Matthew 27

The crucifixion narrative in Matthew is saturated with the language of Psalm 22, the great lament that opens my God, my God, why have you forsaken me. The passers-by who wag their heads echo Psalm 22:7; those who say he trusts in God, let God deliver him echo Psalm 22:8; the division of garments is Psalm 22:18. Matthew does not cite these connections explicitly; he narrates the events in the language of the psalm, a technique of transparent scriptural allusion that asks the reader who knows the psalm to recognize that the crucifixion is happening within the scriptural story, that the righteous sufferer of Psalm 22 who is forsaken and then vindicated by God is the template into which the event fits. The cry of dereliction — the actual opening of Psalm 22, cited in Jesus' own Aramaic — is the psalm's first verse, which means the reader who knows Psalm 22 knows the psalm ends with vindication and praise, even as the cry sounds its deepest despair.

The details unique to Matthew's Passion narrative are significant: Pilate's wife's dream, the washing of hands and the blood cry of the crowd (his blood be on us and our children), the tombs opening at the moment of death. The blood cry has been the most historically consequential verse in the gospel, used for centuries to justify persecution; in its own context, it is the narrative's way of depicting the rejection that Matthew has been building toward — the city that kills its prophets (chapter 23) now takes corporate responsibility for what it is about to do. The centurion's confession — truly this was the Son of God — is the pagan's recognition that echoes the disciples' confession in chapter 14. The Gentile soldier at the cross sees what Jerusalem does not.