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Matthew 27:39-44 meaning
The parallel gospel accounts of Matthew 27:39-44 are found in Mark 15:28-32 and Luke 23:35-37, 39-43. See also John 19:25-27.
After setting the scene at Golgotha (Matthew 27:36-38), Matthew begins to describe the various groups of people who mocked Jesus.
The three groups of mockers which Matthew (and Mark) mention are:
All three groups of mockers followed a similar pattern. Each group ridiculed Jesus as the Messiah before taunting Him to save Himself in order to prove His Messianic identity.
The commentary for this section of scripture is subdivided accordingly:
(Matthew 27:39-40)
(Matthew 27:41-43)
(Matthew 27:44)
(A consideration of how Jesus overcame the pain and temptations of the shame)
The Mockery from Those Passing by Jesus’s Cross
The first group of people who mocked Jesus as He was on the cross were those passing by (v 39).
And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads (v 39).
The description And those passing by refers to the many people who walked past Jesus on their way into or out from the city of Jerusalem. This would confirm the likelihood that Jesus was crucified near a road. If He was crucified near the gate closest to the Praetorium, as seems to be the case, it would be a place of considerable foot traffic.
John’s eyewitness account reports “the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city” (John 19:20). And the book of Hebrews says that Jesus “suffered outside the gate” (Hebrew 13:13). These accounts, plus Matthew and Mark’s description that those passing by mocked Him indicate that Jesus was crucified alongside a highway or well-traveled road entering Jerusalem.
Because it was Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the population of Jerusalem and the surrounding area had swollen to “not less than three million” according to the ancient historian, Josephus (“The Wars of the Jews” Book 2. 280) during this time. The number of those passing by Jesus’s cross as they entered the city that morning would have been considerable. The location outside the gate and timing of His crucifixion made Jesus the Messiah’s death a national spectacle.
Matthew and Mark (Mark 15:29-30) each relay how those passing by Jesus’s cross were hurling abuse at Him as they went. This expression could mean that they were literally hurling or throwing things at Jesus, such as stones or other items as a way to despise, scorn, and to inflict additional pain upon Him. Or it could be an expression to convey that the insults Jesus was enduring were constant and unrelenting. Matthew and Mark could have meant both of these things when they described how those passing by were hurling abuse at Him.
The Gospel writer also says that they were wagging their heads at Jesus as they insulted Him. This expression indicates that they were showing physical disapproval by wagging their heads back and forth against Jesus. Roman crucifixions also may not have been elevated extremely high above the ground as is often depicted in paintings or cinematic portrayals. Instead, they may have held a person only a few feet or less above their normal height, which allowed the mockers to get up close and personal as they insulted the victims.
Matthew’s record of how those passing by hurled abuse at Jesus alludes to a fourth fulfillment of Messianic prophecy in his account of Jesus’s crucifixion.
Specifically, the abuse Jesus suffered from those passing by was in accordance with numerous prophecies concerning the abuse the Messiah was foretold He would suffer from the people of Israel (Psalm 22:6-7, Psalm 25:19, 31:11, Psalm 43:1, Psalm 69:4a, 69:20, Isaiah 53:3-4). Of these prophetic allusions concerning the Messiah’s humiliation, Psalm 22:6-7 seems to be the most striking—particularly how those passing by Jesus’s cross were wagging their heads at Him.
“But I am a worm and not a man,
A reproach of men and despised by the people.
All who see me sneer at me;
They separate with the lip, they wag the head…”
(Psalm 22:6-7)
After describing how those passing by were hurling abuse at Jesus, Matthew then provides two examples of the abuse they spoke.
The two insults Matthew records which those passing by were hurling abuse at Jesus were:
Notice how both insults follow a pattern of mocking a Messianic claim about Jesus before challenging Him to prove that He was the Messiah by rescuing Himself from the cross. (All of the recorded mockings of Jesus as He was on the cross will follow a similar pattern).
The first of these two recorded insults is similar to what was said by some of the false witnesses who slandered Jesus during His nighttime trial in the home of Caiaphas. One of these false witnesses claimed:
“This man stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.’”
(Matthew 26:61)
There is no record that Jesus ever said any of the things which His accusers and mockers claimed He said.
Jesus said: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19).
