Tag Archives: Matthew 27

The Guilt of Innocent Blood

May 13, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

“I have sinned,” [Judas] said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” [the chief priests and elders] replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
Matthew 27:4 (NIV)

I made a decision years ago not to be affiliated with any political party. A few years ago I changed my non-affiliated status to vote for an individual whom I believe in during the primaries, but then I switched back to being non-affiliated. I know people on the right who think I’m too far left and people on the left who think I’m too far right. There are individuals on both sides of the aisle who lump me in with “those people” in the opposite party. It is what it is. I know, love, and respect people across the political spectrum who have very diverse views and opinions.

When Jesus sent The Twelve out two-by-two to share His message in towns and villages around the Sea of Galilee, He told them to be “shrewd as serpents and gentle as doves.” I have found that advice sage whenever I am navigating the world, whether that’s reading the news, operating in the business world, or doing my civic duty by participating in elections.

Along my life journey, I’ve observed that both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of looking the other way and justifying it when someone on their team is guilty of corruption, but then scream for blood and justice when one of “those people” on the other side do the same thing. I get it. This is just how the world works.

As a disciple of Jesus, I’ve been tasked with being “in the world, but not of it.” So, along the way I personally chose out of both sides. I know fellow disciples who feel called to serve in one of both major parties. That’s cool, too. The Great Story is filled with examples of God using different people in different political contexts. Jeremiah was a prophet inside the (corrupt) political system of his day. Elijah was a political outsider and voice in the wilderness. Among The Twelve Jesus chose a far-right zealot named Simon and a far-left Roman collaborator named Matthew. I have learned along the way that God leads different people on different paths for different reasons yet does so for His same eternal purposes.

I find that the Great Story is, at its foundation, a conflict between good and evil; A war between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of God. Nowhere is this more abundantly clear than in the events of Jesus arrest, trials, and execution.

In today’s chapter, Judas feels remorse for his betrayal and returns the 30 pieces of silver to the religious leaders at the Temple. He tells them that Jesus is innocent and that “innocent blood” is on his hands.

“What is that to us?” they ask Judas in excusing their actions.

In asking this question, they expose tremendous hypocrisy. It should mean everything to them. They are leaders of the Hebrew people. They are “experts” in God’s Law. They are the authorities over God’s given system of justice. They know that in Deuteronomy God established that entire system of justice and explained the reason saying:

“Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed...You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.”
Deuteronomy 19:10 (NIV) [emphasis added]

Ironically, the same legal section of God’s Law gives specific instructions about false witnesses like Judas and the others they put forth at Jesus’ trial:

“If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must purge the evil from among you.”
Deuteronomy 19:16-19 (NIV)

The Chief Priests and Elders knew that they were breaking many laws in their railroading of Jesus. To ask, “What is that to us?” was a mockery of God’s entire purpose for the Law. God was establishing a system of justice that would protect the innocent and poor and hold the rich and powerful accountable. The Chief Priests and Elders used this system to become rich and powerful. They are now using the Law to protect that wealth and power while they ignore the laws that call on them to free Jesus and hold Judas accountable for his false testimony (though they broke that same Law in paying Judas for that false testimony).

Judas throws the silver from his betrayal at their feet and flees.

To make their hypocrisy even more blatant, these men who are supposed to be the keepers of the Law but have flaunted the most basic of God’s Laws regarding justice now look at the blood money and say, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.”

This is how the world works. Left and Right. Conservative and Liberal. Fox and CNN. Catholics and Evangelicals. Fundamentalist and Frozen Chosen. Choose the rules you want to follow and those you want to ignore depending on how and when it suits your personal benefit and political purposes.

“Rules for thee but not for me.”

The irony continues later in the chapter as the Chief Priest and Elders “persuade” the crowd (I assume there was more silver involved) to call on Pilate to release Barabbas and crucify Jesus. Pilate, the non-Hebrew Roman, knows that Jesus is “innocent blood” and wants nothing to do with this injustice. The Hebrew Chief Priests, Elders, and their good Hebrew mob-for-hire then scream to, Pilate:

“His blood is on us and on our children!”

