Two Men March toward Death - Matthew 27:1-31
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In the Shakespearean play MacBeth, you might remember that after MacBeth and Lady MacBeth murder King Duncan of Scotland.
Lady Macbeth, with the blood of Duncan on her hands, set to washing them. Though they had framed their servants for the death of Duncan, she knew her guilt, and every time she looked at her hands she saw the blood on them.
Washing and washing and washing, she said, “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?”
Her husband, MacBeth, also acclaimed
“will all great Neptune’s oean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incardine, Making the green run red.”
In other words, the whole ocean could not wash away the guilt on their hands.
Nothing they could do could make their wrong right. Nothing they could do could make their sin disappear. Nothing they could do could wash away that proverbial stain on their hands.
And so it is in the account we read today, for Judas Iscariot finds himself in a place of remorse, in a place of regret, but finds himself without atonement.
A pivotal question lies before us today as we consider this account. What can wash away our sins?
You may be an honest enough person to admit you are imperfect, you may be an honest enough person even to admit that you have done gravely wrong. But what attempts have you made to atone for that sin, and to what avail have they been?
The regret of unrighteousness can never pay for wrong done, but the blood of one spotless Lamb is sufficient.
The regret of unrighteousness can never pay for wrong done, but the blood of one spotless Lamb is sufficient.
1. Judas - Vs. 1-10
1. Judas - Vs. 1-10
We have already seen, of course, that Judas was prophesied to be the one to betray his Lord. We know this as being part of Redemption’s plan, but we have also considered that while it was part of the sovereign plan, Judas did what Judas wanted to do.
Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’
Jesus applied this prophetic psalm to Judas Himself. But Judas, as we saw in chapter 26, and other places in scripture, Judas was disillusioned and disappointed with the ministry of Jesus, and he was more concerned with financial gain than eternal gain.
We find him here, in this passage, though, in a period of regret.
I Think that Matthew places this story of Judas here because it is juxtaposed between two other stories.
One, it is on the heel’s of Peter’s denial of Jesus. Again, Peter went as low as a follower of Jesus can go. But upon Peter’s realization, we find tears of true repentance. We find Peter go on to love and serve the Lord Jesus in His forgiveness.
With Judas, however, we find no such story.
Matthew also places this account right before the very details of Jesus’ trials and crucifixion. You see, both men were marching toward death, but for very different reasons.
Judas would take his own life in remorse for his sin. Jesus would lay down his own life for the sins of others.
A. His Realization
A. His Realization
The first details in the chapter show us Jesus being handed over to the Gentiles, just as he had predicted. They also show us, though, that the chief priests and elders were unified in their decision to put Jesus to death.
When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.
These Chief Priests and elders are mentioned here, probably because they also play a very important role in Judas’ story.
Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.
Now, though, we find Judas reconsidering. Had he not understood what he had done?
Esau, seeking repentance with tears but couldn’t find it. Seeking repentance because he regretted his decision, he wanted the birthright.
B. His regret
B. His regret
You see, Matthew carefully words what he records about Judas here. The idea of repentance has been all throughout his Gospel record, and almost every time he uses one word for repentance.
Here, though, he uses a word that is slightly different. I believe he does that on purpose, because he shows that Judas’ remorse and change of mind is not a change toward righteousness, but simply a change of regret.
It is possible to be completely honest about sin.
saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”
It is possible to be honest even about Jesus’ innocence.
Judas was honest about sin, and he was honest about his wrong. But his change of mind did not seek forgiveness, it sought a kind of atonement that ended up empty.
Giving back the money.
Taking his own life.
Matthew’s quote of Jeremiah and Zechariah.
A number of thematic parallels to what we find in Judas. The price of a man, thirty pieces of silver. The connection of the potter, the money being thrown into the house of the Lord. A pattern of turning from God and betrayal, that find their ultimate point in the rejection an betrayal of Jesus.
Judas rejected Jesus
The leaders rejected Jesus.
The picture of a shepherd, Jesus as the good shepherd. What does the good shepherd do?
There is no atonement in simply reversing an action.
There is no atonement in the shedding of your own blood.
There is no atonement in confessing to authorities.
There is no hope in evil acquaintances.
Where will you find hope in your guilt?
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
Apart from true repentance toward God, and faith in Jesus christ, there is no atonement for wrong or guilt. There is no reversal of sins. There is no forgiveness.
