Matt 27:1,2; 11- 31: Jesus before Pilate & in the Praetorium

Matthew has very carefully selected what he has put on record, because he wants his readers to discover who Jesus is – and what he has done for us.

From the beginning of his Gospel, Matthew has portrayed Jesus as God's anointed King, the long-expected, promised Messiah. Now he is going to show Jesus' kingly bearing under the great pressure of unjust accusation, terrible violence, cruel mockery and savage hatred.

Why? Because faithful followers of our Lord may expect the same treatment, and we must respond as he did – for this is the only way to show forth his character of love towards his enemies. And if this applies to those who show us such cruel opposition – how much more to those who only oppose us with disdain, irritation or incomprehension?

"Are you the King of the Jews? Yes, it is as you say." But beyond that – silence. Apart from the cry of dereliction from the cross, these are the last words of Jesus before he dies, that Matthew records. Only dignified silence to all the accusations. To those whose hatred has long since blinded them, there can now be no reply. It is the awful consequence of sin – if persisted in – that it hardens our hearts, like that of Pharaoh, until there is no remedy. Jesus' silence echoes God's silence to those who will not listen.

Pilate is utterly amazed. In the face of death, men plead for life – but not this man. His silence is more eloquent of his innocence than any words – and Pilate senses it. He knows enough about the situation to realise that the Jewish leaders envy this man his popularity and affection in the eyes of so many – and also the character of his life – neither of which they themselves possess.

Moreover Pilate realises these leaders have him at a disadvantage. He hates and despises the Jews. As Roman Governor and Judge, he dearly wishes to pronounce Jesus innocent – which he does – and to let him go – which he does not – because he fears for the consequences to his own position. Whether he realises it or not, it is Pilate himself who is on trial, under the gaze of this silent man, who calls himself a king. And the verdict will be that Pilate chooses expedience and self-preservation, rather than justice.

Is this what you will choose, Matthew hints, when you face such pressure? Many a man has advanced his career at the expense of unjust treatment to someone else. Have you or I done just that?

Pilate tries desperately to avoid that choice, by releasing to them the prisoner of the crowd's choosing – expecting, no doubt, in view of the crowd's enthusiasm on Palm Sunday, that they will choose Jesus.

At this moment there is an interruption. A messenger enters with a note from Pilate's wife. She is Claudia Procula, a granddaughter of the great Augustus. So much better connected than her husband. Maybe it was through her influence he gained his present appointment.

Pilate must have been roused very early that morning – so she stayed in bed – and dreamt of the man Pilate went to try. She must have had some knowledge of Jesus – knew him to be innocent – and feared so much for the outcome of the trial that she sent this message, "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man!"

Pilate wanted nothing better than to follow that advice – but it fell short of telling him to acquit and release Jesus. Matthew records her words to underline Jesus' innocence – but they remind us that God may speak to us through all sorts of people, not least those we would be inclined to listen to – for, surely, God was speaking to Pilate.

Meanwhile the Jewish leaders have incited the crowd to ask Pilate to release Barabbas, instead of Jesus. No doubt they were able to appeal to popular sentiment for this Zealot leader. To them he was a 'freedom fighter' – but in reality a terrorist and rebel against Rome.

Barabbas means son of the father – perhaps he was a Rabbi's son. Some manuscripts call him Jesus Barabbas – and perhaps he was, for Jesus was a common name. But, if so, there is irony in Pilate's question, "Which do you want me to release: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus called the Messiah?" And both are sons of the father – Jesus in an utterly profound way, as Matthew's readers will know.

We have the same choice to make, no less really than that crowd. For either we follow those who represent human independence – or we commit ourselves to the One who was submissive to his heavenly Father. To take the latter course is to go against the tide of human opinion, against the way of fickle popularity – and be counted in the war between God and Satan.

Pilate protests Jesus' innocence – but the crowd senses its victory over him, and yells all the louder – calling for that most hideous and un-Jewish death for Jesus. And Pilate capitulates to their demands, caught in a trap made by his own past vicious actions – that have made his situation precarious vis-ΰ-vis the Emperor Tiberius. In fact his intemperance will eventually lead to his downfall, his recall to Rome, and probably, death at his own hand.

