The Sins That Crucified Jesus
Text: Matthew 27:1-26
Series: Restoration Sermons
Date:
Speaker: Ed Rangel
Location: Waupaca Church of Christ
Bible Version: NASB 1995
Sermon Type: Expository
Learning Objectives
By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:
- Name all seven sins present in the crucifixion narrative and identify the Scripture text or character that illustrates each.
- Explain what makes willful ignorance different from innocent ignorance — why closing the eyes and stopping the ears transforms the sin of ignorance.
- Explain the connection between religious prejudice and envy, and identify the Scripture that exposes Pilate's knowledge of the real motive.
- Identify the specific mechanism of Pilate's moral weakness — why having the authority and the desire to release Jesus was not enough without the will to act.
- Explain why the statement "the sins that crucified Jesus are still with us" demands consistency — what it means to condemn them in the past while practicing them today.
Thesis
The crucifixion of Jesus was not accomplished by unusually evil people — it was accomplished by ordinary sins operating in ordinary people. The sins that crucified him are not confined to first-century Jerusalem; they are present in every generation, in every community, and in every congregation. Consistency requires condemning them not only in the past but wherever they appear — including in the mirror.
Burden
Matthew 27:1-26 is not a story about ancient history — it is a catalog of sins that are as alive today as they were on the morning the chief priests handed Jesus to Pilate. The burden is to name each sin with precision, identify its mechanism, trace its Scripture references, and press the question: "Is this sin present in me?" The person who mourns the crucifixion without examining whether they practice the sins that accomplished it has not yet read the text honestly.
Introduction
"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" (Matt. 27:1-2). The machinery that moved from that morning conference to the cross ran on fuel that is still available in every human community: ignorance, hatred of the good, religious prejudice, envy, the love of money, lying, and moral weakness.
Many forms of sin may be seen in the crucifixion of Jesus — perhaps all of them. Seven specific sins are identifiable in the text. They are not exotic or unusual; they are common, recognizable, and present wherever human beings live. The statement must be made plainly: the sins that crucified Jesus are still with us. If we are consistent, we must condemn them now — wherever they appear, including in ourselves.
I. The Sin of Ignorance
"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). The Lord's own prayer from the cross interprets the spiritual condition of those who crucified him: ignorance.
The apostolic interpretation confirms it. "Brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also" (Acts 3:17). The people who called for his crucifixion acted without understanding who he was — without grasping the full weight of what they were doing.
But there are two kinds of ignorance, and the text does not allow them to be collapsed into one. There is innocent ignorance — the ignorance of the person who has never had the opportunity to know — and there is culpable ignorance, the ignorance of the person who has closed their eyes against the light. "For the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them" (Matt. 13:14-15). The ignorance of the crucifiers was of this second kind: they had the Scriptures; they had the prophets; they had the signs. They closed their eyes.
The rulers had access to more information than the crowd: "None of the rulers of this age has understood it; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (I Cor. 2:8). Their ignorance is a judgment on the use they made of the knowledge they had.
Truth is still rejected in ignorance today — not the ignorance of those who have never heard, but the ignorance of those who have heard and have chosen not to see.
II. The Sin of Hatred of the Good
"You are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth" (John 8:40). Jesus went about doing good (Acts 10:38) — "God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil."
His own challenge: "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?" (John 10:32). The question has no answer — the outline works were good, everyone knew they were good, and they were stoning him anyway. The sin was not a reaction to anything bad he had done; it was a reaction to the good itself.
Why does good provoke hatred? Because the presence of genuine goodness exposes the absence of goodness in those who observe it. "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil" (John 3:19). The person whose deeds are evil does not merely avoid the light — they resist it, because the light makes the deeds visible. "He who hates Me hates My Father also... they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well... They hated Me without a cause" (John 15:23-25).
The hatred of the good is not gone from the world. Evil consistently opposes good; those who love evil consistently hate those who do not. The person in the congregation who is doing genuine good, speaking genuine truth, and maintaining genuine principle will encounter this sin — because it was present at the cross and it has not disappeared since.
III. Religious Prejudice
The people who crucified Jesus were religious people. This is one of the most sobering facts in the entire narrative. They were not pagans who had never heard of God; they were the custodians of the Scriptures, the leaders of the temple, the most visibly devout people in their community.
Religious prejudice is the commitment to a religious system so intense that anything which challenges the system is opposed, regardless of whether the challenge is true. It does not evaluate evidence — it suppresses it. It does not ask "Is this right?" — it asks "Is this ours?" The religious prejudice of the first century was not produced by ignorance of the Scriptures; it was produced by a particular reading of the Scriptures that had become a fortress against the Scriptures' own witness.
