The Counsel of the Ungodly Council
Christ's Suffering Through the Eyes of Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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The very opening words of the Psalms set the tone for what a blessed man does not do:
Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
Judas would have been wise to remember these words, for he did take counsel with the ungodly religious establishment of Israel. And in so doing he may have earned for himself the hottest spot in the pits of hell. Certainly he could not find any form of blessing after having betrayed his Lord. Rather he took his place among those destined to perish.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
also speaks to those who conferred together against Jesus.
Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
“Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.
Please take your Bible and turn to as we consider the counsel of the ungodly Council. This passage contrasts the hardness of heart and hypocrisy of the Sanhedrin, and the remorse and despair of Judas with the innocence of Jesus. The innocence of Christ is an important themes because if He wasn’t innocent then He could not be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Because He was completely innocent in every sense of the word He was able to become the sin bearer for all who place their faith in His grace which is poured out for many.
As we go through this text we will focus on the remorse of Judas. We will look at the cause of his remorse, the act of remorse, the hard-hearted hypocrisy of the Council in dealing with his remorse, and then the plan of God coming together. Peter’s words on the Day of Pentecost point to the historical and theological implications of this passage:
this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
Let’s read our passage together:
Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death;
and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor.
Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!”
And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.
The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.”
And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers.
For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel;
and they gave them for the Potter’s Field, as the Lord directed me.”
Let’s first consider:
The Cause of Judas’s Remorse
The Cause of Judas’s Remorse
The first cause of Judas’s remorse was Jesus’s death sentence
Notice verse 1.
Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death;
Illegal night-time trial
A day-time conferral to rubber-stamp the illegal sentence
The next cause of Judas’s remorse was Jesus being delivered to Pilate for execution
Notice verse 2.
and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor.
Why was it necessary to bind Jesus when He had made no attempts to escape?
Pilate was a military leader who was appointed over his post as governor in 26 A.D. He served until 36 A.D.
The N.T. seems to portray him as an indecisive wimp, but extra-biblical source portray him as a tyrant
It has been suggested that the reason for the N.T. portrayal is that he had recently been rebuked by Caesar about his tyrannical ways
As we have seen before, it was necessary for Jesus to be turned over to Pilate for a couple of reasons:
Israel did not have the authority to execute criminals — only Rome could
It had been prophesied that this would happen
And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men;
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death,
and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”
Another cause of Judas’s remorse is that he saw that Jesus was condemned
Look at the first part of verse 3:
Then when Judas, who betrayed Him, SAW that He had been condemned ...
Some believe that Peter wasn’t the only one of the disciples to have been in the courtyard of the high priest — that Judas was there as well
They may have wanted him to be on hand in case they needed him as a witness as well as a betrayer
The term translated “saw” literally means to perceive with the eyes
One of the thoughts that has been running through my mind this week has to do with the Satanic influence on Judas. In John’s account we learn that after the last supper Jesus informed the twelve that one of them would be His betrayer. And John tells us that he was the closest one to Jesus at the table, and having asked the Lord which one it would be,
And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve.
John also testified to this truth. After the last supper Jesus informed the twelve that one of them would be His betrayer. And John tells us that he was the closest one to Jesus at the table, and having asked the Lord which one it would be,
Jesus then answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”
What I’ve wondered about was if perhaps Satan had departed from Judas by the time of the incident we are looking at today. If so, then perhaps his remorse was somehow tied to a different perspective in the absence of the indwelling of the devil.
That being said, it does not exonerate what Judas did. As Jesus had said in
The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”
So far we have been looking at the cause of Judas’s remorse. Let’s turn our attention to
Judas’s act of Remorse
Judas’s act of Remorse
Let’s look at what Judas’s remorse led him to do.
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,
Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!”
And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.
The Greek term “met-am-el'-lom-ahee” has more to do with regret and remorse than with true repentance. From the KJV one could argue that Judas returned to Christ and was saved. Of course the context shows otherwise.
Paul used this term to refer to godly sorrow which can lead to true repentance. But in Judas’s case it led to something far short of true repentance. Let’s look at what else Judas’s remorse led him to do.
First, Judas’s remorse led him to return the wages of betrayal
There is an important distinction between remorse and repentance. It is rather unfortunate that the King James uses the term “repent” instead of remorse in verse 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,
The Greek term “met-am-el'-lom-ahee” has more to do with regret and remorse than with true repentance. From the KJV one could argue that Judas returned to Christ and was saved. Of course the context shows otherwise.
Paul used this term to refer to godly sorrow which can lead to true repentance. But in Judas’s case it led to something far short of true repentance
Second, Judas’s remorse led him to a confession of sin
Notice the first part of verse 4:
“I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
It almost comes across that Judas went to the priests looking for help in dealing with his dirty conscience. After all the priests were to be the spiritual leaders of Israel. Their daily sacrifices had to do with dealing with the guilt of sin, and the dirty conscience that sin produced in the sinner. But, as we will see in a few moments, these men would not lift a finger to help their partner in crime deal with his conscience.
Third, Judas’s remorse led to an act of spite
Notice the first part of verse 5.