So, amid the uproar, he seeks to calm the near-riot by a symbolic action that appeals to his guilty conscience. He calls for a bowl of water and washes his hands. Everyone would have understood – especially Jews. For their Law demanded such an action by the leaders of the nearest town to the discovery of a murdered man's body – to declare their innocence of complicity in the crime. (Deut 21:6;Psa 26:6;73:13)

Of course the action couldn't salve Pilate's conscience – any more than ours, if we suppress the knowledge of our sins. He tries to shuffle off the responsibility onto the Jews – using exactly the words the priests used when they spurned Judas' returned blood-money – "You see to it!" Now they hear the words flung back at them!

And all the people there acknowledge their part in this travesty of justice, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!" In effect, they call down a curse on themselves and their posterity. Matthew reports their terrible words – but, Jew himself, utters no hatred towards his whole nation – it is Christians who have used these words to justify their anti-semitism. When Matthew reports this rejection of Jesus, he is asking us to see ourselves among this crowd – until we can ask that these words are applied to ourselves in a very different sense. For only the shed blood of Jesus can cleanse us from the guilt and defilement of our own sin.

And that shedding begins immediately – told so undramatically, Pilate had Jesus flogged – the usual preliminary to crucifixion. A Roman scourging was terrible – men died under it – and few stayed conscious through it.

At this point Matthew reminds us again that Jesus died as our King – by telling us of the soldiers' mockery. In the ancient world a macabre game was occasionally played. A prisoner would be dressed up as a king, paid mock allegiance, granted his last wishes for a night – and then scourged and killed. It seems the soldiers played this 'king's game' with Jesus.

Matthew wants us to know that Gentiles also mocked Jesus – and more cruelly and viciously than the Jews had done. He is portraying what the evil in all our hearts will do, given the incentive and opportunity for its expression. Of course, we think we wouldn't do such things. But do we relish reading about equivalent cruelty, or seeing it portrayed visually?!

When Paul indicts the ancient world he says, "men suppress the truth by their wickedness, and knowing such deeds deserve death, not only continue to do [them], but also approve of those who practise them." (Rom 1:18,32)

Jesus' response to this cruelty was the only possible one of dignity – and doubtless of compassion for these cruel but ignorant men – silence, and acquiescence. Again, the Lord is telling us how we are to respond, as Jesus' followers and disciples, at the hands of the world that hates and rejects the Saviour.

Matt 27:32-54 Jesus at the Cross: his death and burial.

The evangelists do not evoke our pity or our revulsion, by giving us the grisly details of what took place physically at the Cross. Instead Matthew selects those incidents which help us understand the meaning of Jesus' death for us.

Already he has done this for us in the incident of Barabbas. Jesus died on the cross intended for Barabbas, died in his place, so that Barabbas could go free. In the same way, we are to know that the remission of our sins, God's pardon and forgiveness, are ours, who trust in Christ, only because Jesus died in our place too, the death our sins deserve.

Why does Matthew tell us about Simon, the man from Africa, impressed by the Roman guard to carry the heavy cross-beam, that Jesus, weakened by the scourging, just couldn't continue to carry? Not so much because he wants us to know the physical cost of Jesus' suffering, as he wants us to see that Simon portrays the true life of a Christian.

Twice Matthew has recorded Jesus as saying that we who follow him must take up our cross, for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Jesus will find it. (Matt 10:38; 16:24) To follow Jesus means we have crucified our self-lives – and we must continue in that way to our lives' end, bearing his reproach and suffering, if need be.

Matthew refers to the place of execution as Golgotha, Skull-place. That speaks to me of death – of man's mortality through Adam's sin. We don't know the origin of the name, but scattered, unburied bones are, in the Old Testament, a sign of God's judgement. (2 Kgs 23:13-20; Psa 53:5; Jer 8:1-2; Ezek 6:5; etc) But, in 2 instances, they are also a cause for hope. Elisha's bones give life to a dead man, when he is hurriedly buried in Elisha's tomb (2 Kings 13:21) and in Ezekiel's vision of the bones of the slain (Ezek 37:1-14) – these are brought back to life, by the word of the prophet and the Spirit of God. For Jesus there was death – for us who believe, there is life!

Jesus refused to drink the drugged wine he was offered, because he would not accept that way out from the consequences of our sins. In Gethsemane Jesus had prayed that the cup of suffering might be taken from him, if it was not God's will – but now, although he refuses the material cup, he accepts its reality in all the fulness of its meaning, as from his Father's hand. Prophet and psalmist had spoken of such a bitter cup – as the destiny of the wicked, the cup of the Lord's anger. Now Jesus drinks it, so that we need not.

