Life Project Blog

Matthew 26:1-28:20

This final section of Matthew’s account of Jesus is quite interesting for several reasons and is deserving of a little extra background information. To begin, it is comprised of three parts, the first of which runs from 26:1-56 in which Jesus actively predicts and accepts the course of events that culminate in His death. In these scenes there is a cohesiveness that is comprised of Jesus’ own words that detail coming events, and even set them in motion; they are punctuation by prophetic announcements concerning upcoming scenes (See 26:3, 12, 18, 21, 24, 31, 32, 34, 45, 50, 54, 56). With this continuing contrast between Jesus’ foreknowledge and His constant determination to do the Father’s will (cf. 26:34, 39, 42, 54, 56) Matthew shows us that the Passion of Jesus was not a strange twist at the end of the story, but a conscious and voluntary self-sacrifice made to accomplish God’s will.

The second part extends from 26:57-27:50, in which Jesus moves away from being an active participant and into a passive role, seldom speaking and silently enduring pain and humiliation as God’s suffering servant. Following Jesus’ death in 27:50, God once again takes an active role in the story, confirming His pleasure with His Son’s actions through miraculous signs of approval. As a result, the mocking of the Jewish leaders in 27:38-41 is replaced by Gentile onlookers’ claim that Jesus was “the Son of God” (27:54). The Jewish leaders take every precaution to ensure that no one can claim Jesus had risen from the tomb by posting guards; yet He bursts forth from that very same tomb. You no doubt know the story and the series of events; God is quite active in the remainder of the narrative.

There is another aspect of the Passion that might be of interest: The Passion has many parallels with the opening section of Matthew’s Gospel (1:1-4:17). The concluding section of Matthew’s account brings to a climax the rising Jewish opposition that began way back when Herod attempted to kill Jesus at the time of His birth (2:16-18 cf. Rev. 12:1-4). We might also note that early in the story, the “chief priests and teachers of the law” are aligned with political forces in opposition to Jesus (2:4-6). In addition, the final section resumes the emphasis on prophetic fulfillment in a manner parallel to the opening chapters (Chs. 1-5 cf. 26:56, 59; 27:9-10). The latter chapters also abound with references to Old Testament texts (e.g. Ps. 22, 69; Zech. 11:13; Is. 50-53).

There are many themes, ideas and phrases that were found in early chapters which are repeated in the final section such as forgiveness of sins (1:21; 9:6; 20:28; 26:28), as well as terms relative to Jesus such as Christ, King of the Jews, shepherd and  Son of God. Even the mocking scenes have a parallel in the Temptation narrative (4:1-11) when the mockers take on the role of tempters to try and deflect Jesus from His course of doing God’s will.

Finally, the ending of the narrative (28:18-20) recalls the themes of: A mountain as the place of revelation, the universal appeal of the Gospel and the abiding presence of Christ, and with this abiding in the last sentence, it is as though Matthew has taken us full circle, back to Jesus in Galilee. Clearly, with this final command to teach “everything I have commanded you” we find that the entirety of Matthew’s narrative becomes an active part of our Christian lives.

Matthew 26:36-46

Matthew shifts the scene to the Garden of Gethsemane (which means “oil press”). This is another scene that is no doubt a familiar one for most all of us, a scene that has an odd feel to it, when we see the contrast between the Jesus of the prior scenes, confidently predicting His death, secure in the knowledge that He is doing His Father’s will, and the Jesus of Gethsemane who is troubled and mournful, asking His Father for another way. It might prompt us to ask, “Is there an internal conflict going on?”

I don’t think there is, but at the same time I must admit that off the top of my head, I can’t think of another scene in which Jesus seems conflicted about anything, maybe we’d better have a look at His Gethsemane prayer!

Here’s the scene: They went to Gethsemane where Jesus left 8 disciples, went a little further with 3 disciples, left them and went still further to be alone to pray. As the disciples were being placed in their positions, Jesus “began to be sorrowful and troubled” (26:37).Jesus told the three that   “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me” (26:38) Matthew records these words as His prayer:

“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (26:39)

“My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”  (26:42)

Matthew also tells us that Jesus “fell with his face to the ground” in 26:37, and that He prayed the same thing a third time in 26:44. Interestingly, he only gives us one-liners for the prayers, yet Jesus was praying long enough for the disciples to fall asleep, so we can safely assume that more was said in those prayers…

One of the highest and boldest forms of piety in Israel was the prayer of lament (cf. Ps. 31:10; 40:11-13; 42:6, 9-11; 43:1-5; 55:4-8; 116:3-4) and it was not all that unusual for someone to ask God to change His mind (cf. Ex. 32:10-14; 2Kings 20:1-6; 2Sam 15:25-26).