Notice how Jesus did not say that He would or could destroy the temple, but rather He claimed that He could raise it if it were destroyed. Therefore, it appears that both His accuser and His mockers were twisting Jesus’s words when they were hurling this abuse at Him.
The sting in their abuse was this: anyone who could destroy and rebuild the temple in three days’ time should have no problem saving Himself from the cross.
But God is not mocked (Galatians 6:7).
Jesus’s mockers were much deceived. They not only misquoted Jesus’s words, more importantly they failed to comprehend His meaning.
Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19) earlier in His ministry when the religious leaders questioned His authority to clear the temple of moneychangers (John 2:18).When He said this, Jesus was not referring to Jerusalem’s temple as they had supposed, but rather, He was referring to His body as “this temple” (John 19:21).
In saying this, Jesus was predicting that they would destroy His body and He would be raised from the dead three days later. And that when these things happened, it would prove His authority as the Messiah (John 2:18-22). In other words, when they questioned Jesus’s authority, He essentially told them: “Kill Me, and three days later I will come back to life and then you will no longer have grounds to question My authority.”
There is a profound situational irony in His abusers’ misunderstanding and what they were saying to Jesus as He hung on the cross.
In hurling this abuse at Jesus, His mockers had aligned themselves with His murderers—i.e. those who were destroying His body/temple. They were mocking Him with His own prophecy, even as they themselves were unwittingly partaking in its fulfillment as His body/temple was being destroyed on the cross.
After mocking Jesus with His own prophecy, those passing by taunted Him, “save Yourself!”
But had Jesus saved Himself, as they had sarcastically bid Him to do, He would not have fulfilled His prophecy—that they would destroy Him then He would return to life three days later. While it would have been impressive if Jesus did save Himself on the cross, rising from the dead, as Jesus did, is considerably more impressive.
The second insult against Jesus from those passing by was: “If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
The title Son of God was a title of divine favor or divinity. As the Messiah, Jesus both enjoyed divine favor for His obedience (Matthew 3:17, 17:5) and He was God (Matthew 8:29, 16:16, John 3:16). Those passing by rejected both these things about Jesus, so they mocked Him.
Their insult reveals that even typical Jews, those passing by His cross had a fair bit of knowledge concerning Jesus. They were aware of His Messianic claims, and they were aware that many believed Jesus to be the Son of God.
The second insult was like the first insult. Both were rejections of Jesus and His claims, and both mockingly bid Him to save Yourself or to come down from the cross. (These themes will continue with the other insults.)
By remaining on the cross in obedience to His Father, Jesus proved He was the Son of God. He redeemed the world through His suffering and death (Colossians 1:20-22). Had Jesus saved Himself by coming down from the cross, He could not have paid for the sins of the world. He could only do that by dying on the cross (Colossians 2:13-14). Jesus chose the greater reward of obeying His Father and despising their shame (Hebrews 12:2). And Jesus demonstrated the greatest love—by laying down His life for His enemies (Matthew 5:44, John 15:13, Romans 5:7-8) even as they were hurling abuse at Him.
The Mockery from the Religious Leaders
The second group of people who mocked Jesus as He was on the cross were the chief priests, scribes, and elders:
In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him (v 41).
Matthew points out that the mockery by the chief priests, scribes, and elders followed the same way or pattern as the abuse those passing by hurled at Jesus. The pattern of insults was this:
The chief priests, scribes, and elders comprised the religious leaders of the Jews. They had made themselves enemies of Jesus. These factions colluded together to orchestrate Jesus’s condemnation and crucifixion (Matthew 16:21, John 11:47-50). They were all His enemies. The chief priests were the leading members of the Sadducees. The scribes were the religious lawyers. The elders were the leading members of the Pharisees.
Together these three groups were the Sanhedrin—the highest Jewish court in the land. The Sanhedrin had just illegally condemned Jesus to death a few hours earlier—now they had come to His crucifixion to oversee His execution and to humiliate Jesus further.
Matthew records three things which the chief priests, scribes, and elders said to mock Jesus. In essence all three of their recorded insults express the same sentiment, but they increase in complexity.
The first thing the religious leaders were saying as they mocked Jesus was: “He saved others: He cannot save Himself” (v 42a).
