Gospel of Matthew Chapter 27 -- John Karmelich

1. My title for Chapter 27 is, “Giving the devil his due”.

a) That cliché’, means that one has to acknowledge that Satan has incredible power, resources and “cleverness” in his ability to deceive mankind.

b) God of course, limits his power, but that power is great nonetheless.

c) This is the chapter of the events leading up to Jesus death and the death itself.

d) The whole chapter has a tone of darkness and evil to it.

e) The expression “it is darkest before the dawn” is also appropriate here.

i) We are going to see the forces of evil at its worse prior to the resurrection.

2. This chapter is man’ (non-Christian-man) darkest hour, where they get to verbally and physically express their rebellion against Jesus.

a) The chapter is sort of an accumulation of people who refuse to bow down to Jesus.

b) We not only read of our Lord killed, but suffered and killed.

i) We’ll discuss the necessity of this suffering in this lesson.

c) We also read of Pontius Pilate, who in many ways represents those who want to be neutral about Jesus, but end up equally as guilty as those who hate Jesus.

i) The point is there is no neutrality allowed with Jesus, one is either “for him” or “against him” and your eternity destiny depends upon your answer.

3. Before I start on Chapter 27, I want to remind you of the primary purpose of these studies:

a) My primary mission is to teach how the bible applies to our lives.

b) One can teach the bible as history, the bible as factual, the bible as prophetic, etc.

i) I dabble in all of these areas through the studies.

c) My point is that this study is not meant as an all-inclusive history lesson on the events of Jesus suffering and crucifixion. I couldn’t fit that in 12 pages anyway!

d) Each week I pray for God to show me what He wants me to learn and what he wants me to pass on in these lessons. With that said, I try to include what I believe is most relevant.

e) As for this week’s lesson, it is mainly to understand why Jesus had to go through all of this and what that means to us on a moment-by-moment basis.

f) The second overriding thing is what to expect from “rebellious-man” and the rebellious demonic beings who don’t want to bow-the-knee to Jesus.

g) Remember Jesus said, “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you”. (John 15:20b, NKJV) We can count on that promise.

i) I’m a big believer in that “if you are not encountering any spiritual resistance, you may not be making a difference for Jesus”.

ii) Demonic forces and “rebellious-man” are only going to concentrate their efforts on those who oppose them. One sign that you are working for Jesus is to be aware of spiritual resistance. You don’t want to “bring it on”, just be aware it is there. If you don’t sense any resistance in the first place, pray to God if you are doing what he wants you to be doing in this moment of your life.

4. Chapter 27, Verse 1: Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. ² They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

a) In Verse 59 of the previous chapter, this same group looked for false evidence so that they “could” put Jesus to death. In Verse 1, they came to the “decision” to put him to death.

b) Personally, I see this meeting is about “how” they were going to get rid of Jesus.

c) As opposed to murdering Jesus themselves, they decided to turn him over to Pilate.

i) Legally, they were not allowed to enforce capital punishment. We read in their gospels, in their rage, that they tried to stone Jesus a few times. But, for the record, only the Roman Government could kill someone as punishment for a crime.

ii) They thought, “If the Romans crucify Jesus, then the people would reject Jesus as the Messiah as we are looking for someone to overthrow Rome”.

iii) Further, they understood the scripture of “cursed is the man who hangs on a tree”.

a) This is from Deuteronomy 21:23. Crucifixion “counts” as hanging from a tree. Their rational is “if Jesus is cursed, then he can’t be the Messiah”.

b) From the Christian point of view, Deut. 21:23 is correct: Jesus is “cursed” by hanging on the cross, as he took our sins upon himself.

d) The reason for their death sentence is that Jesus was growing in popularity at their expense. They saw Jesus as a threat to their “status quo” of religious power.

i) Remember Satan’s rebellion is based on the fact that he wanted to be worshipped as God, and thus he rebelled against God’s plan to have Jesus pay for our sins.

a) Isaiah said of Satan, “You (Satan) said in your heart… I will make myself like the Most High”… But you are (future prediction) brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. (Isaiah 13:13-15, NIV)

ii) People are not much different. Our egos want us to be noticed.

iii) There is a need for power and for recognition. Jesus threatened that power structure and thus the decision that he had to die.

iv) The world gives Jesus a death sentence by saying, “We don’t want you”. To worship you is to take away power from ourselves, and we don’t want that. While most people would deny that they want Jesus crucified, at the same time, they just wish “those religious Christians would just go away and leave us alone”. They come to the same conclusion as this council without even realizing it.

