WWUTT 2121 Jesus Before Pilate (Matthew 27:11-26)

Poncha's pilot tried to declare himself innocent of his own sins. It might seem ridiculous to us when we read the account in Matthew 27, but isn't that what we all do? We all try to proclaim our own righteousness when we understand the text?

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it. Visit our website at www .wutt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Jesus Before Pilate and the Innocence of Christ

Thank you, Becky, and greetings everyone. In our study of the Gospel of Matthew, we're back to chapter 27, and by the providence of God, it just so happens that in the same week in which Good Friday falls, we get to the crucifixion of Jesus.

But first, Jesus has an audience before pilot, which we're going to pick up here in verse 11 and read to verse 26 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned him, saying, Are you the king of the Jews?

And Jesus said to him, You yourself say it. And while he was being accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. Then pilot said to him, Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?

And he did not answer him with regard to even a single charge. So the governor marveled greatly. Now, at the feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted, and at that time they were holding a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.

So when the people gathered together, pilot said to them, Whom do you want me to release for you, Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ? For he knew that because of envy, they had delivered him over.

Now, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message saying, Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of him. But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death.

But the governor answered and said to them, Which of the two do you want me to release for you? And they said, Barabbas. Pilot said to them, Then what shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ? They all said, Let him be crucified.

And he said, Why? What evil did he do? But they were crying out all the more, saying, Let him be crucified. Now, when pilot saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, I am innocent of this man's blood.

See to that yourselves. And all the people answered and said, His blood be on us and on our children. Then he released Barabbas for them. But after having Jesus scourged, he delivered him over to be crucified.

Really is quite a chilling comment that is made there at the end with the people proclaiming his blood be on us and on our children. In this narrative that we read here concerning pilot, we see that at the very beginning, he's inquiring of respective people to understand what the matter is.

He talks to Jesus. He listens to the accusations that are made by the chief priests and the elders. But then we have kind of a segment here where it seems like others are trying to make up pilots mind for him.

You have even his wife saying have nothing to do with that righteous man. And then the chief priests and the elders are persuading the crowds. They're using the crowds against pilot to get him to make the decision that they want him to make.

And so ultimately, then at the end, pilot really decides not to do anything at all. He does give Jesus over to be crucified, but he claims that this is on the people that he's not really the one making this decision and washes his hands of whatever is going to happen to the innocent man.

He sees that Jesus is innocent, but doesn't do anything to actually execute justice. He turns Jesus over to the mob. So let's come back to the very start of this. And this is really one of my favorite questions in Matthew's gospel, because here in verse 11, Jesus stands before the governor.

He's standing before pilot and the governor asks him, are you the king of the Jews? Now, notice something here. This is in chapter 27. This is the second to last chapter in Matthew's gospel. The second chapter from the beginning of Matthew's gospel, the same question appeared.

Remember that I mentioned to you earlier that we almost have kind of a chiastic structure here in Matthew, where a lot of the things that we saw developing come back up again in the latter half of Matthew.

After you hit chapter 16, where Jesus asked his disciples, who do you say that I am? And Peter answers, you are the Christ, the son of the son of the living God. That seems to be the central pivotal point there in Matthew.

Jesus saying to Peter, blessed are you, Simon Barjona for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father who is in heaven. This declaration that Jesus is the Christ and Jesus further gives them the mission.

I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So from that point on, we start to see themes that we had just witnessed in the first 15 chapters of Matthew start to come back up again.

It's that chiastic structure of those things being repeated. And so we have here this question that's being asked of Jesus, just as the Magi asked it when they came into Jerusalem at the start of chapter two.

Remember, they came riding into Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. And now here's pilot asking this question of Jesus, are you the king of the Jews?

And in the context of Matthew's gospel, what we're meant to see here is pilot asking Jesus this question, not just based on all the, the commotion and the ruckus that has been stirred up over the last few hours.

And finally, this has come to pilots ears and he's going, oh, there's a king of the.

Jews.

Well, let me question him and find out who this guy is. Pilots heard about him for a while. He's heard about Jesus being referred to as the king of the Jews. The people are calling him that now the Romans have, you know, they, they have a certain curiosity about this.

Well, what do you mean by king of the Jews? Because that sounds to me like an uprising. That sounds to me like there's, there's some sort of rebellious faction that's taking place and they're looking for their king who is going to lead this people against the Romans.

So yeah, I have an interest here. I better find out what all of this is about. So he sees Jesus and is not very impressed with him at all. But here he is standing in the governor's, I don't know, what would you call it?

His office and pilot asks him, are you the guy? You're the guy that we've been hearing about the people calling you the king of the Jews.

