The Gospel of Matthew Study Help (Matthew 26:14-19)
The Passion of Christ
Questions to be answered in this study
Introduction
In our previous study, we left off with Matthew’s introduction of Judas, the betrayer of Jesus the Lord. Before that, we looked at the event at Simon’s house when Mary anointed Jesus with the expensive anointment for His burial; this was an extraordinary sacrifice representing her life’s savings. It makes us wonder if we are willing to sacrifice anything to honor our Lord. It was Mary who sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to His teaching while her sister was busy with kitchen choirs. Mary truly realized how precious Jesus was and what a tremendous sacrifice He was willing to make to secure our salvation. So, she must have thought that her gift was little in comparison. Mary had also experienced Jesus raising her brother, Lazarus, from the dead, strengthening her faith. We have that account saved for us in God’s word, which should also strengthen our faith. Jesus had made a significant impact in the life of Mary, one that apparently was less in others that were there on that occasion who questioned Mary’s action.
Whatever we sacrifice in our life is little in comparison to what Jesus has done for us. Our relationship to God through the shed blood of Jesus is more valuable than the riches of the entire world. Like Mary, we can trust Jesus with all we have because He has in store for us more than our minds could ever comprehend. Mary had acquired a fantastic amount of spiritual maturity in a short time. That should be our desire also through the study of God’s word. Ironically, other disciples, Judas mainly, had not seen what Mary had seen in Jesus. They believed it would have been better if Mary had sold the perfume and had given the money to the poor. Actually, Judas was a thief and wanted the money for himself. It was evident that Judas was an unbeliever for two reasons: First, he believed that good works were the way to obtain God’s favor. He did not realize as many today that our works alone in the sight of God are like filthy rags. The only way to please God is by accepting His Son by faith to forgive our sins and justify us in His sight.
Jesus replied by saying the poor you have always, but I will be on earth for only a little while. They had only this opportunity to sacrifice to Jesus while they would continue to have that opportunity to help the poor; this was Mary’s opportunity to show her love for Jesus, and she made that sacrifice to honor Jesus. We have only a short life span to Honor Jesus; there is no time to waste.
Secondly, Judas did not understand the true purpose of Jesus, further demonstrating that he was an unbeliever. He only understood in an earthly way. He expected Jesus to become the king, and he was only interested in worldly gain through his association with Jesus. He probably expected a tremendous financial increase associated with Jesus when He became King over Israel. Today, there are many related to the church that cannot see anything beyond this world and its material things. We need to prioritize spiritual things for their value instead of the world and all it offers, which will pass away, or we die and leave it all behind.
We now take up where Mathew shows Judas’ true character:
Matthew 26:14-16, “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, 15And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. 16And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.”
On Wednesday, during the Last Supper, Judas gets up and leaves with the dark intentions on his mind to betray the Master for money. I don’t believe the funds entirely motivated him; I think that Judas wanted to force Jesus to become king, which was his desire from the beginning. He misunderstood the true mission of Jesus. So, he went to the chief priests to betray Jesus; why would they pay Judas to locate Jesus? He was around during the day in plain sight; there was a real reason. The high priests did not want to arrest Jesus before the crowd fearing a revolt. It was now that they needed to arrest Jesus during darkness, but because of the multitude of people, it would be almost impossible to find Him, and since Judas knew His precise location, they were more than willing to pay him to guide them there. So, they agreed to pay Judas 30 pieces of silver, which was a significant sum of money. In today’s money, it would be worth $12,000 to $15,000.
Judas was a greedy, selfish person, but there was another reason for his actions that night, as recorded in Luke’s gospel: “And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people. 3Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. 4And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. 5And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money,” Luke 22:2-6 KJV.
Satan also had a stake in the death of Jesus, and he also did not know the true mission of Jesus was to die for the sins of man. The crucifixion would fulfill Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” So, Judas’ betrayal from the human point of view resulted from his greed, malice, and selfish desire for Jesus to become King over Israel. As far as Satan’s part, he was subtle, and I’m sure that Judas did not realize Satan’s presence. Satan today is still taking advantage of human weakness to accomplish his evil works. For example, the Apostle Paul wrote that our battles go beyond what they seem on the surface: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places,” Ephesians 6:12. There is a spiritual battle raging all around us out of our view. Unbelievers are subject to being used by Satan and his demons to commit unimaginable crimes against humanity. There is a move among liberals to remove guns, blaming them for the violence, but they are wrong; it is not guns because they are only used by those whose minds have been taken over by Satan, who does his thing to temp them into their dastardly actions. Congress should deal with gun violence by making any crime involving a gun a federal offense with a mandatory 5-year jail sentence. Just thought I would add that.
Satan has managed to bring about significant opposition to Christianity today, using those who hate Christianity and the preaching of the gospel. When we consider that, we must realize that it is more than just the person or persons against us; it is Satan and his servants, the fallen angels. There is another fact here to be noticed. When Satan entered Judas, it was the final proof that Judas was an unbeliever because Satan cannot enter believers who have the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. We also know now why Jesus chose Judas to be one of the twelve, as in John 6:70: “Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” Only an unbeliever would betray Jesus, and Jesus needed someone to do that at the right time. God did not design Judas for that activity; Judas made his own decision. God is sovereign and knew from eternity past the outcome. Today, there is much concern over Vladimir Putin and his atrocious war on Ukraine and rightly so; however, this did not take God by surprise; He is in control of every event on earth. Although it is the actions of evil people, it works to bring about God’s end plan for the world and the return of Jesus. Just as the crucifixion was not just the acts of the high priests and their evil plan, Jesus gave Himself willing to fulfill the Heavenly Father’s plan for redemption.
I mentioned earlier the value of 30 pieces of silver in today’s money, which is a lot, but there was another reason that 30 pieces of silver were given. In the Old Testament law, 30 pieces of silver was the amount paid if someone’s animal took the life of another person’s slave. So, the high priests considered Jesus’ value as that of a slave, a great insult to Jesus. The 30 pieces of silver paid Judas to betray Jesus was a fulfillment of Zechariah 11:13, “And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.” The high priest needed Judas to make a formal accusation against Jesus, which was required to get the soldiers to arrest Jesus.
In the following verses, Matthew sets the stage for the events that will lead up to the Last Supper:
Matthew 26:17-19, “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? 18And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. 19And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.”
Matthew begins by saying that the time is the first day of the feast of unleavened bread. There were two feasts of unleavened bread, one on the day of the Passover and one on the following day, but by the time of Christ, the Jews considered both feasts the same event. In fact, the entire eight days were called the feast of unleavened bread. So, Matthew refers to the day of the Passover at the beginning of the eight days. Mark’s gospel supports this: “And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?” Mark 14:12.
The above passage refers to the 14th of Nisan or Wednesday. Mary’s anointing of Jesus was on Tuesday night of that week, beginning Wednesday’s new day. So, that means that the Last Supper would have been on Wednesday night or the beginning of the new day Thursday. During the night, Judas betrayed Jesus for30 pieces of silver and led the high priest and Roman soldiers to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Was Jesus crucified on that same day, or was it the next day on Friday? Bible scholars have agreed the crucifixion was on a Friday, the day we call Good Friday. Whether it was Thursday or Friday is not the main issue; the issue is that Jesus died to redeem the lost.
Recorded in Exodus 12:1-10 is the first Passover, “And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, 2This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 6And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 8And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 10And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.”
So, each family was to select an unblemished lamb from the flock and kill it in the evening or at sundown, which would have been on the 14th of Nisan or Wednesday night. They roasted the meat and ate it that same night, and if any was left over, it was to be burned the following day. Early on Wednesday night, the blood was sprinkled over the doorposts to assure the Death Angel of God recognized that house and passed over it. This first Passover was the model for the meal the disciples were questioning Jesus about.
Ironically, it was the custom that the high priest paid for the sacrificial lamb each year from the temple treasury. Unknowingly, the high priest paid the 30 pieces of silver from the temple treasury to purchase the true national Passover Lamb when they bought Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Another thing to note is that Jesus did not just come out and answer the disciple’s questions directly when they asked about His plans for the Passover meal. He did not want the disciples to know the exact location at that time. Jesus said that a particular man carrying a water pitcher would lead them to the place. This was because Judas was waiting for the appropriate time to betray Jesus. If he had known the specific location, he would have told the high priest, and they would have arrested Jesus during the Last Supper before Jesus was finished with the disciples and before it was time.
When the homeowner, where the Last Supper was to be held, was approached by a man he had never seen before and asked to prepare a meal and an extra table for the Master, evidently, the Holy Spirit was involved in compelling the homeowner to follow the instructions, which required the man to step out on faith to comply with the request.
The Holy Spirit is still active today as He instructs us to step out on faith to do God’s will when we do not know precisely what God’s will is, but in time it reveals the wisdom and love of God as He uses us to His glory. We miss the opportunity when we are unwilling to step out, not even knowing where we are going. Had the homeowner been reluctant to step out on faith that night, he would have missed the most incredible opportunity of his lifetime to have hosted the Master, Jesus Christ the Lord, in his own home.
Today we no longer observe the Passover; we celebrate the Lord’s Supper in memory of the Last Supper before Jesus was crucified. It also is a symbol of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the gospel. To take it a bit further, it also symbolizes the end of the old person we were and the new person we become when we place our faith in Jesus as our savior.