Friday Death and Saturday Guard – Matthew 27:32-66

A text for Good Friday – Matthew 27:32-66  

³² As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross. ³³ And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), ³⁴ they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. ³⁵ And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots; ³⁶ then they sat down there and kept watch over him. ³⁷ Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

³⁸ Then two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹ Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build 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, saying, ⁴² “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to, for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’ ” ⁴⁴ The rebels who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way.

⁴⁵ From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ⁴⁶ And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ⁴⁷ When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” ⁴⁸ At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. ⁴⁹ But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” ⁵⁰ Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. ⁵¹ At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. ⁵³ After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many. ⁵⁴ Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”

⁵⁵ Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him. ⁵⁶ Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

⁵⁷ When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who also was himself a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹ So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth ⁶⁰ and laid it in his new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. ⁶¹ Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

⁶² The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate ⁶³ and said, “Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴ Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise, his disciples may go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception would be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵ Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.” ⁶⁶ So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

A reflection:

Matthew’s gospel describes everything happing, swirling around Jesus as he endures crucifixion: insult and mockery, darkness and the feeling that God was far away, leading Jesus to remember and recite the psalm. As he cried out for a final time and died, the curtain of the temple was torn in two (just as the skies had been ripped in two at his baptism). There was an earthquake that opened tombs and split rocks and resurrected many bodies. A centurion at the cross, a Roman Gentile, was the only person Matthew records as having said something non-mocking: “Truly this was the Son of God.” Many women from Jesus’s followers looked on at a distance. Matthew wants no doubt in our minds that Jesus was truly dead. Dozens of witnesses, faithful and unbelieving alike, know that Rome has done the bidding of the Sanhedrin and killed Jesus in the most public and humiliating way possible, and in fact he died.

The Sanhedrin even goes to Pilate on Saturday and asks for Rome to secure the tomb so that no one can steal the body and claim it has risen from death, and this request is granted by Pilate. Neither he nor the Jewish leaders want Jesus causing more trouble, now that they have taken pains to kill him off. They sealed the tomb, rolling a stone into its doorway and probably placing Roman sealing wax across it and stamping it with a Roman image and inscription. It is as if they are saying, in cahoots with one another, “Well, that was messy, but at least he won’t continue to trouble us,” dusting off their hands and walking away believing that on this second day, they were in control of things once and for all.

We know what happens on the third day. We see how ludicrous their sense of control is. They controlled how people worshipped, how they ate, how they kept their homes, how they looked at life. But they did not control God or the Son of God or the Spirit of God. The second day is merely a day of waiting until the next earthquake and that angel who moves the stone, breaking the seal to smithereens, rolls the stone over, and sits on it, knocking out the guards and waiting for the faithful grieving women to come and get his message.

Good Friday and Holy Saturday. What a pitiful display of human behavior, especially from the worldly powerful, believing they could kill whatever got in their way. And what filled-with-pity faithfulness of Jesus’s beloved friends, who lived through the pain and torture and ridicule with him to the bitter end.

Lord have mercy.

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for Matthew’s account of Jesus’s death and resurrection. Help us always to remember that by your power you raised Jesus from death and broke its permanent hold on us humans.  Help us to know for sure and certain that since Jesus’s resurrection, we have no death to fear. Amen.