The Great Reversals of Good Friday

And we all know what irony is, don't we? More or less. It forms, if you think about it, a large part of the Aussie sense of humour. Irony. It expresses meaning by using words that normally mean the opposite of what is actually being said.

Sometimes the irony is intentional. The speaker knows that they are using sort of a twist on reality. But other times, and often these are the funniest, they don't know that it's irony. Some forms of irony can be vicious. Other forms of irony can be really, really funny.

In fact, I think some of the best humour is ironic. I'm gonna show you a few examples of why I think these are so funny. Alignment shop with a misaligned sign. Thank you for driving carefully with an upturned car next to it. Psychic TV medium, Joe Power, whose show is cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.

That is irony. Now irony has the potential of bringing particular situations and truths into sharp focus. I mean, it shows maybe the questionable psychic powers of this man, Mister Power. And if you are a lover of great movies or great literature, you'll perhaps have read great novels or watched great plays where irony is the driving force behind the story, the significance behind that story. It keeps an audience engaged.

It's a form of irony whereby the audience can know what's happening behind the scenes while the characters don't. Very often, it's irony that enables someone to see what is really going on in a situation. And it's when we come to Good Friday, in the story of Jesus Christ, where we just see layer upon layer of irony, of God the creator dying. And so this morning, I wanna reflect with you on the ironies of the cross as we walk up through these final hours leading up to Jesus' death. Now there's a man called Don Carson who's a New Testament scholar.

He's written a great book called Scandalous, The Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, where he makes several of these points of the irony or the surprise elements of these events. And so I just wanna reflect with you from another account of the crucifixion of Jesus rather from Matthew 27. So we're gonna just read that. That's a much shorter passage this morning, and we're just gonna read a few of those final events of Jesus' life. Matthew 27 from verse 27.

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him and twisted together a crown of thorns. And they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him saying, hail, the king of the Jews. And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.

And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they offered him wine to drink mixed with gall. But when Jesus tasted it, he would not drink it.

And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head, they put the charge against him which read, this is Jesus, the king of the Jews. Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, you would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.

Save yourself. If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. So also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him saying, he saved others. He cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel.

Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now if he desires him. For he said, I am the son of God. And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

And now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, that is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, this man is calling Elijah. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge filled with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the other said, wait.

Let us see Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, truly this was the son of God. So far in our reading. I wanna make four points this morning, four points of irony in this account that we've just read. The first thing we see is this irony.

The man who is mocked as king is actually the king. We start our passage this morning from verse 27, immediately after Jesus is sentenced to death. In those days, there was no long sort of death row process like we have today where people are given absolutely every opportunity to bring legal recourse in order to vindicate themselves. New evidence to be found, new arguments to be had. Years and years today in places like America, people wait for that death sentence to be passed.

In the Roman time, if you were sentenced to death, it was ours. In the lead up to the sentencing, however, Jesus had been severely flogged as part of his interrogation. And according to historians, this was not unusual what happened to Jesus. But what was unusual? What was unusual is what we read in verses 27 to 31.

Because what happens there is more like a locker room scene of bullies bullying a boy in an all boys school. The governor's soldiers secretly strip Jesus of his clothes. They drape over him some sort of reddish purple robe. They pretend that he's a royal figure. They tie together some branches of thorns and they crunch it down onto his head, making a fake crown.

They force a staff into his hand to pretend that it's a sceptre. And then in mocking reverence, they take turns first bowing to Jesus and then hitting him in the face, all the while saying, hail to the Jews. It is the pinnacle of humiliation. But the amazing irony is, friends, that Matthew, the recorder, the writer of this account, the first Christians that would have read this account when he sent it to them, they knew. Matthew knew.

These readers knew. God knows that Jesus is the king. How do we know that? Well, if we read the full account of Jesus' life, the account that Matthew himself writes, Matthew pointed out throughout the whole story. In fact, the very first verse in his opening chapter begins with these words.

This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David. Who is David? The greatest king Israel has ever had. Matthew is saying Jesus is royal pedigree. In the second chapter, the great Christmas story that we also reflect on, the wise men say when they come into Judea, where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?

And they find Jesus in a manger. And then thirty years later, when Jesus starts his teaching ministry, we find him constantly teaching about a kingdom. The kingdom of God is like. He begins so many of his teaching moments, so many of his parables. He reflects on the nature of this kingdom.

He reflects on the peace and the beauty and the splendour of this kingdom. And then here at the eleventh hour in his trial before Pontius Pilate, as we've already read so succinctly in John's account, Pilate asked Jesus, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus, perhaps with the gentlest of hesitation, knowing full well that Pilate won't understand, says, it is as you say. Deep irony of the purple robe and the crown of thorns is that they are actually telling the truth. Jesus is the king.

