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Cross Words

CROSS WORDS

 Matthew 27:11-56

This morning, in this chapter we come to that which Matthew has been leading us to for some time.

This morning, as we go through this passage, we are not going to examine every detail.

When you get to verse 11 the Jews have brought Jesus to the Roman governor, Pilate.

And that is the irony here.

But notice what Pilate knows about this situation in verse 18.

And Pilate knew that.

Pilate just didn’t realize HOW jealous they were!

You see, Pilate didn’t realize how much people desire power and influence.

Now look at vs. 23-24: And he said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!” 24 And when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.”

And so what Matthew has done is he has shown us that Jesus is led to his death, not just by the Jews…but also by the Romans.

Why? What crimes was Jesus guilty of?

Notice verses 27-32. What happens to Jesus in these verses is brutal.

And they mock Him as King…and they keep beating Him with reeds…and spitting on him.

And you would think that by now they would have all had their fill of being so cruel and inhumane toward Jesus.

 And those men who mocked Him and said, “You saved others, but you can’t save yourself”, just didn’t realize that He could save others….and He could have saved Himself.

And then what happens next is hard to imagine. Vs. 45 says that “about the 6th hour darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.”

Jesus cries out, “Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?”

It wasn’t so much the pain of the cross that made Him cry out.

God departed from Jesus so that He would never have to depart from you.

And that is why we should lift up the cross.

Notice now verse 51. Another strange thing happens. Just as Jesus breaths His last and dies, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Now notice verse 54. Here in this verse a Roman soldier, standing right in front of Jesus sees Jesus breath His last, and then he says what Matthew has been telling us all along.

He calls Him the “Son of God.”

No one else calls Him that until this centurion does here in verse 54.

This centurion expresses what this gospel has been saying all alone.

 They thought when they killed Jesus that they would stop His message.

So, have you heard the cross today?

There were three crosses that day.

On the right there was another man.

Because on that cross in the middle was a man who had no sin in Him…but who had all sin ON Him.

Jesus died on the cross, “forsaken by God” so that you would never have too.