The Cupboard Was Bare

OPENING PRAYER:

Lord of Life, thank you for your watchcare over me. It is personal, penetrating, and abiding. How great you are.

READ: Matthew 27:1-10

Judas Hangs Himself

27 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. 2 So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. 8 That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10 and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”[a]

Footnotes

[a] Matthew 27:10 See Zech. 11:12,13; Jer. 19:1-13; 32:6-9.

Matthew 27:1-10

REFLECT:

‘Before thy throne we sinners bend – grace, pardon, life to us extend.’* In what ways could you personally apply this hymn’s prayer?

Judas is in a bad way. He is racked with regret. He hates himself. He hates the sordid money he was paid. He has seen Jesus led away for sentencing, and blurts out before the chief priests, ‘I have betrayed innocent blood’ (vs 3,4a). And they reply, in effect, ‘Not our problem’ (v 4b). If your church minister spoke like that to someone who was broken inside because of something they had done, what would you think? When Judas turned up at the temple full of remorse and needing restoration, there was no one to help him. The temple leaders had nothing to offer. Their cupboard was bare. They were as lost as Judas. Judas did not know how to get back to Jesus, the gracious friend of sinners. He never saw the cross.

The days of the temple were coming to an end. God had commanded it to be the place of regular sacrifices for sin, but now there was a better sacrifice coming, to take away the sin of the world. It was not far away. Just outside the city wall. The place to find God was shifting. Now we do not go to the temple, but to the cross; in fact, not to a place, but to a person; not to a system, but to a Savior.

*‘Father of Heaven, Whose Love Profound’, E. Cooper (1770–1833)

APPLY:

Have you ever been in despair? What has that experience shown you about helping people when they are in trouble?

CLOSING PRAYER:

Loving Father, stir my heart. I know I am guilty of all sorts of sins from selfish motives. Judas was filled with remorse, but lead me to repentance, and grant me your gracious forgiveness.

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