Sharing Bread Matthew 27:32-37

SHARING BREAD

³² As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. ³³ They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). ³⁴ There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵ When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. ³⁶ And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. ³⁷ Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Matt 27:32-37 (NIV)

In our verses for today we discover a man from North Africa – Simon from Cyrene – a city populated by many Jews – here forced to carry Christ’s cross.  I am reminded of our Lord’s Words earlier in Matthew where He calls each of His followers to take up their cross and follow after Him.  Believers are to turn away from the idolatry of self – self-centeredness and every attempt to line up one’s life by the dictates of self-interest - and say yes to God’s will and God’s way.  This is not merely a denial for denials sake; rather it is agreeing with God that His ways are higher than ours and that He always has our best interest at heart.  He Who makes known the end from the beginning knows what is best for our lives.  We can trust Him and it is in believing that we respond.  We act on what we believe to be true. 

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”   Matt 16:24 (NIV)

“God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot.  “…..let him deny himself…..” – deny his independent right to himself.  Then the real life – the spiritual life – is allowed the opportunity to grow.”   Oswald Chambers

Scripture also tells us that God’s will is good, pleasing and perfect:

¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. ² Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.   Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

The believer’s life will exhibit the evidence of this surrender to Christ’s authority.  Jesus’ disciples must demonstrate their submission to the One against Whom they have rebelled.  True discipleship involves following our Lord and doing His will wherever that path may lead assured that He is totally sufficient for each circumstance He allows.   We are to be instruments of His righteousness for His glory and our ultimate good.

“When the Bible speaks of ‘following Jesus’, it is proclaiming a discipleship which will liberate mankind from all man-made dogma, from every burden and oppression, from every anxiety and torture which afflicts the conscience.  If they follow Jesus, men escape from the hard yoke of their own laws, and submit to the kindly yoke of Jesus Christ.  But does this mean that we can ignore the seriousness of His command?  Far from it!  We can only achieve perfect liberty and enjoy fellowship with Jesus when His command, His call to absolute discipleship, is appreciated in its entirety.  Only the man who follows the command of Jesus without reserve, and submits unresistingly to His yoke, finds his burden easy, and under its gentle pressure receives the power to persevere in the right way.  The command of Jesus is hard—unutterably hard—for those who try to resist it.”       Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

They took our Lord to “The Place of the Skull” to crucify Him - an out of the way place where bones and skulls of the dead were heaped together so that people would not touch them and so become defiled.  Here lay the “trophies” of death’s victories over many people and interestingly, when Christ died, He destroyed death’s victory triumphing over death on its own rubbish heap.  

⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." ⁵⁵ "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.    1 Cor 15:54-57 (NIV)

Next, we see them offer our Lord even more bitterness in death by presenting Him with wine mixed with gall – a mixture that was both sour and bitter.  It was customary for those being put to death to be offered a cup of spiced wine yet what He receives is something much worse which left a terrible flavor in His holy mouth making Him taste death in its full cup of bitterness.  They then stripped Him of His clothes and divided them by casting lots as they were keeping watch over beaten body - all this done for the correct charge of being “JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS”.  

What I glean from this:

·       I am to deny self and take up my cross and follow Jesus.

·       God’s will for my life is good, pleasing and perfect.

·       Death has been swallowed up in victory – Praise Jesus!

 

Sharing Bread Matthew 27:27-31

SHARING BREAD

²⁷ Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and 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. ³⁰ They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹ 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.

Matt 27:27-31 (NIV)

Clearly, the Prophet Isiah’s words were being fulfilled in our verses for today:

³ He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.  Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.   Isaiah 53:3 (NIV)

 

The Words of the Lord Jesus earlier in Matthew which, btw, Peter had rebuked Him for stating were being fulfilled here as well:

 

²¹ From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. ²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”   Matt 16:21-22 (NIV)

Surrounded by throngs of Roman soldiers – around 600 – they stripped the One Who spoke the world into being, the Author of life, the One Who holds the stars in place and calls them each by name, the great I AM.  They mockingly shoved a twisted crown of thorns upon His holy head and placed a staff into his omnipotent right hand – kneeling before Him and ridiculing Him.  With one word from His righteous lips He could have laid low the earth – struck dead His adversaries – called down legions of angels – whatever He desired yet chose to willingly endure the penalty that we all deserved without uttering even a Word.  Jesus knew everything was under His power, His sovereign authority, His origin and coming destiny yet He here forgoes His Deity rights and acquiesces to His Father’s plan for our good and His glory.  John writes in his gospel:

 

³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;   John 13:3 (NIV)

 

“Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ.  It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell.  There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross – He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God.  He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God…..The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ.  The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much.  The Cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened.  But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God.”   Oswald Chambers

