27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.
33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
Jesus was crucified between two robbers who were also convicted of insurrection against Rome and this fulfilled Isaiah 53:12.
As Jesus hung on the cross people jeered Him. Their taunt was that if He was who He said He was, then He should be able to save Himself. The chief priests said He saved others (through the miracles they could not deny) but could not save Himself. The reality was that He could save Himself, but if He chose to do that, He could not save others. Their claim was that if He saved Himself, then they would believe. But they didn’t lack evidence, they lacked faith.
Then darkness came over the land, probably a miraculous solar eclipse as a sign of God’s judgement on human sin. Jesus cried out in anguish as the weight of God’s rejection came upon Him. Jesus experienced the horror of separation from God who cannot look on sin (Hab 1:13). The Jews believed that Elijah came to the assistance of righteous sufferers and they waited to see if Elijah would come and take Jesus down. But Jesus cried out and breathed his last. This was not a typical death by crucifixion. Crucifixion was a long, slow death where the victim grew tired, suffered exhaustion, slipped into a coma and then died, usually over a few days. Jesus’ cry indicates that He gave up His life voluntarily. Then the curtain of the temple, most likely the inner curtain separating the holy place from the most holy place, was torn from the top to the bottom. The direction of the tear shows that God did the tearing and it was a sign that Jesus’ death ended the need for repeated sacrifices for sins and opened up free and direct access to God.
Jesus chose to go to the cross, take on the full weight of God’s wrath against our sin and die in our place that we might live. There is an overwhelming body of evidence that shows that Jesus is all He claimed to be. The question is do you believe? The next question is how do you live your life in response to so great an act of love shown to you by Jesus?