Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 27:20
But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
20. ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus ] St Peter brings out the full meaning of this choice: “ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life” (Act 3:14-15). They saved the murderer, and slew the Saviour.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mat 27:20
And destroy Jesus.
The cruel purpose
Moral beauty generally admired, etc. None more lovely than Jesus, and yet He was envied, hated, persecuted, and crucified.
I. The efforts to destroy Jesus (Mat 2:1-17; Luk 4:28). In the final conspiracy hired Judas, etc. (ch. 28). Though put to death, He rose, etc. Since then, Jews, etc., have laboured to destroy Him.
II. Why have they sought to destroy Jesus?
1. Not on account of the viciousness of His life.
2. Nor His opposition to law and order.
3. Nor the evil tendency of His doctrines.
4. Nor the injury He did by His influence (Mat 27:4; Luk 23:14; Mat 27:19).
It was-
1. Enmity to the truth.
2. Envy of His goodness.
3. Hatred of His person.
4. Love of wickedness.
III. How they have failed to destroy Jesus. Herod, Jews, Pilate, though they killed Him. He rose, etc. He lived on in His body, the Church. Trace the history of those destructive attempts down to Strauss and Renan, etc. Jesus is Divine, and cannot be destroyed. He shall live, etc. (Psa 72:15-18). His titles. The enemies of Jesus shall be destroyed. The nations that will not serve Him shall perish. So individuals. Learn:-
1. The baseness of the human heart to try to destroy Jesus.
2. Our obvious duty and interest to accept and honour Christ.
3. He should have our hearts and lives. (J. Burns, D. D.)
Satanic policy defeated
I. The destructible Jesus. To what extent could the purpose of the foes of Jesus succeed? They might succeed in disparaging His character and station before men. Maliciously assaulting the person of Jesus-to this Jesus had long been subjected. Restraining His personal freedom. Silencing His tongue. The torture they applied to His feelings. His crucifixion. Suggestions: In that it was possible for Jesus to die, lies the very basis of our redemption. In the death of Jesus, promises of the deepest import to our race were accomplished. In the death of Jesus lay His most sublime victory for men.
II. The indestructible Jesus. The purpose of Jesuss assailants was an entire and egregious failure. The very body of Jesus recovers its vitality. The Deity that was within the destructible temple they could not touch. They could not frustrate or retard His designs. The violent death of Jesus did not secure the permanence of the old Jewish establishment. Nor did it lead to the destruction of the New Kingdom, or to the dethronement of Jesus. Conclusion: Show who are in sympathy with this unholy purpose, and who are in living sympathy with the Indestructible Jesus. (Anon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 20. Ask Barabbas] Who had raised an insurrection and committed murder – and to destroy Jesus, whose voice was never heard in their streets, and who had, during the space of three years and a half, gone about unweariedly, from village to village, instructing the ignorant, healing the diseased, and raising the dead.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude,…. Among whom the choice lay who should be released. This they did not by haranguing them, or making a public oration to them; but by sending their servants, or proper persons among them, telling them that Jesus had been examined before the sanhedrim that morning, and was found to be a blasphemer; and that the whole court had unanimously condemned him to death, and therefore it became them to act according to their decree: and besides, should this man be set free, they might suggest to them, since he has given out that he is the king Messiah, the Romans hearing of it, will be jealous of such a person, and come and take away both our place and nation, or deprive us of the privileges we have remaining: with such sort of arguments as these, it may be supposed they worked upon the common people. The Persic version reads, “commanded”, instead of “persuaded”,
that they should ask Barabbas to be released to them,
and destroy Jesus; for nothing short of that would satisfy them: they thirsted after his blood, and were bent upon his death: to release Barabbas, if Jesus was not destroyed, would not answer their end: they desired Barabbas’s liberty for no other reason, but for the sake of the destruction of Jesus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Persuaded (). The chief priests (Sadducees) and elders (Pharisees) saw the peril of the situation and took no chances. While Pilate wavered in pressing the question, they used all their arts to get the people to “ask for themselves” (, indirect middle ingressive aorist subjunctive) and to choose Barabbas and not Jesus.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
20. But the chief priests and elder’s persuaded the multitude. The Evangelist points out the chief instigators of the wicked proceedings; not that the foolish credulity of the people, who were influenced by others, admits of any excuse; but for the purpose of informing us that they were not, of their own accord, hostile to Christ, but that, having sold themselves to gratify the priests, they forget all justice and modesty, (260) as well as their own salvation. Hence we learn how pernicious is the influence of wicked men, who can easily turn in every direction, to all kind of wickedness, the giddy and changeful multitude. Yet we must attend to the design of the Evangelist, which was to show, that the death of Christ was so eagerly demanded by the voice of the people, not because he was universally hated, but because the greater part of them, ambitiously desirous to follow the inclination of their rulers, threw aside all regard to justice, and might be said to have sold and enslaved their tongue to the wicked conspiracy of a few.
