The Mocking (Matthew 27:27-31)
Jesus has been condemned by the crowd. Barabbas has been released to the people and Jesus has been scourged in preparation for his crucifixion. But it will not be as simple as going out to the place of his execution. The Roman soldiers now will take a turn with Jesus. The Roman soldiers bring Jesus inside and gather a whole company of soldiers around him. They strip Jesus of his clothing and then place a red robe on him. Then they take some thorns and twist it together to make a crown out of it. Then they put the crown of thorns on his head. If this is not enough, they put a staff in his hand. Now they have achieved the look they are going for. Jesus looks like a crippled, bleeding king. Bleeding from his scourging, marred beyond human semblance according to Isaiah 52:14, now Jesus has a red robe, a crown made of thorns on his head, and a stick in his hand. You can imagine them dying laughing at the sight. So they all get on our knees, mocking the sight, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” As they continue to enjoy the mockery, they now stand up and spit in his face. They take the stick from his hand and start hitting on the head. Then they laugh at him some more, mocking him further. They strip Jesus again, taking the robe off of him and put his own clothes back on him. It is time to go to the place of crucifixion. You realize that nothing that just happened was necessary for crucifixion. This was just a time for the soldiers to have some fun at Jesus’ expense. We must appreciate the degree of shame that was inflicted on Jesus. But Isaiah said this would happen to the Messiah and how the Messiah would continue to trust in his God who was near him.
The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I did not turn back. I gave my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who tore out my beard. I did not hide my face from scorn and spitting. The Lord GOD will help me; therefore I have not been humiliated; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. The one who vindicates me is near; who will contend with me? Let us confront each other. Who has a case against me? Let him come near me! In truth, the Lord GOD will help me; who will condemn me? Indeed, all of them will wear out like a garment; a moth will devour them. (Isaiah 50:5-9 CSB)
The Crucifying (Matthew 27:32-36)
But the shaming is certainly not over. The condemned were expected carry their cross to the place of their execution. We cannot know the weight of the wood of the cross since that would depend on the kind of wood used and the dimensions of the cross. But I think we realize that the wood would need to be strong enough to be able to lift Jesus up and sustain the dead weight of a human being without breaking. Jesus has to carry his cross from inside the city of the Jerusalem to outside the city gates to his execution place called The Place of the Skull (Matthew 27:33). Through the streets and up and down the hills, Jesus walks with his cross until he cannot do it any longer. A man named Simon is compelled by the Roman soldiers to carry the cross for Jesus.
When they arrived at the place of crucifixion, Jesus was offered wine mixed with gall. Many have suggested that this would be a numbing agent. However, there is no evidence that this would provide numbing nor was any act of kindness. Please consider that the Roman soldiers offering something to numb the pain of the crucified victims does not make much sense. Crucifixion is one of the most painful and gruesome ways to die. People would last for days hanging on a cross, which was the point of crucifixion. Crucifixion was not merely a way of execution for the Romans could put a sword in your side or cut off your head. Crucifixion was a means of torture. Gall is a poison and what the soldiers are doing is continuing the mockery. This is what prophecy said would occur:
Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. (Psalm 69:20-21 ESV)
Rather than sympathy for the crucified, the soldiers are pressing the pain and mockery further. But then we come to a powerful phrase that is written so succinctly that it is easy to quickly pass over. “And when they had crucified him…” (Matthew 27:35). Roman crucifixion seems to have taken on a variety of methods. Scholars have determined that victims were often tied by ropes to the cross to be crucified. Sometimes they were attached to the cross with nails. We know that Jesus was crucified by being nailed to the cross based on the words of Thomas.
“Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will never believe.” (John 20:25 ESV). Thomas clearly states that Jesus was nailed to the cross. The apostle Paul made the point that the old covenant with all of its legal demands were nailed to the cross, not tied with ropes to the cross. When we read that Jesus was crucified, we are reading that Jesus’ arms and legs were outstretch on the wood. The Roman soldiers took nails and drove them into his hands and feet to attach him to the cross. Then he was lifted up and fix in place. The nails had to be long enough, thick enough, and heavy enough to hold the weight of a human on the wood.
