Love Overcomes - the Crucifixion

How did we get here?

Today, we sit here together to remember Jesus Christ, Son of God, crucified by sinners, for sinners. That is why. Let’s us remind ourselves then of how, how did we get here? Why did Jesus have to die?

Genesis 3:1–7 ESV

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

R.C Sproul says about this: “Sin is essentially failure to trust in God. It is an act or state of unbelief, and an assertion of autonomy [that one is outside the will and power of God]. Sin manifests itself in both doing what God has forbidden and failing to do what He has commanded… nakedness in the OT suggests weakness, need and humiliation. Redemption is linked to God providing a covering for their nakedness.”

Sin is human rebellion, the fruit of which is indifference to the laws of God and His rule. It’s a betrayal of God’s trust and relationship with Him. The consequences of sin sometimes draw out within the sinner remorse but not repentance for our nakedness.

And we are not removed- we make memes on facebook about “if only Eve didn’t eat that fruit” “this is all Eve’s fault” no friends, make no mistake- you would have eaten that fruit. Every day you make the same decision that she did- you fail to trust perfectly in God.

The purpose of the rest of what follows in scripture is God’s intent to restore us to into right relationship with Him. This is done through what we read about today of the death and sacrifice of Jesus- obediance on our behalf- but also requires repentance on our behalf, the believer- repentance is obedience through faith in God.

When Jesus begins His ministry, he calls us to repent and believe. This doesn’t mean that our belief is insufficient without repentance (not faith by works), but rather belief without repentance is not genuine belief- it lacks obedience, and therefore not true belief at all.

Both belief and repentance are required. Repentance is also different to remorse. You can be sorry about your sin, sorry for the consequences, or the state of things- the world, your family, your relationships, but repentance requires change. A change in attitude toward your sin and genuine pursuit of God.

We are going to walk through Matthew 27 today, I think you could preach this passage a dozen ways but we’re going to look at some key themes and we will start with this,

Remorse vs Repentance

Matthew uses narrative in his crucifixion account to create contrasting stories and actions of the characters. One of these contrasts is the story of Peter and Judas.

Peter is warned by Jesus, ch. 26, that he would deny Jesus by the morning before the rooster crows, three times. Peter, with a concuction of both genuine love and loyalty mixed with pride, denies it. “I’m Peter, you said I’m the rock on which you’ll build your church- I’ll never betray you!”

Giving Peter credit, he is the only follow of Jesus who risks his safety and get close enough to Jesus once He is arrested- other than Judas who betrayed him.

He gets recognised though and, sure enough, denies Jesus- three times. Immediately upon the third denial, the rooster crows and Peter is engulfed with guilt and the chapter ends with Peter weeping bitterly. Later, Jesus would restore Peter to his role as an Apostle.

Then you get the account of Judas.

Matthew 27:1–3 ESV

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. Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders,

Judas agreed to betray Jesus for a sum of thirty pieces of silver. We read in the Gospels that it was likely Judas had a real greed around finances. Yet, upon seeing Jesus condemned he “changes his mind”, now that phrase is occasionally interrpreted as repentance but not very often, and it isn’t the more common word for repentance that isn’t here.

Something within him is grieving him though and he attempts to atone-

Matthew 27:4–6 “saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.””

Judas is grieved by his betrayal of Jesus, we see that- but where does he turn? He attempts to atone in the eyes of men. Judas “sees” Jesus is condemned, it is reasonable to think he is there; in the room with Jesus, the High priests and elders as they bring this judgement-or he atleast watches as they take Jesus away to Pilate. He wasn’t notified by a FB update on his phone. He is there.

Instead of interrupting the scene, running out and falling at the feet of Jesus and begging for forgiveness, he lurks in the shadows and when it is convenient, hecomes and seeks to declare his righteousness, his ability to right wrongs by returning the silver, before the men whom gave it to him. And he is rejected.

So, whilst Peter showed repentance, Judas had only remorse-

Matthew–Luke Response

… we observe that the sins of Judas and Peter have a similar gravity but a different outcome. Judas acts deliberately, while Peter falls into sin due to unwarranted self-confidence, but the greater issue is that Judas only feels remorse while Peter repents. Bare remorse turns inward and brings condemnation, while repentance turns upward and finds God’s grace.

If Judas had remorse to his wrong doing, the Pharisees showed indifference to their sin. Look at the words they use; they call Judas’ bribe “blood money”. They know it was, at best, underhanded- if not corrupt and wrong- and they try sweep it under the carpet without a care or concern.

Indifference to Sin

They use this phrase when speaking to Judas- “See to it yourself (Judas’ Atonement)” but also they say, “what is it to us?”

This type of indifference appears throughout our narrative- Judas’ bribe, the blood money, cleansing of the money through buying an old field, choosing barabbas (a murderer) and then Pilate, literally washing his hands (perfect imagery)- everyone involved in Jesus’ death know it is wrong. And they do nothing about it.

