Matthew 27:15-26

Lenten Service

March 11, 2009

Matthew 27:15-26 (New International Version)

¹⁵Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. ¹⁶At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. ¹⁷So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" ¹⁸For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.
¹⁹While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him."  ²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.  ²¹"Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor. "Barabbas," they answered.  ²²"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked. They all answered, "Crucify him!"  ²³"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"  ²⁴When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"  ²⁵All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"  ²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Forgive Us When We Despise Your Great Salvation

The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin. My greatest hope in life is that His blood be on my wife and me and on our children, so that whether we live or die we are declared innocent before God, thru our Lord Jesus Christ. If that had been the object of the prayer of the mob gathered in the courtyard of Pontius Pilate when they said, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Then my heart would rejoice over the humble faith of these Jewish people and their leaders.

That, however, is not what they meant. They wanted Jesus to be crucified because they were looking for blessings from the Messiah that God had never promised his people, and prosperity which had never been given by God. They wanted freedom from Rome, prosperity for the nation of Israel, and power to rule the world beyond even what David and Solomon enjoyed nearly a 1000 years earlier. They turned their backs on the promises about a Savior in whom all nations of the earth would be blessed, in favor of the political power and prestige that would make them the master race. They wanted the brief and momentary treasures and despised the eternal life with God in heaven in which they would find peace now and forever.

To this day the vast majority of the descendants of Abraham – the earthly descendants, that is, are still looking for some nebulous messiah who will make Israel an earthly, temporal force in the world. They began a tradition which casts away true eternal hope in their Messiah in favor of some messianic temporal dream. I feel deep pain because part of my ethnic heritage comes from the same line.

One can see how such earthly hopes can begin and grow in the human heart. The Jews were well aware of a promised Messiah. They were especially reminded of him as they looked back on the 1000 years since the last king of Judea. In those ten centuries one nation after another invaded the land of Israel – the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and now the Romans. In those years Israel was scattered and enslaved and they were ruled by cruel and faithless heathen. More and more the Jews were becoming little more than a slave of the hated Gentiles. While some of the people held on to God’s promises and looked for the Savior/Messiah, most just wanted an earthly king.

Those Jews gathered in Pilate’s courtyard had some hope that Jesus of Nazareth might be the answer to their dreams. Some of them may have heard the stories of his birth in Bethlehem and the Star in the East that led the Magi from Babylon to Bethlehem. They may even have heard of the efforts of King Herod who was troubled by their inquiries about where they might find the baby King, and how God warned them and Mary and Joseph to flee from the jealous king. Maybe some of them had friends or relatives that lost a child in the slaughter by Herod that followed. They probably also knew about John the Baptist who appeared on the scene to prepare that way of the Messiah as Scripture promised.

But most impressive where the reports of this Messiah’s miracles. He fed 1000’s miraculously. He healed diseases. Only weeks earlier he had raised a dead man in Bethany, just two miles outside of Jerusalem. They may even have been encouraged by the huge parade the past Sunday when the people of the surrounding area sang: “Hosanna to God in the Highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Their hopes may have been lifted that finally their generation would be blessed to see this amazing Messiah.

But the leaders of the people, the chief priests and elders of the people discouraged them. He is an impostor. He doesn’t agree with us that real salvation will come to Israel through obedience to the Law of Moses. They pointed out to them how this man was not against Rome. He wasn’t opposed to paying taxes to the Roman government. He said nothing about political change. He criticized the Pharisees, those highly regarded rich and powerful men as hypocrites. He told stories which pointed out to them that the tax collector who pleaded for mercy in the Temple was acceptable to God rather than the sacrificing Pharisee. This man could not be the Messiah. He gets your hopes up only to disappoint you. Stick with us and you will see what a weakling he really is.

