Following the Way of Jesus - Sermons on Matthew's Gospel.

Bad and Beautiful Choices

Matthew 26:1–25 (ESV)

When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’ ” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”

Have you ever made a bad choice- choices have consequences

We now enter into the last few days of Jesus’ life and ministry on earth:

Notice the formula Matthew employs to denote the last great division of his Gospel - “When Jesus had finished all these sayings...” - see also Matthew 7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1. - emphasizing that this is the end of Jesus’ public ministry.

These last two chapters of Matthew begin to fulfil the prediction of Matthew 16:21, “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

This is now the fourth time that He has publicly declared that He will be crucified, but will rise again! (Matt 16:21; 17:22–23; 20:18–19)

The time for teaching, apart from a few key sayings of Jesus, is now over. Before His accusers, Jesus will largely remain “silent”(Matt 26:63).

The Good News has been preached and the authenticity of the messenger has been established by miracles, and now is the time for a decision to be made - will you stand with or deny this man Jesus? Will you accept Him as King and Lord of your life, or reject Him, saying “away with Him, let him be crucified!”(Matt 27:22)!

The time for teaching has gone. The time for a response has come! What will it be?

Matthew makes it clear in what remains that Jesus is going intentionally and obediently to the Cross, to an event that ‘must’ happen in order that the Scriptures be fulfilled - "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and othe Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”(Matt 26:2) - and sacrifice be made for the sins of the world.

He is carrying out his Father’s purpose and at “Passover” which is no coincidence, Nisan 14 was the day to celebrate Passover, but the feast itself lasted several days with preparations, up to a week, taking place before the Feast so this could be Nisan 12, Wednesday or Nisan 13, Thursday.

The lambs themselves were killed in the late afternoon of Nisan 14, significant then that Matthew tells us that it was the “ninth hour”, 3:00 in the afternoon, when Jesus "cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  “And Jesus ncried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. “(Matt 27:46-50). They were to be eaten between sundown and midnight on Nisan 15th with the new day beginning at sundown.

Passover was the time to celebrate and remember the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the ultimate act of redemption in the Jewish mind. Slavery is over; bondage is broken, they are free! This will be made even more obvious in Matthew 26:17ff when Jesus deliverately associates His sacrifice with the Passover Feast, showing it to be a fulfillment of that event! He is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). As Paul declared to the Corinthian followers of Jesus “Christ our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7).

The Priests you will note did not intend to arrest and kill Jesus during the “feast”(Matt 26:4) but unbeknown to them, Judas was about to betray Jesus and an opportunity arose which they had not bargained for.

See beyond this however, to a God who is in control of these events. The thing to understand here is that Jesus “is, in no sense the unfortunate victim of forces too strong for him; he is in charge. But at the same time there is equal emphasis on the deliberate and responsible actions of those who are determined to do away with him, primarily the Jewish leaders but also the Jewish crowd, and especially the traitor Judas. Thus God’s saving design and man’s malevolence are here woven together into an immensely powerful drama, which will conclude in ch. 28 with the ultimate triumph of Jesus as the risen Lord of all.”(R. T. France)

Jesus was sent by Divine mandate and His life and death were predetermined by His heavenly Father.

As Peter declared at Pentecost, Jesus was “delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). No human plan or power could change this divine mandate which is why He says of his life, in John 10:18 . “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own authority. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10:18).

Herod’s soldiers; the townsfolk of Nazareth (Luke 4:16–30); the Chief Priests and the Elders, none could take His life from Him. He would give it up!

So, when Pilate said to Jesus, “ ‘Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?’ Jesus answered, ‘You would have no authority over me, unless it had been given you from above’ ” (John 19:10–11). “The Son of Man is going as it has been determined” (Luke 22:22).

So then, it is now the time for a response to Jesus’ teaching and miracles. What will it be. What choices will you make? Think upon this as you hear of the responses of a group of people here in Matthew 26, most of whom made bad choices; but one of whom made a beautiful choice!

Matthew uses a “sandwich technique”, - love in the frame of hate - placing a really good, and contrasting story between two negative narratives; contrasting one person who made a good choise and did a beautiful thing; with two examples of people making bad, indeed evil choices, in respect of Jesus.

1. A Bad Choice - “Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

This meeting of “the chief priests and the elders of the people” under the chairmanship of the high priest, Ciaphas may well have been a semi-formal meeting of a portion of the Sanhedrin, in which these two groups were the dominant part and represented both Sadducees and Pharisees (Note the Pharisees involvment in Matt 27:62 and the scribes in Matt 26:57; 27:41).

Once the Saducees got involved it is clear that as collaborators with Rome and having both political and religious authority, Israel as a Nation had finally rejected the Messiah.

Caiaphas as High Priest from AD 18 to AD36 and he led the rejection, aided by his father in law Annas, mentioned by John, with whom he served as joint High Priest for a time(Luke 3:2).

The leaders had made their decision but they were “afraid of the crowd” because just days before the crowd had welcomed Him as King!(see Matt 21:8–11, 15–16).