Matthew–Luke Comment

This is their affair. They paid the bribe; they know Jesus is innocent; they should see to the forgiveness of sins. Like Pilate at

In chapter 26, we see this sham trial, false witnesses used to conjour up something out of Jesus to have him killed. They arrested him but don’t have any real charge. They know it’s wrong- they just don’t care!

Indifference to your sin, quickly leads you to a place of self-righteousness. Like Adam and Eve, you fail to hold the laws of God without any real gravity. They don’t mean much if God means little to you, you have no fear of God as judge. So, without much care, you start to determine what is right in your own eyes- that’s self-righteousness. Doesn’t matter what God has said. Then all of a sudden- you’ve become the judge.

They judged Jesus like they were God.

Let me remind you- these are God’s own people

Matthew 27:9–10 ESV

Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”

Jeremiah prophesised that some of the “sons of Israel” are those who set the price of the Messiah to be arrested. Not only are these men God’s people, but those He has called into positions of responsibility and spiritual leadership over His people and therefore to the world.

The danger for us, in this narrative- is to hold the characters at arms length and not see ourselves in the story.

We are not free from the complicity of sin, we are all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, following along in a walk of indifference to our sin and therefore to God. We brush off our sin. Don’t care for the harshness of our words. We ignore the pang of conviction of our sin until the consequences might hurt us- and even then! Or we ignore the compelling call of the Holy Spirit to obedience- because we are obsessed to fulfill our own vision. Sometimes we just don’t care and we steam roll one another in ouir own self-righteousness for our own sake. Sometimes, like these religious leaders, we’ll attempt to steamroll God, out of our way! to get what we want. We brush him aside.

Yet, the prophecy from Jeremiah reminds us that all is unfolding according to the Will of God. Matthew shows this well over the rest of the chapter.

Matthew 27:11–14 “Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.” But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. 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.”

In Chapter 26, the chief priests and the elders accuse Jesus of blasphemy. This is because Jesus claimed that He would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days- he was of course talking about his own body, his death. He affirms that he is the Messiah but not the one they’re hoping for. This is blasphemy to the priests.

However, blasphemy is not a crime for which Pilate and the romans would kill a man. So they twist it. Pilate asks Jesus a specific question- “Are you the King of the Jews?” This is related to how the priests accused Jesus before Pilate., Luke records this in more detail in his account.

Luke 23:2 “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.””

There is some truth in what they are saying- which always makes for a great lie.

Jesus is a king- but not one that threatens to forcibly remove Pilate or Caesar. But they don’t care. They’ll twist, warp and change truth to suit their agenda and most importantly- justify themselves.

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Then, perhaps the most absured part of the text, outside of Jesus death is this:

Matthew 27:15–26 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?” For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. 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.” Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” 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!” Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

The narrative account of Jesus’ crucifixion is littered with crossroads moments. It wasn’t one moment that lead to His condemnation but multiple. Each time the characters involved could have chosen to end the madness to the condemnation of an innocent man- but they don’t. This is likely due to both, God’s will, but also the sinfulness of man.

We can assume, Pilate is pursuaded Jesus is innocent. There other Gospel accounts which record Pilate as saying they are no foundations for the charges against him. He knows it is envy motivating the priests. Add to that, Jesus’ silence and the dream of his wife and his attempt to offer the crowd a way out finsihed with him not approvinbg the crucifixion but stepping away. But He is the governor, he can waive Jesus’ charges and end it- but he is a coward- too concerned with his political standing and own preservation to pursue justice. “see to it yourselves” just like the priests and elders.

Each year, Pilate would free a prisoner at Passover. Now of course he offers to pardon Jesus- but pardon him of what? He isn’t guilty. He can just set him free, that’s his right as govenor. The role of this tradition was to set a prisoner free who has been charged with a crime and found guilty, awaiting punishment!

So, as I read this, it seems to me that he delibrately gets the most vile, evil, notorious prisoner he had because surely then- they’d pick Jesus to be released. If Jesus is released then the people can sort it out- not my problem.

Pilate of course doesn’t want to release Barabbas. Barabbas is presented as a rebel to Pilate’s own rule. He is expecting the crowd to do the logical, right thing- pick Jesus, a man who may be despised, hated by the priests but is actually innocent.

And they choose Barabbas.

They choose a murderous man, a theif and a brigand who, in some accounts, is associated with an insurrection in the city. And here is a Roman Official, releasing a criminal who violently resisted his own rule- over an innocent man.

A murder, thief, insurrectionist, over a healer, forgiver and teacher.

One who took life over the One who gives it.

Even the Roman, pagan woman- wife of the Govenor could see Jesus is innocent and a righteous man- but instead God’s people, they choose their own Messiah to die!

It even says the priests “persuaded” the crowds to choose Barabbas. When Pilate seeks to distance himself from the insanity, they draw closer, Matt writes that all the people answered, “[this innocent man] His blood be on us and on our children!” It’s absurd! Sin makes you blind to sin.

