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.” ²⁵ And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” ²⁶ Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. ²⁷ Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. ²⁸ And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 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!” ³⁰ And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 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.

In an article in Nature, authors Lee and Schwartz argue that the act of physically washing one’s hands seems to have psychological effects on human beings. They write:

Hand washing removes more than dirt—it also removes the guilt of past misdeeds, weakens the urge to engage in compensatory behavior, and attenuates the impact of disgust on moral judgment. These findings are usually conceptualized in terms of a purity-morality metaphor that links physical and moral cleanliness; however, they may also reflect that washing more generally removes traces of the past by metaphorically wiping the slate clean. If so, washing one’s hands may lessen the influence of past behaviors that have no moral implications at all.

They continue:

…the psychological impact of physical cleansing extends beyond the moral domain. Much as washing can cleanse us from traces of past immoral behavior, it can also cleanse us from traces of past decisions, reducing the need to justify them. This observation is not captured by the purity-morality metaphor and highlights the need for a better understanding of the processes that mediate the psychological impact of physical cleansing. To further constrain the range of plausible candidate explanations, future research may test whether the observed “clean slate” effect is limited to past acts that may threaten one’s self-view (e.g., moral transgressions and potentially poor choices) or also extends to past behaviors with positive implications.[1]

Well, that is most interesting! Even so, be that what it may, physical washings cannot remove the stain sin. And yet, symbols are powerful, and they can be used for good or ill.

Our text is filled with symbols, one futile, one pernicious, but both corrected by the higher realities of the Kingdom to which they unwittingly point.

A symbolic purification.

We begin with Pilate’s symbolic cleansing of himself. There is no way out for Pilate the politician, at least not one he will dare take. Having tried to please everybody he has pleased nobody and so he hands Jesus over to be crucified. But not before he does something most telling.

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.”

This was actually a common custom of the Jews, as the 2^nd–3^rd century BC “Letter to Aristeas” reveals:

…after saluting the king went back to their own place. And as is the custom of all the Jews, they washed their hands in the sea and prayed to God and then devoted themselves to reading and translating the particular passage upon which they were engaged, and I put the question to them, Why it was that they washed their hands before they prayed? And they explained that it was a token that they had done no evil (for every form of activity is wrought by means of the hands) since in their noble and holy way they regard everything as a symbol of righteousness and truth.[2]

Perhaps the article mentioned above is correct. Perhaps people feel somehow less guilty after a physical washing. Even so, the removal of outward dirt does not touch the soul. Guilt is not increased or lessened by water.

There is a famous scene in Macbeth in which Lady Macbeth feverishly washes her hands in a mad effort to remove the blood that speaks of her and her husband’s guilt in the murder of King Duncan. Watch:

Doctor

What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs her hands.

Gentlewoman

It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus
washing her hands: I have known her continue in
this a quarter of an hour.

LADY MACBETH

Yet here’s a spot.

Doctor

Hark! she speaks: I will set down what comes from
her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.

LADY MACBETH

Out, damned spot! out, I say!–One: two: why,
then, ’tis time to do’t.–Hell is murky!–Fie, my
lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we
fear who knows it, when none can call our power to
account?–Yet who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him.

The scenes are similar, Pilate’s washing and that of Lady Macbeth. There is something desperate in it and something pitiful. There is also something foolish in it. The stain of sin cannot be removed by water.

Yet Pilate’s actions do unwittingly speak to a greater washing that could have saved him. This washing was spoken of in the Old Testament, in Isaiah 1, where we read:

¹⁸ Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

The spot and stain of sin can indeed be washed out. The prophets foretold it! But not by water. Even so, Christ instituted a water ordinance that speaks of and points to the greater washing that can, in fact, touch our souls. In Romans 6, Paul speaks of baptism in an interesting way:

⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

By baptism, we are buried with Christ so that we might also rise with Christ. Baptism, then, is bound up with the cross and the empty tomb of Jesus, with His death and His resurrection. Even here, then, it is not the literal waters of baptism that washes us clean, but the greater washing of which baptism is a symbol and a type.

And what is that greater washing? In Revelation 7, we read:

¹³ Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” ¹⁴ I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

There it is: It is the blood of Jesus that washes our robes white as snow.

The blood of the Lamb, Jesus, is that which cleanses, that which purifies. It is the only washing that can touch the soul. And that means that, without knowing it, it was actually the blood of Christ that Pilate was really looking for when he attempted to wash away his sin. And it is the blood of Christ that the whole world is looking for, whether it knows it or not, for the soul yearns for cleansing, for forgiveness, for healing.

A symbolic coronation.

Then there is the symbolic and mocking coronation of Jesus by the Romans.

²⁶ Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. ²⁷ Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. ²⁸ And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 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!” ³⁰ And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 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.

Jesus is scourged. Jesus is handed over. An entire battalion surrounds Him. He is stripped. A scarlet robe is put on him. A crown of thorns is placed on His head. A reed is put in His right hand. The soldiers kneel before Him, mocking Him with sneering: “Hail, King of the Jews!” He is spat upon. He is struck in the head with the reed. He is mocked. He is stripped. He is dressed in His own closed. He is led away to be crucified.

This is a mock coronation followed by demonic violence against Jesus.

The robe is for sport. So is the crown and the reed.

