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Judas Hangs Himself
1Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the
people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. 2They bound him,
led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.
3When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned,
he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins
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."
5So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went
away and hanged himself.
6The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against
the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money."
7So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a
burial place for foreigners. 8That is why it has been called the
Field of Blood to this day. 9Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the
prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty silver coins,
the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10and they used them
to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me."
Explanation: The Other Response to Betrayal (27:1-10)
Like Peter, Judas is guilty of apostasy, but unlike that of Peter,
Judas's was premeditated. Whereas Peter's remorse leads to repentance,
Judas's leads to terminal despair.
This narrative further reveals the heartlessness of the religious
leaders, who value laws of ritual purity more highly than their
responsibility to human life. They are not unlike some Christians
today, more concerned for petty church rules than for the life-and-death
needs in the communities around them, except that the religious
leaders of Jesus' day probably could have justified more of their
rules from Scripture.
Finally, this narrative shows us that even to the smallest details,
the events of the passion fulfilled God's purposes previously revealed
in his Word.
Consenting to Wrong Judgments, We Participate in Guilt (27:1-2)
The Christian view of sin is not that only the individual or only
the society is responsible: all guilty parties are responsible.
By framing Judas's end with the account of Jesus' being brought
before Pilate (27:1-2, 11), Matthew contrasts Judas not only with
Peter but also with the courageous Lord he had betrayed. The theme
of shedding innocent blood connects Judas, Pilate, the high-priestly
authorities and the people (vv. 4-6, 24-25): like Pilate (v. 24),
the priestly officials wish nothing further to do with the situation
(v. 4) and likewise imply that the blood was innocent (v. 6).
Meanwhile, leading characters in the narrative who foreshadow oppressors
of Matthew's community try to pass off responsibility (compare Jer
38:5); both aristocratic priests and Pilate declare, "See to
that yourself," or "That's your responsibility" (Mt
27:4, 24, the "you" being emphatic). But contrary to their
own interpretation, the whole generation that betrayed Jesus shared
in Judas's guilt (27:25). Matthew knows nothing of the modern dichotomy
between personal and societal responsibility for injustice. Religious
and social leaders who make decisions, as well as the people to
whose demands they give way, share in the guilt; thus, for example,
television networks that incite moral depravity are guilty, but
so are those who choose to watch their programming.The Hypocrisy
of the Chief Priests (27:3-8)
These leaders were willing to pay out blood money for Jesus' capture,
willing to allow Judas's suicide, but too pious to accept their
own blood money into the temple treasury. Jewish law prescribed
for false witnesses the penalty they had wished to inflict on others
(Deut 19:16-21; 11QTemple 61.7-1); since the chief priests refuse
to serve the cause of justice, Judas has to see to his own execution
(Meier 1980:338-39). Although Roman society regarded suicide as
an honorable and noble way to die, all readers would recognize Judas's
act as one of despair, a dishonorable suicide (compare 2 Sam 17:23;
Philo Mut. 61-62; see also Acts 1:18-19). Hanging oneself in a sanctuary
(F. Grant 1953:12) would defile it, and while Judas left the temple
to perform the deed, the leaders' blatant unconcern for justice
or for his life contrasts starkly with their attention to purity
in details. By sentencing Judas to take care of his own guilt, they
have unconsciously sentenced themselves before God (Mt 12:34-37).
Scripture Is Fulfilled (27:9-10)
All the events of the passion story fulfill God's plan recorded
in Scripture. Matthew therefore expects us to take Scripture very
seriously (though he applies it in a way particularly suited to
persuade his own late first-century audience).
Jesus Before Pilate
11Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked
him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
12When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave
no answer. 13Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony
they are bringing against you?" 14But Jesus made no reply,
not even to a single charge--to the great amazement of the governor.
15Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner
chosen by the crowd. 16At that time they had a notorious prisoner,
called Barabbas. 17So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked
them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas,
or Jesus who is called Christ?" 18For he knew it was out of
envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.
19While 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."
20But 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 Christ?"
Pilate asked.
They all answered, "Crucify him!"
23"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
24When 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!"
25All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our
children!"
26Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and
handed him over to be crucified.
