Making a Mockery of Jesus

Sermon on Matthew 27:38-44

Introduction
[joke][1] An old preacher was dying. He sent a message for his banker and his lawyer, both church members, to come to his home. When they arrived, they were ushered up to his bedroom. As they entered the room, the preacher held out his hands and motioned for them to sit on each side of the bed. The preacher grasped their hands, sighed contentedly, smiled, and stared at the ceiling. For a time, no one said anything. Both the banker and lawyer were touched and flattered that the preacher would ask them to be with him during his final moments. They were also puzzled; the preacher had never given them any indication that he particularly liked either of them. They both remembered his many long, uncomfortable sermons about greed, covetousness, and [materialistic] behavior that made them squirm in their seats. Finally, the banker said, "Preacher, why did you ask us to come?" The old preacher mustered up his strength and then said weakly, "Jesus died between two thieves, and that's how I want to go."

My apologies to the bankers and lawyers in our church this morning. It’s a joke. Not all bankers and lawyers are greedy and wicked. Those who are, are not members of Jubilee Church. There are, of course, many versions of this joke on the internet. Some of the thieves described in these jokes have been doctors, IRS agents, and even, priests, etc. Jokes are often at the expense of someone or some group of people.

Making a Mockery of Jesus
Our Lord Jesus was also made a mockery of on the cross that fateful day. Matthew does not draw a distinction between Jewish mockers from the Gentile mockers. In fact, the gentile Roman soldiers were the most vicious of all the mockers of Jesus in the crucifixion narrative. The mockers in the crucifixion narrative were not all Jews (Matt 27:27-31 referring to the Roman soldiers who mocked Jesus, stripped him, divided his clothes and led him to the cross), and not all the Jews were mockers (Matt 27:55-57 referring to the Jewish women like Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee). Matthew does not portray the Jews negatively as “Jesus killers” or a totally positive view of the Gentiles, although such views were unfortunately prevalent in church history (paraphrase from David Turner, BECNT, p. 664).

From the betrayal and desertion of Jesus’ disciples, to the trial by Pilate and torture by the Roman soldiers, and now, insults and mockery by the crowd and more, Jesus’ humiliation ordeal intensified. His suffering climaxed at his death on the cross. Just as Jesus was tempted three times by Satan (Matt 4:1-11), Jesus was also mocked three times by three groups of people in today’s passage: 1) the bystanders or the crowd, 2) the religious leaders (the chief priests, scribes and elders), and 3) the two thieves.

The first group, the crowd, mockingly questioned Jesus’ power and ability to save himself. Crowd: If you are really who you claim to be, the Son of God, save yourself! If you cannot even save yourself, how can you save us (the world)? How can you be the true Messiah? You are a fraud! You are a false prophet! Crucify him! He must die. Didn’t you say you would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days? The temple is still standing where it has been for years! You are a liar! [pause] The destruction of the temple charge was precisely the same charge brought against Jesus in Matt 26:61 when he was brought before Caiaphas and the Council.

Matt 26:59-61
59Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, 60but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward 61and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’”

They shouted “save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (v. 40b). The crowd does not understand that it was never Jesus’ mission to save himself. He came to save the world. “If Jesus comes down from the cross to save himself, he will not save his people from their sins.”[2] “The truth of the metaphor will be realized in the death and resurrection of Jesus.” (D. A. Hagner) [3]

In the past, whenever I read this passage, I would think to myself. Why didn’t Jesus just come down from the cross? He sure has the power to do it. All the people present that day would believe him. He would not need to die on the cross. Wouldn’t it be a vindication of who he is?

As I grow in maturity in my theological understanding, I learn that Jesus must die on the cross in order for him to save the world from sin. If he had freed himself from the cross that day, there will not be victory over death. There will only be a small victory over the Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers who tortured him. Jesus had to die. I do not know if there is a better way to save the world from sin. I only know that this was the only way that God chose, and Jesus obeyed. “The point is not that Jesus could not come down from the cross but that he would not because he had freely chosen to follow his Father’s will” (Gerhardsson)[4]. It is God’s will for Jesus to die on the cross.

The second group of people who mocked Jesus on the cross was the religious leaders (the chief priests, scribes, and elders). They shouted, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matt 27:42-43)

Again, it is quite clear that Matthew has in mind Ps. 22:7-8 when he wrote his account of Jesus on the cross.

Ps. 22:7-8
7 All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
8 “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

Jesus was accused by the Jewish religious leaders of blasphemy, a religious charge against God. But he was put to death on the cross on the charge of insurrection and treason, political crimes against Rome instead. If Jesus is indeed the King of Israel, then Caesar will no longer be their king. The highest-ranking Jewish religious leaders did not have the power to put someone to death on religious grounds. They had to hand him over to Pilate to be charged for crimes against the sovereignty of the state. Luke records that Pilate had found Jesus innocent of such political charges, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him” (Luke 18:23). Even Pilate’s wife conveyed to her husband of her dream, which told her that Jesus was innocent, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream” (Matt 27:19). Jesus is an innocent man, both in the religious and political sense of the word. He, who is sinless, bore the sins of the world on his shoulders.

The third group would be the two thieves (ESV: robbers). Matthew’s gospel tells us “the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.” To revile someone is to use abusive language against that person, or to ridicule someone vehemently. The two thieves insulted Jesus just as the crowd did. Some of you may be surprised, as this seems like a different picture of the two thieves we often hear about in church. Just as there were various versions of the joke told in my introduction, there are also two accounts of the thieves in the gospel stories. Luke presented a more elaborated picture of the two criminals in his gospel, one that is more familiar to us.

