Matthew 26

Matthew 26:1

After a long time the lord of those servants cometh. There is certainly a hint here that a long period would pass before the Lord’s return. And reckoneth with them. When our race meets the Lord, every mortal, saint, and sinner, good and bad, will be called on for a reckoning. Every one’s opportunities, as well as the character of his life and works, will be considered.

Matthew 26:2

He that had received five talents, etc. He had doubled what he had received, and in acknowledgment that all was due to his lord who had given all and whose he was, he brought all to lay at his feet.

Matthew 26:3

I will make thee ruler over many things. (1) Observe here that it is God’s talents that have made the ten talents. The fruitfulness of our work depends on what God has given us. (2) In God’s government, promotion depends on fidelity. This is in a measure true, here and how; fulfillment of duty in a lower and lesser station is rewarded by the providence which bids us to go up higher. (3) Present duties are trials of character; God gives the talents that he may test and see who is worthy of a trust. (4) The trusts given here below, by our use of which are to show ourselves capable of receiving the crown above, Jesus calls “a few things”. This is in contrast with the trusts we will enjoy in the heavenly kingdom.

Matthew 26:4

He also that had received two talents, etc. His fidelity and reward are indicated, acknowledged and rewarded in exactly the same terms as in the case of the first servant. The final reward depends on “faithfulness”, not greatness.

Matthew 26:6

I knew thee that thou art an hard man. The charge against the lord is insulting. The term “hard”, and the charge in the next clause, “of reaping where thou hast not sown”, affirm that the lord was harsh, unfeeling, grasping, and unscrupulous about his methods of acquisition. It states the position of many of our fellow men. Many refuse to employ their talents in Christ’s service because they think it a hard, exacting service, making unreasonable demands of self-denial, self-control and self-sacrifice.

Matthew 26:8

[Thou] wicked and slothful servant. The wickedness of the servant is demonstrated, not only his unfaithfulness, but by his false and slanderous excuses.

Matthew 26:9

To the exchangers. To the bankers. If the lord was so exacting as he supposed, he ought at least to have put his money to use with the money brokers that it might have earned something. Usury. Interest. The Jews were forbidden to take it from their brethren, but were allowed to take it from aliens. See Deuteronomy 23:19,20.

Matthew 26:10

Take therefore the talent from him. He had shown himself unworthy of the trust. He had enjoyed opportunity to serve the lord, but had utterly neglected it; therefore the opportunity was taken away. The application is easy. Give [it] unto him who hath ten talents. Because he has shown himself worthy of great trusts.

Matthew 26:11

To every one that hath shall be given. Every attainment of honor, wealth, knowledge, or spiritual grace helps to render further attainment more easy and more assured; while it is spiritually as well as materially true that “the destruction of the poor is their poverty” (Proverbs 10:15). Shall be taken away even that which he hath. For every “hath” there is a richer “hath”; and in every “hath not” a deeper, poorer “hath not”.

Matthew 26:12

Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. A state of banishment from the presence of the Lord. Have you a trust from the Lord? Are you useful to him according to your ability?

Matthew 26:13

When the Son of man shall come in his glory. Compare 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 Revelation 20:11-15. The glorious coming at the end of the world is meant. See Matthew 24:30. The throne of his glory. For an account of the great white throne upon which sat the divine Judge from whose face heaven and earth fled away, see Revelation 20:11. An earthly judge was wont, in pronouncing judgment, to take his place on the “judgment seat”, a kind of judicial throne (John 19:13).

Matthew 26:14

Before him shall be gathered all nations. It will be the day of the final account of all the world. He shall separate them. Now for the first time the separation takes place. The two classes have been mingled on the earth; every nation, country, town and city has had its wicked as well as righteous; nay, even into the church the bad have crept, but now they are separated forever.

Matthew 26:15

He shall set the sheep on his right hand. The sheep, who represent the righteous, are placed at the right hand, the place of honor. See Hebrews 12:2.

Matthew 26:16

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand. The King is Christ. This is the only time, save in parabolic language, that he applies the title to himself, though he speaks of his kingdom and declares he came into the world to be a king. At judgment his kingly majesty will be acknowledged by all the universe. Come, ye blessed of my Father. Observe that his invitation on earth to mortals is to “come”: “Come ye to the waters and drink” (Isaiah 55:1); “Let him that is athirst come and partake of the waters of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). To all who have heeded his earthly invitation he gives a heavenly invitation. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you. The blessed are now to enter on an inheritance. On earth they were heirs and joint-heirs with Christ.

