1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:06,360
Gospel of Matthew, chapter 27, 
verses 27 to 31. 

2
00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:11,920
Then the soldiers of the 
governor took Jesus into the 

3
00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:15,120
governor's headquarters, and 
they gathered the whole 

4
00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:20,480
battalion before him. 
And they stripped him and put a 

5
00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:25,440
scarlet robe on him, and 
twisting together a crown of 

6
00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:31,480
thorns, they put it on his head 
and put a Reed in his right 

7
00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,560
hand. 
And kneeling before him they 

8
00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:39,040
mocked him, saying, Hail King of
the Jews. 

9
00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:45,640
And they spit on him and took 
the Reed and struck him on the 

10
00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:48,720
head. 
And when they had mocked him, 

11
00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:53,520
they stripped him of the robe 
and put his own clothes on him 

12
00:00:54,320 --> 00:01:00,000
and led him away to crucify him.
This is the word of the Lord. 

13
00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:03,640
Thanks be to God, you may be 
seated. 

14
00:01:11,830 --> 00:01:16,150
If we want to understand the 
death and resurrection of Jesus 

15
00:01:16,150 --> 00:01:21,750
through the ruthless eyes of the
soldiers, we must understand 

16
00:01:21,750 --> 00:01:25,310
this event, this event in the 
role that it's meant to play in 

17
00:01:25,310 --> 00:01:28,910
Matthew's Gospel. 
It's a coronation. 

18
00:01:30,190 --> 00:01:36,080
It's a coronation of a king, a 
ceremony with fixtures that 

19
00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,960
matter. 
The theme of the Kingdom has 

20
00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:42,880
been building throughout all of 
Matthew's Gospel. 

21
00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:47,200
He begins his narrative with the
genealogy of Jesus. 

22
00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:52,720
He's showing to his Jewish 
readers how Jesus is the king, 

23
00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:55,960
the king that Israel has been 
waiting for. 

24
00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:00,120
Throughout the Gospel, Jesus is 
telling us parables of the 

25
00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,800
Kingdom, that is, stories that 
show us what this Kingdom that 

26
00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:07,040
Jesus came to inaugurate was 
supposed to be like. 

27
00:02:08,479 --> 00:02:13,560
Now in these last chapters we 
see that the Kingdom of Jesus is

28
00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,640
in part inaugurated in this 
cruel and unusual coronation 

29
00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:21,280
ceremony. 
The Jews that Matthew was 

30
00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:24,360
writing to to convince them of 
the kingship of Jesus. 

31
00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,440
These are also the Jews that use
the Roman authorities to 

32
00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:34,200
sentence Jesus to death. 
So what is this coronation of 

33
00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:38,040
our King Jesus like? 
What does this royal service 

34
00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:42,160
look like? 
It included an audience, an 

35
00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,000
audience who would not just be 
viewing, but they would be the 

36
00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,880
main efficience of this 
coronation service. 

37
00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:52,000
A band of Roman soldiers. 
This Greek word that's used 

38
00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,560
here, it's translated as 
battalion, but it's actually a 

39
00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:58,080
specific word that means a unit 
of a larger group. 

40
00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:04,920
So we know that it's probably 
around 600 men, 600 men against 

41
00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:11,760
1600 men coming from an army 
with a reputation for being 

42
00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:18,200
bloodthirsty, cruel, ruthless, 
trained not only to win but to 

43
00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:23,920
annihilate, destroy, strip away 
any sense of culture so that 

44
00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:32,000
Rome's preeminence would be made
known. 600 men, a large group. 

45
00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,200
And the other characters that 
we've looked at this week, we 

46
00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:38,960
get a name. 
We get to see their motivations,

47
00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:42,760
see more of who they are. 
But these Roman soldiers who 

48
00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,400
would crown King Jesus are known
only as a group. 

49
00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:52,920
No one is singled out. 
Both to reflect the brutality of

50
00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:58,680
600 on one, the severity and 
prolonged humiliation of each 

51
00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:03,880
step of the process, the 
ruthlessness of the situation. 

52
00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,960
But the crowd is also meant to 
ask us to reflect on our own 

53
00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:13,520
hearts. 
Had we been in the number, would

54
00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:16,519
we have done anything 
differently to stand up against 

55
00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:21,560
the crowd, the elements of the 
coronation? 

56
00:04:22,280 --> 00:04:25,080
They stripped and put a mocking 
robe on him. 

57
00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:30,200
They were saying the only power 
you can have is the power that 

58
00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:36,360
we say you can have. 
They gave him a crown of thorns,

59
00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:39,560
a crown that they had to be 
twisted together. 

