ALONE IN A CROWD

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, He refused to drink it. When they had crucified Him, they divided up His clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over Him there.

Above His head they placed the written charge against Him: This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.

Two rebels were crucified with Him, one on His right and one on His left. Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads 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!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked Him. “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. He trusts in God. Let God rescue Him now if He wants Him, for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him.

Matthew 27:32-44

A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). Then they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He did not take it. And they crucified Him. Dividing up His clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. It was nine in the morning when they crucified Him. The written notice of the charge against Him read: The king of the Jews.

They crucified two rebels with Him, one on His right and one on His left. Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked Him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but He can’t save Himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him.

Mark 15:21-32

As the soldiers led Him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed Him, including women who mourned and wailed for Him. Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with Him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified Him there, along with the criminals—one on His right, the other on His left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up His clothes by casting lots.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at Him. They said, “He saved others; let him save Himself if He is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

The soldiers also came up and mocked Him. They offered Him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save Yourself.”

There was a written notice above Him, which read: This is the king of the Jews.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save Yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in paradise.”

Luke 23:13-25

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying His own cross, He went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified Him, and with Him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.

Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took His clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided My clothes among them and cast lots for My garment.”

So this is what the soldiers did.

Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.”

From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

John 19:16b-27

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The moment had come, the moment Jesus fully knew would come long before. It was time for Him to drink from the cup of suffering He had prayed about in Gethsemane’s garden, the cup He asked His Father to take from Him if it was His will to do so. Obviously, it was God’s will for this moment, the moment when Jesus would be crucified.

He had carried His own cross quite a distance, assisted for a part of the journey by a man named Simon who was minding his own business while passing through Jerusalem only to become a participant in what was one of the most horrific, but most significant events, in human history. That event saw Jesus nailed through His hands and feet to the wooden cross and then lifted high to hang and experience a slow, excruciatingly painful death while on full display for everyone to see.

Indeed, Jesus became the main attraction at the “Place of the Skull”, better known as Golgotha, and there was quite an audience present.

First of all, Jesus had company as His cross was elevated with Him affixed to it. On either side was two rebels, men who had actually committed a crime unlike the perfectly innocent Jesus. Although two of the Gospels say that both men hurled insults, we find that one of the criminals actually showed empathy for Jesus’ situation, rebuking his convicted partner before asking Jesus to remember him when He would go to His kingdom. His request gained him more than he expected. It gained him a ticket to the kingdom to one day reunite with Jesus forever.

Also at the cross were the Roman soldiers who did the actually nailing to the cross and then the raising the crosses up. After that, there was little to do except keep watch and play childish games like casting lots (think rolling dice) for the garments stripped off those being crucified. On this day, they were particularly enamored with the clothes that Jesus had been wearing.

As you might expect, the Jewish religious leaders were there. After all, they wouldn’t want to miss seeing the final result of their evil work. We read where they were agitated by Pilate who had the soldiers place a sign on the cross that identified the man upon it as:

“Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.”

The statement rankled the Jewish religious authorities who demanded that Pilate revise the sign but he refused to do so. Angered by the Roman governor, they took out their frustration on Jesus heaping verbal abuse upon Him by mocking Him while using statements He had made about who He was.

“He saved others 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.”

“He trusts in God. Let God rescue Him now if He wants Him, for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

The Jewish religious leaders weren’t the only ones firing off insults. We read where there were people passing by who got involved 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!”

Even the Roman soldiers followed suit with their own deriding, seemingly bored with their clothing divining casting lots game.

Yes, there were a lot of different people present at the cross, most of them opposed to Jesus and not hesitating to take advantage of His vulnerable situation to add insult to injury. It was the proverbial act of kicking someone when they were already down and I can’t imagine how alone Jesus must have felt, forsaken by everyone except for a small group of supporters that included His mother Mary and John, the disciple Jesus loved, who gathered in sadness and mourning as He suffered. For Jesus, it was the equivalency of feeling alone in a crowd.

So how did Jesus respond to those who were doing Him wrong?

He didn’t return fire for fire, that’s for sure. After all, He had taught through His years of ministry that the “eye for an eye” principle that many adhered to was nothing short of sinful and there wasn’t a sin that Jesus had ever committed. One with His Father God, He was perfectly righteous.