{Judas} threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed.
This was no act of charity as some have argued. Rather it was an act of spite against the high priests. The term translated “temple sanctuary” refers to the holy place in the temple, in which only priests could enter. Judas was forcing the priests to enter the sanctuary and defile themselves by touching the blood money they had given him for leading to the capture of Jesus.
Fourth, Judas’s remorse led him to self-retribution
Notice the last part of verse 5:
And he went away and hanged himself.
Suicide is the nation’s 10th leading cause of death, and the number of cases has been on the rise. The rate of suicide has gone up steadily since 1999. In the U.S., suicide is twice as common as homicide. That is a stunning statistic. Even more stunning is the fact that in high school and college age students it is the 3rd leading cause of death.
Last fall I attended a suicide awareness training session. And now I am actually a registered suicide awareness person — whatever that means. One of the things that I found alarming was that, aside from the high rate of student suicides, the highest adult group is men over the age of 65.
What leads people to commit suicide?
For the males in the over 65 age group it may be a sense of loss of purpose upon retirement
Stress and anxiety of many kinds can lead a person to suicide
Health issues can lead to suicide — which has become all the more prevalent since the days of Dr. Kavorkian
Guilt and remorse are also a strong motive for sucide
Guilt and remorse was obviously Judas’s motive for killing himself. Like most Jews, Judas was probably familiar with the curse from the law of Moses regarding falsely testifying against an innocent person.
‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
It is possible, though maybe not probable, that Judas was seeking to have Jesus released rather than executed. And even possible that he was seeking to exchange places with Him in judgment, since he would have been aware of the penalty for false-witnesses.
The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely,
then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.
Realizing that he was already cursed, he determined to die in a way that reflected that curse.
his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.
“For he who is hanged is accursed by God.”
Let’s turn our attention now from Judas to
The Hard-Hearted Hypocrisy of the Council
The Hard-Hearted Hypocrisy of the Council
Note first that
The Council refused to give aid to their partner in crime
Notice verse 4 again. Judas came to them
saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!”
I like the way The Message translates this verse:
saying, “I’ve sinned. I’ve betrayed an innocent man.” They said, “What do we care? That’s your problem!”
How often in a crime drama do we have a scene in which a person who was paid to commit a crime on another person’s behalf, comes to that person after the fact admitting a sense of guilt? And the person who hired the other one either kills the person as a loose end or sends them away believing that they could not be charged with the crime.
That is the sense in which the Council dealt with Judas. It is almost as if the Council gave ungodly counsel for Judas to go hang himself! Of course this goes along with what Jesus had said about them during His infamous pronouncement of woes.
They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.
The next thing we see regarding the chief priests is that
The Council acted in a hypocritical fashion regarding the wages of betrayal
Look at verse 6.
The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.”
I find it so odd that the Council either did not see their hypocrisy or just didn’t care. On the one hand they had no qualms about taking money from the temple treasury to pay Judas to betray Jesus. On the other hand they refused to put the money back into the treasury. As if the former was acceptable but the later was not!
Let’s note next that
The Council used the blood money to purchase The Field of Blood
Notice verse 7-8.
And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers.
For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
Why was this cemetery called the Field of Blood?
Possibly because that is the same field where Judas committed suicide
According to Peter’s account
(Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out.
And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
Peter may have ascribed this field to Judas because his wages of death were used for its purchase
Another possibility is that the news of the Council’s hypocrisy became well known and so the term was applied derisively to this field
Let’s turn our attention now to
The Plan of God Coming Together
The Plan of God Coming Together
The events that led to Jesus’s betrayal and death were an offense to God. And yet they were also part of the predetermined plan of God for the redemption of His people.
The last part of our text is also the last use of the fulfillment formula in Matthew.
Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel;
and they gave them for the Potter’s Field, as the Lord directed me.”
Obviously Matthew saw much in the actions of both Judas and the chief priests as fulfillment of this prophecy:
Thirty pieces of silver as the price for betrayal
The purchase of the Potter’s field
If God’s plans regarding the death of Messiah came together in such precise detail, then we can be confident that all of His plans will be fulfilled.
Sometimes we might find ourselves discouraged or even despondent because of the weight of life. The bad news for Judas was that there was no hope of help coming from the Lord. But for you and me there is always hope. If we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior then we have the certainty of hope — an eternal dwelling with Christ awaits us. We need to cultivate this hope by living according to His word. Put off the things that belong to our old way of life, and putting on the things that belong to our new life in Christ.
Even Christians can find themselves in such despair that they are tempted to take their own life. If and when that is the case take for you, then you need to take your eyes off of yourself and focus on Jesus. I think the words of the old song by Bev Shea are put so well, and perhaps if they are your pursuit, it will help you through the hard times.
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold; I’d rather be His than have riches untold; I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand
Than to be the king of a vast domain and be held in sins’ dread sway. I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.
Judas pursued his lot because he decided that he rather have the vast domain than to have Jesus. What about you?
Let’s pray.
Closing Song #506
I’d Rather Have Jesus
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.