The intended sting of their insult was ridiculing Jesus for miraculously healing or saving others while pointing out the apparent irony that Jesus was so weak that He could not prevent His own destruction. As He hung on the cross, Jesus appeared to be unable to save Himself.
But there was an irony to their irony. The chief priests, scribes, and elders completely misunderstood the nature of who Jesus was, His mission, and the significance of His deliberate sacrifice (Matthew 20:28).
The irony to their irony was that Jesus was saving others by not saving Himself. Jesus chose to save others instead of Himself. And by committing to this choice to carry out His Father’s will (Matthew 26:39), Jesus atoned for the sins of many (Isaiah 53:10-12, Romans 5:15-19).
The second way the chief priests, scribes, and elders ridiculed Jesus was by sarcastically saying of Him: He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him (v 42b).
This insult followed the same pattern of the other recorded mockeries of Jesus while He hung on the cross, which was to scoff at Jesus’s Messianic identity and then challenge Him to prove His identity by coming down from the cross. We might consider this as a temptation in the same vein that Satan tempted Jesus at the beginning of His ministry. At that time, Satan tempted Jesus to jump from the temple and test His Father to deliver Him (Matthew 4:5-7).
The expression King of the Jews was a well-established Messianic title in Jesus’s day. It also was written on the sign posted above Jesus’s head publishing the civil crime for which He was being crucified. The sign read:
“This is Jesus King of the Jews.”
(Matthew 27:37)
As they were mocking Jesus this way, it seems the chief priests, scribes, and elders were pointing towards the sign above His head with their insulting words, if not their insulting gestures also.
Jesus was officially condemned for the crime of insurrection. This was one of the crimes the Jews initially accused Jesus of when they brought Him before the Roman governor (Luke 23:2). Insurrection was the crime which Pilate took most seriously as he interrogated Jesus (Matthew 27:11, Mark 15:2, Luke 23:3, John 18:33-37). Pilate repeatedly declared Jesus innocent of insurrection (Matthew 27:23, Mark 15:14, Luke 23:4, 14-15, 22, John 18:38).
One of Pilate’s final attempts to release Jesus was by asking the crowd: “Shall I crucify your King?” (John 15:19a). The chief priests committed blasphemy when they answered Pilate: “We have no king but Caesar” (John 15:19b) because only God is King. Shortly after this, the Roman Governor caved to the Jews’ demands to crucify Jesus.
One of the ironies of their insult was that Jesus really was the King of the Jews. The expression King of the Jews was a common description of the Messiah. It was foretold that the Messiah was to be a king like David (2 Samuel 7:12). The reason the religious leaders insulted Jesus was because they did not believe He was the Messiah nor did they receive Him as the King He truly was.
In their mocking of Jesus, they were challenging Him to prove Himself. When they were saying: let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him they were claiming they would believe that Jesus was the Messiah if He were to come down from the cross.
Many of them would not have believed Jesus, even if He were to come down from the cross. We know this because Jesus did something far greater than come down from the cross. Jesus came out of the tomb. And even when the chief priests, scribes, and elders were presented clear evidence of Jesus’s resurrection, many of them remained obstinate in their spiteful unbelief.
This ridicule from the chief priests, scribes, and elders is similar to what Luke records the Roman soldiers who were crucifying Jesus as saying when they scoffed at Him as He hung on the cross:
“The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him…saying, ‘If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!’”
(Luke 23:36-37)
When we consider Luke’s account of what the Roman soldiers said alongside Matthew and Mark’s account of the crucifixion, we learn that there were four distinct groups who were mocking Jesus on the cross.
(Matthew 27:39-40, Mark 15:29-30)
(Matthew 27:41-43, Mark 15:31-32a)
(Matthew 27:44, Mark 15:32b)
(Luke 23:36-37)
The third thing Matthew records the chief priests, scribes, and elders saying as they were mocking Jesus was:
He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God’ (v 43).
In mocking Jesus this way, they scoffed at Him according to the religious crime for which they had illegally condemned Him to death. The religious crime for which Jesus was condemned to death was the crime of blasphemy (Matthew 26:65-66, 27:1, Mark 14:64, 15:1, Luke 22:66-71).
Infuriated and desperate that their unlawful and improvised trial would fail to result in a conviction, and thus expose the corruption of the entire Sanhedrin, Caiaphas the high priest intervened and illegally compelled Jesus to testify,
“And the high priest said to Him, ‘I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.’”