I couldn’t help but remember Jesus words to these same Chief Priests and Elders just a few days before:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!”
Matthew 23:29-32 (NIV)

In the quiet this morning, I am reminded that as Jesus’ disciple I am both a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, and therefore an ambassador of that Kingdom here among the kingdoms of this world. The more I’ve taken this spiritual reality seriously, the more I’ve discovered how it requires me to be shrewd as a serpent and gentle as a dove. Nevertheless, in my thoughts, words, actions, and relationships I don’t want to mindlessly be another example of how the world works. I want to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, even if I’m crucified for it.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!

Chapter-a-Day

Mob Justice

February 23, 2022 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
Matthew 27:20 (NIV)

Wendy and I are creatures of habit. We typically begin each day perusing the news on our iPads as we drink our blueberry spinach smoothies (mine sweet, hers sour) and drink coffee. Quite often we remind one another of a truth that one of her favorite professors at Central College branded into her brain: “You only see what the camera wants you to see.”

News media loves to cover crowds of protestors and mobs rioting, especially if there’s destruction or violence. “If it bleeds it leads” as they say. However, even mobs and protestors can be created for visual, social, and political effects.

Most of us never think about it, but it is no secret that mobs can be bought. The BBC did a story about man in Pakistan who does it for a living. “Gathering a mob – what’s so difficult about that?” he says. “One phone call and a hundred people will come, they can throw stones till nothing is left and if that doesn’t work, it costs very little to buy 10 litres of petrol and set things on fire.” And according to the L.A. Times there’s even a firm in Beverly Hills which will organize a protest for you, though I’m guessing it might cost you a little more than in Pakistan. We’re talking Beverly Hills, after all. There’s also an interesting article in Cracked providing a first-person account of a professional protestor.

For me, one of the most intriguing aspects of the final week of Jesus’ life is the contrast of the crowd shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” on Sunday, and the crowd shouting “Crucify him!” on Friday morning. The longer I’ve studied the text, the more convinced I am that the mob shouting for Jesus’ execution was no accident.

The chief priests and elders had already broken a number of their own laws by the early morning hours that they brought Jesus to the Roman Governor, Pilate. Hebrew jurisprudence held that you couldn’t arrest anyone in the dark of night, nor could you have a trial at night. The verdict was already decided by the time they held the third session of their kangaroo court as dawn was breaking because it was required that you could only sentence someone to death in the light of day.

The religious power brokers were in a hurry to get the deed done. Friday at dusk was not only the beginning of their precious weekly Sabbath, but it was also Passover week. The rushed, clandestine mockery of justice was necessary to have Jesus hanging on a cross as quickly as possible and to ensure it was a done deal before the Passover crowds who’d been singing Jesus’ praises had finished their breakfast and made their way to the Temple. These were powerful, wealthy, and politically connected men who were running the Temple racket. They would have left nothing to chance. They’d already drummed up false witnesses in the middle of the night to testify against. Jesus. It’s likely they knew how to make a small investment of shekels to hire a mob to ensure Pilate perceived that executing Jesus was the politically shrewd call.

In the quiet this morning, I think about our daily breakfast conversations and perusal of the news. One of the things I’ve observed since the dawn of the internet is how quickly things can trend before any facts are known. Not only do we “see only what the camera wants us to see” but increasingly I realize that algorithms ensure “I only see what I want to see.” People are accused, tried, convicted, and executed in the internet court of public opinion in no time at all. Never have I found Jesus’ instruction to His disciples so apt when He sent them out into the world by themselves: “Be shrewd as a serpent, gentle as a dove.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Crowd

April 21, 2017 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
Matthew 27:20 (NIV)

I have read the story of Jesus’ trial and execution countless times along my journey. It is packed with so many fascinating and meaningful moments that it’s hard to focus on one thing for a blog post like this. As I read a chapter each day I try simply to have my heart and mind open to what resonates most deeply with me in this moment, and this morning what resonated with me was the crowd.

Perhaps it’s because of the preponderance of media that gets focused on crowd events and all that we’ve witnessed in recent months and years. I’m thinking of all the marches, riots, demonstrations, and protests I’ve seen reported on the news and in social media recently. Whenever a crowd gathers it gets attention. We seem to have a lot of crowds.

