The Gospel According to Matthew
Question of the Day: Have you ever been bullied?
Introduction: We are nearing the end of Matthew. The end of Matthew is also the end of Jesus' life here on earth. These last few classes are incredibly important, or are they? Are they any more important than the first 26 chapters? The death and resurrection are vitally important events in our faith, but is it more important than the life lived. Jesus' life, His death and His resurrection are all vitally important to our faith! As we study about His death and His resurrection let's not forget His life!
READ: Matthew 27: 27-31
The Soldiers Mock Jesus
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
"The Soldiers Mock Jesus", just the title says so much. The crown of thorns wasn't about physical torture but mental ridicule.
Stripping him
the scarlet robe
the crown of thorns
kneeling in front of Him
"Hail, king of the Jews"
Spit on him
struck him on the head over and over again
I can remember a time when I was treated very badly by peers, it shaped me! It hurt at the core of my being and stuck with me for years, a lifetime really! When prisoners are tortured to get information or just tortured because they can be, it is rarely just physical. Mental tactics are used and found to be very effective. We can take the physical pain often easier than we can take the mental torture.
Here was Jesus knowing He was going to die for these soldiers. He knew He was going through this so that Beth Grissom would read this story and see her Savior experiencing pain similar to hers. He saw the sin that was permeating the soldiers and He knew that He was there at that moment to win the battle. Was He also thinking of you? Were you one of the soldiers? I have been hurt by soldiers but I have also been a soldier!
Ridicule, whether intentional and face to face, or behind someones back is terrible!
This past week, I have so many times said, "Barabbus or Jesus?" Barabbus or Jesus has cleared up many decisions for me! Made choices easier!
This week, if I am ever tempted to, in anyway, ridicule anyone, privately or publicly, I will remember my Savior being stripped, covered with a scarlet robe, a crown of thorns being put on His head... I will ask myself, "Really Beth, you want to be one of them?" "If you have done it unto the least of these you have done it unto me."
READ: Matthew 27:32-44
The Crucifixion of Jesus
32 As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. 33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.
38 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
I find it interesting that Matthew leaves out so much of the story, and really keeps His focus on the mental anguish that our Savior was going through. We don't have the story of the thief beside him except that they also heaped insults on him.
I have to admit I have spent a lot of time just sitting in the amount of ridicule our Lord endured. We seem to be apart of a culture where ridicule is just part of our acceptable culture. If we ridicule those who "are sinners" is it OK? What about those who actually ridiculed our Savior? Can we at least ridicule them?
What did Jesus do?
What about those who were putting Him to death and torturing Him.
In Desire of Ages, Ellen White writes, "Had they known that they were putting to torture One who had come to save the sinful race from eternal ruin, they would have been seized with remorse and horror. But their ignorance did not remove their guilt; for it was their privilege to know and accept Jesus as their Saviour. Some of them would yet see their sin, and repent, and be converted. Some by their impenitence would make it an impossibility for the prayer of Christ to be answered for them. Yet, just the same, God's purpose was reaching its fulfillment. Jesus was earning the right to become the advocate of men in the Father's presence. That prayer of Christ for His enemies embraced the world. It took in every sinner that had lived or should live, from the beginning of the world to the end of time. Upon all rests the guilt of crucifying the Son of God. To all, forgiveness is freely offered. "Whosoever will" may have peace with God, and inherit eternal life."
So maybe being quiet, maybe instead of ridicule, being introspective and remembering I put Him on that cross! I was right there with them and I need Him just as much as they do!
This calls us to a deeper level of kindness! I deeper level of tolerance! I deeper level of empathy! If I'm right there with those who were torturing our Savior, if I helped to put that crown of thorns on His head, then I can't turn and mock those who are helping me do it!
What would the world look like if Christians stopped mocking, stopped pointing fingers and just let others see what happens when we understand the incredible gift given to us by Jesus? What would happen if out transformed lives, our empathy, our kindness, was all they saw? What would happen if instead of leading with our "rightness" we lead with an understanding of how undeserving we are of HIS grace?
Did you ridicule Jesus?
Did you mock Jesus?
Did you put Him on the cross?
Were you in that crowd?
I know I was!
Who am I? I am unworthy, yet redeemed!
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