Mocking the King
Christ's Sufferings through the Eyes of Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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Due to the influence of the sin nature which all of mankind is born with, the human race is a cruel race. One of the many forms of cruelty that is exhibited is that of mockery.
As a former teacher I have seen how hurtful it is when children mock a child who is different from them. Sadly, I have also seen teachers who mock children or even their fellow teachers who are different.
As one who is different than most, I have also been the recipient of mockery. But far worse than that, I have also been, on occasion, a mocker!
Mocking a member of the human race, as horrendous as that is, pales in comparison to mocking the Creator of the human race. Cain was the first human ever to be born, and I believe he was also the first mocker of God. The Lord had clearly instructed that a blood sacrifice must be given to atone for one’s sin. But Cain brought a sacrifice of the fruit of the ground which he tilled. In effect he was mocking God by saying “my way is just as legitimate as Your way.” But God did not accept his offering. He did, however, accept the offering which Cain’s brother, Abel, brought from the flock. Then one day, Cain and Abel were alone in a field, and Cain murdered his brother. And I believe that in a very real sense, Cain mocked God as he killed his brother. It’s as if he said: “So you want a blood offering do You? Well here it is!” Then he grabbed his brother and slit his throat. “Here’s Your blood offering!”
Of course, Cain did not have this conversation with God while killing his brother. We know this since he tried to hide his deed. And yet, it seems, from the perspective of 1 John 3, that this was in his mind.
If you haven’t done so already, please take your Bible and turn to Matthew 27:27-44. The main thing that Matthew talks about in this section of his account is the mocking of Jesus. Though the various mockers in this passage were ignorant to the truth, inadvertently they mocked the One True God who became man. As we meditate on this passage we will look at the characters who mocked Jesus, the cruelty of their mockery, and the irony of their mockery.
First, let’s read our passage together.
Let’s look first at
The Characters who Mocked Jesus
The Characters who Mocked Jesus
The bulk of the text refers to the mocking of the Roman soldiers.
The Cohort
The Cohort
Notice verses 26-27 for a moment:
Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him.
First note that Jesus was brutally scourged prior to the events of this mornings passage. Since the Evangelists who wrote the various Gospel accounts do not spend a lot of time on the gruesome details of the scourging and the crucifixion, we will not either. But know that due to the many lashes He received, Jesus, in His humanity, would have been severely weakened.
Second note that there were two groupings of soldiers. There was a quartet of soldiers who were in charge of the crucifixion. It may be that this same quartet carried out the scourging, and also led Jesus to the cross and crucified Him. But at some point it appears that the entire cohort was involved in the mocking of Jesus. If at full strength the cohort would have been made up of 600 soldiers.
This cohort would have been made up from a select group of specially trained soldiers from the countries that surrounded Israel. They would have been tasked with the protection of Pilate, the governor appointed by Rome.
We will consider their cruelty in a few moments. For now let’s look at the next group of mockers.
The Crowds
The Crowds
Look at verses 39-40 for a moment:
And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
By this point in the narrative Jesus has been mocked by the Roman Soldiers, prodded down the road while carrying His cross, fastened to the cross, and hoisted up in a vertical position for all to see. As was the custom of Rome, there was a sign fastened to His cross stating the reason for His execution.
The crowds on this say are simply referred to as those passing by. Remember, this was during the time of the Passover Festival, and people were traveling to Jerusalem for the festivities. This means that the crowds could have been made up of both Galileans, and those who lived in the vicinity of Jerusalem.
Let’s consider the next group mentioned in our narrative:
The Council
The Council
Look at verse 41 for a moment:
In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying,
This is a reference to the Sanhedrin — which is the council of 71 men made up of the chief priests, the leaders of the scribes, and the leaders of the Pharisees. The priest mostly belonged to the party of the Sadducees, while the scribes (who were the scholars) mostly belonged to the party of the Pharisees. Like our Congress, the council was basically a two party system, and the opposing parties did not often agree with one another. But on this occasion they found agreement.
Let’s look at the last group of mockers that are mentioned in our text.
The Condemned
The Condemned
Notice verses 38 and 44:
At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left.
The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.
Though the term “robbers” is a legitimate translation of the Greek term. A better translation is “rebels.” This is the same term as was used of Barabbas. And since robbery was not a capital crime under Roman jurisdiction it would seem that these two men were probably involved in the insurrection that Barabbas had led.
So far we’ve looked briefly at the characters of this narration. Now, let’s look next at
The Cruelty of Their Mockery
The Cruelty of Their Mockery
The Cruelty of the Cohort
The Cruelty of the Cohort
As I stated earlier, the text spends more time dealing with the cruelty of the Roman soldiers than it does with the other groups. Unlike the Jews who mocked Jesus, these men were probably completely ignorant in regards to what they were actually doing. They were strangers to the covenants of Israel, coming from a place where they were without hope, and without God.
The cruel mocking which Jesus endured for the joy that was set before Him, was based on the charge for which He was crucified, in the eyes of Rome. The claim that He was the King of the Jews. Notice what this brave group of 600 men did to this solitary individual.
They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
There is a coin with an inscription of Caesar Tiberius in which he is depicted with a royal robe, a garland crown, and a scepter in his hand. It seems the soldiers were following that picture as they placed the various items on Jesus.
The Robe
The Crown of Thorns
The Scepter of Reed
As if it wasn’t enough to place these things on Jesus, they gave a dramatic performance like characters in a tragic play.