(Matthew 26:63)
Jesus responded to Caiaphas: “You have said it yourself,” before describing how His accusers would see Him in the future: “nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64).
Jesus’s response to Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin was tantamount to saying: “I am the Christ (Messiah) and the Son of God.”
Jesus was telling the truth. He was the Christ and the Son of God.
But despite His many miracles, amazing teachings, and upright life, the chief priests, scribes, and elders rejected Jesus’s claims because they hated Him. They simply viewed Jesus as a threat to their power and privilege (John 11:48). They therefore illegally used His confession against Him to condemn Him.
Now at the cross, with their third insult, the religious leaders were continuing to scoff at the idea that Jesus was who He claimed to be. The religious leaders’ third and final recorded insult maintained the pattern of all the recorded insults of Jesus at the cross, which was to mock His Messianic identity and to taunt Him to save or rescue Himself.
With this insult, they were mocking Jesus for claiming to have such a close and trusting relationship with God. Their insult began: He trusts in God, and it ended with: for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ As the Messiah and Son of God, Jesus shared an intimate relationship with God, His Father (Matthew 3:17, John 10:30). This was the first part of the pattern.
But there was a twist to the second part of this mocking. Instead of calling upon Jesus to save Himself and prove that He was the Messiah as the previous insults had done, they now said: let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him.
In challenging God, the religious leaders broke the commandment: “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test” (Deuteronomy 6:16).
Moreover, their challenge was based on a faulty premise, and it resulted in wrong conclusions.
The faulty premise was: If Jesus were truly God’s Son, then God would surely rescue Him. (King David’s enemies drew a similar conclusion that if he truly were God’s anointed, then God would rescue him from his calamities—see Psalm 22:8).
Implicit in their scoffing was the religious leaders’ erroneous belief that if Jesus did in fact have such a close relationship to God as the Messiah and/or His Son, then there was no way that God would let Him suffer like this.
Their ignorant opinion of God was like the prideful ignorance of Job’s friends who foolishly argued that only the unrighteous suffer while the righteous are protected from earthly suffering by God (Job 4:7, 8:3, 34:10-12). The chief priests, scribes, and elders had the same misguided perspective when it came to Jesus. They wrongly believed: if God delights in Jesus, then He would not let Jesus suffer on the cross.
As God did for Job, in whom He delighted, He allows His children to encounter trials and to experience earthly suffering. He allows this for a time so that we can know God better and become perfect and complete (James 1:2-4). The greatest fulfillment of our experience of life is to know God (John 17:3). It will be only in this life that we will have the opportunity to know Him by faith.
God redeems earthly suffering for His glory and the good of those who love Him (Psalm 119:71, Romans 8:18, 28, 2 Corinthians 4:17, 1 Peter 5:10).
During Jesus’s earthly life, “God did not spare His own Son” from suffering on the cross (Romans 8:32). God used Jesus’s suffering to redeem the world. And Paul tells us that if we endure in our sufferings with obedience and faith as Christ endured His, we will be not only children of God who have the Gift of Eternal Life, but also fellow heirs with Christ who will inherit the glorious Prize of Eternal Life (Romans 8:16-18).
To learn more about the Gift of Eternal Life, see The Bible Says Article: “What is Eternal Life? How to Gain the Gift of Eternal Life.”
To learn more about the Prize of Eternal Life, see The Bible Says Article: “Eternal Life: Receiving the Gift vs. Inheriting the Prize.”
The faulty assumption that God would not allow His Son to suffer confirmed the false perspective shared by the chief priest, scribes, and elders. This led to incorrect conclusions about Jesus and themselves.
Jesus’s crucifixion validated the religious leader’s wrong opinion of Jesus, namely that He was not the Messiah nor Son of God, but that He was a fraud. They were deeply mistaken. He was not a fraud. Jesus was and is truly the Son of God, as Peter confessed (Matthew 16:16-17) and as the Roman centurion charged with carrying out His crucifixion recognized upon His death (Matthew 27:54).
When the chief priests, scribes, and elders saw Jesus’s unbearable agony on the cross, in their spiteful ignorance they may have even justified themselves and their numerous legal violations as they conspired to condemn Jesus. They may have told lies to themselves, such as:
As with the previous insults which Matthew recorded, there were multiple ironies to this mockery of Jesus. Most of the ironies that were previously explained also apply here. But there is an additional irony that is particular to this insult.