 

The storm continued as the hour of darkness reigned:

 

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  Isaiah 53:7 (NIV)

 

He spoke nothing to defend Himself.  He did not stop those opposing Him.  He willingly submitted to the jeers, to the scorn, to the torture and to the death – all the while entrusting Himself to Him Who judges justly.  He had full knowledge this was mankind’s only hope of salvation and sadly, this was His thank you note from them:

 

²³ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. ²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵ For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.   1 Peter 2:23-25 (NIV)

 

“O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee.  I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow, may richer fuller be.  O light that followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee.  My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day, may brighter fairer be.  O joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee.  I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be.  O cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee.  I lay in dust life’s glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red, life that shall endless be.”   George Matheson

 

What I glean from this:

 

·       The Lord Jesus was despised and rejected by man when He walked this earth – He still is in some souls.

·       Jesus willingly gave His life for me.

·       Jesus entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly and so should I.  

 

 

 

Sharing Bread Matthew 27:24-26

SHARING BREAD

²⁴ 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!”

²⁵ All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

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

Matt 27:24-26 (NIV)

The repeated assertion of our Lord’s unspotted innocence clearly intimates that He died to satisfy the sins of others.  No one could show any evil He had done.  No deceitful words, no despicable actions could be attached to Him – indeed, He was the Lamb without blemish.  The Lamb, as the Baptist stated “Who takes away the sin of the world!”  Yet that fact did not appear to affect the crowds who continued in mob like fashion constantly screaming forth that He must be crucified.  A man in whom no fault was found should not have been crucified on pretense alone – certainly, it was an unjust thing done.  Christ died for the disease of man’s sin cankered soul and numbed senses and this scene was a perfect picture of it.  I am reminded of the prophecy from Isaiah:

⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.   Isaiah 53:4-6 (NIV)

The crowds were quickly becoming unruly; uproar was rising to a fevered pitch.  Pilate was getting nowhere fast.  Threats were being made by the Jews towards Pilate if he remained unwilling to gratify their demands.  John tells us these religious zealots stated to Pilate that if he were to let Jesus go he would certainly be no friend of Caesars.  Jesus had claimed to be a king and that, of course, would be held in opposition to the powers that be and certainly not music to his ears!  Bullies love to threaten yet they are usually just a bunch of thunderous clouds sans rain – puffs of hot air, useless.

¹² From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”  John 19:12 (NIV)

Pilate sought to use the example of the Jews own law by washing his hands in front of them supposedly clearing him of the guilt and placing it upon them.  He did this more to demonstrate the conviction he was under of Jesus’ innocence in what appeared to be a vain attempt to affect the crowds.  What nonsense for Pilate to condemn Jesus yet in the same breath state that he was innocent of His blood.  To protest against a thing and then practice it proclaims one is sinning against their own conscience.  Pilate then shifts the guilt of our Lord’s death to the crowd’s responsibility before God and the world.   These feigned religious characters had prior blamed Judas and now Pilate was blaming them.  Pathetically, in the heat of their rage they consented to take the guilt not only on themselves but also upon their children. 

"No iron chain, or outward force of any kind, can ever compel the soul of a person to believe or to disbelieve."    Thomas Carlyle

Talk about some sick parenting!  They imprecated wrath and vengeance upon themselves as well as their offspring.  It was madness to put it on themselves but the height of barbarity to pass it on to their posterity.  What were they thinking in their blind, jealous rage?  Perhaps they weren’t.

Barabbas is then released and Christ condemned.  The upright became a ransom for the transgressor, the just for the unjust.  Our Lord was then flogged and handed over to be crucified – to make His death - in the highest degree - terrible and miserable.

“A cross was set up in the ground, to which the hands and feet were nailed, on which nails the weight of the body hung, until it died of the pain.  It was a bloody death, a painful, shameful, cursed death; it was so miserable a death, that merciful princes appointed those who were condemned to it by the law, to be strangled first, and then nailed to the cross.”   Matthew Henry     

²² 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.” ²³ But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. ²⁴ So Pilate decided to grant their demand. ²⁵ He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.   Luke 23:22-25 (NIV)

What I glean from this:

·       Jesus was a Lamb without blemish.

·       Jesus was pierced for my transgressions.  ³ For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.   Romans 8:3-4 (NIV)

·       Pride, rage and sinful hearts are capable of barbarous acts and bullies are to be pitied.

 

 

 

Sharing Bread Matthew 27:19-23

SHARING BREAD

¹⁹ 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.”

²⁰ But 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!”