(260) “ Toute equité mosiste, et honnesteté :” — “all justice, modesty, and propriety.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(20) The chief priests and elders.Brief as the statement is it implies much; the members of the Sanhedrin standing before Pilates palace, mingling with the crowd, whisperingnow to this man, now to thatpraises of the robber, scoffs and slander against the Christ. As the next verse shows, they did their work effectively.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. Chief priests and elders persuaded The people had been upon his side. They had brought him into Jerusalem with triumph, while the rulers were compelled to hide their heads in low murmurs. They dared not openly apprehend him, for fear of the people; but taking him secretly, and surrendering him with all the appendages of a culprit guilty of something, the people are induced to consider him as a deceiver and blasphemer and traitor. The very fact that he is there in fetters seems to prove that he is not divine, and so make out that he was a deceiver, who had claimed to be the Son of God. Nevertheless, when it comes to the point that he shall not be demanded for release, but the outlaw shall be preferred before him, it takes a fresh onset of persuasion to induce the people to take that step.
Doubtless the friends of Jesus were mostly absent, frightened away by this fearful revolution.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds that they should ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.’
Matthew again brings out the part played by the Chief Priests and the Elders in the destruction of Jesus. In his eyes they are the chief culprits. He is very much aware of what their future holds for them as made clear in chapters 23-24. Note in the use of ‘destroy’ a further connection to chapter 2 (Mat 2:13), as well as to Mat 12:14. The lack of mention of the Scribes and Pharisees is a reminder that this was not a polemic against the Scribes and Pharisees of later Judaism. It was dealing with the situation as it was.
‘Persuaded.’ The Chief Priests and Elders are the evil force behind what is happening and they are using all their influence in order to get Jesus condemned. The description ‘the crowds’ in Matthew is usually a neutral indication of those who are not main players. They are the ‘also rans’. Here the crowds are almost certainly made up of a mixture of supporters of the Chief Priests and Elders, friends and supporters of the insurrectionists, who have come to see Barabbas set free in accordance with custom, and possibly a few local sightseers, who have gathered at that early hour of the morning, all mainly representing Jerusalem (there is no dissenting voice). To Matthew it is Jerusalem that condemns Jesus as Mat 27:25 makes clear. (Compare ‘all Jerusalem with him’ in Mat 2:3. Jerusalem was no safe place for Jesus).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
“And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world (or ‘age’).”
And the guarantee of their success will be that He Himself is with them always, in all His authority and power as the risen Lord. This reflects the words at His birth in Mat 1:23, ‘He will be called God With Us’, again an emphasis at both beginning and end. That He will indeed be so is again evidence of His divinity. Only One Who was divine could accompany each member of a group which spread out throughout all the world. To Matthew this is the equivalent of Pentecost, which made this situation apparent to the world. There also the breath of God and the fire of God indwelt His people.
So the divine King is now among them and will continue among them and the Kingly Rule of Heaven and its power is confirmed as available to all who respond to the King. Thus to Matthew the presence of Jesus continually with His people (as the drencher in the Holy Spirit – Mat 3:11) is parallel with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Luke, and the fulfilment of the coming of the Kingly Rule of Heaven. For this presence of Jesus with His people compare Mat 18:20; also Mat 10:40. For when the Holy Spirit possesses a man he comes under the Kingly Rule of Heaven. But such men must still ‘repent’ and become disciples, for the Kingly Rule of Heaven is at hand in the presence of the King (Mat 4:17). Thus as they go out teaching men to observe all that He has commanded they must pray, ‘may your Name be made holy (by the triumph of the word), may your Kingly Rule come (by the bending of the knee to Jesus as Lord and reception of the Holy Spirit), may your will be done (by obedience to His commandments), on earth as it is in Heaven’ (Mat 6:9-10), as they ask for their teaching to have its divine effect.
