The Gospel of Matthew Study Help (Matthew 27:1-14)

The Passion of Christ

Questions to be answered in this study

1. What was the charge of which the religious leaders convicted Jesus?
2. Why did Jesus not attempt to defend Himself?
3. The first reason the religious leaders paid Judas 30 pieces of silver was to lead them to Jesus in the large crowd of Millions of people; what was the second reason?
4. Judas was showing remorse for what he had done; did that mean he repented at the last moment?
5. What is the lesson we need to learn from Judas?
6. Why are there no scribes of Pharisees today?
7. What was the year that Jesus was crucified?
8. On the morning of the Passover AD 27 at 9:00 AM Jesus was crucified; at that same hour something else happened; what was it?
9. Jerusalem was not Pilate’s primary residence; where was his permanent residence, and why was he in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover?
10. Why could the religious leaders not keep the 30 pieces of silver that Judas returned?
11. What were the two primary reasons Jeus came to earth?
12. What is each believer’s duty and first priority in life other than their worship of the Lord?

Introduction

In our previous study, Jesus was convicted by Caiaphas, the High Priest, and the religious leaders for blasphemy. Now He has been sent to the Romans for a second trial. It has been a busy night for Jesus. From the Passover meal to the prayer in the Garden, then arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, where He was abused and falsely accused before being sent to the Romans to be sentenced to death by crucifixion.

           The Jewish trial began with Annas, the former High Priest, still recognized by the Jews as their High Priest. From there, he went before Caiaphas, who was Annas’ replacement by the Romans. These trials went against even the laws of the Jews; they were a perversion of justice that found Jesus, who was perfectly innocent, guilty of false charges. Jesus did not attempt to defend Himself because He was in submission to the Father’s will. The two trials ended with Jesus being found guilty of blasphemy punishable by death. Since the Jews were not allowed to exercise capital punishment, Jesus was sent to the Romans for final judgment.

           The Jewish leaders had to convince the Romans to sentence Jesus to death even with no proof that He had committed a crime worthy of the death sentence. The charge of blasphemy was not enough in the eyes of the Romans, who had no concern for a person blaspheming a Jewish God; they had the false gods they honored.

           So, at this point, our attention is directed to the Romans as the Jews try to manipulate them to pronounce the judgment of death on Jesus. Similar to the Jewish trials, Jesus is now subject to two trials by two men located at two different places. First, Jesus stood before Pilate, the Roman governor of the Judean province. Pilate did not want to send an innocent person to his death, so he tried to wash his hands of it figuratively and literally. He tries to shift the responsibility to Herod, the supposed King of the Jews, hoping he would judge Jesus and leave Rome out of it. Since Matthew does not cover the time Jesus spent before Herod, we would need to go to Luke’s gospel for the details, but we will continue with Matthew’s account.

            After that failed, Pilate was coerced by the Jews, who were determined to kill Jesus, to condemn Him to death, although he knew He was innocent. Before the Roman trial, Matthew takes up the subject of Judas again, who betrayed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

Matthew 27:1-5, “When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: 2And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. 3Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. 5And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.”

The religious leaders had already gone to Pilate with Judas to accuse Jesus of insurrection during the night. Pilate sent soldiers to arrest Jesus and take Him before the High Priest. Now that the Jewish trials had ended and it was the following day, Jesus is now brought before Pilate to determine if the charges against Him were valid. Night trials were not lawful, but the Jews, in their intent to kill Jesus, had broken their own rules. Since the Jewish leaders knew it would take more than a charge of blasphemy to get a judgment of death for Jesus; that is another reason why they paid Judas 30 pieces of silver; it was essential for him to testify that Jesus intended to be the King over Israel, which would be counted as a resurrection against Rome. However, at the last moment, Judas realizes that he is being used. In verses 3-5, we read, “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. 5And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.” Judas did not intend to get Jesus killed; he wanted to force Jesus to set up His kingdom so that he himself could prosper from it. He was probably surprised at the response from the religious leaders who said, “What is it to us.” The religious leaders refused to allow Judas to back out of his agreement; they expected him to testify at the Roman trial. Judas was showing remorse for what he had done, but it was short of repentance, which is the word some translations use and is not accurate. The Greek word “metanoeo” describes a sincere change of heart or godly repentance. The Greek word “metamelomai” is used here, expressing worldly remorse.

Judas was an unbeliever, but there is something that we can learn from his actions. Remember, Satan entered Judas’ heart to tempt him to betray Jesus, so Judas compromised with Satan to betray Jesus. The lesson we need to learn from Judas is that we can’t compromise with Satan and his evil intent less we come out the loser. The religious leaders were also used by Satan while thinking they had their way. They were evil, but the Romans were far more ruthless, and to demonstrate their brutality, some years after Jesus was crucified, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, burning it to the ground, killing around a million Jews and wiping out the Scribes and Pharisees, which today are only history.

