A Meditation on Matthew 27:32-54

What is the Gospel?

A traditional low-church protestant response to that question would be something like, “It’s about having your sins forgiven so you can go to Heaven when you die.” Which is a response with which I have huge issues. I mean, if the Gospel is just about “going to Heaven when you die” then what’s it mean for the rest of our lives? Some folks would say that it’s about getting as many people into the Jesus life boat with us as we can, but I find that to be every bit as problematic. That’s it? We don’t care about anything else?

Maybe we need a new question. Instead of, “What is the Gospel?” perhaps we might be better served with something like, “What does the Gospel say about life in this world?” I think the crucifixion scene in Matthew can give us some guidance on that.

First, the Gospel tells us that the powers of this world, tend to oppose God’s purposes. Rome was the big kid on the block, they held all the cards, wielded the biggest bludgeon, and they wanted everyone to know that anyone who challenged them would be dealt with. How did they do that? By putting a charge over Jesus’ head, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” That was a signal to people that they better be careful because that’s how Rome dealt with uppity people.

This scene in Matthew’s Gospel also shows us that people are all too willing to blame victims, as long as they aren’t the ones suffering. People walked by Jesus shaking their heads and saying, “Oh he said he could destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. So let him save himself and come down from the cross.”

Nowadays people might just say something like, “He should have just kept his head down like the rest of us.” Don’t rock the boat. Don’t stand out. Don’t let the powers see you. And if you do draw attention to yourself then what happens to you is your fault.

The Gospel also shows us that folks who benefit from the powers of this world are happy to see threats to their privilege squashed like bugs. The priests, scribes, and elders—all of whom had a vested interest in not seeing the boat rocked—mocked Jesus on the cross. “He saved others, he can’t save himself! He’s a king, well then let him come down and we’ll believe in him! He claimed to be God’s son so if God wants him then God will deliver him!”

Those folks had some actual power, and they used it as Jesus was on the cross to tell folks who might be sympathetic to Jesus’ teaching that hoping in him was useless. For all Jesus’ bold proclamations and great signs he was powerless against the might of this world.

And the Gospel tells us that folks who would most benefit from the promises God makes in Jesus Christ can just miss the point. The robbers crucified with Jesus were indicative of a problem that existed in his day. Folks who were poor farmers almost inevitably went into deep debt and either lost their land or became akin to what we would sharecroppers nowadays. The system was rigged against them, as those with wealth weathered storms, while the poor got brought down by them—and when they sold land or went into debt they increased the wealth of the folks who were oppressing them.

Those who refused to comply with the system formed bands of people who would survive by gaining wealth through banditry. The more successful would lead insurrections against the injustice they experience—but they all ended up contributing to the problems against which they were rebelling. Why? Because their banditry tended to be directed against the poor, as they were easier targets. And when the poor were hurt they turned to the wealthy in their need and ended up going further into debt.

Jesus broke from that cycle and proclaimed a different way forward. That is what his teaching was about, and it’s to what his signs all pointed—to a New World where the power of sin would no longer oppress humanity through injustice. And where did Jesus end up? The exact same place as the two robbers.

Jesus’ path was something that should have given those men hope. Seeing someone who tried a better way forward than mistrust and violence hanging on a cross with them should have broken their hearts because it was evidence there was no way forward. But, instead, they mocked him.

Matthew doesn’t record what they say, I imagine it might be something like, “See, you’re not better than us!”

And if you feel depressed by all these images the Gospel shows us, I understand. It is depressing. It should be depressing. The world should be better than this, but it isn’t.

And then the Gospel does something stunning, because there should be a second question about that question I posed earlier, “…and what does God do about it?” It tells us that we’re not alone.

“Eli! Eli! Lemma Sabathani!”

“My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?”

Have you ever been depressed? Have you ever been despondent? Have you ever felt like there was no path forward and God just wasn’t helping?

Jesus felt that way, too, on the cross. And there’s something amazing about that. Because if Jesus, the second person of the Trinity incarnate in human flesh, could feel that way then it means that even when we are at our darkest emotional moments Jesus is there, too. We are not alone.

But the final lesson of this passage is the most potent. The powers of this world have no power at all.

Jesus wasn’t killed on the cross. He died on the cross but it wasn’t Rome that determined the end of his life. Read Matthew carefully, Jesus offered up his spirit. He was the one who determined his life was over, not Rome.

The moment Jesus died the powers of this world were shown just how small they are. The curtain in the Temple, which separated the hoi polloi from the holiest places in the temple was torn in two. The rocks split and earth shook, because Creation itself was crying out! And the tombs were opened and after Jesus’ resurrection some of the saints of old went walking around Jerusalem, why? Because death, the penalty for sin, was powerless against Jesus.

And a representative of the biggest bully on the block was filled with “great fear” and exclaimed, “Truly this was a son of God!”

What’s all this mean?

It means that all the hard lessons, all the grief, all the injustice, all the fear, all the abuse of power that we see in the world (and which are on display in Matthew 27) are real. Not acknowledging them as such is unwise because we feel and see them.

But it also means something amazing. All the garbage we experience may be real, but there is a power greater than all of it. A power which causes world powers to shake in fear,  the power of death itself to give up, and the cynical and broken to see their own limitations. The powers of this world have no way to contend with the power of God’s love shown to humanity in Jesus Christ our Lord. In him death has been beaten, sin is forgiven, injustice is exposed, and a new creation is coming into being. And we encapsulate this whole message with one statement, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Never give that up. Amen.