Jesus Verse by Verse

an expanded commentary on the Gospel of Matthew

Jesus Verse by Verse...

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27:3 Judas realized his condemnation and had a change of mind; parallel with Peter (see on 26:74). The difference was that Peter believed in God’s grace but Judas wouldn’t.
27:5 The way Judas threw down the money suggests he now despised those few coins, for which he had betrayed Jesus and lost his eternal salvation.
27:14 The self controlled silence of Jesus was amazing. May it be our inspiration in times of provocation.
27:17 Pilate appears to genuinely want to save Jesus, and to be the victim of manipulation. Yet history records that he was a conscienceless man who murdered people at will, having no respect at all for justice nor the value of life. The ‘contradiction’ is only explicable by the strange effect which Jesus’ righteousness, love and perfection can have on even the hardest character and most damaged conscience. For the example of Pilate shows that everyone has a conscience.
27:23 This is the same crowd that just recently had been crying “Hosanna!”, and whom the Jews feared as supportive of Jesus. We tend to be so fickle in our loyalty to Jesus.
27:25 The fact the Jews said this doesn’t mean it happened; for God doesn’t punish the children for the sins of their fathers (Ez. 18:1-10).
27:29 There is a set of nerves just beneath the scalp which the thorns would’ve intentionally pierced as they hit Him on the head with the crown on (:30). Jesus would’ve been bleeding profusely down His back as a result.
27:34 Because He wanted to share completely in our feelings; nobody, therefore, can say that Jesus doesn’t know how they feel. Maybe nobody on earth does; but He knows.
27:44 The one thief’s repentance was therefore literally a last minute repentance just before he died.
27:46 The Old Testament is clear that God will not forsake those faithful to Him, but will forsake those who sin. Jesus felt forsaken by God. He felt as if He had sinned, even though He hadn’t. This was because of the intensity of His association with us who have sinned, just as men like Daniel and Nehemiah spoke and felt to God as if they had sinned Israel’s sin. So even when we fail, Jesus still knows how we feel in the separation from God which sin brings. He never sinned, but in His final horror of aloneness He felt as if He had.
27:48 The reeds in that area aren’t very long. Therefore Jesus’ cross was not that large. The Catholic impressions of a cross towering far above us is wrong. His feet  would’ve been only a metre above the ground; remember how He communicated with Mary and John.
27:55 From Galilee- The idea is that they didn’t just follow Him when the going was good, amidst the crowds of Galilean peasants who thronged Him; but also followed to the cross. We too are to follow the Lamb wherever He leads.
27:56 Mary the mother of James- A reference to Mary the mother of Jesus; for He had two half brothers called James and Joses (Mt. 13:55).
27:58 Only close relatives could beg the body of the crucified. But this was how Joseph felt. He wanted to associate the dead body of Jesus with his own dead body, laying Jesus where his body should lay. This was the essence of baptism, whereby we identify ourselves with the death of the body of Christ (Rom. 6:3-5).