Rejection and Crucifixion..."Dead and Buried"

Read: Matthew 27

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: Because the chief priests and the elders did not have authority to carry out the death sentence, they had to hand over Jesus to the Roman governor Pilate (verses 27.1-26). The indictment that brings Him before Pilate is Jesus' claim to be the king of the Jews. Jesus affirms that He is (verse 11) and is condemned to death as a result. However, it is clear that Jesus is not the type of King who usurps thrones and grabs power for Himself. As King, Jesus willingly submits to suffering and death in order to give His life for His people, thus saving them from their sins. As King, Jesus' crown is composed of thorns, and His throne is a cross (verses 27.27-31).

Jesus dies not only as King of the Jews, but also as Son of God (verses 27.32-54). The insults and humiliations hurled at Him echo the temptations of Satan in Matthew 4.1-11: “Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God” (verse 40). Once again Jesus is tempted to demonstrate his divine identity by means of a sign, and once again Jesus refuses to yield to the temptation. Instead, He yields Himself in complete obedience to the will of His Father, an act that leads to His death.

The signs sought by the ones who mocked Him come not from Jesus but from God (27:51-53). On the basis of these signs, the Roman centurion and the others who were responsible for carrying out the execution confess that Jesus was the Son of God (verse 54). This is an important element in Matthew's writing of this chapter: even a world-traveling, world-weary "seen-it-all-and-done-it-all" Roman centurion, trained to be ruthless and methodical in single-minded devotion to Roman authority, is forced to declare, "Surely, He was the Son of God."

There have always been speculation by skeptics of the Gospel that Jesus didn't truly die on the cross; some have asserted that He must have only passed out due to the pain. However, Matthew goes into great detail in noting the arrangements related to Jesus' burial, including the sealing of the tomb and the posting of a Roman guard outside of it. In the words of the common expression, Jesus was "dead and buried."

But that's not the end of the story...