Matthew 26

CHAPTER 26THEME: Final events in the life of Jesus immediately before the Cross; the plot to arrest Him; the anointing by Mary of Bethany; the selling by Judas Iscariot; the celebration of the first Lord’s Supper; the predicted denial by Peter; the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane; the betrayal by Judas; the arrest by the chief priests; the trial before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin; the denial by PeterThis is the longest chapter in the Gospel of Matthew. There is a break at the conclusion of verse Mat_26:30. The events recorded in John 15-17 could be inserted here. Another natural break would be at the beginning of verse Mat_26:57. A chapter division here would set the trial before the religious rulers in a separate category. Perhaps those who divided the Scriptures included so many events in one chapter to give the reader something of the scope and rapidity of these significant happenings. Every incident and detail in this chapter points to the Cross. There is a trip-hammer precision here that may give the reader the impression that Jesus is caught in the vortex of circumstances over which He has no control. A careful examination and consideration, however, will reveal that He is the master of circumstances, and He is never more kingly than when He draws near the Cross. All things recorded in this chapter and chapter 27 should be studied in the light of His determination at Caesarea Philippisix months previouslyto go to Jerusalem to die: “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day” (Mat_16:21). He is moving according to God’s timetable, and He is forcing the issue. He is not the helpless victim caught between the upper millstone of religious intrigue and the nether millstone of Roman power. A reverence should pervade our thinking as we consider these things written in this chapter, for they are vitally related to our salvation.

Matthew 26:1

PLAN TO KILL JESUS"When Jesus had finished all these sayings"what sayings? The Olivet Discourse. He has answered their questions regarding the end of the age, and now He has something else for them

Matthew 26:2

Now let’s read ahead to verse Mat_26:5 and see something very interesting here

Matthew 26:3

In verse Mat_26:2 Jesus tells His disciples that He is going to die. According to the record, this is the sixth time He has told them. Six months before this, beginning at Caesarea Philippi, He announced His impending death. And now He sets the time of His death. He tells them that He will die during the Passover. But the religious rulers had other plansnotice verse Mat_26:5. “But they said, Not on the feast day lest there be an uproar among the people.” The very ones who put Him to death said that they would not crucify Him during the Passover; He said that He would die during the Passover.

When did He die? He died during the Passover. You see, Jesus, not His enemies, set the time of His execution. He is in command; He is the King in Matthew’s Gospel, and when He seems more helpless and weak than at any other time, He still is in charge. The bitter hatred of His enemies had led them to plot His murder, and they wanted to do it their way, but they will not be permitted to do that. The closer Jesus gets to the Cross, the more kingly He becomes. We pass from that incident to one of marvelous light.

Matthew 26:6

JESUS IS ANOINTED BY MARY OF BETHANYBethany was the place of love, as Jerusalem was the place of hate. He stayed in Bethany during His last hours before His death. This incident took place in the home of Simon the leper. Why did they call him Simon the leper? Did he have leprosy? There was a time when he had this disease, but Jesus had undoubtedly healed him.

Now he is able to sit down and have fellowship with the Lord Jesus and others who are having dinner with him at his home. This is a wonderful scene, my friend. The Lord’s enemies today do not know Him. They do not know the Lord who healed, who loved, who wept and judged. In fact, some of His enemies of today recently presented a play in a local college in which Jesus and His disciples were characterized as sinful men! Our laws have banned prayer and Bible reading in schools, but they permit the dirtiest, filthiest portrayals of our Lord, and outright blasphemy!

Of course, those who produce such things are ignorant; they don’t know our Lord. In fact, they are spiritual lepers. If they told the truth, they would have to say of themselves, “Unclean, unclean!” When you have come to the Lord Jesus and have been cleansed by Him, you can sit down and have fellowship with Him. This is the scene we have in this passage. As they were having dinner, a woman (Joh_12:3 tells us that it was Mary) came to Jesus with an alabaster box of precious ointment and anointed both His head and His feet with fragrant ointment. John also tells us that it was Judas Iscariot who led the agitation against her, although all the disciples agreed with him.

