The Danger of Half Truths (Matthew 27:27-66)

There is great danger in half-truths. During the crucifixion, the Jesus was mocked with half-truth after half-truth. Listen to these voices of derision and mockery, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself!” Jesus would destroy the temple, but the temple was his own body. He would not

destroy physical temple of stone and bricks, but he would lay down his own body for destruction. And the only way to destroy and to rebuild the temple of the body was for Jesus not to save himself. The people mocked him and calling him to destroy and rebuild the temple and to save himself, but those two things cannot go together.

And again they mocked him, saying, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Jesus indeed was the Son of God, but he could not prove that unless he stayed on the cross, we see in Romans 1:1-4,

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord (emphasis added).

Jesus had to stay on the cross and die so that He could be declared the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead. These mockers wanted Jesus to prove he was the Son of God, but wanted Him to do it outside of the cross. The Son of God had to go to cross and to stay on the cross to prove that he was the Son of God. We even see that in this passage in verse 54,

When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Those who passed derided him and mocked him, then the chief priests, with the scribes and the elders mocked him saying,

He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God” (Matthew 26:42-43).

The common people who passed by Jesus mocked him, but now it is those who know the Sacred Writings. Another half-truth, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.” Jesus could have appealed to the Father and called 12 legions of angels to save him, but this is why this act is so amazing. He could have saved himself, but He chose to give himself as a ransom for us. The only way he could save others was for Him not to save himself. The chief priests acknowledge that Jesus had trust in God so they said to let God deliver Him. Jesus trusted God and God delivered him, just not in the way the Jews expected. Philippians 2:5-11,

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God not only delivered Jesus Christ, but He vindicated Him and exulted him to the highest place and giving him the name that is above every name; the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He is the King of the Jews, the King of Israel, the Son of God.