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Matthew 27

1

When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:

2

And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

3

Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,

4

Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.

5

And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

6

And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.

7

And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.

8

Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.

9

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;

10

And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.

11

And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.

12

And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.

13

Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?

14

And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.

15

Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.

16

And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas.

17

Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?

18

For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.

1
19

When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.

20

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.

1
21

The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.

22

Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.

2
23

And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.

1
24

When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.

25

Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

26

Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

27

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.

28

And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.

29

And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!

30

And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.

31

And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.

32

And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.

33

And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,

34

They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.

35

And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

36

And sitting down they watched him there;

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And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

38

Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.

39

And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,

40

And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.

41

Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,

42

He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

43

He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.

44

The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.

45

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

46

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

47

Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.

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And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.

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The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.

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Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

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And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

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And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

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And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

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Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

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And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:

56

Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.

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When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple:

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He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.

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And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

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And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

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And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.

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Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,

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Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.

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Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.

65

Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.

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So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

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Matthew 27

The crucifixion narrative unfolds with each element fulfilling prophetic pattern: the thirty silver coins thrown into the temple and used to buy the Potter's Field (Jeremiah 30 and Zechariah 11), the governor's marvel at Jesus' silence, Barabbas released in Jesus' place, the soldiers' mocking coronation (crown of thorns, purple robe, hail king of the Jews), Simon of Cyrene compelled to carry the cross, the wine offered and refused, the nails and the cross with its charge (this is Jesus, the king of the Jews), the divided garments, the two robbers, the passersby taunting, the darkness from noon to three o'clock. The cry of dereliction — my God, my God, why have you forsaken me — is Psalm 22:1, and the crowd misunderstands it as a call for Elijah. Jesus gives up his spirit, and the curtain of the temple tears from top to bottom, the earth shakes, the rocks split, and tombs open — the centurion and those with him confess, truly he was the Son of God. The women watch from a distance; Joseph of Arimathea wraps the body in clean linen and seals the tomb; the chief priests and Pharisees secure a Roman guard to prevent any theft of the body.

Matthew 27:16

And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. Barabbas — the notorious prisoner whose notoriety made him the obvious contrast to Jesus — is the figure through whom the substitution of the Passover release will become the enacted parable of the atonement: the guilty one released in the place of the innocent one.

Matthew 27:33

And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull. Golgotha — the Aramaic word for skull — is the place of execution outside Jerusalem's walls. Hebrews 13:12 applies this specifically: Jesus suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people through his own blood.

Matthew 27:1

When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. The morning consultation of the Sanhedrin formalizes the night's verdict: the chief priests and elders take counsel to execute the death sentence. The morning timing communicates the completion of the night trial and the beginning of the day's legal proceedings.

Matthew 27:2

And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor. The delivery of Jesus to Pilate: the bound Jesus is led to the Roman governor, since the Sanhedrin lacked the authority to execute the death sentence (John 18:31: it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death). The Roman execution that follows is both the Sanhedrin's legal workaround and the fulfillment of Jesus' prediction of death at Gentile hands (Matthew 20:19).

Matthew 27:3

Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. Judas' remorse: seeing the condemnation that his betrayal produced, Judas changed his mind and returned the silver. The changed his mind (metamelomai) is remorse rather than the repentance (metanoia) that transforms — the grief of one who regrets the consequence rather than the transgression.

Matthew 27:4

Saying: I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. They said: what is that to us? See to it yourself. Judas' confession — I have sinned by betraying innocent blood — is the acknowledgment of Jesus' innocence from the one who had the most intimate knowledge of his guilt. The chief priests' what is that to us communicates the cynical dismissal of the betrayer they used: now that his service is complete, his crisis of conscience is his own problem.

Matthew 27:5

And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. Judas' end: throwing the silver into the temple and hanging himself. The silver thrown into the temple is the rejection of the blood money that the chief priests will refuse to put into the treasury (verse 6). Acts 1:18 describes a different end for Judas — falling headlong and bursting open — which may represent a subsequent event after the hanging.

