The Forsaken Son of God (Good Friday)

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we ask that you now address us from your word

so that we might know your love that sent your only son to save us,

that we might know the love of Christ who willingly laid down his life for us,

that your love might be poured out into our hearts by the Spirit,

assuring us we are your children, that we can call upon you as Abba, Father.

So Lord, meet with us here.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew 27, verses 27 to 54.

Matthew 27:27–54

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters,

and they gathered the whole battalion before him,

and they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.

And twisting together a crown of thorns,

they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand.

And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying,

Hail, King of the Jews.

And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.

And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him

and led him away to crucify him.

As they went out, they found the man of Cyrene, Simon by name.

They compelled this man to carry his cross.

And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull,

they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gal.

But when he tasted it, he would not drink it.

And when they had crucified him,

they divided his garments among them by casting lots.

Then they sat down and kept watch over him there.

And over his head, they put the charge against him, which read,

This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

Then two robbers were crucified with him,

one on the right and one on the left.

And those who passed by derided him,

wagging their heads and saying,

You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

save yourself.

If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.

So also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him,

saying, He saved others.

He cannot save himself.

He is the King of Israel.

Let him come down now from the cross,

and we will believe in him.

He trusts in God.

Let God deliver him now.

If he desires him.

For he said, I am the Son of God.

And the robbers who were crucified with him

also reviled him in the same way.

Now from the sixth hour,

there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

And about the ninth hour,

Jesus cried out with a loud voice,

saying,

Eli, Eli,

lima sabachthani.

That is,

My God,

my God,

why have you

forsaken me?

And some of the bystanders hearing it said,

This man is calling Elijah.

And one of them at once ran and took a sponge,

filled it with sour wine,

and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.

But the other said,

Wait,

let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice,

and yielded up his spirit.

And behold,

the curtain of the temple was torn into,

from top to bottom.

And the earth shook,

and the rocks were split.

The tombs also were opened,

and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection,

they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

When the centurion and those who were with him,

keeping watch over Jesus,

saw the earthquake and what took place,

they were filled with awe and said,

Truly,

this was

the Son

of God.

This is God's holy

and authoritative word.

Around eight months old is when

a baby develops what

developmental psychologists call

object permanence.

Prior to that point,

when infants can't see you,

they think that you've disappeared

off the face of the planet.

In their world,

whether it's their favorite toy

or blanket

or even their parents,

when they can't see them,

they have disappeared

as far as they're concerned.

But as they begin to learn

object permanence,

they realize

that the objects

are somewhere

even when they can't

see them.

And for that reason,

it's around that same time

that babies also develop

what they call

separation anxiety.

Now that the baby knows

that her mom and dad

still exist somewhere,

even when she can't see them,

she now misses them.

And she's saddened

by the realization

that they are somewhere

but not there

with her.

She now understands

the pain

of separation.

that's a really difficult time

to leave the child

with babysitters

or to drop them off

at a daycare

because she will cry

these sad,

forlorn cries

and with her arms

extended out to you,

tears streaming down her face

as if she will never

see you again.

As if you're leaving

her forever.

And even though you,

as a parent,

know better,

you know that you're

leaving her in good hands

and you know

that you're coming back,

it's still heartbreaking

to watch and hear

the baby's desperate cry

because you know

what she is feeling.

Separations are hard.

But being actually forsaken

by someone you love

is even harder.

In this passage,

we see the Son of God

forsaken.

In verses 27 to 31,

we see him forsaken

by the Gentiles

he came to save.

In verses 32 to 44,

we see him forsaken

by his very own people,

the Jews.

And then in verses 45 to 54,

we see him forsaken

by God,

his Father

who sent him.

This passage is shot through

with sorrow,

loss,

and anguish.

But Jesus

endures all of it

because he knows

that there is no other way

to save sinners

like you and me.

The Son of God

was forsaken in death

so that we might be

accepted by God

and brought from death

to life.

