Responses To The Death of Christ

Matthew 27:54‑56
 

     I want you to open your Bible again now to the twenty‑ seventh chapter of Matthew.  And for our time this morning I want just to refer to three verses, a brief but wonderful and rich passage, one that frankly is overlooked.  I don't know in my life that I've ever heard anyone speak or teach or preach on this particular portion.  And at first, to read it, it appears to have somewhat limited importance.  But the longer you look at it and the more you consider its truths, the more you find the richness and the reward of the thing which initially seems limited.  And yet in the hands of the Spirit of God becomes almost unlimited.

     I want us to look at verses 54 through 56.  Let me read them to you.  "Now, when the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus, or guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.  And many women were there beholding afar off who followed Jesus from Galilee ministering unto Him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children."

     Now, as I said, at first it doesn't seem like a whole lot.  But the longer you look at it, the more it begins to yield its riches.

     As we examine these three verses, I want you to see in them and in corollary verses to them, four responses to the death of Christ that are here given to us.  They demonstrate for us the kind of responses we can see even today.  There is the response, first of all, of saving faith; the response of shallow conviction; the response of sympathetic loyalty and the response of selfish fear.  And each of those four responses, two of them responses of unbelievers, two of them responses of believers, are parallel to responses today that men and women have to the cross of Christ.  So it is not just an historical narrative.  It is an historical narrative with strong and practical application to our own time.  And I believe that becomes manifest as we examine the text.

     First of all, let's look at the best response that an unbeliever could ever have and that's the response of saving faith.  We find that illustrated to us by the centurion and certain of the soldiers mentioned in verse 54.  It says, "Now when the centurion and they that were with him guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly saying, Truly this was the Son of God."

     Now the centurion is the first focus of our attention.  He is not just another Roman soldier.  As a centurion, he is a commander over a hundred men, as his name might indicate.  We know century to be an indicator of one hundred in number.  So he would be a commander over one hundred men.  A man of some significance in the ranks of Roman soldiers.  But he is not even just another centurion, of which there were many.  He is a centurion who has been given a very unique responsibility because it tells us here that he and they that were with him, that would be the Roman soldiers under his command, were guarding Jesus.  So this is a very particular Roman centurion and a group of soldiers whose responsibility it was to guard Jesus.  We assume that this responsibility began when the trial began before Pilate early that very morning on Friday.  So they have been in charge of Jesus for quite a few hours by now.

     And the centurion has become very much aware of the issues surrounding Jesus.  It may well have been that he not only heard all the cries of the Jews and their accusations, but well may as well have heard the conversation privately between Jesus and Pilate relative to Jesus' kingship.  He has been a party to everything that's gone on because it's been his to care for the prisoner.

     These, then, are the very men who have nailed Jesus to the cross.  They are the very men who have pressed a crown of thorns into His brow, hit Him in the head with reeds, slapped Him, spit on Him, punched Him, mocked Him, thrown a robe over His open wounds that had been opened by the scourging ripped...which ripped and tore His flesh.  They are the very men who gambled for His garments in an amazing display of indifference.  Frankly, they are ignorant.  They are uninformed.  They are untaught.  They are, at least from a Judaistic viewpoint, irreligious.  They are pagans.  They are part of the scene not because they have anything against Jesus, they don't even know Jesus.  They're part of the scene because they‑‑as Roman soldiers‑‑have to do what their commander tells them and Pilate or somebody under him has put them in charge of the prisoner. 

     To them, Jesus is nothing but some bizarre character who claims to be king, for that is the accusation of the Romans.  And any of them looking at Him could tell that He was anything but a king.  You have to remember that by the time Jesus arrived at Pilate's doorstep early on Friday morning, He had already been through the whole night of mockery before the Jewish leaders in which He was given a mock trial and after which He was slapped in the face, punched in the face so that His face was disfigured, puffy, blue and black, bruised.  He was anything but carrying the visage and demeanor of a king.

     He was dressed as a very common man.  In fact, Herod had put a robe on Him as king to mock His claim to kingship.  Furthermore, Jesus was utterly silent, didn't sound like a king.  He didn't pontificate, didn't pull rank, didn't advocate His role as king, didn't call for those to come and rescue Him who might have done that.  Where were His followers?  He was silent.  They may have concluded that He was mentally deranged because He took so much abuse and said absolutely nothing.  When He did speak to Pilate, He spoke of a kingdom that was not of this world, which sounds like someone who has some kind of delusions of grandeur and really doesn't know who he is or where he is.