Matthew 27:6

But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said: it is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money. The irony of the chief priests' scruple: they cannot put the blood money into the temple treasury because it is blood money — money obtained through betrayal of innocent blood. The men who paid the blood money and whose conspiracy shed the innocent blood scruple about the legal purity of their treasury.

Matthew 27:7

So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. The potter's field purchased with the blood money: the council decision to buy the field for burying strangers is the practical use of the returned silver. The potter's field becomes the burial place for the strangers — the foreigners who died in Jerusalem without family nearby.

Matthew 27:8

Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. The Field of Blood — Hakeldama in Acts 1:19 — is the ongoing memorial of the blood money that purchased it. The to this day communicates the continuing presence of the field as a tangible reminder of the betrayal.

Matthew 27:9

Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying: and they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel. The fulfillment citation attributed to Jeremiah is actually a combination of Zechariah 11:12–13 and Jeremiah 18–19 (the potter's field imagery). The attribution to Jeremiah is one of the textual discussions of Matthew's Gospel; the citation draws from both prophets.

Matthew 27:10

And they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me. The Zechariah/Jeremiah synthesis: the thirty pieces of silver given for the potter's field, as the Lord directed. The completion of the fulfillment citation grounds the blood money purchase in the prophetic pattern.

Matthew 27:11

Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him: are you the King of the Jews? Jesus said: you have said so. The Roman trial: Pilate's question — are you the King of the Jews — is the political equivalent of the high priest's are you the Christ, the Son of God. The you have said so is the same affirmative-but-distancing answer. The King of the Jews is Pilate's political framing of the messianic claim.

Matthew 27:12

But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. The silence before Pilate's second phase of questioning: the chief priests and elders who accompany the bound Jesus make their accusations, and Jesus gives no answer. The silence of the Servant who does not quarrel or cry aloud (Isaiah 42:2) continues in the Roman court.

Matthew 27:13

Then Pilate said to him: do you not hear how many things they testify against you? Pilate's surprise at the silence — do you not hear — communicates the governor's puzzlement at the prisoner who does not defend himself. The many things they testify against communicates the sustained nature of the chief priests' accusations.

Matthew 27:14

But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. The silence that produces the governor's amazement: Pilate has never encountered a prisoner who would not respond to accusations. The amazement communicates the supernatural character of the silence — it is not the silence of the guilty who cannot defend themselves but the silence of the one who chooses not to.

Matthew 27:15

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. The Passover prisoner release custom — attested in the Gospels and consistent with Roman provincial governance practices — is the mechanism that Pilate will try to use to release Jesus without directly challenging the chief priests.

Matthew 27:17

So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them: whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ? Pilate's either/or: Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ. The governor who has found no basis for the death sentence is trying to use the crowd's Passover enthusiasm to force the release of Jesus. The Jesus who is called Christ communicates Pilate's awareness of the messianic claim.

Matthew 27:18

For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Pilate's insight: the delivery of Jesus to Rome was motivated by envy — the chief priests' envy of Jesus' popular support and spiritual authority. The insight communicates that Pilate is not deceived about the nature of the charge.

Matthew 27:19

Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him: have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream. Pilate's wife's dream: the divine warning through the dream parallels the divine warnings through dreams in Matthew's birth narrative (Matthew 1:20, 2:12, 2:13, 2:19, 2:22). The righteous man designation from the dreaming wife is the second declaration of Jesus' innocence (after Judas' innocent blood in verse 4).

Matthew 27:20

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The manipulation of the crowd: the chief priests and elders who had feared the crowd's sympathy for Jesus successfully turned the crowd against him. The persuaded communicates the active work of the religious establishment to reverse the popular sentiment.

Matthew 27:21

The governor again said to them: which of the two do you want me to release for you? And they said: Barabbas. The crowd's choice: Barabbas. The crowd who sang Hosanna to the Son of David at the triumphal entry now chooses the notorious prisoner over the one they acclaimed. The crowd's reversal is the political fickle-ness that Jesus' caution about crowd enthusiasm throughout the Gospel anticipated.