Religious prejudice is rank today. The person who will not examine a claim because of where it comes from — who will not read a text because it challenges what they already hold — is practicing the same sin that put Jesus on the cross. Faithfulness to Scripture requires reading it; religious prejudice prevents the reading.
IV. The Sin of Envy
"Then when the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death... when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd" (Matt. 27:20, 24). "For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over" (Matt. 27:18).
Envy is the sin of resenting what another person has — the recognition that what they have is better than what you have, combined with the desire to take it from them rather than to receive it yourself. Envy is distinguished from jealousy by its destructive object: jealousy wants what another has; envy wants the other not to have it.
The chief priests' envy of Jesus was specific: they envied his hold on the people, his authority, his credibility, his ability to do what they could not do. They did not want what he had — they wanted him not to have it. The mechanism of envy is always the same: it cannot compete, so it seeks to destroy.
Envy produces strife. "For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing" (James 3:16). Much of the conflict in congregations is produced by envy — the resentment of another person's gifts, influence, or position. Religious prejudice grows out of envy: the condemnation of another's practice is sometimes genuine conviction; sometimes it is envy wearing conviction's clothing.
V. The Sin of the Love of Money
"Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, 'What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?' And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him" (Matt. 26:14-15). The crucifixion had a price, and the price was paid.
"For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs" (I Tim. 6:10). The love of money — not money itself but the disordered attachment to it — is identified as a root from which all other evils grow. Judas's betrayal is the most concentrated illustration in the New Testament of what the love of money produces when it reaches its logical end.
The gospel has been perverted for money. Congregations have been betrayed for money — the elder who will not address the sin of the large donor, the preacher who softens the message to protect his position, the institution that adjusts its doctrine in the direction of financial survival. None of these is new. The price of thirty pieces of silver was established at Gethsemane; it has been paid many times since.
VI. The Sin of Lying
"Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death. They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward" (Matt. 26:59-60).
The pursuit of false witnesses was not casual — it was systematic. The trial required testimony; no honest testimony would produce the desired verdict; therefore false witnesses were hired. When even this failed, the high priest resorted to a direct oath-bound question whose answer could be used as the pretext for condemnation (Matt. 26:63-65).
After the resurrection, the lying continued: "And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, 'You are to say, His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep'" (Matt. 28:12-13). The lie was purchased; the report was spread. False witness to silence the true witness — the same structure as the hired witnesses at the trial.
VII. The Sin of Moral Weakness
"Pilate said to them, 'Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?' They all said, 'Crucify Him!' And he said, 'Why, what evil has He done?' But they kept shouting all the more, saying, 'Crucify Him!' When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd" (Matt. 27:22-24).
Pilate's sin is the most tragic of the seven because he had everything required to prevent the injustice — and refused to use it. He knew Jesus was innocent: "I find no guilt in this man" (Luke 23:4); "He had summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, 'You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man'" (Luke 23:13-14). He had the authority to release him: "Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?" (John 19:10). He had the desire to release him: "Pilate made efforts to release Him" (Luke 23:20).
Knowledge, authority, and desire — he had all three. What he lacked was the will to act when acting had a cost. He calculated the price — a riot, a report to Rome, the loss of political standing — and sacrificed principle for expediency. "When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands."
The washing of the hands is one of the most futile gestures in the New Testament. The water did not transfer the responsibility. Pilate knew it: "See to that yourselves" — but the "yourselves" was a fiction; Pilate had the authority and used it, passively, to execute an innocent man. Moral weakness is not the absence of goodness — it is the presence of goodness without the spine to act on it.
This sin is common today. The person who knows what is right, has the capacity to do it, and declines when doing it is costly — is practicing Pilate's sin.
Application
The seven sins are a diagnostic. The examination is not of the chief priests or of Pilate but of the person reading this. Each sin is present in the contemporary world — in communities, in congregations, and in individuals.
Willful ignorance: Am I closing my eyes against what I do not want to see in Scripture?
Hatred of the good: Am I resisting what I know is right because it exposes what I am?
Religious prejudice: Have I committed to a position so firmly that I will not allow evidence to challenge it?
Envy: Am I opposing another person's gifts, influence, or position because they have what I lack?
Love of money: Has financial calculation ever shaped my obedience, my speech, or my faithfulness?
Lying: Have I used carefully constructed false impressions to achieve what honest speech would not produce?
Moral weakness: Do I know what is right, have the capacity to do it, and habitually decline when doing it has a cost?
