Journey Through Matthew: Betraying Jesus

14 Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Matthew 26:14*1

And remember we are talking here about one of Jesus’ disciples.

One of the 12.

One of the chosen ones to be the catalyst to carry the Gospel message to all humanity.

One of the ones that Jesus trusted.

Hand-picked by Jesus.

And now here he is selling the Lord for 30 silver coins.

Which in itself shows us that none of us are immune from falling away.

None of us are too “high and mighty” to betraying God.

Which is exactly what we will be taking about tonight.

We are going to be looking at the the Passover, the “Last Supper” as we know it.

The last time Jesus would celebrate the passover meal with the disciples.

But we are going to look at some aspects of this Passover meal that are rarely mentioned.

Our focus is always on the “broken body” and “shed blood,” which it should be.

But there is much more there and we are going to dig into it tonight.

So, if you have found in your Bibles, I am going to be reading verses 17-30.

In it Matthew writes this . . .

Scripture Focus

Matthew 26:17–30 NIV - Anglicised

17 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” 18 He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ ” 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. 20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 And while they were eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.” 22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely not I, Lord?” 23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” 25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “Yes, it is you.” 26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Preparing For the Passover (vs 17-19)

So, this first part is pretty straightforward.

It starts out . . .

Matthew 26:17–18 NIV - Anglicised

Matthew 26:17-

And this actually follows Jewish tradition pretty well.

We have to remember that Jesus was not from Jerusalem but rather was a visitor to the town.

However, the people of Jerusalem had a pretty neat tradition in that when visitors came to town for the feasts (Passover, Pentecost, etc…)they would invite them into their home and let them use parts of it for their own Passover celebrations.

And this case is no different other than the fact that Jesus tells them to go and find a certain main.

To understand this certain man and how they were going to identify him we have to go over to that tells us . . .

Mark 14:13 NIV - Anglicised

13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.

And the reason the man carrying the jar of water was odd, was because normally the women carried the water, so it would make this guy pretty easy to spot.

Also, if you are curious the two disciples that Jesus sent were Peter and John, which we learn from

So, Peter and John are out looking for this guy carrying this jar of water, and they find him.

And when they do they repeat what Jesus told them to tell him, The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.

However, we do not know who this man was or how much of what he was told he actually understood.

He apparently either knew Jesus or knew of Jesus and readily gave up part of his house for Jesus to use.

In fact, he was honored the Lord had chosen to visit his house.

Which is sort of ironic, given that in today’s society people try every way in the world to keep Jesus out of their house.

And sadly, a lot of people who claim to be Christians go out of their way to even hide the fact that they know Jesus, or at least know about Jesus.

But that wasn’t the case here.

This guy was honored and didn’t hesitate.

The Betrayal (vs 20-25)

So, they went and began to prepare the house for the Passover.

And . . .

Matthew 26:20–21 NIV - Anglicised

20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 And while they were eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”

Matthew 26:

So, right off Jesus drops a bombshell on them.

They had been eating enjoying each others company.

Reclining at the table.

And I can imagine that the mood was light and everyone was just having a good time.

And Jesus pipes up and tells them, I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.

He didn’t say which one, just that one of them would.

And what we need to pay attention to is the reaction of the disciples.

Matthew 26:21 NIV - Anglicised

21 And while they were eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”

Matthew 26:22 NIV - Anglicised

22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely not I, Lord?”

Notice they didn’t say, “which one Lord and we will take care of them?”

They didn’t start pointing fingers and questioning one another.

First off they were saddened by it.

Their heart was troubled by it.

And they each asked Jesus “Surely not I, Lord?”

Or rather, “is it me Lord?”

Not the response of disciples that are confident in their faith.

We want to make Judas out to be the villain, which he was but these other disciples did not exactly have it all together either.

They all had fears and insecurities.

The fact that they were “saddened” by what Jesus was telling them is an indication that all of them had a guilty conscience.

Now, they didn’t understand the extent to which this betrayal would take place.

