“He Trusts in God”
Opening Prayer
Jesus, You stood for truth, and in the end You stood alone. I desire to be a true friend to God. Help me stand with You.
Read Matthew 27:27-44
[27] Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. [28] They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, [29] and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. [30] They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. [31] After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. [32] As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. [33] They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). [34] There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. [35] When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. [36] And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. [37] Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. [38] Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. [39] Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads [40] and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” [41] In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. [42] “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. [43] He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.'” [44] In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
If you were there, who would you align with? Consider the cost.As we read today’s passage, it is difficult to take in just how horrendous the situation is. Jesus is entering into the most horrific agony known to humankind. The physical pain is just starting, although he has already been flogged within an inch of his life (26). The spiritual agony of separation from God is about to come, in tomorrow’s reading. But for the first part of this passage it is the mockery from the soldiers (29-31), from the bystanders (39,40), from the chief priests (41-43), and from his fellow sufferers (44) that seems to take the main focus. Mockery is a kind of verbal violence. Respectable people may hide the strength of their anger or hatred of something by mocking it. And here we see that Jesus is cruelly and universally mocked both by people who had status–whether in the military or the synagogue–and by the ordinary people standing around. The rejection of Christ could not be clearer.
Apply
We must decide if we are going to stand with Christ and experience the rejection he did or stand with those who reject him.
Closing prayer
My King, You humbled Yourself to the lowest place. I will take up my cross and follow You. I love You.
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