Matthew 27:32-38 Place of a Skull

“This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”  The sign over Jesus’ head at His crucifixion, Matthew 27:37

Rembrandt's Raising of the Cross, 1633

For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.  (Psalm 22:16-18)

He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.   By his wounds you have been healed.  (1 Peter 2:24). 

The Jewish carpenter from Galilee has suffered ridicule, injustice, and abuse.  His disciples have abandoned him.  He has survived a torture so intense that it usually kills its victims.  It is no wonder he can barely walk.  Therefore the soldiers, as they went out from the governor’s headquarters, found a man of Cyrene, a city along the northern coast of Africa.   Simon was his name (v. 32). Even though Simon lived in Africa, he had a very Jewish name. And Acts 2:10 and 6:9 speak of the Jews from Cyrene. He was most likely one of the Jews that lived abroad and had traveled back to Jerusalem to participate in the Passover. They compelled this man to carry his cross (v. 32). 

Mark’s gospel names Simon’s two sons, Alexander and Rufus (Mark 15:21).  Was it because Alexander and Rufus were known to the church of Mark’s day?   Is this the same Rufus that Paul greets in Romans 16:13?  Is it the same Alexander of Acts 19:33?  We don’t know.  But interestingly, there is a possibility Simon’s sons were known in the early church. 

And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, (v. 34).  Certainly this is a fulfillment of Psalm 69:21.  Mark 15:23 mentions that the wine was mixed with myrrh, which was used to prepare a body for burial (John 19:39).   Luke 23:36 seems to imply that the offering of the wine was not an act of pity but another mocking gesture.  

A possible location in Jerusalem for the "Place of a Skull".  One  can see the image of a skull in the rocks here.  Today this hill hosts a bus station.  

Regardless of motive, when Jesus tasted it, he would not drink it, (v. 34).  Our Lord, who willingly drank from the cup of the wrath of God (26:42) would not drink from the cup that would lessen the pain of God’s wrath.   As Charles Ryrie says in his study Bible, “Jesus refused [the wine], preferring to meet His death with all His faculties unimpaired.” 

Matthew, like the other gospel writers, offers no details, no gory word pictures, no cries of agony, of the moment of crucifixion, other than the stripped down words, they crucified him (v. 35).  Like flogging, crucifixion was a common punishment used by the Roman authorities; the gospel writers needed to remind no one of the excruciating details.   The soldiers divided his garments among them by casting lots (v. 35) and thus fulfilled David’s prophecy of Psalm 22:18.

Maybe the disciples would try one last heroic effort to rescue Jesus, the authorities may have thought.  After all, violence broke out when they arrested Jesus (see 26:51).  Therefore the soldiers sat down and kept watch over him there (v. 36).  As Jesus lost blood and was slowly suffocating, the chief priests and Pilate were arguing about wording on the sign over his head where they put the charge against him, (v. 37).  John 19:19-22 gives the details of the argument while Matthew provides only the final decision: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews,” (v. 37).

Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left, (v. 38).  Jesus likely took the place of the robbers’ co-conspirator, Barabbas, both literally and redemptively.  He took our place literally and redemptively.

“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit,” (Romans 8:3-4).   He has done what the best of our good works could not do.   He has reconciled us to God.   He did not die in a peaceful drug-induced sleep.  He took evil head on; He suffered and died for our sins so that we may be redeemed to our God.   What an awesome Savior! 

Matthew 27:27-31: He Bore the Spit

After the soldiers mocked and spit on Jesus, Pilate brought Him out one final time to appeal to the crowd before sending Him to be crucified, as John's gospel records.   1800s Hungarian painter Mihaly Munkascy captures that moment in the second painting of his gospel trilogy.

“Hail, King of the Jews!” The Roman soldiers mocking Jesus in Matthew 27:29.

Many of these [unbelieving] scholars, scholars who apparently devoted their life to New Testament scholarship, disliked Jesus Christ.  Some pitied him as a hopeless failure.  Others sneered at him, and some felt an outright contempt… there are New Testament scholars who detest and despise Jesus Christ. (Ann Rice, from “Author’s Notes,” from her novel Christ The Lord Out Of Egypt)

"I'm an atheist, so it was actually a joy.  Spitting on Christ was a great deal of fun-especially for me, being a woman...I can't embrace a male god who has persecuted female sexuality throughout the ages.”  (Amanda Donahoe, commenting on her role in "Lair of the White Worm" where she spits on a crucifix.  AFA Journal, November/December, 1991)

The order was given.  Pilate’s decision has been made.  Jesus the Christ shall be crucified.   The Roman soldiers, who were trained killing machines, will carry out the execution.   But first, a little diversion. The soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, which is known as the Praetorium, located inside the city walls of Jerusalem near the temple.  They gathered the whole battalion, anywhere from 100 to 600 soldiers, before him (v. 27).

