What event impacted history the most? The fall of the Roman Empire, the invention of the printing press, the European discovery of the Americas, or the Industrial Revolution? Or more recently, the invention of the internet, the September 11 attacks, or the Covid-19 pandemic? Without question, the most decisive event in history, with the greatest spiritual, cultural, and eternal impact, is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Though He appeared to be a peasant teacher dying the agonizing and obscure death of a criminal in a backwater province of the “great” Roman Empire, more books have been read about it, more songs have been sung about it, and more societies people have been changed by it than any other moment in history. More than 2 billion people alive today have given their lives back to the crucified and risen King Jesus and are working to share Him with the 6 billion lost, 3.5 billion of which have yet to even hear the good news about Him.
We ourselves are learning to…
“Live The Cross-Shaped Life” – Cruciformity is learning to embody the self-sacrificial love of King Jesus, which God always deserves and honors.
God doesn’t always make things easy for His people, but He always makes it worth it. The living, breathing proof of this is Jesus. From His birth to His death, Jesus was all about humble self-sacrifice, so God brought Him back to life and crowned Him King of kings. That’s cruciformity, and we’re learning His cross-shaped story as we preach through the Gospel according to Matthew.
We’re also learning cruciformity in the beatitudes, the cross-shaped attitudes of God’s kingdom people. We’ve been memorizing these beatitudes this year:
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:7-10 NIV)
The Story
1) Jesus’ Cry (27:45-49)
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.
This was not a solar eclipse, like the one coming up in a couple weeks on April 8. Solar eclipses can only happen during a new moon, but the Jewish Passover always falls on a full moon. Therefore, this darkness was unnatural…supernatural. Now you might say, “Come on, that’s impossible!” God not only could have done that but He had done it before in the Exodus, when He darkened the sun as one of the ten plagues against Egypt. And, as we saw in our Old Testament plan this morning in Joshua 10, God had done the opposite where He held the sun in its place, giving extra daylight to Israel so that they might win a battle against their enemies decisively.
What is significant about this darkness? In Amos 8:9-10, supernatural darkness in broad daylight is a sign of God’s just wrath against Old Testament Israel for their sin against God (idolatry) and sins against other people (injustice):
“In that day,” declares the Sovereign LORD,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
I will turn your religious festivals into mourning
and all your singing into weeping.
I will make all of you wear sackcloth
and shave your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.” (Amos 8:9-10)
This is an absolutely devastating description of God’s just wrath for the sin of His people, which was exactly what Jesus experienced! Notice the incredible parallels between the verse and the crucifixion of Christ. Not only has broad daylight turned to darkness, but the biggest religious festival of the year is Passover, and it has turned into a time of mourning for Christ, God’s beloved only Son. After three hours of God’s wrath, Jesus cried out from the cross:
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?”).
Have you ever been alone? You may have felt alone, but you’ve never actually been alone. As long as you still breathe, God is eager to listen to your prayers and draw you to Himself. Those who die without being forgiven by God for their sin live forever under God’s wrath, which Jesus has described throughout Matthew as being in “outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Those who die apart from Christ can be said to be alone forever, but no one–not even the lost–are truly alone as long as they still live…until Christ was forsaken on the cross.
Jesus had never been alone. His relationship with the Father flourished and gave Him life. He was constantly filled with the Holy Spirit and the Father was with Him in whatever He did, ever since He was born. Even before the creation of the world, Jesus, God the Son, lived eternally with God the Father and God the Spirit in blissful, unbroken communion. Jesus had never been alone.…until now.
After hours on the cross and under God’s darkness, Jesus cried out: “Eli (ay-lee’), Eli, lema (lam-ah’) sabachthani (sab-akh-than-ee’)?” At that moment, something horrific had happened to Jesus. He was, for the first time, alone, worse than that forsaken. Jesus was being punished by Israel and for Israel, and God had abandoned Him. Jesus’ words are actually a quotation from Psalm 22. Note the similarities between these excerpts from Psalm 22 and what Jesus suffered on the cross:
Psalm 22
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
12 Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions that tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
The chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders had mocked Jesus with these very words as He hung on the cross–feasting on His carcass, as it were.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
17 All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.
This Psalm prophetically described the physical torture, extreme thirst, pierced hands and feet, public humiliated, and even gambling for clothes that Jesus experienced. The author David experienced persecution but nothing like what the Psalm described. This Psalm was about Jesus.
When Jesus cried out, He suffered more than ever. Somehow, He had taken our sin upon Himself, and God punished Jesus as if our sin belonged to Him. Jesus suffered God’s wrath for our sin. This is why Christ’s sacrifice was uniquely and extremely painful. This is why He begged God for another way in Gethsemane. This is why He had to prayerfully submit His own will to His Father’s.
Jesus was suffering more than ever, and yet He was still mocked.
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.”
This is a prime example of the kinds of mixed responses to Jesus throughout the entire Gospel. He was misunderstood and even mocked. But the suffering wouldn’t last for much longer…
2) Jesus’ Death (27:50-56)
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
A historic moment. The righteous Son of God had obeyed God all the way through suffering and to the point of death. Never before had a righteous human being–let alone the Son of God in the flesh–died. And at the moment of His death, four things happen in rapid succession.
