Witnesses (Matthew 27:51-56)

Matthew highlights four consequences in connection to the cross after the Saviour had died. Each of them was unexpected.

The curtain is destroyed (Matthew 27:51) 

The first detail that Matthew mentions is that the curtain that separated the holy place from the most holy place in the temple was torn in two. One assumes that priests would have been serving at that time in the temple and this would have startled them. We cannot know if they saw into the most holy place, but if they did, they would have seen its furniture and other features.

The obvious deduction from the way that the curtain was torn is that it was a supernatural act. If it had been a human act, it would have been torn from the bottom up. Yet since it was torn from the top down, we can assume correctly that the Lord did the rending. He wanted people to know that sinners could now come into his heavenly presence because of the stoning work of Jesus.

Of course, the earthly most holy place could not depict everything that occurs in heaven. So we can ask what was happening in the heavenly court at that moment. I would mention two details. First, the human spirit of Jesus was there. He had committed his spirit into the hands of the Father, and the journey from the cross to heaven only took a moment. No doubt, his arrival was accompanied by songs of worship.

Second, heaven was waiting for the arrival of the soul of the penitent criminal who had been assured by Jesus of being with him in Paradise. We don’t know how long this took place after the arrival of Jesus, yet we can confidently say that he was given a great welcome.

One more detail can be mentioned about the tearing of the veil. What activity would those in the temple have seen taking place within the space that had been hidden by the curtain? They would have seen nothing taking place and nobody there to do anything. It was only on the annual Day of Atonement that the High Priest could enter within the Most Holy Place. Atonement had been made on the cross and now there was no need for any of the activities connected to the temple ritual. 

The coming to life of some saints (Matthew 27:51-53)

An earthquake caused some tombs to open, probably in the sense that stones across their entrances rolled away. This resurrection is only mentioned by Matthew. Obviously, it is a sign of the importance of what had happened at Calvary. 

The first detail that we can consider is that although the tombs were opened when Jesus died, the dead bodies were not raised until after his resurrection. This points to the centrality of Jesus as far as the experience of resurrection is concerned. They were not raised when he died, but their resurrection shows that he was the firstfruits from the dead, as Paul describes him in 1 Corinthians 15. 

The second detail is that those raised became special witnesses in the city of Jerusalem, where many saw them and could bear witness to that fact. We are not told who they were, so we cannot say that they were those who had been dead for a long time or those who had been dead for a short time. The point that is stressed by Matthew is that they acted as witnesses to the reality of the resurrection power of Jesus. We cannot say whether they only appeared to believers.

A third detail is one that is not mentioned, which is what happened to those persons after their brief time of witness to Jesus in Jerusalem. Did they return to their tombs, even as Lazarus would have done, or were they taken to heaven? Matthew does not tell us, so we cannot say what happened to them as far as their bodies are concerned. Even if they did die again, their spirits are safe in heaven with Jesus.

There is a fourth detail to observe, which is that only some of the dead saints were raised. Moreover, the choice of which saints to raise is connected to the proximity of their tombs to the city of Jerusalem. Matthew does say that there were many of them. Still, all those who had died as believers before this time were not raised, which means that those who were raised were specifically chosen by God for this role. That was a great privilege for them.

Conversion of the soldiers (Matthew 27:54)

Perhaps we now approach the greatest of the signs of conquests made by Jesus at Calvary. An earthquake had shaken the ground, but here we see that an earthquake had taken place in the hearts of these hardened soldiers. Sepulchres of the dead had opened in order for them to become the locations of life, and we can also see that this was the case too with regard to hearts of the soldiers.

Luke gives us information that explains why these soldiers were converted. They had been responsible for bringing about the crucifixion of Jesus and had also gambled over his clothes. Luke tells us what the response of Jesus had been to their actions, which was that he prayed for them to be forgiven. And here we see the wonderful answer that was made to his prayer. Those soldiers realised who he was and freely confessed it.

Surely, we see in this incident a wonderful example of the effect of the prayer of Jesus. What was involved in his intercession on this occasion? There was love to enemies, there was desire for their spiritual good, there was specific focus on them as persons, and there was willingness to forgive them all their sins, even their greatest sins. What an example he is concerning prayer!