So what did Jesus do?

We know by His own words.

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Do you think you could have done that if you were in His shoes? In the midst of being violated in the worst possible way when you had done nothing but taught, healed, loved, and even resurrected others, could you ask for forgiveness upon those who did you wrong?

It would take a strength, and a grace, far beyond what any mere human possesses, a strength and grace that Jesus had in copious quantities. And through His statement, Jesus provides one final important teaching before He gave up His Spirit. For through His actions, we see the yardstick by which to measure how we should be forgiving others. In the end translation here, if Jesus could forgive those present after all they had done to Him, then we can follow His lead and forgive anyone.

Of course, this isn’t the only level of forgiveness the cross reminds us of. For when we look there and remember Jesus, we remember how God wished to forgive us through the sacrifice of His Son. A perfect blood sacrifice was required in order to atone for the sins of all mankind and Jesus was the sacrifice. He shed His blood so anyone who places their faith, hope, and trust in Him could be washed clean by it on their way to pardon from the judgment of sin.

For the Romans and others, the cross was a place of death but for Christian believers, it’s where true life, everlasting life began, just as God intended it to be.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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ABUSE OF POWER

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. 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?” For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

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.”

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify Him!”

“Why? What crime has He committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify Him!”

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!”

All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him, 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. They spit on Him, and took the staff and struck Him on the head again and again. 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.

Matthew 27:15-31

Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

“Crucify him!” they shouted.

“Why? What crime has He committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.

The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on Him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on Him. And they began to call out to Him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck Him on the head with a staff and spit on Him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to Him. And when they had mocked Him, they took off the purple robe and put His own clothes on Him. Then they led Him out to crucify Him.

Mark 15:16-20

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined Him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against Him. Neither has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; as you can see, He has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish Him and then release Him.”

But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)

Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in Him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have Him punished and then release Him.”

But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that He be crucified, and their shouts prevailed.

Luke 23:13-25

Then Pilate took Jesus and had Him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head. They clothed Him in a purple robe and went up to Him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped Him in the face.

Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing Him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against Him.” When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw Him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take Him and crucify Him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against Him.”

The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law He must die, because He claimed to be the Son of God.”

When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do You come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do You refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t You realize I have power either to free You or to crucify You?”

Jesus answered, “You would have no power over Me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed Me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

But they shouted, “Take Him away! Take Him away! Crucify Him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

Finally Pilate handed Him over to them to be crucified.

John 19:1-16

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Jesus’ final hours of life were nothing short of a combined worldly and heavenly power play.

First the worldly play which constituted a total abuse of power on two fronts.

The most significant of these two fronts was the one assumed by the Jewish religious leaders. Not only had they falsely accused Jesus and convicted them within their own court proceedings but then they paraded Him to the Roman governors Judea and Galilee, Pilate and Herod respectively, asking for them to do what the law did not permit: crucify Jesus.

Such was the Jewish religious authority’s commitment to evil and hatred that they said whatever was needed to accomplish their goal to have Jesus eliminated and eradicated once and for all.

They brought Jesus to Pilate on false charges. Then they were willing to allow a known insurgent and murderer go free instead of a perfectly innocent Jesus. And when Pilate tried to wipe his hands clean of the matter, placing the responsibility back on the Jewish religious leaders, they twisted the situation around to place political pressure on Pilate to do as they wanted, asserting that anyone who portrayed themselves as king was a threat to Caesar and therefore be killed. In the case of the Romans, this meant Jesus should be crucified. Their actions were nothing short of an abject abuse of power.

And this leads to Pilate, the second place we see abuse of power take place.

You see, Pilate saw Jesus as an innocent man. He stated that there was nothing he could find guilty of. He was in power and had the control of things. He could have let Jesus go free but he didn’t.

First, he tried to pass his problem to another Roman governor, Herod Antipas, only to have Jesus returned to him. Nothing changed in this exchange except that Herod saw Pilate as a friend afterwards when they were once enemies.