First…
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
The Temple curtain was 60 feet high, separating the holy God who dwelt within from the unholy people who lived outside. But God miraculously–from top to bottom–opened the way to Himself through Christ, who is greater than the Temple (Matthew 12:6)! Now the blood of Christ–not the blood of sacrificial animals–would atone for sin and make a way for sinners to be reconciled to the holy Creator.
Second…
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.
This is such a strange account. I wish we had more information, but the New Testament does not share anything. The Old Testament prophets foretold that the restoring work of God would include a resurrection of all God’s people (Daniel 12; Ezekiel 37), and so we get a glimpse of that right when Jesus died and rose. But it’s only a preview of the final resurrection of Jesus’ people!
Matthew shared this account to demonstrate the connection between Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection and the resurrection of His people. I’ll teach on the glorious resurrection of Christ next week, but Matthew can’t help himself here, noting the universe-changing event of the death-and-resurrection of Jesus Christ. When Jesus dies, His people rise!
Third…
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!”
While criminals were being crucified, Roman soldiers would stand guard to make sure that no one took them down or gave them relief. But the centurion overseeing the execution of Jesus made one of the most profound statements about Jesus yet in the Gospel of Matthew. HE’S THE SON OF GOD! This is what the Jewish leaders had specifically rejected, and yet Jesus’ Gentile executioner saw what happened and concluded that Jesus must have been the Son of God!
Fourth…
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.
Many of Jesus’ faithful female disciples saw Jesus die. Mary, mother of James and Joseph, is probably Jesus’ own mother, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons–Jesus’ two disciples James and John–was named Salome. Jesus didn’t have a job or a home during His ministry, so He relied on the generosity of disciples, such as these amazing women to meet His needs. Now, they were present to mourn His death and prepare Him for burial.
But the Romans did not allow people to mourn or bury crucified criminals, so these disciples had to keep their distance. The Romans wanted people to see that they would pay for their crimes, so they left the crucified up until they rotted away. But that would not happen to Jesus’ body….
3) Jesus’ Burial (27:57-61)
57 As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
Before the Jewish Sabbath arrived, Joseph of Arimathea made a brave and unusual request to Pilate for the body of the crucified Jesus. Earlier in the Gospel, a rich young man had decided not to follow Jesus because he had great wealth. Jesus had said it was only possible with God that a rich man would decide to follow Jesus. Well, Joseph was a rich man in whom God had apparently done a miracle! He decided to take a great risk and pay a dear price to honor Jesus…
59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
And again, the female disciples are brave and faithful to pay attention to the exact place of Jesus’ burial. They would be back after the Sabbath to honor their Lord’s death in a fitting way. More on that next Sunday!
The Lesson
1) Jesus took God’s just wrath for the sin of all who believe.
Matthew’s account of Christ’s death focuses less on the details of His own suffering and death and more on what was happening around Jesus. Matthew said that “He was flogged” and “He was crucified” in passing but devotes much attention to what the onlookers were saying and doing and what happened the moment Christ died. Why? Matthew’s original audience knew all about floggings and crucifixions so little explanation was needed. Instead, Matthew wrote to highlight the great meaning of Christ’s death by sharing the events surrounding Christ’s death.
Jesus is essentially done with His teaching ministry at this point in the Gospels. His last major sermon was in Matthew 25, and He hasn’t spoken at all since the trial, during which He was also famously silent before His accusers. In fact, Matthew only records one of Jesus’ statements from the cross: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Jesus’ final “sermon,” so to speak, is His death as the “ransom for sinners.” Here’s how the Apostle Paul described this historic, cosmic moment:
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25-26)
Last year at this time, we were studying the Old Testament book of Leviticus, which placed an emphasis on the many sacrifices God’s people needed to offer in order to properly honor God and atone for sin–or appease God’s wrath for sin. But those sacrifices were just pictures of Jesus’ infinitely great sacrifice!
When Jesus died, He died for every sin, past, present, and future of those who believe in Him. He died for their pride and selfishness, their lack of gratitude, their gossip and slander, their hatred and bitterness, their lust and adultery, their greed and wastefulness. Jesus was no mere martyr or helpless victim. He willingly gave Himself up in obedience to God to set sinners free from God’s wrath for our sin! We’re not supposed to feel sorry for Jesus but repulsed by our sin which He died for and be drawn to Him! Believe and be justified–made right with God–through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus!
2) If you believe, live a life shaped by His cross.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)
Later in Romans, Paul wrote that the proper response to God’s offering Himself in Christ as a sacrifice for sin is to offer ourselves as living sacrifices for His glory! Our sacrifice in no way atones for our sin…only Jesus’ sacrifice does that. But we can, by the renewal of our very minds, begin to offer ourselves self-sacrificially for God’s glory and others’ good by obeying His commands to love Him with all that we are and love people as ourselves.
Questions for Reflection and/or Discussion
- Try to find as many parallels as you can between Psalm 22 and Matthew 27.
- What does it mean to you that Jesus endured such suffering like this for undeserving people like us (Romans 3:25-26)?
- Read Romans 12:1-2. How has the cross of Christ shaped your life thus far? How will the cross of Christ shape your life in the future?
Calvary | Muskegon 