Now we'll wait three days till Sunday to see exactly what that means. The second irony pointed out in the events of Good Friday is how Jesus, who is utterly powerless, is really very powerful. Verses 32 to 40 that we read, again, we see Jesus having been beaten so severely, being made to carry his own cross towards the place of crucifixion. We see him so weak and tired that a man, Simon of Cyrene, is forcibly conscripted to carry this cross for him. To utterly humiliate criminals of the time, they would be crucified completely naked.

And verse 35 tells us that the soldiers, they roll dice. They gamble for these clothes. Verse 36 says that the soldiers then after this sat down right near the foot of the cross probably, keeping watch so that no one would come and rescue Jesus, so that no one would come and take him off. Or if Jesus somehow was to fall off the cross, they could just put him back on there again. They keep watch.

There is no hope whatsoever of rescue, in other words. But on the cross, the mockery intensifies. Verses 39 to 40 say, people in the crowd walking by start taunting. You said that you're going to destroy the temple and build it again in three days? Save yourself if you are that powerful. Come down from the cross if you are the son of God.

During Jesus' teaching ministry, people had heard Jesus making this claim. John 2, the other account, talks of Jesus saying this as he stood by the temple. The Jerusalem Temple was one of the ancient wonders of the world. It was an enormous complex. It was like a modern day skyscraper.

Standing next to it, Jesus says, destroy this, and in three days, I will build it again. And the people realise it has taken over forty years to build this thing with hundreds of workers. What an absolutely ridiculous thing to say. The man who has claimed so much power, so much incredible power, is now so weak. But Matthew knows and the readers know and God knows that Jesus' demonstration of power is displayed precisely in this moment of weakness.

Matthew writes down these taunts years later because he knew what Jesus actually meant when he made those claims. In John chapter 2, we read Jesus saying exactly that. If you destroy this temple, I will rebuild it in three days. But then John adds these words in verse 21, but the temple Jesus had spoken of was his body. The body of Christ is the temple.

Why? Because God dwells in that body. The irony of the cross is that it shows unbelieving, hate filled crowds reminding all of us of the powerful significance of what was happening there. You see, the temple was the great meeting place between God and man. People came to the temple to meet with God.

The temple was a place of sacrifice where the sin that separated the people from God could be dealt with. But it is in Jesus' death, the destruction of his body, and the resurrection three days later that Jesus achieves this incredible truth. He fixes us. He restores us to God. The irony is the powerlessness of Jesus shows the power of the cross.

And then we see another irony, the third irony. The man who can't save himself saves others instead. The mockery in verses 41 and 42 continues. This is from another group. Some say, he saved others, but he can't save himself. Let him come down from the cross and we will believe him.

What do they mean when they say Jesus saved others? Well, it's talking about the three year ministry of Jesus where he healed people of illnesses, where he drove out evil presences in people's lives to set them free, where Jesus fed the hungry physically and spiritually. He saved these people, but he can't save himself. But now, this man who is called to be a saviour can't save anyone, including himself. Once again, the mockers speak better though than they know they are speaking because Matthew knows and we know and God knows that in one profound sense, if Jesus is to save others, he cannot save himself here.

To understand this, we need to go back all the way to the beginning of Matthew's gospel again, to the first chapter again where God tells Joseph that the baby that will be given to him and Mary should be named Jesus. Why? The angel says because he will save his people from their sin. The name Jesus is a variant of Joshua, which in Hebrew means, my God saves. God saves.

It's with this meaning advertised right here at the beginning that Christ's mission to earth is declared. Jesus has come to save people from their sin. And all throughout the gospel of Matthew, Jesus begins to live up to this mission. He is healing people. He is feeding people.

He raises the dead at one point. But if you listen to what Jesus is doing or saying as he is doing these things, you hear that Jesus is pointing to a far deeper significant point here. He has come to save our souls. He has come to save not just here, not just to feed physically now so that you may be hungry tomorrow. He has come to feed our souls and satisfy us for eternity.

Suddenly, the words of the mockers, they start taking on a new weight of meaning. He saved others. He can't save himself. And they are speaking the truth again. If Jesus had leapt off that cross and remember he said at his arrest, he could call a legion of angels to come and protect him.

If he had leapt off that cross, he would not have saved those he came to save. The only way he could save was by not saving himself. And then our fourth and our final point. The final irony we see pointed out in these verses this morning is found in verses 43 to 51. The man who cries out in despair actually trusts in God.

Still sneering, the chief priests, the teachers of the law, those who oppose Jesus, his entire ministry, they yell out, he trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if God wants him. The sarcasm is palpable. What they really mean is that his trust is in God and it is obviously not valid because God has abandoned him to this horrendous death. And it seems to be confirmed when Jesus himself cries out in verse 46, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

But again, there is so much more than meets the eye. This cry of desolation on the lips of Jesus is not simply a cry of despair, although He felt pain. Although He felt loneliness. This cry has far deeper meaning and that is it is a fulfilment of prophecy. It's a quote from King David himself, the great king.