First,

we find in verses 27 to 31,

Jesus being utterly degraded

and humiliated

by the Roman soldiers.

He says in verse 27

that the soldiers

of the Roman governor

took Jesus

into the governor's headquarters

and they gathered

the whole battalion

before him.

on what might have been

an ordinary,

boring day

in the lives

of these soldiers,

they find themselves

in custody

of a supposed king

of the Jews

and that to them

was too good

of an opportunity

to pass up.

So they gathered

the whole battalion

before them

which was usually

about 600 men.

600 men

gathering to mock

and make sport

of this one man.

It's like a hazing ritual

at a frat house

except much worse.

It's not an initiation ritual.

It's preparation

for Jesus' execution.

Verses 28 to 31

describe their actions.

And they stripped him

and put a scarlet robe

on him

and twisting together

a crown of thorns.

They put it on his head

and put a reed

in his right hand.

And kneeling before him

they mocked him

saying,

Hail, King of the Jews!

And they spit on him

and took the reed

and struck him on the head

and when they had mocked him

they stripped him

of the robe

and put his own clothes

on him

and led him away

to crucify him.

First they forcibly

removed Jesus' clothing

from his back.

Then they play with him

like a doll

making mockery

of his claim to kingship.

They put a scarlet robe

on him.

The word robe

used here

refers specifically

to the military cloak,

the scarlet robe

that the soldiers wore.

And so that cheap

soldier's robe

takes the place,

represents the expensive

purple royal robe.

And in place of a crown

bejeweled with precious stones,

they put on Jesus

a makeshift,

twisted together,

crown of thorns

and they laid on his head.

And instead of a golden scepter,

they put a reed,

a stick,

in his right hand.

It's a ridiculous scene.

It's a pitiful scene.

And then kneeling before him,

they mocked him,

saying,

Hail, King of the Jews!

You could just imagine

the dripping sarcasm

in their tone

and the defiance

and insolence

in their wild eyes

and the boisterous laughter

erupting among

the hundreds of soldiers.

They spit on him

and took the reed

and struck him on the head.

Being sped on

and being struck on the head

are both grievous insults

in this culture.

So Jesus is here

being defiled

and insulted in every way.

Your Royal Highness,

please hand me your scepter.

Let me hold it for a moment.

And smack.

Clobber him across the head.

Which is followed

by another round of jeering

and boisterous laughter.

Imagine if someone did this to you.

How utterly degraded,

wronged, abused

and less than human

you would feel.

And the irony of it all

is that despite

the Gentile soldiers' mockery,

Jesus is the true

King of the Jews.

He is the promised Messiah.

And it makes the fire of indignation

rise up on our faces

to see the true King

mocked in this way.

And we ask ourselves,

why, Jesus,

did you do nothing?

Throughout the Gospel of Matthew,

Jesus has cleansed the leper,

calmed the stormy seas,

exorcised demons,

healed the paralytic,

raised the dead to life.

Jesus couldn't do something

to stop this from happening?

They could mock me

and spit on me.

I'm just a lowly commoner

and a sinner,

but you're the King,

Jesus.

You're the Holy One.

Why must you suffer

such unspeakable indignities

at the hands of sinful men?

And when they mocked him,

they stripped him of the robe

and put his own clothes on him

and led him away

to crucify him.

As they went out,

it says in verse 32,

they found a man of Cyrene,

Simon by name,

and they compelled this man

to carry the cross.

According to Roman custom,

the condemned man

was supposed to carry

his own cross

to the execution site.

But the fact that they have

to compel a passerby

to carry Jesus' cross

shows that Jesus was incapable

of doing so himself.

After the flogging

and the beating,

Jesus was already

so physically debilitated

and exhausted

that he could not carry

the cross all the way

to the place of a skull.

And when they finally get there,

he says in verse 34,

that they offered him

wine to drink mixed with gall,

but when he tasted it,

he would not drink it.

