The Word This Week
Matt 27:1…
There are four deaths described in this chapter. Three of those deaths were deserved. Only one man died in innocence.
Of course, the innocent man was the Lord Jesus Christ. He was, in fact, the only innocent man who ever lived.
The first man to die was Judas Iscariot. The man who betrayed Jesus. The one of whom Jesus said, “It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.”
Of course, we know Judas hanged himself after seeing everything he set in motion play out.
We’ll never know exactly what Judas expected to happen, but we do know he was so upset about the result of his actions he went back to the chief priests and elders and attempted to return the blood money, perhaps thinking this would absolve himself in some way. It didn’t. And so Judas’ name lives on as perhaps THE prime example of killing the only man who ever came to save him.
Many have followed in his footsteps…
In the midst of this conspiracy to kill the Lord Jesus Christ we also find a man who became part of it despite his wishes. Of course his name was Pontius Pilate, whose name became equally famous along with Judas Iscariot for his actions in the killing of Christ, which he clearly wanted nothing to do with…
What a morning Pilate woke up to. He never wanted to be in Jerusalem in the first place. He would have much preferred to be back at Caesarea, along the Mediterranean Sea, where he normally ruled the region from. But since it was Passover, and the Jews were known to be unruly on the Passover since perhaps a million or more people were present for the feast, Pilate was in Jerusalem to rule over the troops stationed there in case open rebellion broke out.
Suddenly an insurrectionist is delivered to him – by a group of men he knew to be belligerent toward Rome in all ways. A man who would be king, the Jews said. A man who would lead a rebellion against Rome if only He got the opportunity. These were serious accusations if true. Punishable by death if true. But Pilate suspected it wasn’t true at all. Had this man actually been an insurrectionist against Rome, it seemed more likely these men would have been behind this man rather than ratting Him out. Already beaten and bloodied, Jesus certainly didn’t look like any sort of threat – which prompted Pilate’s first disbelieving question: “Are You the King of the Jews?"
Pastor Bill
There are four deaths described in this chapter. Three of those deaths were deserved. Only one man died in innocence.
Of course, the innocent man was the Lord Jesus Christ. He was, in fact, the only innocent man who ever lived.
The first man to die was Judas Iscariot. The man who betrayed Jesus. The one of whom Jesus said, “It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.”
Of course, we know Judas hanged himself after seeing everything he set in motion play out.
We’ll never know exactly what Judas expected to happen, but we do know he was so upset about the result of his actions he went back to the chief priests and elders and attempted to return the blood money, perhaps thinking this would absolve himself in some way. It didn’t. And so Judas’ name lives on as perhaps THE prime example of killing the only man who ever came to save him.
Many have followed in his footsteps…
In the midst of this conspiracy to kill the Lord Jesus Christ we also find a man who became part of it despite his wishes. Of course his name was Pontius Pilate, whose name became equally famous along with Judas Iscariot for his actions in the killing of Christ, which he clearly wanted nothing to do with…
What a morning Pilate woke up to. He never wanted to be in Jerusalem in the first place. He would have much preferred to be back at Caesarea, along the Mediterranean Sea, where he normally ruled the region from. But since it was Passover, and the Jews were known to be unruly on the Passover since perhaps a million or more people were present for the feast, Pilate was in Jerusalem to rule over the troops stationed there in case open rebellion broke out.
Suddenly an insurrectionist is delivered to him – by a group of men he knew to be belligerent toward Rome in all ways. A man who would be king, the Jews said. A man who would lead a rebellion against Rome if only He got the opportunity. These were serious accusations if true. Punishable by death if true. But Pilate suspected it wasn’t true at all. Had this man actually been an insurrectionist against Rome, it seemed more likely these men would have been behind this man rather than ratting Him out. Already beaten and bloodied, Jesus certainly didn’t look like any sort of threat – which prompted Pilate’s first disbelieving question: “Are You the King of the Jews?"
Pastor Bill