What about the response of the soldiers? They picture what our response should be. First, they looked at and considered what had occurred at the cross. As they put all the details together, beginning with his prayer for their forgiveness, followed by what occurred during the hours of darkness, and then the manner of his death and the signs that accompanied it, they were astonished. This is what happens to all who consider the significance of Calvary and what happened there.

They did not stop with a sense of inner awe. In addition, they seem to have spoken simultaneously about their estimation of the Sufferer. They spoke about him at a moment when others did not say anything about him. What a time for their confession – the first humans on earth to praise him after his death!

The best place to see the identity of Jesus is the cross. That is the testimony of the soldiers. As they observed what happened to Jesus they freely confessed his divine identity. There was nothing at the cross that suggested to their enlightened eyes that Jesus could be anything but divine. And that is the confession of all who discover the significance of the cross.

The constancy of the women (Matthew 27:55-56)

So far we have seen the witness of the torn veil, the earthquake and the confession of the soldiers. Now Matthew brings to our attention several women who had remained within the vicinity of the cross. Why had they done so? They were constrained by love despite the disappointments they had experienced with the arrest and death of the One they loved and served. Even although it now looked as if their cause was defeated, they still showed their love. And that is a challenge for us today when we are told on every side that the relevance of Jesus is coming to an end. We are called in our weakness and confusion to stand by the message of the cross, no matter how often others choose to say that it is no longer relevant.

Matthew identifies three of them, perhaps because he had known the degree of their devotion to Jesus. We are not surprised that Mary Magdalene loved Jesus – he had delivered her from the grip of seven demons (Luke 8:1-3). Salome was the wife of Zebedee and the mother of the apostles James and John. Did she think as she stood there of the question she had asked Jesus about her boys having a prominent place in his kingdom? The mother of James and Joseph could be a reference to the wife of Alphaeus, since there was a James among the apostles who was his son.

Why are they said to be looking on from a distance? I suspect they were as close as they could get. After all, Jesus was crucified beside the main road into the city and there would be a constant stream of people entering and leaving the city, especially on Passover day. Also, they would not have wanted to stand beside those who were mocking the Saviour. They watched what happened to him, and while they did not understand what was taking place they would have done so later. The point of their location is that they were still identified with Jesus.

Application

I would make one application from each of the four areas of witness that we have considered. The first one concerns rituals that are now meaningless. Of course, I do not have in mind rituals required by God’s Word. Yet surely the fact that God revealed that there was no longer a need to go along with divinely appointed temple rituals that now were no longer needed should cause us to consider how we react to the rituals we practice. The question we must ask ourselves is, ‘Do they have any meaning today?’ After all, God is going to ask us why we did them.

What application can we take from the experience of those who were raised from the dead? They were witnesses for a short time to the power of the risen Christ. They also witness to us that he possesses the power to raise his people from the dead. We are to think about what is revealed concerning them and not focus on the aspects that we cannot give a definitive answer. They tell us that Jesus after his resurrection raised people from the dead.

The conversions of the soldiers tell us that it is normal for believers to expect great sinners to be converted through what happened on the cross. These men were hard individuals when they first met Jesus, indifferent to physical sufferings that they caused and observed. Yet when they were enabled to see beyond the physical sufferings and discern who the Sufferer was, they confessed him as the Son of God. The lesson for us is to speak to others about the meaning of the cross, about the deeper sufferings that Jesus went through as the sinbearer. 

They need to know that this was not just another crucifixion, but instead it was a divine transaction taking place between the Father and the Son. Talking about the physical sufferings may generate sympathy, but our witness should point to the making of atonement for sin that took place there by the Son of God. 

What can be said about the women at the cross? Love for Jesus made them want to be close to him even when everyone else was reviling him. Since he was able to speak to his mother (John 19:25-26), the women were close enough for him to do so. We know that often it is women who do things for Jesus, that often they will go where some men have never been. That is a challenge for us to ask ourselves: are we, like these women, ready to identify always with Jesus?