Tag: Jesus

Red Letter Year: 6/6

Matthew 27:1-10

1 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.” 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 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.”

Comments

This marks the second time in Matthew’s Gospel that money has scattered across the Temple floor. The first time Jesus disrupted business as usual and most likely made his arrest and execution inevitable. Those in power do not suffer such disruptions lightly. We see here a chilling example of why Jesus had a problem with business as usual. Distraught at the deadly turn of events and his own complicity, Judas comes to his religious leaders confessing his sin. Their response is callous and dismissive. They turn Judas away and leave him alone with his despair. The outcome is tragic but hardly surprising. The religious leaders show great care for how the “blood money” is used, but no care at all for the desperate man. As Jesus has said more than once, they focus on minutiae and ignore what really matters.

There are two critical things that I think we should take away from this sad passage. The first is that we cannot leave individuals to take care of sin on their own. “That’s your problem,” is never an appropriate response from the church. Your problem is our problem. That is not to say that your problem is someone else’s problem in a specific sense (this is one of the flaws of current modesty teaching, that one person is responsible for the sin of another), rather, sin is a communal issue and must be dealt with as such. What does this look like? It begins with pastors who care for people and accept that the sin of others is something they have to care deeply about.

The other thing I think we need to take away from this is how very human, how very ordinary Judas was. Throughout history attempts have been made to either villainize or more recently indemnify Judas. Thinking that otherizes Judas or removes his action from the realm of possibility from the rest of us must be avoided. Judas was one of the Twelve. Judas prayed for people. Judas preached the Gospel. Judas saw people healed and delivered from demons when he prayed for them. Judas was taught by Jesus directly, face to face, for three years.  His betrayal is not far removed from Peter’s cowardly denial we read yesterday. His repentance here may have been genuine (there is no way we can judge this). He is a tragic figure and he, like all the other sorry figures in the Bible, is just as human as you or I. We are as prone to failure of this magnitude as he was. And blood money is as likely to scatter across the floors of our sanctuaries as it was the Temple.

One final note about the Blood Field. Matthew used the word for blood three times in this short passage (the whole story is preparing us for Jesus’ death at the end of the chapter): it is Jesus’ blood that buys this field. The value was the equivalent of what a person was to be compensated if one of their slaves was gored by another’s bull. Jesus was worth no more to them than a slave and the field was worth no more than somewhere to bury foreigners. Even here we see that the blood of Jesus welcomes in the outsiders, gives those who are rejected some place to rest. Neither the betrayal of Judas or the callousness of the religious leaders can do anything other than work toward the mission of Jesus. His kingdom advances even in defeat.

The New Living Translation (NLT)Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Red Letter Year: 6/5

Matthew 26:59-75

59 Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council 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 and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

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?”

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.”

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.

Comments

This is perhaps the most artfully crafted passage in all of Matthew’s Gospel. You should take some time to appreciate the high art we have here, where meaning comes in layers and parallels and only comes by deep, prayerful reflection. To that end, I want to give you a few directional pointers without over commenting and ruining your own experience with Matthew’s masterpiece.

Matthew gives us the trial of Jesus and the denial of Peter together. Both face three rounds of questions and increasing tension. One example of the parallelism is in the second question for each. The high priest demands that Jesus take an oath and tell if he is the Christ or not. Jesus refuses to take any oath; he had already forbidden his followers from taking oaths. Yet at the same moment, Peter is taking an unsolicited oath in denying Jesus for the second time. The third level is the most tense. The servants of the high priest are beating Jesus, cursing, screaming, and demanding Jesus prophesy. Outside, Peter is also cursing and swearing and fulfilling the most recent prophecy Jesus had made.

There is a lot more here, paralleling how we are called to respond and how we are prone to respond, what faithful kingdom witness looks like and what failed kingdom witness looks like. This is Peter’s final appearance in Matthew’s Gospel. He has been Jesus’ closest disciple, the rock, the first one to confess Jesus as Messiah, the only one of the remaining eleven who even hung around. His failure was foretold but still seems surprising with its oaths and curses and movement further away from Jesus with each denial. At the last we see what a prophetic word can do, break through to us in the midst of our worst sin. Silent obedience and boisterous disobedience. I hope you spend some time letting this dual scene play out in your head like the best Hollywood drama you can imagine. There is truth here. Give your soul a chance to find it.

The New Living Translation (NLT)Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.