by Donald Senior, C.P.

The climax of Matthew's passion narrative is filled with drama. His cross carried by Simon the Cyrenian, Jesus is led to Golgotha for crucifixion. The executioners fix a placard to the cross: "This is Jesus: the King of the Jews". They obviously intend the words to ridicule this messianic pretender as he is defeated in death. Similarly, a stream of passersby mock Jesus' claims to authority over the temple and to taunt him by reminding him that he could apparently save others but not save himself. Even the two rebels crucified with him join in the chorus of revulsion.

In describing this terrible moment, Matthew once again reaches back to the Hebrew scriptures for his inspiration. As in Mark's gospel, Jesus' final prayer will be taken from Psalm 22, the great prayer of lament. In that powerful text, a faithful Jew prays in the midst of abject suffering and isolation. He is surrounded by people who ridicule his trust in God. Feeling abandoned even by God, the psalmist utters a prayer of raw faith: "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" It is that honest, unadorned prayer that Matthew places on the lips of Jesus as the sky darkens, God's faithful son encounter death.

But just as the lament psalm turns unexpectedly to a hymn of triumph and praise (see Psalm 22:23-32), the crucifixion scene transforms into an explosion of triumph. It is as if God responds to the lingering sound of Jesus' death prayer: the veil of the Temple is torn in half, the earth shakes, the rocks split and the tombs are opened. In a triumphant procession the saints who had been trapped in death enter the holy city of Jerusalem. The Roman soldiers who had kept the death watch over Jesus are astounded and acclaim Jesus as the true Son of God.

Matthew's Gospel anticipates in this triumphant scene the glory of the resurrection. Evoking Ezekiel's great vision of the dry bones (see Ezekiel 37:1-14), the evangelist proclaims that God has responded to the obedient death of Jesus by raising him and all the saints of Israel from death to new life. Earthquakes, the raising of the dead--these were all biblical signs of the end of the world. And in a very true sense Jesus' death marked the end of a world without hope and the beginning of a new age of God's Spirit.

Still to come in the gospel story was the reverent burial by Joseph, the futile attempts of Jesus' opponents to contain him even in death, and the visit of the faithful women disciples to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body. But in Matthew's Gospel these are almost anti-climactic because resurrection breaks out on Golgotha itself, at the very moment death seems to have the upper hand. The trust of Jesus even in the face of mockery and abandonment is met immediately by God's abundant life and immortal embrace.

Email questions or comments about this page to Fr. Victor Hoagland, C.P. Copyright 1997, Passionist Publications, Union City, NJ USA. Passionist Publications reserves all rights to text, illustrations, and HTML.