Matthew 27 shows the darkest parts of Jesus’ life. This chapter evokes our sorrow and awe at all Jesus was willing to go through, to secure the salvation of all who believe in Him. In chapter 27, Jesus opens a way through his death for all who have sinned and fallen short to come into the Kingdom, ransomed, healed and forgiven.
We see the religious authorities, the keepers of the faith, colluding with the Romans to get rid of Jesus, who threatened their authority. Far from being able to recognize their long-awaited Messiah, they refused to listen and learn and expand their idea of God and his desire to include in his Kingdom many people of whom the Pharisees disapproved.
Then we see Jesus before Pontius Pilate, mostly silent. Pilate was exasperated and was trying to determine the nature of Jesus’ crime. He asked Jesus if he were the King of the Jews. Jesus said, “You have said so” (verse 11). Even in the face of accusations from the Jewish Council, Jesus remained silent, though we never hear his reasoning for doing so.
Pilate allowed himself to be led to a decision he did not desire due to his fear of the crowd. At the engineering of the Sanhedrin, the Passover Pilgrims called for the release of the evil-doer Barabbas, while demanding Jesus’ crucifixion.
Jesus suffered painful humiliation at the hands of the Legionnaires, who dressed him as a false king before mocking and beating him. But he continued his self-chosen path toward our salvation, enduring humiliation for us.
We see the crucifixion, where a man from Cyrene had to carry Jesus’ crossbar. He was stripped and offered wine at Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, before being crucified between two criminals who also mocked him alongside those who had already seen to his crucifixion.
The crucified Jesus only offered words from Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He grasped the weight of our sin and took it upon himself, and in so doing, he felt distant from his Heavenly Father.
Upon his death, the curtain of the Temple that cordoned off the Holy of Holies, where God was thought to dwell, was ripped from top to bottom. God removed the physical mark that separated the Lord from the people. The beginning of the end for the Temple was coming. And Jesus’ death had not only torn the curtain, but the power from it had gone out and begun resurrection for many in Jerusalem, who now saw that death itself could be reversed.
The women who saw and reported these things are described as “many,” having followed Jesus from Galilee, listening to his teaching and caring for his needs. Matthew names three of them: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and Mrs. Zebedee, mother of the sons of thunder. Much of what we know about the Crucifixion and Resurrection is due to women who watched and shared what they knew.
Last of all, we see Jesus’ body buried by an influential and rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there watching. The next day, the chief priests and Pharisees complained to Pilate that they wanted that imposter Jesus and his disciples to be frustrated in any attempts to fake a resurrection by taking his body away. They believed they had prevented this by posting a guard and sealing the tomb.
But Easter was coming and nothing could stop the power of resurrection.