Blood On Our Hands

We're in Matthew, the first book in the New Testament, chapter 27.

We're in the second to last chapter now.

!

Lord, we ask that you do that this evening.

Help us incline our ears and to open our hearts to your word, to the word of the gospel.

Of the cross of Christ, of the blood that Jesus shed, that sinners like us might be cleansed.

Restore to us, refresh the wonder, the joy, and the worship before you as we ponder these

weighty truths this evening.

Guide us now.

Speak to us in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Please, if you are able, stand with me to honor God as we read from his word.

Matthew, chapter 27, verses 1 to 26.

Matthew 27:1–26

When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against

Jesus to put him to death.

And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.

Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought

back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, I've sinned by betraying

innocent blood.

They said, what is that to us?

See to it yourself.

And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged

himself.

But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, it is not lawful to put them

into the treasury since it is blood money.

So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers.

Therefore, that field has been called the field of blood to this day.

Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, and they took the

30 pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of

Israel.

And they gave them for the potter's field as the Lord directed me.

Now Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him, are you the king of the

Jews?

Jesus said, you have said so.

But when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.

Then Pilate said to him, do you not hear how many things they testify against you?

But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom

they wanted.

And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.

So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to release for you, Barabbas

or Jesus, who is called Christ?

For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.

Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, have nothing

to do with that righteous man, for I've suffered much because of him today in a dream.

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.

The governor again said to them, which of the two do you want me to release for you?

And they said, Barabbas.

Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?

They all said, let him be crucified.

And he said, why?

What evil has he done?

But they shouted all the more, let him be crucified.

So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took

water and washed his hands before the crowd saying, I am innocent of this man's blood.

Seat to it yourselves.

And all the people answered, his blood be on us and on our children.

Then he released for them Barabbas and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Please be seated.

You may have read in the news this past week about Jason Arday, the former Cambridge University

professor who was found dead in his home this past week.

After numerous media outlets reported of inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the biographical and academic

affiliation claims as well as multiple excerpts taken from other research papers without proper

attribution, he resigned from his post at Cambridge and then was found dead a few days later.

And most people suspect that he killed himself because of the circumstances.

We won't know for sure until the coroner's report comes out.

And whether it was a series of sloppy mistakes or blatant fabrication and plagiarism, he seems

to have deemed that his reputation is irreparable, that his life is irredeemable.

Many in the past have come to the same conclusion about their lives.

John McAfee, I don't know if you guys remember him, of the namesake McAfee antivirus software,

which was the first of its kind.

He also hanged himself while embroiled in a wrongful death lawsuit and imprisoned for tax

evasion and fraud.

And then you, I'm sure you've all heard of Jeffrey Epstein, the financier, who hanged himself

while imprisoned for sex trafficking charges.

Much like Judas Iscariot, who hangs himself after betraying Jesus because he's overwhelmed

and stricken by the guilt.

Most of us haven't been in this kind of extreme situation, but we can all, in our own way,

relate to how they felt.

Even with smaller offenses, we can have a tendency to catastrophize, to give in to despair, to say,

my life is over.

I can't possibly recover from what happened.

My offense is too great.

I've fallen too far.

No one will forgive me.

My offense will never be forgotten.

Like stubborn blood stains that refuse to come off our soiled clothes,

the stain of some sins feel to us like permanent marks on our souls.

And for the most part, that is true.

Sin is a stubborn stain.

And there is only one way to get it out.

And that's my main point this morning.

The blood of Christ alone can wash us of our blood guilt.

I'm going to talk about our blood guilt.

And in a second, we'll talk about the blood atonement of Jesus.

We see in this passage three wrong ways to deal with guilt.

That we have, that we feel.

First is the denial of the chief priests and the elders.

The second is the deflection of Pilate.

And the third is the despair of Jesus.

And let's take a look at these three reactions in turn.

First, the denial of the chief priests and the elders.

In chapter 26 already, that Steve and Ed preached on this past couple weeks,

Caiaphas, the high priest, and the elders have already put Jesus on their own trial under Jewish law.

And in this rigged kangaroo court, they have already come to the conclusion that they had predetermined

that Jesus is someone who deserves to be killed.

