5/31- Our Savior

Series: Matthew

Title – Our Savior

Verses – Matt 27:27-31, 45-54

Subject – Crucifixion

Central Theme – Jesus Crucifixion

Objective Statement – Every person should recognize Jesus as their Savior because of these 3 supernatural aspects of His crucifixion.

Aspect #1 – The way He was mocked.

Aspect #2 – The way He was forsaken.

Aspect #3 – The way He was revealed.

Connection

Biographers will spend hundreds of pages describing the life of their subjects, but generally limit the pages about their death to just a few. For example, the three-volume biography of Winston Churchill, The Last Lion, by William Manchester and Paul Reid devotes 2,622 pages to Churchill’s life and only three to his death. This is not the case with the Gospel of Matthew’s account of Jesus. Jesus’s death was central, and Matthew devoted seven chapters out of twenty-eight to chronicle the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus.

What does the amount of space devoted to Jesus’s death tell you about it’s importance? Why do you think it’s important? 

Context

UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT (MATTHEW 27:1-66)

“With the transition between Matthew 26 and 27, the ordeal of Jesus’s arrest and trial shifted from Thursday to Friday. During the night, Jesus endured an illegal trial. Jewish law prohibited nighttime trials. In addition, most likely the entire Sanhedrin was not present. This, too, made the trial illegal. At daybreak, another hasty trial finalized charges against Jesus. Initially, Jesus was charged with blasphemy. No doubt, discussion was held concerning what charges to present to the Roman procurator that would prompt the death penalty. Once those charges were agreed upon, Jesus was taken to Pilate for the trial intended to end in His death.”

Matthew and the other Gospel writers emphasized Jesus’s death because it opened the door to salvation and a new relationship with God. As we study this session, examine your thoughts about Jesus’s death and what it means to your life.

Every person should recognize Jesus as their Savior because of these 3 aspects of His crucifixion.

Aspect #1 – The way He was mocked.(v.27-31)

Matthew 27:27 KJV 1900

27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.

(v. 27)Pilate, the Roman governor, condemned Jesus. His soldiers were not legionnaires, but auxiliary troops recruited from the surrounding area. The common hall usually referred to Pilate’s official praetorium in Caesarea Maritima. It is not clear where he stayed in Jerusalem. Some scholars assume he took up residence in a luxurious palace formerly belonging to Herod the Great or at the Tower of Antonia, a Roman fortress at the northwest corner of the temple complex.

Whole band literally can be rendered “whole cohort.” A Roman cohort was a tenth of a legion and numbered about six hundred men. Whether the term is exact or not, it suggests a large number of soldiers around Pilate.

Matthew 27:28–30 KJV 1900

28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. 29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! 30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.

(vv. 28-30)Since Jesus had been found guilty of claiming royalty, the soldiers mocked Him as such. They stripped him, a shameful thing for a Jew. Then, they dressed Him in a scarlet robe. The word robe specifically referred to a military cloak worn by officers. Since every king needed a crown, the soldiers platted a crown of thorns and put it upon his head.

Scholars are uncertain as to which thorns were used, but the attempt to mimic a royal diadem is clear. Many works of art portray the thorns as part of Jesus’s physical torture. However, this was humiliation as well. Some speculate that the thorns would have pointed out representing the sun as in Caesar’s image on coins.

Every king also needed a scepter, so they put a reed in his right hand. The improvised rod was either a flimsy stalk (see Matt. 11:7; 12:20) or, more likely, a substantial measuring stick (Rev. 11:1; 21:15). Only Matthew mentioned this item. Perhaps it was a bamboo cane used for flogging.

Matthew also was the only Gospel writer to mention that the soldiers bowed the knee before him. To mock Him further, they shouted, Hail, King of the Jews! Hail parodies the formal address of greeting for royalty. For example, the Romans greeted the emperor with, “Hail, Caesar!” Pilate had asked Jesus if He were the King of the Jews (Matt. 27:11), and that charge was posted above Jesus’s head at the cross (Matt. 27:37). Little did these soldiers know that their mockery contained profound truths about Jesus.

