The Crucifixion

Matthew 27:27-44

Immanuel – 7/13/25

          Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah and the King over all kings. He is the hope of the world, for through him men find forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and life everlasting. Whether you’re from Morocco, Malaysia, or the Mohawk Valley, Jesus is King!

          And this great King in shame, in unimaginable agony, crucified as a criminal, condemned for blasphemy, gave his life to make all things new!

The climactic moment of Matthew’s Gospel is upon us. And yet, in six simple words, in a passive tense, we learn of it. In verse 35, when they had crucified him. There is no description of how it happened, no attempt to pull on the heart strings, just a factual statement that reads almost as an aside: when they had crucified him.

First-century readers would hardly need descriptions of crucifixion, its horrors were emblazoned in everyone’s mind. They knew what it meant, what it involved. So instead of getting into all that, Matthew focuses on the ironic mockery of Jesus and the manifold fulfillments of prophecy.

But because we are not first-century readers, I will spend a little time describing Jesus’ suffering on the cross. My main focus, though, will be the collision of ironic derision and prophetic fulfilment. For in the collision of these two things, we see a King on a cross deserving of our obedient worship today.

          Before we get into it, a quick review. The Jewish religious establishment condemned Jesus to death for blasphemy – for Jesus unequivocally equated himself with God. Because the Romans forbade the Jews from exercising the death penalty, the Jews handed Jesus over to the Romans.

          Eventually, the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate sent Jesus to be crucified by his soldiers. Crucifixion was an execution reserved for enemies of the state, traitors, terrorists, rebels. The first step of crucifixion was a scourging – as you see in verse 26. It was a whipping so severe the flesh on Jesus’ back was flayed and hung like tattered rags, likely exposing ribs, subcutaneous tissue, and perhaps even organs. Just from the scourging, Jesus would already be suffering significant blood loss.  

          And this is where we pick up today’s passage.

          Read vs 27

The scourging was viewable to the public. But Jesus is now moved into the governor’s headquarters (praetorium) where a battalion (cohort) of soldiers lodged – about 600 soldiers. This scene does not happen in public, but it does happen with the whole battalion assembled, a large and rowdy mass, looking to have some fun with this “King of the Jews.”

          On the soldier’s part, what did they care about Jesus? He was nobody to them.  But history well attests of the Roman’s hatred of the Jews. If Jesus was the supposed Jewish king, then Jesus stands as a figurehead; an object upon which they unleash their Roman, anti-Semitic, mockery of all Jews.

See that: Jesus bears the mockery of his people. And how they mock him!

Read vs 28-29

          Even though Jesus has done them no wrong, the contempt of the soldiers is staggering. First, they strip Jesus naked, exposed before a crowd of violent men. Then they take a soldier’s cloak – the closest they have to kingly attire – and throw it on his lacerated shoulders.  

          The bramble, Euphorbia milii, today known as “Christ thorn,” commonly grew in and around Jerusalem. Tradition holds that the soldiers twisted some of its spiney stems into a tortuous crown, tearing at his brow as they ruthlessly pressed it down upon his holy head.

          For a scepter they gave Jesus a reed. The Greek word could also mean stick or arrow shaft.

          Adorned in satirical regal attire, as Jesus likely swayed from blood loss and pain, the soldiers consummate the humiliation with sarcastic bended knees. “Hail, King of the Jews,” they deride.

          How ironic is this scene? The soldiers have no idea. Jesus is the King of the Jews; and he is their King also. But before glory, suffering. His bloodied and scarlet robe a cloak of humility, with a reed of meekness in his righteous right hand. And every saint since, and we in this room, see glory in that thorny crown. Yes, he is a most unexpected Messiah, gentle and lowly, deserving our highest praise!

          The mockery of these Roman Gentiles is an ironic foreshadowing of what is to come. As Paul writes,

          He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.                                              -Philippians 2:8-11

          Though the soldiers mocked, they demonstrated a most powerful reality. Every knee will bow, every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord! But in this moment of Christ’s sufferings, it is hatred that brings the soldiers to their knees.

          Read vs 30-31

          Just as the Jews spat in Jesus’ face, now the Gentiles do the same. Then they take the reed (or stick) Jesus held and hit him in the head with it, driving the thorns into his flesh, surely driving them to stab at his skull. Cuts on the scalp bleed profusely, and blood must have been dripping down Jesus’ face.

          I think Matthew wants us to see fulfillments of prophecy here. Listen to what Isaiah said of the messianic Servant of God.

I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.                                                           -Isaiah 50:6-7

The soldiers derived pleasure from their mockery and brutalization of God’s Son. But Jesus took it all. His face may have bruised, but he set it like flint – unbreakable, trusting in the good plan of his Father. And as spit and blood mingled, running down his face, he was not ashamed; for he was fulfilling the will of his good Father for the redemption of a people.

