Pictures of the Cross - Good Friday - Matthew 27:27-44

Matthew 27:27-56 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

We see at least three pictures on display (headline) in the cross that are crucial for us to understand why it matters so much.

Picture 1: Mankind “Living Under” His “Curse”.

v. 29 “they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” The first picture that I want us to notice is that of Mankind “living under” his “curse”. In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve made a decision that would affect them and all of their offspring to follow. They decided that they wanted to be like God, as though they were entitled, and they rebelled against his good design. As a result, earth and her inhabitants came under the curse of sin. It was gracious in that they lived longer than they should have and the earth wasn’t destroyed, but it was a curse nonetheless that led to the corruption of all things, all minds, all people, culminating in a death that was physical, spiritual, and eternal. There is no place in all of the Scriptures, or in any point of human history for that matter, that better displays mankind living under the influence of that curse than in Matthew 27.

We are “hateful”.

vs. 29/31/41 “they mocked him” As a result of the curse, we are “hateful”. You’ll notice three different times in our text that it says explicitly ‘they mocked him’, and two other times it says that they ‘derided’ him and ‘reviled’ him. What does it say about mankind that we humiliated the King of Glory? He wasn’t just rejected, and He wasn’t just exiled. In fact, He wasn’t even ‘just’ killed. He was humiliated. He was publicly embarrassed. He had been stripped completely naked, beaten within an inch of his life, paraded before the Roman cohort like a deposed king, and then spat upon by hundreds of men until the blood was watered down. He could hardly lift his head as they shouted, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

“whole battalion…those who passed by…the chief priests, with the scribes and elders…the robbers who were crucified” And, there were four different classes of people that mocked Christ. Everybody participated in his humiliation. The unbelieving soldiers hailed him as a fake king, worshippers on their way to the Temple for Passover hurled insults and shook their heads, the religious leaders called him powerless, and even the criminals nailed on either side of him found the strength to mock him. You see, this curse is universal and total. There is no person, no class of person, no nation of people that are beyond it. The religious, the cynical, the ordinary, and the criminal are bound together by this common curse, this common hatefulness.

APPLICATION: This is why Jesus didn’t say that He came only to save the Jew or the Gentile, the religious or the atheist, the rich or the poor. Jesus came to save the world because it is the whole world that needs saving.

We are “unjust”.

v. 31 “they…led him away to crucify him.” Further, you’ll see that we are “unjust”. It’s remarkable how simply Matthew describes what happens. He says simply, if not poetically, “they…led him away to crucify him.” It’s startling to hear a sentence so heinous described so simply. And, it’s this moment that is the height of injustice on this created earth. Jesus, the bedrock of justice, is crucified like a criminal and with the criminals, though He was in his very essence holy and righteous. Jesus raised others up, and He was struck down. He made others well; yet, He is afflicted. He loved the very hardest to love, and it is returned to him as hatred. He gave bread and fish, but He receives lashes and nails. He brought healing and salvation by simply saying it, yet the voices declare in unison his own condemnation. Oh, it is the height of injustice. It is the very picture of our curse that Jesus did not reap what He had sown. Rather, He reaped what we had sown.

APPLICATION: And, this is the gospel, brothers and sisters. Jesus didn’t reap what He had sown; He reaped what we had sown SO THAT we might receive what was rightfully his.

We are “unbelieving”.

v. 42 “let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe him” And, we see that we are “unbelieving.” Jesus was murdered, first and foremost, by unbelief. Before there was resentment, before there was contempt, before there was injustice, there was unbelief. The Romans didn’t believe He was the King, the passersby didn’t believe He was the Prophet, the priests didn’t believe He was the Messiah, and the criminals didn’t believe He was the Innocent. The priests and elders shouted up to him on the cross, “Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe him.” They saw what was, not what would be. They misunderstood what Jesus had said, and they misunderstood what Jesus was now doing.

This is the essence of unbelief. They saw the Temple still standing and believed that Jesus had gotten it wrong. They saw Jesus on the cross, and believed that Jesus’ story was about to be finished. They could only believe what they understood, and they could only trust what they saw. But, their eyes were deceiving them, for what they couldn’t know was that this earthly temple they saw was being fulfilled in the true Holy of Holies, Christ Jesus himself.

APPLICATION: Do you believe only what you understand and trust only what you see? Do you demand, like the priests, that Jesus come to you on your terms rather than go to him on his?

Picture 2: Jesus “Taking On” Our “Curse”.

v. 34 “they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it.” In Genesis 3:16-19, we read about the curse sin brings down upon mankind. To Adam and Eve, we see four aspects to this curse, and we see in our passage Jesus “taking on” our “curse” to defeat it and reverse it in totality. In Genesis 3, God begins his curse of mankind by cursing childbirth. He says that there will be ‘pain in bringing forth children.’ Childbirth would be agonizing and terrifying. Some children will be born, and some won’t. Some will be healthy, and some won’t. And, in all cases, the mother will face a deep-seated pain and emotional distress.

Birth “pains” are reversed to “new” birth.

