EXPAND TO READ: MATTHEW 27 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verses 11-12): Jesus had been falsely given up by His own “people” in a sense for doing absolutely nothing wrong. The Pharisees likely felt their authority and status was being challenged and potentially taken away by the things Jesus was saying and doing, so they opted to band together and get Jesus killed to save their own hides. Through all of this, however, Jesus stayed humble and mostly silent. He knew what was going on was not worth “arguing” against for multiple reasons with the primary being that this was His destiny through prophecy but at the same time that He needed to remain humble in continuing on as the perfect Son of God no matter the circumstances. I do often “fight back” in an unrighteous manner when I am being accused of something I know is not true, Father. I often dig into my anger in these moments, which then clouds my judgment and I begin to say things I would not normally say. Please forgive me for this, Father. Forgive me for not humbling myself in moments with Your righteousness enveloping me, so that I remain cool, calm, and collected throughout so that I proceed in a humbling manner instead of a humiliating manner. Help me to be more like Jesus here instead of the angry man I’ve been for so long.
PROMISE (verses 18, 24): It’s amazing how even someone who was not part of the Jews’ religion at the time could see how corrupt they were being in this moment towards Jesus. Pilate knew that they only handed Him over out of envy. Pilate knew that Jesus was an innocent man, but I also believe he could sense something “different” from Him and he didn’t want any part of it. He washed his hands cleaned of the situation because he did not want Jesus’ blood on his hands. I believe there’s a promise here in this message, even though it’s not obvious at first. The promise is that Jesus is truly innocent and that no matter how we are approached with “facts” to the contrary from the world, He will always be the innocent, pure, perfect Son of God. Help me to always remember and embrace this promise, Father, so that regardless of how others approach me about my faith, I can always stand strong in humility and on Your foundation.
ATTITUDE (verses 40-44): Jesus was mocked and ridiculed here by the masses, being told that if He is the Son of God, just save Himself from all of this. They could only see what was in front of them in that instance, however, and not the big picture even though they knew Your truth and knew the prophecies. Jesus sat back in confidence, throughout all the pain, that what was happening was His purpose in this life regardless of the amount of pain and misery He would have to go through to fulfill that purpose. At the same time, He could have very well given into their mockery and been like “Father, destroy them all” or something like that, because He knew He had Your power and authority in this life. He also was perfectly aligned with Your will for His life, so He knew that praying for something like that was NOT what You wanted of Him. How often have I wished or prayed for things in this life that I knew were not right or not in Your will for my life, Father? How often have I been talked down to or mocked and wished ill things upon them, knowing that wasn’t the right way to react? Help me to be better at embracing Jesus’ attitude of humility and restraint as shown here, Father, so that I too may sit back and endure when You want me to, confident that is the route which is pleasing to You.
COMMAND (verses 46-47): I find these verses interesting. Jesus remained mostly silent throughout all of this as far as I know, yet here He spoke loudly and spoke words that reflected to a normal person maybe some human emotion through a calling to God. After the great ministry He had and after being put through all this as a true innocent, I can only imagine the fear that likely went through the bodies of those in the crowd as Jesus likely screamed this as loudly as His body would allow. I know if I had been in their situation, I would have been absolutely terrified in that moment because He had hardly spoken at all during this entire fake trial, punishment, and crucifixion. I truly feel that Jesus did not say this statement for Himself, but for those around Him. The command here is that throughout this life, we may be required to endure certain things, but we must remain strong in our faith. Even if we must ask God an emotionally-driven question throughout these trials, we must remain strong in our faith and innocence as Jesus did here. Yes, He asked a very emotional question to You, but did He sin, talk down to the crowd, or use any of the authority You granted Him in an unjust manner? No to all of those. Instead, He remained exactly where You wanted Him to be, enduring it all and shouting out an emotional question for all to hear for their own heart’s convictions. He who had all the power and authority from God endured excruciating yet unjust pain and punishment for us as well as a terrible way to die, but never once did He decide to use that power and authority to get Himself out of the situation and punish those around Him. If the One with all the power to stop literally anything from happening can withhold that power and authority for the purpose of enduring unfathomable pain, then I can endure the trials and tribulations this life has to offer.
EXAMPLE (verses 6-10): I always find these verses a bit hilarious when I read them. The chief priests and Pharisees made the payment and drew up the plans to get Jesus out of their way, in a sense. When Judas felt remorse and shame, he opted to throw the money back to them after the fact. They knew it was blood money, however, so they deemed it as “unlawful” to put it back in the temple treasury. Really?! NOW you want to bring up God’s law after sending His child to death due to your own disobedience and lawlessness? You’ve already set in motion everything needed to literally kill Jesus and You find it disgraceful and unlawful to put the silver back into the temple treasury? THAT is where you drew the line? Oh, I can kill this guy who has literally done absolutely zero wrong based on God’s truth which I am supposed to be the supreme representative of, but I won’t dare fully take back the money which I paid to make all that happen because that would be wrong. Come on, hypocrites. I just find these verses to be ridiculous, but also a representation of most Christians nowadays, unfortunately, even myself at times. We like to “pick-and-choose” Your truth to fill our lives the way we want it to be filled. We like to say that a particular sin is horrible, but fail to humble ourselves in the realization that pretty much all sins are equal and that we too are sinners amongst sinners. Just because someone sins differently from me does not make me any better or worse than them. Jesus was literally the only one to walk this life as perfect and sin-free, yet He walked humbly and proudly amongst us broken sinners without any hesitation, because even the perfect Son of God was not concerned about how another is imperfect, just that they are imperfect and need a Father in heaven who is full of grace, joy, healing, and freedom from the chains that bond us through sin. Although I do feel I do a pretty good job at this most of the time, I also feel that there are times where I falter on this topic. Help me to be better at being less concerned with someone’s sin and more concerned with their salvation. If a brother or sister of mine is truly saved, then help me to be there with them to walk this life proudly and humbly alongside them, Father, just as Jesus did with so many.
*DAILY NOTE: Matthew put all of the painful pieces about Jesus’ ministry all into one chapter. He could have at least split it up a bit so I didn’t have to go through the full experience all in one quiet time. This was a rough one, but I am glad to see that my relationship with You just keeps growing. I say this because I saw things in this scripture, which I have read many times, that I never saw before. Like the restraint and humility Jesus maintained throughout His crucifixion process and how that relates to modern believers. Like the hypocritical nature and example of the Pharisees and how that relates to modern believers. Like the differences in how people reacted to the statement He said on the cross just before death and how that relates to modern believers. It's amazing how timeless Your word truly is as I progress in my relationship with You, Father. Although it is painful to read at times, I thank You for today’s quiet time on the process of Jesus’ crucifixion and the lessons learned today. Thank You for always giving me more wisdom and convictions through Your truth, Father.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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