Matthew 27:38-44 Let God Rescue Him!

Matthew 27:38-44  Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.  Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself!  Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”  In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him.  “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself!  He’s the king of Israel!  Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.  He trusts in God.  Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”  In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

In this scene Jesus is totally rejected and humiliated by the people He was rescuing from the captivity of sin.  These were the chosen people, those who God so loved that He gave them the light of the law.  Yet, they now shouted at Jesus with bitterness and rage in their hearts.  They hounded Jesus by hurling mocking and ridiculing words at him.  They were not afraid of this miracle man, for He hung on the cross, beaten beyond recognition.  He was just a man they thought, not one possessing heavenly powers.  Their mocking words must have shattered Jesus’ heart, for He did only good to these people who now humiliated him with their words.  Jesus knew He could call down a myriad of angels to destroy these people, but He did not; even though they were his enemies, He loved them.  He could make them pay for their damaging words to his spirit, but He would not; He would pay the full price for their redemption.  As surely as the Sanhedrin, Pilate and the Roman’s soldiers beat his physical body without mercy, now the people were in the process of destroying his inner spirit.  The crowd wanted his soul, his spirit, to be crushed just as badly as his physical body was destroyed.  They would carry on with their mocking and ridicule until the very end.  Jesus would cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  (Matthew 27:46)  His Jewish people, the ones God called him to rescue, now blasphemed, cursed his name, gladly carrying out a judgment of death on him, an innocent man who did no wrong, a man who healed many of them, a man who broke the bread of life before them.  Now they wanted his blood, wanted him crushed before He gave up his last breath.  “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself!  He’s the king of Israel!  Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.  Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”  They discounted his divinity, discredited his work of goodness.  As they cried out ridicule, they intimated through their words that Jesus was just a mad man, disillusioned in his own feelings of grandeur.  To them in their anger, Jesus was a fraud who claimed something He was not: the Son of God.  Jesus was nailed to the cross.  God placed him there with his ears opened to the people’s cutting remarks.  He had to listened to this rebellious people, knowing they were really rebelling against God. Jesus heard it all.  And maybe in his fleshly heart He thought, “Why let them get away with this Father.”  “Why not reveal your authority right now, wiping them off the face of the earth.”  These thoughts of God’s belated judgment have been in the hearts of men and women throughout history.  Heinous acts of men and women have gone on since the creation of man.  Murders, rapes, torture, unjustified internments, holocausts of all kinds have gone on unpunished. Why allow such evil, God?  But evil is endemic in all people.  As with this crowd under certain circumstances, men and women will cry “Crucify God!”  We will do our own thing, go our own way.  God’s covenant with Noah was on display when his Son was crucified: Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.  And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.  (Genesis 8:20)  Even if they crucify my Son!    

The crucifixion is an old story of rejection by mankind of the mercy and goodness of God.  A good analogy of Jesus Christ’s journey on earth is in the tale of Moses and the Israelites.  Just as Moses came to deliver the Israelites out of slavery, Jesus came to deliver the human race from slavery to sin and death to the Father’s house.  Moses came from Pharaoh’s house as Pharaoh’s grandson.  He went to his  people the Jews who were in harsh slavery, revealing himself as a fellow Jew.  They dismissed him as  unable to help them.  Because of their rejection, Moses fled, staying away from Egypt for forty years.  Then God called him back to deliver his people from Pharaoh.  Moses convinced the Israelites as he convinced Pharaoh that God had his hands on the Jews by performing many miracles.  Finally the Jews were released from slavery in Egypt by placing the blood of an innocent lamb over the doorpost of their houses.  On that night the angel of death passed over the land of Egypt and killed every firstborn of families who failed to protect their household with the blood of a lamb.  Pharaoh lost his first born, so he told Moses to take the Israelites away from the land of Egypt.  However, the Israelites were not happy with Moses as their leader.  They resented him and his authority over them.  Even though they were free from slavery, their hearts were stuck in Egypt where they lived for 400 years.  So much so that they left Egypt with Egyptian idols in their satchels.  Their rebellion to the God of Moses was so strong that they carried their old ways of worshipping other gods into the wilderness.  In their place of freedom from the whips of the Egyptians, they grumbled.  In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.  The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt!  There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”  (Exodus 16:2-3)  They were dissatisfied with their freedom.  They would rather be in bondage, knowing their future than to be in the hands of Moses and this strange God that they could not see for no idols were made of him.  They also did not know where this man Moses was really leading them, maybe just to the wilderness where they knew they would die.  At least in Egypt they had food, water and a shelter over their heads.  In the wilderness, they saw none of the necessities of life.  So they grumbled.  When Jesus told the Jews that the kingdom of God was at hand, the Jews could not envision such a thing.  After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said.  “The kingdom of God has come near.  Repent and believe the good news!”  (Mark 1:14-15)  This kind of talk was new to them, and Moses’ talk of a promised land for the Israelites was new to these slaves that long forgot the land of Jacob.  All they could really sense was that they were in jeopardy of dying in this sparse land.  The people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses.  They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”  Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people?  They are almost ready to stone me.”  (Exodus 17:3-4)  As with the Jews of Jesus’ time, this promise of a future existence somewhere did not satisfy their understanding of reality.  They knew their journey in the wilderness could turn out terribly wrong.  The Jesus on the cross was not going to be able to deliver the Jews from the Romans and maybe his leadership of peace and love could lead the Romans to take more advantage of them.  Now they saw him on the cross very weak, his message of love and peace without any deliverance in it, so they sought another man, a better man, a man of violence: Barabbas, the insurrectionist.  

