At the Crossroads of Passiontide: From the Wilderness to the Cross

Prayer of Illumination

Lord, on this Passion Sunday, open our hearts to Your Word. Illuminate our minds with Your wisdom as we reflect on the journey to the cross. May Your Spirit guide us to understand and live out the truths we encounter.

In Jesus' name, Amen."

Reading of the Word

Matthew 27:33-54

Matthew 27:33–54 (NASB 2020)

And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull,

they gave Him wine mixed with bile to drink; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink it.

And when they had crucified Him, they divided His garments among themselves by casting lots.

And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there.

And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

At that time two rebels were being crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left.

And those passing by were speaking abusively to Him, shaking their heads,

and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying,

“He saved others; He cannot save Himself! He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him.

he has trusted in God; let God rescue Him now, if he Takes pleasure in him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”

And the rebels who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him in the same way.

Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “eli, eli, lema sabaktanei?” that is, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, said, “This man is calling for Elijah.”

And immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink.

But the rest of them said, “Let us see if Elijah comes to save Him.”

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and gave up His spirit.

And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

Also the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;

and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

Now as for the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the other things that were happening, they became extremely frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Introduction

We now enter a season within the season of Lent called Passion tide.

The height of the Lenten Season

It is here where we transition from the wilderness and journey to Calvary

Highs and lows in the next 2 weeks

He did it for us all!

The Cross of Rejection

Crucified at 9 AM, the hour of the morning sacrifice.

He was the ultimate sacrifice, the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world, not just cover it.

Christ was crucified with common criminals.

Those who passed by would know nothing of Christ and thought he was a common criminal too.

He was known as a criminal so that we could be known as a child of God.

Jesus suffering ridicule.

The rebels crucified with him and those passing by mentally ridiculed him (Yet another prophecy being fulfilled).

They tempt him with a question that reminds me of the desert experience Jesus had with the tempter.

Matthew 27:40 NASB 2020

and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

After they heard the priests, scribes, and elders insult Jesus, their insult blended in with theirs.

The chief priests and scribes join the ridicule.

Matthew 27:42–43 NASB 2020

“He saved others; He cannot save Himself! He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. he has trusted in God; let God rescue Him now, if he Takes pleasure in him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”

They are throwing back him the claims he made about himself, the temple, and him being the Son of God, the true Messiah. They are challenging him just as they did throughout his ministry and they are doing this while he is dying!

They are asking questions like this:

Matthew for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 16–28 Jesus Mocked on the Cross (Matthew 27:39–44)

If you really are God’s son, why don’t you come down from the cross? If you really are God’s son, why doesn’t God deliver you? Surely he can’t want you to be hanging there in agony? Surely he doesn’t want you to … die?

In essence, throughout the ministry of Jesus that reached its high point at Calvary, they accused him of teaming up with satan! Of being a false prophet. Their real concern was his threat to their life of deceit, sin and hard-heartedness that Christ brought out for the world to see.

If he came down from the cross, they would believe in Him.

They were doing the devil’s work.

It was the devil’s last effort to stop what was taking place. He knew he was on the edge of defeat.

Even if he came off the cross, it still wouldn’t have been enough.

It was another test to trap him, even as he was suffering death.

They saw miracle after miracle that Jesus did.

He confronted them time after time and their hearts were too hard to hear a word He said.

He could’t have come off the cross - His goal was not to prove who He was at this point. His goal was to redeem the world.

It was to fulfill what the Father had sent him to do: to die.

He did something greater to give them reason to believe; he rose from the dead. They heard about it and still didn’t believe. Rather, they try to hide it with a bogus story.

The Cross of Reception

Christ openly accepts the torture and crucifixion because it was the only way salvation was to be won for humanity.

They didn’t have to forcefully crucify him; he laid there and willfully gave his body to the punishment that was to come.

They didn’t open up his arms; he freely did to show us that the cross welcomes anyone, no matter who they are or what they did.

He openly places our sin upon himself.

His suffering was at the extreme. No one in human history will ever come close to this form of suffering.

Darkness came over the land because sin was completely laid upon the body of Jesus. The darkness blotted out the light of God’s love and the gloom and seriousness of sin had it’s way.

These few hours were the darkest in human history.

His body and soul were being crushed. The weight of the world was on Jesus.

The crowd mishears Jesus and thinks he wants the prophet Elijah to save him. Elijah came to point us to Jesus.

He opens himself to be abandoned by his Father because of sin. This was the price he had to pay.

The Holy God cannot look at sin.

It is disgusting to him.

It is the opposite of who God is.

It hurt Him to see His Son bear the sin of the world upon His Body.

Graphic Quote

The Cross of Redemption

He gives His final cry.

Bowed His head at 3 PM. The hour that the sacrifice was made for sin.v

The most important moment in human history.

The sacrifice is complete - it was the day that changed the world. The world is a different place because of what Jesus did.

The bowing of his head in death shook all of hell because it lost its power. Sin had been defeated forever!

It was the end of the old covenant.

The veil was torn in two.

People would no longer need to flock to the hill of the Temple to meet with God. Instead, they flocked to a new called Calvary where God met with them.

The earth shook & rocks were split.

Hardened hearts could now be transformed by his saving grace.

The dead were raised.

What are we to take from this part of the text?

It gives us a glimpse of the final resurrection at the end of time.

From this moment on, death was a defeated force.

Death was defeated by death.

From now on, you never know what God’s life-giving power will achieve.

“Jesus didn’t die to make bad people good, but to make dead people live.” -Adrian RogersThe impossible is now possible.

At some point in that day, one of the rebels was impacted by this life-giving power and turned to repentance and faith in Christ.

The centurion recognizes through these events that Jesus was who he said he was.

He sees the culmination of the Gospel and He openly confesses Jesus as the Son of God.

A type of what billions would do in the future.

He recognized the significance of Calvary. That it the payment for our sin.

Believe in what he did at Calvary for salvation.

Confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

To Sum It Up…The death of Jesus showed us the love of God is not mere sentiment but robust action—action that revealed once and for all who he is.

Prayer After Sermon

Holy God, when Jesus cried and breathed his last you tore away the ancient curtain between heaven and earth, life and death. As we turn to face the cross, show us Jesus, in all his suffering and glory, so that we may believe and have eternal life; through Christ, your Son, our Lord. Conclusion

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Benediction

We’re coming out of the wilderness. We know God’s promise. God will surely keep it. Jesus is in us. The Spirit is moving among us and driving us out of here to keep living in the hope of full salvation, of all things new. Go in hope and the peace of our Lord, holding deep in our hearts the central focus of our faith, Christ crucified.

Amen.