60
00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:42,800
Can you imagine twisting 
together the thorns? 

61
00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,920
Your own hands would have been 
bloodied in the process, 

62
00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,560
experiencing just a little bit 
of the pain that you are about 

63
00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,800
to inflict. 
As they said it on His head, 

64
00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,680
they thought very little of any 
power Jesus did have and sought 

65
00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:05,640
to hurt Him with it. 
Blood would have been dripping 

66
00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,000
down as the thorns pierced His 
flesh. 

67
00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,440
They mocked Him. 
They sought to deride instead of

68
00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:16,600
worship. 
They wanted him to feel 

69
00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:20,280
humiliated. 
They gave him the title King of 

70
00:05:20,280 --> 00:05:22,200
the Jews. 
This was the title Pilate 

71
00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:27,320
inferred upon Jesus earlier in 
his examination of Jesus, a 

72
00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:31,440
title that Jesus responded he 
never gave a definitive yes in 

73
00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:34,600
front of Pilate, but rather 
allowed him to call him. 

74
00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:43,760
So they spit on him. 
They spit on him and struck him.

75
00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:51,000
They wanted to attack, take away
any ounce of life or respect 

76
00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,000
that remains. 
Jesus. 

77
00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:58,200
The King was not anointed with 
oil, as the kings of Judah in 

78
00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:04,040
the past had been, but rather 
with spits and blood running 

79
00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:08,240
down his face. 
They left him on his way for 

80
00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:11,280
dead with nothing. 
They wanted him not just to die,

81
00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:16,760
but to die as in embarrassment, 
the cloaking of the road that 

82
00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:18,800
was really just for their own 
amusement. 

83
00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:23,080
For this little ceremony, there 
were a crowd seeking to assert 

84
00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:28,400
power, to give and take what 
they wanted, when they wanted 

85
00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:31,280
it. 
But what may have been a Roman 

86
00:06:31,280 --> 00:06:34,600
tradition to return the 
execution need to his original 

87
00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:39,520
clothing, perhaps, would be to 
ensure that the punishment was 

88
00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:44,320
wrought on the correct person. 
It had divine purposes. 

89
00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:48,800
Jesus would be recognizable on 
his March up to Calvary. 

90
00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,440
He would be recognized in his 
clothing when he hung on the 

91
00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:56,320
tree. 
No one would be able to say that

92
00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,600
it wasn't Jesus the Nazarene 
that hung on that cross. 

93
00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:04,880
What can we say was the 
motivation behind these ruthless

94
00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:09,080
soldiers embarrassment of Jesus?
What was their desire? 

95
00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:12,800
Not just to punish him, but to 
mock him to his face, to make 

96
00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:18,600
him feel as alone, as low, as 
derided as he could be? 

97
00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:23,000
Believe in parts their 
motivation was to be just the 

98
00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,520
brutal Roman army they had been 
trained to be. 

99
00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:30,400
Kill, destroy, humiliate for the
cause of Rome. 

100
00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,920
I believe part was to deride the
Jews and their fear and envy of 

101
00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,040
Jesus. 
We read earlier that Pilate knew

102
00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,840
that the chiefs, priests, they 
were envious of Jesus, of his 

103
00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,640
fame and his following and their
fear of his, that he was 

104
00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:49,400
blaspheming and claiming his 
deity. 

105
00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:53,400
So perhaps this was Rome's 
attempt to just sort of chide 

106
00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:58,880
the whole process, the whole 
prospect of any religious king 

107
00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:01,280
outside the Pagan emperor of 
Rome. 

108
00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,680
The Romans were mockingly 
cheating Jesus as a king to show

109
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,440
how he had been humiliated, 
betrayed, handed over for the 

110
00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,240
execution by the people he had 
came to save. 

111
00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:17,800
It was ruthless. 
Now to be ruthless, that word, 

112
00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,400
it means to show no mercy or 
compassion for another. 

113
00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,800
It comes from an old Germanic 
word, Ruth, which is the noun 

114
00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:31,080
form of compassion, mercy. 
To be ruthless is to look on the

115
00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:35,039
plight of another and to ignore 
it and even to implore it. 

116
00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:39,440
It means to have such a 
trajectory, such a path towards 

117
00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:44,840
a specific goal, that those who 
may be in your way, those who 

118
00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:48,400
may follow in your wake of 
destruction on the journey to 

119
00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:52,960
your goal, they receive no 
thoughts, no compassion, no 

120
00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:57,840
mercy. 
And looking at the resurrection 

121
00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:02,560
through these ruthless eyes, it 
may seem easy to condemn, to say

122
00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:06,400
that we could never sneer, to 
ride, mock, spit on our Savior 

123
00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:10,200
like these did. 
But this would be to forget the 

124
00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:14,920
teaching of the King and his 
warnings to his disciples. 