Then Pilate had another chance to set Jesus free. He still had no charges to even justify holding Him. But instead of doing what was right, something he fully had within his power and control, he decides to offer the Jewish religious leaders as choice as to who should be released: the innocent Jesus or the convicted murdered Barabbas. I mean, Pilate couldn’t read the proverbial tea leaves here? Didn’t he know that the gathered crowd, nothing more than a puppet used by the Jewish religious authorities, would call on Barabbas, or any other person for that matter, to be set free so Jesus could be murdered, and let’s not kid ourselves here, this was a premeditated murder of the very Son of God Himself.

And so Barabbas was set free and Jesus was still being tabbed as the one favored for execution by the Jewish religious leaders and the crowd they were manipulating. Again, Pilate could have just said, “Enough of this! This man is going free whether you like it or not!”

But he didn’t. Instead, he did something totally unforgiving. He handed Jesus over to the Roman soldiers to be flogged which was just a code word for horrific physical and mental abuse. This was a specialty of the Roman military men who were skilled in all forms of torture and delighted in their work. We read where they didn’t waste any time toying with Jesus like He was some real life plaything.

They dressed Him in a robe, fashioned a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and placed a staff in His hands before mocking Him and spitting on Him. They slapped Jesus’ face and struck His head with the staff. And when they were done with their twisted, sick punishment, they placed Jesus’ regular clothes on Him and took Him back to Pilate.

So for the fourth time, Jesus was back with Pilate who again had the chance to use his power for doing the right thing. To turn up the pressure, the Jewish religious leaders tell Pilate that Jesus didn’t just claim to be a king but had also stated He was the Son of God, a statement that elevated Pilate’s anxiety level exponentially, so much so that he tried one final time to refute any responsibility regarding Jesus’ fate.

And then the Jewish religious leaders brought Caesar into the mix, asserting that Jesus declaring Himself as king was an affront and threat to the leader of the Roman Empire. Pilate heard this and had to be thinking about his own self preservation. If he would let Jesus go, the Jewish religious authorities, who held a level of their own power, could report to Caesar that Pilate had released a revolutionary Jew who was a clear and present danger to him and the empire. In this instance, it’s a certainty that Pilate would have suffered dire consequences for his actions, losing his position of power and possibly his life. So with it down to him or Jesus, Jesus was the one who was sent off to be crucified and no matter how much Pilate tried to wash his hands of the situation, he was just as culpable as the Jewish religious leaders because in the face of pressure to do wrong, he lacked the moral courage to do right, no matter the cost to himself.

Two different fronts, both grounded in serious abuse of power. Neither won out.

I say this because there was one other instrument of power at play here and it was not of the world. Of course, I am talking about God’s power.

For while two sides were working out things for bad, God was in the midst of it all, working things out for good. It was Jesus’ destiny to suffer and die, bearing the punishment for the sins of all mankind. No one or no thing was going to stop this from happening. And as we see, no one or nothing did.

Jesus was sent away by Pilate to be crucified.

The Jewish religious leaders had to feel like they won but in essence they lost.

Pontius Pilate had to think he was victorious by preserving himself, even if it was at the expense of killing an innocent man. He too lost.

In both cases, we see that the Lord will never honor abuse of power. We also see where His plan will not be stopped, no matter what man might do. For Jesus would soon be crucified and His loss would be gain for millions upon millions upon millions of people who would later place their belief in Him as Savior. And in the end, Jesus Himself would be resurrected in power, rising from death to life and earning the highest crown possible as God placed His Son in full authority over everything in heaven and on earth.

Thanks be to God for the gift of His Son.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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WORLDLY FRIENDS, GOD ENEMIES

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see Him. From what he had heard about Him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. He plied Him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing Him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked Him. Dressing Him in an elegant robe, they sent Him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.

Luke 23:6-12

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The path to the cross was not traveled in a straight line. Not even close.

Rather, there were many different stations, each with their own circumstances.

Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane after being betrayed by Judas.

He then was taken before Annas for a hearing before going to Caiaphas, the high priest at the time, and the rest of the Sanhedrin.

Falsely accused and convicted by the Jewish religious court, Jesus was then taken to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who questioned him to see if he could find Him guilty of the charges the Jewish religious authorities were bringing on Him. He found no guilt in Jesus and was in a bit of a predicament. The members of the Sanhedrin were expecting a verdict and he knew he wasn’t going to tell them what they wanted to hear. He needed a way out and as we see in today’s passage, he found an exit strategy in an unlikely peer.