5. Verse 3: When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. ⁴ "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility." ⁵ So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

a) Here we have the “remorse” of Judas. One of the key words here is “innocent”. Judas realized that he has betrayed “innocent” blood. I don’t think Judas would have felt guilty about the betrayal if he had felt that Jesus had committed some great sin or a bad person.

b) Let me try to paraphrase Judas’ thoughts: “I followed Jesus because he was performing all of these miracles and I was convinced he was the Messiah. Our bible predicts that the Messiah will come one day and set up an eternal government. I want to be part of that and get in on the action. When I discovered that Jesus was setting up this “spiritual kingdom” and was not going to overthrow Rome. They wanted to kill Jesus and kill me. I need to do what have to do in order to save my own life.”

i) That was his fall. He thought he was “saving” his life by betraying Jesus.

ii) Jesus said, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39, NIV)

c) So why did Judas hang himself?

i) He felt guilty of “killing an innocent guy”. He could not live with that guilt so he went out and committed suicide. I don’t believe Judas felt he “killed God” as much as he felt remorse for killing an innocent human being.

ii) I may be very wrong here, but I also believe it was “demonic forces” that convinced Judas to kill himself. The only unforgivable sin is to deny Jesus as God. Suppose Judas never killed himself. Suppose later in his life, he realized he was wrong and he realized Jesus was God and asked God to forgive him of his sins.” Would Judas be saved at that point? This is a “what if” question, so we don’t know the answer.

iii) The reason I mention all of this is of the topic of demonic forces and suicide.

a) I am convinced that demonic forces like to kill people and if possible, encourage suicide. Think of all the modern killing spree’s where the gunman then goes and takes his or her own life. I am positive there are demonic forces behind those killings.

b) My point is, “A dead person cannot confess Jesus as Lord”. If Satan can kill you or get you to commit suicide, you cannot turn to Jesus or pray for others, or be a good witness for Christ.

c) My point about Judas is to consider the possibility that Satan wanted him dead as to not repent of sins. (I may be wrong about Judas, but I’m convinced I am right on this issue of demonic persecution.)

d) I should also mention a comment about Judas in the Book of Acts:

i) “With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.” (Acts 1:18 NIV)

ii) This is not a contradiction to Judas hanging. I am convinced that after a few days after his hanging, the branch broke and his body fell.

iii) My point is that when you study verses in the bible that sound contradictory, study them carefully and you often find they are complimentary.

6. Verse 6: 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." ⁷ So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners. ⁸ That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹ Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, ¹⁰ and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me."

a) If this section were not so sad, you would find it comical.

i) This same group of people who condemned Jesus to death was “worried” about what to do with the money Judas has returned.

ii) They didn’t want to violate their biblical rules on what can be used in the temple.

a) This was based on Deuteronomy 23:18, which in direct context is about not bringing harlot’s wages or Gentile’s offerings into the House of the Lord. That verse in its’ broader application, wouldn’t allow for “blood money”.

iii) It never ceases to amaze me how people can “rationalize” sin in order to clear their guilty conscious.

a) These guys understood it was murder as they called it “blood money”.

b) Yet somehow, “That was ok, but oh no, we can’t let Judas put thirty silver coins in the treasury because that would be wrong”.

c) People will often do “religious works” to help placate their guilt of sin.

d) It is their hope that in heaven “their good deeds will somehow outweigh their bad deeds” and God will accept them. It was wrong then, and now.

e) Jesus said we are to expect persecution. Later, those who commit such actions will find some way to “rationalize it away” with other acts.

b) Getting back to the text, one of the obligations of the Jewish people is to bury strangers who die in, or near their place of residence (town or city). (See Deuteronomy 21:1-9).

i) So they came up with this brilliant idea of “We can’t use Judas money in the temple, but maybe we can use it to cover some of our obligations.”

ii) This “potter’s field” was a dumping ground for used pottery and had little value. Therefore, wherever this place was, it was purchased with this money.

c) Matthew says “it has been called the Field of Blood to this day”

i) I suspect that the religious leaders were hoping to keep this land deal a secret.

ii) Yet, during the early rise of Christianity, this story became notorious.

iii) “You may be sure that your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:23b, NIV).

d) There is a classic debate in Christianity about the “Jeremiah” reference.

i) Matthew says “Jeremiah’s” prophecy was fulfilled in Verse 9.

ii) The quote is an interpretation of a section of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 32:6-9).

iii) The quote in its verbatim is taken from Zechariah 11:12-13.

iv) So, did Matthew make a mistake in saying “Jeremiah” when it was Zechariah?

a) Some theorize that Zechariah is part of the same scroll of which Jeremiah was the lead-book. Therefore, the “title” of that scroll was Jeremiah.

b) Others theorize that Zechariah was “interpreting” Jeremiah.

c) Either way, it can be explained.

v) Either way, hundreds of years before Jesus was born, there is a prediction that the Messiah’s betrayal was going to be for 30 pieces of silver.

vi) To me, the greatest proof of Jesus as the promised Messiah is the hundreds of predictions about him written about Jesus in the Old Testament.

