The Son and the Governor

Call to Worship: Psalm 96:4-6 // Prayer:

Adoration: We give thanks to you, our Father, for your holy name that you have made to dwell in our hearts. We give thanks to you for the knowledge, the faith, and the true life that you revealed to us in your Son, Jesus. To you be glory forever! You’ve made all things for your name’s sake, and at the same time you’ve delighted to give us food and drink for our enjoyment, that we might turn back and give thanks to you. But more than this, you’ve delighted to give us the True Food and True Drink of your Son, given for us. Above all, we give thanks to you. To you be glory forever!

Confession: And yet also, we cry out to you from the wilderness of this world: it is a good world, but also cursed, and also marred with sin, and we are sinners in it. Have mercy on us, Father, for we have sinned in many ways: we have sins of fear in forgetting your grace, and sins of selfishness in forgetting your glory; we have sins of lust in forgetting your beauty, and sins of pride in forgetting your power. Father, forgive us, for we have sinned against you.

Thanksgiving: Yet, again, we remember that we have eaten and we have drunk of your Son by faith—he who is True Food and True Drink—and so we have forgiveness and life and your own fatherly love made sure to us; Jesus lives and so shall we—the sting of death is gone forever!

Supp: And so this morning we ask, remember your church—we who walk in this wilderness—to deliver us from evil and to perfect us in your love; and as we grow in love, strengthen our hands also to serve one another in every way in your power, and our mouths to speak to one another with your words, and our hearts to point one another back to your grace and glory // and strengthen not only us, Father, but also our brothers and sisters up in Bethany Baptist Church, with your power and your love as they walk through the various seasons of joy and sorrow that you have appointed in their lives // and in our community, we bring before you the mayors of Hillsboro, Beaverton, and Tigard: we ask your blessing on them and their families, most especially for their salvation; and we ask that in all their governing activities you would provoke them along with the counsels of our cities toward wisdom and justice, that we might be able to lead quiet lives in our community, free to share the good news of Jesus // and finally, we pray for our brothers and sisters in India; we think of Ramesh, who taught our Sunday School class several months ago, and his heart’s desire to see Christianity grow in health and in depth there, and his own resolve to return and to give the rest of his life to that work: we ask that you would strengthen his hand for the task, and others like him, for the good of your church in India, and for the glory of your name // and now, we ask for your light in our hearts as we open your word, that its treasures might be ours as I preach it for us…

Announcements

New Sunday School series on making decisions and knowing God’s will—starting next week at 10 am!

March 23rd at 7 pm—that’s a Monday evening—there’s an apologetics event at Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Aloha. Astrophysicist Dr. Jason Lisle will be giving a talk called, “Science Confirms Biblical Creation”…

Benediction

2 Thessalonians 3:5 ESV

May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

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Intro

We’ve been going, for several weeks now, through what’s called the Passion of Jesus—roughly, the time from his passover feast with the disciples up to his death on the cross.

And so far, we’ve seen his prayers of agony in the garden, and then him betrayed by Judas, deserted by his disciples, denied by Peter, and put on false trial by the leaders of Jerusalem. And in all of that, we’ve had a front-row seat: we’ve been viewers and listeners through Matthew’s Gospel.

But Matthew, in the way that he wrote this, has invited us to do more than just listen and see—more than just hold this story at arms length and examine it as a spiritual curiosity. He has invited us, in fact, to place ourselves in it. How so? Well, the truths we are learning as we go through Matthew’s gospel are not “out there” truths, floating somewhere on a cloud. No: they are truths that define both us and the whole world around us.

But so then, how do we actually place ourselves in this story? How can we get Matthew’s truth about ourselves? And not only that, but how does it help us understand the spiritual reality about others around us? For example: how do our neighbors relate to Matthew’s Gospel? Or, how about modern Jews and modern Gentiles?

