Introduction
In the passage we studied the last time we had the contrast between, on the one hand, the Lord Jesus who openly confessed that he is the Christ, God’s Anointed King; and on the other hand, there was Peter, who denied knowing the Lord Jesus. One made a true confession, while the other did not. In today’s passage, we have another contrast. On the one hand, there’s Judas, who took his own life. And on the other hand, there’s the Lord Jesus, who was willing to give up his life for us and for our salvation.
Verses 1 to 10
Matthew tells us in verse 1 that it was early in the morning; and all the chief priests and elders came to the decision to put the Lord to death. When he refers to the chief priests and elders, he’s referring again to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court of law. And they bound the Lord Jesus and led him away to be handed over to Pilate, the Roman governor. They had to hand him over to Pilate, because they themselves did not have the authority to carry out the death sentence. They could try the Lord and pass sentence on him; but they did not have the right to put him to death. Only Pilate could do that. And so, they needed to persuade Pilate that the Lord deserved to die.
Back in verse 65 of chapter 26, they accused the Lord of blasphemy. But Pilate wouldn’t be interested in that kind of charge. Whether or not a defendant was a blasphemer was not anything the Roman governor would worry about, because a blasphemer was no threat to Rome. And so, when they brought the Lord Jesus to Pilate, they accused him of claiming to be a king. And therefore they were accusing him of being a trouble-maker and of being someone who might try to drive the Romans out of Judea. That was the kind of charge which Pilate could not ignore.
But before we get to the trial before Pilate, Matthew tells us about Judas. Once again, Mathew reminds us that Judas was the one who betrayed the Lord Jesus. And he tells us that when Judas saw that the Lord was condemned, he was seized with remorse. Not long ago, he had agreed to betray the Lord for money. But it seems that he hadn’t considered what the outcome might be. It seems he didn’t think about what his betrayal would lead to. And now it finally hits him and he’s filled with remorse. One of the commentators points out that the Greek word for remorse is close in meaning to the Greek word for repentance. However, there’s a significant difference between the two: whereas repentance refers to a change of mind, remorse refers to a change of emotion. So, once Judas felt good about what he had done, but now he feels bad about it. And so, he tried to undo what he had done by giving back the money he had received from the chief priests for betraying the Lord. He admits to them that he had sinned and that he had betrayed innocent blood. In other words, he’s admitting that he had done wrong, whereas the Lord Jesus had done nothing to deserve death. And that means if the Lord Jesus dies, then innocent blood will have been shed.
But the chief priests don’t care. ‘What is that to us?’ they ask. ‘That’s your responsibility.’ That is to say: ‘That’s your problem and not ours.’ And so, Judas threw the money into the temple and went away and hanged himself. His remorse led to despair and his despair led to his death.
Meanwhile the chief priests retrieved the money. Since they regarded the money as blood money, or money used to secure someone’s death, then they did not think it was appropriate to put it into the temple treasury. And so, they decided to use it to buy a field, known as the potter’s field, to be used a graveyard for foreigners. And Matthew points out that by buying the field with the money they fulfilled the word of the Lord. Matthew refers to what the Lord said through Jeremiah. While Jeremiah does at one point buy a field, the actual quotation which Matthew cites is from the prophet Zechariah. We read in Zechariah 11 that the Lord accused the people of Israel of despising him and of not wanting him as their shepherd. And so, he asked them to give him his wages and he would go away and leave them alone. And they gave him thirty pieces of silver, which Zechariah took and threw to the potter in the house of the Lord. And so, in Zechariah 11, thirty pieces of silver was used to get rid of the Lord, who was Israel’s shepherd. And now, in the gospels, thirty pieces of silver was used to get rid of the Lord Jesus, who is our Good Shepherd.
And by referring to the fulfilment of Scripture, Matthew is once again making clear to us that the coming of the Lord Jesus into the world, and the things he did, and the things he suffered, were all part of God’s great plan for our salvation, which he announced ahead of time to his people in Old Testament times and which was now being fulfilled. When Judas betrayed the Lord, it was all part of God’s plan for our salvation, because it was necessary for someone to hand the Lord over to the Sanhedrin, who would in turn hand him over to Pilate, who would in turn hand him over to the soldiers to be crucified for us and for our salvation.
Verses 11 to 26
In verse 11, Matthew turns his attention to the Lord’s trial before Pilate. Matthew, of course, is only summarising the trial and we don’t hear everything Pilate said to the Lord Jesus; and we don’t hear everything the Lord Jesus said to Pilate. And so, presumably when the Lord was brought to Pilate, the chief priests and elders explained to him why they had brought the Lord Jesus to him and what the charges were. And that’s when Pilate asked the Lord in verse 11: ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ So, they had accused him before Pilate of making this claim about himself. And now Pilate is asking the Lord how he responds to their charges.