That he's a blasphemer deserving of death.

And in chapter 37, verse 1, however, tells us that when morning came,

all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

Having spent all night trying Jesus, having already come to the conclusion that he is a blasphemer that must be put to death,

why do they need to, in the morning, take counsel yet again to figure out how they can put him to death?

Because as Jews under Roman jurisdiction, they did not have the authority to execute capital punishment.

They did not have the authority to put Jesus to death.

And because of that, they needed to figure out a way to bring these charges against Jesus to the Roman governor, Pilate,

in a way that can convince him that Jesus deserves to be put to death.

The charge that they put on him is blasphemy.

And that's a religious charge that will hold no water under Roman court.

It would be much like when Paul was accused by the Jews before Galio, the Roman consul, in Acts chapter 18.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

He dismissed the Jews summarily, saying,

This is a matter of your own Jewish law and your own people.

Go deal with it yourselves.

It is of no concern to me.

That's exactly what the chief priests and elders don't want to happen when they bring their case about Jesus.

So they strategize.

They plot.

They counsel together.

And we see what they came up with in verse 11.

When Pilate asks Jesus,

Are you the king of the Jews?

The chief priests and the elders have decided to frame Jesus as a political threat to Rome.

Luke 23 records in greater detail what the chief priests said.

We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar

and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.

He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.

That man claims to be a king.

The king of the Jews.

But there's only one king, Caesar.

That man is creating civil unrest.

He is popular.

People are flocking to him.

Aren't you, Roman governor, in charge of upholding Roman rule?

You can't leave him alone.

But look at verses 20 to 24.

Who is undermining Roman rule?

Who is riling up the crowds?

Who is creating civil unrest?

It's not Jesus.

Jesus is silent as the Jewish leaders clamor and bring these charges against him.

Twice it says in verse 12 and verse 14 that Jesus gave no answer.

He is silent.

Which greatly amazes Pilate.

And Pilate concludes that Jesus has done nothing wrong and tries to let him go.

But the crowds will not be pacified.

In fact, they get quite violent.

Twice they insist, let him be crucified.

And why are they so insistent on this capital punishment?

Because it says in verse 20,

the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.

It's the chief priests and the elders who are riling up the crowd and creating civil unrest

and trying to force Pilate's hand to kill Jesus.

So it says in verse 24,

Pilate senses that a riot was beginning.

And he decides to turn a blind eye and to condone this unlawful lynching.

So the chief priests are the ones that are shouting.

They're the ones that are threatening a riot.

And yet they are in complete denial of their own wrongdoing.

And what they're doing to Jesus is no mistake.

It's no accidental manslaughter.

They took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

It's deliberate, thought through, premeditated murder.

And yet these murderers refuse to put Judas' 30 pieces of silver into the temple treasury

because they say it's not lawful since it is blood money.

You catch the irony of that?

It's like imagine someone, a hit-and-run driver,

just ran somebody over, killed somebody,

and then he just keeps driving.

And then later that same day, he parks his car,

and the meter on his car expired,

and he acts like he's having a crisis of conscience.

Oh, no, that's not lawful.

I must put money in the meter.

You just killed a man.

You ran over somebody.

And that's what you're concerned about.

It shows the rampant hypocrisy of these Jewish leaders.

They're in denial.

They shed innocent blood,

and yet what they're concerned about is putting blood money into the treasury.

They're grave, guilty sinners,

but their self-righteousness and pride lead them to denial,

blindness to their own sins.

If you're here this morning or this evening,

sorry, I'm so used to saying morning when I preach,

and you don't think of yourself as a sinner,

if your default mode of thinking is,

well, I'm a pretty good person,

certainly as good as any of the normal people around me,

certainly better than that lot of people over there,

then you might fit into this category.

This old way of thinking can still affect Christians to varying degrees,

and a telltale sign of this delusion is the quickness with which we notice

and point fingers at others' sins and perceived sins,

and the slowness with which we notice and confess our own sins.

The chief priests and the elders took counsel to get rid of Jesus,

whom they falsely accused of blasphemy,

and yet they were blind to their own envious, hypocritical, and murderous hearts.

