His blood be on us and on our children
Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.” But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?” But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Jesus Barabbas. So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over. While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.” Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” All of them said, “Let him be crucified!” Then he asked, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” Then the people as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. (Matthew 27:11-30, NRSV)
I wonder if the chief priests, the scribes and all of those gathered knew what they were saying when they replied to Pilate, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
They asked for a known rioter to be released and asked for Jesus to be crucified. And then they said let His blood be on us and on our children! Let His blood, the blood that makes clean the dirtiest sinner be on them. Somehow I don’t think they get the irony of that statement.
Are we willing to say let His blood be on us and on our children?
Eat
The Last Supper
On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal. When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; and while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, “Surely not I, Lord?” He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.” Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” He replied, “You have said so.” While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Matthew 26:17-30, NRSV)
Jesus, as a good Jew, was making preparations with His disciples during the Feast of Unleavened Bread to have the Passover with His disciples.
And they sat down at dinner that night and while they were eating the meal, He took a loaf of bread, blessed it and broke it and gave it to them and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then He took a cup and gave thanks for it and He gave it to them saying, “Drink of this all of you; for this is my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
And Jesus had the first communion at the Last Supper with His disciples, before He was arrested, tried, flogged, and crucified…
Betrayed
παραδώσω
Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him. (Matthew 26:14-16, NRSV)
Judas went to the priests and asked, “What will you give me if I παραδώσω him to you?”
We always get this translated as betray. Because that is a word that can be used for παραδώσω. However is it the best translation here?
The word means: to surrender, betray, bring forth, cast, commit, deliver, give over or up, to deliver, deliver over, or hand over.
Judas went to the priests and asked, “What will you give me if I hand over Jesus to you?”
Did Jesus know what Judas was doing? In the snippet above we do not know, in another gospel (John), Jesus tells Judas to go and do what you must quickly.
Betray means the person you are doing it to has no idea, hand over means they might.
So did Judas betray Jesus or hand him over?
Poured
came to him
When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and they conspired to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.” Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” (Matthew 26:1-13, NRSV)
How did the woman know Jesus was there? It says she came to Him. And she prepared to see Him as she had an alabaster jar of ointment. I am sure she did not carry this jar with her everywhere she went. So she knew he was going to be there and went and got the jar and came and found him, why?
She isn’t named, so we do not know if they had interacted before, but obviously Jesus had moved her somehow sometime.
Has Jesus moved you?
Have you come to Him?
Palms
Need
When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, “Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Matthew 21:1-11, NRSV)
What do you need?
A new car.
A new home.
A new job.
A new cell phone.
A new computer.
In all of the New Testament, there is only one thing it ever says Jesus needs and here it is in our text today. A donkey and her colt tied together, and untie them and bring them here, and if anyone is to ask you why you are doing this, just say, the Lord has need of them. The only thing in all of time that Jesus needs is a donkey!
Kind of puts things in perspective on this day, where we enter Holy Week and walk with Jesus to His death for us.
So what do you need?
aSacredRebel 