Portraits Before the Cross | Guilty Sinners and the Innocent King | Matthew 27

INTRODUCTION

Church, as we gather today, we are remembering one of the most sacred and solemn moments in human history. The path that Jesus walked in His final hours and His crucifixion. It is a path marked by sorrow, injustice, rejection, silence, blood, and sacrifice.

Portraits Before the Cross – Guilty Sinners and the Innocent King

Matthew 27

One of the themes that runs through Matthew 27 is the theme of innocent blood.

Judas: “I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

Pilate: “I am innocent of this man’s blood.”

Crowd: “His blood is on us and on our children!”

Matthew wants us to feel the weight of this chapter. He wants us to see that this is not ordinary injustice. This is the condemnation of the Innocent One, Jesus of Nazareth.

In fact, the theme of innocent blood runs through the Scripture. In Genesis 4, when Cain murdered Abel, the Lord said, “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” Scripture teaches us that innocent blood is never a small matter before God.

The sixth commandment says in Exodus 20:13 You shall not murder. Human life is sacred because human beings are made in the image of God. But Jesus takes that command deeper. He shows us that murder does not begin only with the hand. It begins in the heart.

Matthew 5:22

²²But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.

Our Lord teaches us that sinful anger, contempt, and hatred are not small things before God. The root of violence is already present in the heart long before it reaches the hand.

ILLUSTRATION

William Shakespeare gives us a picture of guilt in Macbeth. After the murder of King Duncan, Lady Macbeth is tormented by guilt. She sleepwalks, rubbing her hands as if trying to wash away what cannot be washed away, and she cries out: “What, will these hands never be clean? Here’s the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, Oh, Oh!”

Shakespeare understood something Scripture has always taught: Guilt cannot simply be managed away. The stain of sin is deeper than outward appearances. When human beings violate by attacking and murdering innocent people, no human effort can cleanse the conscience.

And when we come to Matthew 27, we do not merely see one guilty person. We see a whole network of guilt:

Judas – The Betrayer

The Religious Leaders

Pilate – A Compromised Ruler

A Manipulated Crowd

And yet, at the centre of them all, stands Jesus, the only innocent one.

So this morning I want us to look at five portraits before the cross. Four portraits reveal the many ways guilty sinners respond to innocent blood. The fifth portrait reveals God’s answer: The innocent King who gives Himself for the guilty.

Matthew 27:1–2

¹Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. ²So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

Jesus has been arrested the previous night. He has faced a sham trial before the Jewish leaders. The outcome was already decided. They were not seeking truth but they were seeking a death sentence. And now they hand Him over to Pilate for death penalty. But before the Roman trial fully unfolds, Matthew pauses the story and gives us the first portrait.

Portrait #1: Despair – Judas Iscariot

Guilt, felt but not brought to the Saviour.

Matthew 27:3–5

³When 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. 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.

Judas is a tragic figure. He is not casual about his sin. Judas knows what he has done. He confesses it openly: “I have sinned.” He acknowledges that Jesus is innocent. He feels the crushing weight of guilt. And yet Judas teaches us one of the most solemn lessons in all of Scripture: Remorse is not the same as repentance.

Judas does his final effort to minimize his guilt. So he tries to like give back the money to the chief priests. Judas can’t imagine a world where there could be enough forgiveness or grace to cover what he’s done. And so it leads him into total despair, and doesn’t want to live in this world anymore, and so he kills himself.

So of our four portraits, this is the most dismal. It’s the most dark. It’s Lady Macbeth, or it’s Cain, and, but Cain turned back to God to say, “This is more than I can handle.” Judas becomes utterly overwhelmed by his acknowledgment that he’s contributed to the death of an innocent man, and it destroys him. Judas cannot imagine that the very Jesus he betrayed is the Saviour of sinners. His sorrow is real, but it does not lead him to repentance. It leads him to ruin.

Application

There may be some here this morning who know what that feels like.

You may be carrying the memory of a terrible decision or an bad act. You may be burdened by that exchange of words that spoiled a good relationship, a betrayal, a failure, shame, or regret. You know guilt is real.

Judas’s problem was not that he did not feel the guilt. His problem was that he did not turn to the One who forgives guilty people.

Transition: If the first portrait shows guilt collapsing inward, the second portrait shows guilt covering itself with religion.

Portrait 2: Deception – Chief Priests

Guilt hidden beneath religion.