The soldiers cast lots for Jesus' clothing – and we are reminded of David's psalm (Psa 22:16,18) that in a remarkable way foreshadows Jesus' suffering. "A band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet...They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing."

And this brings home to us that Jesus suffered the shame of hunging naked on the cross. Ever since man first sinned – clothing has been his way of hiding himself, so that public nakedness spells out humiliation, and silently witnesses to man's alienation and lack of innocence. Let's be thankful that Jesus was made naked so that we can stand before God clothed in Jesus' righteousness.

All the gospel-writers tell us about the written charge nailed to the cross, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews", which renews the theme that as King, Jesus was dying on behalf of his people. "He was pierced for our transgressions.. the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed... the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all... he was numbered with the transgressors [and] bore the sin of many..." (Isa 53:1-12)

The words of the sign above Jesus' head were the means by which God spoke savingly to a Jewish friend of ours. When I read that I was deeply moved.. I asked myself, 'Why do they write, "Yeshua, King of the Jews", and not "This is Yeshua, the false prophet", or "The false Messiah", or "The blasphemer"? I began to wrestle with God about the question, 'Who is this Yeshua and what does "King of the Jews" mean?... Slowly the veil over my mind was drawn away and suddenly I recognised Yeshua as my King, the King of the Jews. I burst into tears, and sobbed my heart out..

The mockery and insults of the passers-by, the Jewish leaders and even the robbers crucified with him, have a deeply ironic significance, as Matthew intends us to realise. He saved others, but he can't save himself! Exactly! Of course, he could have saved himself – but then we should have to bear our own sins – and be lost forever! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him! But, as the founder of the Salvation Army once said, "It is precisely because he would not come down, that we believe in him". Jesus was scorned for his weakness, but for us it spells the strength of God's love for us.

Then there was that strange and terrible darkness over the whole land for three hours. It should remind us of the ninth plague, which was a darkness that can be felt (Exod 10:21-29). It speaks of the absence of God's light, where there is sin and rebellion against him; and of the Day of the Lord, which will be darkness, not light... pitch dark, without a ray of brightness (Amos 5:18) when judgement falls on unbelievers. (Isa 13:9-11) At the cross God's judgement on our sin was burning itself out in a way we cannot fathom.

All we know is that Jesus, in his agony, cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" – words that again take us back to Psalm 22:1. Jesus had entered that darkness, so that he might rescue us. He felt abandoned by God – he was forsaken – yet still calls upon him as my God. We must believe that not for a moment had his Father stopped loving his Son – (John 10:17,18) but his silence then, reflects the awful length God had to go, to rescue us from his own judgement.

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor 5:19,21) By means of Jesus' willing self-offering, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, laying on him the iniquity of us all. Only by this exchange could his righteousness be transferred to us, through faith in him – so that we may be adopted as God's sons and daughters, and made inheritors of eternal life.

Matthew concludes this account of Jesus' death, by telling us "Jesus cried out in a loud voice, [and] gave up his spirit." (Mt 27:50) John goes further and gives us the words Jesus shouts, "It is finished!" – which can be equally translated, "It is accomplished!" or "It is paid!" After that Jesus is able to dismiss his spirit into his Father's hands.

Finally Matthew gives 3 witnesses to what the death of Jesus has accomplished for us who have committed our lives to him.
The temple curtain – that separated the innermost Holy of Holies from the outer Holy room, that none might pass through except the High Priest, once a year, with the blood of atonement – was torn apart, from top to bottom. This curtain was 18 metres high and a hand's breadth in thickness. This was God's way of announcing that henceforth the way was open for all believers, into his very presence, through Jesus' shed blood.

The centurion in charge of the execution squad gave this testimony of Jesus, "Surely he was the Son of God!" Whatever content that man put into his words at that moment, Matthew's readers are to see in this man's confession the words of faith we and multitudes down the years were to say! Here is the very first token of the Gentile harvest to come!

And finally there is that extraordinary description of what happened to many dead believers, buried around Jerusalem. But it only happened after Jesus himself was raised from death to life. An earthquake at the time of Jesus' death split open their tombs and these believers were subsequently seen alive within the city by many people. What a testimony to the significance and power of Jesus' death and resurrection!