As with Moses’ situation in the wilderness, Jesus was on the cross because of the Jewish leadership, the Sanhedrin.   Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and rose up against Moses.  With them were 250 Israelite men, WELL-KNOWN community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.  They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far!  The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them.  Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”  (Numbers 16:1-3)  Korah, a Levite, as were the Pharisees and teachers of the law during Jesus’ time, was jealous of Moses’ leadership role with the  people.  The Kohath Levites were chosen by God to take care of the holy furniture and elements in the tabernacle.  They were responsible for carrying these holy pieces from place to place in the wilderness as the tabernacle was moved.  But these holy elements were always covered before the Kohaths entered the tabernacle.  If they saw any of these holy pieces in the tabernacle uncovered, they would die.  However, the Kohath Levites were given a special responsibility of carrying these holy articles from place to place.  Koran, a leader in the leadership council, rebelled against Moses, convincing the whole leadership council to rebel against Moses’ leadership role.  In Jesus’ time, the High Priest and the Sanhedrin rebelled against Jesus’ leadership role with the people.  Because Jesus would become the Lamb of God, sacrificed for the people, He was crucified on the cross.  But Moses could not fulfill the role of the Lamb of God for he was not devine.  Because the wilderness typifies man’s journey on this earth, Moses is allowed to assert his authority over the Israelites.  Koran and all his followers are killed by God, allowing Moses and the Israelites to complete their journey to the Promised Land.  Jesus would die, for only God could die for humanity’s sin—only God’s work through Jesus Christ could release mankind from captivity to sin and death.  So Jesus’ journey on earth in the flesh ends in death.  On that day no resurrection would be before people, only death, but in three days another story is told: life eternal for all those who put their trust in Jesus’ work or God’s work through Jesus Christ his Son.  “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced (OR NOT RECEIVE HIS GRACE).”  Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect.  They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him.  For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  (ROMANS 10:11-13)  Moses’ long suffering, his patience with a wayward, rebellious people, brought the Israelites to the land of milk and honey.  Jesus’ death on the cross brought all of humanity to God.  He was brutalized, crushed, bloodied for our wounds; He died for our salvation.  We who are around this breakfast table do not yell out crucify him; instead, we praise and glorify his name for our salvation rests IN HIM alone.  The kingdom of God is ours.  Amen!     

Matthew 27:27-37 One Gate!

Matthew 27:27-37  Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him.  They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head.  They put a staff in his right hand.  Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him.  “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.  They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.  After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him.  Then they led him away to crucify him.  As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”).  There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.  When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.  And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.  Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is Jesus, the king of the jews.

