Matthew 27:26-31,50

Theme: The Road to Resurrection

Subject: The Suffering Savior

Introduction:  In looking at some of the services leading up to Easter, there were many.  Of the many observations, the Church Without Walls is having a weekend experience called “The Road to Resurrection.”  I felt it befitting to use this as the theme for the next two sermons.  This Road to Resurrection will start after exiting the Garden of Gethsemane.  Along this Road to Resurrection we encounter a Suffering Savior.  The word, suffer means to feel or endure, with pain; to endure or undergo without sinking.  You see, Jesus did more than just live and die.  Something took place other than death and resurrection.  He suffered.  We all will suffer, Someone asked C.S. Lewis, "Why do the righteous suffer?" "Why not?" he replied. "They're the only ones who can take it.  "The purpose of this sermon is to look at what our Savior went through just for you and me.  And as we look at it, my prayer is that it would cause the saints to grow closer to the Lord.  For that person who does not know Jesus in the pardon of your sins, I pray that the Holy Spirit will convict you to a point of wanting to receive Jesus as your personal savior because He loved and loves you so much.

Discuss what happened from Chapter 27:1ff

I.                   The Savior Suffered Pain

·        (v.26) He was scourged.  Jesus was somewhat of a scapegoat.  Jesus was treated as a criminal. 

·        Flogged – during a flogging, a victim was tied to a post, leaving his back entirely exposed.  The Romans used a whip, called a flagrum or flagellum which consisted of small pieces of bone and metal attached to a number of leather strands.  Jewish stopped at 39 blows, but the Romans had no limit.  During the flogging, the skin was stripped from the back, exposing a bloody mass of muscle and bone.  Extreme blood loss occurred  from this beating, weakening the victim, perhaps to the point of being unconscious. 

·        (v.29a) Crown of thorns placed on his head.  Unlike the traditional crown which is depicted by an open ring, the actual crown of thorns may have covered the entire scalp.  The thorns may have been 1 to 2 inches long. 

·        (v.30b) Hit/kept hitting (kept hitting) him with this reed/stick

I.                    The Savior Suffered Humiliation (degradation, debasement, shame, embarrassment)

·        (v.27) Brought Jesus before a crowd of people.

·        (v.28) Stripped him of his clothes.

·        (v.30a) They spit on him.  One of the lowest things you could do to a person is spit on them.

II.                The Savior Suffered Derision

·        Derision means to ridicule or make fun of or to mock

·        (v.29b) mocked – is in the imperfect tense which means they kept on asking.  They kept on making fun of Jesus.

Conclusion:  (v.31) Led him away to crucify him; (v.35) They crucified him; (v.50) Christ yielded up the ghost, he died.

Jesus suffered.  Jesus had to go through it.  He really could not get around it.  Why?  Because it was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53:4-6, “(4) Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  (5) But he was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

·        (illustration about suffering) - A. Parnell Bailey visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water. The man giving the tour then took Bailey to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly. "These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks," he said. "You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture. Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth."