Category Archives: Matthew

12 At about that time Jesus was walking through some grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began breaking off some heads of grain and eating them. ² But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, “Look, your disciples are breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.”

³ Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He went into the house of God, and he and his companions broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. ⁵ And haven’t you read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? ⁶ I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! ⁷ But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”

⁹ Then Jesus went over to their synagogue, ¹⁰ where he noticed a man with a deformed hand. The Pharisees asked Jesus, “Does the law permit a person to work by healing on the Sabbath?” (They were hoping he would say yes, so they could bring charges against him.)

¹¹ And he answered, “If you had a sheep that fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you work to pull it out? Of course you would. ¹² And how much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Yes, the law permits a person to do good on the Sabbath.”

¹³ Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored, just like the other one! ¹⁴ Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus.

¹⁵ But Jesus knew what they were planning. So he left that area, and many people followed him. He healed all the sick among them, ¹⁶ but he warned them not to reveal who he was. ¹⁷ This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning him:

¹⁸ “Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen.
    He is my Beloved, who pleases me.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
    and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
¹⁹ He will not fight or shout
    or raise his voice in public.
²⁰ He will not crush the weakest reed
    or put out a flickering candle.
    Finally he will cause justice to be victorious.
²¹ And his name will be the hope
    of all the world.”

Matthew 12:1-21

Dear God, I’m trying to understand having so much rage toward Jesus that I not only want to kill him but that it causes me to willfully ignore that fact that he just performed an amazing miracle. I want to believe that if I had been there I would have interjected to the Pharisees, “Did you not just see that he healed this man’s hand?!?”

I’ll be frank. Right now, I see national Christian leaders doing things that seem so foolish. I see what Al Mohler has been saying and proposing to Baptists (and the world) about women not just being pastors in the church but having the right to teach a group of people at all and I shake my head. Has he not seen how you have used women throughout history (including biblical history) to teach and lead? I see how church leaders bend over backwards and contort themselves into different positions to justify bad behavior by the politician they favor simply because of the letter (D or R) that is in front of their name (this one is on both sides of the aisle). It feels like Christians have lost the faith that the Sermon on the Mount still counts for today’s age and instead of loving our neighbors as ourselves and working to persuade them to worship the Jesus we know, they are grabbing for power to ensure that the ideals (not Jesus) get forced on everyone. I had lunch with a pastor a couple of years ago, and I complained about gerrymandering, and he countered with, “What that’s what [the other side] does too.” I told him that doesn’t make it the right thing to do.

I heard a man say a few years ago that Jesus used four tools to impact the world around him and four tools only. And that is all he left us: Prayer, Service, Persuasion, and Suffering (PSPS). That’s it. But I see the church now, much like the Pharisees 2,000 years ago, feeling threatened and instead of leaning into Jesus and praying, serving, persuading, and willingly suffering, it is trying to cling to power so that we can impose our will on our neighbors from the top down. Not much love in that.

This passage is from Matthew 12. In Matthew 11:20-24, Jesus said:

²⁰ Then Jesus began to denounce the towns where he had done so many of his miracles, because they hadn’t repented of their sins and turned to God. ²¹ “What sorrow awaits you, Korazin and Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse. ²² I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on judgment day than you.

²³ “And you people of Capernaum, will you be honored in heaven? No, you will go down to the place of the dead. For if the miracles I did for you had been done in wicked Sodom, it would still be here today. ²⁴ I tell you, even Sodom will be better off on judgment day than you.”

He spoke truth to them because they hadn’t repented of their sins, but he also let them be. He knew he couldn’t make them repent and follow him. When I fail to get people to really follow after you in discipleship, I’m reminded of the part of the sermon on the mount in Matthew 7:13-14 when Jesus says, ¹³ “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. ¹⁴ But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” Somehow we’ve forgotten this and we think we can force the entire country onto the narrow path when I don’t think they realize they are drifting from the narrow path itself and everything Jesus spends the previous three chapters teaching by trying to do this.

Father, I have a funeral to go to this morning. It’s going to be sad. It’s for a young woman who died much to young and needlessly. I am sorry for her. I am sorry for her family. I haven’t seen her in almost three years. I didn’t know her the last three years, but I know the road was hard for her. I also know that she was never quite the same after her mother’s death maybe six or seven years ago. I pray for mercy over her soul. If Jesus can pray for you to forgive the people crucifying him even when they didn’t ask for the forgiveness, I ask that you will forgive her. She was in pain. I don’t know if that caused her to walk the path she chose or if she willfully rebelled against you. I suspect is was the pain that drove her in a direction. Please have mercy on her. Have mercy on her soul. And help her family to find you, find the narrow path, and make this pain count.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

20 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.

³ “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. ⁴ So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. ⁵ So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing.

⁶ “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’

⁷ “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’

“The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’

⁸ “That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. ⁹ When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage. ¹⁰ When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage. ¹¹ When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, ¹² ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’

¹³ “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? ¹⁴ Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. ¹⁵ Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’

¹⁶ “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

Matthew 20:1-16

Dear God, it’s interesting that the theme of my series teaching Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, and David to the Christian Men’s Life Skills class over the last eight weeks has been the danger of self-pity. I’ve tried to teach them that we are all at our worst when we are claiming our rights and feeling sorry for ourselves. I’ve been that way often (I’m still sometimes that way) when I get upset about how different people treat me. “How dare they?!?” “I deserve better!” But do I? Do I have a right to the rights I’m claiming, or am I allowing my self-perceived rights to distract me from loving and worshipping you and caring about and loving them? If I start to make an idol out of my rights with my self-pity then that’s the top of the slippery slope into selfishness.

I thought of this story this morning because I am supposed to be teaching the guys about work ethic over the last two weeks of the class. This next week will be mostly about applying for a job, interviewing, explaining their legal past, etc. But at some point we are going to be talking about working as unto you. So I’ll explore these passages a little bit. For me, while this story is mainly about those coming into your Kingdom at the end of their lives getting the same reward as those that come to you early in their life, it is also about this idea of dying to yourself. The other one that comes to mind is Colossians 3:23 which talks about working as unto you. Again, am I in it for me or for my love and worship of you?

Father, as I enter this day, help me to work as unto you. Help me to love as unto you. Help me to die to myself. Help me to sacrifice my selfishness and rights to the cross and take up your cross and follow you. Jesus didn’t show us his own rights while he was here. He showed us selflessness. Help me to live that way today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

²³ Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. ²⁴ Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵ The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

²⁶ Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.

²⁷ The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”

Matthew 8:23-27

Dear God, I’m convicted this morning that I haven’t prayed intentionally enough lately. I have a friend who had a mild stroke a couple of weeks ago. I prayed for him and his family initially, but I haven’t prayed for him enough lately. I have a young man who is special to me, and he has a hard life. I’ve thought about him a lot, but I haven’t prayed for him enough. There is a host of others–too many for me to count–for whom I haven’t prayed intentionally enough.

It makes me wonder if I really (and I mean really) believe in the power of prayer. In your power to intervene and move the needle in someone’s life. I see this story from Matthew about you calming the storm, and the disciples just left asking, “Who is this man?” It’s like they’re asking, “What have we gotten ourselves into with him, and what is the limit of what he can do?”

Father, I look at my stroke victim friend and ask that you please move to solve the myriad of problems facing him. Healing. His wife’s health. Limited financial resources. Limited family able to help. Please use this pain in all of their lives. I know he has a grandson who has issues. I know there are other things facing them as a family. I know he has responsibilities in the community. I know there are a lot of people who depend upon him. While you are healing him, while you are strengthening him, please make this pain count for your plan and your glory in a lot of lives and the community. For the young man I know, his situation seems so awful to me. Help him, Father. Help his family. Help him to grow. Use the pain for your glory. I have so many people running through my head right now. My children. My wife. My family. The couples my wife and I have done pre-marital counseling with. our priest, my coworkers and volunteers, our patients and clients, our political leaders here and in the rest of the world, Oh, God, please be powerful. Calm the storm. And if it is not your will to calm the storm. If there is destruction you need to happen, give us peace and comfort as we sail into it. All for your glory. All for your plan.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

²¹ From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.

²² But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”

²³ Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. ²⁵ If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. ²⁶ And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. ²⁸ And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

Matthew 16:21-28

Dear God, it is just so hard for us to understand, in our limited minds, that this life that we perceive with our five senses is just so small. So, so small. The room I see with my eyes right now as I sit here and write this prayer to you is probably only about 2% of what is really happening in this room. There are layers. There are manmade layers like radio waves moving through here that I cannot see. There are different bands of the light spectrum that I cannot see. There are sounds happening I cannot hear. There are smells. The list in practically infinite. Then there is the spiritual world. Are there angels and demons in here right now? How much are they messing (demons) and protecting (angels) even as I sit here right now.

And again, that’s just in this room. If I move outside of this room into the house? If I go outside? If I consider the world? I’m so ignorant. I’m so small. We all are. And yet we reach for power. We reach for political power. We reach for influence. And it’s probably out of fear. What is our fear driving us to do? exactly what Jesus warns against in verse 26: “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” How many of us really make our moment-to-moment decisions based on our soul vs. our immediate power?

I read an article yesterday that said the Texas Education Agency is compelling public school students to read specific passages of the Bible. Frankly, for our society, I don’t like this, but I decided to go and see what twelve passages they had picked. One list by the Houston Chronicle said they would be required to read Jonah 1:1-5, 11-17, 2:10. First, if this is true (which I could not corroborate through the list the Texas Tribune provided), what is a teacher supposed to be teaching a Texas public school child through these verses? First, I have to wonder if the TEA even knows what the story of Jonah is all about. Do they know that Jonah is not considered to be a good prophet? That he’s not a good example? Even after the whale incident, he holds onto his bitterness. He yells at you for your forgiveness of the Assyrians (Ninevites) who had conquered Israel. The book is about your mercy and your desire to bring even these Assyrians into repentance and service to you. Does an elementary school teacher know these nuances going into teaching Jonah 1:1-5, 11-17, and 2:10? Is there going to be a prepared lesson plan that goes with this passage that helps the teacher explain that this passage is about the difference between bitterness and forgiveness?

So that makes me ask why the TEA is doing this, and it brings me back to this message from Jesus in Matthew 16. Fear. Fear we are losing the dominance of the “Christian” culture over society. So how are they going about establishing it? In exactly the opposite way Jesus did things: from the top down. Jesus was about serving, praying, persuading, and suffering. I heard someone say one time that those are the four tools he used during his life, and they are the only tools he left us. But our Christian culture seems to be wanting to go the way of the Spanish Inquisition, which lasted 350 years, but drove a bitterness towards the church that exists in Spain to this day. We think we know so much, but we’d do a lot better if Christians simply exhibited the fruits of the Spirit, loved our neighbors, and showed them how worshipping you and loving others changes lives.

Father, that was quite a little rant I just got on this morning. Maybe I got distracted and drifted from you, but I needed to process some of the things I was thinking after I read that article yesterday. We are such fools. And it’s fear and lack of faith that drives our foolishness. Help me to see at least a little of what you see today. Help me to love, at least a little, like you love. Help me to forgive. Help me to pray. Help me to serve. Help me to persuade. And give me a glad willingness to suffer if it will benefit your kingdom in any way.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

¹³ “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell [the road that leads to destruction] is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. ¹⁴ But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

Matthew 7:13-14

Dear God, I was with a group of men last night who are dealing with legal issues of one sort or another. All of differing degrees of seriousness. The meeting always starts with an icebreaker, and the question last night was, “Talk about a pivotal moment in your life.” About a third of the room talked about getting sober and the events (usually terrible) that led up to it. About a third of the room talked about a child being born and the realization that they needed to be a father for this child. I was actually both excited and embarrassed to tell them mine. It was back in July 1987 when I went to a Leadership Conference put on by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. It was there that I broke the cycle of just accepting you as savior and was actually taught to walk through the narrow gate.

The hardest part about having found the narrow gate is trying to describe it to others and encouraging them to find it too. I want for these men to discipline themselves into discipleship. I want my friends who haven’t found the narrow path to find it. Some young people look at my wife and me as “goals,” but they aren’t willing to do the work it takes to be who we are. And who we are isn’t perfect. We have our problems, sorrows, and laments. But we also have a sense of peace in you. I feel so loved and cared for by you even though everything isn’t perfect. My life could be, however, so much worse.

Father, help me show these men the narrow gate and know how to invite them to it. Help me to show them the narrow path and invite them to it. Help me to find the path today. Help me to die to myself, give up my agenda for this day, and embrace the activities you have for me. Help me to love others well. Help me to love you well.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

26 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, ² “As you know, Passover begins in two days, and the Son of Man^[a] will be handed over to be crucified.”

³ At that same time the leading priests and elders were meeting at the residence of Caiaphas, the high priest, ⁴ plotting how to capture Jesus secretly and kill him. ⁵ “But not during the Passover celebration,” they agreed, “or the people may riot.”

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

⁶ Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. ⁷ While he was eating,^[b] a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head.

⁸ The disciples were indignant when they saw this. “What a waste!” they said. ⁹ “It could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰ But Jesus, aware of this, replied, “Why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me? ¹¹ You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. ¹² She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial. ¹³ I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

¹⁴ Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests ¹⁵ and asked, “How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶ From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

The Last Supper

¹⁷ On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal for you?”

¹⁸ “As you go into the city,” he told them, “you will see a certain man. Tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My time has come, and I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples at your house.’” ¹⁹ So the disciples did as Jesus told them and prepared the Passover meal there.

²⁰ When it was evening, Jesus sat down at the table^[c] with the Twelve. ²¹ While they were eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”

²² Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one, Lord?”

²³ He replied, “One of you who has just eaten from this bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴ For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”

²⁵ Judas, the one who would betray him, also asked, “Rabbi, am I the one?”

And Jesus told him, “You have said it.”

²⁶ As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.”

²⁷ And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, ²⁸ for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant^[d] between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. ²⁹ Mark my words—I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”

³⁰ Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

³¹ On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say,

‘God will strike^[e] the Shepherd,
    and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

³² But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”

³³ Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

³⁵ “No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same.

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

³⁶ Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” ³⁷ He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. ³⁸ He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

³⁹ He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

⁴⁰ Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? ⁴¹ Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”

⁴² Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away^[f] unless I drink it, your will be done.” ⁴³ When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

⁴⁴ So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again. ⁴⁵ Then he came to the disciples and said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶ Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”

Jesus Is Betrayed and Arrested

⁴⁷ And even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests and elders of the people. ⁴⁸ The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss.” ⁴⁹ So Judas came straight to Jesus. “Greetings, Rabbi!” he exclaimed and gave him the kiss.

⁵⁰ Jesus said, “My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for.”

Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. ⁵¹ But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear.

⁵² “Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword. ⁵³ Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands^[g] of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? ⁵⁴ But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”

⁵⁵ Then Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I some dangerous revolutionary, that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there teaching every day. ⁵⁶ But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures.” At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled.

Jesus before the Council

⁵⁷ Then the people who had arrested Jesus led him to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of religious law and the elders had gathered. ⁵⁸ Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and came to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all end.

⁵⁹ Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council^[h] were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him to death. ⁶⁰ But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness, they could not use anyone’s testimony. Finally, two men came forward ⁶¹ who declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

⁶² Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” ⁶³ But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I demand in the name of the living God—tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

⁶⁴ Jesus replied, “You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand^[i] and coming on the clouds of heaven.”^[j]

⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. ⁶⁶ What is your verdict?”

“Guilty!” they shouted. “He deserves to die!”

⁶⁷ Then they began to spit in Jesus’ face and beat him with their fists. And some slapped him, ⁶⁸ jeering, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who hit you that time?”

Peter Denies Jesus

⁶⁹ Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came over and said to him, “You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.”

⁷⁰ But Peter denied it in front of everyone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

⁷¹ Later, out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.^[k]”

⁷² Again Peter denied it, this time with an oath. “I don’t even know the man,” he said.

⁷³ A little later some of the other bystanders came over to Peter and said, “You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.”

⁷⁴ Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know the man!” And immediately the rooster crowed.

⁷⁵ Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he went away, weeping bitterly.

27 Very early in the morning the leading priests and the elders of the people met again to lay plans for putting Jesus to death. ² Then they bound him, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.

³ When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. ⁴ “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.”

“What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.”

⁵ Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself.

⁶ The leading priests picked up the coins. “It wouldn’t be right to put this money in the Temple treasury,” they said, “since it was payment for murder.”^[a] 7 After some discussion they finally decided to buy the potter’s field, and they made it into a cemetery for foreigners. ⁸ That is why the field is still called the Field of Blood. ⁹ This fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah that says,

“They took^[b] the thirty pieces of silver—
    the price at which he was valued by the people of Israel,
¹⁰ and purchased the potter’s field,
    as the Lord directed.^[c]”

Jesus’ Trial before Pilate

¹¹ Now Jesus was standing before Pilate, the Roman governor. “Are you the king of the Jews?” the governor asked him.

Jesus replied, “You have said it.”

¹² But when the leading priests and the elders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent. ¹³ “Don’t you hear all these charges they are bringing against you?” Pilate demanded. ¹⁴ But Jesus made no response to any of the charges, much to the governor’s surprise.

¹⁵ Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner to the crowd—anyone they wanted. ¹⁶ This year there was a notorious prisoner, a man named Barabbas.^[d] 17 As the crowds gathered before Pilate’s house that morning, he asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you—Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” ¹⁸ (He knew very well that the religious leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy.)

¹⁹ Just then, as Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: “Leave that innocent man alone. I suffered through a terrible nightmare about him last night.”

²⁰ Meanwhile, the leading priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death. ²¹ So the governor asked again, “Which of these two do you want me to release to you?”

The crowd shouted back, “Barabbas!”

²² Pilate responded, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”

They shouted back, “Crucify him!”

²³ “Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?”

But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!”

²⁴ Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!”

²⁵ And all the people yelled back, “We will take responsibility for his death—we and our children!”^[e]

²⁶ So Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

²⁷ Some of the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into their headquarters^[f] and called out the entire regiment. ²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. ²⁹ They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” ³⁰ And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it. ³¹ When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

³² Along the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene,^[g] and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. ³³ And they went out to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). ³⁴ The soldiers gave Jesus wine mixed with bitter gall, but when he had tasted it, he refused to drink it.

³⁵ After they had nailed him to the cross, the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.^[h] 36 Then they sat around and kept guard as he hung there. ³⁷ A sign was fastened above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against him. It read: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” ³⁸ Two revolutionaries^[i] were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

³⁹ The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. ⁴⁰ “Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

⁴¹ The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders also mocked Jesus. ⁴² “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him! ⁴³ He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴ Even the revolutionaries who were crucified with him ridiculed him in the same way.

The Death of Jesus

⁴⁵ At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. ⁴⁶ At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,^[j] lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”^[k]

⁴⁷ Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. ⁴⁸ One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. ⁴⁹ But the rest said, “Wait! Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”^[l]

⁵⁰ Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. ⁵¹ At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, ⁵² and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. ⁵³ They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.

⁵⁴ The Roman officer^[m] and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

⁵⁵ And many women who had come from Galilee with Jesus to care for him were watching from a distance. ⁵⁶ Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James and Joseph), and the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee.

The Burial of Jesus

⁵⁷ As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea who had become a follower of Jesus, ⁵⁸ went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. And Pilate issued an order to release it to him. ⁵⁹ Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. ⁶⁰ He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left. ⁶¹ Both Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting across from the tomb and watching.

The Guard at the Tomb

⁶² The next day, on the Sabbath, the leading priests and Pharisees went to see Pilate. ⁶³ They told him, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver once said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise from the dead.’ ⁶⁴ So we request that you seal the tomb until the third day. This will prevent his disciples from coming and stealing his body and then telling everyone he was raised from the dead! If that happens, we’ll be worse off than we were at first.”

⁶⁵ Pilate replied, “Take guards and secure it the best you can.” ⁶⁶ So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to protect it.

