The Salvation Army: Australia Southern Territory
Good Friday Sermon Outline / 1

I want to know Christ

Good Friday–Matthew 27:27-54 (The Crucifixion & Death of Christ)

I Want To Know Christ Series

The theme for this sermon series is “I want to know Christ” and concentrates on our identification with Christ in his death and resurrection, and in the paradox of His greatness and triumph in His self-emptying (kenosis). The outline for the series comes from Philippians 3:8-11 with the following emphases:

  • Palm Sunday – King on a Donkey
  • Maundy Thursday – Christ as the Lord who serves
  • Good Friday – Christ as King of the Jews, Son of God
  • Resurrection Sunday – Christ as First-fruits of the Resurrection

How to Use This Outline

The emphasis of this outline is on the exegetical material for the chosen passage. It seeks to link in with the series as well as cover the material for Good Friday. The emphasis of this sermon is on the following issues:

  • Mocked and Killed by the Romans as the King of the Jews (Political)
  • Mocked by his People as the King of Israel (Spiritual), Son of God
  • Acclaimed by a Roman soldier as the Son Of God

The outline will need to be customised and contextualised by each Corps Officer for the congregation to whom the sermon will be preached:

  • Adding appropriate illustrations that will connect with the specific congregation
  • Modifying language to be appropriate to the socio-cultural setting of the Corps
  • Modifying sermon style if you prefer a topical rather than expository sermon style
  • You may also wish to make the application more specific to your context.

PowerPoint slides have been provided for the following:

  • Theme Slide– Title Slide for this Sermon – Slide 1
  • Scripture Slide– Mt 27:27-54 (whole passage) – Slide 2-5
  • Scripture Slide– Mt 27:28-29, 37 (highlight verses) – Slide 6
  • Scripture Slide– Mt 27:41-43 (highlight verses) – Slide 7
  • Scripture Slide– Mt 27: 54 (highlight verses) – Slide 8
  • Blank Slide – which you can customise if you wish – Slide 9

Good Friday

Key Passage - Matthew 27:32-54(NIV)

27Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said.30They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

32As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. 33They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). 34There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.36And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.38Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"

41In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42"He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" 44In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

45From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 46About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

47When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."

48Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."

50And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

51At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. 52The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

54When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"

Sermon Outline – Christ as King of the Jews/Israel, Son of God

INTRODUCTION

  1. We are looking at the theme “I want to know Christ”. This phrase comes from something Paul said as he was imprisoned, not knowing what his future held. In that moment of stress and fear, Paul declared, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead”. This is a deeply passionate cry, to be willing and wanting to share in Christ’s sufferings, to be like Christ in his death… but also to know Christ’s resurrection and to share in Christ’s resurrection. What is it about Christ that made Paul desire him that deeply, in the face of so much persecution and having lost all the advantages of his former life?
  2. On Palm Sunday we started to look at this question. We read about Palm Sunday, and in it saw the paradox of Jesus being a King unlike the kings of our world who use power and domination to rule. We saw him riding into Jerusalem, as its rightful ruler, gentle on a donkey. On Maundy Thursday we saw that the ultimate exercise of Jesus’ power was in selfless service to others. We saw him in the height of his power, and full conviction of his mission and his destination choosing to serve. We saw him redefine what it means to be Teacher and Lord, by setting an example of service for us. Today we witness his death where we will learn something more of who this Jesus is.
  3. Read Matthew 27:32-54

Mocked and Killed by the romans as the King of the Jews (Political)

  1. The Roman soldiers placed a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head, knelt before him and mocked him. The crown they placed on his head was an imitation of the crowns that kings conquered by Rome and who became subject to Caesar wore[1]. Their mocking of Jesus does not even give his messianic claims the same position as Caesar. Their mocking of him only accords him the status of a vassal king, one who is subject to Caesar. And even in that role as a lesser king, they mock him.
  2. "Hail, king of the Jews!" the soldiers mocked him. The title “King of the Jews” is heard only on the lips of Gentiles[2]. It is a political term, to be a Jew is to belong to the Jewish nation[3]. The brunt of the Roman mocking of Jesus is against his perceived claim to be a political messiah who will free his people from therule of Rome. This is a mocking by the Romans of Jesus’ messianic claims. This is where they acknowledge the idea that Jesus could be the one to lead the Jews to political freedom.
  3. When Jesus is crucified, Pilate has a sign placed above his head saying “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS”. This is the reason that he was crucified by the Romans. They saw him as a political threat. When the Jews had asked that Pilate rephrase the sign as “This man claimed to be the King of the Jews” he refused. From Pilate’s perspective, the danger Jesus posed was entirely a political one. He feared the consequences from Rome, to his own position, if the Jews rebelled under Jesus’ leadership. His action of crucifying Jesus with the sign “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS” was an entirely political gesture that said, “This is what happens to those who set themselves up against the empire and against Caesar”.