We should note here how Jesus, when He called on men to go forth in His Name, based His way of going about it on that of God in the Old Testament. He too constantly promised that He would go with those whom He called and sent out in His service, and the assumption also was that His power would be with them as long as they were obedient. Consider, for example, Joshua 1 where, having commanded his full obedience to the Law of Moses, God’s promise is ‘I will not fail you or forsake you — be not frightened nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go’ (Jos 1:5; Jos 1:9), which is very similar to this, apart from the fact that now it is the presence of Jesus that will go with them, and that too was in a situation where Joshua and Israel were going forward in order to establish God’s Kingly Rule, and all had to be careful to do all that the Law of Moses commanded. Compare also Exo 3:12; Jdg 6:16; in both of which is the promise ‘I will be with you’, where a similar overall idea was in mind. But in all these cases in the Old Testament the promise is basically to individuals, even though their followers were also included in a general way. In Mat 28:20 the promise is given to all who go out in order to make disciples, and to each of them as individuals. Thus Jesus is taking over the prerogative of God in a big way, and promising that He Himself would do what God had previously done for His people in even greater measure. Whoever else in history has ever dared to make such a claim?
That Jesus’ continuing presence with us is a comfort can hardly be denied. We can be assured that He will never fail us or forsake us (Heb 13:5). But the emphasis here is not so much on that, as on the fact that He is with us in order that we might successfully carry out His mission. He is with us in order to empower us in that. This is not a promise on which simply to rest, although it includes that, it is a promise on which to go forward. The servants must fulfil their responsibilities before the Lord returns (Mat 25:14-30) and the end of the age/world comes, so that all nations might hear the good news of the Kingly Rule of God. For ‘the end of the age/world’ compare Mat 13:39-40; Mat 13:49; Mat 24:3 with 30-31. It is the time of final judgment and consummation of God’s purposes when final destinies are determined. And that is what all is leading up to, a fitting end to the Gospel.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The progress of the trial:
v. 20. But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
v. 21. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
v. 22. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do, then, with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let Him be crucified.
v. 23. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath He done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let Him be crucified. The fact that Pilate had placed Jesus on a level with Barabbas had been a concession to the Jews, for it placed an innocent man in the same class with a criminal, while in reality there was no comparison. The Jews felt the weakness of Pilate’s position and were not slow about taking advantage of it. The chief priests sent their messengers through the crowd to incite the passions ever more strongly. There was not much persuasion needed; a mob is easily swayed, especially when deeds of violence are contemplated. When Pilate therefore put the question to them as to their choice between the two men, they called loudly for the release of the guilty one. Many of the members of this crowd may have been more than half convinced a few short days before that Jesus was a great prophet, if nothing more, but under the skillful prodding of the Sanhedrin’s agents they take the part of the enemies of Christ. They have an answer even for Pilate’s somewhat perplexed inquiry as to how he was to dispose of Jesus. With increasing volume their hoarse cry rolled down through the narrow streets: Let Him be crucified! And upon Pilate’s inane and futile inquiry: What evil has He done, anyway? they realized more strongly than ever that they had the governor in their power. It was no longer a question of Christ’s guilt or innocence, but of yielding to the demand of the rabble and the threats of the elders and chief priests. The uproar increased from one minute to the next, and the governor was unable to cope with the situation.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 27:20 The question of Mat 27:17 is still under the consideration of the assembled crowd; and while Pilate, who had mounted the tribunal for the purpose of hearing their decision, is occupied with the messengers from his wife, the members of the Sanhedrim take advantage of this interruption to persuade the people, etc.
