Christmas is important, but Easter is decisive
Arsene Wenger
My guess is that Wenger’s context is completely different from mine, but the words are true nonetheless. It is as Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 15:17–19: And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins… we are of all people most to be pitied. (emphasis mine) Were it not for the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we would not be children of God and citizens of His great Kingdom. As Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert repeated in their book What Is the Mission of the Church?, “the gospel of the cross is the fountainhead of the gospel of the kingdom. It is the gate through which all the blessings of the kingdom are to be gained.” Without Easter, we are all cursed and will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Simply put, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and His subsequent inevitable resurrection are central to the Christian faith.
In this post, I want to examine Matthew 27:38–54 and perhaps, at such a time as this, help us marvel at how the darkest moment in history became the foundation of hope and salvation.
The Mockings (Matthew 27:38–44)
Public executions were already disgraceful. They were invented by the Romans for maximum public revulsion towards the condemned. It was a very humiliating death. But as if it weren’t enough, Jesus was crucified between two insurrectionists. Isaiah had prophesied He would be numbered with the transgressors, but from His point of view, as a righteous, innocent man, this must have been very hard. I can’t imagine being paraded by EFCC for something I didn’t do. So, humiliating. You’ve seen the videos, haven’t you? Where people would be hiding from the camera? Yes! Now see Jesus, naked, on the cross, and between two murderers! Utter humiliation.
As if that was not enough, Matthew then records three different groups piling on the mockery, making His suffering even more profound. Notice that the passersby’s mockery is very similar in phrasing to Matthew 4:3 and 5? I believe Matthew wants us to see that this is like the earlier temptation from the Devil because these ones are right here, doing the devil’s work. They want Him to come down from the cross, to use His divine powers to his advantage. Oh, but He didn’t come to save himself, but us! No matter how tempting this was, the Son of God had come to do the will of His Father, to die for us. And on the cross He remained hung. Praise God!
But by verse 44, Matthew had made his point– everyone rejected Jesus. His friends (Matt 26:56), Gentiles (Matt 27v29-30), and all groups of Jews (Matt 27v39-44). He came to the world, and they didn’t know him. He came to His own, and they did not receive Him (Is 53:3, Jn 1:10-11). All He has now is His Father, or does He?
The cry of desolation
I have some things to say about the cry of desolation, but I have written about it before. I have updated it slightly, and you can (re)read it here.
The Death
This is the climactic point in the narrative and the climactic moment of the ages– Jesus dies! The loudness of the cry at the time of death may indicate that Jesus is not just fading away but dying while in full possession of His senses. This is because most of the crucified were in a state of absolute exhaustion by the end. Jesus’ utterance of a loud shout supports the view that, to some extent, his death was voluntary- as the last words of Jesus in Luke show, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.”
In not describing the death of Jesus in any of the usual ways, Matthew may have been sharing the truth that there was something in Jesus’ death that set it apart from all other deaths. This is the death of death! The redemption that He came to achieve had been accomplished once for all. Here, we learn that the cross is the one remedy for the sin that Adam brought on this world (Rom 5:12–21). In His death on the cross, we see the final act of a life of obedience. He willingly and in obedience to His Father, took our sins on himself, was even willing to become separate from God for the only time in all eternity (v. 46), and in that act brought forgiveness to humankind (26:28). It is sad to know that it was at this moment, when he was experiencing the abyss of his alienation from the Father and was being cruelly mocked by those He came to serve, that He chose to yield His life as a “ransom for many”. But this is the good news!
Brothers and sisters, Jesus died for my sins and for your sins! Though He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls (1 Peter 2:22–25). Through the death of Jesus, a turning point of all ages has been reached. The supreme sacrifice for sin has been offered, though at the cost of His mockery and pain to the point of abandonment. But this was the Father’s will, so that the way to the presence of God will now be free and ready.
The cross and the spectacular events that immediately followed point together to the reality that God indeed loved the world that in and through the cross, He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life! Judgment and salvation are bound up in this wondrous event. Was it a bad Friday? No, it was and still is a Good Friday!