          After the mockery, the soldiers put Jesus’ clothes back on him. Their fun is over. It’s time for the serious business to begin. A four-man death squad was chosen to complete the task. Every person to be crucified was compelled to carry the horizontal member of the cross. Jesus’ death squad would have placed this on his back before leading him out of the compound.

          Read vs 32

          The public scourging, the beating from the soldiers; Jesus was already in severe agony and suffering significant blood loss. He would have been incredibly weak, so weak the soldiers recognized there was no way he was carrying the cross member to Golgotha. They compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross.

          It is interesting that Matthew names this man. Mark adds that Rufus and Alexander were Simon’s sons. Most scholars agree, since these men are all named in the middle of Jesus’ crucifixion, they were known members of the church. Did Simon of Cyrene follow Jesus after carrying his cross?

          In this scene I cannot help but see a dramatization of Jesus’ words:

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”                                                           -Matthew 16:24-25

          Here is another irony. Simon the disciples said he would follow Jesus, even unto death – but he is nowhere to be found. Instead, he is replaced by Simon, the stranger from Cyrene. Perhaps there is a lesson in this. If we are not willing to take up our cross and follow Jesus, someone else will be found.

          Read vs 33-34

          Golgotha, Place of a Skull: the place where the Son of God, the King of Glory, the Lion of Judah, would be slain.

          Some of the wealthier women of Jerusalem had a tradition where they would offer a drink to those the Romans condemned. It was a mercy for the last moments, a drink meant to dull the pain – even if slightly.

          At this point Jesus was surely desperately thirsty. But at the first taste of the wine, he would drink none of it. Matthew does not tell us why, but I believe we can infer the reason: Jesus did not want to dull the pain. He had set his face like a flint, and he would drink the cup of the wrath of God in full, letting no drop spill to the ground, letting no pain nor punishment be diluted.

          As we have heard in recent sermons, our sins deserve God’s wrath. Our pride and selfishness are rebellions against him. We have broken his image. We defiled ourselves and our world. We have loved the darkness. We place ourselves in the place of God. For these things a cup of God’s wrath brims, waiting. And on Judgment Day we will be forced to drink its fury all down, eternally.

          But on this Good Friday, Jesus snatches the cup which waits for us, and he drinks it all, he drinks it to the bottom, and he will not leave even one drop of God’s wrath for us to swallow. He drinks it all.

          So no concoctions to numb. He shuts his mouth to it. Full pain. Full stop. Here again, is a prophetic fulfillment.

They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

                                                                                      -Psalm 69:21

          And then we come to those six terrible words. Six words said almost in passing.

          Read vs 35-36

          How interesting that Matthew’s focus seems to be on the soldiers, their gambling and their guarding. Jesus’ crucifixion is stated like a side note. The first readers of Matthew’s gospel needed no description for crucifixion. Most of them has seen one. But we are separated from the practice by many hundreds of years. Let me briefly describe what happened to Jesus on that cross.

          We know from the other Gospels that nails were driven through Jesus’ hands and feet – could be wrists and ankles. The arms were forcibly stretched out unnaturally wide and nailed in place. The legs were positioned at a 45° angle when the feet were nailed.

Once the cross was raised, Jesus would be most at rest (albeit an agonizing rest) hanging from his pierced wrists. But it wouldn’t take long for Jesus’ muscles, already in a terribly weakened state, to lose their strength. With no muscle tension, his arms would begin to separate from his shoulder sockets. In such a position Jesus could inhale, but exhaling was impossible.

To get a proper breath, and to relieve the tearing pain in his shoulders, Jesus would have to push up with his legs. Every time the Gospels record Jesus speaking from the cross, it is when he would be pushing up with his feet. It’s why his words are so brief.

But, since his legs were at a 45° angle, he couldn’t straighten them. Similar to wall sits, his thighs would have quickly exhausted; not to mention how excruciating it was for nailed feet to bear the weight of his body. He would fall back down, weight transferring to his wrists again.

This means Jesus would have been restlessly moving up and down in agony and exhaustion, trying to breath, trying to relieve the alternating torment in his upper body and lower body.

The Romans designed crucifixion to be as painful as possible while prolonging death as long as possible. There are accounts of crucified people lasting for days before they died. And if this sight wasn’t terrible enough, the Romans stripped naked everyone they crucified. In our images Jesus always has something covering him. In all reality, he was completely exposed to onlookers.

This is agony and shame on a scale we can scarcely imagine. And while Jesus endures one of the most horrific deaths that human ingenuity sinfully conceived, the soldier gamble at His feet. They cast lots to see who gets to keep Jesus’ clothing. Afterwards they watch over him, making sure no rescue attempt is made.

These things, too, happen in fulfillment of prophecy. Many hundreds of years earlier, David wrote,

For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet…they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.                                 -Psalm 22:16,17-18

          Terribly tragic as it all is, everything is unfolding just as the Father planned in times before time.

