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Matthew 27:45-56
Matthew shifts to darkness, Jesus’ cry, and his death, then reports startling events and reactions from guards and women.
Meaning in context
Matthew shifts to darkness, Jesus’ cry, and his death, then reports startling events and reactions from guards and women.
Section 5 of 7
Jesus dies and signs follow
Matthew shifts to darkness, Jesus’ cry, and his death, then reports startling events and reactions from guards and women.
Movement
Messiah and kingdom fulfillment
Artifact
Kingdom teaching and fulfillment
Biblical Timeline
Jesus' Ministry
Matthew context: AD 29 - AD 33
Biblical Timeline
Jesus' Ministry
Matthew context
Jesus' Ministry / AD 29 - AD 33
Matthew context is set in Jesus' ministry, where Jesus' public ministry, teaching, signs, death, and resurrection.
Scripture Text
Thesis
Matthew shifts to darkness, Jesus’ cry, and his death, then reports startling events and reactions from guards and women.
Verse by Verse
Darkness and Jesus’ cry Darkness covers “all the land” from the sixth to the ninth hour. Near the end of that period Jesus cries out loudly in an Aramaic-like form, then Matthew gives the meaning in Greek: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The narrative links the unusual darkness with Jesus’ anguished address to God.
Mishearing, sour wine, and waiting for Elijah Some bystanders interpret Jesus’ words as calling for Elijah. One person quickly brings a sponge with vinegar (sour wine) on a reed and gives him a drink. Others tell the helper to stop and propose watching to see whether Elijah will come to rescue Jesus, keeping the focus on public testing and spectacle.
Jesus’ death Jesus again cries out with a loud voice, then “yielded up his spirit.” Matthew presents his death as a decisive moment, marked by another loud cry rather than a quiet fading.
Literary Context
This paragraph sits near the end of Matthew’s passion narrative: Jesus has been condemned, mocked, and crucified, with onlookers challenging him to prove himself (27:27–44). The section shifts from taunts and human cruelty to events described as happening around Jesus without human control: darkness, a loud cry, his death, and then a sequence of signs. The narrator also narrows attention to specific witnesses—soldiers at the cross and women disciples at a distance—setting up who can report what follows. The story keeps moving toward Jesus’ burial and the guarding of the tomb (27:57–66).
Historical Context
The scene assumes Roman execution practices in Judea, where crucifixion served as a public deterrent and soldiers supervised the process. Jewish life in Jerusalem centered on the temple, so mention of the curtain in the temple would be socially and religiously significant in that setting. The timing markers (“sixth” to “ninth” hour) use common daylight counting, roughly noon to midafternoon. The bystanders’ talk about Elijah reflects well-known expectations and stories about Elijah’s return and help in crisis, making “Is he calling Elijah?” a plausible crowd reaction in a first-century Jewish environment.
Theological Significance
Matthew presents Jesus’ death as the turning point of the crucifixion scene. The story moves from human mockery to events described as happening beyond human control: a midday-to-midafternoon darkness, Jesus’ loud cry to God, and then a chain of public signs.
Questions
Keep Studying
Temple tearing, earthquake, and opened tombs Immediately after Jesus’ death, the temple veil is torn from top to bottom, and an earthquake splits rocks. Then tombs open and many “saints” who had died are raised; after Jesus’ resurrection they come out, enter the holy city, and appear to many people. Matthew stacks these events as a chain of signs flowing from the moment of Jesus’ death.
Reactions of soldiers and women witnesses The centurion and accompanying soldiers, seeing the earthquake and events, become intensely afraid and say, “Truly this was the Son of God.” Matthew then notes many women watching from afar—followers from Galilee who had served Jesus—and names several, grounding the scene in identifiable eyewitnesses.
The text explicitly connects Jesus’ words to Israel’s Scriptures by giving the meaning of his Aramaic-like cry (“My God…why have you forsaken me?”). It also shows how bystanders can misunderstand: they take “Eli” as a call for Elijah and treat the moment as a spectacle (“let’s see whether Elijah comes”).
After Jesus dies, Matthew stacks signs that touch Israel’s central worship space (the temple curtain tearing), the land itself (earthquake and split rocks), and death (tombs opened and “saints” raised). The paragraph ends with two witness-groups: Roman soldiers who react with fear and confession, and women disciples who are present and named.
How far the darkness reaches. “All the land” can be read as the wider region or as the area around Jerusalem. Matthew does not specify its boundaries.
What Jesus’ cry means in the moment. The words can be read mainly as expressing real anguish and abandonment-language directed to God. Others stress that because it echoes a psalm, it may also signal trust and a larger scriptural frame beyond the immediate emotion. The text itself gives the cry and its meaning but does not explain Jesus’ inner state beyond that.
How to understand the raised “saints.” Matthew says tombs opened and bodies were raised, and then clarifies that their coming out and appearing happened “after his resurrection.” Some read this as a literal, public miracle involving known people; others think Matthew is describing an extraordinary sign in a more compressed or symbolic way. The narrative provides no details about identities, duration, or what “appeared to many” looked like.
What the centurion means by “Son of God.” The confession could mean a general sense that Jesus is favored by a god (a common Roman way of speaking), or it could align more closely with Matthew’s broader portrayal of Jesus’ identity. Matthew reports the words and the fear-response but does not parse the speaker’s full theology.
Why the disagreement exists Matthew reports striking events with limited scope markers (“all the land”), limited inner commentary (Jesus’ cry is given without explanation), and very little description for the most unusual claim (opened tombs and appearances). The passage also includes statements that can be heard differently depending on whether one foregrounds Roman speech patterns (centurion) or Matthew’s larger narrative aims.
What this passage clearly contributes It portrays Jesus’ death as an event with cosmic and public weight: darkness, temple disruption, earth disturbance, and death disturbed. It shows mixed human responses—misunderstanding and spectacle from some bystanders, fear and a confession from soldiers, and steady presence from women disciples. It also places the temple and Jerusalem in view, suggesting that Jesus’ death has implications for Israel’s worship-life and for the city itself, while keeping the story moving toward resurrection and testimony.