With the blood money, the chief priests and the elders

buy the potter's field as a burial place for strangers.

In Acts 1.18, Luke records that it's Judas Iscariot himself who buys this field,

and that discrepancy is probably due to the fact that,

well, even though the chief priests and the elders buy the field,

they're using Judas' money,

and so they function, serve as his executor, using his money.

The potter's field refers to the meeting place,

the valley where the Kidron Valley and the Hinnom Valley meet,

and it's called the potter's field because potters, actual potters,

tossed their ruined and broken potsherds there.

And Jews, of course, didn't want to be buried in a garbage heap,

and so the potter's field became the place to dispose of unwanted bodies,

the burial place for people who didn't have means to find another place to be buried.

During a major feast like the Passover,

there will be tens of thousands of pilgrims in Jerusalem,

and sometimes during the long feast, some people will die.

There will be accidents, some people pass away,

and they would have no family around, no relatives around that can bury them,

and so they decided to use the blood money to buy the potter's field

so that they can dispose of those bodies.

Even with the price they paid for Jesus' life,

Jesus provides a resting place for strangers and aliens.

And all of this, even the purchase of the field,

happens in accordance with the Scriptures.

Matthew's quotation in verses 9 to 10,

he quotes, he mentions Jeremiah,

but it's actually a splicing together of two different prophecies.

First is Zechariah 11, 12 to 13,

which spoke of a messianic shepherd who would be betrayed by his own people

and sold for 30 pieces of silver.

And then in Jeremiah 19,

the prophet acts out a prophetic parable, Jeremiah.

Standing at the Hinnom Valley,

at the very field of blood that these sheep priests later purchase,

he denounces the people's sins.

And one of the sins that he specifically points out

is that they shed innocent blood,

exactly like this situation here with Jesus.

And having pointed out their sins,

prophet Jeremiah shatters an earthen pottery vessel

and then says that God will shatter you for your sins

because of your unrepentance and your idolatry and your sins,

in particular the sin of shedding innocent blood.

By selling Jesus the Messiah, the shepherd king,

for 30 pieces of silver

and then for shedding his innocent blood,

the Jewish nation,

Israel at the time, God's own people,

will be shattered.

Their temple will be destroyed.

Their capital, Jerusalem, will be sacked.

And this will happen within the few decades of Jesus' death.

To avoid God's righteous judgment,

sinners must come out of denial.

They must acknowledge their sins,

repent, turn from their sins,

and trust in Jesus as their shepherd king.

If we can describe the chief priest's response as denial,

and then we can characterize then

Pilate's response to his blood guilt as deflection.

Pilate, the Roman governor,

can see through the flimsy pretense of the chief priests and the elders.

He knew, it says in verse 18,

that it was out of envy that they had delivered Jesus up.

They're not seeking righteousness or justice.

They're merely trying to stamp out a rival

so they could shore up their own position and power.

Not only that, it says in verse 19,

that while Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat,

his wife sent word to him,

saying,

Have nothing to do with that righteous man,

for I've suffered much because of him today in a dream.

God has sent to Pilate's wife

a prophetic dream to reveal to her

that Jesus is indeed a righteous man

and that her husband should have nothing to do

with his innocent blood.

So by his own political judgment

and by the prophetic insight of his wife,

Pilate knows that Jesus does not deserve this punishment.

Knowing this,

Pilate brings out Barabbas on the one hand

and Jesus on the other

as candidates for the customary governor's pardon or amnesty,

which they apparently practiced during Passover.

One person,

the Jews can ask for one person,

a prisoner under Roman custody,

to be released,

to be pardoned.

But the crowd has already been prejudiced

against Jesus by the chief priests

and to ask for Barabbas.

Prior to this point,

if you remember,

as we've gone through the Gospel of Mark,

the crowds have been very favorable toward Jesus.

They have acclaimed Jesus.

They have followed him

and they have witnessed his debates

with the Pharisees and the Sadducees

and how he's won those debates.

They've acclaimed him.

And yet,

because the chief priests and the elders

have been busy at work persuading them,

now they are out to destroy Jesus.