Matthew 26:8

I wonder how much they really cared about the poor. They remind me of folk in our contemporary society who are always talking about taking care of the poor but are doing nothing about it themselves. In our government there are quite a few legislators who are millionaires and are always talking about a poverty program and other aid for the poor. Have you ever attempted to find out how much they personally have done for the poor? I don’t care for that kind of hypocrisy! The evidence of the sincerity of your concern is always in what you yourself are doing. Are you trying to make an impression, or are you really trying to help folk?

Matthew 26:9

That is accurateit could have been. It is estimated that the cost of it equalled a year’s salary for a rural worker.

Matthew 26:10

As far as Christians are concerned, they should not give to anything nor do anything that does not glorify the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Personally, I refuse to participate in any so-called good works in the community unless Christ is glorified in them, unless they are done in His name. And I am amazed at how little they really accomplish. How much do they really give that brings blessing to people? It makes me sick when I hear of the corruption among the politicians in the poverty programs. However, when loving assistance is given in the name of the Lord Jesus, He Himself said that it was a good work.

Matthew 26:11

Those of us who say we trust Christ and want to honor and glorify Him ought to be doing more in His name today.

Matthew 26:12

That home of Simon the leper in Bethany was a place of light and friendship for the Lord Jesus. In contrast, Jerusalem was the place of hatred. He did not spend a night in the city of Jerusalem during that final week, but He went out to Bethany and stayed with these folk who loved Him. Those who want Him, who love Him, are the ones He fellowships with in our day. My friend, you can have Him if you want Him. The beautiful story of the broken alabaster box has filled the world with its fragrance. Our Lord said, “Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.” And we are telling it right now. I hear folk speak about being in the apostolic succession, but I would like to be in the succession of Mary. Mary alone, of all Christ’s followers, understood and entered into His death, while the apostles missed the point completely. Although she stood on the fringe of things, she understood, and to let Him know, she anointed Him. Did she waste her ointment?

In the Gospel records I read that on the morning of that first day of the week other women came to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His body for burial. I have a question to ask you: Did they put their ointment on the body of Jesus? No, He wasn’t in that tombHe was risen. Mary alone had the privilege of anointing Him. My friend, you and I need to break our alabaster box of ointment in the name of the Lord Jesus. The world outside doesn’t know Him; so we ought to be very careful that what we do brings glory, not to ourselves, but to Him. Now we turn from that beautiful scene of light to another dark scene.

Matthew 26:14

PLOT OF JUDAS TO SELL JESUSThis deed of Judas Iscariot is dark and dastardly in contrast to Mary’s act of spiritual perception. Dante gave Judas and Brutus the lowest place in The Inferno, and no one since then has said he was wrong. These men did the lowest and basest thing men could do when they betrayed one to whom they should have been loyal. “He sought opportunity to betray him.” You see, the arrest had to take place when Jesus was alonethat is, when the crowds were gone. Judas waited for such a time.

Matthew 26:17

THE PASSOVER AND THE LAST SUPPERNow the Lord Jesus will go with His own into the Upper Room, and there He will make the announcement that one will betray Him.

Matthew 26:20

Everyone of those men knew that he had it within his heart to betray Christ. Have you discovered that in your own heart and life? My friend, you and I are just that low. You may say, “Oh, I wouldn’t do that!” Are you sure? I would betray Him within the next five minutes if He didn’t keep His hand on meand you would, too. That ought to keep us close to Him.

Matthew 26:23

It is interesting to note that Judas did not call Him Lord as the other disciples did (see v. Mat_26:22). At this juncture Judas left the room, according to John’s record: “He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night” (Joh_13:30).

Matthew 26:26

Here we see the Lord instituting the Lord’s Supper over the dying ashes of a fading feast, the Passover. The cup circulated seven times during the Passover. It was evidently at the last time that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. During the feast they sang the Hallel PsalmsPsalms 111 to 118. When you read them for your own spiritual profit, keep in mind that our Lord sang them on that auspicious night. At that last supper, He reared a new monument to Himself. It was not made of marble or bronze but was made of the temporary elements of bread and wine. Both speak of His death until He comes again.

