What To Do With Mistakes | Matthew 27
Matthew 27
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Chapter Notables:
Judas hangs himself after realizing what he’d done - verses 1-510
Jesus before the Roman magistrate, Pilate - verses 11-26
Soldiers beat and mock Jesus - verses 27-31
Crucifixion of Jesus - verses 32-44
Death of Jesus - verses 45-56
Burial of Jesus - verses 57-61
The Sanhedrin hires guards to protect the tomb of Jesus - verses 62-66
Monumental Mistakes | Lemuel Ayudtud
Mistakes are hard, man. They can really eat you up if you allow them, especially when you realize that you can’t take somethings back. Of course there are some mistakes that you can recover from, but then there are mistakes that no matter what you do you’ll never be the same again.
In this chapter we read of several people that made mistakes and how they responded to it.
MISTAKES MADE
Judas - Realizing what he had done in betraying Jesus, Judas decides to return the money that he had taken for that betrayal back to the Sanhedrin. He realized he had made a mistake in turning Jesus into the hands of those that will kill Him. He regretted his part in the subsequent death of Jesus.
Pilate - Being the Roman governor of Judea, the Jewish priest and leaders could not do anything without his approval. These leaders brought Jesus to him so that they can get his approval on their sentence of Jesus, which was death. While being in the judgment seat, his wife approached him and told him not to make a mistake in regards to Jesus.
The Soldiers - Having scourged and beaten Jesus, the soldiers continued to ridicule Him. They spat at Him and mocked Him, then led Him away to be crucified.
The Sanhedrin - Not only did they bring Jesus to judgment before Pilate, they also seduced the people to prefer Barabas over Jesus. They also incited the people to demand crucifixion as judgment from Pilate.
The People - Having been enticed by their leaders, they requested for Barabas to be released instead of Jesus and shouted, “Crucify Him” when Pilate asked what they wanted him to do with Jesus.
The Two Thieves - They were nailed at the cross the same way Jesus was. But unlike Jesus, these guys were actually deserving to be crucified. They were being judged for their mistakes—being rebels against the laws and government.
Now God can turn mistakes into miracles. He can take a terrible mistake and make it a message for us. He turned the mistake of Abraham, and turn it into a miracle of his son, Isaac. He turned the mistakes of the brothers of Joseph, and turned it for the benefit of the whole entire nation. He turned the mistake of Moses, and lead him to the wilderness to be raised as a prophet to Israel. He turned the mistake of the brothers of David, and made it into a miracle of David ultimately becoming king.
God can turn the worst mistakes and make it an expression of His miraculous power. But we, too, can make something good from our mistakes—we need to learn how to take mistakes and turn them into milestones.
Those mistakes that don’t kill you, gives you an opportunity to grow and gain wisdom. When given the chance to still live from your mistakes, you need to take that opportunity to make sure that that mistake becomes a monument in your life—let the mistake become that point in time when you realized there are certain things you’ll never do again.
If you’ve ever been scammed, you got it turned out mistake and make it into a monument— you should never fall for that same scam again. If you were able to survive abuse, you should never go back to that place where you allow yourself to be abused again. If you’ve allowed yourself to fall into sin, and God was gracious enough to let you recover from it, you should make a monument that enables you to remember what it was like to be in that place and to never go back.
When you study the Scriptures you realize God is a monument maker. When certain things need to be remembered to remind people not to do certain things again, He made sure that monument was established. In fact, when you read about the items that were in the Ark of the Covenant, you will realize those items were there to remind Israel of the point when God changed certain things for them so that they are reminded to not return to what they had been before.
Let’s go back to our list:
THE MONUMENTS
Judas - Unfortunate for Judas, he allowed his mistake to turn to regret. He realized he made a mistake but instead of learning from the mistake, building a monument for him to remember not to do that again, he regretted the mistake.
Pilate - He heeded the warning of his wife, So that even though he was the Roman governor of the day, needing to make a judgment that the people want it, he made sure that he was free from the blood of Jesus.
The Soldiers - After realizing Who truly Jesus was, they repented of their error and declared Jesus as the son of God.
The Sanhedrin - These dudes doubled down. Even after seeing the same things that the soldiers saw, they continued in their mistake. Even after seeing the regret of Judas, their pride disable them from seeing their error. Instead of repenting, they sent soldiers to make sure nobody stole the body of Jesus from the grave. Craziness.
The People - pilot had said I will not have anything to do with this man’s death, and instead of considering themselves, they brought a curse upon themselves. They cried out and said let the curse be upon us and our children. Is that crazy, or what?
The Thieves - We’ll deal with these two when their story comes up again in another retelling of their part.
Mistakes will happen. It’s part of life. It’s part of not being perfect. Because we don’t know the future, and we can’t tell what would happen with certain decisions, mistakes are normal. How we handle or respond to them is really the point.
What do we learn from the mistakes and the responses of those we’ve discussed from Thai chapter?
THE MESSAGE
Judas - Regret can lead to guilt; and guilt can lead to self hurt. Judas having been possessed by the spirit of guilt, decided there was no place for him to be forgiven and so he killed himself.
Pilate - There are some mistakes that are out of your hands. You have to make sure that you do not allow that mistake to seep into your heart and you become intertwined and destroyed by the result of it.
The Soldiers - Just because your mistake was terrible, it does not mean you cannot repent. What you did 10 years ago, you don’t have to suffer because of it today. You can take the life that you lived as an enemy of the cross, and use it to establish your declaration of who Jesus truly is. You don’t have to live all your life the same way you lived a portion of your life—for example: just because you’ve lied, doesn’t mean you need to be a liar. You are not your mistake. You are not your failure.
The Sanhedrin - Sometimes even the most spiritual or the most educated don’t see their mistakes. Don’t be so high minded that you cannot change your stance because you’re afraid of what other people think about you.
The People - You know, the crowd can drive you to make incredible mistakes. Watch out for the mob mindset. Do not go with what the crowd is telling you. Judge it according to what God tells you. Do not be afraid of having a different opinion and perspective than the rest of the world.
The Thieves - We’ll deal with these two when their story comes up again in another retelling of their part.