There is a entire branch of sociology and psychology dedicated to understanding crowd (or mob) mentality. Interestingly enough, consensus among scholars is as hard to come by. I was intrigued, however, by the theory of Gustave Le Bon who boiled it down to three things:

Submergence: In the anonymity of the crowd individuals lose their sense of individual self and personal responsibility.
Contagion: Having lost their sense of self, individuals unquestioningly follow the predominant ideas and emotions of the crowd.
Suggestion: Ideas and emotions of the crowd are primarily drawn from a shared racial unconscious, uncivilized in nature, and limited by the moral and cognitive abilities of its least capable members.

Three things came to mind as I thought about the crowd shouting for Jesus’ execution.

First is the fact that five days earlier the crowd was shouting “Hosanna” as praising Jesus as “king” as He entered Jerusalem. Now the crowd has been persuaded to shout for Jesus’ blood. Wow. That’s a major drop in approval rating in just five days. It’s amazing how fickle crowds can be.

Which leads me to remembering a passage from John’s biography of Jesus. In the second chapter we find that the crowd of people believing in Jesus and following Him was growing rapidly. Jesus was trending in all the major outlets. The crowds were growing and His popularity was skyrocketing, but John records that Jesus “would not entrust Himself to them, for He knew all people.”

Which is why, perhaps, Jesus continued to remain silent as He stood by Pilate and witnessed the crowd that had turned on Him. Wednesday’s post about silence and spiritual authority comes back to mind. What a contrast we see in this picture. The lone figure of Jesus standing silent, bloodied, yet resolute in His mission against the submergence and contagion of the crowd whipped into a frenzy at the suggestion of Jesus’ enemies.

This morning I’m reminded of my desire to follow Jesus’ wisdom as it relates to crowds. I need to avoid entrusting my self to any crowd. This applies even to seemingly good crowds, for I’ve witnessed and been prey to crowd mentality even in nice neighborhoods, churches, social groups and communities.

I want my life, my beliefs, and my daily decisions to be guided by something more solid than the ever shifting mentality and emotion of a crowd. I want to be wise and discerning as I watch the crowd mentality emerge and “trend” in my social groups and in the media (including Facebook, Twitter, and all the other social media outlets). I want my life to be focused on my mission, my role, and my responsibilities. That’s hard to do if I am unwittingly submerging my thoughts, emotions and actions to the crowd around me.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Matthew 27

April 26, 2011 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Antonio Ciseri's depiction of Pontius Pilate p... — Image via Wikipedia

But when the accusations rained down hot and heavy from the high priests and religious leaders, he said nothing. Pilate asked him, “Do you hear that long list of accusations? Aren’t you going to say something?” Jesus kept silence—not a word from his mouth. The governor was impressed, really impressed. Matthew 27:14 (MSG)

Along stretches of the journey, I’ve been accused of different things. From silly to mildly slanderous, I’ve been charged in the court of public opinion with things of which I was innocent. To be honest, some times the charges were fabrications made because of things I actually had done. I’ve made my share of mistakes. Still, it’s never easy to sense whispers behind your back when you know that what is being said is completely untrue.

There is a small toy turtle that sits on a shelf in our house. It was acquired during one particular rough stretch and it became an enduring word picture for pressing on in such times. The quiet turtle never makes a fuss. He guards his heart inside a tough shell and keeps making his way in small incremental movements forward. Like the turtle in the old fable, I am reminded by the little turtle on the shelf that “slow and steady wins the race.”

I was reminded by Jesus’ response to His accusers in today’s chapter. Of anyone ever accused in all of history, Jesus had more reason to cry “foul” than anyone else. Despite the mocking, jeering, and insults he quietly endured. Turning the other cheek is not an act of passivity, but a conscious act of the will which requires strength of character.

Jesus trials and death sentence is the ultimate example of how fickle the court of public opinion can be. It blows hither and thither with any number of prevailing winds which have little to do with truth or fairness. Sometimes, the best way to respond is by silently moving forward step-by-step and day-by-day and allowing time to reveal what is ultimately true.