In the trial under the authority of Pontius Pilate (Matt. 27:1–26), Matthew again focuses on Jesus’s innocence and silence. The echoes of Ps. 2 continue as the chief priests and the scribes take council (συμβούλιον ἔλαβον, Matt. 27:1) against Jesus to kill him.66 The chief priests and the scribes also gathered against Jesus in Matt. 2:5. Jesus stands before the governor, who asks Jesus whether he is the King of the Jews (27:11). Jesus gives no answer (27:12). Pilate is confused and asks him why he does not answer. David likewise speaks of waiting for God alone in silence (Ps. 62:1, 5). However, Matthew’s emphasis on silence also harks back to Isaiah and the suffering servant, who “was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isa. 53:7). Later, Isaiah pairs the servant’s silence with his innocence as Matthew does: “They made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth” (Isa. 53:9, emphasis added).
Pilate marvels at Jesus’s silence, so he tries to get out of the situation by offering the criminal Barabbas to the crowd rather than Jesus “for he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up” (Matt. 27:18). The juxtaposition of Barabbas and Jesus is intentional. Barabbas is probably a member of the sicarii, a militant Jewish movement seeking to overthrow Rome by violence (contra Isa. 53:9). The crowd has a choice between the innocent and silent sufferer or a revolutionary. While the crowd deliberates, Matthew notes how a word comes to Pilate’s wife in a dream, telling Pilate to have nothing to do with the innocent man (Matt. 27:19). This is the third recognition of Jesus’s innocence.
However, the crowd answers that they want the revolutionary set free and the wise one to be crucified (27:21–22). Pilate ironically washes his hands, trying to assert his innocence before the innocent one after he has condemned Jesus to die (27:24). The psalmist says, “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence” (Ps. 73:13). Although Pilate thinks he is cleansing himself, Matthew makes clear that only one innocent person is in their midst.67 They release Barabbas and have Jesus scourged and delivered over for crucifixion (Matt. 27:26). The revolutionary is free. The exiled sage-king rejects violence and marches toward death.
Forsaken at the Cross
The third scene that displays Jesus as the wise suffering servant is the crucifixion. Plenty of seemingly insignificant details surface in the crucifixion scene: Matthew speaks of what he drank, his clothes, the actions of those who pass by Jesus, and Jesus’s last words. In between all these details, Matthew slips in the small phrase “when they had crucified him” (σταυρώσαντες δὲ αὐτόν, 27:35). He surrounds this momentous event with scriptural allusions. Without the scriptural background, the focus on these particulars might seem peculiar. The crucifixion is a new event, but it is bookended with scriptural allusions to David and the servant.
First, Jesus is offered wine mixed with gall, alluding to Ps. 69:21.68 Initially, the wine mixed with gall seems like an odd element to include (Matt. 27:34). Of all the things that explain the circumstances of the crucifixion to us, Matthew includes this eccentric aspect about what was offered to Jesus to drink. Yet this surely alludes to Ps. 69:21, which says, “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.” Psalm 69 as a whole is a cry from David for Yahweh to save him:
Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
I am weary with my crying out;
my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
with waiting for my God. (Ps. 69:1–3)
The psalmist continues, with David saying that he has become a stranger to his brothers (69:8), and calling out for the Lord to save him and to redeem his soul (69:18). If Matthew alludes to the entire psalm then again on the cross, he portrays Jesus as the wise suffering servant like David, who also had sour wine given to him to drink by his enemies while he was suffering.69
Second, a number of allusions to Ps. 22 occur: the dividing of Jesus’s clothing, the wagging of heads, and Jesus’s last words. Psalm 22 begins with David asking why God has forsaken him and his crying to God day and night. David says, “All who see me mock me, they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; ‘He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!’” (Ps. 22:7–8). In a similar way, Matthew describes people passing by, deriding Jesus, wagging their heads, and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Matt. 27:39–40). A few verses later the text says, “The robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way” (27:44). In a similar way, the enemies of the righteous man in Wis. 2:12–20 use comparable language: “Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him, and deliver him from the hands of his adversaries” (2:17–18).
The account of the guards dividing his garments by casting lots for them (27:35) also comes from Ps 22. Psalm 22:18 says, “They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” This is in a psalm of lament from David. Through using this quote, Matthew laments the treatment of the Davidic king. Just as David was mistreated by his enemies, so now even Jesus has been stripped of his clothes. Rather than being clothed with royalty, he is strung up naked on the cross. The point of both the division of the clothing and the mockery is that the king fulfills the suffering of David. Not only is the king exiled like David, but he also suffers a thousand deaths like David.
Finally, Jesus cries out the same words from Ps. 22:1: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). Isaiah says that he was “smitten by God, and afflicted” and that “it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief” (Isa. 53:4, 10). This is the final cry of anguish from the one of David’s lineage. The first lines of Matthew declare Jesus to be the Davidic king. Yet the journey Matthew portrays is not a pretty picture. The first breath that Jesus breathes garners hatred from the pseudo-king Herod. Now the last breath that Jesus cries is one of forsakenness and anguish. How could this be the king? How could this be the one? Matthew skillfully positions Jesus on the cross as the new David, who suffers at the hands of his enemies. Not only the words of Jesus carry the melodies of the Psalms, but even the actions of those who crucify Jesus point back to David.