I say this because the scriptures tell us that Pilate was an enemy of a fellow Roman governor named Herod who ruled over the region of Galilee. Of interest, this Herod was none other than Herod Antipas and this wasn’t the first time his name had come up in the Gospels. This is because Herod Antipas was the Roman governor over Galilee when John the Baptist was baptizing and proclaiming the coming of Jesus. You’ll remember that John didn’t shy away from calling people to repent and he didn’t discriminate.

At the time, Herod Antipas had married his brother’s wife, a woman by the name of Herodias. John called out the governor for his incestuous actions and these protests reached the ears of Herodias who launched a plot to get rid of John who had been imprisoned by the Romans. You’ll recall that Herod had thrown a party and was reveling with his guests when his daughter came out and danced for him. When she finished he told his daughter, she would give her whatever she asked for. What he didn’t know is that Herodias had already told her daughter what to ask for: the head of John on a platter. And that’s what happened, the daughter told Herod what she wanted and Herod, reluctantly, gave her what she asked for, actually giving what Herodias wanted. It was a sad end to John’s life and as we come back to the future and the passage for today from Luke 23, we find Jesus now brought to Herod with his life on the line.

We read where this is something that Herod was actually excited about “because for a long time he had been wanting to see Him”. Jesus’ reputation preceded Him and Herod hoped he would see Jesus do something miraculous. Unfortunately like so many others, he didn’t see Jesus as the Son of God, an identity that provided Him the power to do remarkable things. Rather, Jesus was seen as more of sideshow, someone who people hoped would show them something they had never seen.

Well, Herod ended up disappointed because Jesus didn’t put on a show for him or answer his questions. Rather, He just stood silent as others did the talking, and abusive talk it was coming from all angles.

The chief priests and the teachers of the law vehemently accused Him.

Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked Him before dressing Jesus in “an elegant robe” and sending Him back to Pilate, who was now seen as a friend. I’m sure Herod thought that Pilate didn’t have to send Jesus to him but in doing so, the Roman governor of Judea was showing respect since Herod was actually the governing authority over Jesus’ hometown of Galilee. Little did he know that Pilate was just trying to pass the responsibility of convicting Jesus to him.

In the end, the joke was on Pilate because Herod did nothing but dress Jesus in a nice robe and send him back to his Roman governor peer, and new friend.

So what do we see here?

We see that neither of these two Roman leaders was of God. If they were, they would release Jesus outright, declaring His clear innocence. But neither did anything. They were friends with one another who were complicit in Jesus being wrongly convicted and murdered. They were just as culpable as the Jewish religious authorities who brought Jesus to them. And through their actions, they showed they were worldly friends who were equally enemies of God.

So Jesus was sent back to Pilate with no change in His status from when He left.

What would happen next?

As we’ll see in tomorrow’s devotion, nothing short of a blatant abuse of power.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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THE FALLOUT OF SIN

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

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.” So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 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, and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

Matthew 27:3-10

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In life, we only have one of two forces leading and guiding us: the Lord or Satan. We may bounce back and forth between them (and I think every person does) but they won’t be in control of us at the same time. In fact, Satan can’t even be present when the Lord is and so a concurrent presence is impossible.

As we look at our scripture passage today, we see how Judas Iscariot is a classic example of this truth. It’s obvious that at one time of his life, he was a very respectable person, a man of God who Jesus thought would make a good member of His special inner circle. He wouldn’t have made the cut into the membership of the Twelve otherwise.

We can assume that Judas was also seen as trustworthy as he was placed in charge of the money bag containing funds for the group. You wouldn’t just put anyone in charge of a bag containing such value.

But something went wrong along the way as Judas followed along with Jesus and carried out his responsibilities. He allowed Satan to enter in and gain a foothold, leading him off the path of righteousness the Lord walked and onto the wide path of sin that Jesus taught about, the path heading toward destruction. We know this happened because the scriptures share nuggets of revelation.

