Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Innocent Condemned and the Guilty Released (Matthew 27:24-26)

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The Innocent Condemned and the Guilty Released (Matthew 27:24-26) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reform thinking. You know, when we look at the
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architecture of a courtroom, everything about that space is
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designed to project this aura of objective truth.
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I mean, the bench is elevated. The procedures are bound by
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strict statutes. The whole goal of the legal
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system is to take the chaos of human conflict and, well, filter
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it through the grid of the law until you get a binary
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conclusion, guilty or not guilty.
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That is the theoretical baseline of jurisprudence, for sure.
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A society expects its legal apparatus to protect the
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innocent and punish the guilty, and when that mechanism
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functions correctly, it provides a sense of security.
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But when that mechanism fails, or I mean worse, when it's
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intentionally inverted by the very authorities appointed to
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uphold it, the resulting injustice is staggering.
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And that inversion, that's our focal point today.
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We are taking a deep dive into the source material surrounding
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3 short verses in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 27, verses 24
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through 26. Yeah, and we are not treating
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this passage as some obscure historical footnote or, you
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know, a simple morality play. No, definitely not for you
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listening. We want to establish that this
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specific sequence of events represents the legal and
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theological climax of cosmic history.
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We are analyzing the moment when the political machinery of the
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Roman Empire and the religious identity of 1st century Israel
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collided to condemn the sinless Son of God.
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The scene of the Roman praetorium defies all standard
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legal logic. I mean, you have a supreme
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regional magistrate who publicly, repeatedly declares a
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defendant completely innocent of all sedition charges.
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Over and over. Right.
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Yet in the same continuous sequence of events, this same
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magistrate sentences that innocent man to the most brutal
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execution method available. It's unbelievable.
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And simultaneously, you have a religious establishment that
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demands to absorb the moral and legal liability for an
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execution, all while a genuinely guilty, violent insurrectionist
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walks out of the courtyard as a free man.
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Yeah, while the true king is shackled, it is a terrifying
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breakdown of justice. It really is.
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Matthew is writing a narrative that forces the reader to
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confront a whole host of uncomfortable realities.
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You have a judge who acts more like a defense attorney trying
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to negotiate a plea deal with a mob.
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You have a crowd acting with a single lethal consciousness, and
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sitting right in the center of this chaos is Jesus of Nazareth,
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remaining silent while the entire world fractures around
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him. The text is constructed to
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expose the absolute failure of moral neutrality.
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Matthew's Gospel strips away the veneer of human righteousness to
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reveal the depravity inherent in both secular political systems
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and corrupted religious institutions.
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But shining through that darkness, Matthew also presents
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the staggering reality of divine substitution.
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This passage is the intersection where extreme human rebellion
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meets God's sovereign grace. So to understand the mechanics
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of how the innocent crisis condemned, we have to start by
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analyzing the man holding the gavel, Pontius Pilate.
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Right? In popular imagination, the
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Roman Empire is viewed as this iron fisted, unshakable
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monolith. We picture legions marching in
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perfect formation and governor's ruling with absolute impunity.
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Yeah, that's the standard assumption.
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So the immediate question the text raises for you as the
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reader is why would a Roman prefect, a man who literally
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holds the authority of the Emperor and has armed auxiliary
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cohorts at his disposal, why would he cave to a local mob of
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religious leaders? Right, because he knows Jesus is
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innocent. Yeah, the tech states Pilot knew
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it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.
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So what invisible pressure is forcing Pilot's hand here?
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Well, to answer that, we have to reconstruct Pilot's historical
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vulnerability. The year is roughly 8033.
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Pilate is not operating in a vacuum where he can simply make
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abstract philosophical decisions about truth and justice.
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He is operating inside a highly volatile, highly punitive
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bureaucratic structure. The emperor sitting in Rome, or
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more accurately, retired to the island of Capri, is Tiberius
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Caesar. And in his later years, Tiberius
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had descended into intense paranoia.
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He suspected treason everywhere, and he was actively prosecuting
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any provincial governor who showed the slightest hint of
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disloyalty or administrative incompetence.
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Because Tiberius had essentially institutionalized the treason
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trial, right? The Maestas trials, yes.
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If someone accused you of diminishing the majesty of the
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Roman people or specifically the emperor, the consequences were
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lethal. Lethal.
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It was a culture of terror within the administration.
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So Pilot is reporting to a boss who is actively looking for
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reasons to execute his own. Subordinates, yes, And Pilot's
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specific standing with Tiberius was already compromised.
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You see, Pilot owed his political career to a man named
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Lucius, alias Sejanis. OK, who was he?
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Sejanis was the commander of the Praetorian Guard back in Rome
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for a time while Tiberius was on Capri, Sejanis was effectively
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running the Empire. Wow, OK.
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And he was intensely anti-Semitic.
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He encouraged policies that suppressed Jewish customs.
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Pilot, who was appointed under Sogenus patronage, implemented
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this aggressive stance in Judea. But the political winds in Rome
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shifted violently, didn't they? Very violently, in October of
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8031, Tiberius realized Sogenus was plotting A coup.
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Yeah. Tiberius smuggled a letter to
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the Senate condemning Sogenus, and the Praetorian commander was
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immediately executed. His body was dragged through the
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streets of Rome, and a massive, bloody purge of all of Sogenus
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allies followed. So anyone connected to Sejanis
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was inherently suspect. Precisely.
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Pilot survived the purge, but he was left completely exposed.
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I mean, he was a middle manager in a distant province whose
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patron had just been executed for treason, right?
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One mistake, one accusation of disloyalty, and Pilot knew he
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would be summoned to Rome to face the executioner.
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So when the Jewish leaders later yell at Pilot, if you release
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this man, you are not Caesar's friend, they are not just
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throwing out a rhetorical insult.
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No, not at all. They are threatening him with a
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Maestas charge. They are threatening to send a
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dispatch to Capri telling a paranoid Tiberias that Pilot is
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harboring A rival king. That is the leverage.
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That is the leverage. Furthermore, Pilot's own track
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record, Judea was disastrous. 1st century historians like
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Josephus and Philo document how Pilot repeatedly and
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unnecessarily antagonize the local Jewish population.
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He has smuggled Roman military standards bearing the Emperor's
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image into Jerusalem under the cover of night.
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Which is a huge offense. Huge.
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When the population discovered them, they marched to his
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residence in Caesarea and protested for five days.
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Pilots surrounded them with soldiers and threatened to cut
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their heads off. And what did they do?
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The Jewish protesters simply buried their necks and said they
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would rather die than see the law transgressed.
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Wow, so Pilot had to back down and remove the standards.
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He lost a massive game of political chicken.
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He did, and later he took sacred funds from the Temple treasury,
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money dedicated to God, to build an aqueduct into Jerusalem.
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Oh, that's not going to end well.
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No, it sparked another massive protest.
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Pilots sent soldiers dressed in civilian clothes into the crowd
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with concealed daggers, and they beat and killed many unarmed
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citizens. He also hung golden vote of
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Shields dedicated to Tiberius right in Herod's former palace
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in Jerusalem, which led to the sons of Herod writing a direct
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letter of complaint to Tiberius. Straight to the Emperor.
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Yes, and Tiberius wrote back, severely rebuking Pilot and
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ordering the Shields removed. OK, so Pilot is a man out of
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options. Every time he provokes the local
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population, they threaten to appeal to Rome, and Rome always
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sides against him because they just want peace in the
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provinces. His political capital is
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entirely bankrupt. So by the time Jesus is standing
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on the pavement in front of him, Pilot is terrified and the
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timing amplifies this terror. It is the festival of Passover.
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Normally, Jerusalem had a population of maybe 50,000
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people, but during Passover, hundreds of thousands of
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religious pilgrims from all over the known world flooded into the
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city. They camped on the hillsides.
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The infrastructure was strained to the breaking point.
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And Passover is not just a religious holiday.
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It is the annual celebration of Israel's historical liberation
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from the oppressive foreign empire of Egypt.
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You have a swelling mass of people packed into tight
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quarters, fueled by nationalistic fervor,
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celebrating their historical freedom from an empire while
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living under the boot of a new empire.
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It is a political tinderbox waiting for a spark.
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And Matthew notes in verse 24 that Pilot saw he was gaining
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nothing and that a riot was starting.
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The specific Greek term Matthew employs here is thoribose.
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It indicates a violent uproar, A tumult, a complete breakdown of
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civic order. For a Roman prefect, a thoribose
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in the capital city during a major festival meant absolute
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administrative failure. And likely his death.
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Yes, if a riot broke out, Pilot small auxiliary force would be
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overwhelmed. The Roman legate of Syria would
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have to March S with heavy legions to restore order.
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A devastating report will be sent to Tiberius.
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Pilot was weighing the life of 1 Galilean Carpenter against his
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own survival. So he looks at the mob, looks at
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the innocent man, and decides the math of political pragmatism
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requires an execution. But instead of just issuing the
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decree, he engages in a bizarre piece of performance art.
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He calls for a basin of water. He performs a ritual hand
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washing in front of the crowd. This is a highly calculated
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psychological maneuver. Pilot is a Pagan Roman
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aristocrat. Washing hands to signify
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innocence is not a standard Roman judicial procedure.
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Wait, really? It's not Roman.
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No, he is deliberately reaching into Jewish theological
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tradition. If you read Deuteronomy chapter
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21, the Mosaic Law outlines a very specific protocol for
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unsolved murders. Oh, right.
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If a body was found in a field and the killer was unknown, the
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elders of the nearest city had to take a heifer, break its neck
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in a valley, wash their hands over the sacrificed animal, and
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formally declare. Our hands did not shed this
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blood, nor did our eyes see it shed.
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OK, so Pilate is appropriating their own sacred text.
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He is using their covenantal symbols against them.
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He is speaking their theological language to force the liability
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on to them. He washes his hands and declares
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I am innocent of this man's blood.
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See. Do it yourselves.
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It is an attempt to execute a legal impossibility.
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Pilate is the supreme executive authority in Judea.
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He alone possesses the acuscaladii, the right of the
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sword. The Sanhedrin cannot legally
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execute anyone without his ratification.
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Yet he attempts to bifurcate his legal authority from his moral
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responsibility. He tries to transfer the
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judicial liability to the subject standing below his
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balcony while still utilizing his authority to sign the death
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warrant. You know, think about how often
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this specific maneuver happens in modern systems of power.
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All the time. Someone in authority recognizes
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A systemic injustice or a disastrous policy.
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They know it violates ethical boundaries, but the pressure
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from the board or the electorate or the shareholders is too
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intense. So they authorize the action,
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but they issue a dissenting memo or they make a public statement
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distancing themselves from the outcome.
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They try to establish a zone of neutrality.
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Right, the whole my hands are tied defense.
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Yeah, they say I am personally against this, but my hands are
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tied. They abdicate moral agency while
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exercising structural authority. So, looking at the text, does
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the narrative allow for this kind of neutrality?
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Can someone recognize truth, refuse to defend it, authorize
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its destruction, and remain innocent?
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The narrative aggressively denies that possibility.
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Moral neutrality is a myth. When confronted with Christ.
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By handing Jesus over to the executioners, Pilot becomes
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actively, undeniably complicit in the murder.
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Yeah, a symbolic basin of water possesses no metaphysical
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property to wash away the guilt of moral cowardice.
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The physical act of washing hands is utterly powerless
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against the objective stain of judicial murder.
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He knew better, Pilot. Recognizes the innocence of
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Jesus, but he values his own political survival more than the
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life of the Son of God. That valuation is a massive
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moral failure. So Pilot throws the legal and
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moral responsibility into the air, hoping to distance himself
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from the fallout. But the chilling reality of this
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text is that the crowd does not just passively watch him do
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this. No, they eagerly reach up and
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catch the liability. They demand it, and to grasp the
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weight of what happens next, we have to analyze the anatomy of
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this specific mob. Matthew utilizes a very specific
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shift in his Greek vocabulary here that defines the
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theological stakes of the moment.
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Let's trace that linguistic shift earlier in the passage,
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when the group is gathering in the courtyard and Pilot is
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asking them what to do with Jesus.
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Matthew describes the gathering using the word a close.
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That is a generic term. It just means a crowd, a
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multitude, a large assembly of individuals.
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OK, just a random group. But in verse 25, when the crowd
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responds to pilots hand washing, Matthew intentionally changes
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his terminology. He writes.
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And all the people answered. The Greek word he deploys here
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is Laos. And what's the distinction?
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Well, if you trace the use of Laos through the Septuagint, the
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Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and throughout the
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New Testament, you find it is the formal covenantal term for
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the chosen people of Israel. It differentiates the nation of
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Israel from the Ethne, the Gentile nations.
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So by switching from Aklos to Laos, Matthew is signaling that
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this is no longer just a random assortment of angry citizens in
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a courtyard. This is a unified national
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rejection. Precisely, Matthew.
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Is demonstrating that they are acting as the formal,
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representative body of the covenant nation.
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They are standing in the shadow of the temple.
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They're being led and agitated by their chief priests and
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elders, and they are issuing A collective binding decree
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regarding their Messiah. Wow.
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It is a moment of horrific federal headship where the
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actions of the gathered representatives speak for the
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whole. And the decree they issue is an
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imprecation. They cry out His blood Be on us
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and on our children. That is an unbelievable
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statement. It's chilling.
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They are voluntarily invoking a generational curse upon
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themselves. They are reaching into the legal
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framework of the Old Testament and weaponizing it against their
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own lineage. Yes, the phrase blood be upon us
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is standard Old Testament legal terminology for assuming blood
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guilt. You see this language in
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Leviticus 20 regarding capital crimes, or in Second Samuel
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chapter 1 when David executes the Amalekite who claimed to
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have killed Saul. Right.
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To assume blood guilt is to declare before the courtroom of
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heaven that you accept all moral, legal, and spiritual
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consequences for a death. So they're telling Pilate.
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They're telling him if there is any divine retribution for the
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execution of this man, we will absorb it.
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We are so absolutely certain that Jesus of Nazareth is a
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blasphemer and a false prophet that we will stake our lives and
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the lives of our descendants on his crucifixion.
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To really feel the devastating impact of that cry, we have to
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look at the historical context of Matthew's original readers.
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The primary audience for this gospel consisted of Jewish
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Christians living in the late 1st century.
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Their lived reality provides the necessary lens for this text.
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These readers had just survived one of the most catastrophic
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military events in ancient history.
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The fall of Jerusalem. Yes.
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In 8070, the Roman legions commanded by the future emperor
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Titus besieged Jerusalem. The star of the city breached
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the walls, completely destroyed the capital, and burned the
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Second Temple to the ground. Just absolute devastation.
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The priesthood was decimated, the genealogical records were
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lost, and the sacrificial system of Israel was permanently
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dismantled. The Roman historian Tacitus, as
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well as Josephus, described the carnage in horrific detail.
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Thousands were crucified outside the city walls until the Romans
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literally ran out of wood for crosses.
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And that destruction happened roughly 40 years after Pilot
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stood on that balcony. 40 years is the biblical measurement of
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one generation. Yes, when Matthew records the
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crowd screaming his blood be on us and on our children, his
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original readers are processing this text while looking at the
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smoldering ruins of their holy city.
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AT Heavy. Matthew is presenting A
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theological argument about historical consequence.
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He's showing them that the fall of Jerusalem was the tragic
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realization of this very cry, right.
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The generation that demanded the blood of the true temple, Jesus
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Christ brought the covenantal judgment of wrong down upon
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their physical temple. It is a display of collective
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self condemnation that echoes through history.
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I have to pause here, because this dynamic directly challenges
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a core assumption of modern sociology.
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For you listening, think about how we place an immense amount
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of faith in the concept of democratic morality.
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Oh, absolutely. The assumption is that if enough
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people agree on a position, if the consensus is broad enough,
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that position must be on the right side of history.
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We trust the wisdom of crowds, but when you look at the
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psychological mechanics of the crowd in Pilot's courtyard, it
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completely dismantles the idea that a majority voice guarantees
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A moral outcome. The text proves that a crowd can
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be entirely unified, passionately sincere, and
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completely violently wrong. Yes.
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The crowd in Jerusalem is operating under severe
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ideological groupthink. They have been conditions and
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manipulated by their religious leaders, The text explicitly
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says. The chief priests and elders
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persuaded the crowd. They agitated them.
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They agitated the populace, feeding them a specific
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narrative about Jesus being a threat to their national
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security and religious security. Once that narrative takes hold,
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the individuals within that crowd abandoned their capacity
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for independent critical thought.
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They just get swept up in it. They surrender their individual
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moral agency to the frenzy of the collective.
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It is the terrifying reality of mob psychology.
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When an individual joins a mob, they experience a sense of
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anonymity. The burden of personal
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responsibility feels diluted among thousands of other people.
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Right. A person will scream things and
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authorize actions in the middle of a crowd that they would never
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sanction if they were standing alone in a quiet room.
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But the courtroom of God does not operate on public polling.