Are you him?

And pilot may have also been knowledgeable of this king that had been inquired about over 30 years ago. And it was the inquiry of this king that even led to a slaughter that took place when Herod the great had ordered that the baby boys in Bethlehem and the surrounding region from two years old and under be slaughtered.

There was even a massacre of children because of the interest in this king of the Jews. So for a while now, this particular title has been ascribed to Jesus and pilot wants to know, are you the guy that has stirred up all this commotion these last few decades?

Is this you, this is all about you. And so he says, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus response to him is you yourself say it. And he made a similar response to Caiaphas when he was asked if he was the son of God.

And it is a, it is a, an answer of affirmation. It's not saying, well, you know, that's what you want to say. So you believe what you say. That's not what Jesus is responding with. It's more like you got that right.

That's kind of the nature of his response. It's in the other gospels and Mark in particular, that, that Jesus gives the affirmative. He says, I am. And remember that the skeptics think that Mark was written before Matthew.

So you can't say that that was an increasing development. Like they're making Jesus more and more messianic, the more gospels that they write. No, even from the gospel that the skeptics say is the earliest one.

I don't believe that's the case. I think Matthew came before Mark, but even the skeptics say Mark was first. And yet there, Jesus is speaking.

Absolutely.

Affirmatively. I am, I am who you say that I am. And so after Jesus responds this way to pilot, he's being accused by the chief priests and the elders, but it doesn't even answer their charges. And then pilot said to him, do you not hear how many things they testify against you?

And he did not answer him with regard to even a single charge. So the governor marveled greatly. Now, remember at the same time we're going through this, we're in Isaiah 53 and we just read in Isaiah 53 that he is a lamb.

He is like a lamb that has been led to the slaughter and he opens, not his mouth. Isaiah 53, once again, verse seven, which we just read this past Thursday, he was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he did not open his mouth like a lamb that is led to slaughter and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers.

So he did not open his mouth. This was testified about Jesus 700 years before he's even born. And yet here is Jesus standing before pilot in fulfillment of that very prophecy, though these false accusations are being made against him.

He does not defend himself at all. And of course, the reason why he doesn't is because he has fully submitted himself to the will of the father. And this is what the father has willed would take place for the forgiveness of sins, the crucifixion of the son of God.

Jesus is humbly submitting to what the father has put in place so that through Christ, many will be forgiven. All of us who believe in him, we are no longer under the judgment of God, but his perfect sacrifice has been applied to us.

And we stand before God righteous because of what Christ has done for us going on in Isaiah 53, verse eight, by oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living that for the transgression of my people striking was due to him, he was being taken away to be put to death for the sins of the people to atone for our sins.

And then in verse nine, so his grave was assigned with wicked men. Yet he was with a rich man in his death because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth. And that is a prophecy that we're going to see fulfilled in this chapter as well.

Jesus being buried in a rich man's tomb. But now here in this back to this exchange with pilot, once again, Jesus does not answer him with regard to even a single charge so that the governor marveled greatly.

The governor is used to having people brought before him who plead for their lives.

I didn't do it.

I'm innocent. They're lying to you. They can't even come up with a solid testimony. Jesus could have said, show me their witnesses and what they have accused me of. Have you weighed the evidence for yourself?

And of course, pilot doesn't. He doesn't really look for justice in this particular matter. He sees that Jesus is innocent and turns him over to be put to death anyway, because what does pilot care about the Jews and their laws?

He fears the mob. He fears man, not God. So he turns Jesus over to be crucified. Now, in this next part, once again, as I said at the beginning, it's kind of like there were some people that were attempting to make up pilots mind for him as much as, as he wants to assert that he's the guy in charge.

Now, we don't have that so much in Matthew, but we do in John's gospel pilot saying to Jesus, do you not know that I have the authority to put you to death or the authority to release.

You?

And Jesus saying to him, you would have no authority at all if it had not come to you from above. And yet pilots got all these people, including his own wife that are trying to tell him what to do. So we go on in verse 15.

Barabbas or Jesus Called Christ

Now, at the feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd, any one prisoner whom they wanted. And at that time they were holding a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when the people gathered together, pilot said to them, whom do you want me to release for you?

Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ? Who do you want? The guy who is actually a criminal who has actually been charged, who is a dangerous man who is incarcerated for a reason, who has done evil things that you all know about.

Do you want me to release him to you? Do you want him set free? Or would you rather I put to death the guy who's not done anything? He's not guilty of anything. In fact, pilot even knows why Jesus is standing before him.