‘Yes, it is as you say’, the Lord replies. More literally, he said, ‘So you say.’ He’s agreeing with Pilate, but with reservations. So, yes, he’s the king of the Jews, but not in the way Pilate thinks. He’s the king of the Jews, but he’s no threat to Rome, because his kingdom is a spiritual kingdom and not an earthly kingdom; and he has not come to overthrow the Emperor.
Meanwhile, the chief priests and elders continued to accuse him before Pilate, but the Lord refused to respond to their charges. Pilate is intrigued, because he expects defendants to defend themselves. But the Lord made no reply, not even to a single charge. And Pilate was amazed. But, of course, by not responding and by remaining silent, the Lord was again fulfilling the Scriptures, because Isaiah prophesied that God’s Suffering Servant would not open his mouth. As a sheep before her shearers is silent, so the Lord’s Servant will not open his mouth. And he’s not going to defend himself, because this is why he has come. He came into the world so that he would stand trial and be convicted and condemned, even though he is an innocent man, and killed in order to make peace for us with God.
Matthew then explains the custom at that time of the year of releasing a prisoner, chosen by the people. And Matthew tells us about this prisoner, Barabbas, who was a notorious prisoner. According to Mark’s account, he was an insurrectionist and a murderer. And the reason Matthew mentions him is because Pilate gave the people a choice: they could choose between Barabbas, an insurrectionist and murderer, or the Lord Jesus, who had never done anything wrong. And the reason he offered to release the Lord Jesus is because he realised that the Lord did not deserve to die and that he was only being charged because the chief priests and elders were envious of the Lord’s popularity among the people. Presumably he had heard about the things that had happened over the past week, beginning with the way the crowds welcomed the Lord into Jerusalem. Furthermore, Matthew tells us that Pilate’s wife had sent him a note about a dream she had had and how her advice to him was for him to have nothing to do with the Lord Jesus, whom she describes as an innocent man. Apparently the Romans were superstitious and paid attention to dreams. And so, it’s likely that Pilate took his wife’s warning seriously. And her note testified to the Lord’s innocence. The Lord had done nothing to deserve the death sentence.
Pilate was therefore prepared to release the Lord if the crowd asked for it. But, according to verse 20, the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released and for the Lord to be executed. And so, when Pilate put it to them, they replied that they wanted Barabbas. And when Pilate asked them what he should do to the Lord Jesus, they replied that he should crucify him. Notice that Matthew includes the word ‘all’: ‘They all answered: Crucify him!’ There was not one dissenting voice, but they all demanded the Lord’s death. And whereas there were other forms of execution available to Pilate, they wanted the Lord to suffer the very worse form of execution. And when Pilate asked them why, they only responded by shouting more loudly, ‘Crucify him!’
And so, Pilate the governor gave in to the crowd. By taking water and washing his hands, he hoped to make clear that he was not responsible for what was about to happen. And yet, he is forever remembered for being the one who handed the Lord Jesus over to be crucified. And all the people who were there were willing to accept responsibility for what was about to be done to the Lord. That’s what they mean when they said, ‘Let his blood be on us and on our children.’ One of the commentators (Morris) suggests that this shows that they had been taken in by the chief priests and elders and they now believed the Lord deserved to die. They must have been persuaded of the Lord’s guilt, because no one would call down on their children the guilt of having killed an innocent person.
And yet, they should have known better, because Matthew has made clear to us again and again that the Lord Jesus is the Promised Saviour of the world and God’s Anointed King who was to come into the world. And while he was on the earth, he went about doing good and not evil. And yet, instead of submitting to him as their king, and believing in him for salvation, the people suppressed the truth about him and they demanded that he should be killed. And so, Pilate released Barabbas to them and he had the Lord flogged before handing him over to the soldiers to be crucified. People were flogged before they were crucified in order to quicken their death.
Conclusion
And the way that Barabbas was set free, while the Lord was condemned and killed, is a picture of the gospel, because the gospel is the good news that the Saviour died for the ungodly. We, the guilty ones, are set free from condemnation, because he was condemned in our place. He suffered the wrath of God in our place so that we might have peace with God. He died in our place so that we might live.
Barabbas deserved to die that day. But Barabbas was set free. And we deserve to die and to be sent away from the presence of God to be punished forever in hell. And yet the good news of the gospel is that, just as Barabbas was released, so we are released from the pains of hell to live forever in the presence of God. And we are released, because Christ was willing to die for us.
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