The Way - Day 258 (Matthew 26)

Pastor Tom's Journal on Today's Reading:
Matthew 26:1-13
As Jesus finishes speaking about future things (Matthew 24-25), He turns to His disciples saying "after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." God's appointed time had finally come for His only Son to die for the sins of all mankind. God "made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because Jesus was perfect and sinless, He could satisfy the punishment we deserved for our sin and give us a right standing before God. It is only through Jesus Christ (His death, burial, and resurrection) that we are saved from the penalty of sin and given eternal life. Jesus was informing His disciples that the time of His death had finally come. Behind the scenes to this situation, Matthew reveals that the religious leaders were plotting in the palace of the high priest (Caiaphas) about how to kill Jesus quietly (26:4). However, because the Passover was such a big event in Jerusalem and Jesus had many followers, they decided to wait until the conclusion of this feast to kill Jesus (26:5). The scene quickly changes in Matthew's gospel to Jesus in the home of Simon the leper. This man must have been someone whom Jesus had healed earlier in His ministry. While He was in Simon's house, a woman came to Him (John reveals that it is Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus) having an alabaster flask. The alabaster flask contained very costly oil...Mark tells us the price is three hundred denarii, which is comparable to a year's wages. Mary took this costly oil and poured it on Jesus' head as He sat at the table - this act was an expression of worship and devotion to Him. The disciples reacted in anger as they looked at this action as a waste of money which could have been given to the poor (26:8-9). John reveals that it was Judas Iscariot, who would soon betray Jesus into the hands of the religious leaders, that spoke out against this woman's expression of worship. Jesus immediately defends the actions of Mary and declares that she did this for His burial. Although Mary probably did not fully understand her actions, Jesus commended her and promised that her story would be told as a memorial to her (26:10-13). Mary's story should be an example to us as our hearts should also be devoted to Jesus and consistently express our worship of Him as our Savior and God.

Matthew 26:14-29
Jesus had just rebuked Judas (as well as the disciples also) about his reaction to the woman using the very expensive oil to anoint Jesus. Judas was angry because he felt that the oil could have been sold and given to the poor; however, Judas' motives were far from pure. Judas leaves and immediately goes to the chief priests and asks what they are willing to give him if he delivers Jesus to them (26:15). They count him out 30 pieces of silver and so Judas begins his quest to betray Jesus into the hands of the religious leaders (26:16). After this incident, Jesus and His disciples go to celebrate the Passover (Jewish celebration of their deliverance from Egypt). Back in ancient times, the Jews had been under bondage to the Egyptians and through the hand of Moses they were delivered from the plagues. The most significant plague was the 10th (and final one), where the firstborn of every household was killed. However, God promised the Israelites deliverance from this plague if they would put the blood of a spotless lamb over their doorpost. This deliverance from the death of the firstborn became known as the Passover because God "passed over" the homes which had blood on the doorpost. Now Jesus and His disciples were about to celebrate this time once again, but Jesus was going to bring a new meaning and significance to it. When evening came the twelve disciples sat down with Jesus and He revealed that someone would betray him. After they finished arguing over who it would be, Jesus gets to the heart of what the Passover would become...the Lord's Supper. Jesus takes the bread, breaks it, and then gives it to His disciples saying "take, eat; this is my body." (26:26) Then Jesus took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to His disciples saying "drink from it all of you for this is My blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Jesus was in essence celebrating the last Passover and the first Lord's Supper. Jesus Christ is central to both observances - He represented the passover lamb and He also represented the elements in the Lord's Supper. As the Israelites were saved from the death of the firstborn through the death/blood of the lamb, all people are saved from death through the death/blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. The bread represents Jesus' body which was broken on the cross (26:26). The juice represents His blood which was shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sin (26:27-28). What a beautiful picture of what was about to happen on the cross! Although the cross is a place of agony and punishment, it also symbolizes a place of forgiveness and sacrifice. Today, celebrate anew the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for the forgiveness of your sin!

Matthew 26:30-35
At the conclusion of the Lord's Supper, they sang a hymn and went to the Mount of Olives. There Jesus reveals to them that they will be "made to stumble" because of Him, meaning they would abandon Him (26:31). We have to get the picture here...the religious leaders have been looking for an opportunity to kill Jesus because He claimed to be God and had stood against their system of beliefs (outward is more important than inward). Furthermore, Jesus knew it was necessary to die on the cross to pay for the sins of mankind, but He also knew His followers would suffer persecution because of their faith in Him. So, Jesus informs the disciples that they would temporarily abandon Him during the time of His persecution, mostly because they feared the same treatment by the religious leaders (26:31:b). But, Jesus also told them that He would be raised (from the dead). Peter is the first to speak up and declares that he will never abandon the Lord (26:33). Jesus quickly responds by telling Peter that he will deny Him three times (26:34). Peter speaks up again and tells Jesus that he is willing to die for Him (26:35) and the other disciples also affirm their loyalty to Jesus. I believe that the disciples really did love Jesus and were willing to follow Him; however, they really did not understand that their human side was weak. I'm not sure why Jesus chose to tell the disciples that they would abandon Him. Maybe it was to let them know that He understood or maybe He wanted them to be prepared. Whatever the reason, the disciples should have not been so confident in themselves. Although we are strong in Christ, we are weak in our flesh. Each day we must admit our inability to handle the circumstances of life and allow God to provide the strength we need for the moment. I love what 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "My strength is made perfect in weakness." When we are weakest, God can show Himself the strongest.

