27:1 Jesus spent the night imprisoned by the chief priests (the leaders of the churches!) They planned His death.
27:2 Jesus is handed over to the governor, who also does not have the authority to execute Him.
27:3 We return to Judas in this verse. Judas realizes that Jesus was indeed captured and sentenced to death - and whether or not Judas thought it possible, Jesus is going to be "killed."
I put "killed" in parenthesis because as students of God, we must remember that our spirits cannot be killed. Our God is Life and when we leave Earth, we return instantly to Him (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Still, it's a tragic and miserable scene. Jesus is being treated horribly and for crimes He did not even commit -- and Judas has responsibility for that.
27:4 Judas admits his crime and his betrayal and the people he made the arrangement with... do not care. They want Judas to go away; they do not want to deal with his remorse. They want him to deal with his own problems.
27:5 Judas throws the money -- it no longer means anything to him. Why? Judas learns from his (rather big) mistake and he's genuinely apologetic and horrified by his actions. Remember that God forgives the people who are sorry for their sins. Judas found his empathy and he mourned his actions, he regretted them... the threw away the money he earned because in that moment, he CHOSE God over money. So do not judge anyone -- each of us our battling our own mistakes and it's our business with God only.
By "judge" I mean, do not hurt or neglect or deny a person because of their decisions. Remember Jesus came to Earth to heal the sick. Jesus did not come to neglect the people who needed him. He never judged anyone. Everyone was welcome to join Jesus.
Let's travel briefly to: Acts 1:18. We find out that Judas was killed. The manner of his death (brutal and difficult to read) explains to us that at least one other person was involved in Judas' death. Remember that Judas was sorry... he made a massive mistake, a terrible decision, but he was truly sorry. God forgives. Do not harm a person who loves God and is working with Him to redeem him/herself.
27:6 The chief priests contradict themselves here. They will not accept blood-money... yet they gave the blood money to Judas. By not accepting it, they admit that the trade was unjust.
27:7 The money was used to purchase a potter's field -- where discarded pieces were thrown and buried. This is a metaphor. Jesus coming to Earth gathered the discarded people and brought them together. Therefore the "blood money" purchased a place for people to go home to.
27:8 So the field is remembered by this meaning. You can think of the field as the Earth: Jesus' life of teaching saved the Earth and created a space here for people to find comfort and rest.
27:9-10 Scripture spoken by Jeremiah and written by Zechariah 11:12 was fulfilled. God planned out all of this lessons to teach us. Therefore, when God teaches us about the future... we can trust that it will happen exactly as He taught us.
27:11 Jesus continues to respond in this manner: you people are the ones accusing me, shouldn't you know the answers to your own question?
27:12 Jesus did not babel or talk or say anything to this crowd of evil buffoons -- they were undeserving of it and Jesus had accepted to let scripture be fulfilled.
27:13 The governor is amazed that Jesus is remaining silent. It seems like he's a bit concerned. Jesus is not defending himself at all and yet the evidence against Him is weak.
27:14 Jesus remains silent and this shocks the governor. Jesus is fulfilling scripture. He's allowing these men to make their own choices... they know they are lying and killing an innocent man, Jesus does not waste His breath to tell them what they already know.
27:15 There was a tradition of releasing one prisoner. The multitude got to choose who would be released.
27:16 There was another prisoner captured with Jesus named Barabbas.
27:17 Pilate asks them who they want to release - either Jesus or Barabbas.
27:18 Pilate gives them a chance to fix their evil mistake. Pilate, by this time, has deduced that Jesus has been detained by them because they are jealous of him. Pilate understands that Jesus is innocent.
27:19 Pilate's wife even dreamed the situation. This dream was sent by God. Pilate's wife learns and admits that Jesus is innocent and she warns Pilate not to harm Him. God uses dreams as lessons of future events sometimes (an example is The Book of Daniel).
27:20 The chief priests continue their dirty, deceptive work and convince the people to release Barabbas instead of Jesus.
27:21 They make it official: they chose Barabbas.
27:22 Pilate is conflicted, he does not know how to handle the situation. He asks them what they intend for him to do with Jesus... they want Him to be crucified.
27:23 Pilate is desperately trying to bring order and sense to the situation. He asks them why they demand Jesus' death because they have failed in producing evidence that He has done anything wrong. They still want Jesus dead. The chief priests do not want their authority challenged by Jesus - they want to retain their power, wealth and control over a weak and abused population of people.
27:24 Pilate refuses to kill Jesus. Pilate refuses to kill an innocent man and he passes that burden onto the people demanding it.
27:25 These people claim their responsibility for killing/harming all of the righteous people who Jesus gathered.
27:26 So Barabbas is released and Jesus remains captured, tortured and sentenced to death. Pilate, who believed that Jesus was innocent, beats Jesus. We can make an assumption here that Pilate might have beaten Jesus to satisfy this angry multitudes taste for His blood. However, it did not work. They did not want to simply harm Jesus... they wanted Him to die.
27:27 They return Jesus to a prison and had a whole group of people there to prevent any kind of escape. (We know, and Jesus knew, that God could break Him from that prison easily-- but Jesus is there for a reason).