Eventually, the Romans dropped all pretense and focused on abusing and humiliating Jesus. They spit upon him, showing great contempt in a culture where honor was valued highly. They also smote him on the head with the “scepter.” The imperfect tense of the verb shows the repeated nature of this action. Any thorns pointing inward were driven deeper into Jesus’s head. The spitting and repeated blows fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 50:6 and recalls the treatment of Jesus by the Sanhedrin in Matthew 26:67-68. All of this fulfilled Jesus’s prediction in Matthew 20:19 and Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 53:7-8.

Matthew 27:31 KJV 1900

31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.

(v. 31)Completing their ridicule, the Romans took off the robe and put his own raiment on him. Then the execution squad, usually four soldiers and a centurion, led him away. As a final shaming, criminals usually were left naked when led to their execution site. That they put Jesus’s clothes back on Him may have been a concession to Jewish scruples—especially at Passover. Verse 35 records that Jesus’s clothes were again removed at the cross, as the soldiers gambled for them.

EXPLORE Matthew 27:27-31

Application Point: Jesus’s willingness to endure the shame and humiliation of crucifixion leads us to humble surrender and praise.

Background:Highlight again the trials Jesus endured. Point out the last few items on Pack Item 3 (Poster: Peter in Matthew’s Gospel). Note that, along with the trials and humiliation, Jesus endured the betrayal of Judas, the denial by Peter, and the scattering of His other followers.

Say:But all of these just set the stage for the deeper suffering He was going to experience.

Read:Invite a volunteer to read Matthew 27:27-31 aloud as adults underline examples of how the soldiers treated Him.

Recap:Emphasize the cruelty of the Roman soldiers, as portrayed in this passage:

The soldiers mocked Jesus. They picked up on the charge against Him that He claimed to be the King of the Jews. Using that, they mocked Jesus as a king by stripping Him of His clothing and putting a scarlet robe on Him. This robe was an outer garment a soldier used to keep warm as he stood guard. Adding to the mockery of the robe, the soldiers fashioned a crown out of a thorn bush. The design was a copy of the wreath worn by the Caesar on special occasions. Pictures of this wreath are engraved on Roman coins. This fake crown was then pressed into Jesus’s head.

Discuss:Encourage adults to read Matthew 27:27-31 again and to identify other ways the Roman soldiers mocked and humiliated Jesus. Allow a few volunteers to share what resonates with them about these verses.

Ask:What emotions does this passage evoke in you? 

Share:Remind adults that this intense suffering was not without a purpose. Note that while we might see it as a tragedy, Jesus had predicted all of this and understood that it was a necessary part of God’s plan of salvation.

Pray:Give adults a few moments for quiet reflection and prayer. Urge them to thank Jesus for the things He experienced on our behalf that day.

Every person should recognize Jesus as their Savior because of these 3 aspects of His crucifixion.

Aspect #2 – The way He was forsaken. (v.45-49)

Matthew 27:45 KJV 1900

45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

(v. 45)Supernatural events accompanied Jesus’s crucifixion. For example, there was darkness over all the land during the brightest hours of the day. From the sixth hour . . . unto the ninth hour (noon until 3 p.m.), the region went dark. All the land probably refers to Jerusalem and Judea, or perhaps to all of Israel. Some skeptics have suggested the darkness was the result of an eclipse. However, Passover always involves a full moon, and a solar eclipse can occur only during a new moon phase.

The darkness recalls the ninth plague on Egypt (Ex. 10:21-29), along with other Old Testament prophecies that describe God’s judgment (see Amos 8:9). Significantly, the Egyptian plague lasted three days, while this darkness lasted three hours. Still, both were associated with Passover, and both occurred over a limited area (Ex. 10:21-23).