Other than Judas, none of them were thinking about joining in these plots to kill Jesus.

Their betrayal was the fact that all of them had considered giving up.

All of them had, at one point or another thought about quitting, walking away, going home, telling Jesus that the sacrifice wasn’t worth it.

That’s what they thought he meant by betraying him.

So, almost in a way to clear their conscience and ask forgiveness they ask him, “it’s not me is it Lord?”

And really the first point I want to make with this is that it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a disciple or how “strong” a disciple you think you are, all of us have thought about quitting at one time or another.

And what we need to think about is what kept us from quitting?

What was different that gave us the strength to keep going, to carry on?

And we need to be sharing that with those around us who are either on the verge of quitting or have quit?

That is what they need.

And we also need to ALWAYS be aware of our condition, our own situation, because if we are not careful we may just end up like Judas did.

However, to answer their questions Jesus tells them . . . .

Matthew 26:23 NIV - Anglicised

23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.

Matthew 26:23–24 NIV - Anglicised

23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

Matthew 26:

The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me, was in fact Judas, because Judas was actually sitting right beside Jesus.

He had been given the seat of honor for this Passover, right beside the Lord.

But Jesus isn’t mad.

He doesn’t even seem upset by it.

But rather just states matter of the fact . . .

Matthew 26:24 NIV - Anglicised

24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

And then Judas, already knowing that Jesus is talking about him . . .

Matthew 26:25 NIV - Anglicised

25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “Yes, it is you.”

And I would say that Judas was under so much conviction at that point that he couldn’t even stand it.

It had all piled up on him.

And the other disciples heard this conversation, so why didn’t they do anything?

Why didn’t they take care of Judas and save Jesus?

Because they thought that Jesus was talking about leaving the 12.

They had no idea what Jesus was really talking about.

Even though he had told them over and over, they didn’t get it.

And they probably put 2 and 2 together and came to the conclusion that Judas was probably leaving.

They had probably seen Judas go from one of the 12 strong for Jesus to just sort of a “go through the motions” kind of disciple.

He was there but he wasn’t there.

No buy in, no dedication to God, just going through the motions.

Like many Christians today.

They just go through the motions.

And the first time real trouble comes along, they quit and go home.

They give up.

And to be honest we can see it happening.

But the real shame is, we do not do anything to try and prevent it.

We do nothing to intervene and stop it.

We sit idly by and watch it happen.

And they end up out in the world, lost…woe to the man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.

But I also wonder, what responsibility we bear in that?

It is something to think about.

The Last Supper (vs 26-30)

So, now with Judas exposed, Jesus does something sort of strange.

We would think the night was ruined and they would have just went to bed, but Jesus goes on with the Passover.

And he does this perhaps to try and give Judas a chance to repent.

But most likely to try and help the disciples understand the depth of his love for humanity and exactly what was getting ready to take place.

First, . . .

Matthew 26:26 NIV - Anglicised

26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Matthew 26:

Second, . . .

Matthew 26:27–28 NIV - Anglicised

27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Matthew 26:

And finally, . . .

Matthew 26:29 NIV - Anglicised

29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Matthew 26:

His body broken for us.

His blood shed for us.

All for us.

And even though this would be the last time here on earth, he will not be defeated because there will come a time when he and all His true disciples will celebrate again together, in OUR Father’s kingdom.

And finally,

Matthew 26:30 NIV - Anglicised

30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Matthew

Altar Call

But we know we only enjoy this if we are His True disciple.

If we live our lives for him.

If we endure to the end.

If we do not betray Him.

And tonight, I think we need to be praying for strength.

We need to pray for the continued ability to watch, to be ready, to be able to endure.

We need to pray for those who are on the verge of betrayal.

We need to pray for those who have given up and living a hopeless life.

If you need prayer, come.

If you need to pray for someone come.

I think we all know at least one person, if not ourselves that need prayer.

Our altars are available if we will use them tonight.

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