] purpose of . is likewise used with by Greek authors. See Schoem. ad Plut. Cleom . p. 192.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Chapter 92
Prayer
Almighty God, we come to thee through the crucified One as through the only way by which we can find access to thy throne. We stand by the cross, and as we look up into the eyes of the dying Sufferer, our sin finds out all the meaning of his great work. He was delivered for our offences, he was bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him. By his stripes are we healed. We know not all the mystery of this love: it is enough for us to know that it was love. God is love, infinite love: we need it all: we sin every day, and every day we need the cross. Blessed be thy name, the cross stands through all the light and through all the darkness; the night and the day are the same to it, for thy mercy endureth for ever. Where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound. Thy grace is greater than the law, taking it up and causing it to be swallowed up in that which is greater than itself. We are saved by grace, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God the grace, the favour, the mercy of God. In this grace we stand, by it we are saved, and in it is the secret of our hope, and the security of our being is in it also. Thou dost give more grace, thou dost give grace upon grace, till we are filled with thy love and made holy by thy presence.
We have come to worship thee in hymns and psalms and loud thanksgivings, for thy tender mercies are over all thy works, and the morning brings us a new revelation of thy lovingkindness. Thy faithfulness is as a great rock, and thy mercy as a boundless sea, and thy wisdom and thy love like a great shining heaven. We run into thine house and find security there. This is the day the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Recall to our memory, we humbly pray thee, all that is best, purest, tenderest in our recollection, and make our memory glow as it brings before its review thy wonderful tokens of patience and regard and love. May we omit nothing of the great sum; thou hast left no moment unbaptized: in every moment hast thou hidden some drop of thy dew. O thou who givest always, give us thy very self to reign in our hearts.
As for thy word, it is sweeter to us than honey, yea than the honeycomb; we found thy word and we did eat it; we sighed for some token from heaven, and behold we found it in the written word, full of light and love and redeeming messages, filled from end to end with the majesty and tenderness of the cross. We would live upon thy word as upon bread sent down from heaven; it would be unto us bread which the world knoweth not of, a light at midnight, a song in the storm, an angel always in the house. Grant us an inspiring spirit to read the inspired word so shall we go beyond the letter and find out all the mystery of the music and all the blessedness of the eternal love.
What we are thou knowest, and what we would be none but thyself can tell. We are here for a few days, most of the time as a cloud overhead, and we see nothing but the great gloom. We struggle and wonder, we pray and blaspheme, we read thy word and forget it, and in the midst of all the rush of life thou dost lay us down in our last sleep. Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. We all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. O that we were wise, that we would consider our latter end. Lord, teach us the number of our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. May we be amongst those servants who shall be found waiting when their Lord cometh, having in their hearts a great expectancy, a noble and inextinguishable hope.
Look upon us now as needy suppliants at thy throne needing light, grace, forgiveness, uplifting of heart, rekindling of all that is best which is of thine own creation. Thou wilt not spare any blessing which thy needy children ask at thy hands. When thou hast given all, then forgive hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and when thou hearest. forgive. May the power of the cross, its holy blood and great sacrifice, be realized in our consciousness of individual and complete pardon.
Grant to each of thy people what each most needs guidance through the immediate perplexity, release from the day’s embarrassment, an answer to the difficulty of the immediate time, solace under the deep wound which has touched the heart. Cover up our graves with flowers, make our bed in our affliction, lift up the weak in thine arms and give them rest and renewal of strength, and lead us all the way through to the very end, till we languish into life. Amen.
Mat 27:20-54
20. But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
21. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
22. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified (the first direct intimation of the mode of death).
23. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.
24. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands ( Deu 21:6 ) before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
25. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. (Madly inverting the law, Deu 21:8 .)
26. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged ( flagellum : the Roman punishment with knotted thongs of leather) Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
27. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall (the Prtorium), and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers (the cohort, or subdivision of a legion).
28. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. (Probably some cast-off cloak of Pilate’s own.)
29. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand (representing the sceptre used symbolically both in the Republic and the Empire): and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
30. And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
31. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
32. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name (Mark mentions him as the father of Alexander and Rufus), him they compelled to bear his cross.
33. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha (nigh unto the city, Joh 19:20 ), that is to say, a place of a skull,
34. They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall (wine mingled with myrrh, meant to dull the sufferer’s pain), and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
35. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
36. And sitting down they watched him there;
37. And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS (the titulus , or bill, or placard).
38. Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
39. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
40. And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
41. Likewise also the chief priests, mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
42. He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
43. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
44. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
45. Now from the sixth hour (the place of execution was reached about 9 a.m.) there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
46. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? (to the Roman soldiers and the Hellenistic Jews unintelligible), that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
47. Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias (probably a wilful perversion).
48. And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
49. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
50. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53. And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
54. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
The Crucifixion
Barabbas or Jesus.” That is the question, today, that question never changes. Our choice is not between things similar, but between things exactly and irreconcilably opposite. This does not always appear to be the case, but it is so in reality. We have shaded things now so much into one another that we delude ourselves with the notion that the distance between one action and another is merely nominal. We must get rid of that sophism, if we would begin the real work of life. There are but two spirits in the universe, both present at the opening of human history, and they rule the world today. Those spirits are good and evil, God and the devil, the pure and the impure, the heavenly and the infernal. To one or other of these we belong.
Yet we may not appear to belong to either of them decisively. In our motive and purpose we may be the very elect of God, whilst we are apparently the children of wrath. We are what we would be if we could. Our character is not in the broken deed, the unsaintly word, the passing temper: our character is in our heart of hearts, our secret motive, our supreme purpose. Herein are men misjudged, both on the one side and the other; herein has been found a considerable difficulty in the reading of the Bible itself to some, for they know not how a man can be said to be a man after God’s own heart, when he has done thus and so actions evidently contrary to the spirit of holiness and of justice. How can Peter be a disciple of Christ, when he has sworn with an oath that he knew not the man? Surely there must be some other standard of judgment by which we make our mistakes, for we make no true judgments. I find rest in the doctrine that we are in reality, all appearances to the contrary, what we really would be, in our holiest prayers and in our highest inspirations. If we can say, “Lord, thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee,” though ten thousand accusing voices ring from the very caverns of hell itself in impeachment of our life, God will know how to esteem us.
The doctrine holds good on the other side. We are not to be judged by our occasional goodnesses, our fits of charity, our studied actions of beneficence. We cannot pay the mighty debt of accusation which the law brings against us. Thrust we our hand never so deep into our resources, there is nothing in those resources themselves to answer the mighty claim. So let us be just on the one side as on the other. I do not value the momentary sigh, the mere cry of a calculating penitence, which is sorry for the result rather than for the sin. I must be understood as speaking to reality, to essences, to the very vitalities of things, and as holding the candle of the Lord over the thoughts and reins of the heart.
Is not some such word of cheering necessary to recover us from the leprosy of despair? We get into the way of adding up what we have done, and complaining of the little sum. There is a sense in which such action is perfectly proper but what is your spirit, what is your supreme desire? Stripping yourselves of all commendation, false refuges, mistaken trusts, and fanciful conceptions of life, what is it that you really wish to be? If hidden in God’s sanctuary, shut up with God face to face, you can truly say, “Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee: God be merciful unto me a sinner,” then who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?” It is Christ that died who is he that shall rub out the record of his sacrifice and blood? Stand in the temple of these infinite securities and let no man take thy crown.
“The chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus.” The chief priests and elders are doing the same thing today. The priest is always a bad man; if he be not more than a priest, he is the worst of men. This was the irreligiousness of religion. Religion has done the very worst things that ever were done in human history. We must get rid of his word “religion” in some of the senses in which it is so often mistakenly and mischievously employed. Religion lay. at the bottom of the original FALL. Eve never could have been deceived by anything but religion. It was along the religious instinct she was approached, it was through the religious instinct she was destroyed. What said the tempter? “Ye shall be as gods.”
That is the sophism which underlies the subtlest temptations which assail our life: to be as gods, to break through the boundary line, to commit the final trespass, to include all things within the circle of our thought and movement! Religion may describe a merely outward attitude, religion may be nothing but a Latin name: what we want is…. Godliness. God is a Spirit.
We want an essential quality, a vital spirit, a holy inspiration. Religion may be irreligious, but godliness can never be less than divine.
