Saturday, January 25, 2014

January 25, 2014: Matthew Chapter 27

The Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 27

Originally posted Tuesday, February 5, 2008 

General Comment: Chapter 26 lives up to its placement within the Passion Narrative. This part of the tradition is very old, probably the first portion of the oral tradition that became fairly uniform in its outline and content and committed to memory. It has all the elements of true Pathos: a plot to kill Jesus; a fallen disciple within the conspiracy; a somber last meal with friends; the agony of human struggle in the garden - for Matthew the moment of choice reminiscent of the Garden of Eden; betrayal and arrest; abandonment by the disciples; a fixed hearing and finally being denied by the one who bravely declared he would remain faithful to the end, even of his own life. Through it all there is the inevitability of the outcome. Although we know what that inevitability is we follow each step as if we were watching the gathering clouds of an approaching storm. Through all of this, one figure stands firm, as if he is not the victim but the choreographer of the dance. Does he know the outcome? Probably. No omniscience would be needed to understand what was ahead. But he understood the goal. To paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr., he had been to the mountain top and had seen the promised land. Jesus knew his cause was true and there seemed no other way to be faithful to it than to play this drama through to the very last act.

Day 5 The Passover

Matthew Chapter 27:1-2 Jesus Before Pilate

These two verses belong to the end of Chapter 26. They serve as a transition from one location to another, closing the hearing before Caiaphas and moving toward the trial before Pilate. They also serve as the bookend to MT 26:3-5 where the plot to kill Jesus is conceived. 

Most translations read in vs.2 that Pilate was the Governor of Judea. Because of an inscription found in 1961 in Caesarea, we now know he held the office of Prefect, an official over a minor province which Judea was. Governors would  be over much larger areas such as Syria. Jesus is handed over to the Romans because the Jewish leadership had been stripped of the authority to carry out death sentences. According to later Jewish writings this change was made approximately when the events portrayed here in Matthew occurred.

Matthew Chapter 27:3-10 Judas Commits Suicide

Matthew has inserted this text for two reasons. First, he means for us to compare Peter's denial of Jesus with Judas' betrayal (literally "handing him over"). In the case of Judas, he regrets what he has done and then dies in despair by his own hand. Peter, on the other hand, also regrets his actions, but rather than either running away or committing suicide he will rejoin the disciples as a faithful servant of the church. Peter became the model of true repentance which always includes being embraced by the community. Matthew thereby reminds the reader that there are two kingdoms involved in a great struggle: Peter returns and is accepted in the kingdom of God. Judas, having given himself for hire, remains, in death, part of the kingdom of those who used him.

Second, Matthew shows his distain for the "chief priests and the elders" Their evil intent to have Jesus killed is advanced with Judas' paid assistance. They have used him as a means to an end, and when Judas returns to them and admits his sin of betraying innocent blood (Jesus), they reject his appeal and refuse to take back the "blood money." They have used him to guarantee their own success and having achieved that goal they push him aside.

vss. 7-10 are a mixture of mostly Zech. 11:12-13 with selections from Jeremiah chapters 18-19, referring to the Potter and his clay, a metaphor for God and God's human creation. The actual Potter's Field was located in the Hinnom valley which was also a  source of clay. The area was used until the mid 1900s as a burial place for non-Jews. The clay soil had a rich red color, giving the area the name "Field of Blood." (The term "Potter's Field" was commonly used in this country for a cemetery in which indigents were buried) Matthew has no doubt used an older tradition and woven it into this story of Judas' death.

Matthew Chapter 27:11-14 Jesus Before Pilate

Consider this scene. The representative of the greatest empire in the world is seated on the Judgment Seat at the entrance to the Praetorium. Standing before him, for all intents and purposes, is a Galilean peasant, powerless and of no particular importance. Yet the Jewish leadership has sent him to Pilate with the apparent political charge that either Jesus or his followers have claimed he is the Messiah, the [Davidic] King of the Jews, reason enough for a death sentence. Pilate is obliged to ask if the charge is true. Jesus' answer is an unambiguous "yes." What other charges may have been brought are not mentioned, but to them Jesus gives no answer and Pilate's reaction is one of amazement that this man in front of him will not offer any defense (Matthew is tailoring the scene after Isa. 52:14-15; 53:7, part of the Suffering Servant section of Isaiah. He would understand this interchange as fulfillment of prophecy).

Matthew Chapter 27:15-26 Barabbas or Jesus, Your Choice

If there was such a custom of releasing a prisoner on Passover it has not been recorded in history, either Roman or Jewish. Philo, a Jewish Philosopher living and writing in Alexandria near 50 CE (a contemporary of Paul), a careful chronicler of the activities of the Roman Prefect of Egypt, Flaccus, and also mentions the bad character traits of Pilate, makes no mention of the practice. In addition, it is most unlikely Pilate would have released a hardened criminal, particularly in the middle of a festival noted for its Messianic, nationalistic fervor. This may be why Luke has omitted the use of this story which first appears in Mark. However, the history of such an event is secondary to Matthew's intent in this carefully crafted scene before Pilate.

There are a number of interpretive aides by which we can understand how Matthew has used this scene before Pilate as a unified whole. First is Pilate's reluctance to sentence Jesus; he gives the crowd a choice of freeing a really dangerous man, Barabbas, or this Jesus, who Pilate senses has been turned over to him out of jealousy. Add to that his wife's dream leads her to urge Pilate to let him go because he is innocent. Second, consider Pilate's position over against that of the chief priests and elders, who incite a near riot by the crowd by urging the people to call for Barabbas' release and Jesus' crucifixion.

Second is the strongly ironic outcome. Note the names of the two choices, one Is Jesus son of Joseph and the other is Jesus son  Abbas. Jesus son of Joseph will be hailed by the early church as the Son of God, the Father. Jesus Abbas' name in Aramaic also means son of the Father. Abba was a term used in Jesus' time to address God in prayer. So, Jesus bar (son of) Abbas (God), the criminal sentenced to death, is chosen to be freed and Jesus, the Church's proclaimed true Son of God, the Messiah is sentenced to death.

Third, with Pilate washing his hands of the matter -a denial of responsibility, and the "people as a whole" shouting, "His blood be on us and our children," Matthew has demonstrated the early church's shift of the blame for Jesus' death from the Romans to the Jewish leadership. This particular text has served as a rallying cry for those who would blame all Jews as "Christ Killers." It is at the core of anti-Semitism. Looking at the four Gospels and Acts in parallel one easily sees this progression.

Matthew Chapter 27:27-31 The Soldiers

 It was customary for Roman soldiers to heap as much humiliating abuse upon a prisoner as possible without killing him before a crucifixion. The flogging was with long strips of leather that had sharp pieces of bone imbedded in the ends. It was meant to cut the flesh to the bone. Here Matthew notes the irony of that treatment. The soldiers place a robe (King's attire) on him, a crown of thorns on his head, put a reed in his  hand as a King's scepter, kneel before him and mockingly address him as King of the Jews. With that they were ready to take him to the cross. For Matthew all of this is in fulfillment of Scripture, particularly the Suffering Servant Chapters in Isaiah.

 We see within this section more of Matthew's use of irony. The soldiers who accept Caesar as a divine king, in their humiliating of Jesus, do not know they are crowning the one whom Matthew's community worships as the true King.

Matthew 27:32-44 The Crucifixion

The flogging would have taken quite a toll on Jesus' ability to walk, much less endure the cross bar victims were required to carry. The soldiers enlist Simon (he would have had no choice), from Cyrene (modern Libya) to carry the cross bar. It is again a touch of irony that the only person at the cross with Jesus besides the soldiers, is from a Gentile territory. Matthew would want us to remember the saying, "...just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."

The crucifixion was a very gruesome death. The forearms are tied to the cross beams. Nails are driven through the wrists and hands. There was a foot rest to which the feet were nailed, sometimes through the ankles. Death came from asphyxiation as the body sank and compressed the lungs. If death took too long, the legs were broken so the body would lose any support and sink downward, stopping the ability to breathe. It could be a slow death.

The details of the offering wine mixed with gall (Ps. 69:21), dividing the garments (Ps. 22:15), the mocking criminals (Isa. 53:3, 9. 12), and the derision of the passers by, chief priests, and elders (Ps. 22:8,9) are all seen as fulfillment of Scripture.  Throughout all of this scene, from Jesus being hauled up by pulley to the top notch in the pole, the taunting, the humiliating, there is this sign clearly visible, written in Latin, Greek and Aramaic, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." What was meant as a supreme sarcasm, for Matthew and the church that follows, it became a supreme truth. The King who was killed would one day win over the Empire that killed him. One can only wonder what it would take for him to win over the world.

Matthew Chapter 27:45-56 The death  of Jesus.