Explanation: Politics Versus Justice (27:11-26)
Even skeptics should admit that Jesus undoubtedly appeared before
Pilate; only the governor could order him crucified, and this required
a prior hearing. Likewise, his own countrymen would normally perform
the function of delator h s, or accusers, to charge him with sedition
(Harvey 1982:16; see Sherwin-White 1978:47). Whatever the leaders'
possible religious or personal motivations, the charge they bring
against Jesus before Pilate here is political: by claiming to be
a king, Jesus implied a worldly kingdom that would challenge Rome
(for example, F. Bruce 1972b:199). This is easily the charge of
lese majesty (Blinzler 1959:213; see also Bammel 1984:357), for
which the normal punishment in the provinces was crucifixion (Blinzler
1959:238). What we know of ancient proceedings fits the Gospels'
record of what happened.
This part of Matthew's account has less to do with Jesus than with
Pilate, however: it is not Jesus but the character of Pilate that
is on trial. Though Pilate knows the unjust motivation of the charges
(v. 18) and receives a divine warning (v. 19), political expediency
takes precedence over justice. We are guilty of the same crime whenever
we side with views because they are popular in our society or political
party even though we know that someone is suffering unjustly (whether
the poor, the unborn, racial minorities, abused wives or children,
crime victims, prisoners of war, refugees or others).
But the narrative does not implicate Pilate alone: the insistent
people, blindly following their blind leaders (v. 20; compare 15:14;
23:16), embrace the moral responsibility Pilate seeks to evade.
In the narrative world of Matthew, their acceptance of guilt for
Jesus' blood on themselves and the generation of their children
(27:24-25) directly invites the catastrophic events of 66-70 (23:29-39).
Jesus Bravely Chose to Suffer for
Us (27:11-14)
Only the Roman governor could approve a capital sentence (see, for
example, Sherwin-White 1978:32-43). Pilate's initial interrogation
of Jesus clarifies the charge the Sanhedrin has brought to Pilate:
Jesus claims to be a king, which Rome, like the priestly aristocracy,
would understand in revolutionary terms (v. 11). The hearing is
swift not only because Pilate is more concerned with the stability
of his political position than with justice but also because Jesus
refuses to defend himself. By Roman law, a defendant who refused
to make a defense had to be assumed guilty (Lane 1974:551); yet
Roman officials typically offered "a defendant three opportunities
to respond before convicting by default" (France 1985:389),
and Pilate offers Jesus at least two here (v. 13). It is no wonder,
then, that Pilate is amazed by Jesus' silence (v. 14). Such astonishment
on the part of judges appears also in Jewish accounts of defiant
martyrs who--in contrast to their judges--valued God's kingdom more
than their lives (Stanton 1974:36).
We Cannot Pass Off Responsibility
(27:15-23)
But warned by his wife's dream, Pilate can avoid the conflict between
justice and political expediency only by letting the crowds take
responsibility for freeing Jesus. He apparently thought himself
indulgent on special occasions; his otherwise brutal disposition,
however, is evident in all the other brief Jewish reports of his
activity that remain extant. Pilate presumably thought that it was
safer to release Jesus, the "so-called Christ" (vv. 17,
22), than alternatives like Barabbas, who, like those ultimately
executed with Jesus, was a "robber" (vv. 38, 44; Mk 15:7),
the aristocracy's derisive title (shared by Josephus) for insurrectionists.
Pilate probably saw Jesus in the terms suggested in John 18:36-38:
as one of the relatively harmless wandering philosopher-kings known
to him from Greco-Roman tradition. Roman officials were generally
not inclined to execute (hence, perhaps, make martyrs of) those
they saw as harmless fools (compare Jos. War 6.305).
Both Pilate and the Crowds Were Guilty
(27:24-26)
Perhaps because the high priests have reported Jesus' popular appeal
along with the charge, Pilate gambles that the people will prefer
Jesus to Barabbas; if so, his hope is disappointed. Ancient literature
is replete with examples of masses' being easily swayed by leaders
(including these priests: for example, Jos. War 2.237-38, 316-17,
321-25) and being fickle in the populist favor they bestowed on
various figures (as in Tac. History 1.32, 45; 3.85; Ps-Phocyl. 95-96).