This passage shows God coming to the rescue of mankind, working out his plan to redeem humans from alienation to their Maker, the Creator of all things.  God allows his Son to be humiliated before corrupt men and women.  As they destroy his Son with relish, they oppose a man of peace and love, or God himself.  Jesus was murdered in front of a crowd who demanded that Jesus be killed.  The Romans crucified him between two criminals, identifying Jesus with the criminal element in Israel, implying He deserved to die as a criminal.  The people’s shouts of crucify him were not hurled toward the two criminals but toward Jesus.  The law breakers’ names would be forgotten, but Jesus’ name is remembered by many as a swear word or expletive.  But the mysterious plan of God from the beginning was taking place that day.  God’s intention to rescue men and women from sin and death was coming out of the shadows of history.  He was working out good on that horrible day--good for all those who would seek his face, desiring to love him above everything else in their lives.  Their hearts of contrition would be heard by God and their faith in Christ’s work on the cross would redeem them from the judgment of God.  Love was in the midst of this crucifixion day.  We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.  (Romans 8:28-30)  The gate for all people to enter the household of God was being prepared that day.  Jesus, half man, half God, but fully flesh, would die; He would be the first of flesh to enter the domain of heaven, the firstborn from this earthly dimensions to the heavenly realm.  The plan of God was to have many follow that path from the terrain of earth to the heavenlies, entering through the gate: Jesus Christ and him crucified.  Jesus became the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  There is only one GATE wherein people must enter.  All other approaches to God will end in destruction, for all who enter heaven must be absolutely holy, perfect, without one fault, for God is a consuming fire of holiness.  Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden.  For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.  (Deuteronomy 4:23-24)  The thieves who try another way to the eternal benefits of God by constructing other ways to heaven will discover the holiness of God will destroy them.  Christ is the only door to the eternal dwelling of God.  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name (except the name of Jesus) under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.  (Acts 4:12)

The crucifixion day was seen by the prophets of old.  You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are before you.  Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none.  They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.  (Psalm 69:19-21)  David prophesied in glorious verse of God’s plan to redeem mankind through the suffering of the Messiah for the sins of men and women.  He gives verse to God’s intention to hurt his Son, to dispose of him in the dust of the earth by the hands of murderous people.  I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.  My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me.  My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.  Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.  All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.  They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.  (Psalm 22: 14-18)  Even though Jesus is fulfilling God’s plan of redemption for mankind, we have evidence of God’s heart of hurt that day.  It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining.  (Luke 23:44-45)  The Son of all creation, the light itself went out.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  (John 1:4)  But this light of all of mankind would be mistreated by the worst of mankind, the Roman soldiers.  A whole company was called out to batter Jesus and to humiliate him with words and actions.  They would strip him, so he would stand naked and defenseless before them.  They would play with him as a cat with a mouse that has no escape from death.  They would cover him with spittle.  They laughingly put a scarlet robe on him, knowing no Jew is a king over Israel, only the Emperor holds that authority.  He selects who will and who will not rule Israel.  These Roman soldiers hated the Jews and a few years after Jesus’ death they will go through the streets of Jerusalem and kill every human they could find, bashing babies against walls to shatter their skulls.  They knew how to torture people, to dehumanize them before they killed them.  They were tools of the Emperor to terrorize all people under his rule.  Jesus would be mocked by the worst of humans.  Pilate allowed this dehumanization because he allowed this entire company of soldiers to work Jesus over.  Probably Pilate’s anger against the Jewish people for wanting Barrabas to be released and not Jesus, who he knew was innocent of any crime, caused Jesus to experience at the Roman soldiers’ hands the annihilation of his self-worth as a human being.  After a while the soldiers released Jesus from their cat-like paws.  After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him.  Now it was time to kill him, place him on the cross as a symbol of humiliation  before the Jewish crowd.  He characterizes the helpless Jew under the harsh rule of the Romans.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. . .  (Isaiah 53:5) 