Upon the cross, Jesus is offered wine mixed with myrrh (gall). The purpose of this was to have a narcotic effect and to dull the most severe pains that the condemned man would face on the cross. It would reduce the shock his body was facing. But, Jesus refuses to numb the pain of his open wounds and slashed nerve endings, of his gasping breaths and his throbbing body. Jesus is dying vicariously the death we are owed. He is absorbing the full wrath of God that is owed for our own fall under the curse of sin. And, it is in this agony that Jesus enables the New Birth, the birth of the children of God that will build up his Church. Birth “pains” are reversed to “new” birth!

“Earthly” family is reversed to “spiritual” family.

v. 40 “if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” God told Eve, “Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” That is, the most precious relationship on earth, marriage — the family, would fight division and abuse and mistrust. God had brought them together, but the curse would work to pull them apart, to divide their hearts from one another. It’s marriage and this component of the curse that God often points toward to describe his relationship with his peopel. In Hosea, we see Israel pictured as the unfaithful wife of God. They adulterated themselves out to the gods of earth and were unfaithful to their husband. In Exodus 4, God calls Israel his firstborn son. He was their Father, and they were his people. Yet, they rejected him, and they rebelled against his rule. And, ultimately, it was his children that were to murder his Son. Like Cain killing Able, it was his children that shouted to crucify his Son. It was his children that spat upon him. It was his children that mocked him and humiliated him. There was division between God and his people, Christ and his bride. But, God’s Son, Jesus, had come so that He might establish a New Family from every nation, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. He had come so that God’s children might have access to him and dwell in his presence always, living in joyful obedience. Jesus took this curse of division upon himself so that “earthly” family is reversed to a “spiritual” family, a family that will not end and cannot be divided.

“Cursed” ground is reversed to a “new” earth.

v. 29 “twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head” God tells Adam that he will live a hand-to-mouth existence that will require him to work the ground. But, that ground had been cursed. There would be ‘thorns and thistles’ that would grow. That is, there would be a constant struggle for him to have the right amount when it was needed. Sometimes, the ground would produce. Other times, there would be famine. Sometimes, the earth would provide what was needed. Other time, drought would come, and he’d go to bed hungry. On that Good Friday, they would take the very thorns of the ground, and they would weave together a crown of thorns that they would press down upon the brow of our Lord. They coronated him as the Suffering Servant. But, don’t you see the picture? Those thorns were our curse! Jesus was taking our curse upon his own head so that this “cursed” ground is reversed to a “new” earth. He took that crown upon his head so that our tears, our pain, our famine might be replaced by joy, power, and glory!

“Death” is reversed to “eternal” life.

v. 32 “they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross.” Ultimately, God had told Adam from beginning, “Eat of this tree, and you will surely die.” And, God is no liar. God is just. And so, in the curse of Genesis 3, God tells Adam, “I made you out of the dust of the ground, and I will return you back to the dust of the ground.” Since that time, the curse of sin has condemned man to die. We die physically, and we die spiritually. But, see the picture! See the picture! Christ takes on the curse of our death! Colossians 1 says that it was ‘through him and by him and for him’ that all things that are made have been made. It says that ‘in him all things hold together.’ That is, Jesus made the world, and Jesus holds the world together, but here He is, and He’s too weak to even carry his own cross. He’s strong enough to carry the world, but too weak to carry the cross. Jesus, being fully God, became fully man so that He might die in the place of men, and dying in the place of men, He might deliver men from death. Jesus came so that “death” is reversed to “eternal” life.

Victory Over the Curse

APPLICATION: You see, in the midst of that curse all those years ago, God had made a promise to Adam and Eve. Birth would be painful, but birth would lead to life. From the seed of Eve would come a Son who would crush the head of the Serpent. He would unify what was divided, heal what was ailing, and restore what was broken. He would reverse the curse over us by becoming the curse for us.

Picture 3: The Father “Ruling Over” Sin’s “Curse”.

v. 43 “let God deliver him now” How can we be sure? How can we be certain that Jesus’ cross is working toward victory and not doomed in defeat? How can we know that it is Jesus who is the promised Seed of Eve? That’s the final picture: The Father is in control. The Father has planned it out. We see the Father “ruling over” sin’s “curse”. Turn with me back 1000 years to Psalm 22. We could turn to Psalm 69 or Isaiah 50 or Isaiah 53 to see the same thing.

Psalm 22:1 ESV

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

Psalm 22:7 ESV

All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;

Psalm 22:16–18 ESV

For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

This Psalm was written 1000 years before Jesus’ crucifixion. Does this sound like an accident to you? Does this sound like an unexpected, surprise sequence of events?

God “Planned” the Cross

The cross is the plan of God, not the reaction of God. It was no surprise; it was sovereignty! God “planned” the cross! God planned the beating. God planned the humiliation of his Son. God planned the crown of thorns. God planned the mocking voices. God planned the nails. God planned this death God isn’t reacting; He is redeeming. And, that’s the best news in the history of the world. We are born under a curse, but Jesus took that curse upon himself because our God planned to save. Our God planned to redeem. Our God planned our glory.