With the work complete and Jesus hanging by nails on the cross, the soldiers sit down and divide up his clothing by casting lots. Clothing was expensive in the first century. So it would be advantageous to take the clothing of the soon to be dead. But I want us to pay attention to what is about to happen as Matthew records these events. Matthew is going to show us that every little detail is fulfilling prophecy. Not only is every little detail fulfilling prophecy, but these details are fulfilling a specific prophecy. I want Psalm 22 to be firmly fixed in your mind because the details of this prophecy will continue to appear throughout this chapter.
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. (Psalm 22:16-18 ESV)
The Insulting (Matthew 27:37-44)
The mockery continues. Over Jesus head a placard is set which reads, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Some king this is who is hanging here on a cross. This is a picture of a completely rejected king. Now people are going to take turn insulting Jesus while he hangs on the cross. In verses 39-40 we read that people are passing by as they walk on the road in and out of the city of Jerusalem. There is no compassion for the crucified. Rather, they are hurling insults at Jesus and shaking their heads at him. This also comes from Psalm 22.
All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. (Psalm 22:7 NIV)
They hurl insults. You said you had the power to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. Save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross! You know how hard it is to not do something that you know you can do and are challenged to do. As boys playing on the playground, we would challenge each other on all kinds of things. I bet you can’t make that basketball shot. I bet you can’t jump this far. I bet you can’t run to here and back in this amount of time. So we try to prove that we absolutely can. The people are walking by and they are challenging and mocking Jesus. Let’s see you save yourself now. Come off the cross if you are the Son of God. What if he had come down at that moment? What would the people have believed then? What would have happened to the sins of the world if he gave into the challenge?
But the mockery is not over. Not only are people shouting their insults at Jesus as they walk by, but the religious leaders have not left the scene. In verse 41 we read that the religious leaders insult him even further. He went around saving others but he cannot save himself. If he is truly the King of Israel, come down now from the cross and we will believe you. He said he is the Son of God and that he trusts God. If he trusts God, then let God deliver him now if he desires him. Yet again the insults are word for word from the prophecy of Psalm 22.
“He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. (Psalm 22:8-10 ESV)
But the mockery is not complete. Our paragraph ends in verse 44 telling us that even the criminals that have been crucified next to Jesus are also hurling insults at him. Jesus is surrounded by shame and insults. The people walking on the roads are yelling insults at Jesus. The religious leaders near the cross are hurling insults at Jesus. Even the two men crucified on either side of him are insulting him also.
The Irony of the Cross
It is so important for us to see the irony of the cross. The irony of the cross is revealed in the words of the all of these people who are hurling their insults at Jesus. They believe that Jesus being crucified shows their own vindication. They have proven that Jesus is not who he said he was. He can’t be the Son of God and be killed by crucifixion. God would never let his chosen one die so shamefully. Even the book of Deuteronomy indicates what the people are hurling as insults.
And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance. (Deuteronomy 21:22-23 ESV)
Did you catch what the insults are touching on? A person who dies on a tree is cursed by God. This is what they are all telling Jesus. You are cursed of God. God has rejected you. No one who trusts in God would go through something like this! If God delights in you, then he will save you from this! But what they did not understand was that Jesus was trusting God. If Jesus were to avoid the cross or come down from the cross then he would not be trusting in the Lord. Jesus showed his faith in his Father by submitting to the cross.
He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:22-24 ESV)
The irony of the cross is that the shame and wounds was the means for our healing. Jesus continued entrusting his life to his Father even while they reviled him and made him to suffer. There is our Savior, carrying our sins away from us, while hanging on the cross. The people believed that the Son of God would never be in a position like this: dying on a cross. But they did not understand that Jesus would endure the cross and despise the shame because of the joy that was set before him (Hebrews 12:2). What joy could possibly be set before him would cause him to endure so much? Our healing is what he came to do for us. Our rescue is why he could submit to the cross and endure such shame. The apostle Paul said it like this:
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:10-14 ESV)
We cannot be justified by the law because no one has done what God has asked them to do. All of have sinned. All of us have hurt other people. All of us have hurt God by defying his love and his laws. But Christ redeemed us from the curse of our sins that comes from breaking God’s law by becoming a curse for us. Notice what the curse was that Jesus experienced. Jesus did not experience the curse of sin because he did not sin. He was the perfect Lamb without spot or blemish. Rather, he died the curse of crucifixion. The curse of the cross is the way for God’s promised blessings to flow to us. It looks like God has turn his back on his Son. But three days later will prove otherwise.