Matthew · chapter 27 of 28
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Matthew 27 narrates the trial of Jesus before Pilate, who hands him over to be crucified in place of Barabbas, and the death of Judas. Jesus is mocked by the soldiers, crucified at Golgotha between two robbers and dies after crying out to God. The temple curtain is torn, the centurion confesses that he was the Son of God, and Joseph of Arimathea buries the body in his tomb, which the leaders have sealed and guarded.
In Matthew 26 Jesus was arrested, condemned by the high priest and denied by Peter. Chapter 27 is the climax of the Gospel: the death of the Son of God. Matthew presents a Jesus unjustly condemned who fulfills the Scriptures and whose sacrifice, according to the same Gospel, gives his life as a ransom for many.
At daybreak the chief priests and elders resolve to put Jesus to death and take him bound to Pilate. Judas, seeing that Jesus has been condemned, repents, returns the thirty pieces of silver and confesses that he betrayed innocent blood. The priests tell him that is his affair; Judas throws the money into the temple and hangs himself. With that silver the priests buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners, called the Field of Blood.
Before Pilate, Jesus answers you have said so to the question whether he is the King of the Jews and does not answer the accusations. Pilate is accustomed to release a prisoner at the feast and offers Barabbas or Jesus; he knows Jesus was handed over out of envy, and his wife sends word that he should have nothing to do with that righteous man. The crowd, persuaded by the priests, asks for Barabbas and shouts that Jesus be crucified. Pilate washes his hands, releases Barabbas, has Jesus flogged and hands him over.
The soldiers dress him in a scarlet robe, put a crown of thorns on him and mock him. They compel Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross. At Golgotha they crucify him between two robbers, divide his garments and post a sign calling him the King of the Jews. All mock him. From the sixth hour until the ninth there is darkness, and Jesus cries out with words from Psalm 22 and gives up his spirit.
The temple curtain is torn from top to bottom, the earth shakes and tombs are opened. The centurion confesses that truly he was the Son of God. Joseph of Arimathea, a rich disciple, asks for the body, lays it in his new tomb and rolls a stone across it. The leaders ask Pilate to have the tomb sealed and guarded.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Pilate washes his hands before the crowd and says he is innocent of Jesus' blood. His gesture does not free him from responsibility: he recognizes the injustice and yet allows it.
Jesus cries out loudly, in words from Psalm 22, asking why God has forsaken him. It shows the depth of his suffering as he bears sin, and even so he addresses God as my God.
When Jesus dies, the temple curtain is torn from top to bottom. The text presents it as God's act and as a sign that, through Christ's death, access to God's presence is opened.
The centurion and the soldiers guarding Jesus, seeing the earthquake and what happened, confess that truly he was the Son of God. Those least expected proclaim what his own leaders rejected.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: He returned them and threw them into the temple, and then hanged himself. — Matthew 27:3-5
Answer: Barabbas. — Matthew 27:20-21
Answer: He washed his hands and said he was innocent of the blood of this righteous man. — Matthew 27:24
Answer: Simon of Cyrene. — Matthew 27:32
Answer: The curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. — Matthew 27:50-51
Answer: Joseph of Arimathea, a rich disciple, laid it in his new tomb cut out of the rock. — Matthew 27:57-60
Matthew 27 invites us to look at the cross with sobriety and gratitude. Each character in the chapter shows a possible reaction to Jesus: Pilate yields out of convenience, the crowd follows its leaders, the soldiers mock, Judas despairs, the centurion confesses, Joseph of Arimathea steps out of the shadows. In a small group you can ask which of them we identify with and what Jesus asks of us today.
The chapter also reminds us that Jesus suffered in a real way. The cry from Psalm 22 is not a formula: it is the pain of the Son bearing the sin of others. For the believer, the cross is not only a symbol of suffering but the place where forgiveness becomes possible. Whoever suffers can know that Christ understands abandonment and injustice, and that his sealed tomb is not the last word.
Matthew 27 ends with Jesus buried, a stone sealed and a guard before the tomb, while the women watch from a distance. Matthew 28, the final chapter of the Gospel, shows that the tomb could not hold him: the Lord rises and sends his disciples to make disciples of all nations.
Jesus quotes the opening of Psalm 22 in Aramaic. Many Christians understand it as expressing the real abandonment he suffers in bearing sin; others stress that the psalm ends in praise and trust. In either case the text shows his true suffering and his faithfulness to God to the end.
The curtain separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the temple. That it is torn from top to bottom when Jesus dies is seen as God's act and a sign that Christ's death opens the way into his presence. The letter to the Hebrews develops this meaning.
Matthew says tombs were opened and many saints who had fallen asleep were raised and, after Jesus' resurrection, entered the holy city and appeared to many. The text gives no further details, and interpreters see it as a sign of the power of Christ's death and resurrection over death.