Now that their highest Jewish authorities

have denounced Jesus

and have officially condemned Jesus,

now they think of him

as a dangerous,

heretic,

blasphemer,

and carried along by the fever

of this frenzy crowd

that people demand violently,

let him be crucified.

Let him be crucified.

And once again,

Pilate tries to restrain them.

What evil has he done?

Why?

In verse 23.

But even though he knows

Jesus is innocent,

he's a shrewd politician.

He doesn't want a riot to begin.

So in verse 24,

he took water

and washed his hand

before the cross saying,

I'm innocent of this man's blood.

See to it yourselves.

This is a cop-out, of course.

It's an evasive maneuver,

a deflection.

He's deflecting his responsibility

and shifting blame to others.

Pilate, you are the Roman governor.

You're the one that's seated

on the judgment seat.

You're the one that has the authority

to mete out capital punishment.

And ancient historians

Josephus and Philo

note that on other occasions

that's recorded in history,

Pilate didn't have much concern

about offending Jewish sensibilities

and causing riots.

This whole Jewish affair, however,

was not significant enough

for that kind of risk.

According to Pilate,

his flawed judgment.

So he gets out of the way

and literally washes his hands

before the crowd

as a symbolic gesture

claiming that

I'm innocent of this matter.

I have nothing to do with this.

But in shedding the innocent blood of Jesus,

Pilate is certainly not innocent.

Can water wash away blood guilt?

What are some ways

that you try to deflect away your guilt?

Maybe you engage in some kind of

blame shifting,

as Pilate does here.

I wouldn't be such an angry

and furious person

if my husband weren't so infuriating.

I wouldn't have to engage

in this dishonest business practice

if it weren't for my unethical boss.

I wouldn't be so selfish

and stingy

if people didn't take advantage

of me all the time.

I wouldn't be so lustful

if these women

dressed more modestly.

Maybe they are infuriating,

unethical, demanding,

and immodest,

and they need to address those things,

but for you.

Nonetheless,

these are merely

the context of your sin.

They're not the causes of your sin.

The cause of sin,

the root of sin,

is always the sinful desires

of your own heart.

As Jesus made that abundantly clear

in Matthew 15, 19,

for out of the heart come

evil thoughts,

murder, adultery,

sexual immorality,

theft, false witness, slander.

It doesn't come from other people.

Pilate's compromised integrity,

his fear of man,

his self-serving cowardice

all flow out of his own sinful heart,

and no amount of water

can wash away that blood guilt.

What are the ineffectual waters

that you turn to

in vain attempts

to wash away your guilt?

Maybe you do some yoga

and exercise

and then try to forget about it.

Think positive thoughts.

Maybe you think

doing some good deeds

can wash away your guilt.

You donate money to charity

or give money even to church.

You think that your positive actions

can balance out past mistakes

and create good energy

for the future.

Maybe you turn to idols,

to false religions.

Every other religion

besides Christianity

will tell you

that you can perform good deeds

and somehow offset

or outweigh your evil deeds.

But that's a false promise.

It's like water

that can never wash away

the blood stain.

Your guilt remains.

Deflection does not work.

Both denial and deflection

are wrong ways

to try to deal with guilt.

And the third wrong way

we see here is despair.

When we see

in Judas' response,

he says in verses 3-4

that Judas saw

what was happening.

He saw that the Jewish council

had condemned Jesus

of blasphemy

and that they

had delivered him

to Pilate

and that they're going

for the jugular.

They're going for the kill.

They're not going to settle

for any less punishment.

At this point,

he says that Judas,

seeing that,

changed his mind

and brought back

the 30 pieces of silver

to the chief priest

and the elders saying,

I've sinned

by betraying innocent blood.

But the chief priest

and the elders respond

callously,

what is that to us?

See to it yourself.

Judas is so stricken

by guilt

and overwhelmed

in his conscience

that there's nothing

he can do

to reverse

the wrong he has done.

He simply throws down

the piece of silver

in the temple

and then he goes away

and then hangs himself.

Luke records

in Acts 1.18

that he died

by falling headlong,

that he fell headlong

and then he burst open

in the middle

and all his bowels

gushed out

and some people note

the discrepancy

in the description.