In all the imprecatory psalms we have nothing but the irreligiousness of religion; religion pressed beyond its proper province; a partial and imperfect righteousness, a little and mean righteousness which thinks itself virtuous because it would bring down fire upon the vices of other people. The great righteousness is love. O that we could learn that lesson! then should we get rid of all censoriousness and cynicism, and all mutual criticism, and men would be silent where they are now noisy as to one another’s faults. The imperfect man, the Old Testament saint, the man who thinks that righteousness consists in perpetual visitation of justice upon the head of the offender, is an irreligious religionist. He who sees righteousness rising in infinite glory into love, and shedding from its boundless firmament the dews of pity, upon a sinning world he touches the very heart of Christ! Truly I know not where religion would lead some men; it makes them angry, sour, cynical, and foolish, and invests them with a power of doing incalculable mischief in the family and in the church.
The action of Pilate is described with infinite naturalness. There be many who condemn Pilate and laugh at him. I cannot join the unholy contempt. Pilate could have done nothing else. He has been condemned for vacillation by men who have not transformed themselves into his personality and made themselves reel under the tremendous pressure of the tumult which surged around him. He has been to them but a figure on a page; they have approached him with cold criticism; they have condemned where they should have sympathised and pitied. I honor Pilate. He was in a difficult position he was not master: he suggested reasons and methods, which if accepted would have tended towards pity, release, and even justice of the noblest kind. But whilst I speak this word for the historical man Pilate, I have nothing but condemnation for modern Pilatism. Always distinguish between the historical man and the principle which has been modernized and named in his name. Cain is dead Cainism never dies! Pilate is no more with us in the flesh, but Pilatism is the principal influence in the church today. What does Pilatism do? It affects friendship; it pays compliments; it transfers responsibility; it wants to be on both sides; it speaks a word and then does a contradictory deed; it washes its hands and shuts its eyes to the great murders of the times. It accepts a ritual, it avoids a discipline.
How far are we ourselves the subjects of this condemnation? Where is the honest follower of Christ? Not the blatant follower, but the steady, constant, loyal, loving follower whose life is a gospel written in the largest characters, and whose speech is eloquent with the messages of the cross itself? In what relation do we stand to modern controversies? Men are surging around Christ now who want to crucify him again on a literary cross, or a cross that is critical. How do we stand in relation to them are we firm, clear, simple, not with the firmness of bigotry, not with the simplicity of ignorance, but with the steadiness of loving gratitude to Christ for every revelation of wisdom and every hope of redemption? Let the church be steady and it will become the centre of peace in a tumultuous world. The peaceful man brings peace into every scene.
The people answered Pilate with this great cry, “His blood be on us and on our children,” a prayer with an unconscious meaning, a vulgarity with a sanctuary enclosing it! It is marvellous how many persons have uttered words with unconscious meanings, and how some of the greatest testimonies have come from men who did not know that they were uttering them. Take the case of Caiaphas, for example: he gave counsel to the Jews that it was “expedient that one man should die for the people”: he did not know what he was saying, yet in that saying he uttered the very gospel of eternity. We cannot tell how far our words go and what they really do in the world, and what great meanings will be attached to words which we spoke with more or less of thoughtlessness or with more or less of merely local contraction and application.
How noble an eulogium might be wrought out by skilful eloquence out of the testimony of outsiders and enemies! I ask for no other testimonial to the spirit and character of Christ, and to the effect of his spirit and character, than that which has been unconsciously given by those who were outsiders, or who were supposed to be personal enemies. What said Judas? “Innocent blood.” What said Pilate’s wife? “Just person.” What said the centurion amid all the darkness and terrible phenomena of the last hour the Roman centurion, a participator in the great guilt? At the close of all he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God.” These are not the testimonies of personal allies or sworn supporters. Judas and Pilate and Pilate’s wife and the centurion concur in writing under the name of Christ a testimony which is sufficient of itself to confirm his claim and to lift his character above all just suspicion. “He maketh the wrath of men to praise him, he drags the enemy at his chariot wheels.” It is one of two things, a hearty, spontaneous, cordial union in the mighty anthem which bears his name above every name in its thunders of praise, or a reluctant testimony forced out of unwilling lips, but still tending in the direction of the lofty and immortal song.