And so it was that Friday night of the Passover, aided by one of Jesus’ own disciples, the Temple police and the rulers of the people arrested Jesus secretly late at night at the Mt. of Olives and brought Jesus to the High Priest. Under interrogation by the High Priest this Jesus declared he was the Messiah, the Son of God. Not only was he an impostor, he was also guilty of blasphemy. They, unfortunately, could not execute him because the Roman government forbad their colonials from carrying out the death penalty. But they beat him with their fists, spit on him and put a crown of thorns on his head. And in that bloody and beaten state they took him to the Roman governor.

Seeing him in this condition, this mob could see more clearly their mistake. He was not the super hero they were looking for. Their hopes for a great leader and political savior was just a hoax – a cruel hoax perpetrated by this man, Jesus. Death was too good for him. To make it more difficult for them they realized that Pilate was not inclined to agree with their plans. Yes, it was ridiculous to see him as a king, but Rome is a nation of law and order. We’ll give him a severe beating for causing a disturbance but he hasn’t done anything deserving of death.

That wasn’t good enough for this mob that had had its hopes dashed. The chief priests, the elders and the Pharisees urged them on to seek the death penalty. Pilate, seeing he was facing a determined mob, and not wanting to spend too much of his time to look more thoroughly into the matter, made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. There was a notorious criminal held in Pilate’s prison by the name of Barabbas. Since there had been a precedent before on a Jewish festival, Pilate offered them a choice between Jesus and Barabbas. And the mob chose Barabbas, and demanded that Jesus be crucified. We’re serious. We want this deceiver executed. His blood be on and on our children! They cried. Fearing an uprising, and not wanting to cause problems, Pilate agreed and had Jesus flogged and handed over for crucifixion.

So it was, because the Jews, without any support from their Scriptures, brought shame and destruction on themselves and their families. They disregarded their marvelous advantage as God’s chosen people because they wanted what they didn’t need and which they would never get; power and prosperity. 40 years later Jerusalem was destroyed and for the next 18 centuries the Jews never had a homeland and suffered terribly under the opposition of one nation after another.

One wishes that the lesson of these privileged people who looked for earthly, temporal benefits and who despised the eternal blessings of God for their souls would never be repeated. The Jew, however, is not the last group of God’s people to fall prey to this deception. Generation after generation of true believers have repeated the foolish tendency to take the cash of present prosperity rather than the credit God gives us in Christ for eternal life.

Paul put it so clearly in his words to the Xians at Corinth when he said that what is of first importance in their lives is this, that Christ died for their sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. The death sentence encouraged by the Jewish mob led to the Savior’s death, but in that death all nations of the earth have been blessed. For Christ did not remain in the grave. He rose again to assure us that we are saved eternally. We have a Gospel on which we can take our stand against any fear or doubt about our earthly welfare.

Yes, we will have trials and problems in this present world. The Lord invites us to come to him in prayer and he promises to hear our prayer and either to remove the problem or give us the strength to bear up under it. We can also be confident that the Lord will prosper us in life in the way and to the degree that it will not interfere with our eternal well being. Jesus himself put our earthly life in perspective when he said to his disciples, “What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul.”

It is certainly more urgent now in these uncertain economic times that we recognize that our Lord is not confounded by unemployment, falling stock market and incompetent banking practices. For most of us our life styles and spending for the things we need and desire will not be seriously be affected. If it does mean that we will have to adjust our lives, let’s not forget that we are a family of God and that our Father knows what we need and how we can help others in need. If our Lord is prospering us, let’s give to our congregation’s and school’s needs and show to the world that when we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness all these other things will be added to us.

During the 1940’s Debra Kerr and Tyrone Power were two of the leading Hollywood actors and they starred together in one of the 20^th century’s most famous movies, Ben Hur. In one of the scenes Debra Kerr was attacked by a lunging lion, and somebody asked her is she was afraid. She said, no I wasn’t. You see, I read through the whole script before I did that scene and I learned that Tyrone Power would save me. And he did. We can speak in the same manner. We know how that story of our lives end – in the glory of heaven. We know that through all problems our Savior will rescue us – and he does.

Fear not little flock. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.