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The text demonstrates that human consensus is fully capable of
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condemning the purest innocence that has ever existed.
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That is a staggering thought. Truth is not established by
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popular vote and justice is not determined by the volume of the
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crowd. The unified voice of the louse
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resulted in the greatest injustice in the history of the
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universe. They felt safe because they were
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together, but their unity only magnified their guilt.
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So Pilot has failed to wash away his guilt, and the crowd has
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eagerly accepted the liability. At this point, the verbal
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negotiations end and the judge executes the physical exchange.
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This is where the legal proceedings in the Roman
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courtyard become a tangible physical picture of the Gospel
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itself. The physical transaction
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requires us to examine the identity of the other prisoner.
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Standing on the platform, Pilate offers the crowd a choice
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between Jesus and a man named Barabbas.
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And Barabbas is a character we often skim over.
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We tend to view him just as a generic bad guy, a narrative
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prop used to get Jesus to the cross.
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But the historical and linguistic details surrounding
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his identity are, well, they are incredible.
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The name itself carries massive theological weight.
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Barabbas is an Aramaic patronymic translates to son and
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ABBA translates to father, so his name.
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Literally means son of the Father.
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It does and. The manuscript tradition as an
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even more shocking layer in several ancient textual
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witnesses, particularly the Cesarean text family and some
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early Syriac versions. His full name is recorded and
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what was it? His first name was.
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Jesus, Jesus Barabbas. Jesus Barabbas.
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Wait, really? Both of them?
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Yes. Which means the Roman prefect
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places 2 figures side by side on the pavement, and both are named
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Jesus. On one side you have Jesus
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Barabbas, Jesus, the son of the Father.
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We know from the Gospel accounts that he was a notorious
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prisoner, an insurrectionist and a murderer.
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A literal. Rebel he had likely.
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Participated in a recent violent uprising against Roman occupying
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forces. He sought to establish a Jewish
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Kingdom through the mechanism of violent political rebellion.
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He represents the path of force, bloodshed and earthly conquest.
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And on the other. Side you have Jesus of Nazareth,
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Jesus who is called the Christ. He is the true divine Son of the
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Father. He is the one who brings the
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Kingdom of heaven not through violent rebellion, but through
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self sacrificial submission, absolute obedience to the law,
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and radical love for his enemies.
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The contrast. Is deliberate and profound.
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I mean, it is stark. Pilate presents Israel with a
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choice between two entirely different visions of the Kingdom
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embodied in two men with the same name.
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Yeah. The crowd looks at the violent
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rebel and they look at the silent, suffering servant.
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They choose the violent. Of course they.
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Do they choose the? Man who mirrors their own
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disorder desires for political supremacy and immediate earthly
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vindication. They reject the one who calls
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them to spiritual repentance. This.
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Choice triggers A structural exchange that maps perfectly
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onto the ancient legal codes of Israel, specifically the rituals
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outlined in Leviticus for the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.
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Yes. Leviticus chapter 16.
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On the Day of Atonement, the high priest was required to take
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two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance
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of the tent of meeting right two goats.
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One goat was. Selected by Lot to be
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slaughtered as a sin offering, it's blood was carried into the
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Holy of Holies to satisfy divine justice and make atonement for
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the sanctuary and the other. The second goat.
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Was designated as the scapegoat, the goat for a zazzle.
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The high priest would lay both his hands on the head of the
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live goat, confess over it all the iniquities and
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transgressions of the people of Israel, symbolically transfer
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the national guilt onto the animal, and then it's let.
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Go yes, then that. Goat was let out into the
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wilderness and set completely free.
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So the parallels. Here in Matthew 27 are
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unmistakable Jesus and Barabbas stand side by side before the
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authorities as the historical, literal fulfillment of this
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ancient ritual. It is the.
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Theology of the Day of Atonement playing out in real time under
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Roman jurisdiction. Yeah, Barabbas functions as the
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scapegoat. Yeah, he is genuinely guilty,
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carrying the weight of his own crimes of murder and sedition.
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Yet through this bizarre legal exchange, the threat of death is
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removed from him and he is released into the wild,
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completely free from condemnation while Jesus.
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Takes the other role, Jesus of. Nazareth is the goat of the sin
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offering. He is the spotless innocent
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victim who is delivered over to be slaughtered to satisfy the
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strict requirements of justice so to understand.
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The mechanics of this we have to look past the physical release
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and examine the legal structure of what happens.