And since we are at the climax of the gospel now—the passion account, where Jesus is killed—that question comes with an edge. It becomes more focused. The general question, “How do we place ourselves and others in this story?” becomes the question, “Who among us is guilty for the death of Jesus?”

And if that seems a bit shocking to you, I think you’ll see it as we go: today’s passage will help us both to ask and to answer the question: “Who is guilty for the death of Jesus?”

The Story

The Setup: Accusations Before Pilate

Now, a brief reminder about where we are at in the overall story: Jesus has just been condemned to death by the Priestly Counsel under the cover of darkness. They pronounced, back in chapter 26 verse 66, “He deserves death.”

But then they had a problem: Israel was not a sovereign nation at that time. It was occupied by the Roman empire. And as a Roman province, it’s national leaders—these elders and chief priests—didn’t have the legal authority to actually carry out a death sentence.

So they’ve just condemned Jesus to death, but now they need Rome to agree—or at least, to give permission—before they can carry out the execution. Specifically, they need this from the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. That’s why, at the beginning of this chapter, it says that “they bound [Jesus] and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.” They needed Pilate’s permission before they could crucify him.

Yet also, as we approach this trial, it’s important to remember what’s happened to Jesus so far. And, just to be a little provocative, I’ll put it this way:

So far, Jesus has experienced the failure of every Jewish person around him: the failure of his disciples fleeing into the night, the failure of Peter denying him, the failure of Judas betraying him, and the total failure of the leaders of Israel in their mad rush to kill their True King.

But now, as we begin this passage, perhaps there is hope for us: Jesus’ fate seems to be no longer in the hands of his fellow Jews, but now in the hand of this Gentile, Pilate. Perhaps, we might think, this non-Jew will succeed where the Jews have failed.

And yes, we just read this passage… so technically, you all just heard how it ends. But if you were to suspend your knowledge for a moment, that’s where we are at: We know what the disciples and the Jerusalem leaders have done; but here’s a Roman: Pontus Pilate. Maybe he’ll be different; maybe he’ll stop this madness.

And so the trial before the Roman Governor Pilate begins. And in the first verse, verse 11, Jesus is already a mystery to Pilate.

Pilate asks Jesus, very straightforwardly:

Matthew 27:11 ESV

“Are you the King of the Jews?”

And Jesus answers cryptically, “You have said so.”

In other words, there’s truth in the words of your question, but I’m not the kind of king you’re thinking of.

But then, in verse 12, the Jerusalem leaders launch into their accusations. And Pilate’s response in verse 13 gives you the sense that it was quite an impressive array of allegations. But Jesus remains silent in the face of it all, just as he was silent at the first trial. As Isaiah had predicted about Jesus centuries before this all took place:

Isaiah 53:7 ESV

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.

Jesus remained silent in order to complete his road to the cross for our salvation. But here, his silence amazes Pilate, who says, verse 13:

Matthew 27:13 ESV

“Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?”

But Jesus doesn’t even answer Pilate when Pilate says this.

And the idea here is that Pilate can tell that Jesus’ silence is not from fear or guilt or arrogance or anything like that…

And so Pilate is dumbstruck. He is totally amazed by this mysterious king standing trial in front of him. He doesn’t know what to think of him.

Maneuver: Pilate’s Savvy and Plan

But what happens next is fascinating. Pilate has something up his sleeve: a clever political maneuver. Listen to how verses 15-17 describe it:

Matthew 27:15–17 ESV

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”

Do see what that is? It’s a political maneuver designed to get Jesus off the hook—released!

There was already a custom in place where Pilate would set free one prisoner of the crowd’s choice during the passover feast, and so now he sets things up to make that one prisoner be Jesus.

And he does this by tilting things in Jesus’ favor: he offers the crowd a choice between Jesus, on the one hand, and this notorious prisoner called Barabbas, on the other. And the fact that Barabbas was a, “notorious prisoner,” by the way, almost certainly means he was in prison for murder—probably multiple violent murders. He was probably the worst kind of thug around, and everyone knew it: he was notorious throughout the city, probably throughout the whole region.

