May 16, 2019September 30, 2019 by Ian Binns

Matthew 26

Matthew 26: Just a quick little note, there’s a lot going on in this chapter. The text is just bouncing around from topic to topic.

This chapter starts with Jesus telling his followers that it was just a matter of time before he would die. The text then tells us that Jesus’ opponents were plotting to capture and kill him. We then see a woman pour expensive perfume on Jesus and his followers admonishing her because they thought the perfume could be sold and given to the poor and needy (honestly, this is what I would’ve done). Jesus tells them to back down, making it clear that what she is doing is actually preparing his body for burial. We then see reference to Judas approaching the chief priests asking what they would give him for betraying Jesus.

The next part is preparing for the Last Supper (Passover). While at dinner (prior to the blessing of the bread), Jesus tells them that one of them will betray them. All of his disciples say “I’m not the one, am I, Lord?” with Judas asking “It’s not me, is it, Rabbi?” So at first I didn’t pick up on the differences here (Lord vs Rabbi). According to the notes in the CEB version, “disciples and would-be disciples call Jesus ‘Lord,’ while other titles, like ‘teacher’ and ‘Rabbi,’ are generally used by people who don’t follow or who even oppose Jesus” (p. 56 NT). Nice little tidbit there.

Next up, the blessing of the bread and wine. Jesus follows this up by telling them that soon all of them will leave him. Jesus tells them the following: “But after I’m raised up, I’ll go before you to Galilee” (Matthew 26:32; CEB version, p. 57 NT). Peter argues with Jesus, telling him that there’s no way he will leave Jesus. Jesus tells Peter that he will deny Jesus three times.

I want to share this sidebar from the Access Bible (p. 1707) on the Synoptic Gospels and how scholars have viewed the Gospels since they were first written:

Now we see a section on Jesus in prayer at Gethsemane. The prayer seems to indicate that Jesus struggled with what was coming and was asking God for help. Jesus asks Peter and Zebedee’s two sons (James and John) (who according to the notes, were the three who witnessed Jesus’ transformation) to be closer to him while he prayed and asked them to stand guard. They kept falling asleep. Kinda crappy. Jesus ends up telling them to remain vigilant because his betrayer was coming.

Jesus gets arrested. Judas approached with crowds of people who wielded swords and clubs. Judas told the crowd to arrest the one he kisses. He then kisses Jesus. When the crowd grabs him one of his followers takes his sword and cuts off a man’s ear. Jesus tells them to stop and then did. Just as an aside, I was surprised that in this gospel Jesus doesn’t heal the man (Malchus – I looked it up), but in Luke, he does. I wonder why?

Jesus is then taken before the council, but he won’t admit to anything. All the people care about is killing Jesus, so they make things up. Jesus accepts all of this knowing that these actions are just fulfilling scripture. The chapter ends with Peter denying Jesus three separate times, each time occurring when a different person in the crowd confronted Peter telling him that he was with Jesus. After the third denial, Peter hears the rooster crow, remembered what Jesus told him, and wept uncontrollably.