The Challenge of the Cross

KEY VERSE: “What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” —Matthew 27:22

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Matthew 27:11-17, 20-22, 35

THE resounding answer that the rulers of Israel gave to this question put to them by the Roman governor was: “Let him be crucified.”—Matthew 27:22

This, of course, was no surprise to the accused man standing before Pilate. He made no objection to the statement that he was called Christ, even though this was the supposed heresy upon which the demand for his death was based. He was well aware that, according to the Scriptures, the Christ (Messiah, Hebrew) was to be put to death.

Jesus was very familiar with the prophecy of Daniel, which identified this as the time when the “Messiah would be cut off.” (Dan. 9:26) The Prophet Isaiah had described how he would be “taken from prison and from judgment … for he was cut off out of the land of the living … he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death.” (Isa. 53:8,9) At an earlier time he had told his disciples how the brazen serpent which was lifted up on a cross in the wilderness by Moses, was a description of how he would die. “So must the Son of man be lifted up.”—John 3:14

This was the purpose for which he was born into the world. This was the end to which his ministry had been dedicated. And to accomplish a fulfillment of that which had been written, he had confronted these accusers publicly, revealing their sins, and then resigning himself to their deadly retaliation. As it was also written in the Scriptures, “He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.”—Isa. 53:7

Pilate was confused by the demeanor of Jesus. He sensed that the charges brought against him were made in envy, and, expecting a vigorous defense, asked, “Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?” But Jesus “answered to him never a word.”—vss. 13,14

It was difficult for the governor to realize that a man could be so hated unless guilty of some gross misconduct against his people. Of course he knew that the Jews were accusing Jesus of claiming to be a king, and that this, if true, was treason to Caesar. But evidently Pilate had seen no real evidence of this.

For three and one-half years, Jesus had been ministering to his brethren of Israel, doing good to them, and nothing but good. He had fed the hungry, healed the sick, and raised the dead. He had preached the truth—truth calculated to break the shackles of superstition and error by which they were bound and kept in subordination to a hypocritical priesthood. The acceptance of this message would have resulted in a greater blessing than anything else he did for the people. But they accepted neither him, nor his message. Instead, under the leadership of their religious overlords they clamored for his life.

Jesus was serene in his faith that his times were in the Father’s hands. He knew that he was to give his flesh for the life of the world. He knew that Pilate would be permitted to hand him over to his enemies to be crucified, but this mattered not to Jesus, for thus, and thus only, could he complete the work which had been given him to do as a human being.

From this point to the final end, when upon the cross he cried, “It is finished!” it was merely a matter of enduring, with God’s help, whatever divine wisdom permitted in the way of ignominy, shame, and suffering. And what great “contradiction of sinners” the Master did endure! (Heb. 12:3) The kingship of the greatest of all kings of earth was made a mockery. His enemies, believing in their hearts that he could never be a king, nevertheless used what they did not believe themselves as a charge to destroy the Prince of life.

The Word which was “made flesh” was now giving his flesh to redeem the world. He had committed his life into the hands of his Father whose will he had come to do, and delighted to do.

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