The Plot to Kill Jesus

Matthew 26:1-16

v.1-2 In this section Jesus speaks directly about His death for the fourth time (16:21, 17:22, 20:18-19). He had just finished spending time with His disciples alone on the Mount of Olives. There He had been instructing them about the last days and encouraging them to be faithful until the end. Now he lets the disciples know that His death is imminent. He tells the disciples in verse 2 that He will be crucified on the Passover. That was only two days away. The irony is that Jesus had just finished telling them that He is the Judge of the universe (25:32). Here we have Jesus stating that the Judge of the universe will be killed by the hands of wicked men.

The time of the crucifixion is extremely important. It is during the Passover. This celebration commemorated the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage. The celebration was observed annually in the city of Jerusalem. Each family was required to sacrifice a lamb for the sins of their household (see Exodus 12). The Passover was a shadow of the reality of Christ’s coming sacrifice for the sins of the world. When John the Baptist saw Jesus he called Him the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Scripture describes Jesus crucifixion as a lamb being led to the slaughter (Acts 8:32-34). The Bible says in 1 Cor. 5:7 that Christ is our Passover. Even when John saw Christ in heaven he described Him as a Lamb (Rev. 5:12). Christ would be crucified on Passover because He is the Lamb of God. He fulfills the Passover. The Jewish historian Josephus said that approximately 256, 500 lambs were sacrificed on Passover. That is a lot of lambs. But there was only one lamb on this particular Passover that would benefit anyone.

The manner of Jesus death is also mentioned in verse 2. He would be crucified. The disciples would have been aware of what that meant. The Romans used this particularly cruel method of execution to shame criminals and instill in them a fear of the government. The way in which Jesus would die was foretold hundreds of years earlier in Psalm 22. There the Psalmist described the death of the Messiah with the words “they pierced My hands and feet” (Psalm 22:16). That Jesus would die for our sins is hard enough to comprehend. But that He would commit Himself to such a cruel and torturous death is even more difficult to comprehend.

v.3 Jerusalem was the headquarters of the Jewish religious leaders. In this verse we see the Who’s who of Judaism gathering together to plot against Jesus. We have the chief priests. These were the wealthy, religious nobility of Judaism. Most all of them would have been Sadducees. We have the scribes (26:57). They were the interpreters of the law as well as the ones that made copies of the law. Scribes were usually Pharisees. But not all Pharisees had the skills and discipline to be a scribe. We have the elders of the people. This refers to the wealthy lay nobility of Judaism.

The most influential person assembled was the High Priest. In fact they were assembled at his palace. The High Priest at this time was Caiaphas. Some have pointed out that while Matthew and John name Caiaphas as High Priest (John 11:49), Luke names Annas as High Priest (Luke 3:2) as well. The reason for this is that Annas was replaced in AD 15 by Caiaphas as a political move by Rome. Technically a High Priest would serve until death. So both Annas and Caiaphas were called by title “High Priest” during this time. Caiaphas was a very corrupt man. He served Rome well and was paid for his labor. Caiaphas served as High priest from AD 15- AD 37. That was a long time in those days. Consider the fact that in a 100 year period 28 different men held that office, yet Caiaphas was able to hold onto it 25 years! His successor only lasted 50 days. Caiaphas lasted a long time because he was protected by Rome. In a political move, he married the daughter of Annas to add some type of legitimacy to his office. Caiaphas willingly put Jesus to death. In John 11:50 Caiphas said of killing Jesus “it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people that the whole nation perish not”. He was saying, if this Jesus keeps it up Rome is going to come in here and let us Jews have it! Of course he didn’t believe that. But it sounded good and it was a way for him to justify the murder of Jesus.

v.4-5 The religious leaders determine to kill Jesus. They recognize that this has to be done in a subtle way. They don’t want to cause a riot. In verse 5 they decide that they can’t kill Him on the Passover because they are afraid that would cause a disturbance among the people. Here is an interesting thing. The fact of the matter is that he was killed on the Passover. So think about this. The religious leaders and Jesus’ enemies wanted and tried to kill Jesus at particular times. Herod wanted to kill Jesus after He was born but he could not (Matthew 2:13-23). Shortly after Jesus started His ministry the religious leaders tried to throw Him off of a cliff but they couldn’t (Luke 4:29-30). In John 5:18 they tried to kill Jesus but could not. In fact Jesus became known by the people as “He whom they seek to kill” (John 7:25). But they could not kill Him.