7. Verse 11: Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. ¹² When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. ¹³ Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?" ¹⁴ But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge--to the great amazement of the governor.

a) At this point, Jesus was already beaten up. He was then presented to Pilate.

b) Pilate was concerned about any military threat against Rome. Here was this beaten up guy standing in front of him. You can almost hear Pilate say sarcastically, “Well, then, you’re the guy who is their king and who is going to overthrow Rome, are you?”

c) Jesus answered Pilate’s question. It was the last thing Jesus said to Pilate.

i) Over the next set of verses, Jesus kept quiet about all the false charges that were about to be leveled against him. Yet as to the question itself, Jesus simply states the truth that he is “King of Jews” (as well as King of the Universe!).

ii) As the Roman Governor, Pilate was also chief judge of the land.

a) He was used to people pleading for their lives. He was used to people defending themselves against false charges. Jesus silence impressed him.

iii) As I stated in the last lesson, sometimes the best defense against false charges is silence. We dignify charges as legitimate issues if we respond to them. Jesus’ silence is saying in effect, “These charges are not even worthy of my response”.

8. Verse 15: Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. ¹⁶ At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. ¹⁷ So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" ¹⁸ For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.

a) I always pictured Pilate as a “bureaucrat”. The rule of a middle manager bureaucrat in a large company is, “How do I get out of this mess without taking the blame?”

i) Pilate knew Jesus was innocent of these charges. He probably saw Jesus as “some philosopher teacher” who was popular with the common people.

ii) Because the Roman Empire was large, Rome could not afford to have a large army at every location. Therefore, the #1 job of all their governors was “keep the peace and don’t allow rioting against Rome”.

a) Pilate probably knew that Jesus was popular, and he didn’t want to start an uprising by killing him.

b) At the same time, Pilate had to please the religious establishment as to not get them angry at him. History records that Pilate was not popular in Rome, and protests by the Jewish religious leaders could get him killed.

iii) Pilate thought he had a “clever solution” by invoking a local tradition of releasing a prisoner on the Jewish holiday. This tradition was done to help keep the large crowd in Jerusalem from considering revolting against Rome.

9. Verse 19: 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."

a) Here we have this reference to a “dream” given to Pilate’s wife.

b) Not much else is known about this dream, as there are no biblical cross-references.

c) Personally, I see this as part of “Pilate’s trial”.

i) Technically, Jesus was the one on trial, but when one studies the text carefully, you understand that Jesus was in control of the whole situation and it is always others around him that were on trial.

ii) Jews, as well as Romans believed that dreams could be signs from God (or gods, in case of the Romans). I believe this sign given to Pilate’s wife was simply more evidence placed in front of Pilate as to Jesus’ innocence.

iii) The great moral lesson to learn from Pontius Pilate is that there is no neutral ground allowed with Jesus. Enough evidence was presented to him that Pilate should have “done the right thing” and let Jesus go as he was innocent of the crime of rebellion against Rome.

10. Verse 20: But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. ²¹ "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor. "Barabbas," they answered.

a) This is the same crowd that hailed Jesus as the Messiah a few days back when Jesus was riding into town on Palm Sunday.

b) Now they saw the same Jesus, beaten up, chained in front of Pilate. When they figured that this guy is not going to lead a rebellion against Rome, they turned on Jesus.

c) This gets back to the argument that “people are willing to accept Jesus if he becomes their genie in a bottle.” To put it another way, “we are more than willing to accept Jesus if he gives us what he wants. We are happy to worship Jesus if we can do it our way”.

d) The word “Barabbas” means, “Son of the Father”. The question becomes “whose father?”

i) We know from Mark and Luke’s Gospel that Barabbas was guilty of insurrection and murder (Mark 15:7 and Luke 23:19).

ii) Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.
(John 5:43 NIV)

a) I see Jesus’ comments in John 5:43, being “partially fulfilled” with Barabbas. This verse also applies to the Antichrist when he comes.

iii) I stated in my introduction that this is “Satan’s hour”. This is the time when those who are united against Jesus, both human and demonic forces to have their time.

iv) Instead of asking for Jesus, they ask for someone who leads rebellion and someone who is guilty of murder. (You can see where I’m going with this! J)

a) That is what the world does. The world is guilty of “murder” in the aspect of they would rather see Jesus die than accept him as their king. The “murder” is the rejection of Jesus. Insurrection is also at play here.