125
00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:20,520
Judge not that you be not 
judged, for what the judgement 

126
00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:22,800
you pronounce you will be 
judged, and what the measure you

127
00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:24,600
use it, it will be measured to 
you. 

128
00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:29,560
Why do you see the speck that is
in your brother's eye but do not

129
00:09:29,560 --> 00:09:31,560
notice the log that is in your 
own eye? 

130
00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:37,840
As a culture, we are obsessed 
with celebrating human, human 

131
00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:41,040
achievements. 
This week we have celebrated 

132
00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:44,080
space exploration, scientific 
achievements. 

133
00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:48,720
We'll celebrate a new national 
basketball champion, and then 

134
00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:50,240
after that, we'll wait for the 
next thing. 

135
00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:54,080
We'll wait for the next crowning
achievements of man. 

136
00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:58,400
As individuals, we are seeking 
to put crowns on ourselves in 

137
00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:02,680
all kinds of ways. 
Crowns of professional excess 

138
00:10:02,680 --> 00:10:06,520
and admiration, crowns of 
financial prowess and wealth 

139
00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:12,000
beyond measure, crowns of 
reputation, crowns of control, 

140
00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:16,680
crowns of comfort and safety. 
We do not need to rely on the 

141
00:10:16,680 --> 00:10:22,000
Lord anymore in our own journeys
towards the crowns that we long 

142
00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,480
to wear, long to be seen 
wearing. 

143
00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:29,400
Who is it that we have 
overlooked with the compassion 

144
00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:33,800
and mercy of the Kingdom? 
Where have we even forsaken 

145
00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:37,480
Christ, denying His kingship in 
our own life, through our words 

146
00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:42,320
and through our deeds, by 
seeking an earthly Kingdom and 

147
00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:47,920
exaltation of ourselves? 
If the soldiers are ruthless, 

148
00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:51,520
and I believe in our hearts, we 
can say that we are also 

149
00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:56,080
ruthless, lacking compassion and
mercy, denying Christ's kingship

150
00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:01,680
and the honesty of this 
reflection, we see the only one 

151
00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:06,160
who is both ruthful and 
ruthless. 

152
00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:08,960
Ruthful. 
Yes, it is a word that is 

153
00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:12,240
meaning full of compassion, 
mercy and love. 

154
00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:15,720
Jesus. 
He saw all of these characters 

155
00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:18,400
throughout this week. 
The listlessness of the 

156
00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:21,800
disciples, the arrogance of 
Caiaphas, the injustice of 

157
00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:24,520
Barabbas freedom, and yet the 
harsh and even the harsh mocking

158
00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:28,720
of this own his own violence 
towards him, his own coronation.

159
00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:36,120
Jesus sees them all with love, 
compassion, mercy, who even 

160
00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:38,920
while hanging on the cross would
have the compassion to pray to 

161
00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,280
his Heavenly Father. 
You guys know the words Father, 

162
00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:46,160
forgive them, for they know not 
what they are doing. 

163
00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:52,640
But Jesus comes by his 
ruthfulness, the fullness of His

164
00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:58,200
compassion, by accepting the 
ruthless punishment of the world

165
00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:05,000
upon his brow, upon his hands, 
upon his feet, upon his side, 

166
00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:09,160
scourged upon the shame of the 
cross. 

167
00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:14,880
The Father's wrath ruthlessly 
poured out in the sun as He 

168
00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:20,400
pursued His chosen people by 
weighing down His own life, not 

169
00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:27,840
striving for an earthly crown, 
but rather an eternal. 1 Hebrews

170
00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:32,880
12/28. 
Therefore let us be grateful for

171
00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:39,160
receiving a Kingdom that cannot 
be shaken, And thus let us offer

172
00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:45,600
to God acceptable worship with 
reverence and awe, when we see 

173
00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:47,960
our King full of compassion and 
mercy. 

174
00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,240
My heart saying through this 
quote of Charles Spurgeon, when 

175
00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:58,520
he said, let us be more 
inventive in devising honor than

176
00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:04,280
these soldiers were in planning 
his dishonor, Let us render to 

177
00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:08,200
Christ the real homage that 
these men pretended to offer 

178
00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:11,040
him. 
Let us crown him Lord of all, 

179
00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:16,680
and in truest loyalty bow the 
knee and hail him King.