May 17, 2019September 30, 2019 by Ian Binns

Matthew 27-28

Matthew 27

This chapter starts with the chief priests and elders deciding that Jesus should be put to death and sent him off to Pilate. Judas hears of this, tries to return the silver, explaining that he betrayed an innocent man, and hung himself.

Jesus is questioned by Pilate. The only response he gives is when Pilate asks him if he is King of the Jews and Jesus replies “That’s what you say.” Pilate clearly wanted to release Jesus, knowing that Jesus was in front of him simply because of jealousy by the priests. Apparently it was the custom during this time of year to release a prisoner to the crowd, whomever they chose. He told the crowd to pick between Jesus Barabbas or Jesus himself. The elders and priests convince the crowd to ask for Barabbas and demand that Jesus be crucified. Clearly Pilate doesn’t want to do this, but this happens according to the text (27:24-26; CEB Study Bible, p. 60 NT).

24 Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere and that a riot was starting. So he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I’m innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It’s your problem.”

25 All the people replied, “Let his blood be on us and on our children.” 26 Then he released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus whipped, then handed him over to be crucified.

Reading this reminds me of thoughts I’ve had in the past about Pontius Pilate. Each time I’ve read about Pilate either in church or this study I’m left wondering how much blame should we place on him for Jesus’ death? This is something that I want to explore further later.

This was followed by soldiers mocking Jesus and making him wear the crown of thorns. Jesus is crucified and while on the cross, mocked and ridiculed by others including the two criminals who were crucified with him. The people continue to mock him while he is on the cross until he finally dies. The text includes some “sciency” things that happened, including the day turning to night from noon to 3 pm (his last three hours alive) and an earthquake. This is what we is said specifically here (27:51-54; CEB version, p. 61 NT):

51 Look, the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split, 52 and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised. 53 After Jesus’ resurrection they came out of their graves and went into the holy city where they appeared to many people. 54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and what had just happened, they were filled with awe and said, “This was certainly God’s Son.”

Here’s my question about this part. The text says “After Jesus’ resurrection” here, but the resurrection hasn’t happened yet. I’m just a tad bit confused.

A man named Joseph comes to Pilate and asks for Jesus’ body so he could prepare Jesus for burial. He took Jesus’ body to the tomb, laid him to rest, rolled a huge rock in front of it, and left the tomb. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary.

The chief priests and Pharisees ask Pilate to secure the tomb until after the third day so none of Jesus’ followers take the body.

Matthew 28

This comes from something Rob Bell says on the first episode of the podcast, The Bible for Normal People, around the 17:50 mark. I have to listen to this again after I read it. His statements are really interesting.

Here we get the resurrection. An Angel rolls away the stone to reveal the empty tomb to the two Marys. The guards are terrified and flea. The Angel tells the Marys that Jesus has risen and they need to go to Galilee to find Jesus. On the way Jesus presents himself to them.

The guards tell the elders what happened and the elders bribe them and tell the guards to lie when asked. They are told to tell people that Jesus’ followers took his body.

Lastly we see Jesus present himself to his disciples. He commands them to obey all of his teachings and to spread his message to the people.

The part I’m most interested in comes from here (28:16-17; CEB version, p. 62 NT): “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted.” This is what the notes say about the use of the word ‘doubt:’ “The other two occurrences of the word ‘doubt’ are associated with the disciples’ weak faith (Matt 14:31; 21:21). The presence of doubt and worship at the same time speaks to the shift in thinking required of Jesus’ followers (e.g., Matt 16:21-23) and to the need for ongoing development in belief. (P. 62 NT – 63 NT).

Ok, so this is way cool. Now I need to do a word search to see where the word doubt shows up throughout the entire Bible.