Matthew 27:22

Pilate said to them: then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? They all said: let him be crucified! Pilate's question — what shall I do with Jesus — is the question that every human being must answer. The let him be crucified is the crowd's answer, driven by the chief priests' manipulation. The crucify is the Roman execution method that Jesus predicted (Matthew 20:19).

Matthew 27:23

And he said: why? What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more: let him be crucified! Pilate's final defense of Jesus' innocence — why, what evil has he done — is the third declaration of innocence in the passion narrative. The shouting all the more is the mob dynamic: the crowd's volume increases as the logic of the case decreases.

Matthew 27:24

So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying: I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves. Pilate's handwashing: the public washing of hands as a declaration of innocence is a gesture with roots in Deuteronomy 21:6–7 (the elders who wash their hands over the heifer to declare innocence of a murder). The I am innocent of this man's blood echoes Judas' I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. Two declarations of Jesus' innocence from those who condemned him.

Matthew 27:25

And all the people answered: his blood be on us and on our children! The people's acceptance of the blood guilt: his blood be on us and on our children. This verse has been catastrophically misused throughout church history to justify antisemitism. Within Matthew's narrative, the declaration communicates the tragic acceptance of the covenant-curse (Deuteronomy 27–28) by those who reject the covenant's fulfillment — a judgment that Matthew's readers, writing after 70 AD, understood in the context of Jerusalem's destruction.

Matthew 27:26

Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. The release of Barabbas and the scourging and delivery of Jesus: the substitution that the Passover custom produced is the enacted parable of the atonement. The scourging — the brutal Roman flogging with the leather whip embedded with bone and metal — precedes the crucifixion as the standard Roman execution procedure.

Matthew 27:27

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. The Roman soldiers' mockery: the whole battalion assembled is approximately 600 soldiers who will participate in the mockery that follows. The gathering of the whole battalion communicates the scale of the humiliation.

Matthew 27:28

And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. The stripping and the scarlet robe: the red military cloak that substitutes for the royal purple communicates the mockery of the King of the Jews claim. Jesus is dressed in the parody of royal garments by those who have no idea they are enacting the deepest truth about who he is.

Matthew 27:29

And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying: hail, King of the Jews! The crown of thorns, the reed scepter, the kneeling, the hail: the full mockery of the Roman crucifixion ritual applied to the one who is genuinely the King. The soldiers mock what they do not understand; the mockery inadvertently describes the truth.

Matthew 27:30

And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. The spitting and striking echoes Isaiah 50:6 and the Sanhedrin's abuse in Matthew 26:67. The Servant's predicted suffering is fulfilled in both the Jewish trial and the Roman mockery.

Matthew 27:31

And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. The stripping of the mock royal garments and the restoration of his own clothes before the crucifixion journey: the public procession to the place of execution in his own clothes communicates the public character of the crucifixion as Roman punishment.

Matthew 27:32

As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. Simon of Cyrene — the North African city where a large Jewish diaspora community lived — is compelled to carry Jesus' cross. The compulsion communicates the involuntary nature of the service; Mark 15:21 notes that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus, suggesting that the family later became known in the early church.

Matthew 27:34

They offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. The gall-mixed wine — a narcotic offered to reduce the pain of crucifixion — is tasted and refused by Jesus. The refusal communicates the deliberate choice to experience the full suffering without numbing: the one who will drink the cup of God's judgment will not take the cup that dulls the consciousness.

Matthew 27:35

And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. The crucifixion — narrated in a single subordinate clause — and the division of the garments by casting lots: the Psalm 22:18 fulfillment (they divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing) is the immediate application of the Psalm of the righteous sufferer to the crucifixion scene.

Matthew 27:36

Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. The soldiers' watch: sitting at the cross to prevent rescue attempts. The keeping watch will continue until the earthquake and the centurion's confession at the moment of death.

Matthew 27:37

And over his head they put the charge against him, which read: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. The titulus — the written charge nailed above the condemned prisoner's head — reads This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. The charge that was the basis for crucifixion (claiming to be King) is also the most concise possible statement of the gospel: Jesus is the King of the Jews, and therefore the King of the nations.