Matthew 26:36-46
Jesus comes to a place called Gethsemane, which was a place in which Jesus and His disciples often met. Located across the valley from Jerusalem, Gethsemane was a garden of olive trees and has become known as the place where Jesus Christ agonized in prayer before His betrayal by Judas. As Jesus enters into the garden, He tells His disciples to sit while He goes to pray and then He calls Peter, James, and John to go with Him (26:37a). Jesus begins to pray and becomes overcome with sorrow and distress, even to the point that He wanted to die (26:38). I can't imagine what Jesus must have felt as He recognized that He would soon suffer a violent death to pay for the sins of mankind. Obviously, He needed support during this time of distress so He asks Peter, James, and John to stay with Him and watch (26:38b). Jesus then falls on His face and prays to His Father "if it is possible, let this cup pass from me...." Throughout the Old Testament, a cup symbolized divine judgment against sin so in essence He was asking for God to find another way to judge sin. However, Jesus continued to pray "nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." Although Jesus Christ was overwhelmed with emotion as He was feeling the full wrath of God upon sin, He still told His Father that He would do whatever His Father wanted Him to do (26:39). To bear the weight of all mankind's sin must have been agonizing! After praying, Jesus returns to find His disciples sleeping and He challenges them to "watch and pray, lest you enter temptation." Jesus knew what was about to happen and was aware they would need divine strength to handle the circumstances ahead (26:40-45). After Jesus' words, He went to pray again but when he returned He found the disciples sleeping...they had no idea what awaited them. Jesus once again urged them to watch and pray; however, they fell asleep. As Jesus spoke to them the third time, Jesus says to His disciples "rise, let us be going. See my betrayer is at hand." Jesus knew the time had come for His capture and subsequent death. It is complicated to imagine what Jesus was feeling during this time of agony in the garden. But regardless of what He was feeling, paying the penalty for mankind's sin was more important! Thank God for Jesus Christ who prayed and received strength to make it through this overwhelming time. There are certain times when we are also overwhelmed with fear and uncertainty but we must follow the example of Jesus Christ praying for divine strength.

Matthew 26:47-56
The time had finally arrived. Judas enters the garden of Gethsemane with the religious leaders and betrays Jesus with a kiss (26:48-49). As they begin to take custody of Jesus, Peter draws his sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant (26:51). Jesus rebukes Peter for trying to take the law into his own hands and Luke's gospel details how Jesus heals the man's ear (Luke 22:51). Even though the arrest of Jesus was unfounded, Peter still had no right react the way he did (26:52). I find what Jesus says next to be interesting..."do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?" He was saying that if He wanted, He could pray and God the Father would send 72,000 angels to rescue Him; however, Jesus wanted the disciples to know that He was submitting to the Father's plans (26:54). Jesus was very aware that He must die on the cross to pay the penalty for sin and failure to do that would leave man in their state of sin. God the Father loved us so much that He was willing to give up the life of His Son so that we could have eternal life. God didn't need Peter to step in and deliver Him from the captors because their was more at stake than defending Jesus. The forgiveness of sin was Jesus' focus as He submitted to God's will! As Jesus continued to speak to the religious leaders, verse 56 reveals that all the disciples "forsook Him." I can't begin to feel what Jesus must have felt as those who were closest to Him abandoned Him during this time, but Jesus understood. After all, He had told Peter earlier that he would deny Him. Now Jesus was alone, left to His accusers, and would soon face death but no one was there to walk with Him. I guess I cannot point the finger at the disciples for abandoning Him because I would have probably done the same thing. When it comes down to it, I know that humanly speaking my desire is to protect my own life; however, think of how much more important we were to Jesus than His own life. Spend some time thinking about that!

Matthew 26:57-75
Jesus was quickly taken away by the religious leaders to Caiaphas, who was the high priest. Verse 58 reveals that Peter followed Jesus at a safe distance so he could see what was happening and finally sat down with the servants. The chief priests, elders, and council sought false testimony against Jesus, but they found none (26:59-60a). However, several people misconstrued Jesus statements about the temple and its future destruction resulting in Jesus being accused of blasphemy (26:60b-66). They began to spit on and beat Jesus (26:67-68). The scene quickly switches back to Peter, who is sitting with the servants. A little servant girl comes to Peter saying that she saw him with Jesus, but he quickly denied it (26:69-70). Peter left the courtyard and another girl accused him of being connected with Jesus, but denied even knowing Him (26:71-72). A little while later Peter is again accused of having known Jesus, but he adamantly denies having ever known Jesus (26:73-74a). Immediately the rooster crows and Peter remembered that Jesus had told him that he would deny Him three times, so Peter leaves weeping bitterly (26:74b-75). I'm not sure about you, but there are times when I've felt that I abandoned God when I should have been standing for Him. All of us can relate with Peter because he represents our struggles between faith and fear. There is no doubt in my mind that Peter loved Jesus, but he was fearful of where loving Jesus would take him. Peter personally observed what was happening to Jesus and he did not want to face the same punishment for following Him, so he ran away. What is the lesson here? I'm not sure that we can really learn a lesson here, but we can certainly understand the struggle Peter was experiencing. Although many do not fear death for following Christ, we do fear what those around us will think if we live for Him.

Dear God, provide the courage to live for You.