     And so, because of all of this ridiculous claim to being a king, they decided to play a game with Him and they mocked Him as a would‑be king.  These uninformed ignorant pagans had no idea who they were dealing with.  Probably because of their specific assignment to Jesus under Pilate, they may have been attached to Pilate which meant that they weren't even from Jerusalem, but rather from Caesarea the seaport city on the coast, some 60 miles away which was the Roman garrison for the Roman occupation of Israel.  If that were the case and Jesus' ministry was dominantly in Galilee and around Jerusalem, they may never have seen Jesus and knew very little about Him, if anything.

     But, they've been a part of what's been going on.  The centurion knows the Jews hate Him.  He has heard them scream "Crucify Him, Crucify Him, we will have not this man to reign over us."  They have seen Pilate try to do everything he could affirming the innocence of Jesus a half a dozen times to no avail.  They know the Jews have accused Jesus of claiming to be the Son of God, claiming to be a king, therefore being a threat to Rome, being a threat to Judaism.  But to them it seems ludicrous, ridiculous, stupid that a beaten, battered, pathetic, crucified mocked man hanging on a cross covered by flies and blood could be anything more than just a common criminal, a fake, an impostor, a nobody.  And so they just sit there and guard Jesus.

     However, something begins to happen that changes what they think.  In verse 54 it says, "When the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus, or guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done."  Now we'll stop there at that point.

     I mean, when it went instantly dark like midnight at noon and the sun failed, and when the earthquake came and the earthquake shook the earth and split the ground and the rocks split open and the graves split open and the veil in the temple was ripped from top to bottom, they knew something was happening that was out of the ordinary.  And so, Matthew says when they saw the earthquake...and literally, present participle...those things that are occurring.  When they were right in the vortex of this phenomena that was going on all around them, it says then in verse 54, "They feared greatly."  And the word there is phobeo or phobeo from which we get the word "phobia" which has to do with a terror.  They entered into a sheer terror, a state of panic which causes the heart to beat rapidly and sweat to pour out and a terrible anxiety to come over the individual who is in the midst of that kind of terror.  They were very, very afraid. 

     The word is the same word used in Matthew 14:27 for the fear experienced by the disciples in the boat on the Sea of Galilee during the storm when they saw Jesus walking on the water.  It is the same word used to speak of the sheer terror the disciples felt on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17 verses 6 and 7, where Jesus pulls back His human flesh and the glory of God is made visible to them and they fall on their faces on the ground and are in a state of absolute panic.  It is a strong word.

     And the context here and the circumstance here implies that this is not simply a human fear.  It is not just being afraid of an earthquake or being afraid of a darkness.  It is the idea that inherent within their fear is a spiritual awe, a reverential...a reverential terror.  There's something more than just the physical, something more than just the human fear.  And all of a sudden, they come to the conclusion that this is not just another criminal, not just a rebel, a deluded deranged man, a fake and an impostor.  The phenomena is overwhelming to them. 

     The centurion has heard Jesus speak when‑‑as infrequently as He spoke‑‑He spoke.  He has heard His words on the cross, profound words which have penetrated his heart.  He has seen all of this amazing miraculous phenomena taking place.  And he knows that something has gone very wrong and the whole of the universe is convulsing in response to what is going on. 

     The fear indicates the sense of sin.  It is that reverential fear that comes to one who knows that he may be under the judgment of God.  And though they were pagans, that no doubt penetrated their hearts.  It was more than a human fear.

     And so, the awareness of their sin in doing what they did to this man, the sense of guilt‑‑what have we done, what's going on, something is very wrong‑‑leads them to one other step.  And fearing greatly, they said, and the centurion‑‑the other gospel records tell us‑‑articulated this, but it wasn't just him, it was other of the soldiers as well, he said, "Truly, this was God's Son."

     First, the fear indicates the sin.  Then the confession‑‑may I be so bold as to suggest‑‑indicates the salvation.  The fear indicates the sin, the confession indicates the salvation.  If their fear was only a human fear, they would have cried for help or they would have run.  But it wasn't only a human fear.  It was awe in the sense that men reserve awe for God, for deity.  In fact, in Mark 15:39, Mark who gives us his view of the same scene, says that it was immediately after the centurion heard Jesus say "It is finished.  Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit," it was immediately after that that he said, "Truly, this was God's Son."  So it wasn't only the phenomena, but it was those final words of Jesus that just drove the truth into his heart.  And he uses the word "truly" to make it very, very clear that he has no equivocation in his mind.  He isn't saying, "Maybe it's the Son of God...possibly it's the Son of God."  He is saying without equivocation and without contradiction, "This was God's Son."  No doubt in his mind.

