Closing in on the Cross of Jesus Christ: Part 1

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 26:1-16

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared March 25, 2023)

BACKGROUND:

*In today's Scripture Jesus was just two days away from dying on the cross for our sins. And here, the Holy Spirit shows us some of the most important things happening in those days. With this brief background in mind, let's begin by reading Matthew 26:1-16.

MESSAGE:

*What things matter the most? It's easy to forget. A dad named Glenn Adsett got a unique wake-up call on this truth. Glenn and his wife were missionaries in China when the Communists took over in the late 1940s. Glenn, his wife and their two children were placed under house arrest while they waited to hear what the Communists were going to do with them.

*Then the soldiers came one day and said, "You can return to America." They went into a wild celebration, but it was cut short when the soldier gruffly said, "You can take only 200 pounds with you!"

*The family started rushing around. They had been in China for many years. How can you limit the possessions of a lifetime to 200 pounds? They got the scales and began to argue about what to take. All four of them had their own ideas about what was most important: A typewriter, a vase, some keepsakes they treasured.

*Finally, they got it down to 200 pounds on the dot. The soldier asked, "Ready to go?" -- "Yes!" they replied. Then the soldier asked, "Did you weigh the children?" Suddenly the typewriter, the vase, and the keepsakes all became trash. They were garbage compared to the children! Glenn and his wife were strongly reminded of what matters the most. (1)

*That's what God's Word is doing in these verses. And it matters to us, because the same things that mattered two days before the cross, still matter two thousand years later.

1. HERE GOD SHOWS US HIS SURE PLAN FOR OUR SALVATION.

*God has a perfect plan for our salvation, and we get a glimpse of His plan in vs. 1-2:

1. Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples,

2. "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.''

*Jesus knew what was coming. Nothing takes Him by surprise. He didn't stumble into the cross. From the beginning, the cross was God's plan to save the lost. Psalm 33:11 in the NKJV says, "The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations."

*And the crucial key in God's plan was the cross of Jesus Christ. In Acts 4:24-28, the church was under the pressure of growing persecution, and they cried out to God in prayer, saying:

24. "Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them,

25. who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: 'Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things?

26. the kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.'

27. For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together

28. to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done."

*In 2 Timothy 1:8-10, Paul confirmed that God had planned the cross from before the beginning of time. Here the Apostle said,

8. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,

9. who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,

10. but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

*Before time began, God planned to give us the grace we have in Jesus Christ, and He planned to give it through the cross. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit always had a plan for Christ to die on the cross, and rise again from the dead 3 days later. Jesus is the Lamb of God who planned to sacrifice His life, so that we could be saved by His blood.

*This is why 1 Peter 1:18-21 says that Christians should be:

18. knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,

19. but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

20. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

21. who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

*This is why Jesus knew He was going to be crucified during Passover. But in vs. 3-5, the chief priests had something else in mind:

3. Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,

4. and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him.

5. But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.''

*They did not want to commit this murder during the Passover. But God had this very time in mind when He established the Passover in Egypt over 1,400 years earlier. J. Vernon McGee explained: "This is the sixth time Jesus has told them that He was going to die. Six months before this, beginning at Caesarea Philippi, He announced His impending death. And now He sets the time of His death. He tells them that He will die during the Passover.

*And when did He die? He died during the Passover. Jesus, not His enemies, set the time of His execution. He is in command, and when He seems more helpless and weak than at any other time, He is still in charge." (2)

*Remember that in John 10:17-18 Jesus said, "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."

*Jesus had a perfect plan to lay down His life at a certain place, at a certain time, in a certain way. That was God's plan, and nobody was going to stop it. God shows us His sure plan for our salvation.

2. HE ALSO SHOWS US THE GREAT EVIL OF HIS ENEMIES.

*Most of the leaders in Israel were the Lord's enemies. Again in verses 3-5, "The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him. But they said, 'Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.'''

*These men were basically the Supreme Court of Israel, but there they were plotting a scheme to arrest Jesus on made-up charges and then murder Him. The chief priests in that day were Sadducees. They also held the majority of seats on their Supreme Court that would condemn the Lord, but some Pharisees were part of it too. (3)

*The Pharisees had even partnered with the Herodians to murder the Lord. Mark 3:6 tells us about their plotting. By now it had been going on for many months, maybe as long as two years. Evil scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians had united in their murderous hatred of Jesus. (4)

*But today's Scripture also highlights the awful traitor among the disciples. Judas comes into view after Mary lovingly anointed Jesus with her very expensive fragrant oil. And vs. 14-16 say:

14. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests

15. and said, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?'' And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.

16. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.

*Jesus knows the vicious pain of betrayal. So on top of the unimaginable physical pain of dying on the cross, and the immeasurable pain of taking all of the guilt for all of the sins of mankind, Jesus also bore the emotional pain of rejection and betrayal. And it is striking to see how much God's Word stresses this dimension of the cross.

*For example, back in Matthew 10, there is a list of the first disciples, and Matthew 10:4 includes "Judas Iscariot, who also BETRAYED Him." In Matthew 17:22-23, Jesus prophesied His crucifixion about 6 months before the cross. There God's Word says: "Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, 'The Son of Man is about to be BETRAYED into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.' And they were exceedingly sorrowful."

*There are more examples in the other Gospels, and when Paul wrote about the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-24, he said, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was BETRAYED took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.'"

*Judas the traitor was an extraordinary enemy of the Lord. And here God shows us the great evil of His enemies.

3. BUT GOD ALSO SHOWS US THE GREAT LOVE WE SHOULD HAVE FOR OUR LORD

*This great example of love came in the form of an extraordinary gift, and God's Word tells us about it in vs. 6-13:

6. And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper,

7. a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.

8. But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "To what purpose is this waste?

9. For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.''

10. But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me.

11. For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.

12. For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial.

13. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.''

*The extraordinary giver was a woman. John 12:1-8 tells us that it was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. These three were all very close to Jesus. He had been in her home probably many times. Mary was known for carefully listening to the Lord as she sat at His feet. She also saw Jesus raise her brother from the dead. And here Mary honored Jesus with a great act of love and devotion for the Lord. (5)

*At this point the Holy Spirit must have led Matthew to look back on this supper, because it had happened 4 days earlier. That was before Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday. John 12:1 tells us that it happened 6 days before the Passover. And it's not the first time Matthew used this kind of "flash back." You may remember that in Matthew 14, the Apostle looked back to report on the death of John the Baptist.

*The look back here lets us see the drastic difference between Mary the loving giver, and Judas the selfish traitor. The traitor had seen all of the great things that Mary had seen, and much more. Still he betrayed our Savior for just 30 pieces of silver. (6)

*But great love is always willing to pay a great price. Think about the cost of Mary's gift. John 12:5 and Mark 14:5 tell us that it was worth more than 300 denarii, which was almost a whole year's pay for an average working man. Think about how much you make in a year. Basically, that's how much Mary's gift cost her, and that's how much she loved Jesus.

*But how did she get that way? The answer is found in Luke 10:38-42, which says:

38. Now it happened as they went that He (Jesus) entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.

39. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word.

40. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.''

41. And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.

42. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.''

*Why did Mary love the Lord? Because she listened to the Lord! And the more we really listen to Jesus, the more we will love Him too. That's why Mary gave her best. And I am sure she would tell us today, "It was worth it!" Jesus was worth it, and He always will be! So God shows us the great love we should have for our Lord.

4. BUT HE ALSO SHOWS US SOME GREAT REASONS WHY WE SHOULD LOVE JESUS.

[1] THE FIRST REASON IS BECAUSE THE LORD JESUS DEFENDS US.

*Please listen to the Lord's defense of Mary in vs. 8-11:

8. But when His disciples saw it (that is: when they saw Mary pouring that precious oil on Jesus' head), they were indignant, saying, "To what purpose is this waste?

9. For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.''

10. But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me.

11. For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always."

*Praise the Lord! God Himself is our defender, and He will surely defend His followers. This is one of the greatest themes in the Psalms. There, the Lord is our defender, our shield, our strength, our shelter, and our strong tower.

*There are too many examples to give right now, but in Psalm 3:1-3 King David wrote: "LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me. Many are they who say of me, 'There is no help for him in God.' But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts up my head."

*And in Psalm 59:16-17 David said this to the LORD, "I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble. To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; For God is my defense, The God of my mercy."

[2] WE SHOULD LOVE JESUS BECAUSE HE DEFENDS US, BUT MOST OF ALL, BECAUSE HE DIED FOR US.

*As Jesus said in vs.12, "In pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial." The Lord knew He was about to die on the cross for our sins, and He did it out of God's great love for us. As Jesus said in John 3:16, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Then in John 15:13 Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." And that is exactly what Jesus did when He died on the cross for our sins!

*Jesus died on the cross to pay the debt for our sins, and that was the only way our sin debt could be paid. There was no other way, and Jesus was willing to die, because of His love for us. As Max Lucado said, "Nails didn't hold God to the cross. Love did." (7)

*The God of the universe loves us so much that He wants to be our Father and best friend! And now our Risen Savior goes to incredible lengths to seek and save anyone who will trust in Him.

