HIS BLOOD BE ON US AND OUR CHILDREN

Texts: Exodus 24:1-11; Matthew 27:11-32

I. BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH! (Matthew 27:11-26)

A. Jesus is accused by the high priests and elders of sedition/treason (Matthew 27:11-12,37; cf. John 19:12).

B. The second most remembered and infamous traitor in history is probably Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus.

1. Brutus, helped assassinate Julius Caesar, the emperor and his best friend in 44 BC.

2. Et tu, Brute? (from Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar)

3. Interestingly, the Ides of March fell close to the time of the Jewish Passover.

C. The chief priests and elders of Israel were betraying everything they stood for (cf. Acts 2:14-41; 7:1-60).

Ø They were betraying God.

Ø They were betraying the covenant

Ø They were betraying justice.

Ø They were betraying their King.

D. Pilate was “quite amazed” (Matthew 27:14).

1. The Jews didn’t believe Caesar was king and here they were handing over a “Jewish King.”

2. Despite the Jews handing Him over and despite the humiliation that Jesus has already endured, He still claimed to be king of the Jews! (Matthew 27:11).

E. The dream of Pilate’s wife (Matthew 27:19) was reminiscent of the dream of Julius Caesar’s wife on eve of the Ides of March.

Julius Caesar’s wife dreamed her husband was lying on the ground dead. Before Caesar went to the senate the next day she begged and clung to him not to leave the house because of the visions of her dreams.

But Brutus said to Caesar, “What is this, Caesar? Are you a man to pay attention to a woman’s dreams?”[1] "Would you like me tell them (the Senate) that their Caesar couldn't meet today because his wife had a bad dream?"[2]

1. Caesar's death marked the end of the Roman Republic. Jesus’ death would lead to the end of the Mosaic Temple and the destruction of Jerusalem.

2. The betrayal of Julius Caesar by the Roman Senate led to the beginning of the Roman Empire. The betrayal of Jesus by the Jewish Sanhedrin ushered in the Kingdom of God and its gradual extension to the ends of the earth.

3. The testimony of Jesus before Pilate laid the foundation for the rest of the New Testament’s emphasis upon the Lordship of Jesus and His supremacy as King of kings.

F. Pilate pleads innocence (v.24). The crowd pleads guilty (v.25). Jesus is handed over to be crucified (v.26).

II. HIS BLOOD SHALL BE ON US AND ON OUR CHILDREN (Matthew 27:25)

A. The Passion Narrative has not only been used to tell the story of Jesus’ arrest, trial, torture and crucifixion, but has been used for centuries to justify the persecution, torture and death of Jews.

The strongest attacks on Jews and Judaism by the Church Fathers are to be found in the Homilies of Chrysostom (344-407 C.E.) in his Antioch sermons. His discourses were prompted by the fact that many Christians were meeting on friendly terms with Jews, visiting Jewish homes, and attending their synagogues. Chrysostom said that the Jews had become a degenerate race because of their "odious assassination of Christ for which crime there is no expiation possible, no indulgence, no pardon, and for which they will always be a people without a nation, enduring a servitude without end.”…On another occasion Chrysostom is quoted as saying "I hate the Jews because they violate the Law. I hate the synagogue because it has the Law and the prophets. It is the duty of all Christians to hate the Jews.” (quoted by Sandra Williams, “The Origins of Christian Anti-Semitism”.)

1. In the 9^th and 10^th century, it was the custom in some parts of the world to strike a Jew on the face on Good Friday.

2. By the end of the thirteenth century, the mass murder of Jews had become a common occurrence in Germany and France. It is estimated that some 100,000 Jews died as a result of persecution during that century.

3. The Council of Nicaea (325) said, “We desire, dearest brethren, to separate ourselves from the detestable company of the Jews... How, then, could we follow these Jews, who are almost certainly blinded.”

4. In 1543 Martin Luther wrote a pamphlet On the Jews and Their Lies, advocating eight ways of harshly persecuting the Jews.

5. Pope Paul IV declared in a Papal Bull (1555), “It appears utterly absurd and impermissible that the Jews, whom God has condemned to eternal slavery for their guilt, should enjoy our Christian love.”

6. For Francis Schaefer's view on anti-semitism click here. For quotes on the Jews by reformed theologians click here.

B. “His blood shall be on us and our children” while intended by the crowd to be a curse, is ironically the source of blessing! (Exodus 24; Zechariah 9:11; Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 9:16-22)

1. So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” (Exodus 24:8)

“[I]t is often overlooked that the Nicene Creed, the one Christian foundation document that is accepted by Catholics and Protestants and by the Orthodox with only one change (the omission of “from the Son”), says nothing of the Jews and mentions only Pontius Pilate” (Clarke, The Gospel of Matthew and Its Readers p.228).

Jacobus Koelman (1633–1695) is considered by many to be one of the premier representatives of the Nadere Reformatie (The Dutch Second Reformation). Koelman taught that the Jews must be restored to Palestine, and that the testimony of the converted Jews will be a light to the Gentiles.

“Besides the prophecies of the calling of the Jews, we have a remarkable providential seal of the fulfillment of this great event, by a kind of continual miracle, viz. their being preserved a distinct nation...the world affords nothing else like it. There is undoubtedly a remarkable hand of providence in it. When they shall be called, that ancient people, who alone were so long God's people for so long a time, shall be his people again, never to be rejected more. They shall be gathered together into one fold, together with the Gentiles....” (Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 1, Banner of Truth Trust, 1976, page 607.)

2. As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. (Zechariah 9:11)

3. for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:28 with Matthew 1:21).

Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
“For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” (Acts 2:38-39)

After the Holocaust in 1945, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the Episcopal Bishop Edward R. Wells concerning the response of the Church during this time. He stated:

Being a lover of freedom… I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks. Only the church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing the truth. I never had any special interest in the church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly (Thomas Torrance, “Einstein and God”; as reported in The Evening News, Baltimore, April 13, 1979).

QUESTIONS FOR SABBATH DISCUSSION & MEDITATION

Pray that God would enable you and give you the desire to be conformed to His Word as read and preached today.

What is the Ides of March? How does the betrayal and death of Jesus tie in with it?

How might the Ides of March fit in with the dream of Pilate’s wife?

What does the name Barabbas mean?

What is the irony of Pilate’s washing his hands and pleading innocence?

Why has the Passion Narrative been used to justify the persecution, torture and death of Jews?

Are the Gospels anti-Semitic?

Why are the words “His blood shall be on us and our children” an ironic form of blessing?

[1] "...his friends were alarmed at certain rumors and tried to stop him going to the Senate-house, as did his doctors, for he was suffering from one of his occasional dizzy spells. His wife, Calpurnia, especially, who was frightened by some visions in her dreams, clung to him and said that she would not let him go out that day. But Brutus, one of the conspirators who was then thought of as a firm friend, came up and said, 'What is this, Caesar? Are you a man to pay attention to a woman's dreams and the idle gossip of stupid men, and to insult the Senate by not going out, although it has honored you and has been specially summoned by you? But listen to me, cast aside the forebodings of all these people, and come. The Senate has been in session waiting for you since early this morning.' This swayed Caesar and he left." (The Assassination of Julius Caesar, 44 BC)