Matthew 27:32-44
Let’s continue to pray for Jim and Marty.
“Notice what you notice.” December! So much in today’s reading… Let’s begin here: So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying… (v. 41a) I was initially intrigued by how many were mocking Jesus. Matthew reports the passersby, the Jewish leaders, and the thieves (although Luke disputes the latter). But among those mocking Him, what struck me the most was the chief priests, with the scribes and elders. Evidently they were not content with the arrest, the trial(s), the torture, and the taunting – they had to come out and see for themselves Jesus’ unseemly death. But these are the JEWISH LEADERS!! Aren’t leaders supposed to set an example for followers? What sort of example is this mockery and taunting? What a sad lot they are!
Here is part of the Jewish leaders’ mockery: He trusts in God; let God deliver Him now, if He desires Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ (v. 43) What struck me here was the phrase, “…if he desires Him.” The NKJV had that phrase as “…if He will have Him”, which, to me, was even stronger. That phrase struck me in two ways. First, obviously, yes, the Father desires the Son – He “will have Him”! From the beginning of creation they have been One. The Father loves the Son and clearly desires Him. HOWEVER, this is the one point in all of history when the Father was rejecting the Son, when the Father was pouring out His wrath against sin onto His Son. At that one point in history, the Father did not desire the Son. I have in my mind this picture of Darth Vader going with “lightning bolts” against his own son. But the Father’s wrath against sin was GOD’s wrath – much greater, much more powerful. The Father did not desire the Son. Not this time. How horrible!
Slava Bohu!