In Psalm 22 verse 1, the opening stanza reads, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning? And you would be tempted to think that this is just Jesus reciting something that He knows in His weakness, doubting the existence of a loving God. But this quotation is a quotation of a deep and wonderful prophecy. Something that is being fulfilled in this moment. Listen to how that psalm continues.

Verse 7. All who see me, mock me. They hurl insults. They shake their heads. They say he trusts in the Lord.

Let the Lord rescue him. This is Psalm 22. Does that sound familiar? Let the Lord deliver him since he delights in him. Verse 16 of that same Psalm says this, a band of evil men have encircled me.

They have pierced my hands and my feet. Verse 18 of that same Psalm, they divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. It's all there. Psalm 22. And that was written nine hundred years before Jesus.

King David, listen to this. King David, the physical ancestor to Jesus. King David, who everyone was hoping would have a descendant to come and rescue. King David wrote through the inspiration of God's spirit, a vision of the day God died as a man. And Matthew knows, and the readers know, and God knows that Jesus is not simply crying out in despair.

He is fulfilling prophecy. Moments later, after Jesus says these words, He gives up His spirit. He dies. And at that very moment, verse 51 says that the curtain of the temple, the one that He had talked about, tears in two from the top to the bottom. It couldn't have been done, in other words, by human hands.

And the curtain of this temple, the temple that Jesus had in mind when He was talking, the curtain which kept God's holiness from mankind's sinfulness, this very curtain is rent asunder, and what that means is God's presence can be with people again. So here's the fourth and the final irony. The man who cries out in despair trusts God and knows God the Father will finish what He started. This is how Psalm 22 ends. Verse 24, God has not despised nor disdained the suffering of the afflicted one.

He has not hidden His face from him, but has listened to his cry for help. And we'll wait a couple more days until Sunday to see this take place. But this morning, I wanna invite you to know that God's plan is for humanity to be vindicated and saved. The mission that was marked on that first arrival of Jesus, that He would come to save humanity from their sin, is now marked mission accomplished as Jesus says, it is finished. The penalty that I should have paid for all the things that I have done wrong was paid in that moment by this Jesus on my behalf.

Friend, there is only one thing and one thing alone that I wanna tell you this morning, and that is that Jesus Christ is the saviour that you've always hoped for. He is the one and the only one that is worth worshipping. I want you this morning to think of what He has achieved on the cross. He is the one who offers you wholeness and restoration back to God. Eternal life.

Eternal life and peace. Jesus once said to His disciples this, whoever the Son has set free is free indeed. I have come, He says, that they may have life and have life to the full. Do you want life? Do you want to be set free?

I'm gonna pray, and I want you to pray with me. And if this is your desire this morning, whether you are new to our church, whether you have been here a long time, I'm gonna pray and our heads and our eyes will be closed. I want you to raise your hand if you want me to pray for you. And I'm gonna pray on your behalf a prayer for God to give you forgiveness, for God to receive you, for God to reconcile you with Himself. Why?

Because of what happened here. And then after we've prayed, we're gonna, you know, sing a few more songs and we're gonna have some nice morning tea and have some good coffee and tea, and then you're gonna go home. But I wanna encourage you that it hasn't finished here. And I wanna invite you back next week. I wanna invite you back to Sunday to hear how part B finishes the story.

What a great hope we see at the resurrection. But don't leave here unchanged. If you know this is for you, if you know and you realise your distance from God, if you know that you are weak and broken, receive the strength that Jesus Christ came to give you. I'm gonna pray. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for these words. Thank you for a day in the year where we can come aside, Lord, and think about really important things. Lord, I pray that this is not mere sentimentality for us. I pray, Lord, that you are doing some real work in our lives this morning. And so everyone here with eyes closed, heads bowed, with all of us here, Lord, I wanna ask for hands to be lifted, those who are willing to receive Jesus Christ this morning.

Anew, perhaps for the first time, or renewed. Thank you for those hands. Thank you for those hands. There is time, friends. There is time.

If you are ready to receive Jesus Christ as Lord, raise those hands. Father, I thank you for these hands that have been raised. I thank you for these individuals who have met and tasted the living God this morning. And with them, Lord, I pray this prayer. Lord Jesus, forgive my sin today.

I give my life to you again. Thank you for what you did for me that day, two thousand years ago. Thank you for what was done for me, forgiveness and reconciliation to a God that I have greatly offended. And thank you because of your sacrifice. I have been set free to receive freedom that is free indeed.

And so for all those hands, Lord, I thank you, and I pray that you'll give them a special blessing this morning. Lord, for the rest of us, I wanna ask that if we haven't been ready this morning, if we still have some thinking to do, you'll continue working in our lives and our hearts. Lord God, you are so active and real as the very breath in our lungs. And so, Lord, if we need to give you time to do your work in us, I just pray that you will do that for these people. Thank you that we can come this morning.

Thank you for this message we can hear, and I pray, Lord, that we may live in response to this, to your great delight and your ultimate glory. In Jesus' name, amen.