A little later,

Matthew mentions again

in verse 48

that one of the bystanders

at once ran and took a sponge,

filled it with sour wine

and put it on a reed

and gave it to him to drink.

These details

might seem extraneous to us.

Who cares that these people

are giving him something to drink?

Matthew is noting

these offers of drink

to show that Jesus

is fulfilling

the prophecies of Scripture.

In Psalm 69, 17 to 21,

a righteous person

who is suffering unjustly

cries out to God this way,

Hide not your face

from your servant,

for I am in distress.

Make haste to answer me,

draw near to my soul,

redeem me,

ransom me

because of my enemies.

You know my reproach

and my shame

and my dishonor.

My foes are all known to you.

Reproaches have broken my heart

so that I am in despair.

I looked for pity,

but there was none,

and for comforters,

but I found none.

They gave me poison for food,

and for my thirst,

they gave me sour wine to drink.

In the Psalm's original context,

the righteous sufferer

finds no one to comfort him

in the midst of his suffering.

People reproach him

and offer him poison for food

and sour wine for drink,

a wine that has gone bad.

Such is the case here.

Jesus is offered wine

mixed with gall,

a bitter drink.

Later, they offer him sour wine.

The pungent smell of the wine

that had gone bad

would have pierced

Jesus' nose immediately.

Miserable comforters

are they all.

And then verse 35 continues,

and when they had crucified him,

they divided his garments

among them by casting lots.

Men were,

in those days,

crucified naked.

So after removing his garments,

the soldiers cast lots

to see who would get it,

who would get to keep it.

Which is particularly shameful

for Jews

who consider that kind of nakedness

and exposure unacceptable,

culturally, societally unacceptable.

So the shame,

the exposure of it all,

all of Jesus' body,

all his blood, sweat, and tears,

all of his wounds,

nakedly exposed for all to see.

And on top of all this,

the cruel mockery continues

in verse 39.

It says,

those who passed by

derided him,

wagging their heads.

Verse 41 says,

so also the chief priests

with the scribes and elders

mocked him.

Even, it says,

the robbers

who were crucified with Jesus

also reviled him

in the same way.

So from the Jewish criminals

that have been crucified with him

to the passerbys,

to the chief priests,

and the elders,

Jesus is rejected

by every stratum

of Jewish society.

Jesus is forsaken

by his very own people.

And what's worse

is that Jesus is forsaken

even by his own disciples.

Isn't it interesting

that Simon of Cyrene

is mentioned by name

in verse 32?

He's just an extra,

a person who happens

to be passing by,

has a minor role

in the story.

His name recalls Simon,

another more famous Simon,

Simon Peter,

who had insisted to Jesus

in chapter 26

that even if

all the other disciples

were to fall away

on account of him,

that he would never

fall away.

Peter has said to Jesus,

even if I must die with you,

I will not deny you.

But having denied Jesus

three times

in the preceding chapter,

Simon Peter

is nowhere to be seen.

Earlier in Matthew 16, 24,

Jesus had challenged

his disciples saying,

if anyone would come

after me,

let him deny himself

and take up his cross

and follow me.

But none of his disciples

are here

to help Jesus

carry his literal cross.

Instead of denying themselves,

they have denied the Lord.

Similarly,

earlier in Matthew 20,

20 to 28,

the mother of James

and John requested of Jesus,

say that these two sons of mine

are to sit,

one at your right hand

and one at your left

in your kingdom.

However,

as Jesus

ascends the cross

to usher in his kingdom,

John and James

are nowhere nearby

to flank him

on his right

and on his left.

Instead,

look who's

to Jesus' left and right

in verse 38,

then two robbers

were crucified with him,

one on the right

and one on the left.

Jesus is completely deserted,

forsaken

by the Jews,

by his own people,

by even his own disciples.

How often have we also

as his followers

failed him in the same way?

And yet,

this is a cross

that Jesus must bear alone.

Only his shoulders

can bear the weight.

