Objection 9: The perception
of the Romans during the crucifixion
Some claim that because Christ’s
quotation of Psalm 22 on the cross provoked onlookers to think He was invoking
Elijah, the Jews must have practiced invocation at this time.
The relevant passage is in Matthew 27:45-49:
Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the
land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli,
Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling
for Elijah!” Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour
wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink. The rest said, “Let Him
alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.”
First, it must be stated that the onlookers
were Roman soldiers, for it is said immediately after, “one of them ran and
took a sponge . . .” which was certainly the duty of the Roman soldiers, not the
Jews. This is further confirmed by Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augustine (in Haydock).
Chrysostom:
But observe here also their
wantonness, intemperance and folly. They thought, it is said, that it was
Elijah whom he called. Right away they gave him vinegar to drink. But another
came to him and “pierced his side with a spear.” Who could be more lawless, who
more brutal, than these men? How could they have carried their madness to so
great a length, offering insult at last even to a dead body? But note well how
he turned even their evil deeds to use for our salvation. For after the blow
the fountains of our salvation gushed forth. (Ancient Christian Commentary
on Scripture, Matthew 14-18 [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002],
342)
Haydock:
This man called for Elias. St. Jerome
thinks these might be some of the Roman soldiers, who understood not Syriac,
but who had heard of the prophet Elias. . . . [Augustine says] The soldiers
thinking that he called for Elias, wished to hinder any one from offering
vinegar, lest it should hasten his death, and prevent Elias from coming to assist
him; which, from the darkness and other signs, they might think probable. (Haydock’s
Bible [Philadelphia: National Publishing Company, 1883], New Testament. 54)
Pagan Romans invoked their hero
demigods, so we may naturally assume that they thought Jews do the same, regardless
of whether Jews did this or that. It must be further stated that we should not
base Christian practice on statements of pagan Romans who are ignorant of the
Jewish and Christian religions. (Seth Kasten, Against the Invocation of Saints:
An Apology for the Protestant Doctrine of Prayer Over and Against the Doctrine
of the Eastern Orthodox Church [Royal Oak, Mich.: Scholastic Lutherans,
2023], 128-29)