Season 5 Podcast 78 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew 27 F, “Death and Resurrection.”

A New Voice of Freedom

Season 5 Podcast 78 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew 27 F, “Death and Resurrection.”

This week we shall conclude our discussion of Matthew 27, beginning with verse 39 in which they mock Jesus.

“And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.” (Matthew 27:39-44)

Even in the darkest extremities, Christ always sets the example. He never rails against his mockers or calls them names or curses them. He teaches. He shows compassion even to the point of saying, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” He prophesies, but more often than not he remains silent. He stood in silence before Herod. He stood in silence before Pilate. He stood in silence before the mob. And then darkness fell.

“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.” (Matthew 27:45)

From the darkness came some of the most heartbreaking words Christ every uttered as recorded in verse 46:

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

One of the unique things of the atonement of Jesus Christ is that some things he had to do alone. How many countless times have those same words, in one form or another, been uttered by people in despair who feel that God and the world has abandoned them? This moment teaches all mankind that Christ knows what it feels like to be utterly alone in the world, symbolized by the blackness of darkness. One can hear the words out of the darkness of the soul, what St. John of the Cross called, “the dark night of the soul.” The Book of Matthew, as well as the other gospels, teaches us that Christ understands our suffering, no matter how intense, no matter what form—physical, spiritual, mental, emotional—it takes. He took upon himself our sickness, our weakness, our despair, our loneliness, our sorrow, our guilt, and our pain. In Gethsemane and on the Cross Christ felt every pain we feel or have felt or ever will feel. He understands pain, suffering, loneliness, forsakenness, and abandonment. It was necessary for him to go through the entire human experience for him to have empathy for us. Because of his suffering, we know that our prayers are heard and felt and understood. No sincere prayer ever falls on deaf ears or stands idle before our God who suffered everything that he might have empathy for our suffering. That is why He is our advocate with the Father. That is why the Father put all judgment into His hands. The mob did not understand. Matthew continues.

“Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.”

Even in Christ’s agony, some mock him.

“The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.”

Those despairing words were the last words Matthew recorded before Christ’s death. In Matthew 27:50, we read:

“Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.”

Extraordinary things began to happen. First consider verse 51:

“And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;