Object Lesson: Darkness

Make your room as dark as possible. Share a time when you were in the dark and longing for some light. Allow a few volunteers to share their experiences.

Ask: How does darkness add intensity to a situation? What do you think the people in Jerusalem imagined was causing the darkness? What does this darkness reveal about how God views sin and death? 

Matthew 27:46 KJV 1900

46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

(v. 46)But this darkness had deeper meaning. During this time, God dealt with human sin and the atoning sacrifice for it. Figuratively speaking, God, who is too holy to look on sin (Hab. 1:13), turned His back on the sin-bearer (Isa. 53:5,10). 

Jesus’s cry of Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani represents the first words of Jesus recorded by Matthew since His reply to Pilate in 27:11. Significantly, Jesus uttered this prayer about the ninth hour, the exact time for the afternoon Jewish prayers (Acts 3:1; 10:3).

The words come directly from Psalm 22:1; and, as recorded by Matthew, are partly in Hebrew and partly in Aramaic. Matthew provided the translation, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?The Psalm goes on to answer why this abandonment was necessary: “Thou art holy” (Ps. 22:3). That Jesus cried with a loud voice indicates that He meant His words to be heard. Since this is the only one of Jesus’s seven cries from the cross that he recorded, we can assume it was significant to Matthew as well.

Discussion Question:

How does Jesus’s cry on the cross point to the greatness of our sin?

Matthew 27:47–48 KJV 1900

47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. 48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.

(vv. 47-48)In its original language, Jesus’s loud cry sounds like the name Elias(Elijah), the prophet who was taken to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11) and was predicted to return before the end of time (Mal. 4:5-6). Many also believed that Elijah would come to the aid of those who were suffering if they called to him.

We don’t know if heard thatreferred to Jewish bystanders or the Gentile soldiers. Likewise, we don’t know who filled the sponge with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. A sponge was a standard part of a soldier’s supply kit, and even the common people carried vinegar (sour wine) because it was a reliable, inexpensive thirst quencher.

Straightway . . . ran shows this unnamed man quickly responded to Jesus. But Matthew did not explain the man’s motives. On one hand, he may have been acting out of kindness and sympathy. On the other hand, he may have seen this as another way to torture Jesus and prolong His pain by extending His life (see Ps. 69:21). Gave him to drink is written in an imperfect tense, which could indicate that the person was “playing with” Jesus (as a mocking gesture) or that it took him repeated attempts to hit his mark. The reed indicates Jesus was hung at some height above the ground.

Matthew 27:49 KJV 1900

49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.

(v. 49)And because we don’t know the identity of the man, we also don’t know if the rest refers to the other soldiers or to onlookers. Their wording around Elijah coming to save him includes an admonition for the man to stop because the speakers did not approve of his actions. Come is present tense and further emphasizes their mocking. It implies that if Elijah was going to come, he had better do it soon. Mark 15:36 clarifies their meaning of to save him was “to take him down.”

Application Point:

We can be confident in knowing that Jesus’s death was part of God’s redemptive plan.

Every person should recognize Jesus as their Savior because of these 3 aspects of His crucifixion.

Aspect #3 – The way He was revealed. (V.50-54)

Matthew 27:50 KJV 1900

50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

(v. 50)This time, Matthew did not record Jesus’s words, only that He cried again with a loud voice. The statement that Jesus yielded up the ghostpoints to the fact that He voluntarily gave His life.

Matthew 27:51–53 KJV 1900

51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

(vv. 51-53)While darkness occurred as Jesus was dying, the other supernatural signs took place at His death. Scholars debate which veil in the temple rent in twain: the large outer curtain that everyone could see (Ex. 26:36-37; 38:18-19; Num. 3:26) or the curtain that separated the holy place from the holy of holies, which was visible only to priests (2 Chron. 3:14). Either way, the curtain tearing from top to the bottom shows this was God’s doing. Also, since the curtain was torn before the earthquake, it did not cause the tearing.

