OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS ONLY SON TO DIE FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD

Matthew chapter 27 verses 57 - 61 records the burial of Jesus;

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.

Have mercy on us O God.

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

Matthew chapter 27 verses 45 - 56 records the last few minutes of Jesusˋ life;

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.

While the Lord Jesus hung on the cross, a strange darkness lingered over the land from noon to 3:00 pm and at about 3:00 pm, the Lord, His body failing quickly, cried out the first words of Psalm 22 when He said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Psalm 22 verse 3 prophetically reveals Jesusˋ fortitude while His body approached the point of failure by recording His thoughts of reverence towards God even though He was now reaching the agonizing end of His life;

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. 

Some witness were trying to understand what He was saying while others were tried to offer Him some of the bitter vinegar. Others were scornful and remained close by to see if Jesus was going to be saved supernaturally.

With total heart faiure imminent, Jesus mustered the last of His strength and cried out in a loud voice and released His spirit and bowed His head in death.

A sequence of highly unusual events tooks place imediately after Jesus died;

1. The veil over the holiest part of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom
2. A great earthquake occured
3. Rocks around the are split into two pieces which opened up sealed graves
4. Saints who had died and were burried, arose from the dead went into Jerusalem
5. The saints who rose from the dead showed themselves to people in the city

The strange events that occured when Jesus died scared the soldiers charged with guarding and executing Him. They were able to recognize that the particular crucifixion that had just concluded was diferent from all the others they had done. They declared that the death of the man who died on the cross was so markedly different that He must have been the Son of God as He claimed even though He was being mocked for saying so.

This passage also gives a roll call of the women who had stayed close by and ministered to Jesus up to the time of His death;

1. Mary Magdalene
2. Mary the mother of James and Joses (Joseph)
3. The mother of James and John Zebedee.

Have mercy on us O God.

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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.

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OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS ONLY SON TO PAY FOR OUR SINS

Matthew chapter 27 verses 15 - 26 records the how the Roman court responded the claims being made against Jesus by the religious leaders of Israel.

It was a tradition in Judea at that time for the governor to release one prisoner back to the people on the day of the feast and so, Pontius Pilate, having diserned that it was envy that had motivated the chief priests to bring Jesus before him, wanted to give them a choice between letting Jesus go and releasing a dangerous criminal named Barnabas.

Pilate believed that the priests, even though they felt that Jesus was outclassing them in the eyes of the people of Israel, would rather have Jesus in their midst than have Barnabas released into to their community. Pilate was wrong.

He had not correctly anticipated how verciforous the religious leaders were going to be in their pursuit of Jesusˋ death and even though he knew Jesus was innocent and even his own wife came to him to warn him to leave Jesus alone because she had been disturbed by dreams she had about Him, Pilate ultimately caved to the intense pressure that was brought to bear against Jesus demanding that He be crucified.

15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude to one prisoner whom they wished. 16 And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.

19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.”

20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas!”

22 Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!”

23 Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!”

24 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.”

25 And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”

26 Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.

The Roman governor, realizing that the chief priests were going to go to all ends,   including starting a riot in the city get Jesus crucified, yielded to them. He took water and before all of Jesusˋ accusers, washed his hands of the blood of the Jesus and they all accepted the responsibility for the death of an innocent man saying that ˋHis blood would be upon them and their children.ˋ

Having subjected Jesus to a scourging, Pontius Pilate release Jesus into the hands of the priests who then took the  innocent lamb of God and sacrified Him on the cross out side the city walls.

The majestic phrophecy of Isaiah chapter 53 verses 3 - 8 fortold this sequence of events from the rejection of Jesusˋministry, His intense suffering, His bruising and scourging, His unjust sentence of death, His abandonment by His friends and His expulsion from the city and the sacrfice of His life by execution;

3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.

Have mercy on us O God.

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OUR FATHER WHO LAID UPON JESUS THE SINS OF THE WORLD

Matthew chapter 27 verses 11 - 14 which records when Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate the Roman governor. 

The strategy the religious leaders of Isreal planned to use against Jesus was to dump a large number of charges against Him before the Roman court and then use public pressure to get Pontius Pilate to acquiece to their demands to have Jesus killed.

Pontius Pilate, wanting to acertain what identity Jesus was claiming for Himself, asked Him directly if He was the king of Jews.  To this question, Jesus answered,  ˋIt is as you sayˋ but He reverted to silence when the religious leaders of Israel introduced a litany of accusations against Him.

11 Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?”rges

Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.” 12 And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.

13 Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” 14 But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.

Jesus remained quiet as the barrage of indictiments were leveled against Him in keeping with the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 53 verse 7 which says;

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

Jesus did not refute the charges they were pressing against Him and accepted them in the same way that He was accepting the sins of mankind that were laid on Him as His own even though He had not inccured them.

Thus the Lord Jesus did not speak in His own defense but set Himself up to take the fall for us all as Isaiah chapter 53 verse 6 says,

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Have mercy on us O god.

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