And so, Pilate has maneuvered things to spare Jesus.

But why exactly? Pilate was certainly not known as a merciful governor. In fact, he had quite a reputation for cruelty.

Well, there are two things driving Pilate’s scheme here: first, his political savvy.

He’s seen a lot of politics before—he’s not the kind of man who takes things at face value or assumes that everyone is telling the truth. He’s a disillusioned gentile politician.

And coupled with that, he’s amazed at Jesus’ quiet and noble behavior as these chief priests and elders hurl their accusations at him. And so he sees through the situation. Verse 18 explains:

Matthew 27:18 ESV

For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.

He saw right through to their real motivation for accusing Jesus: jealousy.

But second, there was something far more haunting going on—enough to shake a hardened politician to the core: right in the middle of the trial, his wife sent him a message. Verse 19 records her words:

Matthew 27:19 ESV

“Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.”

So then, Pilate also has this supernatural knowledge—this truth from his wife’s dream—that Jesus is righteous. But it’s more than the mere fact of Jesus’ righteousness and innocence: it is knowledge sourced from his wife’s disturbing dream about this man in front of him—this man who just admitted to being some kind of king.

It’s interesting to note, here, that Pilate’s wife plays the opposite role of Adam’s wife, Eve. Eve pulled Adam with her into the original rebellion against God. But here, Pilate’s wife gives him exactly the truth and the advice he needs to hear to do what is right. Chrysostom explains that Pilate’s sympathy toward his wife’s suffering was meant to guide him away from participating in the murder of Christ.

Husbands, when your wife pleads with you with this kind of wisdom, it’s best to pay attention...

But so, both from seeing through to the envy of Jesus’ accusers, and from this news of his wife’s disturbing dream, Pilate is shaken up, amazed, disturbed, and sympathetic toward Jesus. Thus he sets off on this plan, this clever political maneuver, to save Jesus.

Counter-Maneuver: The Rigged, Murderous Crowd

But the trouble is this: the chief priests and the elders, apparently, are just as savvy. They see Pilate’s move coming, and they counter him by rigging the crowd. Somehow, they persuade the crowd to choose Barabbas instead of Jesus. And look at the language there in verse 20 that describes this:

Matthew 27:20 ESV

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.

That’s extreme language.

Notice, it doesn’t say that the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to let Jesus be destroyed—no. They persuaded the crowd, it says, to destroy Jesus. They persuaded the crowd to do everything in its power to cause Jesus to die, and even to become violently angry if Pilate did anything other than have Jesus die.

And so, verse 21 tells us what happens when Pilate tries his maneuver. It says:

Matthew 27:21 ESV

The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” [and the answer here is supposed to be: duh! Jesus!] And they said, “Barabbas.”

Pilate’s plan is beginning to slip between his fingers. So he tries a different tack in verse 22:

Matthew 27:22 ESV

Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!”

The crowd has gone mad with blood-thirsty anger, lead by the wicked envy of their leaders. But Pilate is truly invested in saving Jesus, and so he tries again, verse 23:

Matthew 27:23 ESV

And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”

Pilate’s pleas do not work, but only make things worse… and so it is that his savvy plan to save Jesus by political slight of hand has failed.

The Climax: Cowardice and Cursing

Savvy is good. Political maneuvers in the service of a good cause really can be a good thing… but there comes a point when no political options are left, or when you’ve been out-maneuvered by someone else. And that’s when a man’s metal is truly tested. Does he really love the people in his care? Is he really committed to justice?

God gave a sword to Pilate, metaphorically speaking. Of course, Pilate was a pagan from Rome, and so he didn’t know this. But as a government official, his authority was ultimately from God, and for the good of the people under him.

Romans 13:4 explains that government officials are—or at least, are supposed to be—“God’s servants for our good,” who do not bear the sword in vain, but are God’s servants to carry out God’s wrath on wrongdoers.