If this curtain was separating the holy of holies, the symbolism indicated that everyone now had access to God’s presence (Heb. 6:19; 9:12-13; 10:19-20). If Matthew was referring to the outer curtain, the symbolism pointed to the coming destruction of the temple.

Examine:Highlight the supernatural events around Jesus’s death:

The curtain in Herod’s temple was reportedly almost twenty-one inches thick. For such a curtain to be split from the top to the bottom could only be an act of God. Symbolically, the barrier between Holy God and unholy humanity was removed by the death of Jesus. The way was now open for all to approach God (Heb. 4:16). Coinciding with the curtain being torn in two was a violent earthquake. This earthquake evidently was the force behind another supernatural occurrence at the time of Jesus’s death, the opening of the graves of a select group of people.

The earth did quake, probably causing rocks to rent. At the same time, graves were opened and saints . . . arose. An earthquake is a common biblical symbol for God’s activity. A large earthquake would cause the rocks, massive boulders, to split. Many tombs were hewn into the rock, so they also could be opened in earthquake-prone areas.

Slept is a common euphemism for death. The saints, the “holy ones,” refers to God’s faithful people (Dan. 7:18,21-22; Zech. 14:5). Matthew did not indicate which saints or how many were raised. And he did not share when they had lived.

Scholars question why these saints raised on Friday would not enter the city until after Jesus’s resurrection on Sunday (v. 53). One way to resolve this is to put a period after opened in verse 52. With that, the tombs were opened at Jesus’s death, while the appearance in verse 53 could have happened after Jesus’s resurrection.

Many other questions about these saints have been raised, including if they died again or were transported to heaven. For his part, Matthew did not try to satisfy our curiosity. He merely testified to the power of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 27:54 KJV 1900

54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

(v. 54)In this verse, Matthew returned to what happened at the cross. The centurion, mentioned here for the first time, and the execution squad saw the earthquake as well as the other supernatural events that took place during the crucifixion. They likely associated these events with Jesus’s loud cries from the cross. Regardless, they feared greatly.

What these soldiers meant by Truly this was the Son of God, has also raised questions when compared with Luke 23:47. Truly emphasized certainty, and Romans would use Son of Godexclusively as a title for the emperor. Even if these words did not have the full meaning of later Christian confessions, making the same confession as the disciples (Matt. 14:33) and Peter (16:16) was significant to Matthew. He intended his readers (including us) to interpret these words in their highest and truest sense.

Application Point:

The crucifixion of Jesus calls for the response of faith.

Ask:

What evidence from the day’s events might be used to help others recognize that Jesus was the Son of God? 

Ask:How would you respond if you had witnessed these events?

Discuss:Lead a brief discussion about the centurion’s response. Affirm that he and those with him were eyewitnesses to all that had happened, and it led to a confession of Jesus’s deity. Share this comment from verse 54: Even if these words did not have the full meaning of later Christian confessions, making the same confession as the disciples (Matt. 14:33) and Peter (16:16) was significant to Matthew. He intended his readers (including us) to interpret these words in their highest and truest sense. Note that as Christ followers, we need to live out this confession and encourage others to respond to Jesus in faith.

Conclusion

Summarize:

Jesus’s willingness to endure the shame and humiliation of crucifixion leads us to humble surrender and praise.

We can be confident in knowing that Jesus’s death was part of God’s redemptive plan.

The crucifixion of Jesus calls for the response of faith.

Reflect:Remind adults that Jesus’s death requires a response from each person. Challenge them to take a few minutes to examine their own hearts and to decide if they have made that response to Jesus. If so, encourage them to identify someone who still needs to accept Him and to start praying for them.

Discuss:Urge the group to keep these questions in mind this week as they recall this study of Christ’s crucifixion. Encourage them to invite the Holy Spirit to guide them into deeper understanding of the gospel and a willingness to share it.