The Collect for Palm Sunday
(The Sunday Before Easter)
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who of Your tender love towards mankind, has sent Your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon Him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of His Great Humility; Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of His Patience, and may also be made partakers of His Resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle Philippians 2:5-11
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
The Holy Gospel of St Matthew 27:1-54
Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. 2 So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. 8 That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10 and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”
11 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
12 When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” 14 But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.
15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. 16 At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. 17 So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” 18 For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.
19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
21 “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.
“Barabbas,” they answered.
22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
25 All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”
26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
32 As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. 33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him:
THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS
38 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
Bishop Ian’s Thoughts
Today’s Epistle Reading is taken from St Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians Chapter 2, Verses 5-11.
In this portion of his Epistle St Paul exhorts the Philippians Christians to imitate the Lord Jesus’ humility of life, and live their lives as He lived among mankind.
St Paul uses the words of an existing Jewish Hymn to make his plea, to the Philippians, to follow the example of the Lord Jesus.
Some scholars suggest that St Paul was the author of the hymn, however other scholars do not agree with this conclusion.
St Paul used the words of the hymn to describe the depth and quality of the Lord Jesus’ humility.
He opens his exhortation by explaining and declaring the “very nature” of the Lord Jesus:
“5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;”
The Lord Jesus has always been God, in Nature, in Power and Immortality. There was never a time when the Lord Jesus as God “was not.”
The Lord Jesus’ Divine Power, as the Eternal Son of God, was His, by Right, to exercise.
It was not something He had to earn, or ask for.
Despite this Divine Nature and Capability the Lord Jesus willingly chose not to utilise His Divine Power but rather emptied Himself of all Heavenly Glory and Power.
St Paul then describes what the Lord Jesus was like as a man. He humbled Himself and became “a servant” and as such lived to provide assistance to all others:
“7 rather, he made himself nothing”
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself”
Such was the Lord Jesus’ obedience to God and His service to all people that He sacrificed His Earthly Life, in grisly and excruciating manner, for all those whom God has chosen as His people:
“by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!”
St Paul emphasizes the nature of the death that the Lord Jesus chose to embrace.
To be scourged, and nailed to a rough wooden cross, and left to hang for many hours, resulted in a slow agonizing death.
Additionally, crucifixion was the most shameful form of execution, reserved for the very worst criminals
The Old Testament Prophet Isaiah foretold that God’s Great Messiah would come as a “Suffering Servant” rather than the mighty warrior of public expectation, in Chapter 53, Verses 1-12 of his Book:
“Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.”
The above passage of Scripture is one of the most beloved passages in the Old Testament as it describes the Humility, Gentleness, Servile Nature, and the Obedient Attitude, of God’s Holy Messiah.
This description of God’s Holy Messiah finds Perfect Fulfillment in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
St Paul then declares that the Lord Jesus has absolute Dominion over all Heaven and all of Creation:
“9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”
In Divine Recognition of His Perfect Sinless Life, which was most pleasing to God, being freely given up in the most agonizing and shameful death, on the cross, to redeem those who accept God’s Wondrous Gift of the forgiveness of sin, God exalted the Lord Jesus to the “highest place” of authority and Power, giving Him “the name that is above every name.”
The Lord Jesus reigns Eternally in Heaven and over all creation, and every knee is commanded to bow to Him.
The Exaltation of Lord Jesus Christ, as the Mighty Messiah and God Incarnate, was foretold, by the Prophet Isaiah, in Chapter 45, Verses 14-25 of his Book:
“The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,
and those tall Sabeans—
they will come over to you
and will be yours;
they will trudge behind you,
coming over to you in chains.
They will bow down before you
and plead with you, saying,
‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other;
there is no other god.’”
15 Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself,
the God and Saviour of Israel.
16 All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced;
they will go off into disgrace together.
17 But Israel will be saved by the Lord
with an everlasting salvation;
you will never be put to shame or disgraced,
to ages everlasting.
18 For this is what the Lord says—
he who created the heavens,
he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,
he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited—
he says:
“I am the Lord,
and there is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
from somewhere in a land of darkness;
I have not said to Jacob’s descendants,
‘Seek me in vain.’
I, the Lord, speak the truth;
I declare what is right.
20 “Gather together and come;
assemble, you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood,
who pray to gods that cannot save.
21 Declare what is to be, present it—
let them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago,
who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Saviour;
there is none but me.
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn,
my mouth has uttered in all integrity
a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.
24 They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone
are deliverance and strength.’”
All who have raged against him
will come to him and be put to shame.
25 But all the descendants of Israel
will find deliverance in the Lord
and will make their boast in him.
