Matthew 27:1-2

55-56 Compare Mar_14:48-52; Luk_22:52-53.

55 In the daylight they were afraid. They wanted the mantle of darkness to hide their evil deeds. Nothing could have been simpler than to have the temple guards arrest Him in the sanctuary. Why all this show of force to take an unarmed Man Who never did anything but good? It is often difficult to account for the foolishness of human wisdom and action. Yet here we have the key. The Scriptures of the prophets must be fulfilled. And they are given for the revelation of God. Every human action will one day be accounted for and justified by putting it in its right relation to God.

62 Can there be any greater contrast than comes before us in this scene before the chief priest? Christ, the Chief Priest after the new order of Melchisedec, sworn in by God Himself, holy, harmless, undefiled, and higher than the heavens, is about to offer Himself for the sins of the world. Yet He stood alone, forsaken even by His own, charged with blasphemy and liable to death. Caiaphas was appointed for political reasons by the Roman power. He was crafty, deceitful, blasphemous, unfit to officiate at God's altar. Yet such a man dares to condemn the Son of God! Quite shamelessly he seeks for testimony against Him, and accepts what everyone knew was false. No one had heard Him say that He would destroy the temple of God. He said that they would do it. And now their very accusation is itself the crime with which they charge Him! They tried to fasten on Him the destruction of the empty house on mount Moriah. They actually accomplish the destruction of the true Temple, His body.

57-60 Compare Mar_14:53-64; Luk_22:54-71; Joh_18:12-24.

61 See Joh_2:18-22.

62 As the Sacrifice, the Lord was a sign to the priests, for He acted as the animal they were accustomed to lead to the altar (Isa_53:7): He is hard pressed, and He is humiliated, Yet He is not opening His mouth: He is fetched as a flockling to the slaughter, And as a ewe before its shearers is mute, So He is not opening His mouth.

63 See Lev_5:164 See Mat_24:30; Psa_1:1 - Psa_10:1; Dan_7:13; Act_7:55-56; Rev_1:7

64 When the chief priest invoked the presence of God, Christ was not slow in testifying to the truth. So that all the actual testimony against Him was the great truth to which the priests themselves and all their service in the sanctuary and the temple testified. But we must not forget the divine side. The Scriptures must be fulfilled. God's purpose must be served. The business of the priesthood is to slay the sacrifice. All the victims hitherto had been vain repetitions that could only cover sin. They could not take it away. Shall not the priests, therefore, slay the great Antitype, the Lamb Whose blood will yet change all sin into righteousness, all enmity into reconciliation? In the wisdom of God their hatred and malice are simply a knife to slay the true Sacrifice. Can we not see that, in a very real sense, they were carrying out the will of God? And if this is true of the sin of sins, is it not quite possible that God will justify all sins in the same way?

65 See Lev_21:10.

66 See Lev_24:16; Joh_19:7.

67-68 Compare Mar_14:65; Luk_22:63-65. See Isa_50:6; Isa_53:3.

69 Poor Peter! Where is his bravado now? He was quite ready to defend his Lord against the world-but not against a serving maid. His very vehemence betrays him. Now was his opportunity of witnessing for his Lord, and of standing by Him in His trial. He should have shouted “Yes!” and moved forward to take his place beside his Master. But no. He refuses to acknowledge Him. He slinks back to the portal to escape further questioning. But another maid awaits him there, so he adds an oath to his denial, and by his Galllean brogue betrays himself again. And then his exasperation is so great that he actually damns and swears that He is not at all acquainted with the Lord. The cock crows. Its simple sound is the voice of God to Peter. He becomes acquainted with himself, and is sadly disillusioned. Instead of the brave,

trusty, faithful disciple and apostle he thought he was, he finds himself to be a cringing, craven coward. He laments bitterly.

69-74 Compare Mar_14:66-71; Luk_22:54-60 Joh_18:15-27.