It seems ridiculous- and yet Jesus, remains silent. Like a lamb, led before the slaughter, he makes not a sound.

Jesus could have saved himself but He instead kept his mouth shut … to die ... for you. Isn’t that crazy?

Let’s make it more crazy- I’ve highlighted throughout our verses these two words- betray and deliver. They’re the same Greek word: paradidomi which literally means to hand over; deliver; betray. Not deliver like Uber Eats, but deliver like to sell out someone’s position to give them over to destruction.

But the thing is- a stranger can’t sell you out- they have nothing on you. They can’t betray you as they owe you nothing, there is no relationship or trust to betray. It is friends, dear friends or family who can betray you. And it is this word, betrayal that appears 15 times through chapters 26 & 27. I think Matthew is trying to tell us something.

Betrayal

Jesus wasn’t just condemned to die a criminals death- he was betrayed to it. Betrayed by His own creation. People, made in the image of Jesus- sought to destroy the image of Jesus.

His chosen people whom he came to redeem also cried “we want Barabbas! Give us Barabbas!”

Jesus looked upon his accusers, the bloodthirsty crowd, and said in His heart- “I’d die for you”. He looked upon the guards as they beat Him and mocked Him and said “I’d die for you” and they literally spat in His face.

Yet it was for their sake he was to be crucified.

*communion helpers* as we remember this scene and the impossible perplexity of God’s love you for.

Jesus, Son of God, was crucified for the rebellion of Barabbas, for the self-righteousness and pride of the priests, for the selfishness and greed of Judas, for the fearfulness of Peter and the cowardice of Pilate.

And don’t be complacent, we are not removed from this story, looking back through history at a distance- no friends, we are in it.

We are complicit. We stand condemned. If we ate the fruit, you best believe we would have shouted the jeers and driven the nails.

We are self-rightous like the priests, selfish and greedy like Judas, loyal but fearful like Peter, cowardly like Pilate and hateful like Barabas … and Jesus looked at each of us and said, “I’d die for you.”

Were you the only one on the plant, “I’d die for you”

We paid the bribe and we are the ones who took it. We washed our hands of Jesus’ blood but also the ones who shed it. We are the ones who scoff at Eve’s lack of self-control as she ate the fruit but are the ones who experience the sweet taste of rebellion and self rule on our own lips.

But we didn’t plan for this. For without a willingness to die for us, all our efforts would have rendered us nought but condemned. It was our sin they brought him to it, but only Christ’s love for us that saw the job complete.

“Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy—but the Father for love.” Octavius Winslow

Love overcomes. Not works. Not effort. Not grit or will power. The loving sacrifice of a father and his Son’s willing obedience.

Love Overcomes

How did we get here? Forgiven and redeemed? It was love that overcame the indifference, false remorse and betrayal.

Jesus stood before His accuses, silent. Not that different from the start of Jesus’ ministry when He was tempted. Satan mocked Him, mocked His power- Jesus spoke then if confidence of His calling, but He could have vanquished Satan with a Word. Destroyed the accuser- but he didn’t.

Here, in the shadow of the cross He could have revealed himself right then and there with miracles and power. Broken free from the suffering and condemnation before himself. But he doesn’t.

And you and I can’t even control the words that come out of our mouths.

In the end, no one took Jesus life from him, he laid himself down, gave himself up- just as he promised. And He did it for you.

To the cross his body nailed, but also our sins.

He was pierced for your transgressions. He was crushed for your iniquities. Every sin you’ve ever committed is like a hammer blow driving the nails into Jesus’ hands and feet. Your pride. Your anger. Your unforgiveness. Your idolatry. Your lust. Your laziness. Your gossip. Your slander. Your greed. Your envy. Your lies and mistruths. Your foolishness. Your rebellion. Jesus died because of you. Because of your indifference, because of your betrayal.

He gave his body as he gave his life- to set you free from sin so ou may experience the fullness of life and life in eternity.

Let me tell you of one more crazy thing. Jesus died for you.

The earliest manuscripts of Matthew’’s Gospel record Barabbas’ full name- Jesus Barabbas. It’s likely that later translaters removed ‘Jesus’ from his name out of shame or anger. And it’s not unlikely, Jesus was actually a very common name at the time and fits the idea of Jesus being an average looking and standing man. And no one would have added it in.

So, Jesus, Son of God, took Jesus Barabbas’ place. Do you know what the name Barabbas means? Literally, “The son of the father”. I bet the irony is not lost on you either.

Jesus Christ, Son of God, died in Barabbas’ place, your place, so that people like Barabbas, like you, could become true Sons of the Father.

His blood, shed for you, to wash to white as snow. To wash away the sins and restore you, as a child of God, sons and daughters of the King. Let’s drink as a sign of unity- one in Christ Jesus.