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OK, for you listening, imagine a complex corporate merger where
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one company is drowning in toxic debt.
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Facing imminent liquidation. Another massive, highly
22:57
capitalized corporation steps in, but instead of just giving
23:00
them a loan, they execute a structural assumption of
23:02
liability. The acquiring company legally
23:05
transfers all of the toxic debt onto its own balance sheet.
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The failing company is instantly cleared.
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Their Ledger reads zero. They are solvent not because
23:14
they earn the money, but because another entity legally absorbed
23:17
their ruin. That's a great way to.
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Put it barabbas is. That failing entity, his
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release, is not a legal fiction, It is a structural transfer.
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So how does this specific exchange redefine how we
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comprehend the doctrine of justification?
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It provides the. Visible historical framework for
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the doctrine of imputation. You see, justification is not
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God simply ignoring our sin or deciding to grade on a curve.
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A holy God cannot pretend that rebellion never happened.
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The demands of justice must be met.
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Justification requires an actual structural exchange of legal
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standing. So Barabbas.
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Is really a picture of us? Yes, Barabbas.
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Does not get released because Pilot suddenly decides that
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murder is an acceptable practice.
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The law still demands a life. Barabbas is released solely
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because another man is going to die on that specific cross in
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his place. And the Romans.
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Had already prepared the execution materials for Barabbas
24:10
right the timber was cut for her spine on.
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When theology speaks of substitutionary atonement, it
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asserts that Christ physically, legally, and spiritually stood
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in the exact place of the condemned.
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Baratus is the historical avatar for every single person who will
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ever believe the gospel. We are the.
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Guilty rebels, we have broken the.
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Divine law, we deserve the penalty of cosmic justice.
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But Christ steps into our exact legal position.
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He takes the condemnation so that we can receive the
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acquittal. Baratus walked out of that
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courtyard breathing free air. For one reason only.
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The Son of God took his cross man so.
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As Baratus walks out of the frame into his unearned freedom,
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the silent king is delivered to the brutal mechanics of Roman
24:52
execution. Matthew shifts our focus from
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the legal negotiations to the physical reality of the
24:56
punishment. Yes, he does.
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But we have to recognize that behind the strike of the Roman
25:00
whip, an entirely different decree is being executed.
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The physical reality of what? Happens next is grueling.
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Matthew describes the action with a specific Greek participle
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in verse 26, fragalisus scourging.
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Yes, but. Roman scourging was not a simple
25:14
beating. It was a highly specific,
25:17
calculated instrument of torture designed to break the physical
25:21
and psychological will of the victim.
25:23
It was. Horrifying the instrument.
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Used was the flagellum. It was a whip with a short
25:27
handle and multiple leather thongs.
25:30
Graded into the ends of those leather thongs were pieces of
25:33
jagged sheep bone and heavy lead balls.
25:37
It was designed to. Strip the skin and tear into the
25:39
deep skeletal muscle of the victim. 2 soldiers called
25:42
Lichter's would stand on either side of the victim and strike
25:45
alternately. Unimaginable.
25:47
The scourging. Induced severe blood loss,
25:50
lacerations to the veins, and extreme traumatic shock,
25:53
bringing the victim to the very edge of death before the
25:56
crucifixion even began. It was a punishment so severe
25:59
that Roman citizens were legally exempt from it.
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Yet Matthew does. Not dwell on the anatomical gore
26:04
of the scourging, He states it as a stark matter of fact.
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He includes that word fragrinatus to signal that the
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king has fully entered the machinery of execution.
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He is absorbing the physical wrath of the empire.
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And then comes the pivotal verb in the passage.
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Pilate handed him over to be crucified.
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The Greek word is pedekin. Pedekin is a heavily loaded
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theological term. It operates on 2 completely
26:29
different levels simultaneously. On the.
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Historical horizontal level. Yes, Pilot hands Jesus over to
26:36
the Roman soldiers to carry out the sentence.
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Pilot is the subject of the verb, but on the redemptive
26:41
historical vertical level, this word echoes the specific
26:45
language of the Septuagint translation of the prophet
26:47
Isaiah. OK, Isaiah. 53 specifically.
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Isaiah 53 verse 12 which prophesied that the suffering
26:53
servant would be handed over because of the iniquities of the
26:56
people. So while Pilate.
