Matthew 27:45-53 A Sponge for the Thirsty Savior
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: September 19, 2019 Matthew 27:45-53
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
(Understanding the Text) Matthew continues a list of important details that fulfilled prophecy here. I think that Matthew was either an eye witness, watching the crucifixion covertly or he was writing the statements of eyewitnesses. The more I think about it, the more I think all twelve of the disciples were there covertly watching. I think the Holy Spirit would have called them there, and they would not have been able to stay away from their Master even in these confusing horrible circumstances. I don’t think they were together in a clump, but were spread out among the crowd in groups of two or three. I think Thomas was definitely there and affected by watching His Master die, which was why he was so adamant about touching the wounds before believing that Jesus was alive. He had not heard of the wounds from hearsay, but had seen them inflicted. I think Matthew strained his ears to hear whenever his Master said anything from the smallest whisper to the loudest cry. I think he heard the people being confused about what Jesus said. I think maybe the reason that Matthew does not do his usual back reference to Old Testament prophecy here is because he is writing his own memories and cannot bear to be analytical about them. But I could be wrong.
The people have been mocking Jesus, but suddenly darkness covers the whole land. I think they fell silent in fear, but as the darkness did not do anything more, they recovered some of their courage. It was dark for three hours. It had to be a heavy, portentous, ominous darkness, but it must not have been a complete darkness. The sun was shining, but it was dark without clouds.
(Revelation of God) Jesus cried out, “My God My God why have you forsaken me.” His Beloved was totally gone from Him for the first time in their existence. The Father, Son, and Spirit were separated, split down the middle, and Jesus responded like a child wanting his mother. Bewilderment overwhelmed Him as the last sentient thoughts left Him.
(Understanding the Text) One of the bystanders who were there could not bear it any longer and put sour wine on a sponge to give to Jesus to drink. The other bystanders were so callous that they told the person to wait and see if Elijah would rescue Jesus. They acted like they were watching a play instead of a real man dying on a cross. They never stopped to think about what would be happening to them if Elijah really had come to rescue Jesus. Cruelty and stupidity go hand-in-hand. Matthew does not tell us who offered the wine. Was it a man or woman? Was it a disciple or stranger? Was it someone whose job it was to offer wine, or did someone simply grab the stuff? Was it a Roman or Jew? Was it Matthew himself? John offers more details. “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:28-30). John tells us that Jesus actually asked for the wine and drank it and that the reed was a hyssop branch and that there was a jar full of sour wine already there for this purpose, so chances are that someone had the job of giving drink to the prisoners. I wonder if Jesus drank now, but not earlier, because He knew that everything was finished, and He could take a drink without danger of becoming befuddled.
Jesus cried out in a loud voice again and died. Matthew does not tell us what Jesus said, but John tells us that Jesus said “It is finished.” Now Matthew tells us another sign that happened at that moment. The curtain of the temple was ripped from top to bottom signifying that there was no longer any separation between God and man and that the physical temple’s purpose was finished. It was no longer a place where God and man would come together to meet. There was a great earthquake. The earthquake was not a usual earthquake. I think it was the angels splitting open the tombs and rocks so that the resurrected humans could come up out of the ground where they had been entombed, but I could be wrong. Did the earthquake need to happen, or was this just done as a sign that the humans’ bodies were no longer in the tombs? Many formerly dead people were alive and on earth for three days waiting for Jesus to come back to life also. They were His honor guard. Their resurrection was the promise of Jesus’ resurrection. Matthew says that they appeared to many in Jerusalem. I think that there must have been at least 20 of them, but I have no idea really. Who did they appear to? Did they stay longer than three days? Were they here on earth until Jesus’ final ascension? As with so many other details, we just don’t know. We only know that many humans were resurrected on the day of Jesus’ death.
Guzik’s commentary says “The veil is what separated the holy place from the most holy place in the temple. It was a vivid demonstration of the separation between God and man. Notably, the veil was torn from top to bottom, and it was God who did the tearing. i. Act_6:7 says that in the days of the early church, a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. It would be interesting to know if this torn veil demonstrated to them the greatness of the work of Jesus. It’s also probably how the torn veil became common knowledge.” I never thought before of the connection between the knowledge of the veil being torn and the believing priests.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that appearances are deceptive in that there can be meanings that I know nothing about and that others misinterpret. Jesus’ words were misinterpreted by the people listening and in their callous cruelty they claimed that He said something that He had not. There were others who were sympathetic. Another deceptive event was that it appeared as if Jesus was defeated, yet there were many signs that He was not. A lot of times I am surrounded by signs, but I simply do not know how to interpret those signs. The Jews had kept asking for signs, but when they were surrounded by signs, they still stubbornly refused to repent. I pray that I will not be like that.