The Prophet Isaiah’s description of the Messianic God declares that He is a Mighty, Powerful, Steadfast, and Faithful God Who has Dominion over all creation and is Eternally Faithful to His People, who will be shown limitless Mercy and Love.
This is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Messiah, the Holy Son of God who is our Blessed Saviour through His Mighty Work of The Holy Gospel.
Let each of us thank God for His Mighty, Priceless, Gift of the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His Holy Righteousness Graciously given to us, and bow our knee, heart, and mind to Him every waking moment of our Lives. Amen.
Today’s Holy Gospel Reading is taken from the Holy Gospel of St Matthew Chapter 27, Verses 1-54.
St John opens this portion of his Holy Gospel with the account of the Lord Jesus before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish Council acting on this occasion as the High Court) after being taken prisoner by the Jews, following His betrayal by Judas, and His subsequent arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, the previous night.
These events took place one week after the Lord Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, on what is celebrated as Palm Sunday, in remembrance of the crowd placing palm fronds on the road before Him.
This triumphant entry into Jerusalem is recorded in the Holy Gospel of St Matthew Chapter 21, Verses 1-11:
“As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
The quote in verse 5 (above) is from the Old Testament Book of the Prophet Zechariah Chapter 9, Verse 9-10:
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
The entry of the Lord Jesus into Jerusalem had a deep spiritual significance also, for it was at this time also, that there were being brought to Jerusalem the unblemished sacrificial lambs, whose blood would be sprinkled on the door frames of each home in remembrance of God’s Angel passing over the homes whose of those whose door frames were sprinkled with lamb’s blood.
This Commemoration was known as the Feast of the Passover.
On the first Passover, the last plague that God inflicted on Pharaoh, God slew the first born of all families, and animals, at the time of the last plague sent to force Pharaoh to release the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. The account of the Angel of the Lord Passing over Egypt is found in the Old Testament Book of Exodus, Chapter 12, Verses 1-16:
“1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.”
“12 On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”
“14 “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance. 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.”
It is also important to remember that When God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his Son Issac as an offering He stayed Abraham’s hand as he was about to slay Isaac and commanded him to unbind Issac and to use, in lieu, a lamb provided by God. The account of this event is found in the Old Testament Book of Genesis Chapter 22, Verses 1-14:
“1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
“2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
“3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
“6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
“8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
“9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
“12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
“13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
The Lord Jesus is the Holy Unblemished Lamb provided by God, Whose Holy Blood would save all those who believed in Him.
The Lord Jesus’ triumphant welcome, by the crowd, infuriated the Jewish Leaders, and they drew their plans against Him.
The arrest and trial of the Lord Jesus was both illegal and a demonic farce. This evil farce was perpetrated by Satanic liars to silence the Lord Jesus, who threatened their hold on power over the people.
The Lord Jesus had, initially, after His arrest, been brought before the Jewish Sanhedrin (the Governing Council) late on the night of His arrest.
It was illegal for the Sanhedrin to sit in judgement on a capital case at night. The Sanhedrin was required by Jewish law to sit in judgement, of such a case, only during daylight hours.
After conducting their farcical, illegal trial, during the night, the Sanhedrin then handed the Lord Jesus over to the Roman Governor:
“27 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. 2 So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.”
This illegal court made their plans to execute the Lord Jesus before His Guilt, or Innocence had been established.
Judas Iscariot, the traitor, and betrayer of the Lord Jesus, regretted his treachery and tried to return the money paid to him for his work of betrayal, before committing suicide:
“3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.”
The Chief Priests quickly gathered up the money and found a use for it:
“6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. 8 That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10 and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”
The Chief Priests were quick to obey the law regarding the non acceptance of “blood money”, even though it was they, themselves, who paid the blood money to Judas, yet they readily used it to buy the Potter’s Field.
The thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas fulfilled what was spoken of by the Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah and written down in the Book of the Prophet Zechariah in Chapter 11, Verses 4-14:
“4 This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter. 5 Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare them. 6 For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” declares the Lord. “I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbours and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”
7 So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favour and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. 8 In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.
The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them 9 and said, “I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.”
10 Then I took my staff called Favour and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. 11 It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.
12 I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.
14 Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.”
The Lord Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea, and was questioned by him as to the charges the Jews had levied against Him:
“11 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
12 When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” 14 But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.”
To remain silent was a right in both Jewish and Roman courts. Pilate could find no fault in the Lord Jesus, yet he tried to placate the Jews by using a Passover Festival custom of releasing a prisoner, chosen by the people:
“15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. 16 At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. 17 So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” 18 For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.”
