Matthew 26:1-35

Text Talk, September 30, 2020

Matthew 26:1-35

Introduction

We are covering Matthew 26:1-35 this week. We are breaking this chapter into two parts. The second part we will hold for a few weeks. The reason for the break at verse 35 is that Jesus has been in the upper room with the apostles…and then the next verse (36) pictures them going to the Garden of Gethsemane. Matthew’s gospel does not address the lengthy discussion with the apostles in the upper room. That is reserved for John’s gospel. John 13-17 (five chapters) fit between verses 35-36 in Matthew 26.

Remember, we have put Matthew and John together and have tried to arrange them in chronological order. Thus, the reason for the break.

When we last left Jesus, He was with His apostles at the Mount of Olives. But, as we move forward, it is late in the Passover week.

In this chapter, we will see a picture of Jesus at Bethany where Mary (the sister of Lazarus) will anoint Jesus with an expensive perfume. This incident is important to the gospel story because it may have been the thing that triggered Judas to move on his plot to betray Jesus.

And we will see Jesus at Jerusalem where He will observe the Passover with His disciples.

Matthew 26:1-2 Jesus predicts His betrayal and crucifixion

Jesus has now done this several times. Why does He keep repeating this to His disciples?

So far, the disciples have been with Jesus for years. They have formed a family of sorts, so they are very close with each other and with Jesus.

Adding to this, the disciples view Jesus as their Messiah and King. They expect him to be the savior and new leader of Israel.

So, Jesus is trying to teach his disciples that his Kingship is different from what they expect. He’s trying to prepare them because he knows that this will be very difficult for them to accept.

His crucifixion will be done in conjunction with the Passover. Give us a little background on this feast and why it was so important to the Jews.

Passover is a reference to what happened while the Israelites were in Egypt.

If you remember the story, both Israel and Egypt were facing death from God.

In order to be saved from this death, the people of Israel had to sacrifice a lamb.

They would kill the lamb.

They would put the blood of the lamb on the door posts

They would eat the lamb that night.

When the Israelites did this, they were spared from death, and they were ultimately freed from their slavery in Egypt.

Because they were freed from slavery, they became God’s covenant people.

So with all of this in mind, what does Passover signify for the Jews?

Passover signifies salvation from death.

Passover signifies salvation from slavery.

Passover signifies making of the covenant between God and Israel.

So this was a very important and very patriotic time for the Jews. Obviously it has some important connections to the death of Jesus, but we will talk about that later.

Matthew 26:3-5 The plot of the Jewish leaders to kill Jesus.

It seems significant to note that this plot was not the doing of just one or two persons. Rather, a number of leaders were in on this scheme to kill Jesus. Let’s remind ourselves of why the wanted to kill Him.

Well, Jesus represented a drastic change from the norm, and If his popularity continues to rise, then the religious leaders could lose their political power.

That’s the big problem. Jesus is gaining popularity, and the religious leaders could lose their power.

Let’s remember that the Romans tolerated the Jews. They allowed the Jews to operate and rule themselves, but if Jesus starts to change things, then the Romans might take the power away from the Jews.

The Romans tolerate the Jews because they know that the Jews aren’t a threat.

They don’t know Jesus, so they might decide to take the power away from the Jews.

So the religious leaders decide that it’s better to kill Jesus than to lose their power over the nation.

Verse 5 declares that they did not want to do it during the feast (a weeklong affair). Yet, it seems that they were so eager to kill Jesus that they did it anyway—even though it was during the feast. It says their plot was to take Him “by stealth” or “by trickery.” What is the idea here?

As I said earlier, Jesus was very popular among Israelites, especially the Galileans. If the religious leaders were to arrest Jesus during broad daylight, there would likely be a riot.

So, in order to avoid outrage from the people, they plan to take Jesus by stealth. Likely at night.

Matthew 26:6-13 Anointing of Jesus at the house of Simon the leper

John 12 (2-8) identifies Mary (sister of Martha and Lazarus) as the one who anointed Jesus. Jesus said this anointing was for His burial. In what sense could that be so?

The anointing of the body with spices was something that was done by the Jews to prepare the body for burial.

The Romans would not have done this. They would have left the body to rot.

So, Jesus is saying that Mary - whether she understands it or not - is preparing his body for burial.

The disciples seem to be concerned that this was a waste. That it could have been sold and the proceeds go to help the poor. John 12 identifies Judas as the leader of this complaint. Was Judas concerned about the poor?