27:28-31 They mock and torture Jesus before killing Him. These are truly awful people.His death is not enough for Him... they want to make a show of it. They put a robe on Him, the color purple (significant of royalty) and mock His status. Jesus went through this for us. Jesus wants us to identify the evil and to have courage against them. They call Him "King of the Jews" but Jesus is King over everyone and everything.
27:32 By now Jesus has been beaten and His earthly body is too weak to walk. Someone must carry Him, Simon is commanded to do it.
Jesus is so worthy of our love and of our best actions.
27:33 They bring Jesus on the cross to Golgotha.
27:34 We can read this as a metaphor. These people try to corrupt Jesus with their own way of the world but Jesus chooses the True God and He will not accept any of what they have to offer. What they have is bitter and horrible.
27:35 Jesus is nailed to the cross. Still, they mock and torture Him. The fulfill scripture by dividing His clothes (Psalm 22). They worked to strip Jesus of His dignity... Impossible.
27:36 They remained there to witness His "death".
27:37 They kept their joke and their lie going.
27:38 Two others were crucified alongside Jesus. One on either side.
27:39-40 People walked by Jesus while he was "dying" and continued to falsely accuse Him. They challenge Him to save Himself... but Jesus did not need saving and they were too evil and corrupt to realize that. If they only knew what power Jesus had... they would have fled! They will flee when Jesus comes again, but the will not be successful in their attempt to escape. God mutes them right out of existence.
27:41-42 They are getting quite confident at this point. Their jokes and their actions against Him are merciless. Jesus is about to rise before them, with God, as the power of the universe.
27:43-44 Everyone around Jesus is contributing to the mocking.
Jesus suffered this affliction for our sake. Jesus did not want us to face any difficulty that He Himself did not endure. Moreover, Jesus wanted us to learn to be strong and courageous. Most importantly, Jesus wants us to love and TRUST God. He want us to allow our true love for God mute our fear. When we learn and believe that God will protect us, we have nothing to fear.
Jesus allows himself to be mocked, abused, tortured and killed. He goes through the same pain and suffering He knows that we, children of God, will have to endure. And we do. Life is difficult and we face many adversaries. Jesus did not just talk to talk. Jesus walked the walk. He proved that He meant and believed in everything He said. He was afraid of nothing, afraid of no man because He knows and loves our powerful and protective Father.
27:45 It's start to get dark in the middle of the day. Of course, this is done by God and is metaphorical of seriousness of the situation.
27:46 Do not confuse this verse. Jesus recites Psalm 22 in this verse. This verse only shows the partial message of what Jesus spoke. Psalm 22 is a psalm spoken by David not by Jesus. Jesus calls God "Father" always. He does not use the word "God." Psalm 22 is David's journey from not believing and trust God to learning from Him how to live, to learning from Him about Jesus' Crucifixion, to trusting God and loving Him. It's a journey we all face and it's fitting that Jesus would remind us of our journey before His "death."
27:47 People start to get a little frightened. Frightened because it's becoming apparent that Jesus is special. Frightened because they are evil and have tortured an innocent.
27:48 They offer Jesus the sour wine but He takes nothing.
27:49 Others are still concerned, they want to see how the situation unfolds and they know they are already guilty of so much -- they're ready to calm down a little bit (out of fear of the True God not out of compassion).
27:50 Jesus is alive and His spirit is strong.
27:51 The whole Earth is reacting to this moment. Sometimes we don't realize the magnitude of God. He is everywhere and this whole universe is of Him.
27:52-53 Jesus documents to us and to the people of the time that there is no such thing as death. People who have transferred to their spiritual bodies return as evidence, as a lesson from God.
27:54 The signs from God convince the people that Jesus is in fact of God. God is so amazing, His work is powerful. These people use the word "was" but Jesus IS... forever the Son of God.
27:55-56 These women stayed with Jesus. They love Him. These were strong women who never left Jesus' side and therefore never left God's side. We should aspire to this amount of courageous faith! Among them was Mary Magdalene... who loved Jesus and was healed by Jesus. She is a reminder to us that we are loved by God, even though we make mistakes.
27:57 Joseph came to collect Jesus' body.
27:58 Pilate allowed Jesus to take Jesus.
27:59 Joseph went through the process of preparing Jesus for burial. Joseph loved Jesus and you can be assured that he was attentive and respectful.
27:60 Joseph placed Jesus in His burial place, build specifically for Him by Joseph. And then Joseph closed the tomb.
27:61 Jesus' beloved remained with Him. They did not go to sleep. They remained observant and compassionate - a great example for us to follow.
27:62 Those horrible church leaders gather together again, they're a bit concerned about something.
27:63 They remember that Jesus told them He would rise. Jesus gave them a specific date that He would rise and they're obviously worried that Jesus spoke the truth. Remember that these people knew Jesus was innocent and they felt their power was threatened by Him for a reason -- Jesus is more powerful than they are... Jesus' power cannot even be compared to theirs.
27:64 They want Jesus' tomb guarded... they do not want Him getting out. They also do not want a rumor of Him getting out because they know it will spread.
27:65 Pilate gives them permission to guard Jesus' tomb for themselves. They only trust their own security.
27:66 So they checked on the tomb and sealed it. They made sure there were no exits and they guarded it to make sure Jesus could not leave, not even with the help of His followers.