On the way to Golgotha, we see the Romans forcing an African man to carry the cross, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.  He might have been selected because of his skin color; we do not know this, for many Jews of all kinds lived in Libya, forced there by the Greek ruler of Egypt.  After they arrived at the place of crucifixion, they gave Jesus something to drink.  There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.  When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.  And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.  We see these Roman soldiers fulfilling the prophesies of old.  We see Jesus fulfilling the role given to him as the Messiah.  He would die for mankind.  He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  By oppression and judgment he was taken away.  Yet who of his generation protested?  For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.  (Isaiah 53:7-8)  When Jesus was on the cross, the elite in Israel and the Romans thought the final solution to the Jesus problem was being completed.  Death would swallow him up, and He would no longer be a problem to Rome and the Jewish society.  Things would now go on as they had for centuries.  But God had other plans: Jesus was raised after three days in the belly of the earth.  As with Noah, He would once again be in the midst of the living.  Many saw him after his supposed permanent demise.  Paul writes, For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.  (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)  The question to us today and to all mankind, has he risen in our lives?  Has a new day dawned in our existence?  This is the question to all people, whosoever will can open their hearts to this message of redemption.  All people everywhere have fallen short of the holiness of God.  Every man lives with at least one fault that is short of the perfection of God.  No man will enter through any other gate to eternal life with God.  Only the Messiah who suffered so much for us can place us into the kingdom of heaven.  There is no other way.  Our goodness is not good enough.  Our intentions are not strong enough.  There has to be a covering for our sins, and only Jesus and his sacrifice can cover our sins.  There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.  (Romans 3:22-25)  Reconciliation to God comes through Jesus Christ.  But Christ’s sacrifice does not just stop at the reparations for our sins.  No, the mysterious plan of God from the very beginning is to transform us into his children, without one fault, completely in the nature of his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  This is a marvelous work of grace, given to us freely.  This plan of redemption is God’s work IN CHRIST for all of humanity, to share forever with Christ his glory in the household of God.  Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed!  Amen!   

Matthew 27:11-26 Gone Astray!

Matthew 27:11-26  Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”  “You have said so,” Jesus replied.  When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.  Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?”  But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.  Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.  At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas.  So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”  For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.  While 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.”  But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.  “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.  “Barabbas,” they answered.  “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.  They all answered, “Crucify him!”  “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.  But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”  When 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!”  All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”  Then he released Barabbas to them.  But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

After Jesus was arrested because of the self-interest of the priests and the leaders of Israel, Jesus is placed before Pilate the Roman governor of Israel.  Pilate, knowing the political intrigue of the Israelite authorities, asks Jesus a pretentious question: Are you the king of the Jews?  Pilate knows the answer, for since Rome has taken over the control of Israel from the Maccabees in 63 BC there has been no ruler of Israel other than the Romans.  But Pilate plays out this theater for the Israelite leaders.  Jesus understands fully what is going on in Pilate’s courtroom; He knows He is being interrogated for the benefit of his enemies.  Consequently, Jesus responds, You have said so, then He says no more.  Jesus’ unwillingness to defend himself surprises Pilate, but Jesus is doing the will of his Father, fulfilling the words of Isaiah.  He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  (Isaiah 53:7-8)  The prophet’s words became a reality that day.  Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.  Pilate knew he was being manipulated by Israel’s leaders to kill Jesus, but he did not want to fulfill their murderous intent, so he presents Jesus to the crowd of Israelites who had assembled to watch what would happen to Jesus.  He decided to implement a Passover ritual established by the Romans to appease the Jews. The authorities would release anyone from prison that the Jewish people desired to be freed: it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.  He presents Jesus to the gathering throng and asked them,  “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”   Because of the perfidy of the chief priests and the elders, the crowd is persuaded to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.  Pilate, a murderous thug himself, still desired not to kill Jesus, for his wife had sent him a message of not to do anything with this man Jesus.  While 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.  But when the crowd said to release Barabbas, Pilate’s hands were tied.  He had to fulfill the custom that the Romans had established with the Israelites.

Barabbas was a revolutionary; as such, he was a threat to the Roman rule.  He wanted to overthrow the control that the Romans had over Israel.  He was a murderous criminal.  The Bible says, Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.  (Luke 23:18)  Pilate understood well the threat that Barabbas was to the Roman Empire.  He was the last person Pilate wanted to set free, for Barabbas would once again be a thorn of resistance to the Roman’s authority.  But the crowd who once thought Jesus, the miracle worker, would free them from Rome now sees him as an embarrassment to them.  They see Jesus helpless in the hands of the Romans.  Consequently, they were easily convinced by the Israelite leaders to yell, Crucify him!  They probably thought, at least Barabbas would fight for them, using violence to overthrow their cruel oppressors.  They saw no hope of Jesus doing anything for them now.  Crucifying Jesus would rid themselves of this weak, meek man whose very existence symbolizes their nation’s weakness.  Even Pilate’s question to Jesus, who is now in the hands of the Romans, Are you the king of the Jews? is emblematic of how powerless the Jewish people are in the hands of Rome.  But for Pilate their shouts to release his enemy Barabbas made him angry.  Their desire was contrary to his will.  He wanted Jesus released, not Barabbas.  Because of the crowd’s demands, Pilate has Jesus flogged, fulfilling another prophecy: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  (Isaiah 53:5 KJV)  The crowd’s demands caused Jesus to be sent to the cross bloody and bruised from the ill treatment He suffered.  We hear the prophet say, He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.  He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.  Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.  (Isaiah 53:2-3)  God’s beloved Son does not go to the cross in power and strength but beaten and wounded for the transgressions of mankind.

