Matthew 27

The Explanation

It was very early in the morning. The sky was just turning grey when the leaders led Jesus away with ropes around his hands. They brought him to Pilate, the Roman governor, the man who could say who lived and who died.

Judas came running back. He had handed Jesus over for thirty silver coins, and now he was sick with regret. "I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood," he said. But the leaders shrugged. "What is that to us?" Judas threw the coins clattering across the temple floor and went away, and his story ended in the saddest way. The leaders picked the money up and bought a field with it. People called it the Field of Blood.

Meanwhile Jesus stood in front of Pilate. "Are you the King of the Jews?" Pilate asked. Jesus hardly said a word. Everyone shouted lies about him, and he stayed silent. Pilate could not believe it. He had never seen a prisoner like this.

Pilate had one way out. Every year at the feast he set one prisoner free. So he brought out a dangerous robber named Barabbas and asked the crowd, "Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Christ?" Even Pilate's wife sent him a message: stay away from that good man, I had a terrible dream. But the leaders had been busy in the crowd, whispering, stirring people up. And the crowd roared, "Barabbas!"

"What then shall I do to Jesus?" Pilate asked.

"Let him be crucified!"

Pilate called for a bowl of water and washed his hands where everyone could see. As if water could wash it away. Then he let Barabbas walk free, and gave Jesus to the soldiers.

The soldiers made a game of it. They threw a red robe over his shoulders, twisted thorn branches into a crown and pushed it onto his head. They put a reed in his hand like a king's staff, knelt down and laughed, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Then they spat on him and hit him with the reed. Would you have stayed to watch?

They marched him out to a hill called Golgotha, the place of a skull. On the way they grabbed a man from the crowd, Simon from Cyrene, and made him carry the heavy cross. There they crucified Jesus, with a robber on each side. Above his head hung a sign: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

People walking past shook their heads and jeered, "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!" The leaders sneered, "He saved others, but he can't save himself." Jesus could have come down. He stayed.

Then, in the middle of the day, the sun went out. For three hours it was dark as night over the whole land. And out of that darkness came Jesus' voice, loud and torn: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He cried out once more, and he died.

At that moment the thick curtain in the temple ripped in two, from top to bottom. The ground shook. Rocks split open. The Roman soldier standing guard went cold with fear and said, "Truly this was the Son of God."

That evening a rich man named Joseph asked Pilate for Jesus' body. He wrapped it in clean linen and laid it in his own new tomb, cut out of rock, and rolled a huge stone across the door. Two women named Mary sat nearby, watching. The next day soldiers came to guard the stone and sealed it shut.

What Does This Mean?

Jesus did nothing wrong. Pilate knew it. Pilate's wife knew it. Judas knew it. Yet Jesus did not fight back, did not shout, did not come down. That was not because he was weak. It was because he had come to do exactly this.

Barabbas is the picture. A guilty man walks free, and the innocent one takes his place. That is what Jesus did for people like you and me.

The Common Thread

Long before, God had promised he would rescue his people. Not with an army, but with his own Son. That torn temple curtain says it all. It used to hang between people and the holiest place, like a closed door. Now it is ripped wide open, from top to bottom, from God's side. The way to God is open.

And remember: this is not the end. Jesus said he would rise after three days. They sealed the stone. They had no idea.

For You

When Jesus was accused, he kept quiet and trusted God. That is hard. When someone says something unkind about you today, you do not have to shout back. You can be quiet and tell God about it instead.

And this week, thank Jesus out loud for the cross. Just a few words, in your own voice: thank you that you stayed.

Talk About It

Pilate washed his hands to feel clean. Can you think of a time you knew something was wrong but did not stop it?

Jesus could have come down from the cross. Why do you think he stayed?

Praying Together

Lord Jesus, you were laughed at, hit and hung on a cross, and you did not run away. You did that for me. Thank you that the curtain is torn and I may come to God. Help me trust you, even when things are hard. Amen.