The Gentile soldiers'

mockery of Jesus

was understandably

more of a political nature,

mocking his kingship,

but here,

the Jews'

mockery of Jesus

prominently featured

religious themes.

They say to him

in verse 40,

you who would destroy

the temple

and rebuild it

in three days,

save yourself.

If you are

the son of God,

come down

from the cross.

Jesus had taught

in Matthew 12, 6,

referring to himself,

I tell you,

something greater

than the temple

is here.

And we know

from John 2

that Jesus did say,

destroy this temple

and in three days

I will raise it up.

But there,

he was not talking

about the literal

physical temple building,

but about his own body,

that he would die

but be raised

on the third day.

He was saying

that the temple

is now being made obsolete

because the new

and greater temple,

Jesus himself,

is here

and he will in himself

with his own body

offer the ultimate sacrifice

so that the sacrifices

of the temple

are no longer necessary.

But the Jews are here

mocking that claim.

And the conditional phrase,

if you are the son of God,

echoes the devil's temptations

of Jesus in chapter 4.

The devil said repeatedly,

if you are the son of God,

command these stones

to become loaves of bread.

If you are the son of God,

throw yourself down

from the pinnacle

of this temple

for then God will command

his angels to protect you

lest your feet

strike a stone.

Once again,

the devil uses these mockers

in the crowd

to cast into question

Jesus' identity

as the son of God.

If you are the son of God,

come down from the cross.

It's a question

that cuts to the heart.

And if you are a follower of Christ,

I'm sure that the devil

has posed this same question

to you numerous times as well.

So,

if you are a child of God,

why were you abused as a child?

If you are a child of God,

then why did you not get that job?

If you are a child of God,

then why did you get dumped

by your boyfriend?

If you are a child of God,

then why is your son

not growing up

the way you want him to?

If you are a child of God,

then why did your mother die?

If you have heard

the sinister whisper

of Satan in the past,

then you are not alone.

Jesus has been there.

Jesus has heard it all.

Jesus knows

what you are going through.

The chief priests

with the scribes and elders

also deride Jesus

in verses 42 to 43.

He saved others,

cannot save himself.

They're ridiculing

Jesus' claim to be the savior.

If you claim to heal others,

then show your power now

by healing yourself.

Doctor,

if you claim to be

the son of God,

if you have really done

miracles too numerous

to count,

then surely now

is the time for a miracle.

Let's see if you can

save yourself

from this cross.

But the irony,

once again,

is that Jesus

is the savior

of the world.

Jesus is the king

of Israel,

and Jesus is

the son of God.

they don't understand

that in order

to be the savior,

Jesus must die

on the cross

for the sins

of his people.

They don't understand

that it is precisely

because he is

the obedient son of God

that he is now

subjecting himself

to this shameful death

in accordance

with the will

of God his father.

Matthew employs

the language

of Psalm 22

that Daniel

helpfully read

for us this evening

to describe the Jews'

rejection of Jesus.

And Jesus is using

this language

to show that

he is fulfilling

these messianic prophecies

and that even though

it seems like

things are going

terribly awry,

that everything's

actually happening

in accordance

with God's

sovereign plan.

The Jews

passing by

derided him,

wagging their heads

in verse 39.

That language

is taken directly

from Psalm 22

Psalms 22:7

verse 7.

Those Jewish leaders

say in verse 43,

he trusts in God,

let God deliver him

now if he desires him.

That's also taken

from Psalm 22

Psalms 22:8

verse 8

when they're mocking

the righteous sufferer.

And in Psalm 22

16 to 18,

it's also prophesied

that evil doors

will encircle the Messiah,

piercing his hands

and feet,

staring and gloating

over him

and casting lots

for his clothing,

all of which

are quite literally

fulfilled

in Jesus' crucifixion.

This is not

a mistake.

This is happening

exactly

according to God's plan,

his salvation plan.

