Matthew 27:22

Mat_27:22

What shall I do then with Jesus?

The question that must be answered

Perhaps we all feel more or less a certain satisfaction that we have not, as Pilate had, to make that terrible decision which, with the limited knowledge of that day, we might have made as he did. Nevertheless, this question which Pilate asked, and which he answered so fatally, is a question which we have every one of us, still to answer. It is far more awful for us than it was for Pilate. We have to answer it with a full knowledge of what Jesus was and is. We have to answer it, aided by the light of centuries streaming upon that Divine face. So long as Christ is popular, so long as being with Him means going on safely with a rejoicing, happy multitude, there is no doubt or difficulty as to what we will do with Christ. We will gladly follow Him. But oh! brothers, there come awful moments in every experience-the Passion Week of each life-when the Christ stands pleading before your soul. A wild, frenzied mob of passions, prejudices, indulgences, sins, raise their murderous clamour, and demand that we shall give Him up; that we shall take into our favour some other popular idol, and each of us has then to answer the question, What shall I do then with Jesus? (T. T. Shore, M. A.)

Our treatment of Jesus

This is no dried or withered question, but one that throbs with warm and quick pulses in the heart of each one. We must do something with Jesus. He is here. What shall it be?

I. You can let Him stand without a word of recognition. But surely your sense of common courtesy will not allow that.

II. You can thrust Him back from your heart, and tell Him to stand aside. But surely you will not. Even Pilate treated Him better than that.

III. You can look on Him merely as an optician to help blind eyes, or an aurist to retune deaf ears, a friend, a good friend, a helpful companion, a cheerful passenger on shipboard. Yet what good will all that do you? Surely He is something more.

IV. You can take Him into your heart. That is the best thing you can do with Him, and the only safe thing. Trust Him. Love Him. What more could He do, than He has done, for you? (T. de Witt Talmage, D. D.)

The changed question

The question will, after a while, change, and it will not be any longer, What shall we do with Jesus? but What will Jesus do with us? Ring all the bells of eternity at the burning of a world! On that day, what do you think Christ will do with us? Why, He will say, There is that man whom I called, that woman whose soul I importuned; but they would not any of My ways. I gave them innumerable opportunities of salvation. They rejected them all. Depart. I never knew you! Blessed be God, that day has not come. Halt, ye destinies of eternity, and give one more chance! (T. de Witt Talmage, D. D.)

What shall we do with Jesus?

I. Some kind of answer must be given to this question.

1. It cannot be evaded. You must answer it.

2. Jesus Christ is offered to you as a means of salvation, etc., and you are free to accept or reject; but one of these two things you must do.

3. We know how Pilate answered this question.

4. This is the great question of the age.

5. It is a personal question.

II. Consider some of the answers that have been given to this question.

1. Some answer it by placing themselves in direct opposition to Christ, they give it a bold negative, they deny His Divinity, His gospel, and His claims.

2. Others give an answer that seems more respectful: they say, Probably His claims are well founded; but association with Him would involve separation from friends and pursuits we love-we will do without Him, etc.

3. Others give a somewhat imposing reply, but think they need not be too intimate with Him, etc.

4. Others admit His claims but delay their decision.

5. Others accept Him as their Guide and Saviour, etc.

III. The answer God expects us to give. Welcome Him to our hearts. Love Him supremely. Obey Him fully. Serve Him faithfully and constantly. (S. Smith.)

