Friday 3rd April
Matthew 27:32-56 | ALASDAIR WATSON
PASSAGE:
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 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. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 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.
32 As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. 33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.
38 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 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!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “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. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
55 Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
DEVOTION:
In Luke (24:44) Jesus told his disciples that everything written about him in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms had to be fulfilled. This passage, specifically v.32-50, contains clear examples of the fulfilment of prophecies about his crucifixion in two Psalms (Psalms 22 and 69) written by David more than 900 years before the birth of Jesus and clearly describing the effects of crucifixion, a punishment unknown at the time of David, and the events of Jesus' crucifixion in particular. Consider the following;
Verse 34 says that Jesus was offered a drink of wine and gall, a form of anaesthetic, as prophesied in Psalm 69:21.
Verse 35 states that Jesus was crucified. Psalm 22:14-15, 17 describes the physical effects crucifixion would have had on Jesus' body (muscles and ligaments stretched and thirst) just a short time after he was crucified. Crucifixion included nailing the hands and feet of victims for added punishment and this is the fulfilment of Psalm 22:16b. The verse also mentions the apparently minor detail about the guards casting lots for his clothing which was prophesied in Psalm 22:18.
Verse 38 is another fulfilment of prophecy that of Psalm 22:16a.
Verses 39-42, 44 were prophesied in Psalm 22:12-13 and 16a.
The scorn directed at Jesus in verse 43 was prophesied in Psalm 22:7-8.
And Jesus' cry of despair recorded in verse 48 was prophesied in Psalm 22:1.
An image used to describe someone who plans far in advance is that of someone who plays 4 dimensional chess. This passage is a mind-blowing example of God planning in meticulous detail and proving that he is a Grand master of 5 dimensional chess.
Finally, one cannot look at this passage without mentioning verse 51. The event recorded was not prophesied in these psalms, but was an awesome physical manifestation of the spiritual climax of Christ's work- the removal of the separation between God and Man, with the important detail that the curtain was torn from top to bottom, that is the removal was effected, not by Man towards God, but by God towards Man.
