Matthew 27

Matthew 27
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Gospel of Matthew 27:62-64 on Papyrus 105, from 5th/6th century.
Book	Gospel of Matthew
Bible part	New Testament
Order in the Bible part	1
Category	Gospel

Matthew 27 is the 27th chapter in the Gospel of Matthew, part of the New Testament. It can be divided into the following subsections:

Matthew describes the trial, crucifixion and burial of Jesus.

Jesus is taken to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. At the same time, Judas Iscariot, who had betrayed Jesus, sees his former teacher and is overcome by remorse. Judas brings back the 30 pieces of silver which had been offered to him by the priests of Judea as recompense for identifying his master to Caiphas, throwing them down in the temple, and then leaves to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Jesus impresses Pilate, who is taken aback by Jesus's silent dignity at his questioning. Pilate begins to address the crowd, and asks them to choose between freeing a vindictive prisoner known as Barabbas, or Jesus. The crowd respond passionately, repeating "Let Him (Christ) be crucified"! Pilate, bewildered by this, asks the crowd for a reason for their choice. Instead, they continue to call ever more loudly for the crucifixion of Jesus.

Pontius comes to see that he cannot reason with the crowd. Instead, he tries to absolve himself of his responsibility in the case, washing his hands in a basin and saying to the crowd: "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it."

Jesus is led away to Golgotha (place of a skull), he is offered wine mingled with gall, but does not drink it. The soldiers cast lots for his garments once he is crucified. Those who passed him deride him, taunting him to come down from the cross, saying "He trusts in God, let God deliver him now".

At three o'clock Jesus cries "My God, why have you forsaken me?", and starts to give up on his life. One passer-by offers Jesus some wine to drink but the group tell him "Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to save him". They misunderstand Jesus's pleas, as he is in tremendous physical pain. Jesus cries out once more, but eventually dies.

Suddenly, rocks start to split, and an earthquake occurs, and there follows, after Jesus' resurrection, a resurrection of the dead saints, who enter the holy city. This indicates how the earth has been shaken by the death of the Son of God. Centurions stare on at Jesus in disbelief, as do other bystanders.