The morning spoken of in verse one is Thursday morning, April 10, AD 27, the year Jesus died. The day of Passover began at sundown the day before. The Passover meal of the sacrificed lamb had been celebrated. On this morning of the day of the Passover, a lamb would be sacrificed in the temple at 9 AM, commemorating the exodus from Egyptian bondage. At that same time, Jesus was crucified on the cross on the “third hour” at 9 AM Roman time fulfilling the Passover by Himself becoming the Passover Lamb.

 During the pre-dawn hours of Thursday morning, the Jewish trials had taken place and ended, and Jesus was sent to stand before Pilate for final judgment before His crucifixion. During this early morning hour, around 6 AM, as the rooster began crowing, and at the same time Jesus was being abused and beaten, Peter stood in the courtyard of the home of Caiaphas, denying Jesus. I had the privilege of standing in that courtyard during my visit to Israel. There is a monument there as a reminder of Peter’s denial of Jesus. Three hours later, At 9 AM, Jesus would be placed on the cross.

Jesus was taken to Pilat’s residence in Jerusalem, where He waited until daylight when Pilate was in his office; this was not Pilate’s primary residence. He lived in Caesarea, in Judea, the seat of the Roman government about 50 miles away, but during major Jewish feasts, he came to his residence in Jerusalem. Since Pilate’s primary responsibility was keeping the peace, he attended these feasts in case of an uprising. Unrest was not uncommon when millions of Jews flooded the city during the major celebrations. Pilat also brought extra soldiers with him in case they needed to quale any disturbance. They stayed at the Antonian Fortress that King Herod had built to enforce his rule over the Jews. So, it was here that Pilate was in residence at this time.

Matthew has one more thing to say about the 30 pieces of silver paid Judas to betray Jesus: 

Matthew 27:6-10, “And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. 7And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. 8Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. 9Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; 10And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.”

In verse 6, Matthew says that the temple treasury could not keep the 30 pieces of silver because it was not legal to keep the price of blood. So, the money was used to purchase a burying ground near Jerusalem to bury strangers or visitors to the area who died without funds for burial. According to Matthew, the field was called the field of blood and was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremy the prophet.

Now, in the following verses, Jesus stands before Pilate for interrogation and the final judgment:

Matthew 27:11-14, “And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. 12And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. 13Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? 14And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.”

           Jesus has little to say to Pilate when Pilate asked Him if He was the King of the Jews; Jesus only says, “thou sayest.” Pilate then asked Jesus if He was aware of the things of which the Jews were accusing Him, and Jesus said nothing. If Jesus had denied the charges, Pilate would have no choice but to set Him free because there was no evidence and no witness against Him since Judas was no longer available to testify. Jesus remains silent because He is to fulfill His purpose for coming to earth, as we see in Isaiah: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth,” Isaiah 53:6-7.

           Jesus did not open His mouth to defend Himself because God the Father caused our iniquity to fall on Him, and there was nothing that could stop Him from going to the cross. Jesus went willingly to take our place and pay the price for our sins. Pilate realizes that the charges against Jesus do not hold up in reality, and he does not want to put an innocent man to death. The religious leaders recognized that Jesus could get out of the charges, so they continued to shout out false accusations about Jesus. Imagine the scene as Jesus stands bound and bloodied before Pilate. In contrast, the religious leaders stand outside the room adorned in their fine robes and jewelry because they do not want to be defiled by the Gentiles during Passover. They want to appear to be righteous and pious while at the same time lying against the Lord and perverting justice to have Jesus killed. While they seem to be religious on the outside, they are internally filled with extortion and excess of evil, as Mathew points out: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.” Matthew 23:25.

           Pilate is amazed in verse 13 when Jesus refuses to respond to the charges against Him. Pilate knew that the charges against Jesus were false and expected Jesus to deny them; and said to Jesus, “Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?” Jesus still says nothing. Pilate has dual concerns; he is worried about condemning an innocent man and on the other hand how the Jews will respond if he releases Jesus. Pilate was appointed for the purpose of keeping peace among the Jews. If he fails, it could mean his job. So, at this time, his fear of the Jews overrides his worry about convicting an innocent man. The details of this are not covered by Mattew but are in the gospel of John.

           Pilate tries to get Jesus to cooperate, so he would have a good purpose for releasing him. It was not because Pilate believed in Jesus, it was because he had no desire to convict Him knowing He was innocent. He makes that clear by washing his hands and declaring himself innocent of the whole matter.

               Jesus was falsely accused of setting up a kingdom over the Jews a direct insurrection against Rome, but that was not His mission. It was not His intention to set up His kingdom at that time; He was recruiting members for His future kingdom. His mission and the purpose for which He came to earth was to die for the world’s sins and open up citizenship in the future kingdom for all who believed in Him. His final commission to the church is recorded in Matthew 28:19-20: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” That is each believer’s duty and priority in life, but how many today take it seriously. I pray that you who are reading this today are or will obey the Lord’s last request to share your faith with others.