For example, consider these words from the Gospel of John:

“…one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray Him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. John 12:4-6

Here we find out that Judas was in the midst of sin as Satan was having his way with him. Jesus was being honored at a dinner in Bethany put on by Simon the Leper. As He was reclining at the table, the scriptures tell us a penitent woman sits at Jesus’ feet, wetting his feet with her tears and then drying them with her hair before anointing them with expensive perfume.

Judas, not seeing the beauty in how the woman was repenting and honoring Jesus, expressed objection to the woman’s actions. He made it appear that he was concerned about the perfume being wasted, proposing it could have been sold to provide for the poor.

But it was all a ruse for we learn the real motive for Judas’ rebuttal of the woman’s actions. You see, he saw an opportunity to steal being poured out onto His Master’s feet. If only he could have sold that perfume instead, he could have done what he had done many times before, help himself to the contents of the money bag.

God had commanded that no one was to steal. Judas knew that but he wasn’t under the control of God. Satan had him convinced that what he was doing was completely appropriate.

And so Judas was a sinful thief, his weakness for money used by Satan to maximize his control and advantage. This is what led Judas to sell out Jesus. In the moment while under the lead of Satan, he loved money more than his Master and Satan led him to people who were willing to pay, the Jewish religious leaders who were looking for someone in Jesus’ inner circle to help them. They would pay Judas thirty silver coins, about five weeks of wages in Jesus’ day, and all he had to do was to identify Jesus through a kiss which would indicate the man to be arrested.  

We know Judas went ahead with his side of the deal. Satan led him to Gethsemane’s garden with a crowd of men armed and ready to arrest Jesus. Judas kissed his Master and placed Jesus’ feet on the road to the cross as a result. At the time, he must have felt it was totally worth it because Satan would have led him to believe so.

But here’s the thing we need to remember about the devil. He leads us into sin and makes us feel like we’re justified in what we do but then leaves us in the wake of the destruction we have caused.

As we see in our passage for today from Matthew’s Gospel, Judas came to his senses after Jesus was condemned. It feels like one of those, “What have I done?!”, realizations. We know that because Judas was “seized with remorse”, so much so because he decided to return the money to the chief priests and elders, confessing his sinful actions.

Ask yourself, would Satan lead him to this?

No, it’s obvious that Satan had abandoned Judas in the wake of the destruction he had caused. The damage was done and Jesus was on the way to His death. And if Judas thought he was going to find any sympathy from the Jewish religious authorities, he was sadly mistaken. For as he tries to return the money, somehow hoping to pay back restitution for his transgressions, the chief priests and elders put the guilt firmly on Judas simply saying:

“That’s your responsibility.”

In other words, they were essentially saying to Judas, “We didn’t force you to betray innocent blood. You made that choice and so you can live with it. But unfortunately, Judas saw where he couldn’t do that. And so he threw the money into the temple and went off to take his own life by hanging.

Did I mention that sin always ends up causing some form of destruction?

Well, I’m sure Satan was more than satisfied with the end result of his influence on Judas. As for the chief priests who allowed Satan to lead them into sin of their own, it should come of no surprise that all of a sudden they are concerned about doing the right thing. This is what hypocritical practice of religion looks like. On one hand, you can lie and scheme to murder an innocent man but then on the other, you put on a pious front, concerned about obedience to a law you already broke by sanctioning murder.

So what happened to the 30 silver coins?

Well, the chief priests knew it was blood money, money paid out to kill Jesus, and so they couldn’t place the funds in the temple treasury. Instead, then used the money to buy the potter’s field where they would bury Gentiles, a fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy.

Friends, we need to make sure we are always keeping our Lord close. I mean, really close. We can’t afford to allow Satan any opportunity to enter into our hearts and minds, leading us into sin and down the road of destruction like he did Judas Isacariot.

For in the case of Judas’, the fallout of his sin led to irreversible tragedy, tragedy he felt he could never live down and indeed as we continue to look at his story more than 2,000 years later, he hasn’t lived it down. The word of God continues to remind us of the perils of falling into sin and we had better believe that Satan will have his way with us, just as easily as he did with Judas, if we let our guard down.

Do yourself a favor.

Draw near to the Lord and never leave His side.

You’ll be never be sorry that you did.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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