“Truly this was the Son of God.” — Matthew 27:54
Judas and the Thirty Pieces of Silver (Verses 1–10)
When morning comes, the chief priests and elders bind Jesus and hand him over to Pilate the governor. Judas, seeing that Jesus has been condemned, is seized with remorse. He brings the thirty pieces of silver back to the chief priests and elders: I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. They answer: what is that to us? See to it yourself. He throws the money into the temple and goes and hangs himself. The chief priests pick up the coins and deliberate — it is not lawful to put blood money in the temple treasury — and use them to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. Matthew sees in this the fulfillment of the prophet Zechariah: thirty pieces of silver, the price set by the sons of Israel, paid out for the potter’s field. The coins that bought the betrayer’s soul bought a grave for strangers.
Jesus Before Pilate (Verses 11–26)
Jesus stands before the governor. Pilate asks: are you the King of the Jews? Jesus answers: you have said so. Against the many accusations of the chief priests and elders he gives no answer, not even to a single charge — so that the governor marvels greatly. It was the governor’s custom at the feast to release one prisoner chosen by the crowd. He has a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. He offers them the choice: whom do you want released, Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ? He knows the chief priests handed Jesus over out of envy.
While Pilate sits on the judgment seat his wife sends word: have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream. The chief priests and elders persuade the crowds to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. Pilate asks: what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? They all say: let him be crucified. Why, what evil has he done? They shout all the louder: let him be crucified. When Pilate sees that he is gaining nothing and a riot is beginning, he takes water and washes his hands before the crowd: I am innocent of this man’s blood — see to it yourselves. The people answer: his blood be on us and on our children. He releases Barabbas and hands Jesus over, after flogging him, to be crucified.
The Soldiers Mock the King (Verses 27–32)
The soldiers take Jesus into the governor’s headquarters and gather the whole battalion around him. They strip him and put a scarlet robe on him. They twist together a crown of thorns and put it on his head, put a reed in his right hand, and kneel before him in mockery: hail, King of the Jews! They spit on him, take the reed and strike him on the head. When they have finished mocking him they strip off the robe, put his own clothes back on, and lead him away to crucify him. On the way out they compel a man named Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross.
The Crucifixion (Verses 33–44)
They come to Golgotha — the Place of a Skull. They offer him wine mixed with gall to drink; when he tastes it he refuses. They crucify him and divide his garments by casting lots. They sit down and keep watch over him. Over his head they put the charge against him: this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Two robbers are crucified with him, one on either side. Those who pass by deride him, wagging their heads: you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. The chief priests, scribes, and elders mock him: he saved others but cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel — let him come down from the cross and we will believe. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. The robbers who are crucified with him also revile him. The words of mockery are the precise words of Psalm 22, and the ones mocking do not know it.
The Death of Jesus (Verses 45–56)
From the sixth hour there is darkness over all the land until the ninth hour — three hours of darkness in the middle of the day. At the ninth hour Jesus cries out with a loud voice: Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Some standing there think he is calling for Elijah. One runs and takes a sponge, fills it with sour wine, and holds it up for him to drink, saying: wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. Jesus cries out again with a loud voice and yields up his spirit.
At that moment the curtain of the temple is torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shakes, rocks are split, tombs are opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep are raised. After his resurrection they come out of the tombs and appear to many in the holy city. When the centurion and those keeping watch over Jesus see the earthquake and what takes place, they are filled with awe: truly this was the Son of God. Many women are there, watching from a distance — among them Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
The cry of dereliction from the cross — my God, my God, why have you forsaken me — is the opening verse of Psalm 22, the psalm the mocking crowd has been unknowingly quoting all afternoon. It is a cry that has generated more theological reflection than almost any other sentence in the gospel. The one who goes to the cross willingly, who chose the cup in Gethsemane, here experiences something that language cannot fully hold: the abandonment that sin produces, taken into himself, so that those who believe in him need never face it.
The Burial (Verses 57–61)
When evening comes, a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea, who has also become a disciple of Jesus, goes to Pilate and asks for the body. Pilate orders it given to him. Joseph takes the body, wraps it in clean linen, and places it in his own new tomb, which he has cut from the rock. He rolls a great stone against the entrance and leaves. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary are sitting there, facing the tomb.
The Guard at the Tomb (Verses 62–66)
The next day — the Sabbath — the chief priests and Pharisees go to Pilate: Sir, we remember that that impostor said while he was alive, after three days I will rise. Order the tomb made secure until the third day, lest his disciples steal the body and tell the people he has risen from the dead — the last fraud would be worse than the first. Pilate gives them a guard: make it as secure as you can. They go and seal the stone and set the guard. The men who spent the week trying to silence Jesus are now trying to silence the possibility that death did not have the last word.
Reflection
Matthew 27 is the darkest chapter in the gospel, and Matthew does not soften it. The mocking, the sour wine, the gambling for the garments, the darkness at noon, the cry from the cross — all of it is reported without dramatic embellishment, and all of it is the more devastating for that restraint.
Two things frame the chapter. At the beginning, Judas returns the silver with the confession that he has betrayed innocent blood. The chief priests who engineered the betrayal say: what is that to us? At the end, the centurion who drove the nails confesses: truly this was the Son of God. The ones who planned it refuse to hear it. The one who carried it out cannot deny it. The cross produces that division wherever it is encountered: those who walk away saying it is nothing to do with them, and those who are stopped in their tracks by what they have seen.