And so, here’s Pilate. And from God, Pilate’s responsibility as a governor is to defend the innocent from the unjust. And Pilate knows very clearly who is innocent and who is unjust in this situation. And what’s more, he’s got quite a few soldiers at his disposal…

And so, as his political maneuver fails, now there is a plain choice in front of him: appease the crowd, or defend the innocent. Perhaps Pilate will do better than all these others who have failed. Perhaps Rome will do better than Israel. Perhaps Gentile will do better than Jew. The next verse will tell us. It says:

Matthew 27:24 ESV

So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, [there’s the pressure to do evil—and what does he do?] he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”

There it is. Total collapse.

He could have gone against the crowds, but the cost to his own political career would have been too high.

It’s such an eerie scene. This proud Roman governor—who even had a reputation for violent cruelty against the people he governed—shaken and spooked by his own passive role in the death of the Righteous One.

Notice how he washes his hands while the crowd watches—it’s like he’s saying, “I’m innocent! I swear I’m innocent!” Haunted by his wife’s dream, haunted by the silent dignity of Jesus, haunted by his own cowardice, he washes his hands.

And then he follows through: in verse 26, it tells us that he released Barabbas, ordered Jesus to be scourged, and then he delivered Jesus over to be crucified. In the face of the angry mob, Pilate has utterly failed. He has failed, and so he has joined in the violence against Jesus.

Who is Guilty?

But now the question faces us again: Who exactly is guilty for the blood of Jesus? And someone might say, “Sure, all these folks have played different parts, but who is really guilty here?” How do we relate to this story, and what does it tell us about the different kinds of people around us?

And if we’re asking that question, we must factor in vs. 25. It reads:

Matthew 27:25 ESV

And all the people [that’s a crowd of Jewish people specifically] answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

What should we do with that? Some people have explained it as a curse which the Jewish people placed on themselves and on their children, so that Jews are uniquely responsible for Jesus’ death and thus uniquely cursed down to this day.

But does that interpretation work? Actually, it falls apart quite quickly.

First, before we even get to the Bible: Who is listed as uniquely guilty for the death of Jesus in the creeds of the early church—the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed? What do we say twice a month? Jesus, “was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.” Meaning, Jesus was crucified under the governance of Pontius Pilate, who had the ultimate power in the situation, and should have used it to defend him. No mention in the creeds of Jewish guilt.

But second, and more importantly, this idea that the Jewish people carry a unique guilt for the death of Jesus doesn’t hold up to biblical scrutiny. Bad interpretations of verses tend to dissolve when you read them in context. And in this case, when it comes to the blood-guilt of Jesus’ death, notice all the characters we’ve met in the last few weeks who try to trade this guilt around: First, it was the chief priests vs. Judas: Judas wanted to get rid of the blood money but the priests wouldn’t take it. And now it’s Pilate vs. the crowd: Pilate is trying to claim innocence here while washing the blood off his hands, and in the very next verse, the crowd receives the blood in a frenzy of bloodthirsty words: “His blood be on us and on our children!”

And so it’s not that the crowd is uniquely cursed or uniquely guilty. All these characters are guilty. The only difference is that the crowd is riled up enough that unlike the chief priests and the elders and Pilate, they don’t try to pretend it away. And then, if we’re faithful to Matthew’s story line, who else is guilty? The disciples, who down to a man either deserted or denied their Lord. In short, there is only one innocent person in this whole account, and his name is Jesus, and the whole reason he kept silent and went willingly to his death was to save the guilty!

This is why the early church father Chrysostom wrote this about the Jewish crowd. He said: “Nevertheless, the Lover of Man [that is, Jesus], though they acted with so much madness, both against themselves, and against their children, [Jesus,] so far from confirming their sentence upon their children, confirmed it not even on them, but from the one and from the other received those that repented, and counts them worthy of good things beyond number.”

