Matthew 27 - Part 4

 

Consider the words of Isaiah.

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

    my chosen one in whom I delight;

I will put my Spirit on him,

    and he will bring justice to the nations.

2 He will not shout or cry out,

    or raise his voice in the streets.

3 A bruised reed he will not break,

    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

4     he will not falter or be discouraged

till he establishes justice on earth.

    In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

 

5 This is what God the Lord says—

the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out,

    who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it,

    who gives breath to its people,

    and life to those who walk on it:

6 “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;

    I will take hold of your hand.

I will keep you and will make you

    to be a covenant for the people

    and a light for the Gentiles,

7 to open eyes that are blind,

    to free captives from prison

    and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

 

8 “I am the Lord; that is my name!

    I will not yield my glory to another

    or my praise to idols.

9 See, the former things have taken place,

    and new things I declare;

before they spring into being

    I announce them to you.”

 

Now let’s go to Matthew’s gospel.

Jesus was on the cross.  He still had breath in him.  His life on this earth was about over.  About noon it became dark and that darkness lasted three hours.

When the darkness had passed, Jesus cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  He spoke in Aramaic and some thought he was calling out to Elijah.

Someone put a sponge soaked in wine vinegar on a stick and lifted it up to Jesus.  Others said to leave him alone.  They wanted to see if Elijah would come to his rescue.  It seems that at this point, even the skeptics were wondering about what had been done.  Total darkness at mid-day will do that.

Matthew’s gospel does not say that Jesus said:  It is finished.  It does say that he cried out again and then he gave up his spirit.  His human life had come to an end.

But with his last breath began the first of several signs that said something had happened that was greater than a Roman crucifixion.

At that very moment, the curtain of the temple—the one that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was torn top to bottom.  Imagine being on top of this hill called Golgotha and looking back into Jerusalem.  The temple was the most prominent feature and the curtain that separated God from sinful men was torn.

Yes, there is symbology but there is an awe effect. You don’t see this every day.  In fact, no one had ever seen that.

The ground was shaking.  First, there were three hours of darkness in the middle of the day then an earthquake.  What else could happen?

How about many righteous people rising from the dead?  I’m not sure what they did for the next couple of days, but after Jesus was raised from the dead, they ventured into Jerusalem.  That had to be a sight.

The family is sitting down for dinner and Uncle Bob pops in.  He has been dead for a couple decades, but it’s good to see him again nonetheless.  He better not try that pull my finger deal. He could use some new clothes.  He is surely overdue for a bath. This is going to be a meal to remember.

The Centurion looked at his men and they shared an epiphany.  Surely this was the Son of God.

Surely this was the Son of God.

The religious hypocrites were blind and taunted Jesus to the end.

The other two men on the cross were rebels and in this account, we find no compassion on this man hanging between them.

Pilate was ignorant.  He was a pagan.  How could he know?

The people who yelled crucify him had been deceived.

His disciples had been scattered in the garden.

The multitudes that he had fed and taught and healed were nowhere to be found.

But the Roman Centurion and his soldiers who had mocked Jesus and scourged him and nailed him to the cross and gambled for his few possessions suddenly had eyes to see that this was no ordinary man. 

Surely he was the Son of God.

Consider Isaiah once again.  The Gentiles will see the justice of the Lord.  The light of the Lord will reach the Gentiles—the nations of the world.

Is it so strange that these pagan soldiers had eyes to see what happened while Jesus was on the cross?  God’s own people were living in blindness but someone had to see and witness this sacrifice.

Surely he was the Son of God.

We have talked before that scripture and prophecy had to be fulfilled, but there also needed to be a profession that Jesus was the Son of God.  It came from the most unlikely place, the very base and earthly Roman soldiers.

If you had told me that they were giving classes on how to kill a noble man with a single thrust of the sword or how to prolong and intensify pain in an enemy of the empire, I would say, “Sounds like Roman soldiers to me.”

If you had told me that the Roman soldiers were swapping stories about the craziest things they did while being drunk in a foreign country, I might just say, “Yep, sounds like Roman soldiers.”

If you had told me that these men were comparing the scars that they got from past enemies with those they received as military discipline, I would nod my head, “Those are some Roman soldiers.”

But if you had told me that in the first century on a hill called the skull, a captain and some of his soldiers would have professed that the man who hung on the cross before them was the Son of God, I might have been a little skeptical.

The Romans who had so many false gods and who even proclaimed Caesar as god did not have a clue as to the one true God; yet they had been given eyes to see all that had happened that day.

Surely he was the Son of God.

We were not there; yet we profess Jesus is Lord!  He is God with us.  Jesus is the name above all names.  Jesus is our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer, and the Son of God.

Our evidence comes in the form of scriptures passed from generation to generation with great fidelity.

Our evidence comes from prophecies fulfilled.

Our evidence comes from the Spirit that lives within us.

If those who thought gods were a denarius a dozen could profess that this really was the Son of God, what excuse do we have?

Are we not compelled to tell the world that surely, Jesus is the Son of God?

Can we not do more than those godless soldiers?

Do we not have a story to tell the world?

We know that we do.  There is a little more to that story that we will get to in the next chapter and that news makes what we share really good news about Jesus.

We differ and rightfully so from the profession made by the soldiers.  They saw a man who died on a cross and the world responded.  Surely, he was the Son of God, but we know what happened next. 

We say:

Surely, he is the Son of God.

So as we continue into 2021, and we have made it to Daylight Saving Time and Spring Break, let’s love mercy, be generous towards God, have Christ as the cornerstone in our lives and be ready to learn from him, not relying upon our own understanding.

Let’s walk humbly with your God.

Let’s live as he told us to live and in so doing be ready for his return.

Let’s take whatever the Lord has entrusted to us and put it to work without delay so as to produce a good return for him.  We all long to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Let there be no dichotomy between trusting in the Lord and our own understanding.

Let us know in our hearts and proclaim to our neighbors that Jesus is the Son of God. 

Surely, he is the Son of God.

 

Amen.