     And I believe, I really do believe in my heart, that he is affirming the divine Sonship of Jesus.  Jesus had just said, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit," and he says momentarily after that, "Truly, this was God's Son."  Jesus in His final words is claiming to be God's Son and he affirms that it is so.

     How does he know that?  The phenomena going on around him, the demeanor of Jesus, the graciousness of His spirit on the cross, the silence when rebuked, the sense of being on a divine mission which He has finished.  But more than that.  Do you know why he knew this was God's Son?  The only way anybody can ever know that, by the Holy Spirit.  In Matthew chapter 16, Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."  And Jesus said to him, "Flesh and blood has not revealed that unto you but My Father in heaven has."  Peter knew Jesus to be the Son of the living God because the Holy Spirit told him that.  That is a sovereignly revealed truth.  In 1 Corinthians 12 it says, "No man can say, Jesus is Lord, but by...whom?...the Holy Spirit," 1 Corinthians 12:1.  That isn't something you conclude in your own mind as a human being.  I believe what you have here is a product of the work of the Spirit of God just like you have it in Matthew 16.  I believe the Spirit of God had taken this open‑hearted centurion and a few of the other soldiers who were there in that scene and began through the work of Christ on the cross and through His attitude and His words and the phenomena all around to bring them to an affirmation of faith that only comes from the mind of God to the mind of man.

     Further, Luke 23:47 said that the centurion also said, "Certainly this was a righteous man."  It's as if he builds to a crescendo.  Certainly this was a righteous man.  Why does he say certainly?  Because again he's affirming the truthfulness of it, it's without contradiction.  And hadn't Pilate said, "This is a righteous man" in Matthew 27:24?  And hadn't Pilate's wife said it in verse 19, "Don't have anything to do with this righteous man?"  And here comes the centurion whose heard all that and says, "Certainly this is a righteous man."  And then goes one step further, "Yes, truly, this was God's Son." 

     And Luke 23:47 says he also glorified God.  There's no question about what God he's referring to.  Scripture would not leave that open to guessing.  He glorified the one true God, affirmed the absolute righteousness of Jesus Christ and then declared Him to be God's Son.  Now that kind of faith is saving faith.  If the thief on the cross by simply saying, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom," can receive a guarantee of eternal salvation, certainly this man could with this kind of faith.  So I don't have any question in my mind but that he was redeemed.  He was saved at the foot of the cross.

     Now some have wanted to argue this, based upon linguistics.  And I don't want to get too deep in this but let me just digress a moment.  This is what we call in the Greek, an anarthrus(?) construction.  That is, the phrase "the Son of God" has no articles in it, no definite article THE.  The Son of the God, meaning the only God.  All it says is, "God's Son," theos huios, the Son of God, God's Son. 

     And some say, "Well, if there's no articles, it should read `a son of a god.'  So what this pagan centurion is simply saying is‑‑`Hey, this must be a son of a god.'"  In other words, in all the plethora of Roman deities, this is no doubt some offspring or emanation from one of the myriad of deities.

     I don't think that's the intent of the text at all.  Let me show you why.  The soldier is using this title in reference to what the Jews have been accusing Jesus of.  And if you go back to 26...chapter 26 verse 63, the Jewish accusation comes forth there, "I adjure thee, says the high priest, by the living God that Thou tell us whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God."

     Now the Jews only believed in one God.  And they are accusing Jesus of claiming to be the only Son of the only God.  Which is to them absolutely blasphemous.  And this Roman is only responding to that Jewish accusation by saying, "Truly, He was indeed exactly who He claimed to be."

     Now in John 19:7, the Jews accuse Jesus, you remember John 19, Pilate brings Jesus back out and says, "Look, here He is, isn't this enough?  He's been beaten and battered and bruised and humiliated and so forth, He's a pathetic figure, isn't this enough?"  And they scream, "Crucify Him, crucify Him, crucify Him."  The thirst for blood is amazing.  And they finally say why, "He made Himself God's Son."  And they used the very same Greek construction that the centurion uses...God's Son.  It is anarthrus, it doesn't have the article.