Now we come to the last scene of all. Hear these words, “He delivered him to be crucified.” The law that would find no fault in him was like an iron gate crushed down by an angry mob the gate of law gave way, the last barrier fell, and the powers of darkness were triumphant. Pilate delivered Jesus to be crucified. If wolves can be glad when they fasten their gleaming teeth in the flesh of their prey, then were those men glad when they laid their cruel hands on the unresisting Christ. From him there was no cry of pain, in him there was no shudder of mortal fear he had died some time before, the bitterness of death was past, he had accomplished his sorrow, in all its higher aspects, in Gethsemane. Now he is “led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.” They could not touch him; they could tear down the house in which he lived, but himself was beyond the cruel act!
See the ingenuity of cruelty: see what hell can do at its best. Let us realize the scene so far as we know it. Let Christ be the central figure of our assembly; closing our eyes, as it were, let us look upon him with the inner vision and see what actually took place. They stripped him, they plaited a crown of thorns and put it upon him, they put a reed in his right hand, they mocked him, they spat upon him, they took the reed out of his hand and smote him on the head they led him away to crucify him. The ingenuity of hell could go no further. They stripped him who said, “If thine enemy take thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.” He who preached the great sermon lived it in every throb of its infinite passion. They plaited a crown of thorns for him who said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” They mocked him who said, “Our Father, which art in heaven.” They spat on him who kept the door open for the prodigal and would not begin the feast till the wanderer came back. They smote him on the head who never had one thought or wish but for the public good. They led him away to be crucified who never harmed a single living thing! The evil powers triumphed. When he hung upon the cross they said, “He trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he will have him. They that passed by wagged their heads and railed on him. The thieves also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth.” And he, as if confirming the very triumph of hell, said with a loud voice, ” Eloi, Eloi, Lama, Sabachthani , My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” There was darkness over the whole land the earth did quake, and the rocks were rent, and the graves were opened, and the God-forsaken Sufferer hung there the Victim without a friend, the Saviour of many without a voice to defend his fame!
O thou great hell, take the victory. Spirit of evil, damned from all eternity, mount the central cross and mock the dead as thou hast mocked the living! The night is dark enough no such night ever settled upon the earth before. Will the light ever come again is the sun clean gone for ever will the blue sky ever more kiss the green earth? All the birds are dead, their music is choked; the angels have fled away and the morning stars have dropped their sweet hymn. This is chaos with an added darkness. What is happening?
May be God and Christ are communing in the secret places away beyond the mountains of night may be that this murder will become the world’s Sacrifice may be that out of this blasphemy will come a Gospel for every creature. It cannot end where it is that cannot be the end of all! What will come next? We must wait.
Notes
” And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!” Did not the thorns come of the curse? “Cursed is the ground for thy sake;…..thorns shall it bring forth.” Did he not, in the fullest sense, bear the curse for us? They put a reed in his right hand, do not all insincere professors do the same? Partial sovereignty, often merely nominal sovereignty, is given to Jesus Christ even by those who avow his religion. The soldiers knelt before their victim in an attitude of mock worship; this, even more than crucifixion, is the uttermost depth of depravity; crucifixion may be a legal act, but mockery is the refinement of cruelty.
” And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.” Truly, it was the hour and power of darkness. The spiritual temptation having failed, the lower instrument of physical torture is employed without mercy. The soul was untouched, why fear them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do? They smote him on the head or into the head, , drove the thorns into his head with bats and blows.” (Trapp).
” They compelled Simon of Cyrene to bear his cross.” The writer just quoted well says: “Not so much to ease Christ, who fainted under the burden, as to hasten the execution and to keep him alive till he came to it. Truly the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel! “They gave him vinegar cold comfort to a dying man; but they did it in derision, q.d., Thou art a King, and must have generous wines. Here’s for thee, therefore.”