Pilate wanted the people to know he was innocent of killing Jesus.  He alone had the power to sentence capital punishment on anyone in Israel, but he wanted the people to understand that he knew Jesus was innocent of the charges against him, and that he was merely carrying out the will of the people, not his will.  The crowd was so forcefully demanding that he crucify Jesus that he probably thought they would riot if he did not carry out their will.  And if they rioted, he might lose his position as governor.  Rome would choose another man who could better control these rebellious Jewish people.  Not wanting to jeopardize his position, he succumbed to the will of the people.  But he would not claim responsibility for Jesus’ crucifixion.  When 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!”  The Israelites that day demanded Jesus to be killed, but all mankind is responsible for Jesus’s death.  The will of the Father was that the Lamb of God would go to the cross.  He, the unblemished one who knew no sin, was placed on the cross at Passover for the sins of every man, woman and child who ever lived.  Jesus presented himself to God to fulfill God’s desire to redeem mankind from sin.  From the time of Adam and Eve, people have lived a wayward existence, strangers to their Father God.  Jesus would be the mediator between man and God.  His sacrifice would regain God’s favor toward mankind.  He would bear the sin and guilt that separates humankind from God.  The Jewish priests offered up unblemished lambs as a propitiation for the Jewish people.  These lambs held God’s wrath on sin at abeyance.  The Israelites had the law of God, the light of God, yet they did not serve him with their whole heart, mind and soul.  They were people of law, so they knew better than the heathens how to please God.  The heathens lived in darkness, but the Jews celebrated the Passover, a time to remember that they too were in darkness, living lives to the gods of this world in Egypt.  But the Passover reminds them that they were delivered from this lifestyle and were set free to discover God through the law of Moses.  However, Jesus came not only to deliver the Jewish people out of slavery, out of darkness, but all of mankind.  The lambs offered by the Jewish people under the obligation of the law could never truly release their souls to God, a better, more efficacious sacrifice had to be given.  The sacrifices of lambs could not really free them from the eventual judgement of God.  They had to experience a better cleansing, a permanent cleansing from sin.  In Hebrews we read, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.  He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  (Hebrews 10:8-10 KJV)  All of mankind has been made permanently clean before God’s eyes through the one sacrifice of the Lamb of God.  Jesus paid the complete penalty for the rebellion of all people to God’s authority.  The Bible says, We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  (Isaiah 53:6)  This familiar verse contains the truth of the gospel.  By faith IN CHRIST’S WORK AT THE CROSS, we enter into the portals of heaven.  We are perfect without ONE FAULT because Christ who is without ONE FAULT is our Savior.  He presents us to the Father God as completely righteous.  The Father accepts Jesus’ work on the cross, and his wrath is forever held back, forgotten as far as the East is from the West.  Enter into MY REST, my good and faithful children, for you are my beloved children of the resurrection.  Praise God forever! 

Matthew 27:1-9 Fight the Good Fight!

Matthew 27:1-9  Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed.  So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.  When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.  “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”  “What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”  So Judas threw the money into the temple and left.  Then he went away and hanged himself.  The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.  That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day.  Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

The above scriptures describe a man who possessed a hard heart toward God.  Judas knew Jesus as a miracle worker, a person of powerful teaching.  Jesus chose him to be in his closest retinue, but he failed to grasp the significance of Jesus and his words.  He did not accept Jesus as the living Word.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  (John 1:1)  Judas did not envision this man Jesus of Nazareth as being divine.  His world view did not include such a thing, so he rejected Jesus as God even though he had seen miracles that no man had done from the beginning of time.  Judas rejected Jesus as God.  As John writes,  He (Jesus) was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  (John 1:10-11)  Jesus called Judas out from the throng to be his intimate companion, but Judas had other views of life that he considered more important than following Jesus.  As with Pharaoh who had a hard heart, no matter what Jesus did, no matter what miracles and wonders Judas saw, his view of life would not be hampered by such works.  Pharaoh believed he was a god, that his understanding and knowledge about life superseded anything that might be considered God; therefore, his heart was hardened.  Judas also believed his ideas of life and what is important superseded anything Jesus thought or did.  He was not afraid to betray Jesus to those he thought could give him a better life; consequently, he sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.  But we do see him remorseful when he realized that Jesus was not only going to be arrested and beaten, but that Jesus his companion and leader for three years was going to be murdered.  When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.  “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”  Even though he was a Jew with a hard heart, he knew what the Torah said about betraying innocent blood.  If anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.  (Exodus 21:14)  And, Cursed is anyone who kills their neighbor secretly.  (Deuteronomy 37:24)  The priests and the elite in Jerusalem also knew these scriptures, and that is why Jesus accused them of wanting to murder an innocent man.  The Sanhedrin claimed to be law abiding Jews, but their intentions were evil, outside of the law of Moses.  With a hard heart, an unbelieving heart, Judas hands Jesus over to these murderers in exchange for 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave.  If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death.  (Exodus 21:32)  God’s only begotten Son was not worth more to these men than the price of a lowly slave.  A hard, unbelieving heart has no respect for God; for his power and eternal presence.  Self-will means more to a hard-hearted man than the will of God.

Judas was the treasurer of this small band of followers of Jesus.  He kept the money bag; he also helped himself from its contents.  His willingness to steal from this small bit of money reveals clearly his heart was in the world.  The wealth of this world blinded him to the truth of Jesus being the Messiah.  Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.  (1 Timothy 6:9-10)  His desire to have money deceived him.  Rather than bringing him success in this world, it plunged him into ruin and destruction.  Judas threw the money into the temple and left.  Then he went away and hanged himself.  Finding the reason for living through wealth is a deception.  Such an idea will not lead to God but away from God.  When the rich young man came to Jesus and asked how he could inherit eternal life.  Jesus questions how faithful he is to the commandments in the law.  He tells Jesus, “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”  (Mark 10:20)  Because no one can enter heaven with any faults, Jesus tells him that he has one more thing to do and that is to sell off his wealth and give to the poor.  He cannot do that; therefore, access to the Kingdom of God is blocked to him.  The rich young man knows this life is too dear to him, to give his life away for something he cannot see now.  Jesus asked him the impossible, no one can do that completely, holding back nothing.  The disciples recognize immediately the impossibility of such a thing, so they asked, who can be saved?  (Mark 10:26)  Judas quickly must have recognized this impossibility, giving his life away for nothing, helping others but not himself.  Peter responds to Jesus’ teaching by saying, “We have left everything to follow you!”  (Mark 10:28)  Of course this includes Judas too.  Jesus responds to them as he responded about leaving his own mother, brothers and sisters to follow God.  “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”  Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”  (Matthew 12:48-50)  The community of believers will be their reward and the houses and lands of these believers will also be shared with them, but their lives will contain persecution and for most of the disciples violent deaths.  Judas also would have died by the hands of violent men if he would have continued with Jesus.  Judas probably understood the probabilities of a successful future were not good for the followers of Jesus.  He knew the Israelite leaders were marshaled against Jesus and his followers.  He also knew Jesus was telling them that He would die at the hands of violent men.  Betrayal of Jesus might have been a way of him parachuting out of this uncertain future.  At least he would have money and would not be hunted down by the enemies of Jesus.  

The chief priests knew they could not place the 30 pieces of silver into the temple treasury, for it was blood money, money that was used to murder an innocent man.  Their rebellion against God’s law spawned from the hardness of their hearts.  They had heard Jesus’ profound teachings; they had seen the healings Jesus had performed.  They knew of the wonders of Jesus such as feeding the 5,000, but they would not accept his divinity, for their hearts were cold.  They loved the world more than God as did Judas.  He loved the world more than his faithfulness to Jesus.  He wanted to save his life, not sacrifice his only life for the good of others.  Success for him was not defined by caring for others, but in loving himself above all others.  The Israelite priests for years walked with the praises of men in their ears.  They knew the people gave them deference in every situation.  They loved their flowing robes and displaying the phylacteries on their arms and foreheads.  All of their customs and paraphernalia indicated they are God’s people, men who should receive honor and praise.  Jesus was a threat to all of this deference the people were giving to the priests.  Jesus even said that their glorious temple would be destroyed.  How could they allow this man to exist?  How could they allow their way of life to be threatened?  As the priests understood, Judas knew that if he followed Jesus all the way to the end of his life, he would lose his life, his lifestyle.  He would be laying down his wishes and desires for the will of others.  He understood Jesus had taught to be great in the Kingdom of God, one must be a servant to all.  What life is that when you are a servant to all?  How could his bucket list be fulfilled by living his life exclusively for others?  Paul tells us what a dedicated Christian’s life entails.  I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  (2 Timothy 4:6-7)  Paul lost his life for Christ.  Judas thought he would save his life for himself, but in reality he lost his life.  Paul had a crown of righteousness stored up for him.  Judas had nothing but the reward of a hard-hearted man: eternal death, away from God.  His ears would never hear, “Enter into my kingdom, my good and faithful servant."  But for Judas, who was with the disciples who did miraculous exploits, will remember these words.  Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  MANY WILL SAY TO ME on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!’  (Matthew 7:21-23)  Breakfast companions, let us not be in the many but in that group who willingly do the will of our Father in heaven, looking for the glorious return of our Lord and Savior.    

