Listen up, little ones
Listen for the names Jesus and Pilate.
Reading
Matthew 27:15–26—You’ve God the Wrong Man
Optional Reading
Esther 6
Keys for kids
- Jesus was found not guilty but declared guilty.
- They had the wrong man! I am the guilty one.
- Jesus became guilty for our sins.
Questions
- Who in this text found Jesus not guilty?
- What is the great exchange between us and Jesus?
- Why was Jesus named Jesus?
Notes
Jesus was found not guilty but declared guilty by the Jews. They could produce no evidence, even with false witnesses. Yet they declared him guilty out of envy.
Jesus was found not guilty but declared guilty by Pilate. His wife tried to convince him that Jesus was innocent and righteous, but Pilate still handed him over to be crucified, even while asking, “What shall I do with this (righteous) man? what crime has he committed?”
Jesus was found not guilty but declared guilty by God. He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB).
We read this and want to scream; you’ve got the wrong man! Yet, as O’Donnell reminds us, in medieval literature, a comedy is a drama that ends happily. The divine comedy of Jesus … ends happily after great tragedy. That is, Jesus dies and rises again. And our own Christian comedy ends happily after great tragedy. That is, we recognize our sin as awful and offensive to God, we confess that sin to him, we turn away from it, and we turn to Jesus for salvation.
Though we sometimes wish the trial had been different, a perfect sacrifice was needed. Christ’s perfect sacrifice was sufficient and effective. He was named Jesus because he will save his people from their sins (Matt 1:21).
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 22b, 84a
Prayer
- Rejoice that Jesus died for your sins.
- Pray for a specific application from yesterday's sermons.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.