So as we have already noted, the dilemma about arresting Jesus and killing him but avoiding a public uproar, during the feast was a dilemma that Judas’ offer provided the unexpected answer to in Matt 26:14–16.

the leaders of Israel had made their choice and it was a bad one -”He came to that which was His own, but His own received Him not.”

2. A Beautiful Choice - “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me.”

In the midst of all of this terrible plotting against Jesus, Matthew, tells us of a woman who offers a beautiful act of devotion to Jesus.

This woman annoints the annointed Messiah, the word meaning just that! And she does it in order to prepare Him for His death in fulfilment of His mission.

The anointing takes place at Bethany where Jesus had close friends named Mary, Martha and Lazarus (John 11:1–2; 12:1–2; cf. Luke 10:38–42), this was where Jesus and his disciples spent at least the first night during this Passover week (see on Matt 21:17, Matt 26: 30, 36).

Jesus this time is at the home of “Simon the leper” - the name suggests he may have been someone whom Jesus healed because a leper was not allowed to live in towns or cities or to associate with non-lepers!

The woman is not named but John tells us her name is Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus(John 12:3).

Mary had always been attentive to the Lord’s teaching, sitting “at his feet and listening to him”(Luke 10:39), and so it is not surprising that it was she who accepted the reality and understood the significance of Jesus’ impending death.

She understood that Jesus had to die in order to be raised again and in an act of incalculable sacrifice, she poured the perfume upon His head as He reclined at the table and then used it to anoint Jesus’ feet and “wiped his feet with her hair” (John 12:3). Mary pours out her soul in worship even as she pours out the perfume onto His head and feet, withour restraint; without counting the cost!

So, when Mary heard that Jesus was going to die, she wanted to do what was customarily done to honor someone at their death, she wanted to prepare His body for burial but commoner garden, fragrant oil would not do.

Instead she drew upon her most precious possession, this flask of precious oil and as the Lutheran commentator R.C. Lenski said, "... When the one opportunity came to Mary, she not only was ready, saw and embraced it, but went to the limit of her ability in meeting that opportunity, in fact, would have done more if it had been possible" (The Interpretation of St. Mark's Gospel, p. 604).

This unnerved some of the disciples! They saw the waste of the very expensive ointment, identified by Mark and John as ‘nard’, spikenard, an “extremely expensive luxury imported from India, used especially for anointing the dead”(NBD, p. 855). Judas claims that it was worth “more than a year’s wages” , the Greek literally reading “three hundered denarri”(John 14:4)

. The use of such an expensive oil was an act of extravagant devotion which expresses her belief that Jesus was the Messiah and it stands in stark contrast with Judas’ willingness to sell Jesus for 30 pieces of silver!

Mary refused to place limits on her love for Christ. She refused to allow the fact that she was a woman or that she was of limited means, get in the way of her love for Jesus. She refused to allow what other people thought of her to compromise her love because it was easier; more convenient or to keep in with the accepted cultural norms? 

We must not stayaway from or neglect Jesus because of what people think! Jesus is worth the embarrassment?

Some of the disciples object to what they see as extravagant waste. Jesus rebuked the disciples, reminding them that there were always poor people at hand for them to serve, whereas he would not be with them always.

This demonstrates that it is possible for sincere folowers of Jesus to adopt such an unbalanced sense of values that they regard as waste what is in fact a ‘beautiful’ act of devotion to Christ. Jesus’ reply establishes the right priorities for that situation. This was a beautiful act (Grk: kalon = ‘noble’ or ‘admirable’), because it recognized the special nature of this occasion when Jesus was still present.

And note Jesus is not dismissing the needs of the poor, see Deuteronomy 15:11, which is repeated here to help the disciples see that they will always have an obligation to the poor (Hence the Sheep and the Goats) but that duty must not be turned into a rigid regulation which allows no room for the spontaneous (and even extravagant) expression of devotion to Jesus. “Their concern for the poor is admirable, but it is a question of priorities.”(France).

There is a time for ministering to the poor, the sick, the naked, and the imprisoned AND there is a time for heartfelt, passionate worship of Jesus, and whereas individual acts of charity to the poor are soon forgotten; not so this loving ‘extravagance’ which will be revealed whenever the Gospel is preached and read around the world!

Little wonder Jesus received this act of devotion with such gratitude - He was about to be betrayed by one of His followers and denied by another,and forsaken by most of teh rest, but this woman - she did a “a beautiful thing”!

Where are we in this story?

Are we with the passionate love of Mary or else are we more like the begrudging Judas and those disciples who thought to find fault rathert than see this “beautiful thing” - this act of devotion to Jesus?

She is wiling to be criticised; willing to corrected by an Apostle, willing to be misunderstood and misrepresented as a fantic or selfish etc, all for love of Jesus. She is like the little girl who stood up in church and misread he opening lines of Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, He’s all I want”!

Mary is giving up a a great sacrifice which would serve as a dowry for her marriage or retirement security for her old age, because she is confident that she has a greater securtity in Jesus! Her sacrifice reminds us that our love for Jesus should not be shaped by a “what’s in it for us” approach but rather, as Paul puts it,we should love Jesus, “that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor. 5:15).

