Matthew 26:69-27:31
Peter denies, Judas hangs, Pilate cowers, soldiers spit. Jesus is deserted.
When you read through today's portion of Matthew note how
often there are characters citing rules and regulations that allow them to feel
morally superior or secure whilst ignoring the heart of the matter. When Judas
comes to the full realization of his betrayal he returns his thirty pieces of
silver to the chief priests and elders. And by returns I mean he throws it to
the ground in front of them. Notice the way that they deal with the money. They
conclude correctly that blood money
is not lawfully allowed to be added to the temple treasury. Really? Here is
where you draw the line? Did you know that the
kangaroo trial they hold in their courts against Jesus was actually
illegal according to multiple
statutes of Jewish law? Holding a trial at night and deciding guilt based on
incongruent testimony are just a couple of the infractions. But suddenly they
start quoting law about blood money because it makes them feel better.
Then we come to Pilate. You can read between the lines how
much he really doesn't want a riot on his hands but he really doesn't want to
execute who he believes is an innocent man either. So he plays a game with the
rules. He teases the crowd with the idea of releasing Barabbas, a noted
insurrectionist, murderer, or terrorist depending on how you translate the
information regarding him in the gospels. Pilate is gambling hoping that the
crowd would surely give up on this plot to kill Jesus since (v.18) it was out
of envy that Jesus was delivered to him. Eventually swayed by the crowd and his
overwhelming desire to keep the peace, Pilate washes his hands of Jesus and his
impending execution both symbolically and literally. He has played by the
rules. And it has allowed him to feel guilt free about the situation.
As human beings we desire to feel good about our actions and
decisions. We will argue and justify what we see as correct citing every verse
and rule and regulation that we see as aligning with our stance. Like the
Jewish leaders though, we often are ignoring the ones that convict us by doing
so. Today I invite you to seek God's truth. Do not seek to be justified in the
eyes of yourself (like the Jews) or others (like Pilate). Rather seek to know
the heart of He who sees all. In today’s reading Jesus offers no justification
and no defense for he knows where he stands with the one being that matters in
all the universe. Peter comments in one of his epistles that Jesus just took
all the mockery and questions and did not reply (1 Peter 2:23) because he
trusts himself to God who judges justly. Not the Jewish leaders or a Roman
governor, but his Father in heaven. How often do we trust in God’s judgment of
us and not try to justify ourselves to others?
Prayer: Most holy God, you see all of me. Everything about
me you know and so I lay my life before you. Mold my heart this day more into
the likeness of your son, Jesus. Father, I am sorry for the times when I try to
justify myself to the people around me. Let me rest in the fullness of the
grace that covers me by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Chris Heflin
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69 Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant
girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.
70 But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what
you’re talking about,” he said.
71 Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant
girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of
Nazareth.”
72 He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”
73 After a little while, those standing there went up to
Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”
74 Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them,
“I don’t know the man!”
Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered the
word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three
times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
27 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the
elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. 2 So they
bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
3 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. 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed
innocent blood.”
“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your
responsibility.”
5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he
went away and hanged himself.
6 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.” 7 So
they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for
foreigners. 8 That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9
Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the
thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10 and
they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”
11 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the
governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
12 When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders,
he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they
are bringing against you?” 14 But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single
charge—to the great amazement of the governor.
15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to
release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. 16 At that time they had a well-known
prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. 17 So when the crowd had gathered,
Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas,
or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” 18 For he knew it was out of self-interest
that they had handed Jesus over to him.
19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife
sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I
have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd
to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
21 “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”
asked the governor.
“Barabbas,” they answered.
22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the
Messiah?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that
instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of
the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your
responsibility!”
25 All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our
children!”
26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus
flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the
Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They
stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a
crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand.
Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.
30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and
again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own
clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
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