Judas Hangs Himself
27 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the
people made their plans on how to have Jesus executed. 2 So they bound him, led
him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
3 When 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.”
5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away
and hanged himself.
6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law
to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they decided to
use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. 8
That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then 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, 10 and they used them to
buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”[See Zech. 11:12,13; Jer. 19:1-13; 32:6-9.]
Jesus Before Pilate
11 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked
him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“You have said so,” 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.
15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a
prisoner chosen by the crowd. 16 At that time they had a well-known prisoner
whose name was Jesus[Many manuscripts do not have Jesus; also in verse 17.] Barabbas. 17 So 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?” 18 For he knew it was out of self-interest
that they had handed Jesus over to him.
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 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!”
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, “His blood is 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.
The Soldiers Mock Jesus
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. Then they 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.
The Crucifixion of Jesus
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.
38 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his
left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and
saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days,
save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the
same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him.
42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of
Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He
trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the
Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also
heaped insults on him.
The Death of Jesus
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the
land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli,
Eli,[c] lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?”).[Some manuscripts Eloi, Eloi; Psalm 22:1]
47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s
calling Elijah.”
48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine
vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said,
“Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his
spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to
bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The
bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out
of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and[Or tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they] went into the holy city and
appeared to many people.
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!”
55 Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed
Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene,
Mary the mother of James and Joseph,[Greek Joses, a variant of Joseph] and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
The Burial of Jesus
57 As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named
Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58 Going to Pilate, he
asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59 Joseph
took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and 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. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were
sitting there opposite the tomb.
The Guard at the Tomb
62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and
the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was
still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So
give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise,
his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been
raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
65 “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you
know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the
stone and posting the guard.
NOTES:
27:1–31 Cf. Mk 15:1–20. Matthew’s account of the Roman trial
before Pilate is introduced by a consultation of the Sanhedrin after which
Jesus is handed over to…the governor (Mt 27:1–2). Matthew follows his Marcan
source closely but adds some material that is peculiar to him, the death of
Judas (Mt 27:3–10), possibly the name Jesus as the name of Barabbas also (Mt
27:16–17), the intervention of Pilate’s wife (Mt 27:19), Pilate’s washing his
hands in token of his disclaiming responsibility for Jesus’ death (Mt 27:24),
and the assuming of that responsibility by the whole people (Mt 27:25).
27:1 There is scholarly disagreement about the meaning of
the Sanhedrin’s taking counsel (symboulion elabon; cf. Mt 12:14; 22:15; 27:7;
28:12); see note on Mk 15:1. Some understand it as a discussion about the strategy
for putting their death sentence against Jesus into effect since they lacked
the right to do so themselves. Others see it as the occasion for their passing
that sentence, holding that Matthew, unlike Mark (Mk 14:64), does not consider
that it had been passed in the night session (Mt 26:66). Even in the latter
interpretation, their handing him over to Pilate is best explained on the
hypothesis that they did not have the competence to put their sentence into effect,
as is stated in Jn 18:31.
27:3 The thirty pieces of silver: see Mt 26:15.
27:5–8 For another tradition about the death of Judas, cf.
Acts 1:18–19. The two traditions agree only in the purchase of a field with the
money paid to Judas for his betrayal of Jesus and the name given to the field,
the Field of Blood. In Acts Judas himself buys the field and its name comes
from his own blood shed in his fatal accident on it. The potter’s field: this
designation of the field is based on the fulfillment citation in Mt 27:10.
27:9–10 Cf. Mt 26:15. Matthew’s attributing this text to
Jeremiah is puzzling, for there is no such text in that book, and the thirty
pieces of silver thrown by Judas “into the temple” (Mt 27:5) recall rather Zec
11:12–13. It is usually said that the attribution of the text to Jeremiah is
due to Matthew’s combining the Zechariah text with texts from Jeremiah that
speak of a potter (Jer 18:2–3), the buying of a field (Jer 32:6–9), or the
breaking of a potter’s flask at Topheth in the valley of Ben-Hinnom with the
prediction that it will become a burial place (Jer 19:1–13).
27:11 King of the Jews: this title is used of Jesus only by
pagans. The Matthean instances are, besides this verse, Mt 2:2; 27:29, 37.
Matthew equates it with “Messiah”; cf. Mt 2:2, 4 and Mt 27:17, 22 where he has
changed “the king of the Jews” of his Marcan source (Mk 15:9, 12) to “(Jesus)
called Messiah.” The normal political connotation of both titles would be of
concern to the Roman governor. You say so: see note on Mt 26:25. An unqualified
affirmative response is not made because Jesus’ kingship is not what Pilate
would understand it to be.
27:12–14 Cf. Mt 26:62–63. As in the trial before the
Sanhedrin, Jesus’ silence may be meant to recall Is 53:7. Greatly amazed:
possibly an allusion to Is 52:14–15.
27:15–26 The choice that Pilate offers the crowd between
Barabbas and Jesus is said to be in accordance with a custom of releasing at
the Passover feast one prisoner chosen by the crowd (Mt 27:15). This custom is
mentioned also in Mk 15:6 and Jn 18:39 but not in Luke; see note on Lk 23:17.
Outside of the gospels there is no direct attestation of it, and scholars are
divided in their judgment of the historical reliability of the claim that there
was such a practice.
27:16–17 [Jesus] Barabbas: it is possible that the double name
is the original reading; Jesus was a common Jewish name; see note on Mt 1:21.
This reading is found in only a few textual witnesses, although its absence in
the majority can be explained as an omission of Jesus made for reverential
reasons. That name is bracketed because of its uncertain textual attestation.
The Aramaic name Barabbas means “son of the father”; the irony of the choice
offered between him and Jesus, the true son of the Father, would be evident to
those addressees of Matthew who knew that.
27:18 Cf. Mk 14:10. This is an example of the tendency,
found in varying degree in all the gospels, to present Pilate in a relatively
favorable light and emphasize the hostility of the Jewish authorities and
eventually of the people.
27:19 Jesus’ innocence is declared by a Gentile woman. In a
dream: in Matthew’s infancy narrative, dreams are the means of divine
communication; cf. Mt 1:20; 2:12, 13, 19, 22.
27:22 Let him be crucified: incited by the chief priests and
elders (Mt 27:20), the crowds demand that Jesus be executed by crucifixion, a
peculiarly horrible form of Roman capital punishment. The Marcan parallel,
“Crucify him” (Mk 15:3), addressed to Pilate, is changed by Matthew to the
passive, probably to emphasize the responsibility of the crowds.
27:24–25 Peculiar to Matthew. Took water…blood: cf. Dt
21:1–8, the handwashing prescribed in the case of a murder when the killer is
unknown. The elders of the city nearest to where the corpse is found must wash
their hands, declaring, “Our hands did not shed this blood.” Look to it
yourselves: cf. Mt 27:4. The whole people: Matthew sees in those who speak
these words the entire people (Greek laos) of Israel. His blood…and upon our
children: cf. Jer 26:15. The responsibility for Jesus’ death is accepted by the
nation that was God’s special possession (Ex 19:5), his own people (Hos 2:25),
and they thereby lose that high privilege; see Mt 21:43 and the note on that
verse. The controversy between Matthew’s church and Pharisaic Judaism about
which was the true people of God is reflected here. As the Second Vatican
Council has pointed out, guilt for Jesus’ death is not attributable to all the
Jews of his time or to any Jews of later times.
27:26 He had Jesus scourged: the usual preliminary to
crucifixion.
27:27 The praetorium: the residence of the Roman governor.
His usual place of residence was at Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean
coast, but he went to Jerusalem during the great feasts, when the influx of
pilgrims posed the danger of a nationalistic riot. It is disputed whether the
praetorium in Jerusalem was the old palace of Herod in the west of the city or
the fortress of Antonia northwest of the temple area. The whole cohort:
normally six hundred soldiers.
27:28 Scarlet military cloak: so Matthew as against the
royal purple of Mk 15:17 and Jn 19:2.
27:29 Crown out of thorns: probably of long thorns that
stood upright so that it resembled the “radiant” crown, a diadem with spikes
worn by Hellenistic kings. The soldiers’ purpose was mockery, not torture. A
reed: peculiar to Matthew; a mock scepter.
27:30 Spat upon him: cf. Mt 26:67 where there also is a
possible allusion to Is 50:6.
27:32 See note on Mk 15:21. Cyrenian named Simon: Cyrenaica
was a Roman province on the north coast of Africa and Cyrene was its capital
city. The city had a large population of Greek-speaking Jews. Simon may have
been living in Palestine or have come there for the Passover as a pilgrim.
Pressed into service: see note on Mt 5:41.
27:34 Wine…mixed with gall: cf. Mk 15:23 where the drink is
“wine drugged with myrrh,” a narcotic. Matthew’s text is probably an inexact
allusion to Ps 69:22. That psalm belongs to the class called the individual
lament, in which a persecuted just man prays for deliverance in the midst of
great suffering and also expresses confidence that his prayer will be heard.
That theme of the suffering Just One is frequently applied to the sufferings of
Jesus in the passion narratives.
27:35 The clothing of an executed criminal went to his
executioner(s), but the description of that procedure in the case of Jesus,
found in all the gospels, is plainly inspired by Ps 22:19. However, that psalm
verse is quoted only in Jn 19:24.
27:37 The offense of a person condemned to death by
crucifixion was written on a tablet that was displayed on his cross. The charge
against Jesus was that he had claimed to be the King of the Jews (cf. Mt
27:11), i.e., the Messiah (cf. Mt 27:17, 22).
27:38 Revolutionaries: see note on Jn 18:40 where the same
Greek word as that found here is used for Barabbas.
27:39–40 Reviled him…heads: cf. Ps 22:8. You who would
destroy…three days; cf. Mt 26:61. If you are the Son of God: the same words as
those of the devil in the temptation of Jesus; cf. Mt 4:3, 6.
27:42 King of Israel: in their mocking of Jesus the members
of the Sanhedrin call themselves and their people not “the Jews” but Israel.
27:43 Peculiar to Matthew. He trusted in God…wants him: cf.
Ps 22:9. He said…of God: probably an allusion to Wis 2:12–20 where the theme of
the suffering Just One appears.
27:45 Cf. Am 8:9 where on the day of the Lord “the sun will
set at midday.”
27:46 Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?: Jesus cries out in the
words of Ps 22:2a, a psalm of lament that is the Old Testament passage most
frequently drawn upon in this narrative. In Mark the verse is cited entirely in
Aramaic, which Matthew partially retains but changes the invocation of God to
the Hebrew Eli, possibly because that is more easily related to the statement
of the following verse about Jesus’ calling for Elijah.
27:47 Elijah: see note on Mt 3:4. This prophet, taken up
into heaven (2 Kgs 2:11), was believed to come to the help of those in
distress, but the evidences of that belief are all later than the gospels.
27:50 Gave up his spirit: cf. the Marcan parallel (Mk
15:37), “breathed his last.” Matthew’s alteration expresses both Jesus’ control
over his destiny and his obedient giving up of his life to God.
27:51–53 Veil of the sanctuary…bottom: cf. Mk 15:38; Lk
23:45. Luke puts this event immediately before the death of Jesus. There were
two veils in the Mosaic tabernacle on the model of which the temple was
constructed, the outer one before the entrance of the Holy Place and the inner
one before the Holy of Holies (see Ex 26:31–36). Only the high priest could
pass through the latter and that only on the Day of Atonement (see Lv 16:1–18).
Probably the torn veil of the gospels is the inner one. The meaning of the
scene may be that now, because of Jesus’ death, all people have access to the
presence of God, or that the temple, its holiest part standing exposed, is now profaned
and will soon be destroyed. The earth quaked…appeared to many: peculiar to
Matthew. The earthquake, the splitting of the rocks, and especially the
resurrection of the dead saints indicate the coming of the final age. In the
Old Testament the coming of God is frequently portrayed with the imagery of an
earthquake (see Ps 68:9; 77:19), and Jesus speaks of the earthquakes that will
accompany the “labor pains” that signify the beginning of the dissolution of
the old world (Mt 24:7–8). For the expectation of the resurrection of the dead
at the coming of the new and final age, see Dn 12:1–3. Matthew knows that the
end of the old age has not yet come (Mt 28:20), but the new age has broken in
with the death (and resurrection; cf. the earthquake in Mt 28:2) of Jesus; see
note on Mt 16:28. After his resurrection: this qualification seems to be due to
Matthew’s wish to assert the primacy of Jesus’ resurrection even though he has
placed the resurrection of the dead saints immediately after Jesus’ death.
27:54 Cf. Mk 15:39. The Christian confession of faith is
made by Gentiles, not only the centurion, as in Mark, but the other soldiers
who were keeping watch over Jesus (cf. Mt 27:36).
27:55–56 Looking on from a distance: cf. Ps 38:12. Mary
Magdalene…Joseph: these two women are mentioned again in Mt 27:61 and Mt 28:1
and are important as witnesses of the reality of the empty tomb. A James and
Joseph are referred to in Mt 13:55 as brothers of Jesus.
27:57–61 Cf. Mk 15:42–47. Matthew drops Mark’s designation
of Joseph of Arimathea as “a distinguished member of the council” (the
Sanhedrin), and makes him a rich man and a disciple of Jesus. The former may be
an allusion to Is 53:9 (the Hebrew reading of that text is disputed and the one
followed in the NAB OT has nothing about the rich, but they are mentioned in
the LXX version). That the tomb was the new tomb of a rich man and that it was
seen by the women are indications of an apologetic intent of Matthew; there
could be no question about the identity of Jesus’ burial place. The other Mary:
the mother of James and Joseph (Mt 27:56).
27:62–66 Peculiar to Matthew. The story prepares for Mt
28:11–15 and the Jewish charge that the tomb was empty because the disciples
had stolen the body of Jesus (Mt 28:13, 15).
27:62 The next day…preparation: the sabbath. According to
the synoptic chronology, in that year the day of preparation (for the sabbath)
was the Passover; cf. Mk 15:42. The Pharisees: the principal opponents of Jesus
during his ministry and, in Matthew’s time, of the Christian church, join with
the chief priests to guarantee against a possible attempt of Jesus’ disciples
to steal his body.
27:64 This last imposture…the first: the claim that Jesus
has been raised from the dead is clearly the last imposture; the first may be
either his claim that he would be raised up (Mt 27:63) or his claim that he was
the one with whose ministry the kingdom of God had come (see Mt 12:28).
27:65 The guard is yours: literally, “have a guard” or “you
have a guard.” Either the imperative or the indicative could mean that Pilate
granted the petitioners some Roman soldiers as guards, which is the sense of
the present translation. However, if the verb is taken as an indicative it
could also mean that Pilate told them to use their own Jewish guards.
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