Day 40

Chase: Hello and welcome to the Point Church Podcast. We're really glad you're here. Before we jump in, if you'd like to stay connected, you can download the Point Church app. It's a simple way to find messages, resource, and what's happening. And if this podcast is helpful, take a moment to like, subscribe, and share. You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Let's get into today's episode. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Point Church Podcast. I'm here with Pastor Sam as we're working through the Gospel of Matthew. And we are in the middle of the scene of, you know, Jesus has been betrayed, Peter has denied, and now we're getting really into Yeah. Judas has turned him over and everyone's gone. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And so today we're stepping into chapter twenty seven, which reads When the day when daybreak came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put him to death. After tying him up, they led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, was full of remorse, and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priest and elders. I have sinned by betraying innocent blood, he said. What's that to us? They said. See to it yourself. So he threw the silver into the temple and departed. Then he went and hanged himself. Yeah, it's ⁓ I mean it's tragic. His story is tragic. ⁓ I don't think you I mean it's awful. Of course we did. Worst betrayal in human history, but clearly he regrets his decision. But how revealing again that the chief priests and those who plotted with Judas said, ⁓ it's okay, we'll take care of you, we'll take care of you. As soon as he tries to undo it. They almost act the same way that Satan, the deceiver, acts to us. Like they trick not trick, but they convince us to do something. He convinces us to do something. We commit that sin. And he's like, ⁓ you're on your own. So the opposite of how God works, so the opposite of how Jesus works. And Judas is left with very little options, we'll say. Yeah. Verse six it says, The chief priests took the silver and said, It is not permitted to put it into the temple treasury. Since it is blood money. Which again, like I I'm sorry to interrupt, but like now they're following the law. Now they're all of a sudden worried about following scripture. Yeah. Of what like yeah. Yeah. It's unbelievable. Now they are. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and they're the ones that created it to be blood money. Yes. Exactly. Like let's get that straight. Okay. they conferred together and and bought the Potter's Field with its burial place for foreigners. Therefore that field has been called ⁓ Field of Blood. To this day. Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled. They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him, whose price was set by Israel Israelites, and they gave them for the potter's field as the Lord directed me. Which again, we were talking about this before we hit record that to be a Pharisee, to be a Sadducee, to be a religious leader of this time. First off The education system for every male Israelite was to memorize the first five books of the Torah. Memorize by twelve. Then you basically had to memorize the rest of the Old Testament by seventeen. To be the best of the best, which is who they are. Mm-hmm. How did they miss this prophecy? When they're setting the price for the silver, they had it memorized since they were 17 years old, and that was basically the equivalent of middle school for them, and they still miss this. And then they're We should buy a field. ⁓ Potter's field. Let's buy and they didn't recognize this thing that they had memorized. It's unbelievable to me. Again, like how their their thinking is just so clouded and It's baffling. It's in s it's crazy. It's amazing when you think about how God has made the wise look so foolish. Mm-hmm. And now in verse eleven it says, Now Jesus stood before the governor. Are you the king of the Jews? The governor asked him. Jesus answered. You say so. While he was being accused by the chief priests and the elders, he didn't answer. Then Pilate said to him, Don't you hear how much they are testifying against you? But he didn't answer him on even one charge, so that the governor was quite amazed. So there's a prophecy. ⁓ it's not said here explicitly, but other again gospel passages say, ⁓ like a lamb led to a slaughter, yes, making no noise. Again, that Same imagery of the Lamb of God, Passover, the blood over the door preventing death from coming into the household of Israel. This is the Lamb of God. Silent before the accusers. Verse 15 says at the festival, the governor's custom was to release to the crowd a prisoner they wanted. ⁓ At that time they had notorious prisoners called Barabbas. In other translations, they call him. Jesus Barabbas. Yes. Which do it that way you will. Yep. So when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, Who is it you want me to release for you, Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ? For he knew it was because of envy that they had handed him over. While he was sitting on the judge's bench, his wife sent word to him, have nothing to do with the righteous man, for today I've suffered terribly in a dream because of him. The chief priests and the elders, however, persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to execute Jesus. The governor asked them, Which of these two do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, they answered. Pilate asked them, What should I do with Jesus who is called Christ? They all answered Crucify him. Then he said, Why? What has he done wrong? But they kept shouting all the more crucify him. When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was starting instead, he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, I am innocent of this man's blood. See to it yourselves. All the people answered, His blood be on us and on our children. Then he released Barabbas to them, after having Jesus flogged, handed him to be crucified. I mean, it's just unbelievable. I just The more when you read this passage slowly and really think about the scene, they the bloodlust. Yeah. These are the people who just said, We would have never killed the prophets. We talked about this a few episodes ago. If we'd have lived in those days, we would have never killed the prophets. And now they're calling for this person to say, ⁓ and if we're wrong, blood on our children. Mm hmm. Their bloodlust is just it's out of control. It's a scene of chaos. Like we said before, they were shouting, Hosanna, save us. Yeah. Five five days earlier. Now they're shouting, kill him, basically. Yes, yes, the most painful way you can kill a person. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. ⁓ verse twenty seven said, Then then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the governor's residence and gathered the whole company around him. They stripped him and dressed him in a scarlet robe. They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and placed a staff in his right hand, and they knelt down before him and mocked him, Hail. King of the Jews. Then they spat on him, took the staff, and kept hitting him on the head. After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, put his own clothes on on him, and led him away to crucify him. Yeah, so so much imagery here ⁓ goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, where when Adam and Eve take of the apple or the fruit of the forbidden tree, ⁓ Part of their curse. The first thing they recognize when sin entered the world was their nakedness. Yeah. Jesus is mocked by being clothed. and there's a prophecy that says, like, you have taken our sin that was red as scarlet and washed us white. Well, he takes on this this robe and ⁓ scarlet robe, same as the prophecy, taking on our sin, clothed in our sin. But then part of the curse, if you go back to Genesis, the Garden of Eden, is you will work the th the fields against the thorns and the thistles. Mm-hmm. Part of the punishment of sin is thorns. And Jesus' crown is Thorns. The thorns. So again, it's like but again, we as we had said, like maybe so Jesus could have fulfilled some of those prophecies, like choosing the animal he rides in on. He didn't tell them to put a crown of thorns on his head. The Romans did this again, fulfilling prophecy thousands of years old. But once again we see it all like that. This is the perfect sacrifice. Yeah. To cover us. Yeah. Verse thirty-two, as they were going out, they found a Crynarian man named Simon. They first forced him to carry his cross when they came up to a place called Golgotha, which means place of the skull. They gave him wine mixed with a gall to drink, gal to drink, but when he tasted it he refused to drink it. After crucifying him they divided the clothes by casting lots. Then they sat on sat down and were guarding him there. Above his head they put up the charge against him in writing, This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. Then two criminals were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. Those who passed by were yelling insults at him and Shaking their heads and saying, You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. Yeah. It's ⁓ I think a detail that gets missed because we we try and keep it somewhat PG when we see depictions of the cross. He's totally naked. Yeah. Like how like com total humiliation in every way that you can imagine. ⁓ Completely vulnerable in front of, and you'll see the audiences, his disciples, his mothers, other women, you know what mean? Just is there a more horrible, you know, scene? I don't think so. And then but then the mocking, come down from the cross, he's lifted up, you know what I mean? You're the son of God. ⁓ or if you are the son of God, doesn't that sound exactly like what Satan said in the wilderness? Mm-hmm. Before you start the ministry, if you truly are the Son of God, throw yourself down, show these people who you are. Again, preparation for this moment. Take yourself down off the cross. End the humiliation. Yeah. There's that temptation again and again showing itself. Mm-hmm. Verse forty one, it says, In the same way the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him and said, He saved others, but he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now. If he takes pleasure if he takes pleasure in him. For he said, I am the Son of God. In the same way even the criminals who were crucified with him taunted him. Right. Just again just adding more more color to the picture of the complete complete humiliation. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ forty five from noon until three in the afternoon. Darkness came over the whole land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? When some of those standing there heard this, they said he's calling for Elijah. Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and offered him a drink, but the rest said, Let's see if Elijah comes to save him. So this is Why we this is a mystery. It's a holy mystery of what's happening in this moment. This moment is very special. ⁓ because we know that Jesus became the perfect sacrifice, the atoning sacrifice, and could not be in the presence of God. ⁓ I I believe it was Tim Keller who said Jesus cries out after being silent for so long. Like he's not Like I'm sure he cried out, but it's not recorded. It's like that when they put nails in him, I'm sure he cried out when they put thor yeah, I'm sure he made some sounds, but this gets recorded as a different kind of cry, a different kind of scream. So what happened all of a sudden in this moment? Mm-hmm. The theological argument that I think is happening is the world is being split apart. Like the creator is being split in two. Because we understand God was in the beginning before anything was made, before time, anything. Yeah. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit had always been fully united. And in this moment, he takes on sin. Mm-hmm. And a holy God cannot be in the presence of sin. The complete rendering, the splitting of the cosmos is happening here as Jesus becomes that sacrifice. I mean, you see nature responding, the darkness, like you see, you're about to see things like happen, earthquakes that you're like, all of creation recognizing that this is not how it's supposed to be. The creator is not supposed to die. And what he's also doing with that quote is ⁓ He is quoting the beginning of Psalm 22. Yeah. And Psalm 22 begins this way. And in Psalm 23 is the one that everyone knows. You know, yeah. ⁓ read Psalm 22, then go read Psalm 23. That's that's perfect homework for Holy Week. Psalm 22 talks about this scene. It talks about my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But he talks about the dogs encircle me. They've divided my clothes, cast lots for my like all the things that are experienced that Jesus experiencing, David writes about. But we don't have any account of Jesus or David going through anything like this. No. But it's like he's prophesying this will happen. But at the end of Psalm 22, you see that it goes from this tragedy, but then God exalts this moment in this person who suffers and To be the the way that the whole world is saved. So Jesus is almost saying, like Psalm twenty-two, go read it. This should trigger your memory. And then you'll see how this redemptive suffering will be making the world new again. Verse fifty it says, But Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. Yep. Suddenly the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earthquaked and the rocks were split. The tombs were also open, and many bodies of saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and they came out of the tombs after his resurrec after his resurrection, entered the holy city and appeared to many. W which is just so okay, there's resurrection happening of the saints. It's not zombies, these are people who have, you know, if you would say like fallen asleep ⁓ in God, ⁓ that's how they phrase it. But obviously the one that gets so much attention, as rightfully so, is the curtain of the sanctuary torn into. Don't think of a curtain like in your house. ⁓ think of th this thing is like a foot thick and is like 50 feet long and like 30 feet across. Like this weighs tons of and it just splits perfectly. one ⁓ biblical ⁓ historian says almost as if two hands grabbed it. And tore it from top to bottom like a piece of paper. And that curtain's job that was torn is what separated the Holy of Holies, the hotbed in the temple, the presence of God was split so that the presence of God was released out into the world. Mm-hmm. That because of Jesus' sacrifice, God was no longer to be contained just in the temple, but now there's a new temple at play. It's those whose hearts belong to Jesus is the new temple, the new resting place of God's spirit. And verse fifty four it says when the Ceturian and those with him who were keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, Truly this man was the son of God. Many women who had followed Jesus from Galilee looked after him, were there watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's sons. Yeah. Just the bravery of the women to stay. ⁓ when it was evening a rich man from ⁓ Arimathea Arimathea named Joseph named Joseph came from him came who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus' body, then Pilate ordered ⁓ that it be released. So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean fine linen, and placed it in his new tomb, which had been cut into the rock. He left after rolling a great stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and the mother and other Mary were seated there facing the tomb. So ⁓ as we remember back to one of our first episodes when we started this series when the wise men come with gold, frankincense, and myrrh, we said that myrrh was, you know, part of the spices that would have gone into wrapping a body. Yeah. So We don't know if Mary had kept that myrrh and then uses it here, but most likely myrrh would have been used in this moment after taking Jesus off the cross and wrapping him and placing him in the tomb. Yeah. sixty two it says the next day which followed the preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, Sir, remember that while this deceiver was still alive, he said, After three days I will rise again. So give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise his disciples may come, steal him, and tell people he has been raised from the dead, and the last deception will be worse than the first. Take guards, Pilate told him. Go and make make it as secure as you know how. They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards. So now Pilate is in on the conspiracy. He's in on the cover up. Yeah. I mean, people are like seeing pe like they're seeing dead people come back to life. This is many people saw them. Yeah. You can't tell me that it didn't cause a stir. And there's an earthquake. ⁓ and your temple just got wrecked. And now they're like, well, you know a deceiver. Right. They're still deceiving. They're still lying. They're still saying, like, well, you know, they're gonna try and pretend he came back to life. Look around. Are you kidding? It's over. Like you guys are done. Like you killed the son of God. Mm-hmm. Like the Romans recognize it before the religious leaders. Mm-hmm. And but now Pilate is in on it. Yeah. He's like, Absolutely, take the guards for sure. I wanna be done with this too. Anything we could do to be done with this Jesus business. So it it's as dark, as twisted, as full of lies of a scene as you can imagine where the authority, the religious, everyone with power is doing all they can to hold on to power because even in death, Jesus still terrifies them. Amen. Amen. And with that we're gonna end today. And ⁓ so thank you for tuning in and we'll see you back here tomorrow.