April 2nd, 2015
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Bearing the Shame

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Opening Prayer

Shaper of my life, to You be the glory and the praise. You make all things new.

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.

Meditate

“Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior” (Philip Bliss, 1838-76).

Think Further

Anyone who has seen the film The Passion of the Christ will be aware of the physical cruelty of a Roman flogging and crucifixion. The physical suffering of Jesus should not be underestimated. As a result of it, he was physically incapable of carrying his cross. But the text of the Gospel does not emphasize this. The purpose of the physical cruelty was humiliation and shame, in a culture where honor was paramount. So Matthew describes the soldiers’ cruel mock coronation. Mockery is the consistent feature of these verses, both before and after Jesus was nailed to the cross.

The one who would be worshiped by his disciples a few weeks later (Matt. 28:17) and by all his disciples down through the ages since then is subjected to sustained mockery: by the soldiers, the passersby, the chief priests, and even the ones crucified with him. The irony, which has been a feature of this whole Passion narrative, reaches its peak here, with the title nailed above Jesus’ head. He is the King, but to establish his kingdom he must die for his future subjects. The soldiers were right. This was a coronation–on a cross! The mockery that he can’t save himself is also ironically correct. If he were to save himself he could not save us. It was not the Father’s purpose to rescue him, but it was the purpose of Father and Son to rescue us through him. Faith is in Christ crucified, not Christ who escaped the cross. The chief priests claimed they would believe if he escaped the cross. We believe because he endured it for us.

Our shame is that our sin required the cross. His dishonor was the price of our pardon. Our honor is the extraordinary fact that he would do this for us.

Apply

In what ways does the agony of these insults deepen your appreciation for what Christ has done for you in his death?

Closing prayer

Gracious Lord Jesus, You died that I might live. You were broken that I might be made whole. Your wondrous love amazes me.

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