On a literary and theological level, Pilate may be offering this
generation of Israel the "two ways," one of life and the
other of death (7:13-14; compare Deut 30:15-19). Given the dangers
of riots, Pilate's acquiescence to the masses at the Passover (Mt
27:24) was likely (R. Brown 1994:722).
Finally, Matthew underlines in obvious ways that the crowds shared
the guilt for Jesus' execution--t
hough he also refuses to let Pilate absolve himself
as easily as Pilate desires. Pilate, having handed Jesus over to
the crowds' wishes, is no less guilty than weak-willed Zedekiah,
who hands over Jeremiah in Jeremiah 38:5. By accepting the bloodguilt
on themselves and their children, however (compare 2 Sam 3:28-29;
21:6, 14), Matthew's crowds directly fulfill Jesus' warning in Matthew
23:29-36, thereby inviting the destruction of their temple at the
end of the generation, in their children's days.
Pilate decrees the sentence, as his position required him to do
(27:26): Ibis in crucem ("you will mount the cross"; Blinzler
1959:238). The preliminary scourging here was quite serious; it
accompanied the death sentence and sometimes caused death by itself
(see F. Bruce 1977a:445; R. Brown 1970:2:874 and 1994:851). Probably
stripped and tied to a pillar or post, Jesus was beaten with flagella--leather
whips made of thongs knitted together with pieces of iron or bone,
or a spike; such a scourging left skin hanging from the back in
bloody strips (Blinzler 1959:222). That Pilate handed him over or
"delivered" him up to the soldiers (perhaps foreign auxiliaries)
links him to Judas and the chief priests, who had also "handed
Jesus over" (26:48, Greek; 27:2-3; see Patte 1987:376). Far
from escaping responsibility, Pilate forms the next link in the
chain of guilt in which members of all involved parties participated.
The Soldiers Mock Jesus
27Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and
gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28They stripped
him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29and then twisted together a
crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his
right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail,
king of the Jews!" they said. 30They spit on him, and took
the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31After 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 Crucifixion
32As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon,
and they forced him to carry the cross. 33They came to a place called
Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). 34There they offered
Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused
to drink it. 35When they had crucified him, they divided up his
clothes by casting lots. 36And sitting down, they kept watch over
him there. 37Above his head they placed the written charge against
him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 38Two robbers were crucified
with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39Those who passed
by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40and 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!"
41In 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. 43He trusts
in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I
am the Son of God.' " 44In the same way the robbers who were
crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
Explanation: The Crucifixion and Burial (27:27-66)
The rest of the passion narrative merely carries through the expected
plan set in motion by the events in the earlier part of the Gospel:
Jesus' refugee status in childhood, the way his teachings infuriated
the religious establishment, and his deliberate provocation of the
rulers of the temple. Jesus' death defines the nature of his messiahship
for a world accustomed to identifying rulers with human power.
The World Ridicules God's Son (27:27-44)
One cannot doubt historically that Jesus was crucified by the Romans;
Christians would hardly have invented the execution, and certainly
not Roman execution, and never Roman execution on the charge of
high treason (the claim to be king of the Jews)! Worshiping one
crucified for treason would have painted all Christians as seditious
and hence directly invited repression from the Roman authorities.
Pilate often went to great lengths to quell even public complaints;
his violent suppression of a crowd once led to many deaths (Jos.
War 2.176-77; Ant. 18.60-62). Although slaves (as in Suet. Domitian
10) and dangerous criminals (Suet. Julius 4) were regularly crucified,
crucifixions of free persons in Palestine usually involved the charge
of rebellion against Rome (Harvey 1982:12; for example, Jos. War
2.75, 241, 253, 306; 3.321; 5.449; Ant. 20.102).
Genuinely following Jesus to the cross means we follow a road that
may quite well cost us our lives physically (16:24); it also means
sacrificing our own honor for Christ's along the way. Ridicule was
often the social backdrop of public executions, especially naked
crucifixion, which constituted the ultimate form of shame. Those
of us who value our dignity too much to live with unjust criticisms
and the world's hatred must seek a different messiah to follow.