Matthew 26-27

Dear God, I want to go through each gospel telling of the passion over the next few days. Obviously, I’m starting with Matthew. It’s pretty long. As I read this story this morning I ran out of time before I had to leave so I’m completing this now. I started to write down my own notes from the story and I thought I would bullet-point them here:

• The chief priests were gathered at Caiaphas’s house. It made me envision them passing the word that they were going to meet there to discuss Jesus and Passover week.
• Meanwhile, Jesus is over in Bethany at Simon’s house, getting perfume “wasted” on him.
• At the Last Supper, Jesus proactively brings up the betrayal. It occurred to me that he didn’t have to bring it up. It could have played out without him bringing it up. I guess there were probably effects of this later on the disciples as they remembered him doing it.
• Jesus knows they are all going to scatter.
• Jesus prays his, “I don’t like this!” prayer, but always submits his will under yours. Teaching us to pray.
• Matthew keeps the swordsman’s identity anonymous, but we find out in other gospels (maybe just one) that it’s Peter. So he wasn’t so chicken after all. He was willing to battle and die. He just wasn’t ready to surrender to die.
• The trial was a sham.
• Their rage compelled them to violence. These were the priests and leaders, and they were literally beating this man.
• Peter denies Jesus. Again, he was willing to fight, but he wasn’t willing to just surrender. He had to have been so confused and scared after Jesus was arrested. “How could he fall asleep?” he must have asked himself.
• Jesus and Pilate have their exchange. Pilate is frustrated. I can imagine that he was really having a bad day and couldn’t believe he had to deal with this. Wasn’t this supposed to be a happy time for the Jewish people?!?
• Mobs love power. They ask for Barabbas. They wanted the revolutionary. The guy willing to get arrested and submit to death wasn’t their style. Are we any different? We are fools if we think we are any different than this crowd that wanted Barabbas.
• Pilate’s wife had a dream. I wonder what her dream was. It never says.
• Pilate washes his hands, removes him from the custody of the leading priests and high priests and turns him over to the soldiers.
• The soldiers take Jesus inside Pilates house, strip him, torture him, mock him, and beat / spit on him.
• Simon just showed up that day. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all describe him as just happening to be there. But his name now lives thousands of years later. How did that day impact him? Did he know who Jesus was going into it? Did he learn about the resurrection later? He’s seemingly never mentioned again.
• The soldiers crucify him and then mock him at the bottom of the cross by gambling over this things. I wonder what the winner did with them. Especially after the earthquake to come later.
• The King of the Jews sign is place overhead. John tells us that the priests take issue with Pilate and he tells them he’s written what he’s written.
• People are still hurling insults at him and challenging him. Probably the same people from the trial the night before. A lot of times we say that it was the same people who cheered him days before with palm branches, but I’ll bet it was a different group of people. Not that those people from the beginning of the week had any real idea of what was going on.
• Darkness from noon until 3:00. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
• Someone has pity on him and tries to give him a drink, but others try to stop them.
• Jesus dies with one last cry. Oh, my Jesus, thank you.
• The curtain in the temple rips in two, the earth shakes and the tombs open. This is a weird part of the story. I can’t remember if Mark and Luke say the same thing. I’m pretty sure John doesn’t. I’ll look forward to reading those accounts over the next two days, but today I’m just going to sit with Matthew’s account.
• The Centurion and the guards have a “come to Jesus” moment and probably regret everything they’ve done. I wonder what they did with those clothes they gambled over.
• The women who wanted to care for Jesus were there and watching and Joseph (and Nicodemus, according to John) take Jesus’s body and care for it.
• Joseph stepped up to care for Jesus even in the midst of his pain and probably disillusionment.
• The Pharisees ask Pilate to secure the tomb with a seal and guards for at least three days, which he does.

And thus we leave the scene on Saturday morning. The Pharisees had the guards work on the Sabbath. Isn’t that interesting? It’s funny how we are willing to bend the rules for our own priorities.

Jesus, I want to sink into this week. I almost typed “into your pain,” but I know that 1.) I can’t really do that and 2.) I don’t really have the courage for that. No, what I want to sink into is your love, presence, and gift of redemption and that the veil was torn away between me and my Triune God. I went over these verses tonight with a group of guys and one of them asked what we thought Pilate would say if he were standing in front of Jesus. I said that I have no more right to stand before you, Jesus, that Pilate does. I am completely dependent on your mercy. I would just fall on my face and silently, overwhelmingly worship you. I love you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen