Gospel Readings:
Matthew 27:1-31
Matthew 27:32-56
Matthew 27:57-66
Devotion 1
Wait: Take time to sit in silence together, allowing space for God’s voice to be heard.
Read: Matthew 27:1-31
The opening verses of today’s reading give us a picture of the machinations of power surrounding Jesus’ trial. As the chief priests confer with the elders, we can see clearly that the trial will be anything but fair. Their intentions are not to get to the truth; rather, they confer “in order to bring about his death.” They then bring Jesus before the other party in this unholy alliance: “Pilate the governor.”
Jesus’ trial before Pilate is framed by declarations of Jesus’ innocence. First, a repentant Judas brings back the thirty pieces of silver, declaring before the chief priests that “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” The tragic figure of Judas serves a warning to one half of the alliance, but he well knows that their minds are already made up. He has seen the way these powers work, and knows—with enough surety to take his own life—that Jesus is condemned well before any sentence is given. The other half of the alliance, Pilate, is warned by his wife to “have nothing to do with that just man”. They have no excuse.
Pilate seems to be an ambiguous figure. He is often portrayed as weak puppet ruler, acting at the behest of the Jerusalem elite out of fear of losing his position. But historical portrayals of a ruthless figure might warn us against such a portrayal. Moreover, if we are attentive to the power dynamics and clues in Matthew’s telling, we might detect the author’s apprehension—living in an imperial city with prying Roman eyes—about overtly blaming Pilate, while at the same time giving clues to his guilt.
Pilate questions Jesus on whether he is “King of the Jews”. This is not a religious title; it is a claim to political authority, a title that “charges Jesus with sedition against the empire and Caesar.”1 When, after Jesus offers no defence before his accusers, Pilate is “greatly amazed” not because he is in awe of Jesus or sees him as innocent, it is “because Jesus has brazenly not denied, both by his words and by silence, that he is a threat to Rome and that, strangely, he is not intimidated by imperial power into trying to save his life.”2
When Pilate sets up a choice between Jesus and Barabbas, it is not in order to get Jesus “off the hook.” Rather, as Carter explains,
[t]he referendum on which prisoner to release offers Pilate the governor a way to assess the extent of Jesus’ popularity and threat. The question-and-answer scene in 27:17-23 depicts Pilate not trying to decide on Jesus’ guilt (already determined), but Pilate assessing the strength of Jesus’ support and possible repercussions from crucifying him.3
As the crowd, manipulated by the Jerusalem elite, screams for Jesus’ execution, we see that the powers have won the day. Their portrayal of Jesus as a criminal has gained ascendency in the popular imagination, and Pilate now knows that he can eliminate Jesus without the threat of insurgency. In this context, Pilate’s hand washing is ironic. It seems that he has missed Judas’ memo about who is innocent, and his wife’s about who is just, proclaiming his own innocence!
If we have been suspicious about Matthew’s presentation of Pilate as seemingly sympathetic toward Jesus, then what happens next unmasks his true nature. Jesus is taken by the “soldiers of the governor” into “the governor’s headquarters” to be mocked and tortured. Matthew doesn’t mention any names in this unsavoury episode, but we know that “the governor”, of course, is none other than Pilate himself. It is Pilate who has command of the soldiers; it is Pilate on whose grounds Jesus is assaulted. Roman justice finally bares its teeth. It tolerates no other claimants to power. It deals swiftly and violently with those who challenge its authority. After all its pretence to be about “peace and security”, it is nothing but a reign of terror.
Reflect
- How would you describe the ways that power is used in this account of Jesus’ trial?
- In what ways do you see power used similarly in the world around you?
- In what ways might this part of Matthew’s narrative shape the ways that you engage with the world around you?
Pray
Share Communion
Close with the Lord’s Prayer
1 Warren Carter, Matthew and Empire: Initial Explorations (Harrisburg: Trinity, 2001), 161.
2 Carter, Matthew and Empire, 162.
3 Carter, Matthew and Empire, 165-166.
Devotion 2
Wait: Take time to sit in silence together, aware of God’s presence in a broken world.
Read: Matthew 27:32-56
Jesus has been recognised by the Jerusalem elite as a threat to their power. The authority with which Jesus has lived and taught has challenged their own so sharply that, bringing him before the Roman governor Pilate, and making sure that he too understands the political threat which Jesus poses to their anxiously held power, they have delivered him through a sham trial to the Roman executioners.
What has transpired is the delegitimation of Jesus. The powers have regained control of the people through manipulation and fear, and now will deride Jesus as a fraud and a failure. Before, Jesus had displayed an authority which the people recognised as from God, and had exposed their authority as false. Now, the Jerusalem rulers mock Jesus’ authority, presenting him to the people as a criminal, a failed insurgent. God, they point out, has abandoned him—surely reliable evidence that Jesus’ claims to show God’s way were fraudulent. The contest is over. Jesus, after all, has no authority. His claims to show what is good—what is God’s way—are exposed as having been false all along. The chief priests, elders, and other Temple elite are the true mediators of God to the people. As Jesus gives a loud cry of lament and breathes his last, the status quo is returned.
At least, that is the nervous hope of the powerful.
Matthew’s story is not finished, however. With eschatological language, he paints a picture which refuses the delegitimation of Jesus—which points to God’s judgment on the exploitative system of the Temple and the vindication of the just. Right now, it may seem as if the powerful have won the day. But for those with eyes to see, it will not be the last word. Though Jesus’ broken body hangs from a dreaded instrument of state sponsored execution, he will not be disgraced and his way will not be finally shown by the powerful to be futile. Jesus lived and proclaimed the coming of God’s reign—a change of regime and a change in the way human communities exercise power. Now, the possibility of God’s reign coming by force—the force of arms—is finally closed. But the possibility of God’s reign coming another way—by the force of truth—is still at hand.
Reflect
- What thoughts and feelings strike you as you read today’s reading?
- Are there ways in which you have seen this kind of delegitimation play out in the world around you?
- In ways is God’s Spirit inviting you to live out today’s reading?
Pray for one another.
Share Communion
Close with the Lord’s Prayer
Devotion 3
Wait: Take time to sit in the silence of repentance together, aware of our inadequacy and God’s grace.
Read: Matthew 27:57-66
In the evening, we are told, Joseph of Arimathea comes to claim the body of Jesus. Matthew tells us only two things about Joseph: he is a disciple of Jesus, and he is a rich man. It is a curious mix of traits, given Matthew’s attitude toward wealth. Jesus had taught against the accumulation of riches (Mt 6:19-21), and it was wealth which kept the young man from following Jesus (Mt 19:16-22). The description of Joseph as a disciple, moreover, should not make us think of him as a model of faith, since in Matthew’s Gospel disciples rarely act in line with God’s purposes anyway!
Nevertheless, Joseph is a disciple, we are told, so we must hold his wealth and discipleship in tension, just as we who are seemingly inescapably a part of dominant economic and political systems hold our complicity in injustice in tension with our own discipleship. Joseph’s actions are no doubt well intentioned. Just as the unnamed woman had dignified Jesus before his death, so now Joseph gives Jesus the dignity of burial. Was burial in the tomb of a rich man what Jesus wanted? Was it the way that those close to him, like Mary Magdalene and the other Mary looking on, would have wanted to dignify him? Did Joseph stop to ask? We don’t know. At the end of the day, though, it seems that Joseph’s tomb is the ideal place to contain Jesus—which is exactly what the chief priests and Pharisees’ are anxious to do.
The tomb is shut. The stone is sealed. Jesus is contained by the powers. The story surely must come to an end.
Reflect
- Imagine you are hearing this part of the story for the first time. What would you think and feel?
- Are their ways in which the powers’ treatment of Jesus speak to your own experience?
- If appropriate, take a moment to lament the ways in which the injustice which you see around you. Invite God into any situations which seem “dead and buried”.
Pray
Share Communion
Close with the Lord’s Prayer
Devotion 4
Wait: Take time to sit in the silence of gratitude together, giving thanks for the ways you’ve experienced God’s loving kindness.
This week’s Common Value: Reconciliation
Read: Romans 12:1-21
Ask
- How might we practice the reconciliation today?
Pray
Share Communion
Close with the Lord’s Prayer