Life Project Blog

Matthew 27:11-26

Matthew makes one thing very clear above all else; Pilate wanted nothing to do with the Jesus matter. Notice in verses 11-14 that Pilate is trying to engage Jesus in a defense against the charges brought by the Jewish leaders, and Jesus declines to engage: Suffering Servant. Pilate is amazed by this. In 15-21, Pilate tries to free Jesus, as part of his annual custom of pardon, and the people, instigated by the Jewish leaders choose Barabbas instead. Notice verse 18 that tells us he knew Jesus had been handed over to him out of the leaders’ self-interest; no, Pilate wanted a way out of this situation, for he knew perfectly well that Jesus had done nothing wrong.

Pilate’s situation is made worse when he receives that famous note from his wife about her dream…

But the Jewish leaders were unrelenting in their demand for His blood. Doesn’t that strike you as the greatest irony of all time?

In verse 21, the pagan governor goes out of his way to shame them, as he washes his hands of the matter in a symbolic act of utter contempt, telling them that Jesus’ blood will be on their hands. He will bow to their pressure, for he, like the Jewish leaders in earlier scenes feared that the crowds would turn ugly, and if there was one thing a Roman official did not want on his record, it was a riot; such things had ruined the careers of many officials before him, so Pilate bows to pressure, and sends Jesus off for a good flogging and execution, simply to appease the mob.

And with this, Satan and his human agents charged headlong into an ambush, for through their great rebellion, their treachery, lies, corruption and pure malice, they brought God’s eternal purpose to fruition, and secured their ultimate doom in the process.

Matthew 27:1-10

Peter is having a bad night, but he isn’t the only one having remorse for his betrayal; Judas is having a worse night. When Jesus was condemned by the Jewish leaders in a classic act of perfidy against God, Judas is suddenly filled with remorse for his actions. He went back to the chief priests and an exchange takes place that is nothing short of incredible:

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.” (27:3-4)

The chief priest had what they wanted, they couldn’t care less either for Judas or for the righteousness that they prided themselves on and went out of their way to show off in public. Judas threw the money into the temple and then went out and committed suicide, so great was his remorse. Yet were the chief priests having second thoughts about these events? Well actually, yes they were:

The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. (27:6-7)

Yes sir, the chief priests did have some second thoughts; they couldn’t return the money to the treasury, for that would be unlawful!

Just let this sink in for a moment…

It wouldn’t seem that they had any problem with condemning an innocent man to death; their long awaited Messiah, no less, but they wanted to be sure they handled the returned bribe according to the rules, and they used it to buy real estate.

The sheer magnitude of their perfidy is almost incomprehensible.

What makes this even more incredible is that their action fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah (See Zech. 11:12,13; Jer. 19:1-13; 32:6-9). Are not the chief priests the very ones who should have known this?

Yes, of all the people they should have known what they were doing, and in fact, since they agreed it was blood money, I would suggest that they did know what they were doing, but they simply did not care, for on that night, they were on the payroll of Satan.

Matthew 26:69-75

Quite a lot has taken place since Jesus told the disciples that they would disown Him. Quite a lot has taken place since Peter objected to that and Jesus told him he would deny Jesus three times that very night.

Jesus has been arrested, tried in a joke of a trial and been found guilty of blasphemy and condemned to die; Peter was outside listening to the proceedings. You might recall that when Jesus was arrested, Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the guards, but Jesus had stepped in to stop Peter, replacing the man’s ear. Then Jesus told the crowd off for not doing their foul deeds in public, and Peter, along with the other disciples had fled the scene.

The disciples had learned a great deal over the past few years from Jesus, but in spite of at least three warnings, they hadn’t quite gotten the point of Jesus’ mission as the Messiah; that He had come not to conquer the Romans and restore Israel as a Nation of the earth, but instead had come to conquer sin and death and establish a Kingdom not of this world. Jesus told the group about His real mission three times, each of which ended by Jesus telling them He was going die at the hands of the Jewish leaders, and then rise again from the grave on the third day. Yet in each instance, the disciples reacted to His death prediction and apparently didn’t notice the resurrection prediction.