During Pilate’s examination of the Lord Jesus, Pilate’s wife sent him a message warning him not to have any involvement “with that innocent man:”
“19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
The Jewish court members, instead of protecting the Lord Jesus’ judicial rights, now act as “rabble-rousers” stirring up the crowd to save Barabbas, and condemn the innocent Lord Jesus:
“20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
21 “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.
“Barabbas,” they answered.
22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.”
Pilate asked the mob what crime the Lord Jesus had committed, and all that the blood-thirsty mob, urged on by the court of Jewish liars, could cry out was “Crucify Him:”
“But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
Pilate, frustrated by the mob, then fails in his duty to protect the legally uncharged and unconvicted Lord Jesus. He seeks to distance himself from the travesty of justice by ceremonially washing his hands:
“24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
25 All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”
26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.”
Thirty years later the nation of Israel would pay a great price for selling God’s Holy Messiah for thirty pieces of silver. The Temple would be utterly destroyed, Jerusalem would be devastated and the people of Israel would be scattered throughout the known world, as a result of Rome’s brutal suppression of the Jewish revolt of AD 60.
The Lord Jesus, still innocent and unconvicted, was humiliated, beaten. and tortured:
“27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.”
The Lord Jesus was paraded through the streets of Jerusalem and led to Golgotha, the place of execution.
There the Lord Jesus was crucified:
“32 As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. 33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him:
“THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS”
Nailed to the cross the Lord Jesus was subjected to insults from the mob, the Jewish court of liars, and His fellow condemned prisoners:
“38 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.”
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).”
The anguished cry of the Lord Jesus, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” was the most sad, agonizing, and heartrending utterance, that the Lord Jesus had ever made, yet it reverently reveals to us that God had accepted the Lord Jesus’ offering of His Perfect Sinless Life as a payment for our sins.
The Lord Jesus had, from birth, enjoyed a close intimate bond with His Heavenly Father and had addressed Him as “Abba” (“Dad” is the best translation in our language).
Now for the first time in the Lord Jesus’ Earthly Life this intimate bond was broken by God, Who turned His Holy Gaze away from His Beloved Son, as the sins of all God’s chosen people, were laid on the Lord Jesus.
St Paul tells us of this momentous event in his second letter to the Corinthian Church Chapter 5, Verse 21:
“21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
In that moment God’s Holy Righteousness, as the Judge of All Things, was figuratively emblazoned across the sky.
Our Holy God had Judged Sin and Condemned it, yet had Mercifully Saved Guilty Sinners!
The Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus approached its conclusion:
“47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
The Lord Jesus then died:
“50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.”
The Death of the Lord Jesus was marked by a number of supernatural events.
The curtain of the Holy of Holies, in the Temple, was torn from top to bottom.
This curtain was the ceremonial barrier that hid the most holy place in the Temple, the Holy of Holies, the place where God ceremonially dwelt.
The Jewish High Priest could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), to sprinkle the blood of a sacrificed lamb, onto the top of the Ark of the Covenant. The top of the Ark of the Covenant was called the “Mercy Seat.”
The Mercy Seat was where God Ceremoniously met His People and forgave their sins, after the Jewish High Priest, once a year, on Yom Kippur, sprinkled the blood of a Sacrificial Lamb upon that Holy Place, for the forgiveness of the people’s sin.
The Lord Jesus’ Sacrificial Death as the Perfect, Unblemished Lamb, has given His Faithful People access to the presence of God, at any time they desire.
The Lord Jesus is our High Priest, who sacrificed Himself as the Perfect Lamb, to cleanse His Chosen people of all sin, past, present, and future and to clothe them in His Perfect Righteousness.
Also, accompanying the Lord Jesus’ Death, was a Divine Sign in which God resurrected a number of holy people who had died, and after the Lord Jesus’ Resurrection, these resurrected holy people came out of their tombs and went into Jerusalem and appeared to many people. These resurrected people, like Lazarus whom the Lord Jesus raised from the dead, were a special testimony to the Holy Gospel, through which all God’s Faithful people would be translated to Eternal Life at the Last Day:
“51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.”
A battle-hardened, Gentile Roman Centurion, and those with him at the place of the Lord Jesus’ Crucifixion, were terrified after seeing the darkness, the earthquake, and the rocks splitting and the opening of a number of tombs, and he was moved to declare of the Lord Jesus, “surely He was the Son of God:”
“54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
Let us pause at every opportunity in our busy day and give God thanks for the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus together with the faithful record passed onto to us by the writers of the Holy Gospels through the Ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Let us also, stand in awe, like the Roman Centurion, and declare “Surely He was the Son of God.” Amen.
Bishop Ian