*Without Jesus Christ, we are trapped by Satan in spiritual darkness and death. But Jesus came to rescue us from this darkness and death! So Hebrews 2:14-15 says:

14. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

15. and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

*No matter how hard we try, there is nothing we can do to rescue ourselves from death and hell. King Duncan explained that "there are some situations from which we cannot deliver ourselves. If a large ocean liner stops in the middle of the Atlantic, the passengers can't get out, get behind the boat, and push. And if you are drowning, you can't save yourself by grabbing your hair and pulling yourself up!'"

*That almost sounds too obvious to mention. But people all over the world are trying to climb their way up to Heaven by keeping religious rules and doing good works. The rescue of salvation for us can never come from within. It must come from above. (8)

*Everyone without Jesus Christ is in the greatest danger, because all of us have sinned, and the wages of sin is everlasting death (Romans 6:23). But Christians: We can say, "God has rescued me from the power of death! And He did it through the cross of Jesus Christ."

[3] WE SHOULD LOVE JESUS MOST OF ALL, BECAUSE HE DIED FOR US, BUT ALSO BECAUSE HE DELIGHTS IN OUR LOVING SERVICE.

*We see this truth in vs. 13 where Jesus gave this prophetic praise for Mary's loving gift. "Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.''

*Why did Jesus honor Mary's giving? Not because her gift cost so much, but because she gave the best she possibly could. Remember what the Lord said in Matthew 10:42. "Whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.'' This means that even the smallest gifts, given for the right reason, out of love for the Lord, are truly delightful to Him.

*Robert Sumner told about a missionary in Alaska, named Everett Bachelder. Everett and his wife, Mina, operated the Nome Gospel Home for over 30 years.

*One of the ways they shared the Gospel was by tossing more than a thousand mayonnaise jars and ketchup bottles into the Bering Sea. They were all crammed with Scripture messages written in a hundred different languages. Kids from local churches helped Everett prepare the jars and bottles. Now that may seem like a waste of time, but over the years, the wind and waves carried the story of God's love to the far corners of the earth. Everett got responses from as far as 10,000 miles away!

*One time a man in Singapore, was broken hearted over a romance gone sour. He was about to commit suicide by jumping into the ocean from a cliff. But he saw a bottle wash up against the rocks below.

*Oddly enough, the man decided to jump when the bottle broke. But as he watched, it hit the rocks over and over without breaking. He got curious and climbed down the cliff where he found the good news of salvation in the cross of Jesus Christ. God's Word touched that man's heart. He found a missionary in Singapore, and he got saved! Jesus Christ gave that man a brand-new start in life. He got a new spiritual life. His sins were forgiven. He became part of the family of God. And he was saved forever! (9)

CONCLUSION:

*Giving our best may mean giving a year's salary to the Lord. It might even mean dying for the Lord, like Peter, Paul, and millions more Christians over the centuries. But giving our best as a Christian kid in Alaska, might also mean giving up an afternoon to stuff bottles with Scripture to throw into the Bearing Sea.

*The Lord is delighted with all of our loving service, and one day we will get to hear Him say something like Jesus said in the last chapter: "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things: Enter into the joy of your Lord" (Matthew 25:21)

*Let's make up our minds to give Jesus our best. God gave His best for us. And it is most proper for us to give our best to Him. Give Him your love, your praise, your time, and your money as the Lord leads you. But first of all, give Jesus Christ your heart. Give Him your life. Call on our crucified and risen Lord to save you now, as we go back to God in prayer.

(1) Sources:

-DEEP JOY FOR A SHALLOW WORLD by Richard A. Wing, CSS Publishing Company, 1997, 0-7880-1033-6 - Source: Sermonillustrations.com - 12072003

-From a sermon by Wayne Brouwer - Source: Sermons.com sermon "What Are You Tied To?" by King Duncan - John 15:1-17

(2) Adapted from THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH J. VERNON MCGEE by J. Vernon McGee - Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville - Copyright 1981 - "Plan to Kill Jesus" - Matthew 26:1-5 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021

(3) Adapted from GotQuestions.org - "Who were the Sadducees?" - https://www.gotquestions.org/Sadducees.html

(4) Sources:

-WORD PICTURES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT by Archibald Thomas (A. T.) Robertson - Published in 1930-1933 - Matthew 12:14; Mark 3:6

-Got Questions: Who were the Herodians? - https://www.gotquestions.org/Herodians.html

-Got Questions: Who are the various Herods mentioned in the Bible? - https://www.gotquestions.org/Herods.html