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
Ver. 20. The chief priests and elders persuaded ] And prevailed. See then how needful it is that we pray for good governors; Jeroboam made Israel to sin; Peter compelled the Gentiles to Judaize, Gal 2:14 . As the corruption of a fish begins at the head, and as in a beast the whole body follows the head, so are the people overruled by their rulers.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
20. ] So Mark also. Luke and John merely give, that they all cried out, &c. The exciting of the crowd seems to have taken place while Pilate was receiving the message from his wife.
conveys a mixture of the purport with the purpose of the . See note on 1Co 14:13 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 27:20-26 . Result of the appeal to the people .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 27:20 . ., etc.: the Sanhedrists saw the danger, and set themselves to bias the popular judgment, not sure what might otherwise happen with success, . So when, after due interval, the governor put the question, the reply was (Mat 27:21 ) , and to the further question what then was to be done with Jesus: the unanimous ( ) reply was . Where were the men who had a few days ago shouted Hosanna? If there, how fickle; if absent, why? Or were they silent, cowed by the prevailing mood?
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
persuaded. See App-150.
multitude = crowds.
ask = ask for (themselves).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
20.] So Mark also. Luke and John merely give, that they all cried out, &c. The exciting of the crowd seems to have taken place while Pilate was receiving the message from his wife.
conveys a mixture of the purport with the purpose of the . See note on 1Co 14:13.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 27:20. , persuaded) by words fair in appearance.- , they should destroy Jesus) i.e. they should demand Jesus to be killed.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
persuaded: Mar 15:11, Act 14:18, Act 14:19, Act 19:23-29
should: Luk 23:18-20, Joh 18:40, Joh 19:15, Joh 19:16, Act 3:14, Act 3:15
Reciprocal: Gen 19:4 – all Exo 12:6 – the whole Job 31:34 – Did I Psa 22:6 – a reproach Psa 54:3 – oppressors Psa 69:12 – They Jer 26:9 – And all Mat 21:15 – when Luk 24:20 – General Joh 6:66 – of his Act 2:23 – ye have Act 4:1 – the priests Jam 5:6 – have
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7:20
While Pilate was waiting for the decision of the crowd, the chief priests and elders were busy among them, using their persuasive powers to influence the decision. They were not permitted to have any public voice in the selection, hence they accomplished their wicked purpose by working on the people who did have such a voice.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 27:20. Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes. Probably while Pilate was receiving the message from his wife. The leaders would say, Jesus had been condemned by the orthodox court. Barabbas was, on the contrary a champion of freedom; that Pilate wished to overthrow their right of choice, their civil rights, their spiritual authority, to persecute the friend of the people, etc. The fact that Jesus was a Galilean may also have been used against Him.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. How exceedingly unwilling and averse Pilate was to be the instrument of our Saviour’s death; one while he bids the Jews take him themselves, and judge him according to their law; another while he offers to save Christ in honour of their feast, when by custom he was to release a prisoner, and this prisoner he desired might be Jesus. When this would not satisfy, he expostulates with them about our Saviour’s innocency, What evil has he done? Nay says, Luk 23:22 That Pilate came forth three times, and professed that he found no fault in him. Yet though Pilate was satisfied, the Jews would not be denied.
Thence learn, That wicked men and hypocrites within the visible church, may be guilty of such tremendous acts of wickedness, as the conscience of infidels and pagans without the church may boggle at, and protest against. Pilate, a pagan absolves Christ, whilst hypocritical Jews which had heard his doctrine, and seen his miracles, condemn him.
But observe, 2. Who influenced the main body of the Jew to desire Barabbas, and to destroy Jesus? It was the chief priests and elders, they persuaded the multitude. Woe unto the people, when their guides and leaders are corrupt for then they shall be tempted by wicked counsel; and woe unto them, much more, if they follow their wicked and pernicious counsels. Thus did the Jews follow their guides, the chief priests, till they had preserved Barabbas, and destroyed Jesus.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
The Sanhedrin members persuaded the crowd to insist that Pilate release Barabbas and crucify Jesus (cf. Mar 15:11). Initially this may seem incredible, but both Jesus and Barabbas were popular with the crowd. Pilate seemed to the people to be favoring Jesus’ release, but their religious leaders favored Barabbas’ release. It was quite natural that the Jerusalem people would side with their leaders against Pilate given such a choice, especially since Jesus was a "foreign" Galilean. The Sanhedrin had previously sowed doubts about Jesus in the people’s minds by circulating reports that He had blasphemed. To many of them He was now a heretic. Jesus Himself had failed to attempt what Barabbas had attempted, namely, overthrowing Rome’s authority over Israel. This may have been another reason the people wanted Barabbas released.