Peter now knew that Jesus was about to die, but the resurrection part of the story still eluded him. Remembering Jesus’ words of earlier that evening, he now creeps of and weeps bitterly over his own rejection of his Master in front of those in and around the place of His trial. For Peter, relief from his agony was still far off, but he wasn’t the only one having a bad night; Judas, the betrayer was having a worse night.

Matthew 26:57-68

Let’s all be very clear on one point: This trial was a joke. If you miss this point, then you miss the entire scene.

There really isn’t much left to be said. Notice that they were looking to convict Him of something, anything, based upon false evidence and false witnesses (26:60) and even by cheating, they couldn’t manage the job. Then, they catch a break when two men came forward to say: “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’” And the chief priest jumps for his chance: “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” (26:62), Jesus remains silent.

In verse 63, he asks Jesus if He is the Son of God. Jesus, the Suffering Servant breaks His silence and actually helped them out:

You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (26:64)

That did the trick; the trial was over.

It seems that our old friend Peter was lurking in the background; I wonder what he was thinking at that moment as Jesus was found “worthy of death” for telling the truth to the Jewish leadership. We will get some insight into his thinking in the next scene, next time.

Matthew 26:47-56

As Jesus was saying the words of 26:46, the party sent to arrest Him is entering the scene with Judas in the lead. In the events that follow, there are a few actions that have an almost comical quality to them, even though this is serious business. Judas had a sign for the arresting party: ‘Grab the one I kiss.’ So old Judas walks up to Jesus as though everything was completely normal and says, “Greetings Rabbi,” and kisses Him. Now to be quite sure, this was a normal sort of greeting back in the day, but I almost want to laugh at the comic nature of it. Judas came onto the scene at the head of an armed mob, and pretends nothing is amiss, even though Judas Knew that Jesus knew what he was up to− incredible.

Jesus was placed under arrest, and then lo and behold, who should produce a sword and start swinging it? Our pal, Peter! Peter’s action should get high marks for courage, low marks for intelligence, and failing marks for understanding. Yes, it was courageous, maybe even heroic, but if a battle were to follow, Jesus and the Eleven are dead right then and there. But then Jesus, from Peter’s point of view, is a sort of “wild card”; what would He do in the situation?

Jesus stepped in instantly, and put a stop to the whole business of violence, heals the man that Peter had struck, and tells Peter to stand down. Perhaps reading Peter’s mind, Jesus said:

Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way? (26:53-54)

If you wonder about such things, 12 legions of angels would produce about 75,000 very unhappy angels, but the cavalry would not be coming to the rescue on that night, for God’s will went in a different direction. Then Jesus addressed the mob that had come to arrest Him:

Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled. (26:55-56a)

Actually that He was leading a rebellion was most likely exactly what everyone thought, for they saw Him as the son of David come to reclaim the throne; the Messiah come to conquer and restore Israel to greatness, the King of the Jews. Jesus rubbed their noses in their error by pointing out that they could have grabbed Him at any time, but they had waited until now, under cover of darkness, and with that, Jesus would address the crowds no more; He went away quietly and meekly to do His Father’s will and accomplish the real mission of the Messiah.

That was also when His disciples finally comprehended that His mission was not conquest and the reinstatement of the Nation of Israel among the Pantheon of Nations. Of course, that is not to suggest that they yet comprehended what His mission really was; that would come later. Many scholars have written that they believe this also included Judas, who might well have been shocked that those legions of angels did not come. These scholars believe that Judas betrayed Jesus to force the issue and get Jesus’ messianic mission completed more quickly, a sort of helping push in the right direction.

For me, that’s a bit of a stretch too far, but it is an interesting theory. Whatever motivated Judas, there was no going back now and old Judas was in a very bad state, as the whole of Creation held its breath…