Matthew 27:1-44 KJV
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.
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.
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.
23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.
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;
37 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.

As the elders and chief priest decide how they might accuse Jesus before Pontius Pilate the governor of Judea who was at the feast of the passover. There several main characters in this story. Jesus first of all is in the story, he is the one going to his cross to be crucified. Judas, the Priesthood and the elders, involved in the betrayal forgiveness sought, forgiveness and no repentance not coming before the trial. You Pontius Pilate, his wife, and Barabbas all being cleared of this whole mess. Then you got the soldiers, thieves and the crowd at the cross. Alot going on in this passage but the story does not stop at verse 44. It continues and we work on that tomorrow. Usually he is buried on Friday, but this year it looks like we son't get him to grave until Saturday, However saturday being Jewish Sabbath, we just continue on, because nothing happened the next day because of the day of rest.

When we study only these characters we see several things happening, those that were ready to stop the crucifixion and others ready to cheer it on so to speak. You also got those who were going to have their hands washed of the whole mess. Yet can you wash your hands from crucifying Jesus? You can say I was not born when these things happened, and that be true. However it does not stop the continue crucifixion of Jesus(the word of God). It does not stop people miss using God's word, deny God word, or forsaking God's word for the lies of the devil(sinning against the word of God). The cross itself is allegory of the truth of what all mankind does. It more then that is also a metaphor for spiritual truth that hurts our own heart once pricked with the truth of the word of God that we continue as a people, as a nation and even individual to crucify Jesus.

There people like Judas who make a profit only to try and give it back once the reality of what they done comes to their heart, they cast their pearls before swine, that only wanted to destroy Jesus. Judas anger had taken him on a road he could not find repentance on, though he sought it. He sought it only to find one solution in his heart to kill himself. In truth he did not understand that Jesus would rise again, forgiveness could of been found if he believed the words of Christ. Yet he sought the devils that encouraged his betrayal and not the one that could heal him of it.

The Priesthood and elders had no remorse for their actions, never fully understanding that they were destroying their own salvation. Yet after the resurrection 500 people seen Jesus alive. No doubt these were others, but five hundred witnesses that knew who Jesus was. The writer here is Theophilus recording in the book of Acts, Paul and others of the early church, including the disciples testimony.

Then you have Pilate who is not only governor but a judge in this case involving those that wish to persecute Jesus. He also was influenced by his wife and her dreams. He was willing to trust and believe is wife in this case, that he took his hands and washed them before the people, til them they had permission to crucify Jesus, but he could not find anything wrong, and for that reason did not see the need to kill him. Is sin still there, with not using his power to stop the crucifixion of Jesus. Though he said he was clean of the matter. Guilt by not using force necessary to protect and innocent life.

The soldiers that day did was instructed them to do, by nailing him to the cross. There is Simeon of Cyrene who was a by passer who got recruited to carry the cross for Jesus. We can not leave him out, because his sons and him would witness his crucifixion and become instrumental in spreading the Gospels to the Greeks. Sometimes our burden aids in our sight for our future. If we can understand our own sin and we over came our sin, we can help someone over their sin through salvation through Christ Jesus first, and then helping them learn how to resist temptation through mediation and study of God's word. Sometimes we need help other then just Jesus to carry our load. God has asked us to take up our cross not only to aid him in his cross, but he too will aid us in our cross. What is God's part in all this, he gave man choice. Than one choice to obey or disobey God, but with that choice he gave man the ability to make a decision about that choice, the ability to admit we can not help but sin, meaning we fail to live up to God expectations, but he gave us the power through the cross to have eternal life through what belief in his Son Jesus/his word. Deliverance for our sin, and the sin against God no longer exist because we admit fault and no longer can deny who he is. We carry the cross of Jesus in relationship to stand for truth, righteousness of faith in God, hope/salvation from the wrath of God to others that are unbelievers. It is our duty as a believer, but it the cross of faith that God ask us to bear for him. On so doing He carries the load right beside us. He leads us, carries us at times and even enables us when we need that miracle of grace to save us. He choose us to do this work for him. It like when he asked us to care for the animals and the his creation. He gave us a responsibility.

The soldiers stop along with the crowd to watch as Jesus hung on the tree. The soldiers took the one earthly possession Jesus had and that was garment and cast lots, or bidded on these items. The soldiers sat and watched Jesus die. Did they think about the cruel mocking that they gave Jesus or the beating, or the crown of thorns they placed on his head before taking Jesus to his final torment. Did they think what the nails in his hands felt like, or the piece of paper nailed to the cross that said he was the king of the Jews. Did they even wonder what sort of King he was. Did they wonder what people said about him. They after all was paid to do the job they did for Rome. Did they even consider if any of these soldiers had first hand experience with Jesus and seen the miracles he did. There is much we do not know, but we know the soldier has to do his call. Was the soldiers hands because of his duty to the government, only in the since of the physical nailing, but not the spiritual nailing Jesus to the cross. We all sin and all fall short of the glory of God. We all fail, and we all are in the same boat, until we receive Jesus as Lord. We jump ship and walk on water with him like Peter. we see the storms and Jesus lifts us up and keeps us from drowning and puts us in his ship to protect us til the day of our death, and one day to our home in glory, or until the day of his return, that he calls us to meet us in the sky.

You can jump from the boat of sin anytime and allow your sins to fall into the sins of forgetfulness, knowing Jesus is the only one that can help you walk on water, and the only one that can place you into his boat of faith. That water is going to purge your sin, and the weight of sin going to sink to the bottom of the sea, but your going to one day fly away home.

Every person had a cross in life, but not everyone helps carry Jesus cross. Pilate helped Jesus carry his cross, by doing as the crowd desired. Yet where is the mercy but in Christ words of forgiveness on the cross found in the book of John. "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". More grace then we have individual on those who attack us. Why because of our humanity, it takes God's grace in our life to forgive those who hurt us.

Dear Heavenly Father, you loved us and gave us a wonderful job to those that believer, and yet you showed us more grace with then own love could not abide that why we need your grace to enable us to love others in our weakness, In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Continual Scripture Study: 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 KJV
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.