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Is handing him over out of sheer political cowardice God the
27:01
Father is sovereignly handing over the Son for the sins of the
27:04
world, the Apostle. Paul recognizes this dual
27:07
action. He uses this exact same verb,
27:09
paradican, in Romans 832 when he writes that God did not spare
27:13
his his own son, but handed him over for us all.
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So the physical. Delivery of Jesus to the cross
27:18
is a divine action clothed in a human action.
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The Roman soldiers are the instruments, but the decree
27:25
belongs to God. Yes, and this brings us to the
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master theme of the entire passage, which is the concept of
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blood. Matthew tracks this motif
27:34
throughout the entire trial narrative with incredible
27:36
precision, building a theology of responsibility.
27:40
The tracking. Of the blood motif is vital to
27:42
grasping Matthew's argument. Look at how it progresses
27:45
through chapter 27. OK, let's trace.
27:47
It first Judas. Iscariot realizes the horror of
27:50
his betrayal. He throws the 30 pieces of
27:53
silver into the temple, sanctuary and Wales.
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I have sinned by betraying innocent blood, Right?
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Then Pilot stands before the crowd, washes his hands and
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declares I am innocent of this man's blood.
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Then the crowd screams in response.
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His blood be on us and on our children.
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So, Judas. Despairs over the blood.
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Pilot tries to wash the blood away.
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The crowd claims the blood is a curse, but Matthew?
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Expects the reader to connect all of this frantic human
28:16
activity surrounding the blood to what Jesus himself
28:18
established just a few chapters earlier at the last.
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Supper. Yes, at the last.
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Supper in Matthew 26 Jesus takes the cup, gives it to his
28:26
disciples, and says, Drink of it, all of you, for this is my
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blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the
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forgiveness of sins that is the. Ultimate collision point.
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I have to stop here and address the massive philosophical
28:38
tension happening in real time in this text because we are
28:42
watching corrupt politicians acting out of pure self
28:45
preservation. We are watching a malicious mob
28:47
acting out of pure, unadulterated envy.
28:50
We are watching religious leaders manipulate the system.
28:53
They are all making entirely free, entirely sinful choices.
28:57
No external force is coercing their wills.
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Yet at the exact same moment, their wicked actions are Florida
29:03
State executing God's sovereign decree to secure salvation for
29:07
the world. So how does a reader process
29:10
this massive collision of human responsibility and divine
29:13
sovereignty? Well, it.
29:14
Requires us to hold 2 distinct biblical truths without
29:18
compromising or diluting either 1 The theological framework for
29:21
this is called compatibilism. Compatibilism.
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It means that God's absolute, comprehensive sovereignty over
29:27
history is completely compatible with human beings making free,
29:32
responsible moral choices. God governs all things, yet
29:35
humans are fully accountable for their actions.
29:37
Because if you attempt. To resolve the tension by simply
29:40
saying God made them do it, you turn God into the author of
29:43
evil, which scripture flatly denies.
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You destroy human agency, right? Pilot is not a robot pre
29:50
programmed to sin. The chief priests are not
29:53
mindless puppets. They act according to their own
29:55
wicked desires and their own highest inclinations in that
29:58
moment. Yeah, Pilot.
29:59
Chooses his career over justice and the crowd.
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Chooses violent nationalism over the Kingdom of Heaven.
30:04
They are fully, legally and morally guilty for their
30:06
choices. But God is so infinitely
30:09
sovereign, his wisdom is so vast, that he can govern the
30:12
universe in such a way that the wicked free choices of men
30:15
actually accomplish his holy redemptive purposes.
30:18
It's. Staggering.
30:19
God ordained. From eternity past that his son
30:21
would die. As a substitute, the human
30:23
actors intended the crucifixion for evil, to crush a political
30:27
and religious rival. God intended it for good to save
30:30
a multitude. Both.
30:32
Realities exist simultaneously. The worst crime in the history
30:35
of the universe is also the greatest act of grace in the
30:38
history of the universe. The cross is the ultimate proof
30:41
that human sin cannot derail divine purpose if you lose.
30:45
Human responsibility. You lose the reality of sin,
30:49
guilt, and the need for a savior.
30:52
If you lose divine sovereignty, you lose the assurance of
30:55
salvation because it would mean the cross was just a tragic
30:57
accident, a moment where God lost control of history, right?
31:01
But Matthew forces us to look at the text and see both.