 

   

Matthew 26:69-75 I Don't Know Him!

Matthew 26:69-75  Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him.  “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.  But he denied it before them all.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.  Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”  He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”  After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”  Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”  Immediately a rooster crowed.  Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”  And he went outside and wept bitterly.

This is one of the most beautiful love stories in the annals of mankind.  We see Peter a man so bold that he claimed he would never abandon Jesus no matter if all others did so.  All the disciples said the same thing, but the Bible records Peter’s failure in his commitment to Jesus in some detail, for by extension it depicts mankind’s lack of fidelity to their Creator God.  Peter’s allegiance to Christ was strong, but his flesh was too weak to carry out his affirmation to Jesus.  Under pressure he abandons Jesus.  His faithfulness to the Lord, his Creator, was but hollow words when faced with the accusations of people: you are one of his followers.  He denies he even knew Jesus; he openly disowns Jesus before men.  He then remembers the words he had spoken.  Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.  (Matthew 26:35)  Peter disavows the Creator God.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  (John 1:1-3)  Through Jesus, God created everything; the Word set the world in motion.  Nevertheless, that night Peter disclaims Jesus, the living Word.  His desire to live, eat, drink, and be merry for another day was stronger than his allegiance to Christ.  His desire to live was stronger than his words of fidelity.  He knew Jesus’ words, Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.  (Matthew 16:25)  He wanted to live another day; he did not want to be in the hands of Jesus’ adversaries.  He wanted freedom to do what he wanted to do with his life.  Peter earlier that night had attempted to defend Jesus and himself with a sword; he had cut the high priest servant’s ear.  But Jesus reprimanded Peter not to use violence to fight the angry mob.  Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.  (Matthew 26:52)  How could he defend his Lord, himself, and the disciples without violence, without defiance?  Jesus told the mob to let his followers go; the disciples fled, one even naked, maybe John.  Jesus, the conundrum of mankind’s reasoning, intended to bring justice to the world through intense, enduring love, not violence and punishment.  He alone, not his followers or his disciples, would take up the cross of redemption for a sinful world that despised him, that would soon shout, Crucify Him!  He would fulfill what the prophet said about him.  A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.  In his name the nations will put their hope.  (Matthew 12:20-21)  He would not break a weakened reed that has no strength to resist him, nor would He snuff out a smoldering wick that was smoking up the surroundings.  Instead, He would bring justice to the world by an everlasting love; the love that God has for his creatures who are made in his image.  Even the chosen, the Israelites, failed to adhere to him.  Because of the law given on Mount Sinai, they knew the nature of God, his holiness and perfection.  But they failed to live up to God’s guidance in their lives, his law.  God through the scriptures reveals clearly that even the chosen who were delivered out of slavery were unable or unwilling to live righteous lives.  The Bible says, all people have gone astray, away from God, each to his or her own way.  Without holiness, no one will inherit eternal life with God.  However, because of his great love for humanity, God sent his Son to take the place of man’s unholy nature.  Jesus died on the cross, mutilated and battered by a sinful humanity.  He paid the full price for man’s rebellion against God.  Peter, the imperfect disciple, could not fulfill his words to Jesus.  Imperfect mankind has failed in its allegiance to God.  Humanity’s unwillingness to be faithful to God has brought the judgment of death upon all people.  However, as with Peter, God’s love for mankind is everlasting.  We hear the angel in Jesus’ empty tomb, instructing the women to tell Peter He has been resurrected.  Go tell the unfaithful one, the recalcitrant man, the denier, that I have  been resurrected; I am alive evermore.  This message is for all humanity: go tell them I am resurrected.   

