Offensive words (1) - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

Those who passed by blasphemed him. The chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders. Even the robbers who were crucified with him reviled him.
Matthew 27:39.41.44.

Offensive words (1)
The cross at the place of execution attracted people in Jerusalem, and the Man on the cross in the centre was the target of their contempt.

There were passers-by, among them not only Jews from Jerusalem but also pilgrims there for the Passover feast. Some were there merely to watch the sensational proceedings, others were in a hurry, having more important things to do than to linger and inquire what it was all about, but even they were insolent: they blasphemed Jesus.

There were the high priests with the scribes and elders, the religious leaders who influenced people's thinking. As God's representatives they should have been closest to Jesus Christ, the crucified One. They were the authorities who knew and searched the Holy Scriptures. Outwardly they appeared honourable and religious, but they mocked Him. They did so "among themselves" (Mark 15:31), i.e. with restraint, not publicly. Their rejection sounded more refined, in fact it was all the more bitter.

Then there were the "robbers", who had come into conflict with the law and were therefore guilty. They had been crucified alongside Jesus, yet they reviled the Lord unsympathetically.

Words from the psalms are thus underlined: "All those who see me ridicule me" (Psalm 22:7). In their contempt and disdain for Jesus Christ the spectators of all social strata were agreed. And that is also true today!

(to be continued on Thursday)

Today's reading: 2 Chronicles 14:1-15 · Revelation 3:7-13