Why have the chief priests and the elders turned Jesus over? Because they're envious of him. They hate that the people listen to him. They hate that Jesus condemns them for their hypocrisy and their wickedness.

And so he knew verse 18 pilot knew that because of envy, they had delivered him over pilot knows Jesus is innocent. And this is a man wrongly accused. Yet though he has the chance to do justice here, he doesn't.

Verse 19. Now, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message saying, have nothing to do with that righteous man. For last night, I suffered greatly in a dream because of him. Surely an interesting thing for Matthew to add in here.

In fact, Matthew is the only one that says anything about it. Pilate's wife is not mentioned in Mark, Luke or John. It's only here in Matthew. Now we know from historical record that Pilate's wife was named Claudia Procula.

That's not mentioned in the Bible, but that's just what we know from Roman history. And so this woman has a troubled dream. She's heard about this righteous man. This is a man who is innocent. He's done nothing wrong.

And it's almost as if Pilate's wife is pleading with him to let him go. He is a righteous man. She even says it have nothing to do with that righteous man. For last night, I suffered greatly in a dream because of him.

Now, instead of releasing him, which is how Pilate should have responded to that. He should have been responding to this entire situation. But instead, he sends him over to be crucified. And to signify that he's going to have nothing to do with him, he washes his hands.

But really, Pilate had everything to do with him. It was Pilate that turned Jesus over to be crucified. And thus he incurs guilt upon himself. Because he is putting to death an innocent man. In verse 20, the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death.

But the governor answered and said to them, which of the two do you want me to release.

To you?

And they said, Barabbas. Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? They all said, let him be crucified. And he said, why? What evil thing did he do? But they were all crying out all the more saying, let him be crucified.

And then Pilate, in the fear of man, remember that even the Pharisees, the priests and the elders, even they were afraid of the crowds. They arrested Jesus at night and had this kangaroo trial because they didn't want the crowds, many of whom love Jesus, to oppose what it was that they were doing.

So they tried to do all of this in the cover of night. And here Pilate's responding the same way. He's afraid of the crowds. And because the priests have stirred up the mob, Pilate sees he's accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting.

The last thing he wants is to have some kind of reputation as a governor there in Judea where he can't keep the crowd under his control. If a riot breaks out, the Romans are going to win. They're going to fight back the Jews.

They will win. But it would still be at great expense. It would be at expense to the empire. And here you've got soldiers having to get involved when really would have been much better for everybody if there had been a governor who could keep the peace.

So Pilate doesn't want this hanging over his head. He sees the crowd is getting out of control and he's willing to let an innocent man die just so he can keep his job. I mean, that's really what it comes down to.

He saw that a riot was starting and he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd saying, I am innocent of this man's blood. See to that yourselves. But we know that's not true. And Pilate has no ability or authority to declare himself innocent.

All the people answered and said his blood be on us and on our children. And then he released Barabbas for them. But after having Jesus scourged, he delivered him over to be crucified. And we'll come back to that tomorrow with Jesus being scourged.

Human Righteousness Cannot Stand Before God

But here you have again, Pilate is attempting to declare himself innocent. And isn't that what all of us do? We all do that. We all try to claim our own righteousness.

I'm good.

I'm not as bad as those people. So, you know, on a bell curve, I'm doing all right. And we try to say that we are innocent. There's nothing that we need to ask forgiveness for. But no matter what song or dance we do, whether we're, you know, washing our own hands and saying, I'm innocent of any of these charges that you make against me.

None of us are innocent. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3 23. We are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

The only way that we can be forgiven our sins and declared innocent. Is by faith in Jesus Christ. And his blood washes us clean, not by our own water, our own works, our own mechanisms that we might utilize to demonstrate ourselves as innocent.

You might do all the best things that in the eyes of the world, they would consider to be loving and kind and good. Of course, the world has a pretty twisted understanding of what loving kindness is, but you could try to meet all their demands and you're still going to be all the more guilty before God.

It is only when we have put our trust in Jesus. That our sins are truly forgiven. And we stand before him righteous because of his mercy and grace. Not anything that we do, but because of what Christ has done for us.

Prayer for Forgiveness and Righteousness in Christ

Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read here. And I pray that we would be convicted of heart and stop trying to declare our own righteousness through our own deeds. But instead we draw all the more near to Christ knowing that it is in Christ Jesus.

Our sins have been forgiven and now let us go and sin no more. We live in the righteousness of Christ today, doing those things, which are pleasing to our father who is in heaven. Forgive us our sins.

And as said in Psalm 23, lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake. It is in the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.

Thank you for listening to when we understand the text with pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com and click on the gift tab in the top right corner of the page.

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