Jesus knew His mission, He was OK with His mission; He was determined. Yet, as the hour approached, He seemed to wonder if there might be another way to accomplish it, for He was fully human after all. Notice what He did: He took this to His Father in an attitude of submission; for He would do His Father’s will whatever that will turned out to be. Please take special note of this, for He was troubled and He cried out to God in submissiveness, not in rebellion. That is where we tend to go wrong, don’t you think? We might cry out to God, but we don’t always do so in submission to His will, preferring our own plans instead.

Apparently, Jesus got the “go ahead as planned” message from His Father, for we see these words in the concluding verses of this passage:

Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!” (26:45-46)

From that moment forward, there were no doubts, no questions; God’s redemption of Mankind would move into full execution.

Those disciples? Obviously they had failed to grasp the gravity of the situation, as they would continue to do, as the most momentous events in all of history unfolded…

Matthew 26:17-30

This passage opens with Jesus giving instructions to the disciples about the arrangements for the Passover meal that remind us of His instructions to them in 21:1-3 about the arrangements for His entry into Jerusalem. After everything had been arranged, the scene opens at the meal itself. This narrative is broken into two sections, each beginning with the words “while they were eating”. The first, 26:20-25 is all about the betrayal of Jesus, the second (26:26-30) covers Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper.

Matthew’s account, though it gives these details, omits most of the details that John includes, such as Jesus’ washing their feet, and John’s lengthy account of the final discourses, and in this, Matthew is continuing the choppy pace that began at the beginning of this chapter; he reminds us a little of the way Mark covered most everything. Yet while he is leaving out some of the dramatic discussions of that evening, Matthew is once again focusing our attention on the ultimate mission of Jesus: His appointment with the cross.

In the first part, notice that when Jesus tells them that His betrayer is in their midst, the disciples are “sad” and say “surely you don’t mean me, Lord” (26:22). Matthew gives a direct quote from the denial of Judas in 26:25: “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi”. It may be nothing, but there is a slight difference between the eleven who said “Lord” and the one who said “Rabbi”, for in calling Jesus “teacher”, Judas seems to be expressing respect for Jesus as a teacher, but withholding his obedience to the Lordship of Jesus. Whatever his intent, Judas’ remark was disingenuous at best.

In His reply to Judas, Jesus seems to be revealing that He isn’t buying the denial.

In 26:26-30, we have the institution of the Last Supper, one of the most hotly debated aspects of the Faith traditionally, as disagreements among believers have literally divided the Body multiple times for the past thousand years or so. Ironically, however, everyone agrees that the partaking of the bread and the cup point us to the cross, the one thing that unites all Christians.

Matthew 25:31-46

Today we reach the final passage in the Oliver Discourse, the parable of the sheep and goats. In this parable, Jesus is painting for us a picture of His return, and the assembling of all people for judgment. They are divided into two groups “as a shepherd would divide the sheep from the goats.” This language from verse 32 underscores the figurative nature of the parable, and once again I must remind you that this is not a literal passage.

The king, representing Jesus, says to sheep, representing His people, that they are to enter into His Kingdom which is prepared for their inheritance, representing eternity with Christ.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Matthew 25:34-36

Jesus tells them they are “in” because of the things they have done for Him, and yet they have no knowledge of having done them. In verses 37-39 they ask when it was that they did these things for Him, and He drops the bomb in verse 40:

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

To fully appreciate the gravity and significance of this statement, recall the lessons of the first two parables in this chapter. Half of those 10 virgins were “ready” when the bridegroom came for them, and they entered the wedding feast. When the master returned from his journey, two of his servants had used the money that he had left with them for the master’s benefit, and they were rewarded richly. Add to these our question in the last post about the commands Jesus gave us: Love God, love your neighbor, love you brothers and sisters, forgive one another and make disciples. Putting these things together, we have an amazing picture.

The things the king will say the righteous have done, are those things Jesus has commanded us to do. We love God, He loves us, and He loves our brother. Thus we love our brother because we love God, and show God’s love in us when we care for our brother… and when we do that, we are expressing our love for God. Thus, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

In the remaining verses, the goats are condemned because they did not do these things for the king. They appeal to the king, “When did we ever see you in one of those situations?” And the king replies that if they didn’t do it for the least of these, they didn’t do it for Him!

Now we have the whole picture of what will be necessary for us to be ready when He returns suddenly and without warning; it’s all about the way we live and interact with others. If He should return today, will we be ready?