Matt 27:19-23 (NIV)

Isn’t it interesting that when none of Christ’s friends would come to His defense, God made an enemy and a foreigner come forward to proclaim His innocence and speak in His favor?  This was an honorable testimony towards our Lord Jesus witnessing to the fact that He was indeed an innocent man.  How like God to act on the behalf of the righteous and Who also was and is able to turn a king’s heart (or a wife’s heart) like a watercourse anyway He wills – nothing is too hard for God:

¹ The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.   Prov 21:1 (NIV)

Pilate’s wife had sent word to him regarding a disturbing dream she had had about the Lord Jesus.  God has many ways of sending checks to sinners on their sinful pursuits towards destruction and it is indeed a great mercy to receive such checks yet it remains an even greater duty to listen and heed them.  In our verses for today God gives Pilate fair warning through his wife’s words.  It is true love and compassion towards our friends and family to give them caution against sin.  Nothing is worse than seeing someone you love in bondage to trespasses tentacles.  Sin is a terrible master ever leaving destruction in its wake.  Out of love, wave the red flag in front of their blinded eyes if we must – whatever it takes to rouse them from their death spiral.  Sadly, most of us end up “loving” people into hell rather than risk ruffling feathers in compassionate confrontation.  Truth will always be confrontational because it demands choice.  Certainly, wounds from a friend can be trusted:

⁶ Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.   Prov 27:6 (NIV)

 

“The Christian’s compassion must be like God’s – unceasing.”   William Barclay

We do not know what Mrs. Pilate’s dream was about and it is therefore silly to surmise yet what we do know was that she was confident of Jesus’ innocence – just as Pilate was.  Yet what you do with Truth is just as important as knowing it.  To Pilate’s wife’s credit, she did what she could to halt the injustice.  Pilate, on the other hand, succumbed to the crowd’s chants of “Crucify him!”

Despicably, the priests and elders had used their influence to sway the people in favor of the release of Barabbas - as notorious as he was - and have Jesus crucified.  They managed to turn the mob against our Lord who had before held Him in high esteem.  As leaders, great power had been placed in their hands and yet they wretchedly abused it causing many to err.  Pilate had hoped that Jesus would have been the One chosen to be released but to his surprise, Barabbas was the mob’s desire.  In Acts we find Peter giving an account of this incident:

¹² When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. ¹⁴ You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. ¹⁵ You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.”   Acts 3:12-15 (NIV)

 

How fickle is man!  Just a short while prior, when Jesus rode in triumph into Jerusalem, the cries were of blessings and praise and now we hear outcries of enmity and crucifixion.  It is no wonder Jesus never cared for the opinions of man for He knew what was in a man’s heart.

 

²⁴ But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. ²⁵ He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.   John 2:24-25 (NIV)

What I glean from this:

·       God can direct a man’s heart like a watercourse anyway He wills.

·       It is a compassionate and loving gesture to caution our friends and family against sin.

·       It is not only important to know Truth but to act on it as well.  

 

 

Sharing Bread Matthew 27:15-18

SHARING BREAD

¹⁵ Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. ¹⁶ At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. ¹⁷ So 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?” ¹⁸ For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.

Matt 27:15-18 (NIV)

To be sure, in our walk of faith – in our being conformed into the image of the Lord Jesus - envy is not a sought after character trait.  Indeed, Scripture says it rots the bones:

³⁰ A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.   Prov 14:30 (NIV)

James also tells us that where we find envy we will also find disorder and every evil practice – sounds a lot like Satan’s handiwork does it not?  That was exactly what we read in our Scripture for today.  We discover, out of envy, the Pharisees seeking the life of our Lord Jesus.  Pilate was convinced of His innocence and that the prosecution against was malicious and envious yet he did not have the courage to acquit Him as he ought to.  True wisdom makes no room for bitter envy and selfish ambition:

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵ Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. ¹⁶ For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.   James 3:13-16 (NIV)

“Many aspects of the flesh are disarmed and eliminated by a deep apprehension of our justification by faith. Faith in Christ cures unbelief, anxiety, and insecurity, and in so doing it cuts the roots of envy, jealousy and a host of related egocentric fleshly patterns.”   Richard Lovelace

 

In the simplest of terms, envy is dissatisfaction with God’s provision.  We perhaps want someone’s brown eyes instead of our blue or their small nose instead of our large one!  We may be disgruntled with the size of our house or our bank accounts in comparison with another’s or the high powered job one has when we dwell on our minimum wage one.  It is easy to become discontent and disgruntled.  Yet envy can go even further still and finds us wallowing in hatred over the excellence or happiness of others.  The Pharisees were not provoked with Christ’s guilt rather with His goodness.  The word translated “envy” in our verses for today is from the Greek word “Phthonos” meaning:  “envy, jealousy, pain felt and malignity conceived at the sight of excellence or happiness; it is incapable of good and is used always with an evil meaning.”  Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible – New Testament Lexical Aids.

