Matthew 27:35-44 Mark 15:24-32 Luke 23:33-43 John 19:18-27

Matthew 27:35-44 35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. 37 And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 38 At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, 42 “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. 43 “HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.

Mark 15:24-32 24 And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. 25 It was the third hour when they crucified Him. 26 The inscription of the charge against Him read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 27 They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. 28 [And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with transgressors.”] 29 Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. 32 “Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.

Luke 23:33-43 33 When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. 34 But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. 35 And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” 36 The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” 38 Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 39 One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” 40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 “And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” 43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

John 19:18-27 18 There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 20 Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” 23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. 24 So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS.” 25 Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

Jesus is taken to the cross and crucified.  As He hangs on the cross, there are several interactions that demonstrate the heart of Christ as well as the hearts of men who were surrounding this event.  This was one of the most significant days in the history of the universe, along with the day of the resurrection, Pentecost and the future return of Christ.  These details are recorded for us and should be instructive to us.  We look at these events and interactions and are astounded by the cruelty of men and the grace of our Lord Jesus is the midst of the most horrific of circumstances.  May He give us the ability to follow His steps of staying on mission even when we are facing great difficulty.

JESUS IS CRUCIFIED AS KING OF THE JEWS: As they crucify Jesus, Pilate put a sign over His head simply stating King of the Jews.  This sign was true.  Jesus is the physical descendant of David from both Mary’s side of the family and Joseph’s side, making Him uniquely the legitimate heir to the throne of David and the King of the Jews.  However, the Jewish leaders were not happy with this designation.  They requested that the sign be changed to a form of accusation stating that Jesus claimed to be King of the Jews.  In their minds, Jesus was being crucified for claiming to be something that He was not.  They were insisted on His death because He claimed to be God.  However, they tried to convince Pilate to crucify Him because He was a threat to Rome as a rebel that was claiming to be king.  Pilate refused their request and Jesus was crucified as King of the Jews.  Jesus is heir to the throne of David and will rein from that throne one day.  Jesus is also God just as He claimed to be.  One day every knee will bow before Him and recognize Him as King of kings and Lord of lords.

JESUS IS MOCKED AS SAVIOR OF WORLD: It was not enough for the soldiers to crucify Jesus, but they mocked Him as they inflicted Him with terrible pain.  They stripped Him of His clothing and gambled over who would keep it.  They humiliated Him, scorned Him and made fun of Him.  They mocked Him by saying that He had promised to raise the temple in three days and that He claimed to be the Son of God.  They ridiculed Him saying that He had saved others but could not save Himself.  Little did they realize that He was not saving Himself so that He could save others.  He was doing exactly what He had come to do.  He was not on the cross because of the Jews or the Romans.  He was on the cross because of His own choice to be on and remain on that cross out of love for us.  He died so He could be the Savior of the World.  It is our job to worship Him and proclaim Him as such until the glorious day of His return where all who believe will be saved from every form of sin for all of eternity.

JESUS IS TRUSTED AS LORD OF A THIEF: Jesus was crucified between two thieves, which fulfilled prophesies of the Old Testament.  One thief was mocking Jesus with the others and trying to exploit Him for personal gain.  The other thief stood up for Jesus and recognized that Jesus was not deserving of death like he was.  He made a simple request that Jesus remember him when He entered His kingdom.  This request revels much of what the thief believed.  He believed Jesus was King.  He believed that even though Jesus was on the cross next to him; that Jesus would still reign.  He believed in life after death.  He believed that Jesus was able to save him simply by remembering him.  This combination of recognizing his own sin and trusting Jesus, saved him.  Jesus promises that on that very day, they would meet in paradise.  Heaven is the eternal destination of all who recognize Jesus as the Son of God and trust Him for salvation.

JESUS IS HEARD AS THE SON OF MARY: One of the most extraordinary things we see Jesus do from the cross, is to make sure that Mary was cared for.  We don’t know what happened with Joseph between the birth of Jesus and this time.  We also don’t know where the brothers of Jesus were, but we do know that John was with Mary watching this terrible scene.  Jesus tells Mary to view John as her son now and tells John to care for His mother as if she were his own.  Jesus loved His mother and He loved John and wanted to make sure they were cared for, even while hanging on the cross.  There are times when we are tired or facing difficulty that we simply think we can ignore the needs of others and focus on ourselves.  Jesus demonstrates that even in great pain and sorrow, He still is focused on loving and serving others.

APPLICATION: Take comfort in the fact that Jesus is not only King of the Jews but is King of the universe and has everything under control.  People will mock us for trusting or speaking of Jesus.  This should not surprise or deter us from the mission to which He has called us.  No matter how difficult our circumstances may be, we must never lose sight of the mission of telling others how they can be saved through faith in Jesus.  Love and care for our families no matter how difficult our lives are.  There are times when we are unable to care for our loved ones, but we are the ones who know they need help.  We must never be too proud to ask for help.