31:04
The gavel is held by the hand of Pilate, but the decree of
31:07
salvation is written by the hand of God.
31:10
So. What does this exodus mean for
31:13
us today? For you listening?
31:14
We need to bring these historical realities and
31:16
theological doctrines directly into our own context.
31:19
The courtroom drama in Jerusalem isn't just an ancient event to
31:22
study for academic purposes. It is a mirror held up to our
31:26
own psychological and spiritual condition the most.
31:28
Immediate application of this text is a severe warning.
31:32
We must be warned against sinking the pilot basin of self
31:34
cleansing in our own lives. We all.
31:36
Construct our own basins of water to deal with our guilt.
31:39
We do. Guilt is an objective reality,
31:42
and when confronted with our own moral failures, our natural
31:46
fallen instinct is to wash our hands of the liability.
31:49
We attempt to scrub our consciences clean through
31:52
various mechanisms of self justification.
31:54
Like what? Well.
31:55
Some try moral improvement. They think if I just act better
31:58
tomorrow, if I challenge the scales with good deeds, it will
32:01
wash away the sins of yesterday. Others use social activism,
32:06
hoping that fighting for a noble cause will expiate their
32:08
internal sense of guilt. Or we rely.
32:10
On if we cannot wash our own hands.
32:13
If the pilot option is a myth, what is the alternative
32:17
presented by the text? The alternative is to recognize
32:20
our true identity within this narrative.
32:22
The human ego wants to read the story and identify with Jesus,
32:26
the misunderstood righteous sufferer.
32:29
Or we want to identify with a reformed pilot, the one who
32:32
tried to do the right thing but was overwhelmed.
32:34
Matthew strips those options away.
32:36
We are asked to recognize ourselves as Barabbas, that is
32:40
an. Incredibly bitter pill for the
32:41
modern mind to swallow. Nobody naturally wants to see
32:44
themselves as the guilty insurrectionist.
32:46
It is offensive. To human pride.
32:48
But it is the core premise of the gospel.
32:51
We are the guilty rebels. We have broken the law of God.
32:54
We have sought our own kingdoms and rejected His authority.
32:56
We are sitting in the cell and justice demands our execution.
33:00
The only reason we receive life, the only reason the cell door
33:03
opens and we are allowed to walk free into the sunlight, is
33:06
because the innocent king absorbed the lethal blow in our
33:09
place. Until a person sees themselves
33:11
as Barabbas, the cross will just look like a tragic historical
33:15
story of a good teacher who was misunderstood by his
33:18
contemporaries. But when you realize you are
33:21
Barabbas, the cross becomes the fountain of your salvation.
33:24
It becomes the structural transfer that saves your life.
33:27
That brings us. To a final, staggering
33:30
realization. To Mull over, a thought for you
33:33
to sit with long after this audio stops playing.
33:36
Think about the crowd in Pilot's courtyard.
33:39
They screamed in absolute hatred.
33:40
His blood be on us and on our children.
33:43
They intended it as a lethal curse.
33:46
They wanted the liability for his destruction.
33:49
Yet in the terrifying, magnificent irony of God's
33:52
sovereign grace, that exact same blood is the only substance in
33:56
the universe that can cleanse them.
33:58
The very blood. They demanded for an execution,
34:00
became the fountain open for their forgiveness.
34:03
When the apostle Peter preaches at Pentecost, just weeks later,
34:06
he is preaching to many of the exact same people who stood in
34:08
that crowd, and thousands. Of them are saved, thousands of
34:11
them are. Saved by the blood, they once
34:12
demanded the blood. They used to condemn themselves
34:15
is the only blood that can save them, and it is the only blood
34:18
that can save anyone. We began this analysis by
34:22
talking about our expectation of judicial order.
34:24
We want a legal system with binary precision.
34:27
We want the bad guys punished and the good guys rewarded.
34:30
But in Pilot's courtyard, the human apparatus of justice broke
34:34
down completely. The best man, whoever lived, was
34:36
condemned, and a murderer walked free.
34:39
But that broken system, that catastrophic failure of human
34:42
justice, was the very instrument God used to fix the terminal
34:46
diagnosis of the human soul. Thank you for joining the
34:49
conversation on Reformed thinking today.
34:51
Keep opening your Bible, keep examining the text, and keep
34:54
looking at the cross. We will catch you on the next
34:56
deep dive.