And they stripped him.  The stripping must have re-opened some of his wounds that had coagulated into his clothes.   Next they put a scarlet robe on him (v. 28).   Mark and John describe the robe’s color similarly as purple. Precision in dyes was not common then.  The robe probably was a robe of war belonging to one of the Roman soldier present.

And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand (v. 29).  These were not small thorns from a rose bush but long thorns from perhaps a jujube shrub, easily found in Jerusalem.   These thorns, along with the stripping, the robe, even the reed (which represented a king’s scepter), added further injury to insult.

Max Lucado describes the scene this way: “Strong, rested, armed soldiers encircled an exhausted, nearly dead, Galilean carpenter and beat up on him.” (from his book, He Chose the Nails: What God Did To Win Your Heart)

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. (vv. 29-30). At His trial before the Council of chief priests, Jesus was also spit upon, beaten and mocked.  However, the chief priests mocked Him not as King but as “Christ.”  (Matthew 26:67-68).   Matthew shows that the rejection of Christ is not a Jewish-only problem.   Or just a Roman problem.   It is universal; it is a human problem. No matter man’s religious, racial or political background, he will by nature rebelliously mock and insult Jesus.

An atheist told me recently, “Why can’t there just be no God?”  The darkness in our hearts prefers darkness to light. We prefer a reality with no hope, no meaning, no purpose over a universe ruled by a loving deity.  We want to be “free” to pursue the darkness of our hearts.   But we are only as free as a man who skydives without a parachute.  For several minutes he thinks he can fly…until he notices the ground rushing up at him.  Therefore we mock Him, slap Him…kill Him.

Lesser gods, if treated by mere humans like Jesus was, would call down fire and brimstone right then and there.  Yet our Lord came to take upon Himself our reproaches, even our “spit.”  Isaiah thus prophesied, “I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting,” (Isaiah 50:6). Max Lucado continues: “Spitting isn’t intended to hurt the body—it can’t. Spitting is intended to degrade the soul, and it does…the One who chose the nails also chose the saliva…he bore the spit of man.”

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 (v. 31).   Our Lord’s enemies think they have won.   They lead Him out to crucify Him.   They think they will rid themselves once and for all of this Jesus who has the gall to stand in judgment of them.  They taunt, they gloat, they beat and they spit.  And now they will crucify.   It looks like the good guys have lost.  Evil revels in its finest hour.  Darkness is will soon descend on this Friday afternoon.  But to quote Tony Campolo, “Its Friday.  But Sunday’s coming.”    

Matthew 27:26: The Great Exchange

Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered Him to be crucified.  Matthew 27:26

“Broken bottles broken plates, broken switches broken gates, broken dishes broken parts.  Streets are filled with broken hearts; broken words never meant to be spoken.  Everything is broken.” (Bob Dylan, “Everything is Broken,” 1989)

“The soldier would use a whip of braided leather thongs with metal balls woven into them.  When the whip would strike the flesh, these balls would cause deep bruises or contusions, which would break open with further blows.  And the whip had pieces of sharp bone as well, which would cut the flesh severely.” (Dr. Alexander Metherall, as interviewed by Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ)

As mentioned before, some of the earliest manuscripts of Matthew identify Barabbas as “Jesus Barabbas” in 27:16 and 17.  Additionally, while Barabbas means generically “the son of a father,” Jesus’ title is “the Son of the Father God.”  Both Barabbas and Jesus were accused of trying to overthrow Caesar (see Mark 15:7 and Luke 23:2).  The one that was guilty of this crime was released while the One innocent was delivered over to be crucified (v. 26).  Several commentators have mentioned that the cross on which Jesus was crucified was most likely designated for Barabbas.    I believe it is no coincidence that these two are so closely intertwined. 

Barabbas exchanged for Jesus.  The guilty for the innocent.  The selfish for the Selfless.  The son of a father for the Father’s Son.   The criminal for the Judge.  Murderous rebellion for Perfect Obedience.  The taker of life for the Creator of life. The mortal for the Immortal.  One walks; One dies… Barabbas is everyman; we are all Barabbas.  

This “Great Exchange,” the guilty Barabbas set free and the innocent Jesus being delivered to be crucified, is a picture of what Jesus did for all mankind on the cross.   We have been spared the punishment for our sins while He took upon Himself the wrath of God due us (see Romans 5:9).   “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities…” (Isaiah 53:4-5).   “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  

Matthew mentions almost as an aside that Jesus was scourged.   Gory details are omitted.  Any details are omitted.   Maybe Matthew could not bear to write about such hideousness that Jesus endured. Maybe Matthew’s original readers were all too familiar with the extreme torture of scourging.  What was obvious then, is not so obvious today. 

Dr. Metherall , in his interview in The Case for Christ continues to describe what happens to the human body when it is scourged:  “The back would be so shredded that part of the spine was sometimes exposed by the deep, deep cuts.  The whipping would have gone all the way from the shoulders down to the back, the buttocks, and the back of the legs…” 

“and with his stripes we are healed,” (Isaiah 53:5). 

Jesus has experienced the worst that this world offers.   While earthly kings revel in their comforts, He is not immune from pain, suffering and death.  Rather He has walked through the fires of our rebellion and the hell of our rejection of God.    Jesus was the victim of gross injustice; Jesus felt the physical pain of excruciating torture; Jesus knows abandonment from those who promised to follow Him even till death.   He is not a distant god far away from the pain down here; rather, He drank from the bitter cup of the wrath of God designated for our punishment (see 26:42).    

 In Jesus “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses…Therefore let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need,” (Hebrews 4:15-16).   Draw near to Him.  For in Christ we have been set free while our reproach has fallen upon Him (see Psalm 69:9).  No wonder Martin Luther, as he contemplated the cross, cried out, “O the sweet exchange!”   Everything seems broken in this corrupt world.   But soon He will make everything new again (see Revelation 21:5).  Hallelujah! 

Matthew 27:24-25: The Great Reversal

“His blood be on us and on our children!”  The crowd responding to Pilate in Matthew 27:25

“He comes to make His blessings flow; far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as, far as, the curse is found.” (Joy to the World by Isaac Watts, 1719)

 “…yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” (The high priest to the apostles in Acts 5:28)

 

To chronologically harmonize the gospel accounts is not illogical or contradictory. It can, however, be difficult.  There is another time break in Matthew 27; this time between verses 23 and 24.  John 19:1-15 fills in the details while Matthew focuses more on the crowd choosing Barabbas over Jesus.

In his attempt to convince the crowd to not choose Barabbas over Jesus, Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing (v. 24).  Rather Pilate noticed that a riot was beginning (v. 24).  Pilate did not want another riot.  Since Pilate was appointed governor, he had failed to keep the peace with the Jews (see Luke 13:1).  This had earned him a skeptical and watchful eye from the emperor.   Additionally the chief priests, manipulating Pilate’s fear of the emperor, once again rejected their God by proclaiming, “We have no king but Caesar!” (John 19:15).

With no result in his efforts to free Jesus, Pilate was forced into a decision he didn’t want.   He took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” (v. 24).   Pilate borrowed one of the Jewish customs from Deuteronomy 21:6-7, where one washes his hands to proclaim his innocence of a slain man’s blood.  Pilate also may have been acting on his wife’s advice from verse 19.   Pilate concludes with, “See to it yourselves,” (v. 24); words which are eerily similar to the words of the chief priests to Judas in 27:4.

Next comes one of the most tragic boasts in all of Scripture: And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and our children!” (v. 25).  Matthew has been wrongly accused of anti-Semitism for including these words which appear only in his gospel; Christians (and others), blind to their own complicity, have sadly used this as an excuse to persecute Jews.  

Several weeks later Peter stood before a crowd in Jerusalem comprised of “men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem,” (Acts 2:14).   It was the day of Pentecost, the day the Lord poured out His Holy Spirit on all who believe.   Peter, like the crowd before him, had also cursed and denied the Lord (see 26:74).  Yet he preached here with anointed power.    Peter’s choice of words was not coincidental:  “For the promise [of forgiveness] is for you and for your children,” (Acts 2:39, emphasis added).  Peter continued, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation,” (Acts 2:40).  

My friend Avi Snyder, who works for Jews for Jesus, calls this “The Great Reversal.”  God in His incredible mercy reversed the very curse that the Jews called upon themselves.    The Father wanted to be sure that the very first ones to hear (and receive) the gospel were the ones who demanded Jesus’ crucifixion!   And in another incredible reversal, the blood of Jesus did fall upon the Jews, resulting not in their condemnation but rather in their salvation.

I am guilty of speaking impulsively.  Especially when I become passionate about something.  I sometimes say things I regret; I will even curse myself (or others) unknowingly.  And to think, I serve a God who will take my curses and turn them into blessings.  Not just earthly blessings but blessings of salvation.   I weep.  I am humbled.  I am forever grateful. 

The self-appointed curse on the Jerusalem people became a blessing for the Jerusalem people; and it will spread to “Judea, Samaria and to the end of the earth,” (Acts 1:8).   Bring Him the ugliness in your heart and the inadvertent ways you have cursed yourself and others.   Be “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37) and cry out to the Lord.  He will forgive you and restore you.  He “will give you a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezekiel 36:26).   Oh, what an awesome God we serve!