Matthew 27:1-10 (Click title for audio access)
"The End Of Judas" • 3.20.11 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- It so strange to consider that all of our hope and joy centers around the chapters that we are currently steeped in. For the Christian, Christ's sufferings provide our very redemption from sin.
- The long Thursday night has passed. It is early Friday morning and Jesus is already deeply bruised from the mob that was assembled at the house of Caiaphas.
- He has suffered indignity, humiliation and hatred and it's just beginning.
- The chief priests and elders meanwhile are continuing their murderous agenda. They had come to a conclusion about the charge that would lead to execution.
Text
• Matthew 27:1,2 : "When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death. And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor." : This is very early in the morning, perhaps as early as daybreak.
- This was the official gathering of record, but not quite business hours to avoid the crowds .
- It would be akin to doing business at 7AM or signing legislation on Sunday when the media is not paying that much attention!
- This particular hearing before the Sanhedrin was the precursor to what would be presented before the local branch of Roman authority.
- They needed the Romans to consent to and exercise their right to enforce capital punishment. Jesus was going to die if it killed them!
- They had no love for Rome, their oppressors, but they really had no love at all for Jesus! They hated Him so much that they were willing to cooperate with their most hated enemies!
- They led Him away like a criminal and delivered Him over. The word "delivered" here is the same word that Matthew employed ealier and is translated "betrayed."
- God's Spirit is telling us that Judas betrayed Jesus and then the religious leaders, the shepherds of Israel, betrayed the Lord as well!
- It's an interesting concept: They had betrayed their Messiah and in the process, they had betrayed every principle and law that they had sworn to uphold. Ultimately, the betrayed themselves!
- That is what it means to reject Jesus. It's a betrayal of everything that a man or woman was intended to be!
- The governor that they were going to was Pontius Pilate. There were several provinces and several governors. Pilate held the jurisdiction over the one that Jesus was in.
- We'll talk more about Pilate next week. Suffice it to say now, Pilate's role in history is defined by his proximity to Jesus Christ.
• Matthew 27:3,4 : "Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.'
And they said, 'What is that to us? You see to it!'" : Judas has been around just like Peter had. He had been watching things digress as well.
And they said, 'What is that to us? You see to it!'" : Judas has been around just like Peter had. He had been watching things digress as well.
- He will forever go down with the moniker, "His betrayer." The name Judas will forever be related to and synonymous with infamy.
- When last I checked, there weren't many children named Judas!
- He saw that Jesus had been condemned. Something woke up in Judas in this moment. He had caused this. He realized that his actions were responsible.
- You and I might be tempted to think: "Duh! What did you think was going to happen!?" That is one of the great mysteries of all time. What DID Judas think was going to happen?
- Some scholars believe that Judas hoped to force Jesus to show Himself as the Messiah. I wonder if he believed that handing Jesus would have given him a higher profile with the Priests.
- Whatever the case, Judas could not have anticipated the vicious turn of events.
- Things had gotten way out of control and the brutality of what was being seen forced Judas to see things in a different light, if only for a short time.
- You might have been there before. You intend this sort of activity that has the potential of causing trouble. You are there for no good reason, but then, it just goes south. Ever been there?
- This is where Judas is. He was filled with remorse. This is an interesting word, in that it is a cousin to the word "repentance."
- The sentiment is caught in Thayer's lexicon: "...(this word) "expresses a merely emotional change, (repentance) a change of choice; (remorse) has reference to particulars, (repentance) to the entire life. (The word) signifies nothing but regret even though amounting to remorse. (Repentance reflects a) reversal of moral purpose."
- Judas felt sad just then. He didn't feel anything but greed earlier in the evening. He wasn't sad at the sight of his own greed and what that prompted in his life. He felt sad then.
- If we could live the end of our poor choices before we make them, how many fewer times would we have made them!
- If we could feel the regret, the sadness, the pain, the suffering, we would all think when the choice presented itself, "It's not worth what it will cost!"
- Judas felt bad enough to give back his little stipend and he used the right words: "I have sinned and betrayed innocent blood!"
- There are many who call themselves sinners or admit to living in sin, but who never repent. They never change their behavior, showing that what they have is simply remorse for their condition.
- Turn over if you will to II Corinthians 7. Paul had written a severe letter to the Corinthians about an issue of sin in their midst. It caused great sorrow.
• II Corinthians 7:9-11 : "Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter."
- Remorse, temporary sadness at the sight of a situation, does not change a sinful man.
- Notice those last words again: "I have betrayed innocent blood." In Judas' mind, he was not betraying The Son of God.
- Judas did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. But he did know that he was innocent.
- Turn over to Deuteronomy 19. There was a provision in the law that we alluded to last week. For a lack of time, we did not turn there, but it's even more interesting now.
• Deuteronomy 19:16-19 : "If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you."
- Now, this is very interesting and is something that I have never seen before this weekend. Judas is filled with remorse. What does he do? He confesses that he has betrayed an innocent man.
- That means that his testimony, his action that led Jesus to be condemned, was now worthy of the same penalty that Jesus was to receive.
- Why is he doing this? Is Judas bringing back the money now because he interested in doing the right thing? No. Judas is looking for someone to put him out of his misery!