Jesus would not die until the time was right. He said In John 10:18 that no one took His life, but He laid His own life down. In verse 5 the religious leaders reveal that they do not want to kill Jesus on the Passover. But in the end they kill Jesus on the Passover. Christ would die on His own time table, not the time table of anyone else.

v.6 Here we have Jesus in the city of Bethany. Bethany was just outside of Jerusalem. It was also the city of Jesus dear friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus (John 11:1). John tells us that those three friends, along with Himself and the disciples were in this home together. They were in the home of Simon the leper. This was, evidently, a leprous man that was healed by Jesus.

v.7 Here we have an occasion of extravagant worship. Matthew identifies the worshiper simply as a “woman”. John identifies her as Mary, the sister of Lazarus (John 12:3). When we put the account of Matthew, Mark 14, and John 12 together we get a pretty full picture of what happened in Simon’s home. Mary had an alabaster box that contained perfume from the nard plant. The root of the nard plant, found mainly in India, was used to make this expensive perfume. John tells us that the perfume was worth 300 pence, which was about a years wages for a common man. The perfume was kept in an alabaster box that Mary broke in order to empty out. An alabaster box was a container with a long flask and no handle. It would have been sealed to keep the perfume fresh. The fact that Mary broke the container showed that she had no intention of keeping any of it for herself. She was going to anoint Jesus with the entire amount.

As Jesus sat down to eat, Mary poured the precious ointment on Jesus head. John tells us that the aroma of it filled the room (John 12:3) and that she also anointed the feet of Jesus. This would have been quite a sight to behold. Her actions were ones of extravagant worship.

v. 8-9 The disciples were not so excited about Mary’s worship. John tells us that Judas instigated their anger (John 12:4), but nevertheless, they were guilty as well. Judas, motivated by greed, was upset that something so expensive was so quickly used up. the fact is that he wanted the ointment to be sold, the money put into the disciples treasury so that he could steal some of it. Judas so no use for worship, and he was able to convince the disciples to take his side as well. Judas pretended that he wanted to use the money to help the poor and evidently the other disciples believed him.

v.10-11 Jesus very quickly comes to the defense of Mary. In fact He rebukes the disciples for troubling the woman. She would have likely been embarrassed because of the disciples’ criticism of her. Jesus tells the disciples that Mary has done a good thing. There would not be another time I which Mary could do what she is doing in these passages. Christ is about to die. She is pouring out her heart to Him through the act of worship. Jesus says in verse 11 that her devotion to Him is more important than ministering to the poor. He tells them they will always have an opportunity to minister to the poor. Having the physical Christ in your presence was a privilege that very few had the opportunity to enjoy. She was taking advantage of it.

v.12-13 Jesus reveals something interesting here. Mary evidently had a deeper understanding than most about Jesus death. She seems to have known that he was about to die. in this regard, she seems to have had more insight than the twelve. Jesus says that Mary was anointing His body for burial, which was a common practice. Only she was doing it, as a symbol of His death and an act or worship before he actually died.

Jesus says that Mary would be famous, in a sense, for her act of worship. Wherever the gospel is preached people would hear the story of Mary’s magnificent act of worship. The very fact that we are talking about her today proves Jesus point. Her actions are recorded in the Bible, and the Word of God will endure forever.

v.14-16 What happens next is interesting. We have the record of Judas making a decision to betray Jesus. I believe that Jesus calling out Judas for rebuking Mary, sent Judas over the edge. He hated Jesus at this point, I believe. I mean look at what Judas says in verse 15. He makes his way to the chief priests and just says “what will you give me for Him?” He doesn’t make a demand for a certain dollar amount. I guess he is thinking “I am not making any money following Jesus, let me see what I can get for turning Him in.”

You see, the chief priests and religious leaders need to know the schedule of Jesus. They needed to know where He was going to be and when he was going to be there. They needed to make an opportune arrest of Him. It needed to be away from the crowds. In order to catch Jesus at the perfect time and place they needed someone working for them on the inside. With Judas they got exactly what they needed.

The decision was made to give Judas thirty pieces of silver for his work. This, according to Exodus 21:32 was the price of a slave that had been killed by an ox. 30 pieces of silver was not a large amount of money at all. The low amount to which Judas agreed reveals just how much Judas valued Jesus. This amount is in contrast to the large amount of money Mary just spent on Jesus worshipping him. Mary and Judas are seen as polar opposites in these Scriptures.

v.16 At that point Judas began to scheme. He began to look for the most opportune time for Jesus to be arrested. He had time to think about it, but his conscience was seared at this point. he had time to back out, but his heart was too cold. He had opened himself up to Satan. In fact, Luke 22:3 says that Satan actually entered into Judas.

All of this section deals with the death of Jesus. As we enter the last few chapters of the book, the life of Jesus is coming to an end. The cross is only a couple of days away. Christ is approaching the hour of His glory and our redemption.

Thoughts to Consider

1. Jesus death was eternally planned by the Father and willingly entered into by the Son.

2. Worship is more important than anything else we do.

3. If you do not see the worth of Christ you will likely betray Him.

4. What Satan gives you to betray Christ is never worth the price you pay for betraying Christ.