No. Judas was a greedy man who was stealing, but the other disciples were not greedy. In my opinion, the other disciples were rightly concerned with the poor, but Jesus responds by saying, “the poor will always be with you.”

So there’s a natural question that arises here. Does Jesus not care about the poor?

Of course Jesus cares about the poor. Think about the passage that Jesus is quoting from. That passage is about taking care of the poor. Deuteronomy 15:1-11.

Deuteronomy 15:1–11 ESV

1 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. 3 Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. 4 But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— 5 if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you. 7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

So Jesus’ point is that taking care of the poor is good, but this woman is doing something good as well.

Jesus said this woman had done a good deed—and that what she had done would be a memorial to her. How is that so?

The point is that the woman would be remembered for what she had done, and what Jesus said is true.

Even though we don’t preach or teach this story very much, we are still talking about it today.

Matthew 26:14-16 Judas engages with the chief priests to betray Jesus

It appears that they paid Judas in advance for his services. As we look at this man, we find that he is deeply flawed. And we ask ourselves, didn’t he hear and see the same things as the other disciples of Jesus? Why is he so corrupt?

I have a few points that I want to make on this.

First, why is he so corrupt?

He has a wicked heart. We’ve talked about this before, then they will be able and willing to accept the teachings of Jesus. If someone has an unrighteous heart, then they won’t accept the teachings of Jesus.

Remember, contact with God shows us who we really are.

Second, why 30 silver coins?

It echoes what we see from the prophet Zechariah. In Zechariah 11, we are introduced to a shepherd who is taking care of the sheep. Eventually, the sheep reject the shepherd, and notice what is said. Zechariah 11:12-13.

Zechariah 11:12–13 ESV

12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter.

The sheep reject the shepherd, and the shepherd wants to be paid his wages. What is the price for the rejected shepherd?

30 pieces of silver

What is done with the 30 pieces of silver?

it is thrown to the potter.

Does this sound familiar? So this is a fulfillment of Zecharian 11.

I wonder if there is some connection between his complaint about the wasted perfume and his action of betrayal here. What do you think?

Absolutely. There is definitely a contrast between Judas and Mary.

Mary is willing to sacrifice a year’s wage for Jesus.

Judas is willing to sacrifice Jesus for a months wage.

I think there is an important lesson here. Are we like Mary? Are we willing to sacrifice a year’s wage for Jesus?

Sometimes I fear that I am more like the disciples. Let me give an example.

What if someone took everything that they had and put it in the collection plate, and then came to you for financial help?

My first instinct would be to criticize that person. “Why would you foolishly put everything that you had in the collection plate.”

But the longer I think about it, the more I realize that I have the wrong attitude on this.

The widow with the two mites… She had the right attitude.

Mary… She had the right attitude.

I need to make sure that I’m not like the disciples who would criticize someone for giving to the Lord in a way that we view as unwise.

But yes, there is contrast between the greed of Judas and the generosity of Mary.

Matthew 26:17-25 “One of you will betray Me”

There is a lot happening in these verses. It is the first day of unleavened bread; the disciples are preparing the Passover, Jesus says His death is at hand; the disciples ask about their own fidelity; and, as they are eating, Jesus identifies the one who will betray Him. That is the primary thought of this section. But let’s look at some of those other things. How was the feast of unleavened bread connected to the Passover?

There is something important that we need to see here, so I’m going to spend some time on this question.

The feast of unleavened bread actually follows Passover. Passover begins on the 14th day of the 1st month. The feast of Unleavened Bread is a seven-day festival that follows Passover.

So, originally there were two festivals.

Passover - 14th day of the 1st month

Unleavened bread - starts 15th day of the 1st month.

During the time of Jesus, these two festivals merged into one, and the terms became synonymous.

So the first day of unleavened bread could be the 15th or the 14th day. We see this in Mark 14:12.

Mark 14:12 ESV

12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”

The reason I bring this up is because I believe that Jesus and the disciples ate the passover meal the night before it was typically eaten. We see this in the gospel of John. John 13:1-2. John 18:28.

John 13:1–2 ESV

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,

John 18:28 ESV

28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.

So, in John 13, we see that the last supper was held before the passover. In John 18, we see that Jesus’ trial is also before the passover. Why is this important?

This is important because Jesus was crucified on which day? On the day when the Passover lamb was slaughtered.

We’ve already seen that Jesus is the new Israel… Jesus is the new Moses… Now we see that Jesus is the new Passover lamb.

What did this Passover lamb represent for Israel?

It represented salvation from slavery

It represented salvation from death

Well, that’s exactly what Jesus does for us.

Jesus said it would have been good for that man if he had not been born. What does the Lord intend here?

I think this is symbolic language that highlights the fate of Judas. Jesus is saying that Judas is facing the worst possible fate, so it would be better if he wasn’t even born.

We use similar language

“I’ll make you wish that you were never born.”

What about Jesus’ answer in verse 25 where Judas asks “Rabbi, is it I?” People may wonder about the unusual structure of Jesus’ answer to him.

Jesus is saying something along the lines of “You say so.”

Without getting too technical, Jesus is simply saying, “yes.” He’s answering in the affirmative. We are going to continue to see this language as we read through the trial.

BTW… It’s interesting that throughout Matthew’s gospel, the disciples have never called Jesus Rabbi. Instead, they have called him Lord. In Matthew’s gospel, the only people who call Jesus Rabbi are outside of the group… Like the religious leaders.

It seems like Matthew, through this literary technique is trying to show us that Judas is no longer a part of the group.

I think that there is something else that is important for us to see.

Did you notice how the disciples didn’t know who was going to betray Jesus?

They didn’t know that it was Judas… He was a trusted disciple of Jesus.

Why do I bring this up? I bring it up because Judas was wearing a mask and he fooled everyone.

Does this sound like us at times? Do we wear the mask?

We need to look at Judas and ask ourselves… are we being Judas.

Matthew 26:26-30 Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper.

There is so much that can be said about these five verses. We know they were using unleavened bread (v 17), and drinking from the juice of the grape (fruit of the vine). We also know what those two elements represent—His body and blood. But what about the statement at the end of verse 29? “…until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom”?

In this section, Jesus is again reminding them about his death. Matthew 26:28.

He talks about his blood being poured out for many. So, Jesus is trying to show his disciples that he is going to die, but Jesus is also trying to show his disciples that his death is not going to be the last word.

Even though Jesus is going to die, he will rise again and lead God’s kingdom.

So, I think that part of the point here is that death is not the last word.

The other thing that we see here is that the LS doesn’t backwards… it points forwards as well.

The LS does remind us to look backwards at Jesus death.

The LS also reminds us to look forward to the day when we will share the feast with Jesus in eternity.

You could argue that we share the feast with Jesus today, and in some sense, we do. But we don’t fully share in this feast until we truly unite with Jesus in the fullness of the kingdom.

BTW… The passover meal was typically shared by family. The fact that Jesus shared this passover meal with his disciples showed how close they were.

The fact that we share a similar meal, shows us how close we should be. The fact that we share this new meal shows us that we are family.

We were given a question about verse 30. “Some say that the Lord’s Supper must be at the end of the service, ending with a hymn before going out?” How should we respond?

I would respond by saying, “If thats what a church has decided to do, then by all means… do that.”

But here’s what we need to understand.

Jesus and his disciples are eating a passover meal. At the end of the passover meal, the Jews would sing a part of the Hallel psalms.

This is what Jesus and the disciples were doing. They were doing what was customary for the Jews on Passover night.

So this song was a tradition of the Jews and not necessarily a command or example for Christians to follow.

If this were a command/example for Christians to follow, then we couldn’t just sing any song after the Lord’s Supper… It would have to be the Hallel psalms.

Matthew 26:31-35 Jesus predicts the scattering of the disciples

This scattering was the subject of Old Testament prophecy. Where was this prophecy found and why would Jesus point to this at this time? How does verse 32 help the disciples?

The prophecy is from Zechariah 13:7-9.

Zechariah 13:7–9 ESV

7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones. 8 In the whole land, declares the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. 9 And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”

In the context, God strikes the shepherd and the people suffer, but ultimately God draws the people back to him.

This is what happens with Jesus.

He is killed.

The disciples scatter.

But ultimately, they are drawn back to him.

How does verse 32 help the disciples? It gives them hope.

What shall we say about Peter’s boast that he will be loyal to the Lord? What about the other disciples?

Well… Peter is being Peter, but the other disciples say the same thing, and they all end up leaving Jesus.

What if we had been in that group? What would we have said?

We likely would have said the same thing.

Invitation: Reuben

We talked today about how Jesus is like the passover lamb.

He saves us from death

He saves us from slavery.

Do you want to be a part of that salvation?

Close: Max