Matthew 26:66-27:10: “Jesus Appears Before The Chief Priests And
Scribes / Judas Hangs Himself”
by
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO
1.1.
In our last study we continued to look at the events
that led directly up to Jesus’ crucifixion
1.1.1.
We looked at all of the gospel accounts of how that Judas
betrayed Jesus, bringing with him a cohort of soldiers, the chief priests, and
the elders of the people
1.1.2.
We looked at the illegal trial of Jesus that was a
mockery of justice and which resulted in His being sentenced to death
1.2.
In our study today we are going to begin to look at
the beating and scourging of Jesus, Peter’s denial of Jesus, and Judas’ remorse
for betraying Jesus
1.2.1.
The beating and scourging of Jesus reveals to us the
deep darkness of sin of the world that is in rebellion against God
2.
VS 26:66-68 -
“66 what do you think?” They answered and said, “He is deserving of death!”
67 Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped
Him, 68 and said, “Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?””
- The chief priests and elders cry out
that Jesus is deserving of death, and then they begin to hit him with their
fists and slap Him
2.1.
In our study today we see men united in intense hatred for Jesus. All of the leading men and elders of
2.2.
I mentioned before that the trial, beating, and crucifixion of Jesus was
the most wicked of acts that has ever
been committed. There was not any
attempt for one bit of justice in anything that was done to Jesus, and here we
see the evil in the hearts of these leaders of
2.3.
Mocking Jesus they are now asking Him to ‘prophesy’ of who it is who has
hit him.
3.
VS 26:69-75 -
“69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a certain
servant-girl came to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.” 70
But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are talking
about.” 71 And when he had gone out to the gateway, another servant-girl saw
him and *said to those who were there, “This man was with Jesus of
3.1.
We saw a couple of studies ago that when Jesus had told the twelve that
one of them would deny Him, that Peter told Jesus that though all else would
fall away that he would never fall away.
3.1.1.
We already saw how that Peter had always thought of himself as a cut
above the other disciples.
3.1.2.
We saw how foolish it is to boast in our flesh, for in our flesh we do
not have the ability to please God one bit.
3.1.3.
We saw how that all of the other disciples likewise began to tell Jesus
the same thing, that they would never deny him.
3.1.4.
As we saw in the last study, every disciple displayed the weakness of
their flesh for they all denied Him and ran off their separate ways.
3.2.
Peter was just trying to blend in with everyone there in the courtyard of
the high priest, however he is noticed by a couple of slave girls who discerned
by his accent, dress, and mannerisms that he was from
3.3.
In Luke 22:61, we read that Jesus actually looked at Peter after the cock crowd, and
that it was at that time that Peter went outside and wept bitterly, “61 And
the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord,
how He had told him, “Before a cock crows today, you will deny Me three times.””
3.3.1.
We can only imagine Jesus, gaze at Peter at this moment, for we know that
Jesus must have had so much compassion and love for Peter, and this must have
overshadowed His disappointment at being betrayed by Peter.
3.4.
This betrayal by Peter of the Lord was a key turning point in Peter’s
life, for at that moment all of his self-righteousness and boastful pride of
life came crumbling down and now he was finally at a place where the Lord could
mold him into His image and teach him to be bold in Christ. Now Peter can understand his need for the
imputed righteousness of Christ.
3.4.1.
In Rom. 3:22, we read of the righteousness that we receive not by our works but by
placing our faith in Christ, “22 even the righteousness of God through faith in
Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction.”
3.4.2.
In 1 Cor. 1:30, Paul wrote about how Christ has become to us righteousness, “30 But
by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and
righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.”
4.
VS 27:1-2 -
“27:1 Now when morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the
people took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death; 2 and they bound Him,
and led Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate the governor.” - Jesus is delivered up to Pontius Pilate
4.1.
Pontius Pilate was the Roman Procurator, or governor, of Judea and
normally he lived north of Jerusalem in Caesarea, however because this was the
Passover and it was during previous Passovers that Jewish revolts had occurred,
Pilate stayed in Jerusalem to make sure there were no uprisings.
4.2.
Pilate probably stayed in ‘Herod’s Palace’ outside of
4.3.
We see here also that the group that had come and arrested Jesus and gave
him this mock trial was large for it consisted of ‘all’ of the chief priests
and elders of the people.
4.4.
The job that these Jewish leaders had for themselves to accomplish on
this day was to convince the Roman government that they should crucify Jesus.
4.4.1.
The Jews were not allowed to execute a capital sentence without
permission by
4.5.
By the way, I note again that there was nothing that was just or legal
according to Roman or Jewish law that was happening to Jesus on this day. By law Jesus should have had formal charges
filed against him during the day and in public, and then been given the chance
to defend himself in a public trial with a presumption of innocence until
proven guilty. Plus, being found guilty
He could not have been put to death for 3 days.