Having been forsaken

by both Gentiles

and Jews,

we see in verses

45 to 54

that Jesus is forsaken

even by God

the Father himself.

As if in anticipation

of the death

of the light

of the world,

an inexplicable darkness

comes over the land

for three hours

leading up to

Jesus' death.

This darkness

recalls the ninth

penultimate disaster

that God brings

upon Egypt

for their refusal

to let his people

go from their slavery.

At that time,

the ninth plague,

the darkness

fell over Egypt

for three days

and similarly here,

darkness falls

over Jerusalem

for three hours.

And at the time

of the Exodus,

the darkness

preceded the tenth

and final disaster

where the angel

of death

killed the firstborn

sons of Egypt.

The Israelites,

too,

were vulnerable

in that time

because they were

also deserving

of death

because of their sins

and they were

also vulnerable

to the angel

of death

going through Egypt

but they were

spared only

because they killed

an unblemished

male lamb

and smeared

its blood

around the doorposts

of their houses

as they were

instructed to do.

That Passover lamb

was the substitute

that took the place

of their firstborn sons.

Likewise,

here,

the darkness

that falls over Jerusalem

precedes

the death

of the firstborn son.

Jesus is the Passover lamb

who dies

the death

that God's people

deserved

for their sins.

After three hours

of darkness,

it says in verse 46

that Jesus cried out

with a loud voice

saying,

Eli,

Eli,

lima sabachthani.

That is,

my God,

my God,

why have you

forsaken me?

That's a direct quote

from Psalm 22,

Psalms 22:1

verse 1.

This is the most painful

and heart-wrenching

aspect of Jesus' death.

The beloved,

incarnate Son of God,

the one who perfectly

obeyed the Father,

the one who has enjoyed

up to this point

perfect,

intimate,

unbroken communion

with his Father

is here,

forsaken by God himself.

not absolutely

or permanently

since after Jesus

has completed

making atonement

for the sins

of his people

by dying on the cross,

God the Father

will raise him again

from the dead

and vindicate him.

And even the psalmist

of Psalm 22

in the end

recognizes that God

has not despised

or abhorred the affliction

of the afflicted

and he has not

hidden his face

from him

but has heard

when he cried to him.

But here,

on the cross,

at this moment in time,

Jesus is carrying

our sin upon his shoulders.

And so God,

who is of purer eyes

than to see evil

and cannot look at wrong,

must turn his face

away from his Son.

He must unleash

his righteous wrath

toward sinners

upon him.

At the Garden of Gethsemane,

Jesus pleaded

with his Father,

My Father,

if it be possible,

let this cup

pass from me.

Nevertheless,

not as I will

but as you will.

This is the Father's answer.

It is not possible.

It is necessary

that Jesus drink

this cup of death,

the cup of God's wrath

on behalf of sinners.

It is the only way

to save sinners

like you and me.

In Jesus' cry,

we hear the anguish

and that sense

of abandonment

that Jesus feels.

My God,

my God,

why have you forsaken me?

This is the only place

in the Gospels

where Jesus addresses

God exclusively

as my God

and not

as my Father.

Throughout the Gospel

of Matthew,

in all of his prayers,

Jesus addresses God

as my Father.

But here,

he cries out,

my God,

my God.

It's not that Jesus

has lost faith.

He still cries out,

my God,

but there's a sense

of distance,

forsakenness.

And Matthew,

more than all

the other Gospel writers,

hones in on this sense

of God's forsakenness

in Jesus' death.

There is no reassuring,

Father,

into your hands

I commit my spirit

as Luke 23,

46 records

here in Matthew.

There is no triumphant,

it is finished

as John 19,

30 records.

In the Gospel

of Matthew,

we have a raw picture

of the forsakenness

that Jesus experienced.

It's not that

the eternal trinity

is broken.

The Son of God

never ceases

to be the second person

of the trinity.

But Jesus really,

truly died

in his human nature

and experienced

God's wrath

toward sinners

and a sinner's

alienation

from God.