It appears that Judas

first hanged himself

but eventually

the branch

or whatever he hanged himself on

broke from the weight

of his body

and then his decomposing body

fell and he broke

and his bowels

gushed out.

It's a gruesome death.

And it fulfills

Jesus' prophecy

in Matthew 26.24

The Son of Man goes

as it is written of him

but woe to that man,

Judas,

by whom the Son of Man

is betrayed.

It would have been better

for that man

if he had not been born.

Are you familiar

with this foreboding

and overwhelming

sense of despair

that Judas

surely experienced?

My life is over.

I've gone too far.

No one will forgive me.

But this raises

an important question.

It says that Judas

changed his mind

about what he had done

with Jesus.

Isn't that what

repentance is?

Interestingly,

even though the basic meaning

of repentance

is a change

of one's mind,

the Greek word

that's used

for Judas'

change of mind

here is not

the same word

that's translated

as repentance

in the rest

of the New Testament.

It's not the same word

that Jesus used

earlier in Matthew 4.17

when he preached,

repent for the kingdom

of heaven is at hand.

And this is intentional.

2 Corinthians 7.10-11

distinguishes

between godly grief

and worldly grief.

Godly grief

produces change.

It produces a repentance,

a turning of

the reorientation

that leads to salvation

without regret.

Repentance entails

a turning from sin

and turning toward God

from idols

to serve the living God.

It's a change

in belief

that changes,

that leads to a change

in behavior.

For the sake of simplicity,

we might say

that Judas

regretted his betrayal

but he did not

repent of it.

Regret is sorry

for the consequences

of one's wrongdoing.

Repentance is sorry

for the wrongdoing itself.

Regret is sorry

for getting caught

in the act.

Repentance is sorry

for the act itself.

Judas sees

the situation

spiraling out of control

after his betrayal.

He knows

that his life

will never quite

be the same again,

that he will never

overcome his guilt.

He feels sorry

for the consequences.

Regret

merely dreads

the punishment.

Repentance

dreads the sin.

Regret

is self-focused,

focused on one's

own pain

or guilt.

Repentance

is other-focused.

focused on the pain

that one has caused

first and foremost

to God

and to others

affected by your sin.

You can see

the self-focus

in Judas' response.

Judas goes back

to the chief priests

so that he can

return the money

and dust off his hands

and then be off.

He never goes back

to Jesus

whom he sinned against.

He never goes back

to Jesus

to confess his sins.

Regret

is without faith.

Repentance

is always

accompanied by faith.

Regret

comes to

the edge

of a cliff

and sees nothing

but the great

chasm of despair

that you cannot cross

and then

fall right into it.

But

repentance

on the precipice

of that great chasm

sees by faith

that Jesus Christ

provides

the bridge

by which we can

cross that chasm

between us

and God.

are you familiar

with the depths

of despair?

Have you come

to the end

of yourself?

Do you feel

that your life

is over?

Do you feel

that forgiveness

a fresh start

is out of reach?

There is another

path than taking

your own life

which is a

self-serving act

of defiance

against God

who gave you

your life.

This haunting

scene

this passage

is full of blood.

The word is repeated

five times

word blood

in this passage alone

innocent blood

blood money

field of blood

it speaks of the guilt

that stains

guilt that cannot be

washed away.

The chief priests

and the elders

try to deny it

and that doesn't work.

Pilate tries to deflect it

and it doesn't work

and Judas falls

into despair

and of course

that doesn't work

either

and we are all

guilty of that same

charge.

Look at how the crowd

accepts responsibility

and culpability

for Jesus' death

in verse 25.

He says that

all the people

answered

his blood

be on us

and on our children.

Matthew doesn't

accept anyone

from this.

All the people

it's not just

a few rowdy

ruffians

but all the people

as Acts 2

36

says

all the house

of Israel

crucified Jesus

the whole

Jewish nation

is culpable

and not only

the Jews

either

Acts 2

23

says that

Jesus was

crucified and killed

by the hands

of lawless men

meaning

Gentiles

who are not

under the Jewish

law

Jews and Gentiles

are guilty

all are implicated

we are implicated

even now

here in the 21st century

why?