The Wise Suffering King in Perspective
For Matthew, no contradiction exists between declaring Jesus to be the son of David and portraying him as the wise suffering servant who rejects violence. In fact, he is both more like and unlike David because of these realities. He is betrayed by his friends, innocent of the charges against him, and forsaken at the cross. Jesus already said to his disciples, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (20:26). By highlighting parallels from the Psalms and Isa. 53, Matthew demonstrates the divine plan was for Jesus’s messianic identity to be revealed in precisely this way.70
The trajectory of Matthew’s Gospel is one in which he fills in the portrait of Jesus with more depth as he goes along. It is as if at the beginning we discern only the outline, but life comes into the picture as we see that Jesus is exiled like David and is the righteous sufferer like David. Matthew has Jesus standing in continuity with the writers of the OT, but there is also a sense of escalation and newness. When people read about David’s innocence, they would also think about his sins. When people read about David’s enemies, they will also remember that David was not able to build the temple because he was a man of war. Jesus is like David in many regards, but he is also dissimilar. He fulfills the role of David and therefore is not just �
�like” David, but “better than” David. Jesus was truly innocent and truly wise; he forgave his enemies. The suffering on the cross was more than anything David ever had to endure. Therefore, when David cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” it meant something different from when Jesus cried these same words. It is still congruent with David’s words, but the mystery is now revealed. We have covered how Jesus is “like” David in many respects, but we have not detailed how Jesus is enthroned as king. To have a king without his exaltation is to have no king at all. The ceremony of anointing and the ritual of his ascending to his throne are the confirmation of kingship. To this ceremony we finally turn.
The Enthroned King
Ultimately Matthew is able to declare that Jesus is the son of David in 1:1 because he observes Jesus’s enthronement. Jesus is born as the king, exiled, and then suffers as the wise suffering servant.The destiny and journey of the king was always meant to lead to kingship. This is his journey. Yet Matthew shows that Jesus’s enthronement occurs on the cross.71 Jesus’s enthronement is wrapped in irony as his opponents install him in jest. But between the lines, it is evident that what is done in derision vindicates his authority. Just as the scribes and the chief priests have been blind to Jesus’s Davidic descent throughout the entire narrative, they are now blind to his enthronement on the cross; they are consecrating the one they have endeavored to eliminate. The cross is the only way to kingship for Jesus; it is his glorious and inglorious ceremony.
Seated at the Right Hand of God (26:62–64)
When Jesus suffers like David, he is also enthroned and exalted as the Davidic king in Matthew’s narrative. This theme begins when Jesus faces the Sanhedrin (26:57–68). If Matt. 1–2 is the window through which we are to view the entire Gospel of Matthew, then the trial with the Sanhedrin is the window through which we can view the passion of Jesus. I have already commented on how Jesus is falsely accused and remains silent. However, Jesus does open his mouth at an important point.
When the high priest asks him, “Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God,” Jesus answers, “You have said so” (Matt. 26:63–64 NIV). Matthew employs the label messiah only a few times in direct quotations in his narrative, and therefore this is an important text. Jesus clarifies what type of messiah he is in the following words, with a combined quote from Dan. 7 and Ps. 110: “You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:64). While it was clear that the messiah would be from the line of David (see Matt. 22:42b), in Ps. 110 David (or Israel’s king) refers to two individuals above him, both called Lord. “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool’” (Ps. 110:1).72 The first “LORD” (with small caps) is clearly Yahweh. Yet as Jesus has shown back in Matt. 22, he himself is the second Lord. He is both David’s son and David’s Lord. Therefore, when Jesus is on trial and they ask him whether he is the messiah, he cites a Davidic psalm that speaks of him as Lord and seated at the right hand of God. By combining this psalm with Dan. 7, Jesus asserts that he will be exalted to the highest position, as the son of David, as the cloud rider.73 When the Pharisees ask him if he is the messiah and he answers with this composite quotation, he declares that he is the about-to-be-enthroned Davidic messiah.
By placing these words in Jesus’s mouth at this point, Matthew indicates for his readers that it is precisely through this suffering, through death on the cross, that the Son of Man is glorified and enthroned. The cross is Jesus’s throne. The discipled scribe takes the Jewish Scriptures and explains them in light of Jesus, but the Scriptures also explain Jesus. Aspects of how this Son of Man would be enthroned were locked in the shadows, and now Jesus reveals them. Jesus’s mission is also foggy to everyone around him, but when he quotes from Ps. 110 and Dan. 7, then readers and listeners should understand that he fulfills the Torah. Although he is in the midst of being judged, through judgment he is given authority to judge.
