Matthew 27

Matthew 27 is a heavy chapter. Everything that happened, happened according to God's will because it was all foretold in the scriptures beforehand, but it's still heavy.

The irony of the chief priests stands out to me. They are personally responsible for Jesus's death, and they're fine with that, but they draw the line at putting their own blood money back into the treasury because it is "unlawful."

Judas killed himself because he regretted the part he played in betraying Jesus. Even though he was a disciple of Jesus he didn't actually believe in Him enough to surrender to Him, but then after betraying Jesus Judas was filled with so much remorse that he took his own life. I can't even imagine what was going on in his mind.

Then Pilate, the Roman governor who should absolutely oppose anyone calling themselves king, calls Jesus king (and even has it posted as a title above Jesus on the cross). And Jesus stood silent like a lamb going to slaughter (Isaiah 53:7).

Then Pilate released a murderer while condemning Jesus to death. Jesus the innocent took the punishment while Barabbas the guilty was set free.

Then Pilate washed his hands of the matter as a passive sign of showing his disagreement, but the people took a blood curse on themselves and their children. Talk about a generational curse! They were so desperate to get rid of Jesus that they were willing to condemn even their children.

Then Jesus was horribly beaten and mocked, just as Isaiah 50:6 said.

The charge that Pilate had posted above Jesus on the cross upset the chief priests and they asked for it to be slightly altered (note: not completely changed). There are some technical details around it, but the first letter of the words in Hebrew could have formed the acronym YHWH - the Hebrew name of God. It could be an intentional insult to the Jews on Pilate's part, or it could have just been a detail that God worked out through Pilate.

When Jesus was crying out on the cross the people around Him were still expecting Elijah. They seem to have missed the point of the entire three years of Jesus's and John the Baptist's ministry that led up to that point. It makes me wonder - if Elijah did come down, even riding on chariots of fire, would they have believed he was actually Elijah, or would they have explained it away somehow.

Jesus was buried in the rich man's tomb as it was foretold in Isaiah 53:9.