Soldiers often taunted captives, and here they mock Jesus' kingship
(27:27-31), not for a moment considering the possibility that he
really is a king. That Jesus submits to such abuse teaches us that
power does not function in the kingdom the way it does in the world.
In the next paragraph Jesus bears public humiliation in front of
and from the crowds he had come to save (vv. 32-40). The soldiers
draft a bystander to suffer with Jesus (v. 32); this man performs
the role disciples should have been performing (16:24). As Jesus
participated with us in our suffering under injustice in the world,
he summons us to endure the unjust treatment visited on us for his
name's sake. Also, here Jesus refuses a beverage that could have
dulled his agony; he came to embrace our pain and would accept nothing
less than the full impact of his bloody death (27:34). When we are
so convinced of God's will that we forsake the world's power and
wealth to perform his mission, we show ourselves disciples of the
One who redeemed us at the cost of his own life.
The crowds invite Jesus to prove his divine sonship by escaping
the death of the cross (vv. 39-40); thereby they act as Satan's
final mouthpieces to turn Jesus from his divine mission (4:3-10;
16:21-23). In the final section of this unit, the religious authorities
(at the top of the Jewish social order) and the dying robbers (at
the bottom) join the crowds in functioning as Satan's mouthpieces.
Neither outward piety nor being oppressed necessarily guarantees
a heart obedient to God.
Jesus Is Ridiculed by Those Who Should Honor
Him (27:27-31)
The Gospels reveal Jesus' status as a servant-king in part by revealing
how unlike a king the world thought him to be: if Jewish opponents
ridiculed his claim to be a prophet (26:68), Roman opponents mocked
his pretentious claim to royalty (27:29). Auxiliaries stationed
in Palestine might be happy to ridicule the notion of a Jewish king--thereby
also ridiculing the people among whom they were stationed (Malina
and Rohrbaugh 1992:163). Those in the East who worshiped Caesar
or Hellenistic rulers would kneel and cry, "Ave [Hail], Caesar!"
(Blinzler 1959:227; R. Brown 1970:2:875). The soldiers here offer
the same to Christ, but the narrative inverts their irony: he is
the rightful ruler whom they sarcastically claim him to be.
The scarlet robe (v. 28) is undoubtedly a faded red soldier's cloak,
the staff or scepter probably a bamboo cane used for military floggings,
and the crown of thorns probably woven from the branches of an available
shrub like acanthus (Blinzler 1959:227). The long thorns may have
turned outward to imitate contemporary crowns rather than inward
to draw blood (Blinzler 1959:244-45). After the mockery the soldiers
turn to abusing Jesus physically (though the blows are also insulting;
see 5:39; Dupont 1992:126-27).
A Bystander Is Drafted for a Disciple's Task
(27:32)
After the passage emphasizes the suffering Jesus chose to endure
for his followers (vv. 11, 14, 34), we might expect at least some
of his followers to share his cross--as he had called them all to
do (16:24). But the soldiers had to draft a bystander instead--putting
to shame all the claims we disciples make about how committed we
are (26:33-35). The unfaithfulness of the disciples underlines Jesus'
faithfulness all the more.
Normally a condemned prisoner carried his own patibulum, or transverse
beam of the cross, to the site of the execution, where soldiers
would fix it to an upright stake (palus, stipes, staticulum) that
they regularly reused for executions (R. Brown 1994:913). It was
unlikely that the soldiers would simply show mercy. Jesus was probably
too weak to carry the cross (perhaps exhausted in part from Gethsemane--26:38);
his executioners preferred to have him alive on the cross than dead
on the way. In such circumstances, the soldiers would naturally
draft a bystander rather than carry the beam themselves (see comment
on 5:41). Whether Simon was from an ethnically African family converted
to Judaism or one of the many Jewish families settled in Cyrene
is unclear.
Jesus Endured a Slow, Agonizing Death for
Us (27:33-38)
The wine . . . mixed with gall (v. 34) may have been meant to dull
Jesus' pain. Once he tasted the wine, he may have refused it in
part because of his vow in 26:29; but Jesus probably refused it
also because he had come to share our pain and had to experience
it in full. He endured this pain alone, for a world that hated him
and for disciples who had forsaken him and denied him.