Matthew 26:17

For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat, etc. The reason why those on the right hand are given the kingdom is now shown. They had ministered unto the Savior. The deeds of loving kindness that the truly benevolent do his needy disciples are named as having been done to Christ. It should be noted (1) that the duties named are such duties as every one can perform. Chrysostom says: ``He said not I was sick and ye healed me; or in prison and ye set me free; but “ye visited me and came unto me”.’’ (2) A real, personal service of Christ is implied, one involving some sacrifice of ease, time and property.

Matthew 26:19

Then shall the righteous answer him, etc. The saints in all ages, in lands unknown when Christ was on earth, saints who had never seen him when he was in the flesh, he commends for feeding, visiting and entertaining him whom they had never seen in person. What more natural than for them to exclaim: “When saw we thee? When did we entertain thee”? etc.

Matthew 26:22

Inasmuch as ye have done [it], etc. The righteous understood well that they had often, in the name and from the love of Christ, ministered to his brethren, the poor and suffering saints, but they had never understood that their Lord accepted this as a personal service to himself. It should be distinctly noted, (1) that the saved are the “righteous”, or those whose sins have been washed away by Christ; (2) they are those who have lived and acted in the name of Christ, or have been obedient to his will; (3) they have been full of the love of Christ and have faithfully ministered to the distressed, especially to those of the household of faith. The love of Christ implies love of the brethren, and of all mankind.

Matthew 26:23

Depart from me. Those that have sought the Lord on earth shall be with him forever (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Those who have turned away from him shall be turned away from him forever. The punishment is everlasting banishment from his presence (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Ye cursed. Under the Jewish law, anything irretrievably condemned and devoted to death was called “accursed” (Deuteronomy 13:17). The same term applied to the wicked is a sentence of eternal death. Into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Fire is probably used, as in many other places in the Scripture, as symbol of the bitter punishment of the wicked. Note, (1) it is everlasting; (2) prepared, not for man, but for the devil and his angels. Those who choose his service will have his portion.

Matthew 26:24

For I was an hungered, etc. The reasons of this awful fate are given. The judgment of the wicked is pronounced, not for what they have done, but what they neglected to do.

Matthew 26:26

Then shall they also answer him, etc. These, too, inquire if this is possible. If they had seen him in his splendor they certainly would have denied him nothing.

Matthew 26:27

Then shall he answer them. The answer is exactly the same as that given to the righteous, save that it introduces “not” (Matthew 25:40).

Matthew 26:28

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. We shall not enter into the discussions that have arisen over this controverted passage. These things are certain: (1) A separation between the righteous and the wicked takes place at judgment. (2) The righteous inherit the kingdom; the wicked “depart into everlasting fire”. (3) The state of the righteous is “life eternal”; the state of the wicked is “everlasting punishment”. (4) The duration of these two states is the same, exactly the same Greek word being used in each case (“aionios”). Then if the state of punishment has an end, so has the life.

Matthew 26:30

The Preparation for the Lord’s Death SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 26: The Declaration to the Disciples That the Time Was at Hand. The Wicked Counsel of the Rulers. The Anointing at Bethany. The Alabaster Box. Judas Sells His Lord. The Feast of the Passover. The Traitor Revealed. The Lord’s Supper. The Agony in the Garden. The Seizure of Jesus. The Trial before Caiaphas. When Jesus had finished all these sayings. The discourses recorded in the three preceding chapters. The time was Tuesday night, after the Jewish Wednesday began; that is, after sunset. Compare Mr 14:1-11 Lu 22:1-6 John 12:1-8.

Matthew 26:31

After two days. After Wednesday and Thursday. The day indicated is Friday. The passover. For the origin of this feast, see Exodus 12:1-14. It was really the Jewish emancipation day, the greatest of their feasts, and the paschal lamb was a type of the slain Christ.

Matthew 26:32

Then assembled. An official meeting of the Sanhedrin. The chief priests. The high priests, Annas and Caiaphas, and the heads of the twenty-four courses. The elders of the people. The heads of the great families, the princes of Judah. Unto the palace of the high priest. The palace of Caiaphas. The body now about to assemble, the Sanhedrin, was the supreme court of Israel. According to Jewish accounts, it was composed of seventy-one members, the high priest being president. The “chief priests”, or heads of the twenty-four courses, distinguished representatives of the “scribes”, and “elders of the people”, the heads of the great families, constituted the membership. It could try and condemn to death, but could not carry out capital punishment without the consent of the Roman authorities at this time. It was mostly composed of bitter, bigoted enemies of Jesus, determined at any cost to secure his death. In the trial the Jewish law was constantly violated. Caiaphas. The reigning high priest, the son-on-law of Annas, who had been high priest, but was deposed by the Romans, but was still called a high priest. Both were Sadducees.

Matthew 26:33

Take Jesus by subtilty. They were afraid of the people and wished to seize Jesus secretly and deliver him to the Romans to be crucified before the people knew of their designs. See Lu 21:38.

Matthew 26:34

Not on the feast [day]. During the passover there were millions of Jews in Jerusalem. Josephus says that in A.D. 65, three million were present. There were often tumults at the passover, and it was feared that the arrest of Jesus would arouse one. On such occasions the Romans suppressed the disturbance without mercy.

Matthew 26:35

Now when Jesus was in Bethany. On the Saturday before. Matthew goes back to an event that occurred at Bethany before the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, because he is about to relate the treachery of Judas, and it was brought to a crisis by that event. In the house of Simon the leper. Supposed to have been healed by Christ, and a relative of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Compare the parallel accounts, Mr 14:3 John 12:1-2. It is not known certainly who he was.

Matthew 26:36

A woman. Mary, the sister of Lazarus. See John 12:3. An alabaster box. A vase. Of very precious ointment. Of spikenard, very costly and precious. It was worth 300 pence, or denarii, equivalent, when we consider the change in money values, to $300 now. Poured it on his head. She broke the vase and emptied it. See Mr 14:3-9.

Matthew 26:37

They had indignation. John shows that it was Judas who voiced the indignation (John 12:4). This waste. Judas thought that 300 pence had been squandered. Sordid men still often think what is spent for the Savior is wasted.

Matthew 26:38

This ointment might have been sold for much. Mark and John say, “three hundred denarii” (Mr 14:5 John 12:5). Pliny says a pound, the amount in the vase, was worth 400 denarii. Given to the poor. A pretense. Judas wanted to get the money into his bag.

Matthew 26:39

Why trouble ye the woman? By your murmurs, as if she had done a sinful thing. She hath wrought a good work. What is done for Christ from love of Christ is always a good work.

Matthew 26:40

Ye have the poor always. Always opportunities to do good to them, but what was done for Christ in the flesh must be done at once.

Matthew 26:41

For my burial. It was customary to anoint the dead and lay the body in spices. See John 19:40 Lu 23:56 2 Chronicles 16:14. Mary was probably impelled only her love of the Lord and desire to do him honor; but Jesus, about to die and be buried, declares the anointing a fit preparation.

Matthew 26:42

This gospel. The gospel of a crucified Savior. In the whole world. A prophecy that its preaching will be world-wide. A memorial of her. Mary’s loving deed has never been forgotten, but is today told in every quarter of the earth.

Matthew 26:43

Judas Iscariot went unto the chief priests. A comparison of all the accounts will show that when his avarice was thus disappointed, he went, at the first opportunity, to the priests. His Master was about to be crucified, he had not been permitted to enrich himself, there was now no probability that he would become the treasurer of Christ as an earthly king.

Matthew 26:44

What will ye give me? He had deliberately decided. He probably knew of their wish to seize Jesus secretly, and that they would pay for a guide that would lead them where he rested at night. Thirty pieces of silver. The price was agreed upon and paid. The pieces were silver shekels, temple money. The whole would contain about the amount of silver in twenty dollars, perhaps equal in value to $120 now. It was a fulfillment of Zec 11:12. Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver (Genesis 37:28).

Matthew 26:45

From that time. The time of the bargain with the priests. No one can tell certainly what day the bargain was completed.

Matthew 26:46

The first [day] of the [feast of] unleavened bread. Strictly speaking, the 15th of Nisan (part of our March and April), after the paschal lamb was killed, but here the 14th day (Thursday). See Exodus 12:16. This suggests one of the most difficult questions of Scripture chronology, whether the Lord at the passover one day before the regular Jewish passover, or at the usual time. Pressense, Milman Ellicott, Townsend, Alford, Neander, Farrar, and many other great authorities, hold that he ate it the day preceding, and died on the day and about the time the Jewish passover lambs were slain. The statements of John, that the supper was eaten, the Lord betrayed and condemned before the passover, seem positive (John 19:14). Where wilt thou that we prepare . . . the passover? The passover must be eaten in the place where the Lord’s name was recorded, or where the tabernacle or temple was located, according to the directions given in Deuteronomy 16:1-15.

