Matthew 27:35-44 35 Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, [j]that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.” 36 Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there. 37 And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 38 Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left. 39 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the [k]scribes and elders, said, 42 “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. [l]If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe [m]Him. 43 He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” 44 Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.
In everything related to God, the Bible says man is completely blind and even dead. He is ignorant of who God is and of His infinite glory. This blindness is nowhere more clearly seen than in the event of the cross. The promised Messiah, the Savior of the world, and the Redeemer is Christ; He comes anointed to be the final prophet, king, and priest. Yet, man’s mind is so twisted that in the trials, they mocked all three of these offices.
Religious leaders, who knew all the prophecies, mocked His prophetic office by blindfolding Him, hitting Him, and asking Him to prophesy who struck Him. Soldiers mocked His kingly office by putting a scarlet robe and a crown of thorns on Him and paying mock homage with “Hail, King of the Jews.” Finally, we see His priestly work mocked while He is hanging on the cross—as both priest and sacrifice—when they jeer in verse 42, saying He saved others but cannot save Himself.
The cross shows that man is not only utterly blind to God but, bitten by Satan’s poison, he hates God with all his heart. Matthew specifically focuses on this universal hate for Christ. The depravity of man was not content just to kill the Son of God; it had to unjustly try Him, accuse Him of false crimes, slap Him, punch Him, spit on His face, scourge Him, and perform a mock coronation. This depravity was not satisfied even after nailing Him to the cross. While He experienced unspeakable death pangs, mankind mocked and reproached Him until He breathed His last. This scene shows that man is filled with so much hate for the true God that even His cruel death seemed a disappointment to them; they wished to prolong it only to spew more venom upon Him. The heartless cruelty of this scene is beyond language. Yet, in this sad story of man’s greatest sin, we see the supreme glory and love of the Son of God.
The Journey to the Skull
We are following the Lord through His Gethsemane experience, six trials, the scourging, and the mockery of the soldiers. He was made to carry a heavy cross to the mountain of Golgotha. When He could no longer bear it, and the help of Simon of Cyrene was sought, they reached the round, skull-shaped mountain. The first act there was an offer of sour wine mingled with gall. His last act before being nailed to the cross was a voluntary refusal to reduce His pain. That gall would have dulled His senses, but by refusing it, He demonstrated a firm resolve that His death would be a completely voluntary sacrifice. He chose to feel the undiminished agony of God’s wrath without any numbness to His body or soul.
Now we stand on this mountain. If ever there were a scene to be captured by a 360-degree camera, it is this one. Matthew provides us with this view, acting like a slow-motion video that captures everything surrounding the cross. Remarkably, Matthew records the actual act of crucifixion in a single phrase, but then devotes ten verses (35–44) to describing everything happening around it. The Spirit of God tells us what men did to the Son of God after He was crucified.
The Act of Crucifixion
“Then they crucified Him.” (Matthew 27:35)
It is amazing that this is all Matthew tells us about the act itself. He uses the historical present tense to force us to imagine the scene as if it were happening before our eyes. A feature of Scripture is that it often records the most sacred events—the scourging, the crucifixion, the resurrection—with only one or two words. The language is intentionally restrained, as if not wanting to stain the glory of the event with too many words. For the Gospel writers, the crucifixion was too sacred to be narrated in detail; they were interested in the fact of it, not the mechanics.
Furthermore, we must realize that the original readers living under the Roman Empire knew exactly what crucifixion meant. For us in the 21st century, the details are necessary. Mark records that the crucifixion began at the third hour, around 9:00 a.m.
What exactly did they do? The cross would be lying on the ground. Jesus would be stretched out on the wood. His arms were pulled wide and his feet overlapped. Soldiers took iron spikes, seven to ten inches long, and drove them through the sensitive area of the wrists and the feet until He was firmly fixed to the wood. They would then lift the cross and drop it with a heavy thud into a socket. That jolt would rip the flesh and send explosions of pain through His nerves.
In this unnatural position, the body would slowly begin to sag. As the weight shifted to the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain would shoot up the arms. Because the sagging body cannot breathe properly, the Lord would have to push Himself upward using the nails in His feet just to draw a single breath. Hour after hour, this twisting torment continued—a cycle of joint-rending cramps, throbbing pain, and partial asphyxiation. Medical studies show that eventually, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs, the muscles paralyze, and a deep, crushing pain begins to compress the heart.
Crucifixion was designed to maximize pain for as long as possible before death. Some lived for days. It was the worst form of torture ever invented by man, and this is what our Lord endured for us.
The 360-Degree View
The Spirit of God gives us several angles of this scene:
1. In Front: The Game of the Soldiers
“Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots.” (Matthew 27:35)
Just in front of the hanging Savior, a game was going on. The soldiers were casting lots for His only worldly property: His clothes. This was the “tip” for their cruel work. Every Jew had five pieces of clothing: an inner cloak, an outer cloak, a headpiece, a belt, and sandals. To divide these, they had to strip Him. This confirms that Jesus was crucified naked, adding the ultimate indignity of shame to His physical pain. In the most somber moment of eternity, as the Savior redeemed the world, soldiers were playing games for a pair of sandals. Matthew highlights that even this was a fulfillment of Psalm 22:18: “They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”
2. On the Ground: The Watch
“Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there.” (Matthew 27:36)
After their game, they simply sat down and watched. It was their job to ensure no one attempted a rescue.