     In Matthew 26:63, when the question was asked by Caiaphas, "Are You really the Son of God?" it is with the article.  But when the Jews accuse Him in front of Pilate's court, they drop the articles and use the phrase a different way.  Instead of saying the Son of the only God or the Son of the God, they just say God's Son which says the same thing.  And so if in one place they use the article and in another place they don't to refer to the same thing, then we conclude that either way it refers to the same thing, obviously.  Whether they use the articles or don't, they have in mind that He is blasphemous claiming to be the Son of God.

     By the way, the very same phrase, "God's Son," just the two words without the article, is used by the disciples in Matthew 14:33 when they say to Jesus, "Truly, Theou Huios You are," truly God's Son You are.  And we know what they meant.  They didn't mean, "Truly, You are a son of a god."  They meant God's Son.

     And the same phrase, and here's the capper, the same phrase, the same two words without an article is used by Jesus Himself in Matthew 27:43 where He claims God's Son, I am.  And do you know when He was born in Luke 1:35, the angels used the same phrase.  They called Him, "Huios Theou," God's Son.

     Now obviously, then, the phrase God's Son means exactly what we have always assumed throughout all history that it meant, the Son of God.  The absence of an article doesn't mean you can translate it a son of a god, and make this pagan Roman soldier be saying nothing more than He must be offshoot of some deity somewhere.  He knew exactly what he was saying.  He was saying what he heard the Jews said...say.  The centurion then glorifying God, affirming that Jesus is a righteous man and then calling Him the Son of God is revealing the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart, bringing him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

     And I find myself in absolute agreement with the Lutheran commentator Lenski who said, "This Gentile called Longinus(?) in tradition comes to faith beneath the dead Savior's cross."

     You say, "Well, why do you go through all of that to prove that?"  I'll tell you why...I'll tell...it's so very important, friends.  Do you understand this?  Do you understand the grace of God?  Do you understand the mercy of God?  Do you understand the love of God?  If you want to understand it, then understand this, Jesus Christ in the process of being crucified, redeemed His crucifiers.  Do you understand that?  That's important to understand.  You want to understand the grace of God?  Then understand that...that Jesus in grace and love redeemed the men who put Him on the cross.  I mean, that says it.  So that when He said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," what did the Father do?  He forgave them.  That prayer was no unanswered.  It was answered in the very moment of His death.  It's nice to know Jesus gets His prayers answered because I know He prays for us.

     And so, I see in their fear a recognition of sin, but I see in their confession a recognition of salvation.  And I see in that an absolutely astounding reality that Christ and God and the Holy Spirit come together to demonstrate grace in a way that is absolutely beyond understanding, to redeem the crucifiers of the Son of God themselves.  And so when somebody comes along and says, "Well, I'm too evil, the Lord will never forgive me."  Guess again.

     And isn't this the best fulfillment you would ever find in Scripture of John 12:32?  Because in John 12:32, Christ said, "If I be lifted up, I will...what?...I'll draw all men to Myself."  And there He was lifted up on the cross, and indeed He drew a thief from one side and a group of soldiers from His feet to Himself.  O, great love of God, unspeakable grace of God that He won the very soldiers that killed Him on that cross.

     Suddart(?) Kennedy who wrote so many beautiful pictures of Jesus Christ in poetry, lived from 1883 on till 1929, wrote a very lovely look at the soldiers around the cross.  Listen to his words.  "And sitting down they watched Him there, the soldiers did; there while they played with dice, He made His sacrifice and died upon the cross to rid God's world of sin.  He was a gambler, too, my Christ; He took His life and threw it for a world redeemed and e'er His agony was done before the westering sun went down, crowning that day with crimson crown, He knew that He had won."  Isn't that marvelous?  He knew that He had won.  Why?  Because the sun didn't go down before He had won the very soldiers that took His life.  That's the power of the cross.

     So, the first and the best response that a pagan could ever have would be the response of saving faith.  Would you agree to that?  And the centurion sets the standard for that.

     There's a second response, that's the response I like to think of as shallow conviction...the response of shallow conviction.  And would you indulge me for a moment to draw you over to the twenty‑third chapter of Luke?  We have to look there to see this.  Matthew doesn't comment on it, Luke does.  Luke, looking at the very same scene, reporting the very same attitude of the centurion, in verse 47 the centurion saw what was done, glorified God, said certainly this was a righteous man...just after he heard, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." 

     And then verse 48, and the shallow