-Got Questions: What was Herod's temple? - https://www.gotquestions.org/Herod-third-temple.html

(5) Some may wonder if this is the same Mary in Luke 7 who anointed Jesus at the home of Simon the Pharisee. I don't think that's the case at all. As Warren Wiersbe wrote regarding John 12:1-11: "The account of Mary’s anointing of her Lord is found also in Matthew 26:6-13 and Mark 14:3-9. But it must not be confused with the account given in Luke 7:36-50, where a former harlot anointed Jesus in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Mary was a virtuous woman, and she anointed Jesus in the house of Simon the (former) leper (Mark 14:3). The Luke 7:1-50 event took place in Galilee, while the account we are now considering occurred in Judea. The fact that there are two 'Simons' involved should not surprise us, for Simon was a common name in that day."

(WIERSBE BIBLE COMMENTARY: NEW TESTAMENT by Warren W. Wiersbe - Published by David C. Cook, Colorado Springs, CO, 80918, U.S.A. - "Jesus and His Friends" - John 12:1-11 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021)

John Phillips tells us that "The incident took place in the home of Simon the leper, evidently a man Jesus had healed. Tradition has it that he was either the father of Lazarus and his sisters, or the husband of Martha. In any case, Simon seems to have had some close relationship with the much-loved family at Bethany."

(EXPLORING THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "The Truth" - Matthew 26:6-13 - Downloaded to "Bible Study 6" from Olive Tree Bible Software, Inc.")

William Barclay wrote that "this story of the anointing at Bethany is told also by Mark and by John. Mark's story is almost exactly the same; but John adds the information that the woman who anointed Jesus was none other than Mary, the sister of Martha and of Lazarus. Luke does not tell this story; he does tell the story of an anointing in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50 ), but in Luke's story the woman who anointed Jesus' feet and wiped them with the hair of her head was a notorious sinner. It must always remain a most interesting question whether the story Luke tells is, in fact, the same story as is told by Matthew and Mark and John. In both cases the name of the host is Simon, although in Luke he is Simon the Pharisee, and in Matthew and Mark he is Simon the leper; in John the host is not named at all, although the narrative reads as if it took place in the house of Martha and Mary and Lazarus. Simon was a very common name; there are at least ten Simons in the New Testament, and more than twenty in, the history of Josephus. The greatest difficulty in identifying the stories of Luke and of the other three gospel writers is that in Luke's story the woman was a notorious sinner; and there is no indication that that was true of Mary of Bethany. And yet the very intensity with which Mary loved Jesus may well have been the result of the depths from which he had rescued her."

(BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES - NEW TESTAMENT by William Barclay - Revised Edition - Copyright 1975 - First published by the Saint Andrew - Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Public domain - "Love's Extravagance" - Matthew 26:6-13 - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/section/william-barclay/loves-extravagance-matthew-266-13)

(6) There is a difference in the timing reported in Matthew 26:2 where Jesus said, "after two days is the Passover," and John 12:1 that tells us Jesus came to Bethany "six days before the Passover." Troy Lacey concluded that these were two separate anointings, the one in John 12 before the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, and the later one in Matthew 26.

That could be possible, but there are so many similarities between the two that they sound like the same event to me. Most of the commentators I use agree, and I like Warren Wiersbe's explanation: "Matthew does not claim to give us a chronological account of the events of the last week. At this point he inserted a flashback to describe the feast in Bethany and the beautiful act that Mary performed. The religious leaders were meeting to plot against Jesus, but His friends were meeting to show their love and devotion to Him. Also, by joining these two accounts, Matthew showed the connection between Mary’s worship and Judas’ betrayal. It was after the feast in Bethany that Judas went to the priests and offered his help (Mark14:10-11). The Lord’s rebuke triggered Judas’ response." Sources:

("How Many Times Was Jesus Anointed?" by Troy Lacey on May 14, 2019 - https://answersingenesis.org/contradictions-in-the-bible/how-many-times-was-jesus-anointed/)

(WIERSBE BIBLE COMMENTARY: NEW TESTAMENT by Warren W. Wiersbe - Published by David C. Cook, Colorado Springs, CO, 80918, U.S.A. - "At Bethany: Worship versus Waste" - Matthew 26:1-16 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021)

(7) https://www.azquotes.com/quote/856456

(8) Adapted from Sermons.com email illustration 02222004

(9) KERUX ILLUSTRATION COLLECTION - ID Number: 1182 - SOURCE: Biblical Evangelist - TITLE: Throwing The Word Of God Into The Ocean - AUTHOR: Dr. Robert Sumner - DATE: 8102001