However, on this day the goal was to get Jesus nailed to a cross to
suffer horribly as early in the day as possible so as to cause little commotion in
5.
VS 27:3-4 - “3 Then
when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt
remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is
that to us? See to that yourself!”” -
Judas felt remorse and sought to return the 30 pieces of silver to the
chief priests and elders
5.1.
We now have a very interesting turn of events I believe, for Matthew now
includes the story of how Judas eventually came to feel remorse for betraying
Jesus.
5.1.1.
As I have mentioned before, we should not get confused here and think
that Judas had any good motives for his betrayal of Jesus, for this act was the
worst sin that anyone has ever committed for it was sin committed by one with
the greatest amount of light, and sin committed against one who was the most
holy who ever has or shall walk the earth.
Thus, Jesus even referred to Judas as being ‘a devil’.
5.1.2.
Judas had long since become disillusioned with Jesus because He had not
gone on to fulfill the role of the conquering Messiah of the Jews as everyone
in that day believed the Messiah would do.
Judas had a hard time considering anything other than the traditional
view of the Messiah for his allurement to Jesus had been only from a material
perspective. He was not interested in
personal holiness or consecration to God only the accoutrements that would go
along with being the right hand man of a conquering strong man.
5.1.3.
Though Judas did not believe in the deity of Jesus, since receiving the
full payment for betraying Jesus and with Jesus now delivered into the hands of
the Jewish leaders, Judas began to become ridden with guilt because of the
righteousness and holiness of Jesus.
5.1.3.1.Judas knew that he had
betrayed ‘innocent blood’, for Judas knew Jesus’ character to be pure and
beyond reproach.
5.1.3.2.Judas had seen firsthand for
three and a half years the love with which Jesus showed to people day in and
day out, and how He had done so many wonderful and loving things for so many
people in their need. These memories
must have caused Judas the greatest pain at this point in time.
5.1.4.
As we follow this story line we see that everyone seemed to have a
problem with this money because all knew that this was blood money, the money
that came from a horrible travesty of justice and decency, money paid to murder
an innocent man.
5.1.4.1.Judas didn’t want the money.
5.1.4.2.The chief priests were so
filled with hatred and jealousy of Jesus that they had no problem wrongly
condemning Him, beating and scourging Him, and hanging Him on a cross, and yet
showing the incredible hypocrisy of legalists they also didn’t want to touch
this money for they knew that it was blood money.
5.1.4.3.There was such a stigma
about this money that none of these greedy men would take it. It was eventually used for a charitable
means, to buy a grave for paupers or foreigners who might die while visiting in
5.2.
Judas came to the chief priests trying either to somehow atone for the
wrong that he had done in betraying Jesus by returning the money, or to somehow
be consoled by them for the wrong he had done.
5.2.1.
This all points to the fact that Judas had remorse for his sin but he
didn’t have real repentence, for though he felt so horrible for what he had
done he couldn’t even enjoy the reward of the money he had received for this
evil deed, but yet he was not remorse to the point of trying to right that
wrong. He didn’t try to free or rescue
Jesus. There was no repentence for
wrong, only sorrow.
5.2.2.
In 2 Cor. 7:10-11, Paul wrote contrasting the kind of sorrow from sin that the world has
verses what God’s people have with godly sorrow, “10 For the sorrow that is according
to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation;
but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For behold what earnestness this
very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of
yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging
of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the
matter.”
5.2.2.1.Judas’ sorrow was the kind
that leads to death, not the godly sorrow described here. It produced no good result.
5.2.2.2.The story of Judas is a
story of how the devil can use guilt to destroy a person’s life, where God
desires to restore lives.
5.2.3.
The chief priests and elders of the people basically told Judas
concerning his sin in betraying innocent blood, “That’s your problem!”
6.
VS 27:5 - “5 And
he threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed; and he went away
and hanged himself.” - Judas went
out and hanged himself
6.1.
Judas couldn’t bear the thought of having blood money on his person, nor
enjoying one cent of the money he had made for betraying Jesus, therefore he
had to throw the money in the sanctuary and leave.
6.2.
The Greek word that is used there for ‘sanctuary’, the place where Judas
threw the money, is ‘naos’. It refers to
the ‘inner holy place’ where only priests were allowed. So, it appears that by Judas throwing the
money where he threw it, he forced the priests to have to touch the money and
deal with it. He felt that they were
guilty as was he, therefore they would have to touch this blood money to remove
it.
6.3.
In Acts 1:18 there is given us further understanding about the hanging of Judas and
the subsequent events that occurred concerning the money that was given him for
betraying Jesus, “18 (Now this man acquired a field with the price
of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all
his bowels gushed out.”