And we see clearly

the substitutionary

nature of Jesus' death

in the way

he takes Barabbas'

place on the cross.

Jesus,

it says in verse 38,

was crucified

with two robbers.

The word robber

is the same word

that the Roman

Jewish historian

Josephus uses

to refer to

revolutionaries,

insurrectionists.

Presumably,

then,

these two were

colleagues of Barabbas,

the notorious prisoner

and insurrectionist.

And the third cross

was likely

originally intended

for him.

When earlier

in Matthew 27,

the Roman governor

offered amnesty

to one Jewish prisoner

as was customarily

done during Passover,

he offered two people

to the Jews

to choose from,

Jesus and Barabbas.

But the Jewish crowd,

having been stirred up

by the chief priests,

asked for Barabbas instead.

Even though Jesus

had done nothing wrong.

Barabbas is an Aramaic name

that means son

of the father.

And Jesus,

the son of God,

the father,

literally takes the place

of this son of the father

so that he is saved.

This is a picture

of what Jesus

is accomplishing

on a global scale

for all of his people.

God refers to his chosen people

as his son

throughout scripture.

In order to save God's son,

his people,

God's only son,

Jesus,

takes our place

on the cross.

And it's because

of Jesus' death

that God's wrath

is satisfied.

And it's because

of Jesus' death

that we can receive

eternal life.

And we see

the dramatic effect

of Jesus' death

in verses 51 to 54.

And behold,

the curtain

of the temple

was torn in two

from top to bottom.

And the earth shook

and the rocks were split.

The tombs also were opened

and many bodies

of the saints

who had fallen asleep

were raised.

And coming out

of the tombs

after his resurrection,

they went into the holy city

and appeared to many.

The curtain

of the temple,

the imposing symbol

of our separation

from our holy God

is torn in two.

It's not a loose seam here

or a small rip there.

It is torn away

from top to bottom.

Because Jesus was forsaken,

that means we can now

be accepted,

reconciled to God.

And the earth is shaken

and rocks are split

so that tombs

are broken open.

And we see a preview here

of Jesus' resurrection

on Sunday.

Many of God's faithful followers

who had died

were raised from the dead

and they came out

after Jesus' resurrection,

it says.

The fact that they don't come out

until after Jesus' resurrection

shows that Jesus' resurrection

is the first,

the prototype

of the resurrection

of all his followers

in the future.

These saints were raised

at this time

where presumably,

they presumably died again

to await the final resurrection

of the body

in the end times.

But they nonetheless

serve as a powerful symbol

of the resurrecting power

of Jesus.

Jesus bridges the gap

between sinful men

and holy God.

Jesus brings people

from death to life.

The sting of death

is sin.

But by paying the penalty

for the sins

of his people on the cross,

Jesus removes

the sting of death

and thereby inflicts

a fatal blow

on death itself.

so that all of us

who repent of our sins

and put our trust

in Jesus

are promised

eternal life

and resurrection

of our bodies

in the future.

These cosmic events

so clearly

attest to Jesus'

true identity

that even the Roman centurion

who was keeping watch

over Jesus

is filled with awe

and says in verse 54,

truly this was

the Son of God.

God the Father,

of course,

had declared

that this is his Son.

Jesus had called God

his Father

and said he is the Son of God.

His disciples

even have recognized

that Jesus

is the Son of God

but this is the first time

that a Gentile

acknowledges

that Jesus

is the Son of God.

and after his resurrection

this message of salvation

will be proclaimed

not only among the Jews

but among all

the nations.

And this is the message

that the Church of Christ

has faithfully proclaimed

for the last 2,000 years.

And we have continued

that tradition

by declaring to you

the good news

of Jesus Christ

this Good Friday.

And now you have

a choice before you

will you live in denial

of who Jesus is

and what he has done

as if none of this

ever happened?

Or will you

like the centurion

acknowledge that truly

Jesus was

the Son

of God?