In other words, like everyone else, the crowd was guilty, and like everyone else, the crowd could be saved by turning to Jesus—which many did, by the way, as recorded in Acts chapter 2.

You know, the Church has long struggled between two opposite errors: antisemitism—that is, looking down on Jewish people—and Israel-idolizing: that is, failing to see Jewish people as—like everyone else—first and foremost people who need the gospel. And really, that’s what’s at stake here: the gospel.

The primary focus of our passage this morning is on Pilate’s guilt, not the guilt of the Jewish crowd. And you can see that in the fact that the whole narrative is centered on Pilate’s actions and comes to a climax at the moment that Pilate folds, with this haunting image of him trying to wash Jesus’ blood off of his hands before he orders him flogged and crucified. The whole point of this passage is Gentile guilt in Jesus’ death.

And yet, the passages leading up, and in the backdrop of this passage also, is Jewish guilt.

So then, who does Matthew say—really, who does God say—is guilty? Everyone! And that’s the answer. How do you involve yourself in the story? Where do you place yourself? Among the guilty.

Frightened disciples; disloyal Peter; money-loving Judas; cold-hearted priests; sympathetic Pilate; angry crowds. Sinners all, though expressed in different ways. And we should never imagine we would have done differently. Johann Heermann, a 17th century German pastor, understood this when he wrote these words as he meditated on the crucifixion:

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee? It was my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee! 'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee; I crucified thee.

All of us are guilty in Adam, all of us guilty of Jesus’ blood… All! All! All! Gentile and Jew, murderous and friendly, all are guilty.

But here is where light glimmers through: because the crowd said what? “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” But Matthew’s already been teaching us to view Jesus’ crucifixion as the slaying of the True Passover Lamb. And what does it mean to put the blood of the passover lamb upon your household? It means redemption for you and your children! That’s how the logic of the book of Exodus with the story of the passover lamb works out! And so, there in verse 25, that horrifying self-curse that the maddened crowd called down on itself was actually at the same time a ironic pointer to their salvation: they were are involved with the blood of Jesus, in that moment of guilt… but if they later repented, the blood of Jesus would be upon them FOR THEIR SALVATION.

And I hope you can see by now: that’s not just them. It’s also true for us: no one can avoid this. Stone-hearted like the chief priests, crazed like the crowds, sympathetic like Pilate; gentile or Jew, whatever. All have the same choice: will you look to him for life, so that his blood will redeem you? It is the only way to be freed from the guilt of your sins.

Kids: you know, it’s good to grow up in a Christian home—that’s the most common way that people hear the gospel and believe: through parents and grandparents! But at the same time, this account shows you that you yourself must look to Jesus: you yourself must look to Jesus and live.

And really, missions and evangelism come down to this also: realizing that there are only these two kinds of people in the world: the world’s not really divided between gentile and Jew; it’s divided between guilty and forgiven. And when you see that, you are impelled to take the gospel to the nations, whoever they may be, and to your neighbors, whoever they may be… so that they might be forgiven and become true worshipers of God.

You know, our culture is working overtime to make us see other people primarily according to tribes: ethnic tribes, gender tribes, political tribes, lifestyle tribes, cultural tribes, economic tribes, and more. But what we’ve seen in God’s Word this morning boils down to a command to see people primarily as souls who must either look to Jesus and live or never find spiritual life at all… and so, when we think about issues like racism and antisemitism, we’re really looking at issues that directly effect the gospel.

If we are a gospel-driven church, we cannot go there. When Jesus was put on trial, both Jerusalem and Rome failed him; both Jew and Gentile revealed just how deeply they needed salvation.

And just as all alike are guilty, so all alike can be saved by the blood of the passover lamb, who was slain for the redemption of a people from every tribe and tongue and nation. Gentile and Jew, hateful or sympathetic, or anything, the blood of Jesus upon you means life forever.