11. Verse 22a: "What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.

a) This half of Verse 22 is often used in evangelistic rallies.

b) In a sense, all people must ask themselves, “What shall I do with Jesus?

i) It is the question not just for the Jewish crowd, but also for all humanity. We all must make a decision of what to do with our lives with Jesus.

12. Verse 22b: They all answered, "Crucify him!" ²³ "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"

a) The classical question to ask here is: “Who is to blame for Jesus’ death?”

i) Do you blame the Jews in the crowd for asking for his crucifixion?

ii) Do you blame Pontius Pilate for not having the guts to do the right thing?

iii) Chuck Smith, of Calvary Chapel had the best answer I ever heard to this question:

a) “If you want to blame someone for the death of Jesus, blame me.
He died for my sins”.

b) The Jewish crowd, Pilate, and all non-believers are all guilty of the crime of rejecting Jesus, not for killing Jesus. Jesus gave up his life freely for our sins.

c) In that sense, they are all guilty of “second-degree murder”. This is the idea of killing someone without knowing you killed someone”.

i) Yes they were aware that they sentenced Jesus to death. The reason for this sentence is that they didn’t want Jesus to rule over their lives.

ii) In the book of Acts, there are several times where Peter refers to the Jews as those who murdered the Messiah. At the same time, Peter asked them to repent, implying that it is not an unforgivable sin.

iii) Many of us rejected Jesus for some portion of our lives before we turned our lives over to Him.

d) There is a part of me that ponders what Jesus was thinking at this point.

i) Here he was, watching the crowd reject him.

ii) He was very aware of all of this is going to happen.

iii) There had to be a sadness by Jesus for the eternal price they were going to pay for that rejection.

iv) Part of me hears Satan whispering to Jesus at this point, “Come on, Jesus, don’t go to the cross, look at these people. Just show off your power and you can prove who you are. Are these people really worth it?

v) I have to wonder if Satan was trying to the very end to get Jesus to not take the way of the cross, and used all of this anger and rejection as a way of tempting Jesus by asking, “Is it worth it?” Remember, it was the love for us that made Jesus endure the rejection, mocking, physical suffering and crucifixion

13. Verse 24: 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!"

a) There is a Christian-classic expression to this verse that goes like this:

i) If Pilate had washed in the blood of Christ, he would have been innocent. Instead he washed in water proclaiming his innocence. Since there is no neutrality allowed with Jesus, he is condemned in sin.

b) In a way, Pilate represents people who are too afraid to stand up for Christ:

i) He said Jesus was innocent of the charges against him.

ii) There was no crime of which Pilate could convict him.

iii) His wife had a dream arguing for his innocence.

iv) Instead of doing the right thing, Pilate gave in to the crowd.

a) To me, an example of a poor leader is one who is trying to please the crowd as opposed to doing what is right.

14. Verse 25: All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"

a) Of all the verses in this chapter, this is the one that troubled me.

b) Even in my utmost rage at someone, I can’t imagine saying, “let me and my kids be responsible for his death”. I might say me, but not the kids. J

c) I take the bible at face value. I believe Matthew was there and recorded it as it was.

d) The most “logical” explanation goes back to my opening premise: “Give the devil his due”. I take the view that evil-forces are behind such a statement.

i) Here was this crowd, rejecting Jesus. They wanted a ruling Messiah, and not a suffering Messiah. They were willing to make such a statement.

e) This statement of "Let his blood be on us and on our children!” has been misused throughout history. Unfortunately, through the centuries, many horrible things have been done to Jewish people in the “name of Jesus”. They use this verse as an excuse.

i) For those who know their history, such things as the Crusades, and the Spanish Inquisition performed horrible genocides on Jews. They misused Verse 25 as somehow, “it was acceptable” to do such atrocities.

f) This verse has been prophetic in many ways:

i) In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed Israel. Millions of Jews were killed. This verse is prophetic in that they and many of their children were killed.

ii) I may be wrong here, but I also see a “positive prophetic” implication: I do believe there will be a day where God will one day focus again on the Nation of Israel. Romans. This day, which I believe takes place after the 7-year tribulation says that “And so all Israel will be saved”