The sermon walks through Matthew 27:27–56, the account of Jesus's mocking, crucifixion, and death, and argues that Matthew tells this story through deliberate and sustained irony. Irony is defined simply: people speak with total confidence about something that turns out to be the exact opposite of the truth, and the gap between their confidence and reality is what makes a situation ironic. The sermon illustrates the idea with the story of the Titanic, whose owner confidently declared "this ship can't sink" just before it did — and then turns to Matthew 27, where every mocking voice around the cross unknowingly speaks a deeper truth.

The scene opens in Pilate's courtyard, where a battalion of Roman soldiers — deliberately non-Jewish troops stationed to avoid local loyalties — strip Jesus, dress him in a robe, force a crown of thorns on his head, place a reed in his hand like a royal staff, and mockingly kneel before him shouting "Hail, King of the Jews." To the soldiers, the scene is absurd: how could this beaten, friendless man be a king with no army, no allies, and no one defending him? Yet the sermon argues they are caught in a greater irony than they realize — Jesus truly is the King of the Jews, and his appointed path to kingship runs through suffering and death, not political power. Remarkably, it is Gentile soldiers who end up "worshiping" him as king, an ironic and unwitting fulfillment of the promise that all nations will come to worship before the Lord.

The mockery continues at Golgotha. Jesus is offered a bitter mixture of wine and gall, which he refuses to drink, echoing the psalmist's complaint of being given poison for food and sour wine for thirst. The charge nailed above his head, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews," is meant as an accusation but states the plain truth. The sermon identifies three intertwined mockeries: Jesus is mocked as King (no one defends him), as Savior (he saved others but "cannot save himself"), and as Son of God (his suffering seems incompatible with divine sonship — the same taunt Satan used in the wilderness temptation, "if you are the Son of God..."). In each case, the crowd's mockery states the truth upside down. Jesus is King precisely by not seizing earthly power; his kingdom, as he later tells Pilate, is not of this world. He is Savior precisely because he refuses to save himself — his death is the very means by which others are saved, fulfilling the pattern of the Passover lamb and the temple sacrifices, where forgiveness comes only through the shedding of blood. And he does not need to prove his sonship by escaping suffering; his sonship is proven instead by his obedience to the Father and, ultimately, by his resurrection.

The sermon connects Jesus's curse-bearing death to Genesis 3: just as an animal was killed to clothe Adam and Eve after the fall, foreshadowing a substitute who bears the curse in others' place, so Jesus, hung on a tree, absorbs the curse that belongs to sinners. His cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" is read as a direct, deliberate quotation of Psalm 22:1, not a moment of confusion but the foretold experience of real abandonment as he drinks the cup of God's judgment on behalf of his people — so that those who trust him will never be forsaken. His death is immediately followed by two symbolic acts of God: the temple curtain is torn in two, opening access to God that had previously meant death to approach improperly, and an earthquake breaks open tombs, anticipating the resurrection to come.

The sermon closes by naming three purposes for this irony: it exposes the gap between the crowd's expectation of a conquering Savior and the reality of a humble, suffering King; it magnifies the wonder of Jesus's love for his enemies, who mock him even as he prays for their forgiveness; and it shows that even hostile, unwilling voices end up proclaiming truth they do not understand, anticipating the day when every knee — willing or not — will bow and confess Jesus Christ is Lord. The sermon ends with a call to trust this suffering King even when life's suffering has no immediate explanation: "today, obedience; tomorrow, explanation."

Bible Verses Used

• Matthew 27:27–56: The sermon's main text — the mocking, crucifixion, and death of Jesus, read throughout as saturated with irony.

• Psalm 86:9: Cited to show that the Gentile soldiers mocking and "worshiping" Jesus as king unwittingly fulfill the prophecy that all nations will come to worship the Lord.

• Psalm 69:21: The sour wine and gall offered to Jesus on the cross are shown to fulfill this psalm's prophecy of being given poison and sour wine.

• Matthew 4:1–11: Referenced as the earlier wilderness temptation, where Satan's "if you are the Son of God" challenge parallels the mockery Jesus receives on the cross.

• John 18:36: Cited for Jesus's statement that his kingdom is not of this world, explaining why he did not rally an army to defend himself.

• Genesis 3: Used to trace the promise of a curse-bearing substitute, from the animal skins given to Adam and Eve to Jesus bearing the curse on the cross.

• Hebrews 9:22: Quoted for the principle that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins, grounding why Jesus's death, not merely his life, saves.

• Psalm 22:1: Identified as the exact source of Jesus's cry "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", showing his abandonment was foretold, not accidental.

• Philippians 2:10–11: Cited to show that the unwilling mockery of Jesus as King anticipates the day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess him as Lord.