Matthew 27:27-37 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is Jesus, the king of the jews.
This passage shows God coming to the rescue of mankind, working out his plan to redeem humans from alienation to their Maker, the Creator of all things. God allows his Son to be humiliated before corrupt men and women. As they destroy his Son with relish, they oppose a man of peace and love, or God himself. Jesus was murdered in front of a crowd who demanded that Jesus be killed. The Romans crucified him between two criminals, identifying Jesus with the criminal element in Israel, implying He deserved to die as a criminal. The people’s shouts of crucify him were not hurled toward the two criminals but toward Jesus. The law breakers’ names would be forgotten, but Jesus’ name is remembered by many as a swear word or expletive. But the mysterious plan of God from the beginning was taking place that day. God’s intention to rescue men and women from sin and death was coming out of the shadows of history. He was working out good on that horrible day--good for all those who would seek his face, desiring to love him above everything else in their lives. Their hearts of contrition would be heard by God and their faith in Christ’s work on the cross would redeem them from the judgment of God. Love was in the midst of this crucifixion day. We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30) The gate for all people to enter the household of God was being prepared that day. Jesus, half man, half God, but fully flesh, would die; He would be the first of flesh to enter the domain of heaven, the firstborn from this earthly dimensions to the heavenly realm. The plan of God was to have many follow that path from the terrain of earth to the heavenlies, entering through the gate: Jesus Christ and him crucified. Jesus became the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. There is only one GATE wherein people must enter. All other approaches to God will end in destruction, for all who enter heaven must be absolutely holy, perfect, without one fault, for God is a consuming fire of holiness. Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:23-24) The thieves who try another way to the eternal benefits of God by constructing other ways to heaven will discover the holiness of God will destroy them. Christ is the only door to the eternal dwelling of God. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name (except the name of Jesus) under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
The crucifixion day was seen by the prophets of old. You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are before you. Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none. They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst. (Psalm 69:19-21) David prophesied in glorious verse of God’s plan to redeem mankind through the suffering of the Messiah for the sins of men and women. He gives verse to God’s intention to hurt his Son, to dispose of him in the dust of the earth by the hands of murderous people. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. (Psalm 22: 14-18) Even though Jesus is fulfilling God’s plan of redemption for mankind, we have evidence of God’s heart of hurt that day. It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. (Luke 23:44-45) The Son of all creation, the light itself went out. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. (John 1:4) But this light of all of mankind would be mistreated by the worst of mankind, the Roman soldiers. A whole company was called out to batter Jesus and to humiliate him with words and actions. They would strip him, so he would stand naked and defenseless before them. They would play with him as a cat with a mouse that has no escape from death. They would cover him with spittle. They laughingly put a scarlet robe on him, knowing no Jew is a king over Israel, only the Emperor holds that authority. He selects who will and who will not rule Israel. These Roman soldiers hated the Jews and a few years after Jesus’ death they will go through the streets of Jerusalem and kill every human they could find, bashing babies against walls to shatter their skulls. They knew how to torture people, to dehumanize them before they killed them. They were tools of the Emperor to terrorize all people under his rule. Jesus would be mocked by the worst of humans. Pilate allowed this dehumanization because he allowed this entire company of soldiers to work Jesus over. Probably Pilate’s anger against the Jewish people for wanting Barrabas to be released and not Jesus, who he knew was innocent of any crime, caused Jesus to experience at the Roman soldiers’ hands the annihilation of his self-worth as a human being. After a while the soldiers released Jesus from their cat-like paws. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Now it was time to kill him, place him on the cross as a symbol of humiliation before the Jewish crowd. He characterizes the helpless Jew under the harsh rule of the Romans. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. . . (Isaiah 53:5)
On the way to Golgotha, we see the Romans forcing an African man to carry the cross, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. He might have been selected because of his skin color; we do not know this, for many Jews of all kinds lived in Libya, forced there by the Greek ruler of Egypt. After they arrived at the place of crucifixion, they gave Jesus something to drink. There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. We see these Roman soldiers fulfilling the prophesies of old. We see Jesus fulfilling the role given to him as the Messiah. He would die for mankind. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. (Isaiah 53:7-8) When Jesus was on the cross, the elite in Israel and the Romans thought the final solution to the Jesus problem was being completed. Death would swallow him up, and He would no longer be a problem to Rome and the Jewish society. Things would now go on as they had for centuries. But God had other plans: Jesus was raised after three days in the belly of the earth. As with Noah, He would once again be in the midst of the living. Many saw him after his supposed permanent demise. Paul writes, For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (1 Corinthians 15:3-8) The question to us today and to all mankind, has he risen in our lives? Has a new day dawned in our existence? This is the question to all people, whosoever will can open their hearts to this message of redemption. All people everywhere have fallen short of the holiness of God. Every man lives with at least one fault that is short of the perfection of God. No man will enter through any other gate to eternal life with God. Only the Messiah who suffered so much for us can place us into the kingdom of heaven. There is no other way. Our goodness is not good enough. Our intentions are not strong enough. There has to be a covering for our sins, and only Jesus and his sacrifice can cover our sins. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. (Romans 3:22-25) Reconciliation to God comes through Jesus Christ. But Christ’s sacrifice does not just stop at the reparations for our sins. No, the mysterious plan of God from the very beginning is to transform us into his children, without one fault, completely in the nature of his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. This is a marvelous work of grace, given to us freely. This plan of redemption is God’s work IN CHRIST for all of humanity, to share forever with Christ his glory in the household of God. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Amen!
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