The Mockers Were Right After All
Because of all that’s going on, we are in danger of overlooking the Easter season. So on the seven days leading up to Easter, I am going to be writing about the seven last words of Jesus on the cross. But before we look at the words of Jesus, I want us to consider the words of the mockers.
Read Matthew 27:33-44
One of the most depressing examples of man’s depravity is the crowd who gathered at the foot of the Cross to mock the blessed Lord Jesus. Even Pilate himself said he could find no fault in Jesus. Yet, they scoffed and scorned the very spotless, perfect Lamb of God who was dying for them. However, it is not only the sinfulness of man on display, but we also see the sovereignty of God. For little did the mockers realize that the insults they spat at Him were true. What a great God. A God who can take the worst man has to offer and turn it to good.
They were right when they said Jesus couldn’t come down (vs 40)
They were right, but not for the reasons they thought. It was not because of the nails. The spikes didn’t hold Him there; He was voluntarily laying down His life.
Matt 20:28 “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
It wasn’t that He couldn’t come down, but wouldn’t come down. His life was not being taken from Him; He was giving His life up! Why would He do this? Many people’s first response is why it’s because He loved us. It is true that He does love us.
1 John 3:16 “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us.”
Clearly, the Cross was a demonstration of the love of Christ, but that’s not the reason He gives. Jesus went and stayed on the Cross because of His love for the Father. Love for His Father, as demonstrated through obedience.
John 10:18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
Phil 2:8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Heb 10:5-7 5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; 6 IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. 7 “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’”
Yes, the Cross of Christ demonstrates the love of Christ. Yes, Christ loves sinners. Yes, Christ loves the Church. But most of all, Christ loves and obeys His Father. The irony! He couldn’t come down because He chose not to.
They were right when they said Jesus couldn’t save Himself (vs 42)
It was truly one or the other. He couldn’t save Himself if He was going to save us. In the death and resurrection of Christ, we come to the very heart of the gospel. The answer to our sin and our death. The Cross is where we were judged. The Cross exposes and judges our sin. It was your sin that Christ bore on the Cross. The Cross proves that God does not take sin lightly. The wages of sin is death. It is the price that must be paid; there is no escape. If Christ had saved Himself, if He had escaped His death, we would have to face ours, we would have to pay the wages for our sins.
Heb 2:9 “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”
1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit”
They were right when they said God would not have Jesus (vs 43)
They saved the worst for last. They snarled, God will not save Him! Again, how right they were. The irony. God will not rescue Him precisely because Jesus is His Son. His Son is on a mission to save. God has forsaken His own Son because the one who knew no sin became sin for us. The suffering servant of Isaiah 53 finds Himself smitten of God.
May I leave you with one final irony? Compare Matthew 27:24-25 & Acts 5:27-31. The blood of Christ will either be on your hands or on your heart. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.