Matthew 27a Commentary
Judas seeks to undo his wrongs by reversing his actions. It doesn’t work. It never works. You cannot ‘unmurder’ someone in order to correct a murder case.
The Sanhedrin has nothing to do with Judas. It has been a marriage of convenience. Typical wickedness. Relationships are transactional. Hardcore Pharisees and priests feel nothing and Judas is left alone to face his own wrongs.
Hardcore Pharisees and priests are too entrenched in self-righteousness to see their own wrongs. Judas is guilty-stricken but we doubt if it is the work of the Spirit of God. The intervention of the Holy Spirit leads to salvation and not self-condemnation, rejection, or death. In Judas, we have seen the devil steal, kill, and destroy a life. It is a process that awaits every stubborn soul. You cannot expect to have life after rejecting the life-giver – the way, the truth, and the life.
30 pieces of silver isn’t small money. It is good enough to buy a piece of land! But does Judas enjoy it? Ponder. There are more important matters in a man’s life than the silver and the gold.
Know you don’t have the Master in your religion if you can choose between wrongs. Deception in order to murder someone is fine while blood money isn’t fine!
Jesus answers the most important question: He is the King of the Jews. Nothing else is important, not even self-defense. The Roman governor is surprised and seeks to free Jesus. But fear rules. It probably makes sense. Pilate is under bondage to fear. It is Pilate, not Jesus, who is in need of freedom. The Pharisees and the leading priests are in bondage to pride and greediness; they need freedom and not Jesus. But who can see all of this?
Barabbas is freed instead. The essence of Calvary is on full display! The innocent dies while the guilty Barabbas gets his freedom. It just happens. Barabbas doesn’t even know a thing about it! Salvation is an initiative of Heaven. Don’t stay in your jail cell when Jesus has opened the door to your freedom. The graphics here are meant to clearly explain the full extent of God’s generosity.
They make a crown of thorns for Jesus as part of his punishment. As part of Adam’s punishment, the Creator God ordained thorns to choke humanity’s way to prosperity. Again, the symbolism is very clear: these events mean much more than meets the eye.
“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem”. Isaiah 53.
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed”. Isaiah 53.
Of course, he cannot save himself. If he does, no one else would be saved. But who cares? The teachers of the Law and the priests conveniently skipped Isaiah 53 and Zechariah 11.
“He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” Verses 42 and 43. See how closely related this message from the leaders is to the devil’s message during the temptation of Jesus! It is a playback of the earlier effort to derail God’s grand plan. Of course, the devil never wins.
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