NOTES for Mat 27:27-66
For Jesus’ first disciples, His death required a new, Christian understanding. The assumption widespread among their compatriots—that Jesus had lived and died in vain without achieving His purpose—was unacceptable to those who knew of His victory from experience. This new understanding is reflected in the Gospel account. Here Jesus’ suffering and death are described within a framework of biblical quotations from the prophets and psalms, showing that the Messiah’s triumph had to be preceded by His humiliation, and that His suffering was not a sign of failure or defeat, but a sign of the true Anointed One, who acts not through military might or incredible miracles, but through the Spirit of the Father, becoming not the punisher of sinners but the sacrifice for the sins of the world. In contemporary culture, the claim that Jesus’ mission failed and that He died in vain—see, for example, the opera “Jesus Christ Superstar,” or the somewhat different interpretation in “The Master and Margarita”—is almost as widespread as it was among the inhabitants of first-century Jerusalem. Christ’s new disciples must respond to this challenge anew: they must live in such a way that it becomes clear that Jesus’ death is filled with meaning and that His Resurrection has become a reality for many hearts.