Because Isaiah 53

5 tells us

that Jesus was

pierced

for our

transgressions

he was crushed

for our

iniquities

upon him

was the

chastisement

that brought

us peace

and with his

wounds

we are

healed

the wrath

and the punishment

that we deserve

were unleashed

on him

and that means

if it weren't

for us

Jesus would not

have been

crucified

the pardon

that Barabbas

receives

and the

condemnation

that Jesus

receives

is a picture

of how

Jesus

serves

as a

substitute

of sinners

on the cross

Barabbas

was a

notorious

prisoner

in Mark

15

7

notes

that he

had

committed

murder

in the

insurrection

the name

Barabbas

means

son

of a

father

and

Jesus

of course

is a

son

of

God

the

father

certain

ancient

Greek

manuscripts

of

Matthew

27

17

actually

adds

that

Barabbas

name

was also

Jesus

which

intensifies

the contrast

the name

Jesus

means

God

saves

and

Pilate

asks

the crowd

whom

do you

want

me

to

release

to

you

Jesus

Barabbas

or

Jesus

who

is

called

Christ

Christ

it's

an

amazing

picture

of

substitutionary

atonement

man

by his

rebellion

and sin

inserted

himself

in the

place

of

God

he

tried

to

be

God

but

God

in

his

grace

and

mercy

inserts

himself

where

only

sinful

man

deserve

to

be

Jesus

took

on

human

flesh

upon

himself

and

then

he

died

on

the

cross

and

he

was

raised

from

the

dead

so

that

he

can

pay

for

our

sins

and

redeem

us

for

God

this

is

how

God

saves

and

this

is

why

Jesus

so

deliberately

and

resolutely

goes

toward

the

cross

look at

verses

11 to

14

with

me

Jesus

is

being

interrogated

by

Pilate

and

the

chief

priests

and

elders

are

hurling

all

kinds

of

accusations

and

insults

at

Jesus

but

it

says

Jesus

gave

no

answer

not

even

to

a

single

charge

Jesus

why

don't

you

say

something

defend

yourself

you're

innocent

you're

blameless

say

something

can

cannot

the one

who shut

down

the

Pharisees

and

describes

the

lawyers

the

Sadducees

in

debate

over

and

over

again

can

he

not

do

it

with

the

chief

priests

and

the

elders

of

course

he

can

of

course

the

word

incarnate

can

shut

up

the

haughty

mouths

of

men

and

leave

them

to be

silent

in

dust

and

ashes

of

course

he

can

of

course

the

blameless

lamb

of

God

can

establish

his

own

innocence

and

expose

!

