We don’t often see it but there is a great deal of irony at the cross. It begins in Matthew 27:27-31. Jesus is already condemned to die on a cruel Roman cross. But this is to be the end of his tortuous experience. Before the cross, he is mocked and beaten without mercy. In the verses before us, Roman soldiers strip Christ and clothe him in a scarlet robe. They then fashion a crown of thorns and smash it down upon his head. The soldiers begin to kneel before Jesus and hail him as King of the Jews. These reprobates spit on the Savior and hit him more. Bloodied and humiliated, Jesus does not mutter a word. He stands, or falls, in silent submission. He knows that he is indeed the King of the Jews. Not only that, Jesus is the King of kings. The soldiers mock but one day Christ the King will be sitting on his throne and they will in turn beg for mercy. There is the irony, they feigned allegiance to Jesus and smote him in an effort to abase and deride; they did not know that he really was a king. They will!
In verses 37-43 we see more ironies. To begin with, in verse 40 men filled with scorn and hatred rebuked Christ by restating what he said about destroying and rebuilding the temple. They then preceded to tempt Jesus to save himself. They railed accusations toward him implying that if he was who he said he was, he would come down from the cross. The irony is that Jesus is indeed who he testified to being. He is the Son of God and he could save himself. But, he did not because he was in the process of rebuilding the temple that sinful men were destroying- his body.
Verses 41-42 contains another ironic twist. The religious leaders joined in the fun of mocking and furthering the abasement of Jesus. These dastardly hypocrites hinted that he could save others but was powerless to save himself. They were poking fun because they did not believe that he saved anyone; they never trusted his words. The ironic thing was that he chose not to save himself because it was expedient that he hung, bled, and died to bare the curse for sinners in order for them to be saved.
They then pretended that he was the King of Israel and said they would believe if he only came down from the cross. Again, the irony of it all. Jesus stayed on the cross because he was the King and was offering himself as the substitute for sinners. He was obeying the will of the Father completely and he stood to inherit a kingdom. So, by not coming of off the cross, Jesus proclaimed himself to be the perfect, victorious, conquering, King of the universe. One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Another irony is that these hypocrites should have believed on him because of what he had done and spoken. They knew the Old Testament but they missed the Messiah.
Verse 43 contains another remarkable irony. They indicated that since Christ is suffering that God had no desire for him. He was deceived about his relationship with God. They did not think that he was the Son of God. Wrong again. The Father did indeed delight in his Son. The Son perfectly obeyed everything and pleased his Father. And by this, the trust spoken of, Christ commended his spirit into the Father’s hands. He laid down his life because he completely trusted that the Father would raise him up. It was not the will of God to deliver Jesus from this foreordained suffering.
These, along with other examples that could be given, show how the plans of God and the choices and actions of man intermingle and result in ironies. They are ironic because the truth was proclaimed unbeknownst to the person wishing to further humiliate Jesus. Their words were meant for evil, but God used them to reveal life-changing truths. Not only that, we cannot miss the grace of God in all of this. Remember, this was God’s plan of redemption. It was dripping with grace. Christ did not save himself so we could be saved. That’s grace.
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