Matthew 26:47

Go into the city to such a man, etc. The disciples are directed to determine the place in the city by a certain sign (Mr 14:13). They do so and make ready in the guest chamber thus secured.

Matthew 26:49

When the even was come. The lamb was slain “between two evenings”, that is, between three and five o’clock (see the margin of Ex 12:6 in the Revised Version). The supper followed on the same night. It was probably dark before the Savior and the twelve came to the guest chamber. The band that “sat down” to this supper and this occasion have furnished the subject of one of the greatest paintings ever created.

Matthew 26:50

One of you shall betray me. The meal, opened with “blessing”, seems to have proceeded with solemn silence after it began, until the silence was broken by these startling words.

Matthew 26:51

Lord, is it I? Not one of them ventures to question the truth of the Lord’s prophecy; and each asks the personal question, “Is it I”? No one accuses, even by implication, his neighbor.

Matthew 26:52

He that dippeth [his] hand with me in the dish. In Oriental meals, instead of plates being used, each one helps himself with his fingers from the dish as he needs. From John 13:23-26 we learn that these words were spoken to the disciple that leaned on the Savior’s bosom and were unheard by Judas and the rest.

Matthew 26:53

As it is written of him. “As it was determined” (Lu 22:22), in prophecy. It had been good for that man. A declaration of the awful judgment that would befall the traitor.

Matthew 26:54

Thou hast said. In other words, “Thou art the traitor”. John says that Jesus then said to Judas, “What thou doest, do quickly” and that he “immediately went out, and it was night” (John 13:27,30). Judas, therefore, left before the Lord’s Supper was instituted.

Matthew 26:55

As they were eating. Before they had arisen from the paschal feast. Jesus took bread. That is, one of the unleavened cakes that had been placed before him as the celebrant or proclaimer of the feast. And blessed. As was the custom. Luke and Paul say, “gave thanks” (Lu 22:19 1 Corinthians 11:24), which is the same thing. This is my body. Not literally, as the Catholics and Luther contend, but “represents my body”. We interpret it as we do his other sayings: “The seed is the word” (Lu 8:11); “The field is the world” (Matthew 13:38); “The harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels” (Matthew 13:39); “I am the door” (John 10:9); “I am the vine” (John 15:5). So, too, at this very feast, the Jews was wont to say of the paschal lamb, “This ‘is’ the body of the lamb which our fathers ate in Egypt”. Not the “same”, but this is meant to represent and commemorate that. He could not have meant that the bread was his real body, because his body was present at the table breaking the loaf, and he was speaking and acting in person among them. The doctrine of the “Real Presence” is every way unreasonable.

Matthew 26:56

He took the cup, and gave thanks. The cup was provided for the celebration of the paschal feast, and was at hand as well as the bread. Drink ye all of it. Observe that he simply said of the bread, “Take, eat” (Matthew 26:26); but of the wine, “Drink ye all”, as if he intended to uproot the Catholic innovation of denying the cup to the laity.

Matthew 26:57

This is my blood. A sign or emblem of my blood. New testament. Covenant is the preferable sense here, as in most passages where the word occurs in the New Testament; the new covenant is contrasted with “the covenant which God made with our fathers” (Acts 3:25). Shed for many. Shed, in one sense, for all, for the benefits of the blood are offered to all; but “many” accept it and are saved.

Matthew 26:58

I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine. He is done with earthly rites, and at this sad moment points them to a future reunion at the marriage supper of the Lamb. “Do this in remembrance of me” (Lu 22:19) points to a permanent institution, to be observed until the Lord comes the second time. The command is therefore binding on all who believe in Christ; and disobedience to it is sin, for the unbelief that keeps men away is one of the worst of sins. The subsequent practice of the apostles (Acts 2:42,46 20:7), and still more the fact that directions for the Lord’s Supper were made a matter of special revelation to Paul (1 Corinthians 11:23), seem to make it clear that Christ intended the ordinance for a perpetual one, and that his apostles so understood it.

Matthew 26:59

When they had sung an hymn. It was customary to conclude the passover by singing the Psalms from 115th or 118th. To the mount of Olives. To the garden of Gethsemane, which was on the slope of the mount. This journey over the Kedron to Gethsemane was made in the darkness of the night. The Lord’s Supper, a memorial of his death, has a still more tender interest, from the fact that it was established only two or three hours before he was betrayed and seized.

Matthew 26:60

Shall be offended. Compare Mr 14:26-31 Lu 22:31-34 John 13:37-38. It is written. See Zechariah 13:7. The shepherd. Christ. The sheep. His disciples.

Matthew 26:61

I will go before you into Galilee. The first announcement of the great Galilean meeting of the risen Lord with his disciples. See Matthew 28:16 John 21:1-25 1 Corinthians 15:6.

Matthew 26:62

Peter answered. With his usual rashness.

Matthew 26:63

Thou shalt deny me thrice. The first cock crow was about twelve at night. The second about three o’clock. Before this the three-fold denial would occur. Peter and the disciples were sincere, but knew not their own weakness.

Matthew 26:65

Gethsemane. The word means “oil-press”, and would indicate that a press for making oil out of the olives, which grew in abundance on the mountain, stood there. It was on the western slope of the Mount of Olives. Sit ye here. He speaks to the eight who were to remain. These eight would form, as it were, a watch against premature surprise. While I go and pray yonder. The great crisis was at hand, and it was casting its dark shadow before on the spirit of our Lord. In this hour of the power of darkness he felt that he must throw himself upon his Father’s bosom.

Matthew 26:66

And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. The eight were left at the entrance of the garden, while the three who had always been a kind of inner circle, who had been witnesses of his transfiguration, and of one of his greatest miracles (Mr 5:37) were taken within. Began to be sorrowful and very heavy. The shadow of the cross had fallen upon him. It was not fear of the agony, or fear of death, for he bore all, when the moment came, so sublimely that a heathen officer exclaimed, “Surely he must be the son of a god”. I doubt whether it is possible for a mortal to comprehend the mystery of his suffering, but I think the key is found in the declaration, “He was made sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Matthew 26:67

My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. The weight of woe was literally crushing out the Savior’s life. Tarry ye here, and watch with me. He had wished his chosen disciples to be near him in his woe; and yet, as it advanced, he felt that he must retire even from them, and be alone with himself and his Father.

Matthew 26:68

And he went a little further. “About a stone’s cast” (Lu 22:41). If it be possible. If it were possible to save men, and carry out the divine work of redeeming them. Let this cup pass from me. “This cup” is the betrayal, the trial, the mocking, the scourging, the cross, and all besides which our thoughts cannot reach. But as thou [wilt]. This is an example of perfect faith–the faith by which alone answers to prayer can be obtained. He that insists on his will, when it is contrary to the will of God, fails in faith.

Matthew 26:69

Findeth them asleep. Peter, James and John, soldiers placed on duty in an hour of dreadful peril and bidden to “watch”. Luke says they were sleeping from sorrow (Lu 22:45). Great sorrow stupefies. Dr. Rush says that criminals usually sleep soundly the night before execution.

Matthew 26:70

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. Our Lord does not direct them to pray to God that no temptation might befall them, but that they might not be overcome by the temptations in which they must be involved. The need of such prayer was shown by Peter’s denial.

Matthew 26:71

He went away again the second time, and prayed. “More earnestly”, says Luke, who adds the account of the bloody sweat (Lu 22:44). His agony returned on him. The continuance of the trial he accepts as God’s answer to the petition, “Let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39). Now he asks only, “Thy will be done”.

Matthew 26:72

He came and found them asleep again. The motive of this return we may reverently believe to have been, as before, the craving for human sympathy in that hour of awful agony. Our Savior, we must not forget, was human as well as divine.

Matthew 26:73

He . . . prayed the third time, saying the same words. The fact is suggestive as indicating that there is a repetition in prayer which indicates not formalism, but intensity of feeling.

Matthew 26:74

Sleep on now, and take [your] rest. I look upon these words as reproachful. The hour when he needed their watchfulness and sympathy was past. They had failed to guard in the hour when he wished to be alone with God. Now the moment is at hand; the soldiers are approaching.

Matthew 26:75

Rise, let us be going. It was no time for repose. Let them rouse, and go with him at once to confront the traitor and the band of enemies. WAS CHRIST’S PRAYER ANSWERED?–The Epistle to the Hebrews says it was (Hebrews 5:7). An angel came and strengthened him (Lu 22:43). There are two ways of answering a prayer for the removal of a burden. In one, the burden is taken away, and we remain the same; in the other, we are made so strong that the burden is no longer a burden to us; as what would crush a child, is but sport to a man.