Matthew 27 - Part 1

 

Read Matthew 27

The kangaroo court had reached its verdict and Jesus was to be taken to Pilate for execution.  Judas became remorseful when he saw what had come of his betrayal.  He took the 30 silver pieces back to the chief priest and his cohorts.

“I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

They replied, That’s on you.”  They had what they wanted and the facts would just get in the way.

Judas threw the money at them and left.  He hanged himself. The 30 pieces of silver was the price of a slave according to the Lex Talionis and other biblical references lead us to God removing the bad shepherds.  Enough on the money.

You might think that the confession of Judas to betraying innocent blood would be cause for pause in this sham of a trial and plan to execute Jesus.

You might think that Judas hanging himself might give the Chief Priest and the other religious hypocrites cause for reflection upon their present course.

It did not.  The only question before the hypocrites was what to do with the money.  It was blood money and couldn’t go into the treasury, so they bought a field for burying foreigners and perhaps the poor.

It was called the Field of Blood.

That’s the end of the story of Judas.  Was he consigned to hell immediately upon death?  Was redemption possible for him?

The gospel writers do no speak kindly of him.  Whenever Judas is mentioned in the gospels, he is noted as the one who betrayed Jesus, even though the betrayal does not come until near the end of each gospel.

Even Jesus said that it would be better that he was not born.  Was he talking about his eternal soul or about the gravity of the remorse he felt in this chapter?

What Judas did was necessary to get Jesus to the cross. Last week we looked at how impossible and illogical it would be to convict Jesus in an actual trial; yet, he was convicted and sentenced to death.

Here we see the Chief Priest and other religious leaders turning away a man who wanted to confess his sins and exonerate one they had condemned to death.  This behavior was required to get Jesus to the cross.

We don’t know what eternity holds for Judas, but we do know that he did his part to get the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world as step closer to the altar on which he would be sacrificed.

I’m glad I wasn’t Judas but I’m also glad he did his part so that the blood of Jesus parted me from my sin.

Amen.