Matthew 27 - Victory Song

Before being placed on the cross, wine drugged with Gall (cholē), or myrrh (smyrnizō) as Mark describes it (Mark 15:23), was mercifully given to the condemned by wealthy ladies of Jerusalem in response to Proverbs 31:6.  Jesus did not take advantage of this.  It was designed to dull the pain and shorten the process.

Matthew 27:33-36

And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there.

Instead, the process of crucifixion is intended to takes days.  Soldiers are present to prevent actions by spectators that would hasten the death of the condemned.  So, those that came by tormented Him instead with words.

Matthew 27:39-44

And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads. . . save yourself . . . come down from the cross . . . come down now . . . let God deliver him now . . . And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

At the ninth hour Jesus cries out:

Matthew 27:45-46

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

This is the first line of a Psalm that the hearers of this cry would have sung and would have been familiar. (Psalm 22).  It is a prophecy of this very crucifixion.  It foretells the:

• Mockery, including wagging of the head (Psalm 22:7-8)
• Piercing of His hands and feet (Psalm 22:16)
• Dividing garments by lot (Psalm 22:18)
• Thirst (Psalm 22:15)

But it also contains a prayer:

Psalms 22:20

Deliver my soul from the sword,

my precious life from the power of the dog!

And it concludes with the victorious answer to that prayer “. . . that he has done it.” (Psalm 22:29-31).

That victory plays out in His next breath.  His last.

Matthew 27:50

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

Jesus, just as He did in the Garden, before the High Priest, and before Pilate, confounded their plans.  Detainment without a fight.  Trial without testimony.  Sentencing without defense.  Here too on the cross, if he had He followed man’s plan His body would have succumbed to the heat, the pain, and the fatigue and would have died silently.

But instead, in full control, He bid His soul depart, in a shout of victory.