3. At the Top: The Accusation
“And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” (Matthew 27:37)
Placed above His head was the official reason for His execution. Pilate intended it as a final insult to the Jews, but in God’s providence, it was a proclamation of the truth to the entire world.
John records that the title above Jesus’ head was written in three major languages: Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. This ensured that everyone passing by, regardless of their background or nation, could read and understand the accusation against the one crucified. In Roman custom, to satisfy the sense of public justice, the crime was written in ink or white chalk on a board that the prisoner carried to the site. Once the person was crucified, the board was fastened above their head. This record had to be based on eyewitness evidence and verifiable facts.
What crime could they possibly find for Jesus? All the accusations the Jews brought lacked evidence, and Pilate knew it. Finally, Pilate decided on this title. The “crime” was that He declared Himself to be the King of the Jews. This wording was designed by Pilate to mock the Jewish people and express his frustration with them. He was essentially saying, “Here is your king. You despicable people deserve a king like this.”
John 19 tells us the Jewish leaders were deeply offended and tried to persuade Pilate to change it to “He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.'” But God overruled their attempt. Pilate refused to budge, famously saying, “What I have written, I have written.” Thus, the board remained, declaring to all that Jesus died as the promised Messiah. God used this cowardly man’s sudden stubbornness to proclaim Jesus as King in three universal languages.
The View from the Sides and the Surroundings
From a side angle, we see two others crucified with Him.
“Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left.” (Matthew 27:38)
Under Roman law, simple robbery did not warrant capital punishment. These “robbers” were actually brigands or insurrectionists like Barabbas—men who rebelled against authority, murdered, and plundered. They were a menace to society who justly deserved their punishment. By placing Jesus in the center, the authorities intended to dishonor Him further, making it look as though He were the leader of a criminal gang. He was counted among the worst sinners, even though He knew no sin.
Having nailed Him to the cross, one might think the malice of men would be exhausted. Yet, we see four distinct groups surrounding the cross to taunt and blaspheme Him.
1. The Passersby Golgotha was located along a highway just outside Jerusalem, a road busy with pilgrims during the festive season. Many of these people likely joined the crowds praising Him just days earlier; now, they joined the trend of mockery. Matthew describes them “wagging their heads”—a body language of utter disgust and rejection found throughout the Old Testament. It is a reflexive expression of a heart filled with bitterness.
They cried out:
“You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” (Matthew 27:40)
They used His own words against Him, twisting His prophecy about the temple and mocking His claim to be the Son of God. They dared to blaspheme the very Creator who was bearing the curse for their sins. “If You have such supernatural power,” they sneered, “prove it now by coming down.”
2. The Religious Leaders The chief priests, scribes, and elders joined in. One would expect decency from the highest religious body in the land, but they proved more base than the crowd. They formed a “devilish choir,” mocking Him among themselves:
“He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.” (Matthew 27:42)
They did not even dignify Him with a direct address; they spoke about Him as if He were beneath them. They acknowledged His miracles (“He saved others”) but used His present suffering to mock His priestly and kingly offices. Most painfully, they mocked His relationship with God: “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him.” This was a “sword in His bones,” suggesting He was a deceiver abandoned by His Father.
3. The Two Criminals Even the robbers hanging beside Him, just hours away from eternity, joined the chorus of reviling. Surrounded by an atmosphere electric with hate, they forgot their own agony to insult the holy Son of God.
4. The Roman Soldiers Finally, the soldiers joined in. They mocked Him by offering Him sour wine and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself” (Luke 23:36-37). To them, it was “safe fun” to taunt a man so weakened He could not defend Himself.
Lessons from the Depravity of Man
This scene provides a sickening expression of the depths of human depravity. In these four categories of people, we see a mirror of the whole world.
Look at the soldiers. They were instruments used to accomplish the greatest work of eternity, yet they were as blind as bats in daylight. They sat a few inches away from the most stupendous miracle in history, yet their only concern was who would get His sandals or His belt. They went to sleep that night unconscious of the fact that they had seen the pivot of human history.
Do you see yourself in this? Anyone who looks at the cross and sees only a “good man” dying, or who looks with an unmoved heart and no gratitude, is as blind as those soldiers. Many today handle the Word of God and mingle with His people, yet remain focused only on “cheap games”—what to eat, drink, or wear—without any change in their lives.
If the message of the cross does not lead you to repentance and grace, it serves only as a witness to the justice and wrath you are storing up for the coming day. May God awaken you today, lest you spend eternity regretting your blindness.
Are you like those passersby for whom Jesus is just a “time-pass” in your life’s journey? You are like the careless, fickle crowd that praised Him on Monday as the “Son of David,” but changed their chorus the moment they saw He didn’t fulfill their dreams or overthrow Rome.