the

wickedness

of

these

hypocrites

so

Jesus

say

something

why

are

you

silent

because

it

says

in

Isaiah

53

7

he

was

oppressed

and

he

was

afflicted

yet

he

opened

not

his

mouth

like

a

lamb

that

is

led

to

the

slaughter

and

like

a

sheep

that

before

it

shears

is

silent

so

he

opened

not

his

mouth

Jesus

does

not

open

his

mouth

because

he

knows

he

knows

he

is

a

lamb

led

to

the

slaughter

Jesus

has

accepted

his

destiny

at

the

garden

of

Gethsemane

Jesus

already

did

all

the

talking

he

needed

to

do

at

the

garden

of

Gethsemane

he

did

all

the

talking

with

the

only

person

who

has

the

authority

and

the

power

to

alter

his

fate

his

own

father

there's

no

more

talking

Pilate

can

do

there's

nothing

the

chief

priest

and

the

elders

can

do

Jesus

is

submitted

to

and

surrendered

to

the

sovereign

will

of

his

father

because

he

knows

he

is

the

lamb

of

God

who

takes

away

the

sin

of

the

world

and so

he

endures

silently

what

insult

to

injury

that

Jesus

whom

we

saw

in

chapter

25

is

the

Lord

who

will

sit

in

judgment

over

all

of

humanity

the

living

and

the

dead

that

he

now

stands

trial

while

Pilate

sits

on

a

judgment

seat

what

insult

to

injury

that

Jesus

compared

to

whom

all

the

treasures

of

the

world

can

be

counted

as

rubbish

is

priced

like

chattel

at

30

pieces

of

silver

but

Jesus

endures

all

these

indignities

he

suffers

and

dies

so

that

he

might

ransom

us

for

himself

not

with

perishable

things

such as

silver

and

gold

but

with

his

own

precious

blood

like

that

of

a

lamb

without

blemish

or spot

because

he

knows

that

only

his

blood

can

wash

us

of

our

blood

guilt

I've

shared

this

story

with

some

of

you

before

four

years

ago

in

the

book

The

Insanity

of

God

author

Nick

Ripken

recounts

his

travels

to

various

parts

of the

world

where

Christians

are

persecuted

for

their

faith

he

interviews

them

and

one

chapter

he

entitles

the

toughest

man

I

ever

met

this

man

was

in

such

an

intensely

persecuted

part

of

the

world

that

he

agreed

to

meet

Ripken

under

strict

conditions

in a

secure

non-public

setting

where he

would not

even be

able to

see

his

face

and

or

attempt

to

learn

his

name

and

he

would

remain

in

the

corner

in

the

shadows

and

talk

to

him

the

whole

time

during

the

interview

he

told

Ripken

of

his

testimony

of

how

prior

to

coming

to

know

Christ

he

was

a

zealous

Muslim

and

he

made

it a

sport

to

hunt

down

infidels

Muslims

who

apostatize

and

he

would

most

of the

time

he

would

kill

them

and

he

used

to

keep

count

of

how

many

infidels

he

killed

and

he

stopped

counting

he

stopped

tracking

after

a

hundred

and

often

he

would

slit

their

throat

and

let

the

blood

wash

and

drip

over

his

hands

as

an

offering

to

Allah

after

some

time

however

he

began

to

have

a

recurring

dream

a

disturbing

dream

over

and

over

again

of

spots

of

blood

on

his

hands

and

over

time

that

dream

the

blood

spots

grew

larger

and

larger

until

eventually

the

blood

was

running

down

and

dripping

off

his

arms

and

the

man

knew

that

the

blood

on

his

hands

were

the

blood

of

the

people

that

he

had

killed

the

recurring

dream

was

bothersome

enough

but

then

he

started

to

see

blood

on

his

hands

and

arms

while

he

was

awake

and

then

he

really

began

to

suspect

that

he

was

going

insane

but

then

no

matter

how

hard

he

tried

to

scrub

it

off

he

would

use

pumice

this

volcanic

rock

that's

rough

on

the

surface

that can

be

used

as an

abrasive

to

scrub

things

he

would

scrub

himself

and

get

layers

of

skin

off

and

the

blood

will

still

be

there

he

would

keep

having

these

dreams

but

eventually

the

dreams

changed

and

there

was

an

additional

!

scene

at

the

end

where

a

man

in

white

clothing

appeared

who

had

a

scarred

head

he

also

had

scarred

hands

a

scarred

side

and

scarred

feet

and

the

scarred

man

said

to

him

I

am

Jesus

the

Messiah

and

I

can

get

the

blood

off

if

you

will

just

find

me

and

believe

in

me

so

the

man

began

searching

it

took

him

over

a

year

to

find

a

copy

of

a

Bible

and

then

it

took

him

even

longer

to

finally

understand

what

is

said

occasionally

he

would

run

into

people

who

explain

pieces

and

answer

some

of

his

questions

and

finally

he

came

to

faith

in

Jesus

Christ

and

the

man

said

that

when

he

gave

his

life

over

to

Jesus

in

his

own

words

I

got

the

blood

off

Jesus

took

that

blood

onto

himself

his

nightmare

stopped

immediately

and he

became

the

infidel

himself

that he

used to

make

a sport

of

killing

by

putting

his

faith

in

Jesus

and

becoming

a

bold

witness

for

him

have

you

put

your

faith

in

this

blood

this

blood

that

alone

can

wash

away

your

sins

let me

conclude

with

this

classic

hymn

which

said

would

you

be

free

would

you

be

free

from

the

burden

of

sin

there's