Matthew 27:38

Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. The two robbers crucified on either side of Jesus: the one at his right and the one at his left are the positions that James and John's mother requested (Matthew 20:21). The sons of Zebedee who wanted the places of honor receive the places of service; the criminals occupy the places of glory.

Matthew 27:39

And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads. The derision of the passersby — wagging their heads — fulfills Psalm 22:7 (all who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads). The entire crucifixion scene is narrated in the language of Psalm 22, the psalm of the righteous sufferer abandoned by God.

Matthew 27:40

And saying: 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 first taunt: the temple-rebuilding claim from the false witnesses at the Sanhedrin trial is now used as a taunt. The if you are the Son of God echoes Satan's temptation (Matthew 4:3, 6): if you are the Son of God, prove it by the spectacular, by the self-saving. The answer to the if-you-are challenge is not the coming down but the staying on.

Matthew 27:41

So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying. The second source of taunting: the chief priests, scribes, and elders — the three groups who together comprised the Sanhedrin — continue their mockery at the cross. The religious leaders who pronounced the death sentence now stand at the cross and continue their campaign of derision.

Matthew 27:42

He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. The chief priests' taunt: he saved others but cannot save himself. The taunt is inadvertently true in the deepest theological sense: he could save himself or save others, not both. The let him come down and we will believe communicates the conditional faith that would believe on the terms it sets — the same sign-demanding that Jesus refused throughout his ministry.

Matthew 27:43

He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, I am the Son of God. The Psalm 22:8 echo: he trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him. The chief priests quote the psalm of the righteous sufferer against the righteous sufferer without recognizing that they are enacting the psalm's persecution. The for he said, I am the Son of God circles back to the Sanhedrin charge of blasphemy.

Matthew 27:44

And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. The robbers' reviling: both robbers join the mockery at this point in Matthew's account (Luke's account separates them, with one of the robbers repenting). The even from those crucified alongside him communicates the breadth and completeness of the abandonment.

Matthew 27:45

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. The darkness from noon to three PM: the creation's response to the crucifixion of the Creator's Son. The darkness echoes the ninth plague of Egypt (Exodus 10:22) and the prophetic darkness-at-noon of Amos 8:9 (I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight).

Matthew 27:46

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying: Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? That is, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The cry of dereliction: the opening of Psalm 22 — my God, my God, why have you forsaken me — is Jesus' cry from the cross. The loud voice communicates the intensity of the cry; the Hebrew/Aramaic words communicate its authenticity. The forsakenness is the deepest dimension of the atonement: the one who bore the sin of many experienced the separation from God that sin produces.

Matthew 27:47

And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said: this man is calling Elijah. The misunderstanding of the Eli (my God) as Elijah — the one whose return the prophetic tradition anticipated — is the final ironic misunderstanding of Jesus' identity. The crowd hears the cry of God-abandonment and thinks it is a call for the prophet's rescue.

Matthew 27:48

And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. The sour wine on the reed — the fulfillment of Psalm 69:21 (they gave me sour wine for my thirst) — is the final provision offered to the one who is dying. The sponge on the reed communicates the method: the wine is raised to the lips of the one on the cross.

Matthew 27:49

But the others said: wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. The crowd's watching for Elijah: the let us see whether Elijah will come is the final sign-seeking at the cross, the final wait for the spectacular rescue that will not come. The God who could send twelve legions of angels chooses not to send even one.

Matthew 27:50

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. The loud voice of the death cry — not the fading silence of the exhausted — and the yielded up his spirit: the Greek aphiemi (to send away, to release) communicates the active, voluntary character of the death. Jesus does not have his spirit taken; he releases it. John 19:30 records the word: it is finished.

Matthew 27:51

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The cosmic signs at the moment of death: the temple curtain torn from top to bottom (the direction communicates divine agency, not human tearing), the earthquake, the split rocks. The torn curtain — the veil separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place — communicates the new access to God's presence that the death has opened. Hebrews 10:19–20 interprets the torn curtain explicitly.