Jesus died to not only free us from eternal damnation but to free us from selfish and sinful pre-occupation, so we could live exceedingly abundantly with Him and for Him, with extravagant adoration that causes the world to wonder if they’re missing something.

Jesus, all for Jesus All I am and have and ever hope to be Jesus, all for Jesus All I am and have and ever hope to be

All of my ambitions, hopes and plans I surrender these into your hands All of my ambitions, hopes and plans I surrender these into your hands

For it's only in your will that I am free For it's only in your will that I am free Jesus, all for Jesus All I am and have and ever hope to be.

(Robin Mark).

3. Another Bad Choice - “Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.”

Judas Iscariot, hitherto mentioned only in the list of the twelve in Matthew 10:4, now becomes the central actor in the drama (Matt 26:14–16, 21–25, 47–50; 27:3–10).

He stands in stark contrast to Mary - “What are you willing to give me to deliver Him up to you?” - This is a man who sells His soul for “thirty pieces of silver” Thirty Shekels was equal to 120 denarii, (see Matt 20:2) the equivalent of 5 months wage, a fairly large sum of money but nowhere near the 300 denarri that the woman sacrificed on Jesus!

Why? John tells us in John 12:6 that he stole money from the common moneybag and had no real care for the poor. He accepted the equivalent of the compensation paid to an owner for the loss of a slave (Exod. 21:32) and by accepting this figure, he fulfilled Scripture in Zechariah 11:12, where “the Shepherd of the flock doomed for slaughter” refused to be in the employ of his exploitative employers and instead requested that his wages be ‘weighed out’ amounting to “thirty pieces of silver”

It is likely that he was also disillusioned by Jesus’ - not buying in to his idea of Messiahship (cf. Matt 19:28), and now wanting out. it was time to get out before it was too late. Or perhaps Judas decided to hand Jesus over, in effect, to stop a larger rebellion. Whatever the reason, Matthew does not present him as a reluctant informer. By delivering Jesus over to them, Judas was promising to act as a spy and an informer. Only a member of the inner circle could do this; a constant companion; a "close friend” who was “trusted” (see Psalm 41:9). The plan was in place, all that now remains is to find an opportunity to arrest Jesus at a time which was optimum but would not cause a public revolt. Perhaps at night, in a private Garden somewhere; whislt the disciples and even Jesus, were sleepy - Luke 22:6 “So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.”

Judas gave up Jesus for at best minimum financial gain. He betrayed Jesus and at the same time betrayed his soul for all eternity!

As we know, he later regretted his decision, returning the money before committing suicide (Matt 27:3–10) - What a tragedy.

Whatever the reason, Matthew does not present him as a reluctant informer. To deliver him would mean in that situation to inform them, as only one of his constant companions could, of where among all the Passover crowds he could be secretly arrested, to avoid a popular uproar.

Thirty pieces (shekels) of silver was the sum laid down as compensation paid to an owner for the loss of a slave (Exod. 21:32); but Matthew’s mention of the specific sum is clearly intended to echo Zechariah 11:12, where that same sum is ‘weighed out’ as the derisory ‘wages’ of the rejected shepherd.

From that moment the ball has now been set rolling, and all that now remains is to find an opportunity.

Beautiful and Bad choices, with eternal consequences - Where are we in the story?:

“The devotion of the faithful woman who prepares Jesus for his death is counter-pointed by Judas’ calculated betrayal … a striking overture to the events and themes of Matthew’s Passion’ (Senior, p. 50).

Decisions have consequences! Matthew has shown us this again and again with Jesus asking questions that all demand an answer and the answer to which has eternal consequences:

“Who do men say that I the Son of Man am?” (Matt 16:13)

“What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul? What can a man give in exchange for his soul?”(Matt 16:26) ;

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”(Matt 6:24);

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and hthe way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”(Matt 7:13,14) ;

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and slearn from me, for I am tgentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”(Matt 11:29-30).

Decisions have consequences!

The chief priests and the elders of Israel made a teriible choice! , along with all the people who rejected Jesus before Pilate, likewise in crying out = “His blood be on us and on our children!”(Matt 27:25) brought the wrath of God upon themselves!

The woman made a beautiful choice and the consequences are incalucuble = “Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” Her story is recorded in 3 of the gospels, a memorial to her love and generous worship. repeated for over two thousand years what this woman did has indeed been spoken of in memory of her. An example to us of loving, unselfish, sacrificial adoration. A beautiful thing! A beautiful example! And she had her reward! as Psalm16:11 says that in God’s presence “in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forever.” And that’s where Mary worships God—in His presence for evermore!

Judas made a desperately bad choice and the consequences for him were terrible = “woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

And this has been repeated again and again when people either accept or reject Jesus!  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not kperish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not obelieved in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and rpeople loved the darkness rather than the light because stheir works were evil.”(John 3:16-19).

Where are you in the story?