75 Compare Mar_14:72; Luk_22:61-62. See 34.

1-2 Compare Mar_15:1; Luk_23:1; Joh_18:28-32. See Psa_2:2.

Mat_27:3-28

3-8 The chief priests, by buying the freehold, which had previously been acquired by Judas, but not paid for (Act_1:16-19), join the betrayer of our Lord in an unlawful act which manifests their lack of faith in God. True believers, who were looking for the kingdom and the consequent redistribution of the land, would not waste money on a freehold which would be worthless in that day. Instead, they sold their freeholds (Act_4:34), and gave the money to the apostles. The account in Acts views this transaction from the standpoint of Judas, and tells why he was rejected from being an apostle. He made arrangements not only to betray His Lord (Who, he supposed, would use His power to circumvent His enemies), but he arranged to use the “wages of unrighteousness” for buying a freehold, contrary to the law. The chief priests and elders, instead of repudiating this illegal act, confirm it by hypocritically refusing to put the money in the temple offerings, and by using it to complete the purchase which Judas had begun. The death of Judas is likewise passed over briefly in Matthew, but elaborated in Acts. He hanged himself, but the rope broke and he fell so hard that his bowels spilled out. Thus worked the woe pronounced upon him by the Lord.

5-8 See Act_1:18-19.

9 See Zec_11:12-13.

11 Compare Mar_15:2-5; Luk_23:2-12; Joh_18:33-38. See 1Ti_6:13.

11 The priests should have been models of justice and truth, for they had the form of truth in the law. The governor had no divine light to guide his steps. Yet Pilate is far more just than the priests. He knew very well that they would not demand the death of a Jew who conspired against his government. They would aid him. His suspicions of their motive were confirmed by the Lord's silence. No ordinary man would stand and hear such charges against him without a reply. At no time did the chief priests deceive Pilate. He thought the easiest way out would be to put it to the people, who, he supposed, would release the prophet. He was so sure of their verdict that he was caught in his own device.

15-18 Compare Mar_15:6-10; Luk_23:13-17 Joh_18:38-39.

17 Bar-Abbas is another contrast with Christ. A murderer, a leader in sedition, he was just what the chief priests represented the Lord to be. His name is very striking. In Aramaic it means “son of the father”. Christ was the Son of the Father, God. Bar-Abbas was the son of another father, the Slanderer.

19 Of all the actors in this tragedy, only one really pleads the cause of Christ, and this one is the most unlikely that could be. It seems almost incredible, when His own nation is against Him, His own disciples afraid to speak a word in His favor, that an alien woman steps in to plead the cause of a just man she may never have heard of before. True, it was the direct effect of divine intervention. But every other act and attitude in this scene can, in its last analysis, be traced to God's foreordination. It must remain a marvelous intimation off God's ways that she alone should voice a solemn protest against the travesty of justice in which Pilate was weak enough to become involved.

20-23 Compare Mar_15:11-14; Luk_23:18-23; Joh_18:40. See Act_3:14.

20 The chief priests were aware that they had failed to convince the governor by fair argument, so now they propose to foil his plan of freeing the Lord by persuading the people. It is not necessary to have facts or truth to move the mob. It is the most unjust and unreasonable appeal possible. Had the priests not interfered they undoubtedly would have shouted for His release, as Pilate anticipated.

23 Now that the priests have caught him in his own device, he tries to persuade the mob. Evil or no evil, they want His blood.

24 See Deu_21:6-7.

24 Pilate had the power to release Him, but expedience and selfishness are always more potent in human governments than justice.

25-38 Compare Mar_15:24-28; Luk_23:32-43; Joh_19:18-24.

25 See Deu_19:10; Act_5:28.

25 The Jews today have good cause to shudder when they read these lines. There is a reason for their terrible history from that day to this.

26 Compare Mar_15:15; Luk_23:24-25; Joh_19:1.

27-31 Compare Mar_15:16-20; Joh_19:2-16.