In the ninth hour, the entire world against the backdrop of a darkening sky (Isa. 50.3;Exod.10:22;Amos 8:9), Jesus stirs. He lets out a loud cry, a lament of the suffering reflecting the ultimate condition of a humanity left alone in despair. He is forsaken, alone, abandoned by God (Ps. 22:1) yet it is to God that he cries. Bystanders wonder if he is calling for Elijah to save this righteous man. But Elijah has already come and they did with him what they chose. Then a pause, people listening for what would come next; then another loud cry, a gasp for a final taste of air, then his body slumps downward. The air escapes his lungs with the quiet sound of a dove's wings fluttering upward to join the sky. He is dead.

As if in reaction to the darkness, Matthew envisions the curtain in front of the Holy of Holies being rent asunder from top to bottom, the Temple no longer filled with God's presence. The ground shakes, rocks break and the dead escape the chains of the grave to walk again within the city; and he sees that the only one who will bear witness to the wonders around and about is this Gentile Centurion who can utter nothing other than his Pagan mind will allow; a divine hand has moved the Earth. Surely this must be the son of God!

 Matthew Chapter 27:57-61 The Burial

There was a friend who let Jesus borrow a donkey and her colt. Another provided an upper room for the Passover meal. One last kindness would be provided. Joseph of Arimathea, a righteous Jew, knew that Jesus had no family nearby to carry out the Jewish rite of burial. He would do that for this man who had helped him to see God in a new light, and the future as one of hope. Pilate would let him take Jesus' body. There was no threat now. His followers had fled. There was no one to take up his cause. The Roman peace had been kept through this meager victory. He washes Jesus' body, carefully wraps it in clean linen cloth. His servant has already opened and prepared the tomb, one cut into the rock for Joseph's family. The body is placed in the cutout in the inside wall. His duty performed, Joseph, stands outside and watches the stone being rolled into the cut groove, across the tomb opening. He recites the prayer for the dead, bows his head and weeps. The women who followed Joseph to the tomb, sit nearby and begin their lament as was their custom.

Day 6 Securing the Tomb

Matthew Chapter 27:62-66 Guarding the Tomb

Sometimes even the defeat or the death of one's enemies cannot bring relief. The disciples by themselves were no threat. The crowds that had been foolish enough to follow this false Messiah had dispersed and were returning home now that Passover was finished. All that seemed to remain were those few women at the tomb, singing their laments. But still, they remembered Jesus' words about being raised after three days. Most of them didn't believe in resurrection, but what if a few of his disciples do return and try to take the body in order to claim a resurrection did happen? The nonsense could spread like a hot desert wind.

As it is with most conspiracies, those who begin them must patch up the little holes that keep letting bits of revealing light through and unraveling the deceit. Pilate will help. He doesn't want any more problems with Messiahs or pretender Kings. The Chief priests and unlikely allies among the Pharisees ask Pilate to supply an around-the-clock guard until the third day after Jesus' death. With his agreement they take a small detachment of soldiers and set the guard at the tomb.

It is all done now. The threat is over. We will hear no more of this Galilean.
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Notes

1) MT 27:1-2 This brief section repeats part of MT26:1-5. It is worth noting as an illustration of how the oral tradition in all Gospels developed. This text represents an older layer which is edited with additional material. It would be expected that during the earlier years of the community's formation and growth, other bits of oral tradition would be added from other sources. It gives us a realistic view of the Gospel as a dynamic instrument of evangelism which might go through more than one edition before it becomes fixed. Thus we can see several layers of material woven together in what has come down to us.

2) Papias, an early Christian theologian, wrote near 130 CE that Judas, rather than committing suicide, wandered aimlessly about as a sad, miserable figure. He had become so obese that he met his end one day while walking on a road that was so narrow that he was unable to avoid an  oncoming chariot and was crushed under its wheels and his belly burst open, gushing forth his bowels. In the Gnostic writings of the 2nd and 3rd centuries we have become more aware of the Gospel of Judas, in which Judas, rather than being a tragic figure, is recruited by Jesus to assist him in his plan to have himself crucified and thereby releasing his spirit from its physical limitations.


3) By the end of the first Century one of the stories told to refute Christian claims of a resurrected Lord was the story of the disciples who had come to the tomb by night and taken Jesus'' body to bury it elsewhere, then claiming he had been raised. The early Christian writer, Justin, wrote a long treatise refuting such Jewish and pagan claims.

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