The particular irony of this insult is that the very expressions which the chief priests, scribes, and elders used to mock Jesus for being a fraudulent Messiah were prophetic fulfillments that demonstrated how He was the Messiah.
Thus, their insult is a fifth prophetic fulfilment that Matthew alludes to in his account of Jesus the Messiah’s crucifixion.
When the chief priests, scribes, and elders said: let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, “I am the Son of God” (v 43) they fulfilled what David prophetically wrote that the Messiah’s enemies would say of Him in Psalm 22,
“All who see me sneer at me;
They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,
'Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him;
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.’”
(Psalm 22:7-8)
It is ironic that the very insults of the chief priests, scribes, and elders fulfilled the Messianic prophecy of Psalm 22:8 as it pertained to Jesus. The mocking of the chief priests, scribes, and elders did not disqualify Jesus as the Messiah. Rather, their slanders further proved that Jesus really was the Son of God.
The Mockery from the Robbers Crucified beside Jesus
The third group of people who mocked Jesus as He was on the cross were the criminals who were on crosses of their own on either side of Him:
The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words (v 44).
Matthew reports how the robbers who were crucified on either side of Jesus were mocking Him with the same words. The expression: with the same words likely means the same kind or pattern of insults. These robbers were likely parroting what they were hearing others say as they were mocking Jesus.
Luke records what at least one of these robbers was saying as he mocked Jesus,
“One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, ‘Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!’”
(Luke 23:39)
At this point, the other crucified robber, or criminal, as Luke describes him, appears to have had a change of heart about Jesus,
“But the other answered, and rebuking him said, ‘Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’""
(Luke 23:40-41)
This penitent criminal then demonstrated remarkable faith in Jesus,
“And he was saying, ‘Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!’”
(Luke 23:42)
Jesus responded to the criminal’s faith and repentance with compassion,
“And He said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.’""
(Luke 23:43)
This episode appears to be a graphic demonstration of the assertion Jesus made to Nicodemus. Jesus told him that anyone would be born again who believed on Him enough to look at Him on the cross, hoping to be delivered. Jesus referred to the image of the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness. Moses told the people who were bitten by vipers that if they would look at the snake lifted up on a pole they would be delivered from death (Numbers 21:4-9).
Similarly, Jesus said that anyone who had sufficient faith to look at Him lifted up (on a cross) would be delivered from the deadly venom of sin (John 3:14-15). The thief on the cross appears to be a literal picture of this saving faith.
To learn more about what Jesus meant by this statement, see The Bible Says article: “Jesus’s Seven Last Words from the Cross—Part Two: A Word of Assurance.”
It also seems that it was during this time that Jesus entrusted His disciple, John, with the responsibility of taking care of his mother, since He would no longer be with her to provide for her earthly needs (John 19:25-27).
To learn more about this act of love, see The Bible Says article: “Jesus’s Seven Last Words from the Cross—Part Three: A Word of Love.”
All of these insults from these various groups were intended to personally rebuke and hurt Jesus. For some, the insults were also intended as a means of justifying what they likely knew deep down was a gross injustice. The collective image of all who mocked Jesus on the cross—those passing by, the religious leaders, and those crucified with Him—is evocative of the Messianic prophecy of Psalm 22:12-13,
“Many bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
They open wide their mouth at me,
As a ravening and a roaring lion.”
(Psalm 22:12-13)
This is a sixth prophetic fulfillment that Matthew alludes to in his account of Jesus the Messiah’s crucifixion.
The previously acknowledged prophetic fulfillments in Matthew’s account of the crucifixion were:
The Shame and Glory of Christ’s Mocking
All of this mocking was hurtful to Jesus. The Bible reminds us that Jesus was “tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). As a human, Jesus felt the painful sting of man’s scorn in addition to the physical agonies of the cross. Each rebuke was its own temptation for Him to escape in His own strength according to His natural desires instead of enduring them and overcoming the shame by faith in God.