mocked by his People as the king of israel (Spiritual), Son of God

  1. In comparison to the Romans mocking Jesus as “the king of the Jews”, when the chief priests, teachers of the law and elders mocked Jesus as he hung on the cross, they mocked him as “the king of Israel”. Nowadays we use the terms Jews and Israel interchangeably. However, in this context it reveals the different concerns of the Romans in comparison to the people of Israel. The chief priests used the term “the king of Israel” as it alluded both to the spiritual heritage of Israel, as the chosen people of God[4], and to the hopes of Israel for God to send them another king in the line of David. For the Jews to mock Jesus as the king of Israel, was for them to reject him as the religious leader of Israel.
  2. The chief priests, teachers of the law and elders also mocked Jesus regarding being the Son of God. This title had a long history in Israel. It was a title applied to the kings of Israel that dates from the time of King David[5]. The Kings that descended from David were called God’s son, giving the dynasty legitimacy. Jesus rarely claimed the title for himself, preferring to call himself “the Son of Man”, but the claim was inherent in the way Jesus lived[6]. The mocking of the chief priests in this passage quotes Psalm 22:8, “He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him”[7]. Here they mock Jesus’ claim to be the suffering righteous of God, the servant who trusts God and is exalted amongst his brothers after suffering death[8]. In these words, again, the chief priests mocked Jesus as the spiritual leader of Israel – God’s chosen people.

Acclaimed by a roman soldier as the son of God

  1. When Jesus died, Matthew tells us that a number of strange things happened. The curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split (v51). Tombs broke open and dead people came back to life (v52). When the centurion and the other Roman soldiers who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that happened they were terrified (v54). At this point, after seeing what happened when Jesus died, the centurion said “Surely he was the Son of God!”
  2. This statement had immense religious and political implications. This Roman centurion, this Gentile, this unclean foreigner is the only one in these narratives to acclaim Jesus as the Son of God. This is a foreshadowing of the gospel being not only for Israel, but for the whole world. This statement also has political implications, as the Roman Caesar claimed the title of divi filius (Son of God) for themselves[9]; to acclaim Jesus as Son of God is to undermine the Roman political system. This Roman centurion is a model of true Christianity, which transcends the ethnic divide of Jew/Gentile. To acclaim Jesus as the Son of God is to make both a religious and a political statement.

Conclusion

  1. What happened to Jesus on the cross was the culmination of the best of the religious and political systems of his day. He was rejected by his own people as the Spiritual leader who would restore Israel to its glory as under the reign of King David. He was rejected by the Romans for political reasons, because in the Roman Empire there was one Son of God, and that was Caesar. It is not only the sins of the world that killed Jesus. It was the best of human endeavour. It was the most particular of religious systems. It was the most powerful of political systems. It was the best as well as the worst of humanity that killed him.
  2. Jesus is subversive, he challenges everything. You cannot take a neutral stance in relationship to him. As C. S. Lewis said,

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us

  1. We all need to decide what to do with Jesus. What we choose will change everything in our lives. Following Jesus is not a warm and fuzzy experience, it is hard. Disciples are required to pick up their cross and follow Christ, as we have seen through this series, “sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Phil 3:11). However, if he is the King of the Jews, the King of Israel and the Son of God, what can we do but fall down and worship him? Giving our entire lives, all that we are—both good and bad—into His hands to use as He sees fit in forwarding the purposes of His Kingdom?

[1] Theological Dictionary of the New Testament Abridged (TDNT-A), stéphanos, p1078-82.

[2]TDNT-A, ioudaíos, p372-77.

[3]New International Dictionary of NT Theology (NIDNTT). ‘Israel, Jew, Hebrew, Jacob, Judah’ article, NT.1.b

[4]ibid.

[5]TDNT-A, huiόs, p1206-15.

[6]ibid.

[7]ibid.

[8]ibid.

[9]NIDNTT, hyios tou theou(Son of God) article, CL 2.