Matthew 27:32-66
The King on a Cross
32 Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross. 33 And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.
35 Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet:
"They divided My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots."
36 Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there. 37 And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him:
THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
38 Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left.
39 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross."
41 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, 42 "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. 43 He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'" 44 Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.
Jesus Dies on the Cross
45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This Man is calling for Elijah!" 48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.
49 The rest said, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him."
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God!"
55 And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.
Jesus Buried in Joseph's Tomb
57 Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. 59 When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. 61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.
Pilate Sets a Guard
62 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, 63 saying, "Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise.' 64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead.' So the last deception will be worse than the first."
65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how." 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.
This passage tells of our Sovereign King Jesus Christ going to the cross to be crucified as a painful punishment for our sin and of His death, burial, and subsequent resurrection from death to life. This is the substitutionary atonement of the Son of God and Son of Man sacrificed on the sovereign cross according to God’s will and plan to deliver all whom He calls to Himself to not have to suffer eternal death as a result but be given eternal life and peace with God at last. Jesus was given sour wine (Psalm 69:21) which He refused and then nailed to the tree as one cursed by His Father on our behalf as if it were us all hanging there with Him. They gambled for His clothing as He hung in agony while attempting to push Himself up to catch some air to breathe as it was written in Psalm 22:18 long before this day. It is difficult to imagine the excruciating pain of hanging by two nails in your wrists and pushing up against a third one pounded through both ankles and their nerves. Yet Jesus Christ willingly allowed Himself to suffer the pain and humiliation of such suffering that those who are called by Him and trust in this atoning work by believing and thus receiving Him (John 1:12, 6:29) through repentance and faith will be delivered (2 Corinthians 1:10, 1 John 4:18) from the death that never dies (Isaiah 66:24, Mark 9:43-44) as promised and sealed by the death of death in the death of Christ. The executioners hung a sign over Him identifying Jesus as the Sovereign King over all, yet did it mockingly but still showing the truth despite their evil intentions. God’s will was accomplished in spite of men trying to get rid of the Messiah. It is hard to kick against the goads and fight God’s will. They continued to mock as they taunted and challenged Him to destroy and rebuild the massive temple in three days and use His divine power to come down from the cross instead of suffering. He would rebuild the temple of His flesh on the third day in the resurrection and He did not give in to the temptation to call down angelic assistance to bring Him off the cross because that would nullify the work of a substitutionary death for us all. Love kept Him nailed there in agony to suffer and die for those who believe and receive Him by faith in that death which brings us life through divine mercy and forgiveness. They mocked His claims as the Son of God and taunted His faith in the Father who could deliver Him from the suffering, much like Satan tempted Jesus to stop His work in the beginning of His ministry in the desert for forty days.
Ah, but when He was dying there Jesus echoed the words of Psalm 22:1 to speak the cry of being forsaken as His people due to our sin which He took on Himself to enable His death to cover all our sins as our substitute (Romans 5:8-9, 2 Corinthians 5:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:10, 1 John 2:2, 3:5). When the Sovereign died on that cross sovereignly placed and participated on, He shouted that His work of atoning redemption was completed as John 19:30 records for us to read. The veil of the temple which had restricted access to God’s atonement was torn in two to allow permanent entrance by faith to the Father’s face as Moses used to do temporarily (Exodus 33:11, 2 Corinthians 3:13-14, 18). We have been given access to God to be further changed into His image as a result of our salvation which Jesus worked in His death as proven in His resurrection! Some even came out of their graves afterwards as a proof of this to those then. Yes, many admitted that He was the Son of God upon witnessing these words and works. He was subsequently buried on that day after He laid down His life for His children and then was guarded heavily in case someone tried to take His body and claim He arose as promised. Little did the Romans know that He had power over life as well as death. We see then the gospel news arises out of the bad news of suffering and death with a certain promise of life now and into eternity because of the substitutionary atonement of Christ for us to enter into that promise. This is good news indeed for condemned sinners such as ourselves. This is good news indeed for condemned sinners such as ourselves and our hope of glory (Colossians 1:27) in Jesus Christ our Lord!
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