Matthew 27:52

The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. The opened tombs and the raised saints: the resurrection of many at the crucifixion is the immediate eschatological consequence of Jesus' death. The saints who were asleep — the dead of Israel's covenant history — are raised as the firstfruits of the general resurrection.

Matthew 27:53

And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. The appearance of the raised saints after Jesus' resurrection in the holy city: the timing (after his resurrection) grounds the saints' appearance in Jesus' own resurrection as its cause. The holy city Jerusalem receives the testimony of the resurrected saints.

Matthew 27:54

When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said: truly this was the Son of God! The centurion's confession — truly this was the Son of God — is the climactic human response to the crucifixion. The Roman soldiers who mocked the King of the Jews now confess the Son of God. The centurion's confession is the Gentile conversion that the Olivet Discourse anticipated: the gospel proclaimed to all nations produces confessions from the ends of the earth.

Matthew 27:55

There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him. The women who watch from a distance: the faithful women who followed Jesus from Galilee — ministering to him throughout the journey — are present at the cross when the eleven have fled. The ministering women provide the continuity of witness between the crucifixion and the resurrection.

Matthew 27:56

Among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. The named women at the cross: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. The mother of James and John — who earlier asked for her sons' places of honor (Matthew 20:20) — is now present at the cross where the robbers occupy the places of honor.

Matthew 27:57

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. The burial of Jesus: Joseph of Arimathea — a wealthy disciple, the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:9 (with a rich man in his death) — goes to Pilate to request the body. The disciple who has not appeared before now steps forward at the moment of greatest risk.

Matthew 27:58

He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. The request and the grant: Pilate's willingness to give the body to Joseph communicates the governor's final act of deference toward the one he declared innocent. The body's release to a known disciple rather than common burial communicates the dignity that the Isaiah prophecy anticipated.

Matthew 27:59

And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud. The clean linen shroud communicates the care and honor of the burial. The linen that will be left in the tomb at the resurrection (John 20:5–7) is the burial cloth that the risen Jesus leaves behind.

Matthew 27:60

And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. The new tomb cut in the rock — the tomb in which no one had yet been laid (Luke 23:53) — is the burial place that will become the site of the resurrection. The great stone rolled to the entrance will be rolled away by the angel at the resurrection (Matthew 28:2).

Matthew 27:61

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. The women who watched the crucifixion from a distance are now sitting opposite the tomb — watching, waiting, witnessing. The two Marys' vigil at the tomb is the act of faithful presence that makes them the first witnesses of the resurrection.

Matthew 27:62

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate. The guard at the tomb: on the Sabbath, the chief priests and Pharisees go to Pilate to request a guard for the tomb. The day after the day of Preparation is the Sabbath — and the religious leaders are visiting Pilate on the day they are supposed to rest. The irony communicates their priority: securing the tomb matters more than Sabbath observance.

Matthew 27:63

Saying: sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive: after three days I will rise. The impostor charge: the chief priests call Jesus an impostor (planos — the one who leads others astray) and cite his resurrection prediction. The prediction that the disciples have not yet understood (Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 20:19) is remembered by his opponents more clearly than by his followers.

Matthew 27:64

Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, he has been raised from the dead. The conspiracy to prevent the resurrection's proclamation: the secure tomb is the chief priests' strategy to prevent the disciples from stealing the body and claiming a resurrection. The strategy will fail — not because the disciples steal the body but because Jesus rises.

Matthew 27:65

Pilate said to them: you have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can. Pilate's authorization of the guard: the go, make it as secure as you can is the grant of the temple guard to secure the tomb. The as secure as you can communicates the governor's permission for whatever security measures the chief priests deem necessary.

Matthew 27:66

So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. The sealed stone and the guard are the human precautions against the event that no human precaution can prevent. The more secure the tomb is made, the more undeniable the resurrection will be when it occurs: the Roman guard and the sealed stone are the witnesses to the impossibility of a stolen body, and their testimony will be purchased by the chief priests in Matthew 28:12–13.