Matthew 27
Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. So they bound Him, led Him away and handed Him over to Pilate the governor. 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.” So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. 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. That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 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,” Matthew 27:1-9 NIV
It is interesting to see how Judas is so remorseful after betraying Jesus that he gives back the money that he took and then kills himself. How often have we been in a similar place after failing in our walk with God, where we feel terrible about ourselves and something we have said or done…I know I have. But Judas’ decision to take his own life illustrates the fact that he didn’t know Jesus and did not truly understand who He was, and the forgiveness that is available through Jesus. If he did, he would have known that Jesus still loved him and would have forgiven him completely. On another note, I find it fascinating that the exact amount of money (30 pieces of silver) that Judas took to betray Jesus, as well as what it would eventually be used to purchase, was prophesied over 500 years earlier in Zechariah 11:12-13: “I told them, ‘If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.’ So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—the handsome price at which they valued Me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.” I love how Jesus’ story fulfills this prophecy in very specific ways. This prophetic fulfillment is especially interesting because it is the Pharisees who fulfill a part of a prophecy that they didn’t even believe in. The Pharisees, with all their religious knowledge, would have known that if they bought the potter’s field it would confirm that Jesus was who He said He was, yet they bought it anyway! With this act they unknowingly proved the faultiness of their own beliefs. This example just reminds us that the Bible is an absolutely incredible book, with astounding continuity despite the 40+ authors who wrote it over a 1,500 year time span. There is no other book in all history that even comes close!
Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked Him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. When He was accused by the chief priests and the elders, He gave no answer. Then Pilate asked Him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor. Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. 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?” For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him. 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.” But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. “Barabbas,” they answered. “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify Him!” “Why? What crime has He committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify Him!” 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!” All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!” Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.” Matthew 27:11-26 NIV
Pontius Pilate tried everything he could think of to let Jesus go, but the crowd was dead set against Jesus at this point. Isn’t it awesome how God used the unbelief and hardened hearts of the Israelites as the very tool for the redemption of the world? God had a contingency plan for redeeming humanity from the very beginning of time! Amazing!! We see it revealed in verse 18 that the core reason that the religious Jews wanted to kill Jesus was envy. The religious leaders saw the power and authority that Jesus had, which far surpassed anything that they had or could ever have. It says in James 3:16, ‘’For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” Envy is a powerful tool in the enemy’s hand and we have to be on guard against its seed, which is discontentment. We have to learn instead to be like Paul, who wrote in Philippians 4:11: “I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.”
All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!” Matthew 27:25 NIV
The Israelites in the crowd and among the religious leaders were saying that they were accepting the responsibility for Jesus’ death by crucifixion. But there is an interesting double meaning here that they were not aware of. Jesus’ blood is on them and on their children, to countless generations, to wash us clean from all of our sins! That is, if we walk with Him and accept the truth. “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 NIV. What a miraculous gift and blessing that comes from our loving and sacrificial Lord and Savior!
About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”). Matthew 27:46 NIV
Jesus was quoting Psalms 22:1 in this verse, as He took upon Himself all the sins of everyone who had lived and everyone who would live in the future, including us. Sin separates us from the Holy God. So, for the first time ever, Jesus was separated from God, and felt forsaken. Jesus had always known the unconditional love of the Father, and at this moment that was gone. The emotional and spiritual anguish that resulted from this separation was more difficult to bear than the excruciating physical pain. Jesus knew ahead of time that this was going to happen, but He also knew that this was a necessary sacrifice for saving each of us. Thank you Jesus for all that you endured for our redemption and salvation!
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split. Matthew 27:50-51 NIV
The temple had three main parts: the courts, the Holy Place (where only the priests could enter), and the Most Holy Place (where only the high priests were allowed to enter on the Day of Atonement). The curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place was torn in two the moment Christ died, which symbolized that there was no longer a barrier between God and man. Now all people are free to approach God at any time because of Christ’s sacrifice for us. The writer of Hebrews tells us: “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19-22).
and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. Matthew 27:60, 66 NIV
Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb, and a large stone was rolled in place to cover the opening. The tomb had a special seal placed on it to further secure it, and Roman guards were stationed to protect it. The religious leaders took these extra precautions because they were afraid that Jesus’ followers would try to steal the body, or afraid that Jesus’ claims to rise again might come true. Did Jesus’ claims come true? Check out our notes in the section on Matthew Chapter 28 to find out!