OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS SON AS A SACRIFICE FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD

In Matthew chapter 27 verses 32 - 43, the Lord Jesus, having been scourged and then handed over to be crucified, was now in a physically weakened state and so a man from Cyrene (which is a port city in the the area of modern day Lybia) was shanghaied into carrying a cross for Jesus until they reached the site of crucifixion at a place called Golgotha.

He was nailed to the cross and lifted up so that the distress to His body would cause a gradual descent into death as His organs failed one by one.

As dehydration set in, Jesus asked for a drink and they gave him a bitter liquid on a sponge to drink but after he tasted it, He could not drink. This is a reflection of Psalm 69 verses 20 - 21 which describes the sour liquid they offered Jesus but also describes the mockery that was leveled at Jesus as He hung on the spikes that held Him to the cross;

20 Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none. 21 They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

Our passage in Matthew which describes the scene of Jesusˋ suffering on the cross, reads this way;

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. 

As He suffered, the Romans gambled for His clothing which is captured in Psalm 22 verse 18 which reads;

They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

The people who were witnessing the events were many of same people whom he had taught about the kingdom of God and righteousness but they mocked Him and used His words to jeer at Him and they challenged Him to free Himself from the cross since He claimed to be the Son of God and they reasoned that if He were truly from God, God would save Him from the cross.

This too was foretold in the twenty-second Psalm from verse 6 to verse 8 which reads;

6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.

8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

The Lord hung in this deteriorating condition of dehydration and shock for about 3 hours. His breathing became more laboured and His heart started to beat faster and faster trying to distribute oxygenated blood around the body but was increasingly unable to keep up.

The Lordˋs death was approaching.

Have mercy on us O God.

24