6.3.1.
This verse has been interpreted by most to mean that Judas somehow did
not use a good rope to hang himself with or that he did not tie the knot in the
rope well, and as a result he fell down from where he had been hanging and all
of his bowels (insides) came out when he hit.
6.3.2.
There was an early Christian writer however who wrote that Judas had
fallen down and been immediately run over by a chariot and thus his bowels had
gushed out.
6.4.
The sorrow of this world leads to death, and the way that Judas dealt
with his own sorrow and regret for his actions was to end his own life. He must have come to the place where he so
despised himself that he actually decided that he had to harm himself and take
his own life.
6.4.1.
Sorrow sometimes leads people to do very extreme and irrational
things. A couple of years ago here in
Wisconsin there was a boy who was hunting with his father and saw a deer and
proceeded to aim at it and pull the trigger.
However, just as he fired the shot at the deer his father walked out of
some brush and was hit by the bullet in the head. Sure he had killed his father and distraught
emotionally beyond being able to cope the boy immediately took his gun and
killed himself. Tragically, the bullet
had only grazed his father’s head and knocked him out.
6.5.
Only two people recorded in the Bible committed suicide in the manner
mentioned here in this passage, Judas and Ahithophel (2 Sam. 17).
6.5.1.
Saul and his armor bearer took their lives but only because they knew
they faced a worse death by the imminent capture of their enemies in battle.
6.6.
John MacArthur includes in his commentary that psychologists have
concluded that there are five basic reasons for why people commit suicide:
6.6.1.
Retaliation
6.6.2.
6.6.3.
Desire for rebirth (reincarnation)
6.6.4.
Retroflex (the killing of one’self in place of someone else who is
unreachable)
6.6.5.
Self-retribution
6.6.5.1.This was evidently Judas’
reason for committing suicide. He felt
that his sin was unforgiveable and therefore he took out the punishment upon
himself.
6.7.
Suicide is a terribly sinful act to commit, for it is the committing of
murder, which violates God’s laws, and it is extremely painful to the surviving
loved ones.
7.
VS 27:6-10 - “6
And the chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful
to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.” 7 And
they counseled together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a
burial place for strangers. 8 For this reason that field has been called the
Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the
prophet was fulfilled, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the
price of the one whose price had been set
by the sons of Israel; 10 and they gave them for the Potter’s Field, as
the Lord directed me.”” - The chief
priests purchase a burial field for strangers with the 30 pieces of silver
7.1.
The events of these verses probably occurred after Jesus was raised from
the dead.
7.2.
It is sadly bizarre that the chief priests could be convicted that they
could not use this money since it was blood money, and yet not be convicted of
their sin and repentant for their horrible deed in murdering the innocent Lord
Jesus.
7.2.1.
Again this is a picture of the legalist, for he justifies some of his
sins and yet seeks to keep many laws to a much greater extent than is even
necessary.
7.3.
Even the common people of Judea knew that this 30 pieces of silver was
money paid to murder an innocent man for the field bought with the money was
called the ‘field of blood’ even to the day that Matthew wrote his gospel.
7.4.
Matthew points out that in the buying of the field with the 30 pieces of
silver that there was an Old Testament scripture that was fulfilled. The scripture that is quoted is found in Zechariah
11:11-14,
however the words are ascribed to Jeremiah the prophet, “11 So it
was broken on that day, and thus the afflicted of the flock who were watching
me realized that it was the word of the Lord. 12 And I said to them, “If it is
good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed
out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw
it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I
took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of
the Lord. 14 Then I cut my second staff, Union, in pieces, to break the
brotherhood between
7.4.1.
It is interesting how the New Testament writers have in some cases taught
that some scriptures were inspired by the Holy Spirit and intended to relate to
the coming of the Messiah.
7.4.2.
These verses in Zechariah were concerning the wages of the unprofitable
shepherd.
7.4.3.
John MacArthur explains why these words were attributed to
Jeremiah yet recorded by Zechariah in his book, “The fact that this quotation comes
from Zechariah 11:11-12 and not found from the book of Jeremiah has caused some
interpreters to accuse Matthew of error.
Others have tried to relate the quotation to sections of Jeremiah 18 or
19, although it clearly does not fit.
The explanation is found in the Jewish division of the Old Testament
into three sections-- The Law, the Writings,
and the Prophets. In the rabbinical
order of the prophetic books, Jeremiah was always listed first. For that reason the entire prophetic category
was sometimes referred to as Jeremiah, just as the entire section of the
Writings was sometimes referred to as the Psalms its opening book. Spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was
therefore the equivalent of saying, “recorded in the prophetic books.””