The King before Pilate (27:11–14)
After Jesus finishes with the chief priests and the elders of the people, they plot against Jesus to put him to death. They bring him before Pilate (the governor) because the Jewish leaders do not have authority to put him to death; so they call on Pilate, a Gentile ruler, to sentence him. As Jesus stands before the governor, he asks Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (Matt. 27:11).74 Matthew has already answered this by identifying Jesus as the son of David, but now he is in the throes of answering how Jesus becomes king. The point is multivalent for Matthew.
First, it ironically culminates the ploy of Israel’s leaders to get Jesus into trouble. The chief priests and scribes are not thoughtless; they “plot” to put Jesus to death (26:4), so they must come up with a charge that will stick, and they know that a claim to kingship will ruffle political feathers. Second, it shows that Jesus is pitted against not only the Jewish leadership and kings but also the kings of the earth. Jesus is not really the one on trial; earth is on trial, and it has been found wanting. Third, the title is an interpretative key for understanding what has come before. Jesus is on trial for kingship. Matthew is basically pleading with his readers to again go back through the narrative and read Jesus’s life through the lens of royalty. Jesus is on trial for being king because he lived his life as the king. Finally, it brings to a close the story of what the Gentile kings and the Jewish leaders will do with this king. They will rage and conspire against him (Ps. 2:1–3), just as they did the last time he was in Jerusalem (Matt. 2). While the wise worship the king of the Jews, the foolish either plot Jesus’s death or step aside for political protection.
Mocked as King (27:27–31)
Matthew continues to carry the monarchal theme forward when Jesus is mocked by the soldiers as king. The scribe includes many sardonic details of the treatment Jesus receives. All of them revolve around mocking Jesus as king (cf. Pss. 22:7; 74:10; 119:51). First, they strip him and put a scarlet robe around him (27:28). Scarlet robes were associated with royalty, and this is their attempt to mock him as king. This is confirmed by their putting a crown of thorns on his head and a reed in his right hand as they mock him and say “Hail, King of the Jews!” (27:29; see Ps. 89:39). A reed is a fake scepter, which they later use to strike him (27:30; Ps. 2:9). The soldiers mock Jesus according to his condemnation. They spit on him and take his own reed and strike him on the head. Isaiah predicted that the servant would give his back to those who strike him, his cheeks to those who pull out his beard, and he would not hide his face from disgrace and spitting (Isa. 50:6). Then they strip him of his robe and lead him away to be crucified. The soldiers crown him as king and then strip him of his kingship.
Matthew records the treatment of Jesus not only to make us feel sorry for him, but also to communicate reversal. When Jesus is stripped of his clothes, he is crowned. When he is struck with a reed, he is handed a scepter. When the scarlet robe is torn from his bloody back, he is covered in robes of royalty. The spit parodies the kiss of homage with which eastern subjects greeted their rulers. Through this narrative Matthew illustrates for his readers that their anticipated kingdom and king have come; he just traveled down the stream of suffering and disdain. On a larger biblical-theological level, Jesus is taking the curse on himself. The crown of thorns echoes the sin of Adam, where thorns would grow up and be a nuisance to flourishing. The reed by which Jesus is struck is a metaphor of humanity taking good gifts of God and turning them into weapons. The king takes the sins of the people, lays them on his shoulders, and heaves them up on the cross. King David has come!
The Titulus (27:32–44)
The final scene has Jesus ascending Golgotha with Simon of Cyrene. Simon carries Jesus’s cross like those who would carry the king’s throne and goods as he enters the city in the parousia as the conqueror.75 Jesus arrives not at his city but at the “Place of a Skull” (27:33). The parousia of the king is the procession to his death. After the soldiers cast lots for the king’s possessions, Matthew note
s that they put over Jesus’s head a sign that reads, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (27:37). Origen, Augustine, and Aquinas viewed this scene through the lens of Ps. 2:6: “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”76 The titulus becomes an ironic proclamation of Jesus’s kingship. Interestingly, none of the Gospels agree on the wording of the title. Unique to Matthew and John is the inclusion of the name “Jesus,” which Ferda ties back to Matt. 1:21, where the angel says to Joseph, “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”77 The Romans thus declare to the world why this man is being crucified, but in a satirical twist Matthew pronounces to his readers that the king has been enthroned. The sign declares to the whole world that Jesus is “the King of the Jews.” Readers who have been following Matthew’s narrative carefully will remember that this was the one whom Matthew said is the son of David, born in Bethlehem like David, exiled like David, and suffering like David. The sign completes the dye on the narrative with the scarlet hue of royalty and brings the kingship theme to its climax. Now readers can return to Matt. 1:1 and read it with a fuller understanding.
The mocking continues as the chief priests, scribes, and elders—along with the two thieves crucified with Jesus—ask why, if Jesus is the king of Israel, he can’t deliver himself (27:42–44). They mock him for not being able to “save” himself. This helps readers understand that kingship and salvation are linked. The king should save his people and also protect himself, but this king is strapped to a wooden beam and can’t even save himself. At the beginning of his Gospel, Matthew declares that Jesus is given his name because “he will save his people from their sins” (1:21). The Davidic king is here not simply to assert his authority and demonstrate his righteousness, justice, or compassion, but to save his people.
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