We are told also in the book of Hebrews that Jesus chose a perspective that allowed Him to despise these devastating insults and shame, as compared to the glorious reward of sharing His Father’s throne as a reward for faithful obedience (Hebrews 12:2, Revelation 3:21). Consequently, the mocking of Jesus on the cross was an ordeal of intense and relentless temptation. And the stakes were God’s glory and the redemption of the creation. Because Jesus endured to the end, His name was lifted above every name (Philippians 2:9).
It was in preparation for these temptations (among others) that Jesus prayed to His Father in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39-42). Moreover, the likely reason why Jesus refused the stupefying wine-gall mixture offered to Him as an anesthetic before He was nailed to the cross (Matthew 27:34) was to be sober-minded as He faced these intense trials. Jesus chose to endure the undiluted effects of the pain, rather than to dull His mind as He battled His final temptations.
It appears that there were four basic temptations continually ringing in Jesus’s ears as His mockers insulted and taunted Him as He hung on the cross.
As the Son of God, He willingly laid down His life as the perfect atoning sacrifice for sin, fulfilling the Father's plan of salvation (Matthew 22:39, John 10:15, 18). In His response to the temptation to save Himself, Jesus demonstrated unparalleled selflessness, sacrificial love, and obedience to the will of God, and overcame His temptation by trusting His Father—even unto death. Instead of saving Himself, Jesus saved the world through the suffering of death (Hebrews 2:9).
Moreover, Jesus's refusal to save Himself from suffering and death was not a sign of weakness but of divine strength. In His submission to the Father's will, He revealed the depth of His love for humanity and His unwavering commitment to fulfilling the purpose for which He had come into the world. By remaining on the cross, Jesus bore the full weight of humanity's sin and suffering, offering Himself as the ultimate sacrifice to reconcile humanity to God.
In overcoming the temptation to save Himself, Jesus became the source of eternal salvation for all who would believe in Him. And Jesus showed us how we are to overcome our own trials and temptations—by completely entrusting ourselves to God and committing to His will.
Jesus’s final words was a prayer of entrusting His salvation and deliverance to God even through His death—“Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46).
To learn more about Jesus’s final words, see The Bible Says article: “Jesus’s Seven Last Words from the cross—Part Seven: A Word of Trust.”
“Like godless jesters at a feast,
They gnashed at me with their teeth.
Lord, how long will You look on,
Rescue my soul from their ravages…”
(Psalm 35:16-17a)
The temptation to prove His divinity and power by coming down from the cross and silencing these godless jesters must have been intense.
Yet, Jesus chose humility and obedience over vindication. He understood that His true victory would not come through displays of power or retaliation but through sacrificial love and forgiveness. Being fully human, He left vengeance to God (Deuteronomy 32:35, Romans 12:19). Instead of defending Himself against the insults and ridicule, Jesus remained silent.
Jesus did not come down from the cross in order to prove that He was the King of the Jews or the Son of God. Rather, Jesus remained on the cross because He was the Messiah and the Son of God.
Instead of vindicating Himself, Jesus let God be His Vindicator and left room for God’s wrath (Psalm 35:22-26).
Jesus knew that He would “not be ashamed [because He had faith that] He who vindicates Me is near” (Isaiah 50:7b-8a). Jesus had faith that their taunts would “all wear out like a garment” (Isaiah 50:9b) and that His enemies’ words would come back to burn themselves (Isaiah 50:11).
Jesus chose to believe God and His promises and to despise and dismiss the shame, looking joyfully ahead to His reward (Hebrews 12:2).
In His refusal to vindicate Himself, Jesus exemplified the essence of His teachings, which emphasized humility, love, and forgiveness. He willingly endured humiliation and suffering for the sake of humanity's redemption, showing that true greatness lies not in seeking revenge or asserting one's rights but in selfless service and obedience to God's will (Philippians 2:4-5).
As He had taught His followers, Jesus knew to the degree that He was persecuted, tortured, insulted, and reviled for obeying God that He was blessed—“Makarios”—supremely happy (Matthew 5:10-12).
Ultimately, Jesus’s victory over the temptation to vindicate Himself came through His resurrection. By rising from the dead, He demonstrated His ultimate triumph over sin, death, and the powers of darkness, vindicating Himself in the eyes of His enemies and establishing His authority as the Son of God and Savior of the world.
Psalm 35 concludes with prophetic praise for the Messiah’s vindication.
“Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication;
And let them say continually, ‘The Lord be magnified,
Who delights in the prosperity of His servant.’