It is difficult to communicate adequately the torture Jesus, like
others who were crucified, endured. Although some features remained
common, executioners could perform crucifixions in a variety of
ways, limited only by the extent of their sadistic creativity (Hengel
1977:25). Executioners usually tied victims to the cross, but in
some cases hastened their death by also nailing their wrists (see
Artem. 2.56; m. Sabbat 6.10). Yet in a symbolic sense a song by
musician Michael Card puts it well: had the soldiers not nailed
Jesus to the cross, his love for us would have held him there.
Romans crucified their victims naked (Artem. 2.61; R. Brown 1994:870),
and public nakedness could cause shame (as in Juv. Sat. 1.71; Plut.
Roman Questions 40, Mor. 274A), especially for Palestinian Jews
(for example, Jub. 3:21-22, 30-31; 7:8-10, 20; 1QS 7.12). Anyone
so executed could not brush flies away from wounds, nor control
bodily functions while hanging naked for hours and sometimes days
(Klausner 1979:350).
The specific mention of divided clothing (27:35) may well recall
Psalm 22:18 but can hardly be a mere accommodation to it without
historical substance. Roman law allowed execution squads to seize
the few possessions a condemned might have on his person (Justinian
Digest 48.20.6; Sherwin-White 1978:46). The charge posted above
Jesus' head reveals the irony of the situation: Jesus is executed
for being king of Israel (v. 37). Romans crucified many self-proclaimed
kings and their followers under the Lex Iulia de maiestate (Jos.
Ant. 17.285, 295; R. Brown 1994:968), and both Jesus' royal triumphal
entry and his temple "cleansing" marked him as a troublemaker.
On other known occasions a member of the execution squad would carry
in front of or beside the condemned a small tablet (tabula) declaring
the charge (titulus), the cause of execution (causa poenae), which
he might later post on the cross (Cullmann 1956b:42-43; R. Brown
1994:963).
Jesus Is Offered One Final Satanic Temptation (27:39-44)
When we realize that the robbers are probably revolutionaries who
sought to facilitate the establishment of God's earthly kingdom
(as in Jos. War 4.138), the irony and pathos of their ridicule become
all the clearer. Both lay and aristocratic mockers pass by, perhaps
along a road, shaking their heads (Ps 22:7; Lam 2:15), repeating
the slanderous charge of Matthew 26:61, seeking a sign (compare
16:1) and serving as mouthpieces for Satan's desire for a kingdom
without the cross (compare 4:3, 7). Perhaps they are trying to get
Jesus to admit the justice of the court's sentence (compare m. Sanhedrin
6:2-3; Ps-Philo 25:6-7; 27:15).
Amid the derisive comments one might expect at an execution of a
misled pietist, the mockers from the Sanhedrin (Mt 27:41-43) unwittingly
cite Psalm 22:8 (Matthew presumably conforms the wording of their
mockery to that text)--showing themselves enemies of God's anointed
servant, hence of God himself. Their language probably also echoes
Wisdom 2:18 in the Septuagint: "For if the righteous man is
a son of God, God will help him, and deliver him from the hand of
those who resist him." In the Wisdom of Solomon, those words
are uttered by the wicked who want to condemn a righteous person
to death unjustly because he claims to be a child of God and to
have a good future (Wisdom 2:16-20). Meanwhile, they echo the devil's
earlier temptation of Jesus (Mt 4:3, 6). In other words, by their
own words Jesus' enemies are condemned (12:37; compare Lk 19:22).
The King of Judeans refuses to respond (5:39; compare Is 53:7).Again
irony saturates the narrative: they are right that he cannot save
himself if he would save others (Mt 27:42). That they offer to believe
if he will come down, just as Satan offered him the kingdom if he
would bow down, tests Jesus: he can have people's allegiance if
he will just forsake the Father's way of getting it (26:39, 42).
God's mission for us will not always be pleasant, but the more pleasant
alternatives actually forfeit our right to fulfill that mission.
(For example, ministers who win great numbers only by sidestepping
the demands of the kingdom have won statistics but not transformed
hearts, and have failed a very costly test that Jesus here resists.)
The Death of Jesus
45From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all
the land. 46About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
47When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's
calling Elijah."
48Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with
wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink.
49The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah
comes to save him."
50And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up
his spirit.
51At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from
top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. 52The tombs
broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were
raised to life. 53They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection
they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
54When 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!"
Explanation: Signs at Jesus' Death (27:45-54)
As Jesus dies broken, his Father vindicates him with signs in nature--signs
that only Jesus' pagan executioners are shown to understand.
Jesus Dies Wounded but Trusting His Father
(27:45-46)
That Jesus utters the complaint of the righteous sufferer (Ps 22:1)
suggests that he participated in our ultimate alienation from God
in experiencing the pain of death. Yet he would also know that the
psalm goes on to declare the psalmist's triumph (Ps 22:22-24), and
the phrase my God indicates continuing trust.
To the End, His Opponents Do Not Understand
His Identity (27:47-49)
Jesus' own people did not recognize what was happening; they knew
that rabbis in distress sometimes looked to Elijah for help (as
in b. `Aboda Zara 17b; p. Ketubot 12:3, Section 6), and they assumed
that Jesus was doing likewise. Clearly they expected no supernatural
intervention--expectations seemingly confirmed because Elijah would
not come.
The narrative again bristles with irony: far from being able to
help Jesus, Elijah was his forerunner in martyrdom (17:10-13; Kingsbury
1983:130). The wine vinegar (27:48) was probably an attempt to revive
him (Reicke 1974:187), perhaps to prolong the torment in mocking
pretense that Elijah had come to relieve him. But Jesus had come
to drink the cup of suffering (26:39), the cup of God's wrath (Jer
25:15-29). Our Lord is both our model, obedient and uncomplaining
as he serves the Father no matter what the cost, and our Savior,
who offers himself for the sins of the world.
The Father Vindicates His Murdered Son (27:50-53)
Elijah did not come to deliver Jesus, but signs that Jews regularly
expected to accompany the death of the righteous did follow Jesus'
death (vv. 51-53). To both pagan and Jewish audiences these signs
would indicate divine approval of Jesus and disapproval of his executioners
(see Kee 1983:189; Best 1965:98; R. Brown 1994:1113-14). The raising
of dead persons at Jesus' death (vv. 52-53) reminds us that by refusing
to save himself, Jesus did save others (v. 42). Yet by mentioning
only many of the saints, Matthew clearly intends this sign merely
to prefigure the final resurrection, proleptically signified in
Jesus' death and resurrection (Cullmann 1956a:168). Popular folk
religion venerated the tombs of saints (Meyers and Strange 1981:162),
and the very people who sought Jesus' death built those tombs (23:29-32);
but Jesus, the holiest saint of all, had power to raise them.
The rending of the veil (probably the inner veil--compare Heb 6:19-20;
9:3; 10:19-20) around the time of the evening sacrifice (Mt 27:45-46)
could symbolize the departure of God's presence that preceded his
judgment against the temple (Ezek 9:3; 10:4-18; compare Mt 23:35-38;
24:1-2).
Gentile Oppressors Become Models of Faith
in Christ (27:54)
Whereas Jesus' own people had not believed, the supervising centurion
and those with him recognized Jesus' identity the way Peter had
some time before (16:16). In contrast to Peter, however (16:21-22),
these Gentiles recognize Jesus' sonship in the cross rather than
by ignoring the cross, all the more remarkable because this defied
Gentile models of leadership (20:25).
The Gospel has come full circle: again the religious leaders of
Israel have missed the significance of Jesus, whereas the pagans
one would expect to be most hostile to Christ have understood and
embraced his true identity (2:1-12). Matthew's message to his Jewish
Christian audience is clear: regardless of the response of the Jewish
religious leaders, you must evangelize the Gentiles. His message
to us today is no less clear: although church people often live
in disobedience to the gospel and take Christ for granted, we must
take him beyond the walls of our churches to a waiting world.
55-66
55Many women were there, watching from a distance.
They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. 56Among
them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and
the mother of Zebedee's sons.
The Burial of Jesus
57As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named
Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58Going to Pilate,
he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to
him. 59Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock.
He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went
away. 61Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite
the tomb.