- He is so guilty and burdened with what he had done, that he now has begun to ponder a final escape from this life. He wants them to kill him.
- What is the response of these religious leaders? They see a disturbed man who is willing to confess that his actions have wrongfully caused a man's unjust sentence.
- Under the Sanhedrin law, they were now to re-try the case before them and take the confessing man into custody. Instead, they utterly dismiss Judas.
- They said, in effect, "That is your problem pal! Go figure out what you're supposed to do about it." Judas' use to them had run it's course.
- This is the shepherd heart of the religious. Jesus was right to say of them, that they put heavy burdens upon men and then fail to help them carry it!
When you run with people who are invested in wickedness, they'll love you while you are with them, but you are just as vulnerable to be hurt when the tables turn and they do turn.
- I don't know how many times I have heard, "I thought they were my friends. I thought that they cared!" The shock is that the wicked, apart from Christ, care only for their interests.
- As long as you fit into their self-interest, they will care for you. Afterward, not so much!
• Matthew 27:5 : "Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself." : Judas took the money and went deep into the temple and cast his silver into the holy place! He didn't just throw it anywhere.
- He threw it where only the priests could enter and access the money. It was if he was saying this: "Whether you like it or not, you have to deal with your treachury that we have shared together!"
- From there, Judas went and committed suicide, specifically hanging himself. It's very telling that today, suicide continues to be a horrid bane upon mankind.
- Twice as many people successfully commit suicide, than die of HIV/AIDS. According to the Center For Disease Control, suicide is the 11th cause of death, but is 3rd among 15-24 years old.[i]
- Judas hung himself and died. Why did he choose this method? I believe that he has believed that what the scripture clearly says in Deuteronomy 21.
• Deuteronomy 21:22,23 : "If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God."
- Judas believed himself to be accursed of God. Judas knew nothing of Jesus. Here was a man who saw Jesus raise people death, heal Gentiles and let tax collectors into the fold.
- But Judas did not believe that Jesus either would or could forgive and restore even Him.
- We talk about this today because the same conditions remain for potential suicides. Hopelessness, despair and a feeling that there is nothing that can be done to change something.
- While Christ lives, the possiblity exists that God can forgive! There is never a hole too deep or a crime too great, that God cannot reach down and offer the atoning blood of His Son.
- But for Judas, he had bought entirely into the enemy's plan for his life. Satan used Judas to accomplish a plan. He stole his life from him. Now, he killed and destroyed him.
- Nobody ever needs believe that Jesus can't pull them out and save them. If he had only believed that Jesus was who He said He was, Judas would be a trophy of God's grace.
- It's sad that he believed the lie. He found out what is true for the unredeemed. Suicide did not take away his pain; It simply made that pain permanent!
• Matthew 27:6-8 : "But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, 'It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.' And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day." : One can hardly believe the hypocrisy here. The chief priests had given Judas the money in the first place! They counted it out to him from the treasury!
- Now, they could not simply take the money back and put it into their treasury! Unbelieveable! It's amazing to watch someone strain at a gnat in their legalism, but swallow a camel!
- This is what they did. What do you mean it's not lawful!? Is it lawful to kill an innocent man!? Majoring on the minors is just one way to put this. On the other hand, their words are telling.
- Jesus had not died yet, but they considered the money to be blood money. It was money that was paid out to a hit man. They admit that this was the money of a bribe and their eventual violence.
- Matthew tells us that they bought a field to bury strangers, foreigners, Gentiles in. A Potter's field was a useless field because of the abundance of pottery shards.
- This solved their money problem, but it also made them look like heroes. "Wow, you guys bought this field to bury strangers in!? How generous of you!"
- They admitted that this was blood money, but it was also acknowledged by the people of Israel, who thirty years later, called this place the Field of Blood.
- Their sinful activities had been known and acknowledged to that very day. Their sin was no secret. It was a wide spread understanding.
- As much as they attempted to hide things, and as slick as they had been, it was obvious that this field was anything but a charitable action.
• Matthew 27:9,10 : "Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 'And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced, and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.'" : Matthew again notes that this was fulfilling scripture. The Lord has been doing that over and over in this book.
- The interesting thing about this is that this saying is actually a quote from the book of Zechariah, chapter 11:12,13. What's the explanation?
- There have been several that have been given, from a copyist error to the general name of this particular scroll that was used.
- The Jews divided their bible in three scrolls: The law, the Prophets and the Psalms. The Prophets scroll would begin with Jeremiah.
- One commentator mentioned that Zechariah repeated something the he heard Jeremiah say. There are several good explanations, so pick the one that you prefer.
- The point is that the things that happened were all part of a larger plan that accomplished the work of redemption. This potter's field was a very specific prophecy that could not be ignored.
Conclusion
- This morning, the word of the Lord is this: No matter how hard you attempt to betray the Lord or yourself, Jesus lives to redeem and restore.
- He suffered every indignity and went through the lowest treatment, so that we could be bought back from the hands of Satan, who would otherwise destroy us.
- This week, I pray that you will have the opportunity to share that with someone, to let them know of His goodness.
[i] http://www.save.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewpage&page_id=705d5df4-055b-f1ec-3f66462866fcb4e6
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