And my tongue shall declare Your righteousness
And Your praise all day long.”
(Psalm 35:27-28)
See also: Psalm 22:25-31, Isaiah 53:11-12, and Philippians 2:8-11
“I have toiled in vain,
I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity…”
(Isaiah 49:4a)
As the Messiah prays His doubts to God, the LORD reassures Him that His apparent failure will do far more than redeem Israel—His suffering will be used to redeem “the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).
Despite the relentless taunts and insults, Jesus remained steadfast in His identity as the Son of God and the Messiah. Jesus had already faced and overcome similar temptations in the wilderness, when Satan tried to deceive Him regarding His identity and purpose (Matthew 4:1-11). Now, on the cross, Jesus clung to the truth of His divine mission, trusting in the Father's plan of redemption.
In His darkest hour, Jesus affirmed His identity as the Messiah by fulfilling Old Testament prophecies, such as those found in Psalm 22, Psalm 31, Psalm 35, Psalm 69, Isaiah 42, 49, 50, 53 and which foretold of the suffering and death of the Servant of the LORD for the sins of humanity, and of the Messiah’s eventual triumph. Jesus knew that He was to suffer as these Scriptures foretold (Matthew 26:54). And because He trusted the Scriptures and His Father, Jesus was able to reconcile His terrible suffering and His Messianic identity.
All the mocking He endured was rooted in lies. Each slander was based on the apparent, but false, contradiction between His suffering and His claim to be the Messiah. Jesus despised and dismissed these lies, and trusted in God’s sovereignty and remained obedient unto death.
Jesus overcame His temptation to doubt His Messianic identity by trusting God. It was through His faith and faithfulness that He was able to accomplish His mission as the Messiah. And just before He died, Jesus was able to triumphantly cry out in victory: “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
Ultimately, Jesus’s victory over the temptation to doubt His identity as the Messiah was confirmed by His resurrection from the dead. By rising triumphantly from the grave, Jesus proved beyond any doubt that He was indeed the promised Savior, who had come to fulfill all the scriptures and God’s plan of salvation to reconcile humanity to Himself. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus demonstrated His identity as the Son of God and the only way to eternal life.
MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” (Matthew 27:46).
Jesus’s cry meant many things, but among those things was His way of dealing with the temptation to doubt God’s love for Him by asking God why He would let Him suffer like this. Jesus’s question was a desperate but faith-filled plea for perspective on His present agony.
To learn more about what Jesus’s question meant, see The Bible Says article: “Jesus’s Seven Last Words from the Cross—Part Four: A Word of Desolation.”
Despite the apparent abandonment and silence of God in that moment, Jesus remained steadfast in His trust in the Father’s love. He understood that His suffering was not evidence of God’s indifference or abandonment but was part of God’s greater redemptive plan. Jesus’s suffering was part of God’s ultimate expression of His love for humanity.
Jesus had come into the world to demonstrate God’s love by laying down His life for the salvation of sinners (1 John 4:9-10). Jesus became sin on our behalf and willingly suffered God’s wrath so that we could receive God’s grace (Matthew 26:39, John 10:11, 2 Corinthians 5:21). He trusted that God’s purposes would ultimately be fulfilled through His sacrificial death.
With His final words, Jesus demonstrated His faith in God and dismissed His spirit into His Father’s loving hands (Luke 23:46).
Jesus did not rely on His own strength, considerable though it was, to overcome temptation. He emptied Himself and did not rely on His divine powers (Philippians 2:6-7). Jesus learned obedience as a man (Isaiah 50:4-5, Philippians 2:8, Hebrews 5:8). Jesus overcame all of these temptations, the same way that we are to overcome our temptations—by depending on the Lord’s provision by faith.
Before He faced these trials, Jesus prayed to God for strength, lest He fall into temptation (Matthew 26:39-42). God did not “remove this cup” in the sense of removing the immense difficulty Jesus was facing. But God did provide grace in answer to Christ’s prayer (Luke 22:42-43). Jesus did not rely on His own strength, considerable though it was, to overcome temptation. Neither should we rely on our own weak abilities.
Whenever we face our temptations and trials, we are to overcome as Jesus overcame His temptations; and if we do, we are promised a similar reward as Jesus:
“He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
(Revelation 3:21)