Politics versus Justice and injustice (Matt. 27:1ff)
The narrative does not implicate Pilate alone: the insistent people, blindly following their blind leaders (v. 20; compare 15:14; 23:16), embrace the moral responsibility Pilate seeks to evade. Like Peter, Judas is guilty of apostasy, but unlike that of Peter, Judas's was premeditated. Whereas Peter's remorse leads to repentance, Judas's leads to terminal despair. Even in "repentance," Judas did the wrong thing. If he had gone to his Savoir instead of to the priests, it is possible he might have been forgiven.
The World Ridicules God's Son
Soldiers often taunted captives, and here they mock Jesus' kingship (27:27-31)
The crowds invite Jesus to prove his divine Sonship by escaping the death of the cross (vv. 39-40); thereby they act as Satan's final mouthpieces to turn Jesus from his divine mission (4:3-10; 16:21-23). Christ underwent all the misery and shame here related, that he might purchase for us everlasting life, and joy, and glory.
In the final section of this unit, the religious authorities (at the top of the Jewish social order) and the dying robbers (at the bottom) join the crowds in functioning as Satan's mouthpieces.
Signs at Jesus' death... Jesus Dies Wounded but Trusting His Father (27:45-46). That Jesus utters the complaint of the righteous sufferer (Ps 22:1) suggests that he participated in our ultimate alienation from God in experiencing the pain of death. (Henry’s Concise Commentary)
Joseph of Arimathea: A Rare Wealthy Ally (27:57-61). Yet Joseph here is a disciple of Jesus, a model to be imitated Joseph's own family tomb, fulfilling Isaiah 53:12. Joseph buried Jesus in his own tomb (Mt 27:60). The religious leaders--have quite different motives: they want Jesus to stay buried lest his promises to reign stir hope. They want the whole Jesus movement to stay buried in the tomb. Sealing the stone (27:66) would make it impossible for anyone to enter the tomb and then merely replace the stone. But to guard the sepulchre against the poor weak disciples was folly, because needless; while to think to guard it against the power of God was folly, because fruitless, and to no purpose; yet they thought they dealt wisely (Coffman Commentaries on the Old and New Testament)
Although Jesus has already left the tomb, the stone is not removed until 28:2. Throughout the years critics of Christianity have attacked the empty tomb.
The narrative does not implicate Pilate alone: the insistent people, blindly following their blind leaders (v. 20; compare 15:14; 23:16), embrace the moral responsibility Pilate seeks to evade. Like Peter, Judas is guilty of apostasy, but unlike that of Peter, Judas's was premeditated. Whereas Peter's remorse leads to repentance, Judas's leads to terminal despair. Even in "repentance," Judas did the wrong thing. If he had gone to his Savoir instead of to the priests, it is possible he might have been forgiven.
The World Ridicules God's Son
Soldiers often taunted captives, and here they mock Jesus' kingship (27:27-31)
The crowds invite Jesus to prove his divine Sonship by escaping the death of the cross (vv. 39-40); thereby they act as Satan's final mouthpieces to turn Jesus from his divine mission (4:3-10; 16:21-23). Christ underwent all the misery and shame here related, that he might purchase for us everlasting life, and joy, and glory.
In the final section of this unit, the religious authorities (at the top of the Jewish social order) and the dying robbers (at the bottom) join the crowds in functioning as Satan's mouthpieces.
Signs at Jesus' death... Jesus Dies Wounded but Trusting His Father (27:45-46). That Jesus utters the complaint of the righteous sufferer (Ps 22:1) suggests that he participated in our ultimate alienation from God in experiencing the pain of death. (Henry’s Concise Commentary)
Joseph of Arimathea: A Rare Wealthy Ally (27:57-61). Yet Joseph here is a disciple of Jesus, a model to be imitated Joseph's own family tomb, fulfilling Isaiah 53:12. Joseph buried Jesus in his own tomb (Mt 27:60). The religious leaders--have quite different motives: they want Jesus to stay buried lest his promises to reign stir hope. They want the whole Jesus movement to stay buried in the tomb. Sealing the stone (27:66) would make it impossible for anyone to enter the tomb and then merely replace the stone. But to guard the sepulchre against the poor weak disciples was folly, because needless; while to think to guard it against the power of God was folly, because fruitless, and to no purpose; yet they thought they dealt wisely (Coffman Commentaries on the Old and New Testament)
Although Jesus has already left the tomb, the stone is not removed until 28:2. Throughout the years critics of Christianity have attacked the empty tomb.