Matthew 26:29

The Passover will be reinstituted in the Millennium. The Lord said that He would drink the fruit of the vine again in the Kingdom. This means that apparently the Passover during that time will look back to His death on the Cross. The Passover, which had looked forward for centuries to His coming, will also during the Millennium look back to His coming.

Matthew 26:31

PREDICTION OF PETER’S DENIALThis is a quotation from Zechariah’s prophecy (see Zec_13:7).

Matthew 26:32

Peter’s answer suggested that he did not trust the other disciples either but that the Lord could sure depend upon him! Peter’s problem was that he didn’t know himself, and that is the problem many of us have today.

Matthew 26:34

It was early in the evening that Peter said he would not deny our Lord. Yes, he was even ready to die with the Lord. That same night before the cock crowed Peter denied Him, not once, but three times.

Matthew 26:36

GETHSEMANEWe need to pay attention to the prayer that our Lord is praying here. “This cup” evidently represents His cross and the contents are the sins of the whole world. More than the death itself and the terrible suffering of crucifixion is something else that we do not seem to realize. It is this: Jesus, holy, harmless, and separate from sinners, was made sin for us. There on the Cross the sin of humanity was put on Himnot in some forensic or academic manner, but in reality. We cannot even imagine the horror He felt when that sin was placed upon Him. It was a horrendous experience for this One who was holy.

Notice that He was not asking to escape the Cross, but He was praying that God’s will be done. It is impossible for you and me to enter into the full significance of Gethsemane, but I think it was there that He won the victory of Calvary. Undoubtedly, He was tempted by Satan in Gethsemane as truly as He was in the wilderness. Notice verse Mat_26:42: “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” He was accepting it. To say that our Lord was trying to avoid going to the Cross is not exactly true. In His humanity He felt a repugnance and the awful horror of having the sins of the world placed upon Himself, and He recoiled for a moment from it.

But He committed Himself to the Father. He came to do the Father’s will. Now let’s look at the disciples who were in the garden with HimPeter, James, and John. After His first prayer, He came back to them and found them sleeping

Matthew 26:40

“Watch"stay awake, be alert"and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” What was the temptation? Who was going to tempt them? Satan was there. Jesus wrestled with an unseen foethat is obvious. He overcame the enemy there in Gethsemane. The victory of Calvary was won in Gethsemane.

Matthew 26:42

He commits Himself to the Father’s will.

Matthew 26:43

“Sleep on now and take your rest.” Obviously, there is an interval of time between this and the next verse. He didn’t tell them to go to sleep and in the next breath tell them to get up. There was time for their nap, and they needed this rest. Notice how our Lord pays attention to the needs of their bodies. After they had slept awhile, He said

Matthew 26:46

The fact that Judas, and also the enemies of Jesus, had witnessed many miracles makes them realize that Jesus has supernatural power and that He might use it. So when they come to arrest Him, they bring a whole crowd of armed men. Possibly the whole guard came to arrest Him.

Matthew 26:48

That hot kiss of betrayal is one of the worst things in recorded history.

Matthew 26:49

A kiss can either be a sign of acceptance or rejection (see Psa_2:12). In this instance Judas bestowed a kiss of betrayal upon the Lord Jesus, and it was one of the most despicable acts of man. Some theologians contend that Judas was predestined to betray Jesus and could do nothing else. If this were true, Judas was nothing more than a robot. I believe Judas made up his own mind to betray our Lord and had every opportunity to change his plans. You may say, “Yes, but it was prophesied that he would betray Jesus.” I have to agree with you.

It was prophesied, and our Lord marked him out as the man. However, after Judas had fulfilled the prophecy, after Jesus was betrayed, Judas could have repented. Jesus gave Judas one final opportunity to repent and accept Him. Even after he gave Jesus that hot kiss of betrayal, Jesus called him, “Friend.” Later, when Judas went to the temple and threw down the silver given to him to betray the Lord, he could have changed his mind. As the priests were taking Jesus to Pilate, Judas could have fallen down before Him and said, “Forgive me, Lord, I did not know what I was doing.” The Lord would have forgiven him.

Matthew 26:51

We know who that was; it was Simon Peter. I think that he was trying to prove something. Earlier Peter had boasted that he would die protecting Jesus, but Jesus told him that he would deny Him that very night. Well, Peter got a sword somewhere, and he intended to protect his Lord. But Peter was a fisherman, not a swordsman. He sliced off the man’s ear; but he wasn’t after ears, he was after his head. He intended to lop off the man’s head, but he almost missed him!

Matthew 26:52

In other words, “I don’t need your little sword, Peter. I haven’t come to put up a battle against the religious rulers. I have come to die for the sins of the world.”

Matthew 26:54

You see, our Lord is fulfilling Scripture. Matthew makes this very clear.

Matthew 26:55

Previously, His hour had not yet come. But now His hour has come

Matthew 26:56

Jesus had predicted this. All of the disciples leave Him now.

Matthew 26:57

PALACE OF THE HIGH PRIESTWe find out later that the father-in-law of Caiaphas was really the instigator of all this. But Jesus must be brought to Caiaphas, the high priest, for the first charge. Because the religious rulers are going to ask Rome for the death penalty, they must determine that night what charge against Jesus they can bring when they go to Pilate in the morning.

Matthew 26:58

Simon Peter followed afar off. It is dangerous for any of us to follow Jesus afar off. We are told in Joh_18:15-16 that with the aid of John, Peter gained entrance to the courtyard. He waited there to “see the end,” and in just a short while he would deny the Lord.

Matthew 26:59

You see, because the religious rulers had no charge against the Lord Jesus, they had to find false witnesses. And the trouble with getting false witnesses was in finding one that could stand up under investigation. Pilate might be a little inquisitive (which he was) and ask a few annoying questions. Finally, they found two witnesses

Matthew 26:61

According to Joh_2:19-22, even the disciples misunderstood Jesus when He made the statement: “…Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They didn’t understand it until after Jesus’ resurrection. Evidently the false witness was a man who had been present at the time Jesus made the statement, but notice that he doesn’t quote Him accurately.

Matthew 26:62

He tries to get the Lord Jesus to answer so the Sanhedrin will know what kind of an argument to use. The accusation is so absolutely farfetched that our Lord does not answer it.

Matthew 26:63

Now the high priest puts Him on oath and asks Him the specific question, “Are you the Christ, the Son of God?”

Matthew 26:64

“Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said"this is tantamount to saying, “Yes, you have said who I am.” Jesus claims for Himself the title “Son of man.” Dr. Warfield said that this is the highest title the Lord had. This is a title the prophets used (see Daniel and Ezekiel). It was an epithet of deity. He could have claimed no greater position than to have said He was “the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”

Matthew 26:65

“Then the high priest rent his clothes"that is, he tears his robes, signifying extreme grief at hearing blasphemy. They think that they have a charge against Jesus now.

Matthew 26:66

How they hated the Lord Jesus! This is the natural antagonism of the human heart to His goodness, His righteousness, His holiness, and the fact that He is God. Do you realize, my friend, that if you and I had only our old natures, we would try to knock God off His throne? A few years ago a crowd was saying that God was dead! Do you know why they said that? Because they would like to get Him off His throne. Human nature hates Him. Here in the Sanhedrin He was slapped, spit upon, beaten with fists, and ridiculed. “Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?” They played a game with Him. They apparently blindfolded Him, then hit Him on the face, and He was to guess who did it. They would never have let Him guess right, of course.

Matthew 26:69

PETER’S DENIAL OF JESUSWe will look at this in more detail in the other Gospel records. Galilean pronunciations were a little different from those used in Judea. Peter had a Galilean accent!

Matthew 26:74

The poor man did not realize how weak he really was! But our Lord had prayed that his faith would not fail, and it did not.

Matthew 26:75

Simon Peter was in the wrong place. For him, it was the place of temptation. No alibi can be offered for his base denial. He was guilty of a heinous act. However, Peter did repent and come back into fellowship with the Lord he loved. In fact, Peter was the one to whom He gave the privilege of preaching the first sermon after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and three thousand people were saved!