          Read vs 37

          John tells us this sign was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. The Romans wanted to be sure anyone and everyone could read what it said. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

          Anyone who claimed to be a king, however meager their following might be, was a threat to the Roman Empire – a threat to Ceasar. It was for this charge – that Jesus was the King of the Jews – that the Romans crucified him.

          Once more, we see profound irony. Just as the sign declared, Jesus really is the King of the Jews. He is the King of the Romans. He is King over Caesar. As Daniel prophesied:

          To him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.   -Daniel 7:14

          The King with everlasting dominion, crucified in shame, crucified beside actual rebels.

          Read vs 38

          Once again, Matthew is pointing us towards prophetic fulfillment.

          He poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.      -Isaiah 53:12

          Jesus was numbered with the transgressors. Indeed, there are layers to that prophesy, but in a very literal sense, Jesus was crucified along with sinners, numbered with transgressors.

          Scholars speculate that these two criminals were arrested during a recent uprising against Rome. Their leader: Barabbas. If so, Jesus was hanging on the cross intended to Barabbas. As Eric so powerfully taught last week, Jesus is the substitution, the innocent for the guilty, the King for the criminal. He hangs in the place we deserve! He drinks the cup poured for us!

          Now we come to three groups of people and three different mockeries hurled at Jesus, defenseless and vulnerable though he is.

          Read vs 39-40

          In verse 39 we continue to observe Matthew choosing his words carefully, pointing the careful reader towards fulfillments. This time he again takes us back to Psalm 22.

          But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads.   

                                                                                      -Psalm 22:6-7

          Those passing by are the first set of people deriding Jesus. They deliver the first mockery: “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.”

          If Jesus possessed the power to destroy and rebuild the temple, surely he has the power to save himself – so their thinking goes. If you are the Son of God, these are the exact same words Satan used when he tempted Jesus some 3.5 years before.

But the irony is, it is precisely because Jesus is the Son of God that he stays himself on that cross, drinking every drop of its pain. Jesus has no thought of saving himself. His thought is to obey the Father. His thought is to take the punishment his people deserve. Oh this is the Son of God truly, Heaven’s King, the only one worthy of our worship and obedience!

          The religious leaders are the next set of people to deride Jesus.

          Read vs 41-42

They taunt Jesus as delusional, a madman who thinks himself king. They say if Jesus were to come down from the cross, they would believe him. But this is clearly a falsehood. They say (an accidental admission?) that Jesus saved others: Everyone had heard how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. But this was not enough for the religious leaders to believe. Even if he came down, they would never believe.

          Ironic that the cross is the means of lifting Jesus up. For from that tree he is raised as a signal to the nations, that salvation belongs to him, that forgiveness of sins is found in him, and by his wounds we are healed. If he came down from that cross, what would be left for his people? Jesus is the King who was slain, that we would be redeemed. He is worthy of all our worship!

          Again, the religious leaders mock.

          Read vs 43

          Ironic that the religious leaders are nearly quoting from the prophetic Psalm 22 about their Messiah.

“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”                                                                                   -Psalm 22:8

          How ironic that these religious leader can see Jesus trusts in God the Father, just as the Psalmist said he would. How sad that they are clueless to the plans of God, despite their arduous study of Scripture. They could not see, they would not see, that God’s plan of salvation was worked out through suffering. That Israel’s Messiah had come, and he had come to die. Theirs were the guilty red hands.

          Oh yes, and the Father would deliver his Son. More amazing than delivering Jesus from a cross, the Father would deliver Jesus from death. Jesus’ trust in the Father was complete, and he would not be put to shame! In three days time, the Father will raise his slain Son from death to glorious life everlasting! He the first among many. Jesus is the resurrected King, our hope of life everlasting, and it is our delight to use our everlasting lives to offer him our worship of obedience!

          We come to the final set of mockers.

          Read vs 44

          Even the crucified criminals mock Jesus. In Luke we learn that one of them believed in Jesus at the very end. But at least initially, both of the criminals hurls their insults at Jesus. Insults were piling upon injury.

          Those passing by, the religious leaders, the crucified zealots: these represent the whole of Judaism. The Jews rejected their Messiah and had him killed. Pontius Pilate and the soldiers represent the Gentile world. Thus we see, all of humanity put Jesus on that cross. And indeed, he hung there for the sins of the world.

          As Jesus said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”                                         -Matthew 20:28

          Look at the great price with which you have been ransomed. Today I have no lengthy or compelling conclusions. Instead, I have a series of questions.

          What does the crucifixion of Jesus mean for your life?

          If Jesus called you to pick up your cross and follow him, how should your life look compared to the average, unbelieving, comfortable American? Or even compared to a nominal Christian?

          If Jesus really is the Son of God, and he endured so much agony for you, what are you willing to endure for him?

          Is there anyone you can tell, the King of the universe was crucified for them?