Are you like that? There are millions today who hear about Christ, and even make some attempt to trust Him or seek Him—perhaps because they were raised in a Christian home and know the Bible—but when they face the temptations of the world and Jesus doesn’t satisfy their sinful expectations, they turn against Him. They become fickle apostates. They are no longer interested; the Gospel seems like a silly joke or merely weekly entertainment. You go with the trend: wherever people say “Hallelujah,” you say “Hallelujah,” but wherever they mock Jesus, you mock Him too. There are many whose only interest in Jesus is immediate self-indulgence, and if He doesn’t deliver what they want when they want it, it’s over.
Or are you like those thieves? Do you fail to realize what a wicked sinner you are? You mock and insult Jesus, holding low thoughts of Him in your heart. His message becomes boring, and you essentially say, “Jesus, come down and do something for me.” In other Gospels, the thieves say, “Save yourself and us.” If they had escaped the cross, they would have simply lived more sinfully, robbing and looting without fear of punishment. They don’t want their hearts changed; they only want Jesus to save them from the consequences of their sins. When people face trials or an accusing conscience, they cry for help, and if He doesn’t deliver them, they revile Him in their hearts.
Their hearts are like those of greedy, materialistic bandits. For them, life revolves around possessions and loot. They have no thought for God, righteousness, truth, or judgment. Their mindset is to be rich and enjoy life today, for tomorrow we die. They pay a great price for this self-indulgence. To show how committed they were to their lifestyle, even while hanging on a cross in the hours of their own death, they were still firing insults at the Son of God. They are blasphemers who mock Jesus because they love the things of the world more than the things of God.
Some of you may think, “When I become a worse sinner or suffer terribly, then I will repent.” But the life of these thieves teaches us that even the greatest physical torture and the most humbling rebukes of Providence can make a heart more hardened. No trial or disease will change a depraved heart without the grace of Jesus.
Worst of all are the self-righteous religious leaders. Someone once said the worst sins are committed by those with an outward form of godliness but no inward reality. The plague of self-righteousness prevents you from seeing the glory of the Cross. It becomes all about your traditions and works. Like those leaders, you want a Christ without a cross. You want Him to come down and do miracles, wanting to go to heaven through your own works. You say you will believe if God does “this or that,” but this is just a sorry excuse for a stubborn heart that wants to continue in sin. God will never perform according to such demands.
Behold the Glory of Christ
The whole world is there before the cross: ignorant pagans, careless passersby, wretched sinners, and religious people. None of them could see His glory. Hebrews 6 says that anyone who rejects Christ today is guilty of crucifying the Son of God and putting Him to open shame. You join that group when you carelessly listen to His message and go home without faith. You either stand with those who believe or those who crucify.
But when you see yourself as a sinner deserving of punishment, the glory of Christ flashes from the cross like bright beams.
First, we see His glory in His self-giving love. Imagine all He went through: Gethsemane, the trials, the scourging. He refused the gall, telling them, “I will freely give My hands and feet.” In that unspeakable agony, when they taunted His identity and told Him to save Himself, He remained firm in His resolve to die for our sins. If He had been provoked by those scoffs to come down from the cross, we would be forever undone. His unchangeable love fortified Him against that temptation.
Anyone with mere human pride would have failed there. They mocked His power to build the temple or save others as a sham because He didn’t use it for self-preservation. He didn’t come down—not because He couldn’t, but because He would not. The eternal cords of love bound Him to that wood. He gave up His own dignity to save us.
Secondly, we see His glory in His self-restraint. Usually, even a small provocation or a mocking word brings bitterness to our lips. But think of Him: the passersby, the leaders, and even the criminals mocked Him. Surely that was enough to provoke a rebuke. Yet, His response was: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” There was no word of self-justification, only pardon.
Stand stunned before the glory of Christ’s self-restraint. It was this divine restraint that made one of the thieves repent and go to heaven. It was this restraint that made the pagan centurion confess, “Truly this was the Son of God!” Believers, are you not ashamed? Even a small mocking word makes us erupt like a volcano. Peter applies this to us in 1 Peter 2:21-23:
“For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps… who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.”
You are called to show Christ to a world that is out of control and filled with revenge. You cannot follow Him until you say “no” to self and “yes” to your cross. Do not say, “Lord, You don’t understand how they lie about me at work or in my family.” He understands perfectly. He was the sinless Son of God who did no sin, yet He did not hide His face from shame.
A Call to the Cross
To my friends who have not yet seen beauty in Christ: do you see it now? Do you see that the One crucified is your only hope? He was bearing your sins in His body so that you might have a righteous ground for forgiveness.
I urge you, as a sinner, to run to Christ. It is the message of this cross that the Holy Spirit uses to regenerate souls. Go to Him now and find promised mercy. Photograph this scene in your heart. He stayed on the cross to atone for your sins; such is the compassion of God.
He is the only Savior. Everything—from the casting of lots for His garments to His position between the robbers—was prophesied thousands of years ago. Come to Him. He alone can save you from your sins.
One day, your knees will bend. Scripture says that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. You will either bow now in repentance and faith, or you will bow in terror on the day of judgment. He will either say, “Come, ye blessed,” or “Depart into everlasting fire.” Fall at His feet today and cry, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” while the door of mercy is still open.