Matthew 27

Okay, I am going to bring up something here: is it for sure that Judas was condemned? Is this repentance shown here in v. 3-5, not a real one? "...he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, " I have sinned by betraying innocent blood...And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed and he went away and hanged himself". My commentary says that just because he hanged himself that is proof that it wasn't real repentance but just human remorse. Do we really know? How do we know that Judas did not fall to his knees and beg for God's forgiveness? I guess we'll find out one day.

"His blood shall be on us and on our children" v.25. (Israel) Now that is an understatement, isn't it. These verses describing His beatings, scourges, the pain of the cross, all took on new meaning for me when I saw "The Passion of the Christ" by Mel Gibson. To see the honest, real torture of these things done to any man especially a Man of innocence, turns my stomach. I have a hard time reading these verses anymore because those images from the movie were just so graphic and so real. His payment for our sins was more than we can ever truly understand or grasp because we weren't there. What kind of people were these that they could watch such horrific obliteration take place. Ugh. You need to read Psalm 22...it is David's prophesy of these beatings and crucifixion. My favorite part of the whole chapter is v.51, "And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split." You see, the veil in the temple separated The Most Holy Place from the rest of the temple and is a place that only the highest priest could enter to make a sacrifice on behalf of Israel. By the veil being torn away was a representation that a new covenant had begun with Christ's death and we could now go, anyone, to Him, directly. How cool. And the veil was torn from top to bottom to prove that it was an act of God. That was HUGE to the Jews. I learned this a few years ago in BSF and it was one of those 'Aw Ha' moments for me. =)