When you try to sanitize your guilt with religious acts

Matthew 27:6–10

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.” (They said, “We probably shouldn’t use it or dedicate this to God in the temple. God wouldn’t be pleased with us if we did that. So here’s what we’ll do with the blood money: let’s go buy a field to be a burial plot for foreigners.”) 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 pieces of silver, 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.” (Jer. 19:1-3)

ILLUSTRATION

The Jews would come to Jerusalem for the festivals and it was common that some would die in Jerusalem. They could not transport the body then. They’re buying a burial plot for people from out of town who happen to die while they’re in Jerusalem. So the priests are doing a public service. This is infrastructure for Jerusalem for all the foreigners coming there.

So now you have families who are then buying spots in this burial plot to bury their loved ones. The families who bury without even knowing are benefiting from the death of Jesus but guilty of innocent blood. We see a city and infrastructure being built on the blood of the innocent.

ILLUSTRATION

So you go and you buy pink salt, and then you like read a news story as who is working in the salt mines in the mountains and they you find out that there are bonded labourers and children who are working in dusty, bad conditions to get your table salt. This is the portrait of a whole society that ends up unwittingly participating in the guilt of innocent blood, without even knowing it. https://heavenspring.co.uk/blogs/news/what-makes-himalayan-salt-ethical-and-sustainable

Or think about the Jewellery people wear. where the police raided and rescued 61 bonded labourers; 7 Sep., 2019. https://www.thenewsminute.com/tamil-nadu/61-bonded-labourers-including-52-minors-rescued-jewellery-making-units-chennai-108518

This is how bad the web of the human condition is. The web of human guilt is so interwoven in my decisions and what I purchase can sometimes be at the exploitation and death of the poor.

So, that is the second portrait: The Chief Priests – Deception – When you try to sanitize your guilt with religious acts

Portrait 3: Deflection – Pontius Pilate

Guilt denied for the sake of self-interest.

When you try to wash your hands and blame the system.

Pilate was the governor of the Roman Province of Judea. He hated Jewish people. When the Jews would protest outside of his palace, he would send out the soldiers and just kill them. He was responsible for the murder of many, many Jewish people.

And so here’s one moment where the Jewish leaders decide to team up with Pilate. They can’t execute Jesus on their own; they need the Romans to do it. And so they go before Pilate and they’re going to accuse him on these two charges.

Matthew 27:11-15

¹¹Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” 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 festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.

Pilate has murdered so many of them but now he is going to give amnesty to a criminal once a year, how about that. Pilate is going to make himself look nice to these people.

Matthew 27:16

¹⁶At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas.

Jesus Barabbas. Barabbas means – “son of the father.”

Jesus Christ – Son of the Father. Abba Father.

Matthew is highlighting the fact that there are two Jesus’ being put forward here; one is a well-known criminal at the time. Another Jesus, Son of the Father, Son of the living God.

Matthew 27:17-18

¹⁷So 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?”

¹⁸For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

Mark’s tells us that Barabbas was in prison because he had committed murder in the uprising against Rome. He is a Jewish freedom fighter and a murderer. So you have a Jesus of Nazareth who represents the Kingdom of God, the way of peace. And then you have a Jesus Barabbas who represents Israel, country, blood, death.

Matthew 27:19

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.”

Matthew mentions other dreams in his Gospel Joseph had a dream about not divorcing Mary when he found out she was pregnant. Then the Magi from the East, had a dream telling them about baby Jesus. And now Pilate’s wife. So, the dream is kind of a sign from God.

Pilate has pressure on him. His wife says he is an innocent man. He wants to release Jesus but the chief priest want the other Jesus, Jesus Barabbas released.

What’s he going to do?

Matthew 27:20-24

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 the Messiah?” 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!”

So Pilate is this conflicted individual. His conscience is very clearly pointing him that Jesus is innocent. His wife has the very same conviction. But he has other pressures. He has the pressures of these crowds. He has the pressures of these leaders who we know he doesn’t like. Pilate has the pressure from Rome to keep peace in Jerusalem. But ultimately it’s about his own personal interests. He doesn’t want to have to deal with another riot today. Is this Jesus of Nazareth really worth it? No he’s not worth the trouble.

And so he makes this declaration of Jesus’ crucifixion and washes of his hands.

Who is the only innocent person here? Jesus.

And Pilate has the guts to declare who to be the innocent one? Himself. What a selfish man.

Application:

Pilate is not only an ancient governor. Pilate is a modern man.

He is the person who says:

• “I know Jesus is special, but I do not want the cost of following Him.”
• “I know this is wrong, but this is how the system works.”
• “I know the truth, but I do not want trouble.”