Jesus would satisfy the wrath of God on the injustices and violence in the world.  Jesus would pay the price that Cain laid down when he killed his brother.  Since Cain hundreds of men, women, and children have been murdered.  This slaughter goes on even today.  Violence smolders in the hearts of men.  When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.”  For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.  (James 1:13-15)  Peter thought that he had Jesus’ will when he took up the sword to defend against the mob.  But the Lord’s will was not to kill, but to save.  From the beginning, the justifiable wrath from God’s righteous throne, his discipline, never changed the hearts of men for very long.  Peter might have killed a few men that night in defending Jesus.  Maybe all the disciples and Jesus could have moved further into the olive grove and found safety through fighting the mob, but such temporary victory would not have solved the situation of men’s hatred towards each other.  No change of heart would have taken place that night under those circumstances, no newborn faith would come from that kind of action.  Jesus knew the Father’s will was to change men into new creatures.  He understood He had to pay the price for Abel’s innocent blood.  Jesus the Christ had to satisfy God’s wrath on man’s murderous nature.  Only a perfect sacrifice for total imperfection could stay God’s hand from striking eternal death upon mankind.  Jesus, the Perfect One, would fulfill the will of a loving God.  For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.  (Hebrews 10:14)  Peter’s denial displayed unfaithfulness to Jesus who had taken care of him for three years.  Jesus had made sure that Peter was safe and secure in his presence.  But under pressure, Peter folded; life was too dear to him.  He disowned Jesus before men as mankind has disowned God.  Many deny that He even exists.  The Bible says God sends his love on the just and the unjust.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  (Matthew 5:45)  This planet is unique in our universe.  It contains everything that is needed for life.  God has made it for human life: through this environment, He provides the very breath that is in our lungs.  Even though we know the uniqueness of this earth, we live in rebellion, not thankful to him for the very breath we breathe.  We have shunned God and disclaim his presence.  As Peter, we claim we do not know him.  

The love story of Jesus for Peter is the love story of God for men and women.  Even though He knows we are rebellious to his authority, desiring independence from him, He still loves us with an enduring love.  In Psalms 136, the psalmist reveals 26 reasons we should give thanks to God for his enduring love.  He concludes this psalm by saying, Give thanks to the God of heaven.  His love endures forever.  We hear Jeremiah saying to the chosen people of God’s love: I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.  I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt.  (Jeremiah 31:3-4)  We who have been chosen IN CHRIST are to be new creatures.  The Newly Born of God who can exist comfortably in eternal life.  In that place of safety, anxieties and fears will be gone.  We will realize who we are and why we are.  Jerusalem will be rebuilt eventually.  We will inhabit a new kingdom that will last forever.  This eternal place is with our Father God and our elder brother, Jesus Christ.  The kinetic energy that will flow through us will be the fruit of the Spirit.  And love will dominate our beings.  John talks about this love so elegantly.  Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  (1 John 4:7-9)  We who are born again presently live IN JESUS CHRIST.  Peter discovered God’s enduring love when the women told him that the angel wanted him to know that Jesus was resurrected.  Can you imagine how he must have broken down in tears of thankfulness when he heard this.  Jesus forgave him.  Jesus should have denied him before his Father for that is what Jesus taught.  Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.  (Matthew 10:32-33)  But the story of Jesus’ enduring love for Peter is the story of God’s enduring love towards mankind.  Man often fails to acknowledge God, eating, drinking and being merry, replacing God with their own efforts of being happy.  Man is doing everything possible to replace God, to find eternal life through his own efforts, using the mysteries of science to succeed in that effort.  But God is love—God even loves those who despise his name, deny his existence.  His eternal intention is to make children of God.  We who know Christ are children of the resurrection.  We died with him, and now we are raised with him.  We have been made new, dear friends, around this breakfast table.  Look at each other; there is a Peter in each of us.  But God’s everlasting love will bring each of us to his throne room and say, Well done my good and faithful servant.  Peter, the unfaithful, heard those words, and so will we because of Christ’s work and not ours.  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  (Isaiah 53:6)  Praise the Lord!  

Sorry, breakfast was not available the last couple of weeks due to illness.