“Envy is a denial of providence.”   Stephen Charnock

“Envy of another man’s calling can work havoc in our own.”   Watchman Nee

Paul writes his beloved Timothy the following:

 

³ If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, ⁴ he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions ⁵ and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.   1 Tim 6:3-5 (NIV)

 

There is most always some degree of culpability when doctrinal error occurs.  It is rarely innocently mistaken. In these religious leaders case, they were consumed with pride and place and despised and envious over Jesus’ growing popularity among the people.  They were diseased with controversies and arguments as well.  They could not stop His miracles and therefore decided to stop His life – or so they thought.  John writes in the gospel that bears his name:

 

⁴⁵ Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”   John 11:45-48 (NIV)

 

“Let us note how far from satisfactory is the state of those who are content with sound doctrinal opinions, and orthodox correct views of the Gospel, while in their daily life they give way to ill-temper, ill-nature, malice, envy, quarrelling, squabbling, bickering, surliness, passion, snappish language, and crossness of word and manner.  Such persons, whether they know it or not, are daily proclaiming that they are not Christ’s disciples.  It is nonsense to talk about justification, and regeneration, and election, and conversion, and the uselessness of works, unless people can see in us practical Christian love.”    John Charles Ryle

What I glean from this:

 

·       Envy rots the bones.

·       In its worst sense, envy is wallowing in hatred and maliciousness over the excellence and happiness in others.

·       Biblical love is not envious rather patient and kind.  ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.   1 Cor 13:4 (NIV)   

 

 

Sharing Bread Matthew 27:11-14

SHARING BREAD

¹¹ Meanwhile 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.

¹² When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. ¹³ Then Pilate asked him, “Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” ¹⁴ But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge--to the great amazement of the governor.

Matt 27:11-14 (NIV)

To be sure, there is a time to speak just as there is also a time to remain silent.  We who like to wax long with our words should think about that for a moment.  Whether nervousness or pride or proving our rightness or seeking diligently to convenience others of our point of view or whatever our reasoning, it would behoove us to remember God gave us one mouth yet two ears.  We should listen at least twice as much as we babble!  Indeed, we learn little (if anything) spouting forth without listening.  James tells us we are to be quick to listen and slow to speak:

¹⁹ My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.  James 1:19 (NIV)

 

“There must be a practical outworking of our faith here in this present world, or it will never endure in the world to come.  We need fewer words and more charitable works; less palaver and more pity; less repetition of creed and more compassion.”  Billy Graham

Solomon also pens the following Truth regarding our speech in Ecclesiastes:

¹ There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven… a time to be silent and a time to speak.   Eccl 3:1, 7 (NIV)

Proverbs tells us as well that when our words are many sin is right there with us.  Our foolish constant chattering leads to ruin contrasted to the ability to hold our tongues which leads to wisdom.  To cultivate character we are to watch our words carefully:

¹⁹ When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.   Prov 10:19 (NIV)

Indeed, even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent.  Better to be quiet and thought a fool than to open our mouths and remove all doubt:

²⁸ Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.  Prov 17:28 (NIV)

“Wisdom is knowing when to speak your mind and when to mind your speech.”   Anonymous

In our verses for today the Lord Jesus answers the Roman Governor Pilate with an affirmative to his query.  Indeed, He was the king of the Jews yet not a king in the way Pilate had supposed Him to be. Jesus’ kingdom was not a political kingdom to rival Rome – He was no threat to Roman rule.  Pilate realized that and sought our Lord’s release.

We discover next in our verses that Christ remained silent to the accusations brought forth by the religious rabble.  He saw no need to stoop to answer them – much to the great amazement of Pilate.  I am reminded of Jesus’ Words in the Sermon on the Mount earlier in Matthew.  One should never entrust holy things to unholy people:

 ⁶ “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.”   Matt 7:6 (NIV)

 

Jesus’ hour had come and He here quietly submitted to His Father’s will even as Pilate pressed Him to make some reply.  Pilate had no malice against our Lord and was more than likely desirous that Jesus clear Himself of these Jewish leaders accusations.  He wondered at Christ’s silence thinking it strange that He would not defend Himself with even a Word.  No need.  The plan was in place, the camera was rolling.  Our redemption was drawing near and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so Christ resolutely did not open His mouth:

 

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. ⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.  And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.   Isaiah 53:7-8 (NIV)

  

What I glean from this:

 

·       There is a time to speak and there is a time to remain silent.

·       I must watch my words carefully.  There is wisdom in holding my tongue.

·       Jesus was stricken for my iniquities.  The punishment that brought me peace was upon Him.