They Bowed the Knee to Jesus
They Hailed Him as King
After the final curtain fell on their twisted play, they then spat on Him, and abused Him with the reed He had been holding. Then we read:
After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.
In the midst of the cruelty of the cohort there was what I’m referring to as
The Parenthesis
The Parenthesis
Look at verse 32:
As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.
Because of being up all night long during His mock trial, and the severe pain inflicted by the scourging, Jesus must have been completely exhausted, and physically weekend. While Roman custom was for criminals to carry the cross beam of their cross to the spot of execution, it is apparent that Jesus was too weekend to do so. Therefore the Romans soldiers forced a man of Cyrene named Simon to carry Jesus’ cross for Him.
Cyrene was a Greek settlement located west of Alexandria on the North African coast of the Mediterranean sea. Most likely Simon was a Jew from the Dispersion who had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover. Mark tells us that he was the father of Alexander and Rufus, who must have been well known figures in the early church.
The narrative of the cohort picks up again in verse 33. You’d think they would have had their fill of mocking our Lord, but they still found another way to mock Him. Notice
And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink.
We don’t know the exact location of Golgotha. We do know that it was outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem. And it seems apparent that it was along a well traveled road. In case you are wondering, the term that we most often use, Calvary, is the Latin term for skull. Most likely this was a spot in which the rock formation resembled a skull.
Some commentators believe that the soldiers once again mocked Jesus in giving Him wine mixed with gall to drink. It’s obvious that by the time Jesus reached Golgotha He would have been severely dehydrated. And in giving Him some wine to drink would have been an act of compassion on Him. But, as many believe, in order to get one last cruel mock in, the soldiers mixed the wine with a strong dose of what Matthew refers to as gall, and what Marks refers to as myrrh. Gall seems to be a generic term that refers to various poisons. Myrrh is a substance that has a strong bitter taste.
The last acts of the soldiers in today’s passage had to due with dividing Jesus’ garments among themselves, and sitting to keep watch for Him to die.
Let’s turn our attention to
The Cruelty of the Crowds
The Cruelty of the Crowds
Apparently the crowds were acquainted with the message of the false witnesses claiming that Jesus had boasted that He was going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. They then told Him to save Himself by coming down off the cross.
Let’s turn our attention now to
The Cruelty of the Council
The Cruelty of the Council
Look at verses 41-43:
In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
Sarcasm drips from each of their statements. Since Jesus saved others by healing them, and even raised the dead, why can’t He save Himself? If He comes down from the cross we will believe that He is the King of Israel.
Obviously, even if Jesus had come down from the cross, these men would have still rejected Him, just like the story of the Rich man and Lazarus.
The Cruelty of the Condemned
The Cruelty of the Condemned
The men who were crucified with Jesus were dying because of their own sin — because of their own crime. But they joined in with the others in mocking Jesus.
Luke informs us that one of the men had an ulterior motive.
One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”
The other condemned man, in Luke’s account, repented both of his sin, and his mockery of the Son of God:
But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”
After rebuking his mate he turned to Jesus
And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”
To which Jesus answered:
And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
In this reformed mocker we find the only sign of compassion for Jesus among those involved in His crucifixion.
Let’s turn from the cruelty of their mockery to
The Irony of Their Mockery
The Irony of Their Mockery
For the soldiers the irony is that they were proclaiming the truth when they bowed the knee to Jesus and Hailed Him as King. And one day they, and everyone else who was ever born on planet earth will
so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
For the crowds and the council the irony is that Jesus couldn’t save Himself because He had to die in order to save others. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that some of the mockers eventually turned into followers of the risen Christ.
A further irony for the council was that they would never, in their wildest dreams, consciously mock God. And yet that is exactly what they did! What happens when men mock God? The psalmist addressed this very thing in
The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.
I don’t know about you, but I never want to find myself in a position of mocking God! I never want the Lord to scoff at me!
For the one commonly referred to as the thief on the cross, who was dying for his own crime, the irony is that Jesus died for his sin as well.
We have focused this morning on the cruelty of mockery — especially the mocking of Christ. In the midst of this horrendous scene there was one parenthesis of beauty and hope. That is when Simon of Cyrene was conscripted to help carry the cross. Based on the fact that his sons became a well-known part of the early church, I have to believe that this event was life changing for Simon and his family. As I considered this man’s part in this account I was reminded of the old hymn: Must Jesus Bear The Cross Alone.
Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And all the world go free?
No, there’s a cross for everyone,
And there’s a cross for me.
How happy are the saints above,
Who once went sorr’wing here!
But now they taste unmingled love,
And joy without a tear.
The consecrated cross I’ll bear
Till death shall set me free;
And then go home my crown to wear,
For there’s a crown for me.
Let’s pray.
Dear Father,
I thank You that our Lord Jesus was willing to bear the shame, reproach, and ridicule of the cross so that I might be redeemed from the curse of sin. I thank You further that after all was said and done, Jesus rose triumphantly from the grave. I thank You that the mockers did not have the last word, but that You had the last word.
I thank You that Jesus is now sitting at Your right hand, where ever makes intercession for Your people. I long for the day when He will return to earth and establish His kingdom here. May You hasten the day of His coming.
I pray for those who are listening to this message, who themselves are mockers of You — mockers of Jesus. I pray that, like the thief on the cross, they would see the error of their ways and change from being a mocker to being an embracer of Jesus. In whose name I pray. AMEN.