Conclusion
If we are consistent, we must condemn these sins not only in those who put Jesus on the cross but wherever they appear — including in ourselves. The person who mourns Good Friday while practicing Pilate's moral weakness, or the chief priests' envy, or Judas's love of money, has not yet read Matthew 27 as a mirror.
"But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was" (James 1:22-24).
Invitation
The same cross that was produced by these sins is the cross that addresses them. The blood shed there — by people operating out of ignorance, envy, religious prejudice, love of money, lying, and moral cowardice — is the blood that covers the sins of those who come to it honestly. Believe. Repent. Confess. Be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). The cure is in the thing that exposed the disease.
Word Study
| English Term | Greek Term | Basic Meaning | Usage in This Sermon | Sermon Significance | Key Texts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ignorance | agnoia | Not knowing — a- (negation) + gnoia (from ginōskō, to know). | Used in Acts 3:17 for the spiritual condition of those who crucified Jesus. | Ignorance does not eliminate the act — it describes the spiritual condition of those who performed it. The two kinds of ignorance (innocent and culpable) are distinguished by Matt. 13:14-15: the culpable ignorance comes from closing eyes that could see. | Acts 3:17; Matt. 13:14-15 |
| Envy | phthonos | The pain felt at another's good fortune — often includes the desire for them not to have it. | Used in Matt. 27:18: Pilate "knew that because of envy they had handed Him over." | Envy is the only sin that gives no pleasure to the one practicing it — it is pure negation. It cannot enjoy what it has, only resent what another has. Religious prejudice grows from it because the person who cannot match genuine goodness suppresses it instead. | Matt. 27:18; James 3:16 |
| Moral weakness | (Conceptual) | The failure to act on known right because the cost of action is too high. | Used throughout Section VII to describe Pilate: he had knowledge, authority, and desire — and still chose expediency. | This sin is specifically tragic because it requires all three prerequisites for right action to be present before it can operate. The person who doesn't know what's right can't practice moral weakness; only the person who knows, can, and chooses not to. | Matt. 27:22-24; Luke 23:4 |
| False witness | pseudomartys | One who testifies falsely — pseudēs (false) + martys (witness). | Used in Matt. 26:59-60 for what the chief priests sought to obtain: testimony that would produce the verdict they wanted without evidence to support it. | The systematic pursuit of false witnesses is more condemning than spontaneous lying: it shows premeditation, the deliberate construction of a legal appearance for a predetermined illegal outcome. The same structure appears in the post-resurrection lie (Matt. 28:12-13). | Matt. 26:59-60; Matt. 28:12-15 |
Scripture Interlock Table
| Theme | Boles' Outline | Supporting Scripture |
|---|---|---|
| "Father, forgive them — they do not know" | I.1 | Luke 23:34 |
| "Acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did" | I.2 | Acts 3:17 |
| "They have closed their eyes" — culpable ignorance | I.5 | Matt. 13:14-15 |
| "Rulers of this age did not understand" | I.6 | I Cor. 2:8 |
| "He went about doing good" | II.1 | Acts 10:38 |
| "Why stone me for a good work?" | II.2 | John 10:32 |
| "Loved darkness because their deeds were evil" | II.3 | John 3:19 |
| "Hated me without a cause" | II.4 | John 15:25 |
| "Pilate knew that because of envy" | IV.2 | Matt. 27:18 |
| Judas betrayed for thirty pieces of silver | V.1 | Matt. 26:14-15 |
| "Love of money is a root of all sorts of evil" | V.2 | I Tim. 6:10 |
| "Tried to obtain false testimony" | VI.1 | Matt. 26:59-60 |
| "Gave money to soldiers to lie" | VI.2 | Matt. 28:12-15 |
| "I find no guilt in this man" — Pilate's knowledge | VII.1 | Luke 23:14 |
| Pilate washed his hands | VII.4 | Matt. 27:24 |
| Baptism for remission — the cure in the cross | Invit. | Acts 2:38 |
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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 160. Primary text: Matt. 27:1-26 (stated by Boles). OCR corrections: "Luke 23:24" → "Luke 23:34" (the prayer of forgiveness); "lll." → "III."; "£or" → "for" (typeface artifact). Doctrinal audit: seven sins named without excusing any of them; the two kinds of ignorance (innocent vs. culpable, from Matt. 13:14-15) distinguished; Pilate's moral weakness developed with all three elements present (knowledge, authority, desire) to make the analysis precise; the love of money developed from Judas per I Tim. 6:10 without generalizing to a condemnation of wealth; false witness developed as premeditated rather than spontaneous, from the systematic pursuit in Matt. 26:59-60 through the purchased lie of Matt. 28:12-13; no Calvinist qualification of the invitation; invitation retains full obedient response (Acts 2:38).