What will you do with Jesus?-I

remember a young man in New York city, whose father I knew. He was a great prodigal, and had broken his mothers heart, and brought her down to the grave in sorrow. Every night he was out carousing with boon companions. The fathers heart was just broken too, and one night a few weeks after the mothers death the young man was just starting out; the old man said, My son, I want one favour of you. I would like you to stay at home and spend one night with me. The young man said he did not want to stay, it was so gloomy. But, said the father, will you not stay and gratify your aged father? You know your conduct killed your poor mother. My boy, wont you say? The old man pleaded with him, and just begged him to stay, but the boy said, No, I am not going to stay at home. The old father put forth one more effort to save his prodigal boy, and he threw himself down before him in the hall. What did that boy do? He just leaped over the body, and went out to join his comrades. There is not one of you but would say, That was an ungrateful wretch, not fit to live. Ah, sinner, what would you do with Christ in such a case? Why, many of you, I believe, if He were to throw Himself down before you and plead with you, you would step right over Him. And now, sinner, what will you do with Christ? Will you send back the insulting message that you do not want Christ to rule over you. Oh, may God forbid it, and this very night may there be hundreds who shall receive Him. (D. L. Moody)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 27:22. Τί οὖν ποιήσω, κ.τ.λ., what shall I do then? etc.) Pilate did not suppose that the Jews would demand any very severe punishment to be inflicted. He ought not to have asked. It would have been safer to have simply dismissed the prisoner; cf. Act 18:14-16.—σταυρωθήτω, let Him be crucified) Barabbas had deserved the cross: hence they demand that Jesus should be crucified.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_27:22 Τί οὖν ποιήσω Ἰησοῦν;] What, then (if Barabbas is to be released), am I to do with Jesus, how shall I dispose of him? On this use of the double accusative with ποιεῖν, in the sense of doing good or evil to any one, comp. Kühner, II. 1, p. 277; Wunder, ad Soph. Phil. 684.σταυρωθήτω] οὐ λέγουσι· φονευθήτω, ἀλλὰ σταυρωθήτω, ἵνα καὶ τὸ εἶδος τοῦ θανάτου κακοῦρχον (as a rebel) ἀπελέγχῃ αὐτόν, Euthymius Zigabenus. Doubtless it was also at the instigation of the hierarchs that they demanded this particular form of punishment.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 22. What shall I do then with Jesus?] Showing, hereby, that it was his wish to release him.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(22) Let him be crucified.—It may be noted that this was the first direct intimation of the mode of death to which the priests destined their prisoner. It was implied, indeed, in their fixed resolve to make the Roman governor the executioner of their sentence, as shown in the dialogue recorded by St. John (Joh_18:31); but now the cry came from the multitude, as the result, we may believe, of the promptings described in Mat_27:20, “Crucify Him!”—punish Him as the robber and the rebel are punished.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22. all say unto him, Let him be crucified] There is no further question even of a show of legality or justice: the traditional clemency is quite forgotten; the fanatical crowd, pressing round the doors of the Prætorium, which they cannot enter, join with excited gesticulation in one loud and furious cry for the blood of Jesus.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the governor said, why, what evil hath he done?.... What reason can be given, why he should be crucified? what sin has he committed, that deserves such a death? From whence it is clear, that of all the things they had accused him, they had not, in Pilate's account, given proof of one single action, that was criminal, nor had he done any: he came into the world without sin, he did none in it; he knew no sin, nor could any be found in him, by Satan, nor his accusers, nor his judge:

but they cried out the more, saying, let him be crucified: the more they saw Pilate inclined to favour him, and pleaded for him, and attested his innocence; the more clamorous, outrageous, and urgent they were to have him crucified.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.

Ver. 22. Let him be crucified] He whom erewhile they had little less than deifed. See how soon evil company and counsel had altered them, like as walnut tree roots embitter the roots of all the trees about them. Si quis obsequatur Calliae, statim reddet cum temulentum Callias; si Alcibiadi, iactatorem; si Crobylo, coquum, &c., saith Aelian. A man easily conformeth to his company.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22. Let him be crucified — This was the decisive utterance of the fatal word.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It was with disappointment and indignation that Pilate heard the rabble"s decision. He could not refuse to release the robber and murderer; but he still entertained some hope of a better feeling in the crowd which would allow him to acquit Jesus. What shall I do then with Jesus? Ti oun poihsw Ihsoun ; What then shall I do to Jesus? As you demand the release of Barabbas, what am I to do with the other prisoner? He dared not act boldly, as his conscience and the justice of the ease dictated; if the popular voice was not with him, he would take no open step. He added, which is called Christ, or, according to Mark, "whom ye call the King of the Jews," in scorn of the title itself, and of the fickleness which honoured him one day and now clamored for his destruction. Let him be crucified! They have their dreadful answer ready. He is a political offender; he is a mover of sedition against the Roman supremacy; let him meet the punishment to which Rome dooms her lowest criminals and runagates. This was the death which Christ had foretold for himself, (Mat_20:19) the most painful, barbarous, and ignominious punishment which the cruelty of man ever invented.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They all say, Let him be crucified - The punishment which Barabbas had deserved: and this probably made them think of it. But in their malice they forgot with how dangerous a precedent they furnished the Roman governor. And indeed within the compass of a few years it turned dreadfully upon themselves.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

22. Let him be crucified. This is the decision of the Jewish people. He shall suffer the fate which was due the crime of Barabbas who had been released in his stead.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

22. τί οὖν ποιήσω τὸν Ἰησοῦν; ποιεῖν has the classical construction τι τινὰ (instead of the usual τι τινί) here only for certain. In the parallel passage, Mar 15:12, the reading of Lachm. and Treg. (ὃν λέγετε om.) gives another instance, and the reading of Tisch. is not inconsistent with this construction. The coincidence would imply an exact reproduction of Pilate’s words, (the trial would be conducted in Greek), and the correctness of structure in this single instance seems to indicate the higher culture of an educated Roman.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22.] They chose crucifixion as the ordinary Roman punishment for sedition, and because of their hate to Jesus. The double accusative after verbs of doing and saying of or to any one is the common construction. See Kühner, Gr. ii. p. 225. Cf. Xen. Cyr. iii. 2. 15, οὐδεπώποτε ἐπαύοντο πολλὰ κακὰ ἡμᾶς ποιοῦντες.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(M) 22. Pilate saith to them, What then shall I do to Jesus who is called Anointed ? They all say, Let Him be crucified.] Mk. has: “What then shall I do to Him whom you call the King of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify Him.”

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.