Matthew 27:38-44 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
In this scene Jesus is totally rejected and humiliated by the people He was rescuing from the captivity of sin. These were the chosen people, those who God so loved that He gave them the light of the law. Yet, they now shouted at Jesus with bitterness and rage in their hearts. They hounded Jesus by hurling mocking and ridiculing words at him. They were not afraid of this miracle man, for He hung on the cross, beaten beyond recognition. He was just a man they thought, not one possessing heavenly powers. Their mocking words must have shattered Jesus’ heart, for He did only good to these people who now humiliated him with their words. Jesus knew He could call down a myriad of angels to destroy these people, but He did not; even though they were his enemies, He loved them. He could make them pay for their damaging words to his spirit, but He would not; He would pay the full price for their redemption. As surely as the Sanhedrin, Pilate and the Roman’s soldiers beat his physical body without mercy, now the people were in the process of destroying his inner spirit. The crowd wanted his soul, his spirit, to be crushed just as badly as his physical body was destroyed. They would carry on with their mocking and ridicule until the very end. Jesus would cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) His Jewish people, the ones God called him to rescue, now blasphemed, cursed his name, gladly carrying out a judgment of death on him, an innocent man who did no wrong, a man who healed many of them, a man who broke the bread of life before them. Now they wanted his blood, wanted him crushed before He gave up his last breath. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” They discounted his divinity, discredited his work of goodness. As they cried out ridicule, they intimated through their words that Jesus was just a mad man, disillusioned in his own feelings of grandeur. To them in their anger, Jesus was a fraud who claimed something He was not: the Son of God. Jesus was nailed to the cross. God placed him there with his ears opened to the people’s cutting remarks. He had to listened to this rebellious people, knowing they were really rebelling against God. Jesus heard it all. And maybe in his fleshly heart He thought, “Why let them get away with this Father.” “Why not reveal your authority right now, wiping them off the face of the earth.” These thoughts of God’s belated judgment have been in the hearts of men and women throughout history. Heinous acts of men and women have gone on since the creation of man. Murders, rapes, torture, unjustified internments, holocausts of all kinds have gone on unpunished. Why allow such evil, God? But evil is endemic in all people. As with this crowd under certain circumstances, men and women will cry “Crucify God!” We will do our own thing, go our own way. God’s covenant with Noah was on display when his Son was crucified: Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. (Genesis 8:20) Even if they crucify my Son!
The crucifixion is an old story of rejection by mankind of the mercy and goodness of God. A good analogy of Jesus Christ’s journey on earth is in the tale of Moses and the Israelites. Just as Moses came to deliver the Israelites out of slavery, Jesus came to deliver the human race from slavery to sin and death to the Father’s house. Moses came from Pharaoh’s house as Pharaoh’s grandson. He went to his people the Jews who were in harsh slavery, revealing himself as a fellow Jew. They dismissed him as unable to help them. Because of their rejection, Moses fled, staying away from Egypt for forty years. Then God called him back to deliver his people from Pharaoh. Moses convinced the Israelites as he convinced Pharaoh that God had his hands on the Jews by performing many miracles. Finally the Jews were released from slavery in Egypt by placing the blood of an innocent lamb over the doorpost of their houses. On that night the angel of death passed over the land of Egypt and killed every firstborn of families who failed to protect their household with the blood of a lamb. Pharaoh lost his first born, so he told Moses to take the Israelites away from the land of Egypt. However, the Israelites were not happy with Moses as their leader. They resented him and his authority over them. Even though they were free from slavery, their hearts were stuck in Egypt where they lived for 400 years. So much so that they left Egypt with Egyptian idols in their satchels. Their rebellion to the God of Moses was so strong that they carried their old ways of worshipping other gods into the wilderness. In their place of freedom from the whips of the Egyptians, they grumbled. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (Exodus 16:2-3) They were dissatisfied with their freedom. They would rather be in bondage, knowing their future than to be in the hands of Moses and this strange God that they could not see for no idols were made of him. They also did not know where this man Moses was really leading them, maybe just to the wilderness where they knew they would die. At least in Egypt they had food, water and a shelter over their heads. In the wilderness, they saw none of the necessities of life. So they grumbled. When Jesus told the Jews that the kingdom of God was at hand, the Jews could not envision such a thing. After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:14-15) This kind of talk was new to them, and Moses’ talk of a promised land for the Israelites was new to these slaves that long forgot the land of Jacob. All they could really sense was that they were in jeopardy of dying in this sparse land. The people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” (Exodus 17:3-4) As with the Jews of Jesus’ time, this promise of a future existence somewhere did not satisfy their understanding of reality. They knew their journey in the wilderness could turn out terribly wrong. The Jesus on the cross was not going to be able to deliver the Jews from the Romans and maybe his leadership of peace and love could lead the Romans to take more advantage of them. Now they saw him on the cross very weak, his message of love and peace without any deliverance in it, so they sought another man, a better man, a man of violence: Barabbas, the insurrectionist.
As with Moses’ situation in the wilderness, Jesus was on the cross because of the Jewish leadership, the Sanhedrin. Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, WELL-KNOWN community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?” (Numbers 16:1-3) Korah, a Levite, as were the Pharisees and teachers of the law during Jesus’ time, was jealous of Moses’ leadership role with the people. The Kohath Levites were chosen by God to take care of the holy furniture and elements in the tabernacle. They were responsible for carrying these holy pieces from place to place in the wilderness as the tabernacle was moved. But these holy elements were always covered before the Kohaths entered the tabernacle. If they saw any of these holy pieces in the tabernacle uncovered, they would die. However, the Kohath Levites were given a special responsibility of carrying these holy articles from place to place. Koran, a leader in the leadership council, rebelled against Moses, convincing the whole leadership council to rebel against Moses’ leadership role. In Jesus’ time, the High Priest and the Sanhedrin rebelled against Jesus’ leadership role with the people. Because Jesus would become the Lamb of God, sacrificed for the people, He was crucified on the cross. But Moses could not fulfill the role of the Lamb of God for he was not devine. Because the wilderness typifies man’s journey on this earth, Moses is allowed to assert his authority over the Israelites. Koran and all his followers are killed by God, allowing Moses and the Israelites to complete their journey to the Promised Land. Jesus would die, for only God could die for humanity’s sin—only God’s work through Jesus Christ could release mankind from captivity to sin and death. So Jesus’ journey on earth in the flesh ends in death. On that day no resurrection would be before people, only death, but in three days another story is told: life eternal for all those who put their trust in Jesus’ work or God’s work through Jesus Christ his Son. “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced (OR NOT RECEIVE HIS GRACE).” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (ROMANS 10:11-13) Moses’ long suffering, his patience with a wayward, rebellious people, brought the Israelites to the land of milk and honey. Jesus’ death on the cross brought all of humanity to God. He was brutalized, crushed, bloodied for our wounds; He died for our salvation. We who are around this breakfast table do not yell out crucify him; instead, we praise and glorify his name for our salvation rests IN HIM alone. The kingdom of God is ours. Amen!
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