“Come Down from the Cross”
Matthew 27:42
As a small child, I was taught that
“sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” That was a
bit of bad instruction. Its intent was to make me tough. The fact of the matter
is, however, broken bones heal in about six weeks. Wounded spirits can last a
lifetime. The effects of broken bones are external and can be seen by all.
Cruel words hide below the surface and must be carried in secret isolation. A broken
bone takes momentary painful adjustment and time for healing. A broken heart is
a different matter.
From our couch-potato perspective of
human history, it is nearly impossible to imagine the physical pain that Jesus
experienced when He was crucified. The greatest pain He endured, however, was
not physical. It was spiritual, and we are not qualified to identify with it.
We cannot grasp the distance between John 17:5 where Jesus recalls the glory He
had with the Father before the foundation of the world and Mark 15:34 where the
dark shadows of the sin of humanity pass between the Father and the Son as He
cries out: “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me.” Such width of spiritual
separation lies beyond the boundaries of our finite limitation. We have nothing
with which to compare it.
Between the intensity of the physical and
the spiritual, however, lies the psychological loneliness revealed in our text.
Solitary confinement can be suffocating and even more so when it happens in the
vicinity of a crowd. Being alone is bad enough, but being alone in a crowd is
much worse. The experience has a way of magnifying the sorrow. The general
crowd, the religious hierarchy, and even His adjoining thieves, banded together
in one accord to mock the cursed Creator. Laughing and jeering, the crude crowd
made sport of the Sufferer.
Adding to the insults was the revolting
ultimatum: “Come down.” The blind abusers were unable to see the conflict in
their proposition: “If you come down … then we shall believe!” In other words,
if the Ruler will obey those over whom He rules, then they will acknowledge
that He is Who He claims to be. This salient inconsistency is repeated again
and again in our modern world.
Men offer God conditions and promise to
respond if He will respond to their circumstances. The flaw here is the
assumption that we are in a negotiating position. The attempt to place God
under the fabricated conditions of a fallen sinner defies intelligence. We have
no right to give God any conditions. We are the violators. We need mercy and
grace and nothing less. This operational flaw is a direct result of man’s
failure to see himself in a desperate condition.
The psalmist gives us good advice when he
says: “Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we
ourselves” (Psalm 100:3). We are the beggars, and we need to speak to the rich
Man with respect and honor.
“Come
Down from the Cross”
Matthew 27:42
The Credit—He saved others
A. Example #1
B. Example #2
C. Example #3
The Confusion—He cannot save Himself
A. He could not
come down because
B. He could not
come down because
C. He could not
come down because
The Confidence—I am in a bargaining position
A.
B.
C.