There is despair.
2. Jesus - Vs. 11-31
2. Jesus - Vs. 11-31
Pilate was the sixth Roman procurator of the region of Judea. Pilate was known for being entirely insensitive to the Jews.
It is interesting to think of this when we see PIlate in the Gospel records, because he seems to take great care in the trial of Jesus and even vouches for his innocence and seeks acquittal for him. Perhaps Pilate was simply seeking to not do what the Jews wanted him to, but even if that’s the case, he was right in his words.
What were the accusations against Jesus? Matthew shortens his account here, and focuses on Jesus’ claims to be the Messiah and King.
And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
It seems the people were throwing the proverbial spaghetti on the walls, seeing what would stick. The first two accusations there, of course, were false. but the others were not only true, but the very point of Jesus’ coming.
A. His Silence
A. His Silence
What stands out in verses 11-14 is Jesus’ relative silence. You see, while he admitted that Pilate was right on the one account, that he was in fact King, he did not defend himself against any of the false charges.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
You see, Jesus had resigned himself faithfully and willingly to the plan of Redemption, to the will of the Father, to full and total obedience.
His silence was not giving up, his silence was a calmness of assurance that whatever false accusations were made, they would not stick. But regardless, his death was not only imminent but absolutely essential.
And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”
Jesus’ willingness to simply lay down his life, to not defend himself was an act of obedience to the Father, but it was also a testimony to Pilate.
Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.
I want you to consider, that though there were many means that brought Jesus to his death
the hatred of him by the Jewish leaders
the betrayal of Jesus
the incitement of the crowds that called for his death
the very will of God
Through all this, Jesus as taking on human flesh, humbling himself in becoming a man, went to the cross willingly.
B. His Sinlessness
B. His Sinlessness
There were four elements of a Roman trial. The Romans were masters of the procedure of law, and the way things played out was always very orderly and succint
a Charge
evidence
defense
a verdict
We find all these elements in various accounts in the Gospel records, and while Matthew shortens it, we can really see it there.
Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.”
And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?”
For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.
Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.
Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”
When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”
It is amazing that while the crowds were crying “crucify him,” probably mostly in a frenzy as they had been stirred up by the chief priests and elders (verse 20), that the gentile governor, who was known for being malicious and evil, was declaring the truth and Christ’s innocence.
There is also a unique scene mentioned here concerning Pilate’s wife.
Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.”
What a profound statement.
“That righteous man...”
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
You see, this account is here, not so much to tease us as in a story that there was hope that Jesus might be acquitted - no, he was marching to death by his own accord and the sovereign plan of God. But this account serves to show that Jesus’ death was totally the death of an innocent, righteous man. And it was not his own testimony that proved his innocence, but the very testimony of those who tried him. Those who had no skin in the game for his innocence other than the orderly outworking of the system of law.
The sinless, righteous man. The only one. Pilate’s wife said more than she probably even knew. Of any person that might have been aquitted in a Roman court, of any person who has ever been aquitted or pronounced innocent in any court of law, there is only one man of whom not only was he not guilty of crimes, but had not even one stitch of guilt or sin to his own account.
Yet, he took our sin. He absorbed them, and absorbed the punishment due.
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
C. His Scourging
C. His Scourging
Scourging was one of the means of Rome’s judicial penalties. They were masters not only of orderly law, but also of punishment. Hence the cross.
A sever beating with a whip with many strands, usually with pieces of bone or metal within the strands.
This was the first blood shed by others in the Passion of Jesus, and it is significant that the account of it is here in verse 26. Because just previously, this was the testimony given.
So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
Interestingly, though, they had been warned in a verse we already read.
saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”
“See to it yourselves...”
The leaders offered no remorse at Judas’ testimony, they saw no problem with the guilt of deception. And they would have those very words spoken to them.
“The blood be on us and our children.”
Macbeth, blood on hands. No atonement.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
D. His Shame
D. His Shame
The final scene in Matthew before the crucifixion is this Coronation scene.
Contrast Triumphal Entry
And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
All along Matthew’s theme has been the Kingdom, and Christ as King. Here, the King is mocked by the very picture of what he actually is.
An awful crown of thorns pressed into his head.
The one who deserved highest honor, receiving utmost shame.
As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
I said at the beginning that this passage poses a very pivotal question for us. What can wash away sins?
Judas blood on his hands
The people’s blood on their hands.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.