Over at First Things, pastor Peter J. Leithart has a beautiful reflection on the themes from Matthew’s Passion narrative. Soldiers, bystanders, officials all mock Jesus as he approaches the crucifixion, but the mockery is turned back on them.
Matthew’s ironic Passion narrative reveals a God who twists mockery back on the mockers. Roman soldiers mock Jesus as “King of the Jews,” but as he dies, they confess, without irony, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matt. 27:54). Soldiers offer Jesus gall and gamble for his clothing, and in so doing fulfill prophecies about David’s Son, who is indeed “King of the Jews” (Ps. 22:18; 69:21). Passersby “wag” their heads at the man who boasted about rebuilding the temple, just as, the prophets predicted, people would wag their heads in dismay at the temple ruins (Lam. 2:15; Jer. 18:16). Scribes of the law throw words from Psalm 69 at Jesus (Matt. 27:43), apparently unaware they repeat the words of David’s enemies and implicitly cast Jesus in the role of David. At every point, God turns mockery inside out to become truth.
Read the whole thing.