The kneeling is for laughs and is intended to humiliate.

The fingerprints of Satan are all over this blasphemy. He rejoiced over it and in it. The soldiers unknowingly mock the true and only King of Heaven and earth.

They crown Jesus and uncrown Jesus to their shame, not His. For the brow of Jesus is the only brow worthy of a crown.

They robe Jesus and disrobe Jesus to their shame, not His. For Jesus alone is worthy to be robed as King.

Here too, as with Pilate, the soldiers are doing and saying more than they realize. For their mock coronation unwittingly highlights the fact about which they laugh: Jesus is, in fact, King!

There are other symbolic robings and adornments in the scriptures, and each of these robings has meaning.

Consider the delicious scene in Esther 6 in which Haman—who wanted to hang noble Mordecai from the gallows—is instructed by the king to honor Mordecai the Jew for his role in saving King Ahasuerus’ life.

⁶ So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” And Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?” ⁷ And Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, ⁸ let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set. ⁹ And let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials. Let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor, and let them lead him on the horse through the square of the city, proclaiming before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.’” ¹⁰ Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry; take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.” ¹¹ So Haman took the robes and the horse, and he dressed Mordecai and led him through the square of the city, proclaiming before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.”

Here, the robes represent the king’s honor and favor.

And consider the prodigal son in Luke 15.

²⁰ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. ²³ And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. ²⁴ For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Here, the robe and ring and shoes represent forgiveness and the full and complete restoration of the repentant child.

Robes also appear prominently in Revelation. Thus, in Revelation 7:

⁹ After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

¹³ Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” ¹⁴ I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

And, too, in Revelation 22, the last chapter of the Bible, we read:

¹² “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” ¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

Here the white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb represent salvation, purchased by Jesus.

These Roman soldiers who robe Jesus are pointing to a fact that they dare not entertain as possible: Jesus and Jesus alone is King and Jesus and Jesus alone can save them! In point of fact, the robe of deity and royalty and honor can never be stripped off of Jesus! And, because of that fact, Jesus is able to robe us, to clothe us in His righteousness.

He was disrobed by the cruel soldiers so that we could be robed in eternal life!

He was stripped so that we could be covered!

Our King does not have His robe taken…He gives it, for us, and, amazingly, for the very men who beat and crucified it, if they would be receive it.

The symbolic coronation of Jesus by the Romans spoke of their own coming judgment and spoke of the salvation of all who would come to Jesus. Why? Because Jesus truly is King and Lord of all! He is the King who takes the cross so that we can be saved.

A prophecy.

In the middle of our text, there is a statement by “all the people” in response to Pilate’s declaration of his own innocence. And this statement constitutes a prophecy, but not in ways that the people understood and anticipated.

²⁵ And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children.”

By this they meant that they would accept whatever judgment the crucifixion of Jesus might bring down from Heaven. It was a defiant way of saying that they were prepared to stand by the full consequences of their actions.

Yet, here again, their words are saying more than they realize and their prophecy will be fulfilled in a way that they cannot realize.

Yes, per their intended meeting, their sins would bring the wrath of God upon them. In one sense, “His blood be on us and on our children” is a simple recognition that we are all guilty before the judgment seat of God, that we are all culpable for the blood of Jesus. It is a way of saying that we all stand condemned.

And yet, in ways they could not have imagined, the blood of Jesus would be upon some of them and some of their children in a saving way, in a way that kept them from judgment, in a way that opened to them the Kingdom! For it was only in the blood of Christ that they and we can be saved! And to the extent that any who said “His blood be upon us” eventually came to trust in Jesus and His shed blood, and to the extent that any of their children came to trust in Jesus, that cry was a cry of salvation: His saving blood be upon us!

The blood of Jesus saves all who come to Jesus in repentance and faith!

They may have only been saying, “Let God judge us if He will for this!” But they were also potentially saying, “Let God save us through this blood!”, for any who came under the blood of Christ in faith would, in fact, have been saved.

In other words, their cry was their condemnation as it pertained to their guilt, but their cry was their salvation as it pertained to the love of God in Christ!

Their cry was a cry of two potential fulfillments. They could be condemned for their wickedness. They could be saved by grace through faith. It all depended on what they ultimately would do with Jesus. Would any of them turn and receive Him, turn and repent, turn and embrace the cross in faith that they had helped to raise in anger?

How about you?

How about me?

The blood of Jesus is our only hope.

The crown of Jesus is our only certainty.

These people—all of them, Jews and Romans alike—were saying more than they realized.

Come to the water that can actually cleanse: the blood of Jesus.

Come to the one who is actually King: Jesus.

Come to the blood that can actually save: that of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away:
Wash all my sins away,
Wash all my sins away;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its pow’r,
Till all the ransomed Church of God
Be saved, to sin no more:
Be saved, to sin no more,
Be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed Church of God
Be saved to sin no more.

E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die:
And shall be till I die,
And shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.

When this poor lisping, stamm’ring tongue
Lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save:
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save,
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save;
Then in a nobler, sweeter song
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.

 

[1] https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/07/wash-your-hands and https://mindblog.dericbownds.net/search?updated-max=2010-06-09T05:30:00-05:00&max-results=20&reverse-paginate=true&start=200&by-date=false&m=0

[2] https://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/aristeas.htm