Christ Crucified
CHRIST CRUCIFIED
MATTHEW 27:32-44
Imagine you are present in this scene. Who do you identify with? Simon? One of the soldiers? One of the two criminals? The people passing by? The religious leaders?
The “cross” carried by the condemned man, or (as here) by someone commandeered by the military to carry it for him, may have been the cross-beam, to be fixed to the upright post at the place of execution.
“Golgotha” (27:33) represents Aramaic gulgolta, “skull”; there is no certain explanation of the giving of this name to the place, which lay just outside the north wall of the city.
The “gall” of 27:34 recalls Psalm 69:21; a reference has been seen here to the soporific drink which charitable women of Jerusalem provided for men about to be crucified, but this involves a sudden change of subject, which otherwise from 27:27 to 27:37 is “the soldiers”; perhaps the soldiers offered him some of their own sour wine.
27:35 fulfilled Psalm 22:18, but the incident is not manufactured out of the Old Testament text; what was on the condemned man’s person became his executioners’ perquisites, and dicing was the natural way to determine the allocation.
In the wording of the charge inscribed over his head Matthew, like the other evangelists, sees a proclamation of the truth: Jesus is the Messiah of Israel, the kingliest King of all, “reigning from the tree.”
The “two robbers” or bandits crucified along with him (27:38,44) were probably nationalist insurgents, perhaps Barabbas’ lieutenants, originally intended to flank their leader on either side. The crosses were planted by the roadside, so that people passing in or out of the city gate could see and talk to the crucified men at close quarters. The derisory words addressed to Jesus by various passers-by (27:40,42-43) echo one or another of his claims, real or alleged. With 27:39,43 cf. Psalm 22:7f.
The taunt, “He saved others; he cannot save himself” (27:42), might serve as a motto for the whole scene—especially if “cannot” be replaced by “will not.”
Consider 27:44 in the light of Luke 23:39-43.