“The God Mockers”

Rev. Rolf Preus| Good Friday| April 3, 2026| St. Matthew 27:27-31

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him.  And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.  When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”  Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.  (St. Matthew 27:27-31)

Who were these soldiers?  They were bullies.  They had the weapons.  They had the numbers.  They had the power.  Jesus was all alone.  They found joy in inflicting pain on another.  They encouraged one another in their cruelty.  They mocked Jesus.  Why?  They mocked him because they enjoyed doing it.

What was it about Jesus?  And what was it about the soldiers?  Jesus was well spoken.  He was well mannered.  He was well informed.  The soldiers were coarse, rude, and ignorant.  But that’s not what incited their hatred of Jesus.  He was good and they were bad.  That’s what it was.  That’s the way it is.  And that’s the way it will always be.

King David describes the life of a Christian in Psalm 1.

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1, 1-2)

He does not sit in the seat of the scornful.  They hate him for it.  The truth is not opposed to the truth.  Truth agrees with truth.  But a lie doesn’t dare speak its name.  So, the lie hides itself behind mockery.

Did they realize what they were doing?  Yes and no.  They knew that they were tormenting a good man, but they had no idea who he was.  They made sport of what he taught.  They did not give his teaching the time of day.  They cared nothing about the kingdom of which he taught.  They cared less about honoring him as king.  They ridiculed what they did not understand.  They despised the truth because they were afraid of it.  They condemn themselves, as Jesus said:

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. (John 3:19-20)

They certainly knew that they were tormenting a good man.  That’s why they were tormenting him.  His goodness stood as an accusation against them.  Since evil must run away from good, evil resorts to scorn, mockery, derision, and insults.  That’s how they treated Jesus.

He claims to be a king?  Put a royal robe on him!  Put a crown of thorns on his head.  Bow down before him!  Hail him as king.  Let him know that you despise him.  Let him know you hold him in contempt.  That will teach him!  Stand in judgment of us, will you?  We’ll show you.  We’ll show you!

But they were fools.  Jesus meant them no harm.  His kingdom was a kingdom of grace.  He came into this world, not to judge the world, but to save the world.  They mocked him to discredit him.  But the truth he preached would have set them free.  Jesus could have saved them from their own sins.  The One they mocked in derision came to them, not to lord it over them, but to deliver them from the troubles they had brought upon themselves.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  They mocked Christ.  They continue to do so.  They may be unsophisticated ignoramuses, like the bullies that ripped into his scalp with a crown of thorns, who spat on him, who struck him on the head.  Or they may be sophisticated and educated folks who are held in high regard.  Mocking Christ is good sport.  Today people mock Christ by mocking his Christians.

Have you watched television in the past twenty years or so?  Have you noticed the anti-Christian bias?  If you believe in biblical morality, that marriage is between one man and one woman and sexual intimacy is confined to marriage, you will be portrayed as ignorant if not bigoted.  If you defend the sanctity of the lives of unborn babies, you will be portrayed as a religious fanatic, maybe of a violent temperament.  If you insist that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of sinners and that faith in him is necessary to inherit eternal life, you will be depicted as hypocritical and intolerant.  This is mockery.  It is scorn.  It is the argument of evil against good. 

Since evil cannot overcome good by the strength of its arguments, it resorts to bullying.  It presumes to put the truth to shame.  God spoke of this twisting of right into wrong and wrong into right through Isaiah the prophet,

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  Isaiah 5, 20

How did Jesus respond?  He said not a word.  The only time he spoke throughout his passion was in answer to a legitimate question.  When he was taunted, he said nothing.  When they ridiculed him, he kept silent.  When they hailed him in mock worship, he held his peace.  St. Peter wrote of him,

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.  Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth, who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. 1 Peter 2:21-23

He went to the cross to suffer and die.  They treated him with utter contempt.  This was no crazed prophet, drunk on delusions of his own importance, to be pitied if not scorned.  This was the Lord God.  This was Truth incarnate suffering the mockery of the world’s lies.  He suffered in silence.  He suffered willingly.  He suffered vicariously.  As we sing:

A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth,
The guilt of all men bearing;
And laden with the sins of earth,
None else the burden sharing!
Goes patient on, grow weak and faint,
To slaughter led without complaint,
That spotless life to offer;
Bears shame and stripes, and wounds and death,
Anguish and mockery, and saith,
“Willing all this I suffer.”

The God mockers appear to have prevailed!  God was shamed and silenced.  He came to his fallen creation in love to set them free from the slavery into which they had fallen.  They preferred to remain slaves to their own appetites.  The creation rose up against its Creator, assaulted him, insulted him, and subjected him to the most vicious form of cruelty.  The God mockers committed the unimaginable and unforgiveable sin of deicide.  They murdered God!

Unimaginable, yes.  But not unforgiveable.  As a matter of fact, it was precisely in his bearing the mockery and insults without complaint that he was obtaining forgiveness for those who were mocking him.  In the face of cursing, he blessed.  In the face of hatred, he loved.  He bore the shame and cruelty of the cruel bigots who found pleasure in hurting him. 

But he bore far, far more than that!  He bore the anguish of the damned.  He suffered the anger and judgment of almighty God against sinners.  Even as the righteous God must curse and condemn those who mock him and despise his holy Word because, as the Bible says, “God is not mocked,” just so Jesus became the curse as divine justice cursed him in the place of all the God mockers throughout history.  The sin and guilt of the whole world was imputed to him. 

God becomes a man to suffer shame and indignity.  So, he raises sinners up out of the shame of their sins.  He invites those who thrust the crown of thorns on his head to wear a crown of victory over sin and death.  In suffering silence, he takes away the sin of the world.

Lamb of God, pure and holy,

Who on the cross didst suffer,

Ever patient and lowly,

Thyself to scorn didst offer.

All sins Thou borest for us,

Else had despair reigned o'er us:

Have mercy on us, O Jesus!

And he does.  He has mercy on us.  It is this mercy on which we live.  He doesn’t win our hearts by threats.  He doesn’t change our lives by imposing a legalistic regimen upon us.  He wins our hearts by dying for us.  He bears the insults, the shame, the mockery, and the death.  We see beneath his suffering something horrible yet wonderful.  We see God forsaking God.  Impossible, but true.  And we see the pure and holy Lamb of God bearing all our sins away.  Peace for our souls flows from his wounds, for as he suffers in our place, we become righteous in him.  God forsook his Son, our brother, and for his sake he declares us to be righteous.  He declares us to be his saints.  He honors us.

This is an honor no man can give or take away.  So, we bear the indignities hurled against Christ and his church.  We hear the snide insults and judgmental broadsides of anti-Christian bigots.  What do we care?  What greater honor can we receive in this life than to suffer shame because we’re joined to Christ?  Let the God mockers do their worst.  We entrust ourselves to him who suffered in silence for us and for the whole world.  Amen