Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Do You Go Follow the Crowd? | New Testament | Matthew 27

Episode Date: February 7, 2023

Are you still trying to gain the approval of the world? What do you do when the crowd seems to be against you? Are you able to decipher what is true and what isn't? In today's episode, Tanya looks at Matthew 27 to discuss how Jesus equips you with everything you need. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Matthew 27

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. So right at the end of 2022, Stainford University released its harmful language list. And it was this list, and it said the intent was to eradicate many forms of harmful language. And the words came under 10 categories. Now, after lots of concern and backlash, they took it down a couple of weeks later. And they made this statement.

They said while the primary motivation of the initiative was always to promote a more inclusive and welcoming environment where individuals from all backgrounds felt they belong, it was time to pull back and reconsider. The question is, what is harmful? What's our intent? And when Jesus talked with people in the Gospels, he was concerned with their hearts and not with their approval. Some of the things Jesus taught were offensive to the culture. far from having approval Jesus was mocked and he was questioned and he was rejected sometimes he was mocked because of where he was born and raised

sometimes he was mocked for saying things about how to live that were costly to a person's livelihood or reputation and sometimes he was mocked for saying the truth about how God defines human flourishing and when we let our Bible be our guides for how to live we face some of the same challenges not for language I mean that's not excused we're not supposed to go around hurting people.

But it's especially hard if we're trusting in people and sources other than Jesus to find our approval and not saying the things that are true. Now Matthew wrote his gospel with constant backward glances at the ways the life of Jesus fulfilled what was laid out in Old Testament scripture.

And he did this so we could see Jesus as Matthew did, someone completely worthy of our trust and our affection. See, Matthew shows us that God has never waited from the plan he laid out in Genesis, he always kept his word. So we can trust his word. Because God always keeps his word, we can trust him. And because at the moment that might have even seemed the lowest, that was the lowest, Jesus had the final word. We can trust Jesus. So Matthew 27 walks us through what is called the passion of Jesus. And it's the story of the entire day from the time where Jesus was transferred to Pontius Pilate for crucifixion to his eventual death on the cross.

Matthew focuses more on the mockery and the rejection Jesus faced than the physical suffering like in some of the other gospels. See, at the hands of his own people, Jesus was taunted. He was wrongly charged and accused. He was publicly humiliated in the very worst ways. This is a story. The Bible is a story of people who needed rescuing. And Matthew 27 shows us the perfect man who is willing to die to rescue us. Now, while we can learn a lot from the mistakes that people made in this chapter, it's going to be looking at what Jesus did that really affects our hearts. It's in knowing Jesus more that we're able to face the challenges that the world puts

before us today. Now, if I could go back into this day, I think I would love to ask the crowd. Why? Why were you so sure you were right? And to pilot, what were you so afraid of that you wouldn't stand up for Jesus? And then to Jesus, help me remember that what you did is finished. All right, so let's start. I'm just going to read the scripture, Matthew 2715.

It says, now it was the governor's custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner to the crowd, anyone they wanted. This year, there was a notorious prisoner, a man named Barabbas. As the crowds gathered before Pilots house that morning, he asked them, which one do you want me to release to you? Barabbas or Jesus, who is called the Messiah. and he knew very well that the religious leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy. So just then, as Pilot was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message, leave the innocent man alone.

I suffered through a terrible nightmare about him last night. Meanwhile, the leading priest and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death. So the governor asked again, which of these two do you want me to release to you? And the crowd shouted back. Barabbas. And Pilate responded, then what should I do with Jesus, who's called the Messiah? And they shouted back, crucify him.

So Barabbas, he was a true criminal. He was an infamous robber, a murderer. He was just an overall insurrectionist. He was a threat to their society. Releasing him was a threat to the society. But the crowd lost their ability to reason. They were egged on for sure. But Matthew doesn't even make it sound like it took much to persuade them to let this

dangerous person go while Jesus would be the one crucified. Something made them think that their momentum was right and Jesus was wrong. They must have believed that if the chief priests and so many people around them wanted Jesus convicted, then it was the right thing to do. And do we know Jesus well enough to know when the crowd hasn't wrong? Are we clouded by a need for approval or are we rooted in the truth? Now, Pilate, he was also ill-prepared for this moment. He knew enough about Jesus to know he wasn't a criminal like Barabbas, but he wasn't convinced of anything, really. He was like a limp dishrag.

He wouldn't stand up to the crowd and release Jesus, but he also wouldn't accept the responsibility for having Jesus convicted, even though that was his job. So Matthew describes in verse 24, when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd saying, I am innocent of this man's blood.

By publicly washing his hands, he was separating himself from the responsibility of convicting Jesus. And he was basically saying, y'all are responsible for this and any consequences that come from it. The leadership of the chief priest and pilot, well, they stand in stark contrast to the leadership of Jesus. Because Jesus never wavered from taking all the sin in its consequences on himself. Jesus had been silent during this trial, except when Pilate asked,

Are you king of the Jews? And he answered, you have said so. And I wonder what it was like for his followers to watch. Did they wonder about who Jesus really was? Did they wonder if the crowd was right? Did they doubt Jesus' power to defeat death and come back after three days? Did they doubt he was really God's son? Did they begin to question everything he taught them when they heard the crowd yelling. In the ninth hour, when he was on the cross, Jesus cried out in a loud voice. And what he said is translated,

My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? It is disparaging. It's anguishing language. It's far too honest about the reality of what was taking place to be made up. But when Jesus cried out, he was experiencing a level of rejection

and despair that is beyond anything we can imagine. His oneness with the Father was broken so he could become our sin. And then Jesus cried out again with a loud voice. And Matthew says he yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn into from top to bottom. Now, this is really important because in the temple there were barriers everywhere. If you were a woman or a Gentile, you could only go so far. If you were a Jewish male, you could go in, but you had to be a priest to go further.

And if you were a priest, even though you could go into the most holy place, it was only a certain times. And even then, there was a curtain 60 feet tall. The curtain says no access, no matter how much you work or sacrifice, no matter what you do, you will never get all the way in. But when Jesus died, the curtain was torn. He cast out of God's presence for a time so we can be welcomed. Jesus was rejected so we can get in. In other words, his work is finished. But see, we don't really believe this is true.

We think we're trying to finish. We're trying to win God's approval. We're trying to win the world's approval. We forget that the cross gives us confidence that it is finished. But when we remember that we have God's approval, we don't need to seek it by what we say and what we do. When we say the truth about Jesus, we aren't thinking, I hope I will say it well enough that it will turn out okay.

But we're able to say, it is finished. God is taken care of this for me. I am safe with him. Now, there was a time between this night when Jesus was laid in the tomb and his resurrection. And this was a time when his followers would have to encourage each other to remember and to believe what Jesus said would happen that he would rise and ascend to the right hand of the Father. And today, we're also supposed to encourage other beings. believers while we wait for God's kingdom to come in its fullness. We're supposed to remember that

Jesus is on the throne and then he reigns with us and for us. We are supposed to remember that we are part of his family. We aren't called the stand alone as heroes of the culture wars, but we are supposed to help one another live lives of truth and obedience to Jesus. We're motivated by the approval we already have and we're empowered by His Holy Spirit. We should engage with the messages of our time that disagree with how God says we should live. But we don't have to tackle every problem by ourselves. We are all equipped in different ways, and we live and work together as part of his family

while waiting for him to make all things new. Before you forget, sign up for the brand new TMBT newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes, and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help you beat the midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening. Thank you.