Christ Announces the time of His Betrayal and Death⤒🔗

Matthew 26 offers a series of short but brilliantly lit scenes surrounding the betrayal of Jesus. The chapter opens with Christ announcing the end of His public preaching ministry. After this, He says to His disciples,

After two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.Matt 26:2

To us, looking back on history, Christ’s intent to die on the cross could not be clearer. But the disciples do not grasp His meaning; they are still clinging to their own hopes for Christ and His kingdom. Some Christians today are similarly blind to Scripture. They only consult the Word to confirm their preconceived ideas and expectations.

The Highest Court of the Church conspires to kill Jesus←⤒🔗

Like a filmmaker, Matthew moves his focus to a differ­ent scene. The Sanhedrin, the highest court of the Jews, is assembled in the hall of Caiaphas. They duly observe the for­malities of meeting, but their purpose is to plot the murder of Jesus. After deliberation, a motion is passed to take Jesus quietly and kill Him (v. 4). An amendment is added, specifying that this arrest not be done “on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people” (v. 5). What a mix this meeting is of parliamentary proce­dure, political savvy, and heinous sin!

Christ Anointed for Burial←⤒🔗

Matthew next swings his focus back to Jesus, who is being entertained in the house of Simon the leper in Bethany. The all-male dinner party is interrupted by a woman who carries a beautiful alabaster container filled with perfumed oil. She breaks the container and pours its liquid upon the head of Jesus.

Stirred by Judas (John 12:4-5), the disciples protest this seemingly purposeless waste.

'This ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor,' they say.Matt. 26:9

John, however, tells us the objection was a fraud; Judas would have prevented the money from going to the poor.

He was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.John 12:6

Jesus points out that the disciples may give to the poor any time they wish. What’s more, He says that the woman grasps what they refuse to accept: He is about to die, and this woman acknowledges that fact by pouring her ointment on her Savior. “She did it for my burial” (26:12), Jesus says. He commends her and predicts that wherever the gospel is preached in the future, this deed will be remembered and honored.

Christ’s rebuke reminds us that He weighs our deeds against the motives of our hearts. At times we Reformed Christians promote utility at the expense of beauty. But Psalm 90:17 tells us that our profession of true religion should be adorned with the beauty of the Lord. Furthermore, our public worship should reflect that beauty. “Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary” (Ps. 96:6).

Judas makes an unholy Covenant with the Priests←⤒🔗

Matthew then moves to Judas, who slips away from the dis­ciples and goes to the priests to make a deal with them if he delivers Jesus: “What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?” he asks.

Matthew tells us that “they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver” (26:15). Some scholars translate the Greek verb for “covenant” here literally (“to weigh”), mean­ing that the priests weighed the silver to assure its value and paid Judas on the spot. The King James translators, however, use the word covenant to mean “to establish” or “stand firm,” inferring a solemn oath or religious covenant. Either meaning still reveals that heinous sin is again cloaked with the formali­ties of religion and the law.

The thirty pieces of silver also reflect contempt for Jesus. This small sum represents the damages to be assessed against a farmer whose ox happens to gore a servant and cause his death (Ex. 21:32). Christ’s life is sold for a paltry price, showing the vast chasm between Christ’s sworn enemies and the willing Sufferer (Ps. 22; Isa. 53; Zech. 11:12-13).

The Last Supper←⤒🔗

The focus finally returns to the Passover. During the meal, Christ states with certainty,

One of you shall betray me.Matt. 26:21

The solemn joy of the feast gives way to sorrow.

The disciples fearfully ask, 'Lord, is it I?' (v. 22). Jesus offers a cryptic response: 'He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.'Matt. 26:23

The problem is that, at some point in the meal all of the men would have dipped their hands into the dishes set before them. Christ is thinking of prophecy, however, and what was written concerning the one who should betray Him (Ps. 41:9).

Christ adds,

The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed,Matt. 26:24

bringing together the two ideas of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. In His divine sovereignty, God can use the sinful actions of men to accom­plish His holy purpose, without in any way diminishing the guilt of the sinner.

At last, Judas works up the nerve to ask, “Master, is it I?” (v. 25). Christ’s answer, “Thou hast said,” seems less than direct; however, the original is strongly affirmative. We today would say, “You have taken the very words out of my mouth; I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Thus Matthew pictures the betrayal of Christ by focusing on all the characters involved. He uses the same technique to describe Christ’s subsequent sufferings and death. The care with which Matthew offers each detail reveals the importance of those sufferings. However awful are the deeds of wicked men and false friends, Christ is accomplishing the plan of God for the salvation of His people.

Study Questions←⤒🔗

1. Why were the disciples so slow to grasp that Jesus had to die in order to be their Savior? Why are people today often still so blind to seeing the absolute necessity of Jesus’ death for salvation?
    
2. Why was the Sanhedrin afraid to arrest Jesus during the Passover?
    
3. List five reasons the church’s highest court, the Sanhe­drin, conspired to kill Jesus. Do these reasons impact the contemporary church’s opposition to the gospel? If so, how? Can you think of other reasons why the contemporary church might oppose the central tenets of the gospel?
    
4. Chronologically, the events of Matthew 26:6-13 precede the events of Matthew 21. Why do you suppose that Matthew places Jesus’ anointing in Matthew 26? What great contrast is Matthew seeking to highlight by placing the story of Jesus’ anointing between the reports of the plot to kill Jesus and Judas’s covenant with the priests to betray Jesus?
    
5. How can we link Jesus’ anointing in Matthew 26 to our need to worship God in the beauty of holiness? What other spiritual and practical lessons can we learn from Jesus’ anointing?
    
6. What parallels can you draw between Joseph and Jesus both being betrayed for a paltry price? How does this augment the wonder of the gospel?
    
7. Why would Judas want to betray Jesus?
    
8. How does Christ’s last supper with His disciples harmo­nize God’s sovereignty over all that takes place and our human responsibility for the evil that we commit?