Luke 23:39-43
39One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

The account of the two thieves as described in Matthew is relatively new to most Christians as the more famous one recorded in Luke often overshadows it. Matthew’s account is almost identical to the version in Mark 15:27-32.
John does not even have an account of it. Luke’s account was uniquely different. Why are there two seemingly contrasting accounts of the two thieves? Whose account is more accurate?

One commentator (Michael J. Wilkins) believes that Luke continues where Mark and Matthew leaves off. He believes that at the start, both thieves, together with the crowd, hurled insults and ridiculed Jesus from the cross. But soon after, one of them realizes his own failings and acknowledges Jesus’ innocence instead. This reformed bandit exhibits a form of repentance that Jesus declares that he will be with him in paradise that very day. The word “today” may not necessarily mean “that very day”. Instead, it is likely to mean “this day and age”.

The two crucified thieves reminds us of the promise proposed by the mother of James and John (the sons of Zebedee), who had asked Jesus to promise that her two sons would sit on Jesus’ right and left when they are in his kingdom (See Matt 20:20-23).

Matt 20:22-23
22Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Here at the cross, the two thieves where not sitting next to Jesus, but were crucified with him, one on his right and the other on his left. To call them thieves is really a misnomer. They were actually freedom fighters who stole from the rich to finance their political ambition and revolution. They were crucified for their political crime against the Roman Empire. The two thieves were more like revolutionaries, than robbers. Jesus, falsely accused of political crimes, was crucified on the cross, together with the two freedom fighters like rebels. But Jesus was a different kind of rebel. He fights against the sins of this world.

As Rev. Siow Hwee rightly pointed out last week, Jesus is “God’s psalm for the world” (Stanley Hauerwas). Some of us are still unsure what this means. As the Psalms become the hymnal we sing in church, Jesus becomes also our prayer we offer to God. We sing Jesus, we pray Jesus. God hears our praises and our prayers because he hears Jesus. This is how Jesus becomes God’s psalm for the world. It is the only way possible for the world to be accepted by God, only through Jesus. And when we ask, “why did Jesus have to die on the cross?” Stanley Hauerwas has this in reply, “He died on the cross to reveal the heart of God. The cross is where God’s life crosses our life to create a life otherwise unimaginable.”[5] [Brilliant!] A life without Christ is unimaginable. A life without Christ is no life at all. The cross connects us to God.

The cross is the new covenant established by the blood of Jesus.

Contemporary Significance
“Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future.” Fulton Oursler (1893-1952, an American journalist, playwright and writer of “The Greatest Story Ever Told”)

Fulton Oursler ‘s “The Greatest Story Ever Told” published in 1949 is a fictional adaptation account about the life of Jesus, which remains faithful to the Bible throughout. His book has been re-told on audio cassettes and CDs and have been broadcasted on radio around the world [7]. It has also been made into film in 1965 by an American director (George Stevens) [8].

I like Oursler’s quotation very much. We wish we can change the past but at the same time, we fear changes in the future. We are never contended. Regrets and Fears are robbing us of our Present today.

Sometimes, our past makes a mockery of our present. Maybe a failure in school, in life, in love, at work, has hindered our journey today. We have heard stories about how some of these past failures make us afraid to take the new steps in faith today. Sometimes, we question God’s presence when He seems to be silent and absent in our past. Just like the crowd who did not understand that Jesus’ failure on the cross was really God’s success plan for the world, we fail to understand God’s way is higher than our ways.

Like us, Jesus suffered much mockery and insult. Christians, somehow, are often made mockery of in this world. To the world, Jesus was a fool. To many, Christians are fools. The Christian faith seems more and more ludicrous and untenable in today’s age of science and atheism. What are we to do?

Let us learn to be “Fools for God”! Not fools without understanding, but fools with a firm knowledge of our Lord and Savior. Let us be fools who seek God with all our hearts, our minds, and our soul. Fools who live for others and not for ourselves. Fools who would take up our own cross, sharing in the shame and suffering of Jesus. The “defeated” Jesus on the cross is the same Jesus who is “victorious” in his resurrection three days later. The One who is mocked on Good Friday will be vindicated on Easter Sunday. Let me end with one of my favorite verse from the Bible.

1 Cor 1:27-29 (NIV)
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

Let us pray.

Endnotes:
[1] http://www.christian-jokes.net/Jokes/Pastor-and-Priest-Jokes/137-Jesus-died-between-two-thieves.aspx
[2] David Turner, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, p. 663.
[3] Hagner, D. A. (2002). Vol. 33B: Word Biblical Commentary : Matthew 14-28. Word Biblical Commentary (838). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
[4] Hagner, D. A. (2002). Vol. 33B: Word Biblical Commentary : Matthew 14-28. Word Biblical Commentary (838–840). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
[5] From the Gospel of Nicodemas (or Acts of Pilate) in “The Apocryphal New Testament”, believed to be written neither by Pilate nor Nicodemas, approximately 400 years later after Jesus’ death, these two thieves were given names: Dysmas and Gestas. It is believed that Dysmas was the one who was described by Jesus to be with him in Paradise that day.
[6] Stanley Hauerwas, Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible: Matthew, p. 237.
[7] http://www.radiomickdanger.com/ListShows2.php?seriesname=The%20Greatest%20Story%20Ever%20Told
[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Story_Ever_Told