The Guard at the Tomb
62The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests
and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63"Sir," they said,
"we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said,
'After three days I will rise again.' 64So give the order for the
tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples
may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been
raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the
first."
65"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the
tomb as secure as you know how." 66So they went and made the
tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
Explanation: Guardians of Jesus' Body (27:55-66)
The identity of the actors in this narrative is significant. Because
John's disciples took great risk and buried their teacher (14:12),
we may expect at least as much courage from Jesus' disciples here
(Rhoads and Michie 1982:133). But Jesus' disciples disappoint us,
leaving the task to characters Matthew's audience would not anticipate
unless they had heard the story before (they probably had heard
it, but might still be struck by the contrast).
The Women's Courage (27:55-56)
Whereas the male disciples feared for their lives and were nowhere
to be found, the women followed all the way to the tomb. In that
culture women were relegated to a marginal role in discipleship
at best, not permitted to be disciples (see Keener 1992:83-84; Witherington
1984). Thus women, unlike men, would not be suspected as potential
coconspirators with Jesus; their courage is nonetheless telling.
These women had followed Jesus as disciples in whatever ways they
could, even ways that would have appeared scandalous in that culture
(v. 55; compare Stanton 1989:202; Stambaugh and Balch 1986:104;
Liefeld 1967:240).
Joseph of Arimathea: A Rare Wealthy Ally (27:57-61)
Rich people rarely showed up among Jesus' disciples, especially
when pressure became serious (19:24; 26:18). Yet Joseph here is
a disciple of Jesus, a model to be imitated, one of the few rich
men who squeezed through a needle's eye by God's grace (19:23-24).
The Romans normally preferred for the bodies of condemned criminals
to rot on crosses (Petr. Sat. 112), but Jewish custom prohibited
this final indignity (Deut 21:23; compare m. Sanhedrin 6:5-6), and
the Romans sometimes surrendered a corpse to friends or relatives
who sought permission to bury it (Philo Flaccus 83-84). But unless
Joseph already held special favor before Pilate (compare Jos. Life
420-21), which is unlikely, only a courageous ally would identify
himself before the governor as "friend" or patron of one
condemned for conspiracy against Rome.
Matthew explicitly notes the use of Joseph's own family tomb, fulfilling
Isaiah 53:12. To bury Jesus in his own tomb (Mt 27:60) fits the
situation of haste and location, but also suggests a special love
normally reserved for family members or those equally esteemed (compare
1 Kings 13:30-31). Archaeological evidence for the tombs in this
area may suggest that the tomb belonged to a person of material
substance (Craig 1995:148).
Most Judean burial sites were private family tombs scattered around
Jerusalem and elsewhere (Safrai 1974-1976b:779-80). Often these
were caves with an opening covered by a large stone rolled in a
groove; such stones could not be removed from within (Reicke 1974:187;
Yamauchi 1972:112). Because Joseph was well-to-do, he probably owned
a more ornate tomb, whose disk-shaped stone would be too large (a
yard in diameter) for a single man to move even from outside (Lane
1974:581).
Trying to Keep Jesus Buried (27:62-66)
In contrast to the women and Joseph, the other participants in the
tomb narrative--the religious leaders--have quite different motives:
they want Jesus to stay buried lest his promises to reign stir hope.
They want the whole Jesus movement to stay buried in the tomb. This
paragraph inaugurates a contrast between the alleged deceitfulness
of Jesus (v. 63) and of his disciples (v. 64) on the one hand and,
not long after, the actual deceitfulness of his enemies on the other
(28:13-15; compare Gundry 1982:582). The authorities' behavior is
not unlike that of some religious people today, whether conservative
or liberal, who insist on being viewed as right even when they are
wrong.
But the primary focus of this paragraph and its conclusion in 28:11-15
is the incontrovertible evidence for Jesus' resurrection. Sealing
the stone (27:66) would make it impossible for anyone to enter the
tomb and then merely replace the stone (see Filson 1960:299). Although
Jesus has already left the tomb, the stone is not removed until
28:2. Because Matthew would hardly create a charge that did not
exist, we may be sure that the primary polemic against the Christian
claim concerning Jesus' resurrection was theft of the body (compare
Craig 1984; Meier 1980:356).