A searching question: What are the places in your life where your conscience speaks clearly, but your courage remains silent?

• Perhaps in: a hidden sin,
• a dishonest pattern,
• a broken relationship,
• a compromise at work,
• a refusal to identify openly with Christ,
• a long-standing act of delayed obedience.

Washed hands cannot cleanse a guilty heart. Only the blood of Christ can do that.

Transition: Now Matthew gives us a fourth portrait:

Portrait #4 – Demand – The Crowd

Guilt embraced in blind rebellion.

Matthew 27:25-26

²⁵All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

The crowds are misinformed.

Correction: I spoke to you on Sunday that it was the same crowd that hailed him as Messiah shout crucify him. I want to make a correction. I was wrong. The Galilean pilgrims who were coming to Jerusalem for Passover had known and followed Jesus doing his ministry up north. The crowd on Palm Sunday were faithful disciples probably.

However, the people of Jerusalem, we’re told in that story, were troubled by Jesus arriving. And then Jesus causes trouble by cleansing the temple, and all week long he is troubling them. Now we have the people of the city before their governor. It’s the people who have connections to the local priests and the elders who live right there in the city. And so they’ve got this mob gathered that they have persuaded that Jesus is a threat to national security.

Other than Judas, they become the other people who accept the fact of their accountability for innocent blood, and they’re quite happy to take it on themselves.

But the most tragic line of this, of course, is in verse 25

²⁵All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

Side note: This line has contributed to in history to accuse the Jewish people of being Christ-killers. This passage must never be used to justify hatred of Jewish people. Matthew is not blaming anyone’s ethnicity for the death of Christ. The whole chapter spreads guilt broadly: Judas, the priests, Pilate, the crowd. Scripture makes clear that Christ died because of the sins of the world, ours included. “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6).

So when we read the crowd’s cry, we are not to stand above them in moral superiority. We are to hear the echo of our own sinful hearts. This is not only the problem of the Jerusalem crowd. This is the problem of the human heart. We want a Christ who fits our preferences.

Matthew 27:26

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

So far we have seen despair of Judas, deception by the Chief Priests, and deflection by Pilate, and the demand of the crowd. And that brings us to the final portrait.

5. Deliverance – Jesus of Nazareth

The Innocent King condemned in the place of the guilty

Good Friday does not end with guilty people. Good Friday leads us to Christ.

Deliverance – The innocent King who stepped into our place

After all the chaos, all the falsehood, all the shouting, all the political calculation, all the guilt of innocent blood, one figure stands at the centre unchanged: Jesus.

• He is the only innocent one in the chapter.
• Jesus is the only righteous one in the room.
• He is the only one who has no guilt to hide, no sin to confess, no stain to wash away.
• And yet He is the one condemned.

Why does He not resist?

Why does He not call down judgment on His accusers?

Why does He walk steadily toward the cross?

Because He is not merely the victim of human injustice. He is the willing sacrifice of divine love.

Isaiah had already spoken of Him:

Isaiah 53:5

“But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed

Matthew records for us his willing sacrificial death:

Matthew 27:35-36

The Crucifixion of Jesus

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.

Matthew 27:45-51, 54; 57-61

The Death of Jesus

⁴⁵From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. ⁴⁶About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)

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.

⁵⁴ When 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!”

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.

And Paul explains the glory of this in

Romans 5:6-11

⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

This is the heart of Good Friday.

Judas shows us Despair.

The priests show us Deception.

Pilate shows us Deflection.

The crowd shows us Demand.

But Jesus shows us Deliverance.

CONCLUSION

All these characters around the cross are an accurate portrait of us and of our world. And at the centre of the scene stands Jesus, the only innocent person. And who is he and what’s he doing? And Paul puts it perfectly. He just says Jesus is God’s love.

Romans 5:8

⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He’s God’s love there in the midst of the insanity of this sham of a trial, just quietly living out sacrificial love for one’s enemies. And while we were just stuck in the mess of the human condition, sin, God’s love became human, dies for us.

I don’t know which character in the story you see yourself in. I don’t know how this makes you reflect on your life or the world or our surrounding. But the one thing that I’m certain that we all must hear from the story is the fact that Jesus of Nazareth, who is called the Messiah, he loves you. And despite your despair like Judah, or deception like the priests or your deflection like Pilate or your being misinformed like the crowd we have unwittingly participated in the blood of the innocent. But Jesus loves you, and he gave himself for you and for me.

And so as we go to worship let the love and the presence of Jesus becomes real to us, that despite our failures, he loves us, and he gave himself for us.