emperor, and they hailed him as the King of the Jews.
So, they were treating him as a king, but they were only mocking him. And therefore they soon began to spit on him and they took the staff from his hand and beat him with it. And after they had their fun, they took the robe off him and put his own clothes back. And they led him off to be crucified.
They were only mocking the Lord. They hailed him as a king, but they did not believe that he really was a king. They knelt before him, but really they despised him and they were only playing with him. And yet, he is a king. By the things he taught and by the things he did while he was on the earth — healing the sick and driving out demons — he demonstrated that he was God’s Anointed King and that he had come to deliver his people from our sin and misery in this world and to give us everlasting life and peace and joy in his everlasting kingdom. If only the Roman soldiers had believed in him, they would have received the assurance of sins forgiven and the hope of everlasting life. But they did not believe, because they were sinners who sinfully suppressed the truth, instead of acknowledging it.
Verses 32 to 38
The second part of today’s passage begins with Matthew telling us that they forced Simon of Cyrene to carry the Lord’s cross. It was customary for the prisoner to carry his own crossbar to the site of the crucifixion where the crossbar was attached to the vertical post. Forcing Simon to carry the Lord’s crossbar suggests that the Lord was unable to carry it himself, presumably because he had been beaten and flogged so severely.
Matthew tells us in verse 33 that they arrived at the place called Golgotha, which means ‘The Place of the Skull’. The word Golgotha is a Greek transliteration of an Aramaic word which means skull. Christians often refer to Golgotha as Calvary, which comes from the Latin for skull. We’re not sure why the execution site was named ‘The Place of the Skull’. Some think it was a hill which may have looked like a skull. Others think it may have been littered with the skulls of executed prisoners. But we don’t really know why it was named this way.
Matthew tells us that they offered the Lord wine mixed with gall, a bitter poison. Mark says it was wine mixed with myrrh, which is apparently bitter-tasting. After the Lord tasted it, and found that the drink was bitter, he refused to take any more of it. Presumably the soldiers offered this drink as part of their mockery: they pretended to offer him a drink to quench his thirst, but it was unpleasant to drink. However, it was also a fulfilment of the Scriptures, because Psalm 69 depicts the Lord’s suffering servant looking for sympathy, but finding there was none. Instead his would-be comforters put bitter gall in his food.
And then, in verse 35, Matthew tells us very briefly and very simply that they crucified him. The gospels give us none of the details about how a crucifixion took place and what the victim suffered. And if we were reading the text quickly, we might even miss these words. But this is where the whole of the gospel has been heading, because right at the very beginning of the gospel, the angel instructed Joseph to name Mary’s child Jesus, which means ‘The Lord saves’. And the angel explained that the child must be given this name, because he will save his people from their sins. This is why God sent him into the world; and this is why he was born as one of us. He came to save us by giving up his life on the cross to pay for our sins so that all who believe may have forgiveness and the free gift of eternal life. And so, the focus of the gospels is not so much on what he suffered at the hands of the Romans, but on how he suffered the wrath of God in our place.
When they crucified him, the soldiers divided up his clothes by casting lots. Normally four soldiers were appointed to oversee a crucifixion and it was customary for them to keep the prisoner’s possessions. But Matthew records for us the casting of lots, because this too fulfils the Scriptures. Psalm 22 — which begins with the line, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ — depicts the Lord’s suffering servant saying that his enemies divided his garments among them and cast lots for his clothing.
After dividing his clothes, the soldiers sat down to keep watch. They had to make sure that no-one would try to rescue the prisoner from the cross. And Matthew also tells us that they placed above the Lord’s head the charge against him, which is that he claimed to be the king of the Jews. John tells us that Pilate wrote the sign. And once again, while Pilate and the soldiers did not believe it, the truth is that the Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the king. And he’s king, not only of the Jews, but of the whole world, because he nows rules in heaven over all. And by dying for his people, he was doing what kings do, because kings are meant to save their people from trouble and danger. And the reason Christ our King died was to save us from our sin and misery. There was no other way for him to save us except for him to give up his life for us on the cross. And so, while Pilate did not believe what he wrote, nevertheless his sign proclaimed the truth about Jesus, that he is our king and we should therefore yield our lives to him and trust in him for salvation.
And Matthew tells us that two robbers were crucified with him. This too is a fulfilment of the Scriptures, because the Lord’s suffering servant is depicted in Isaiah 53 as being numbered among the transgressors.
Verses 39 to 44
And in the final part of today’s passage, which is verses 39 to 44, we see how the Jews mocked the Lord. There were three groups of Jews. Firstly, those who were passing by hurled insults at him, shaking or wagging their heads. Apparently this was a gesture of contempt and it fulfils Psalm 22 where it says that the enemies mocked the Lord’s servant and hurled insults at him and they shook their heads at him. As part of their mockery, they mentioned the rumour we heard at the trial that the Lord had said that he would destroy and rebuild the temple in three days. We know the Lord did not say this, but it seems to have been rumoured about him. And now the people mocked him because of it: If you think you’re so powerful that you can destroy and rebuild the temple, let’s see you save yourself. And they challenged him to come down from the cross to prove to them that he really is the Son of God. And yet, it’s because he is the Son of God that he would not come down from the cross, because he’s God’s obedient Son; and the Father sent him into the world to suffer and die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.
The second group of Jews were the chief priests and the teachers of the law and the elders — the members of the Sanhedrin. They also joined in the mockery, but instead of addressing the Lord directly, as those who passed by did, they talked about the Lord among themselves. And they joked that he was able to save others from diseases and demons, but he can’t save himself. And he claimed to be Israel’s king. So, let’s see him come down from the cross and then they will believe in him. And then they said that he trusts in God and so let God rescue him. And though they did not realise it, they were repeating the words of the enemies in Psalm 22, who said about the Lord’s suffering servant: ‘He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him.’ And, of course, God could easily have rescued Jesus that day. But God wanted to do something even greater that day than rescue his Son, because by not rescuing Jesus, God was rescuing us from our sin and misery.
And the third group of Jews who mocked him were the two robbers who were crucified next to him. They heaped insults on him.
Conclusion
And so, the Romans mocked him; and the Jews mocked him. Much of what they said about him was true. And yet they did not believe. And this is because, by nature, we sinfully suppress the truth. Because we’re sinners by nature, then we will not acknowledge the truth about Christ. That’s the way we are by nature.
And so, thanks be to God for his kindness to us, because he came into our lives by his Spirit and he enabled us to believe that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Anointed King, who came into the world to give up his life as the ransom to pay for our sins forever. Thanks be to God who enabled us to believe that Christ suffered the wrath of God in our place for all that we have done wrong. And because of him, we are set free from condemnation and we can look forward to life and peace and joy in the presence of God forever.
And since what happened to the Lord Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures, then we see once again that what happened to him was part of God’s plan for our salvation which he announced beforehand in the pages of the Scriptures. Long before we knew God and long before we even existed, God knew us and he loved us and he was planning our salvation. And when the time was right, he sent his Son to die for us. And then, when the time was right, he sent his Spirit into our lives to enable us to repent and to believe the good news so that we would be saved.
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