Matthew 27:1`-10 - Judas hangs himself

27:1-10

The chief priests and religious leaders seemed to be getting their way and made their plans to complete the task (as they saw it). Only the Roman occupier could have Jesus executed, so they handed Jesus over to Pilate the governor. 

Judas now started to realise the consequences of his actions, and how he  was being used. He tried to get some self respect back by returning the money he had been paid. The religious leaders weren’t interested. We need to beware when we sin, for there will be one to help us afterwards, only Jesus if we come to God in repentance. Judas went and hung himself. Superficially there seems to be a contradiction between Matthew's and Luke’s account in Acts, The simplest explanation is that after hanging himself the rope broke and Judas fell to the ground.

The chief priests demonstrate their hypocrisy be being fastidious about using the money that Judas had returned. Matthew saw this as fulfilment of scripture (Jer 19:1-13).

Matthew 26:65-75 - Trial and Denial

26:65-68

The high priest knew full well that Jesus was claiming equality with God. There really are only two choices. Either Jesus is the Son of God, and therefore we have to worship Him. Or He is not and is either utterly deluded or utterly evil.  The religious leaders chose the latter response and announced that Jesus is worthy of death. They then mocked, insulted and abused Jesus.  Oh, how foolish they are going to look on the last day. We need to remember that it is the Son of God in whom we believe and trust, the One who will return as Lord of all. We should remind ourselves of this, especially when tempted to give up. Doing so will help us to think clearly, and to avoid making stupid decisions.

26:69-75

The chapter finished with Peter denying Jesus, the very thing he so vehemently denied he would ever do. The denial is made worse by the fact that he denied Jesus before a servant girl, though she may well have spoken to a soldier or someone if Peter had admitted knowing Jesus. It is significant that in 1 Peter 1:13 Peter tells us to prepare our minds for action, or to have sober minds. We can so easily be caught off guard. We will react with our flesh, whose first response will be to avoid danger, so we will lie or deny Jesus. Living by the Spirit is not some mystical way of living, it involves resolving in our minds to put Christ first. In fact, in 1 Peter 3:15 Peter tells us to do that very thing. Peter had clearly learnt from his failure. At the end of it Peter calls down curses upon himself and wept bitterly. Finally he remembered what Jesus had said he would do. 

Jesus knew what Peter would do, but knowing this He did not reject Peter. When He told Peter what he would do, Jesus said that He had prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail (Lk 22:31,32), and that after he had turned back he was to strengthen his brothers. In John 22:17 when Jesus restores Peter He tells him to “feed my sheep”. Likewise, God knew that all of us would fail Him. Like Peter we must not lose our faith, and we must turn back to Jesus.

Matthew 26:57-61 - On Trial

26:57,58

These events must have occurred at some unearthly hour. The religious leaders were ready at this hour for the “trial”. Peter was following from a distance. There was part of Peter that wanted to be with Jesus, to be identified with Him. But, as we know, there was another part that was motivated by fear, and it is that part that ultimately determined his actions.

26:59-61

Matthew does not mince his words, saying that the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence in order to condemn Jesus to death. When we think the death of an innocent person is the answer to a problem we are in serious trouble. Today we can see this scenario when we think abortion is the answer to a problem, or the death of an elderly person is the answer. Many false witnesses came forward, but they could not find a coherent case (Mark 14:56). Finally they found two who said Jesus was able to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. These words resembled what Jesus said, except that He did not say He would destroy the temple. The importance of their being two witnesses was that this complied with the Law.

Matthew 26:47-56 - Jesus Arrested

26:47-49

Judas now arrived, this was no surprise to Jesus as v46 shows. He came with an armed crowd from the religious leaders.  Judas gave Jesus the infamous “Judas kiss”. All this was done for political purposes. The religious leaders wanted it to seem that it was Jesus’ own people who had given up on Him. As we know, all this was achieving the purposes of God. Periodically we hear of “well known” Christians giving up on their faith for some reason or other. In these situations we should feel sorrow for that person, but we should never despair, for God is always in control, men never are.

26:50-52

The word “friend” here is used as a mild rebuke, or an ironic sense. Jesus was then arrested by the religious leaders “soldiers” and Jesus is now in the hands of men. From John 18:10 we know that it was Peter who cut off the ear off the high priest’s servant. Jesus tells Peter to put his sword away. “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword”. This would be drastically true for the religious leaders, if they lived another thirty five years or so, for the Roman armies would crush the city. Armed strength does not achieve the purposes of the kingdom of God.

26:53-56

Moreover, Jesus could have called upon His Father, and myriads of angels would have been at His disposal. He could have crushed any army if He chose to do so. But this was not God’s plan. God’s plan was now fully in operation and death, sin and the devil would be defeated. This would all happen according to the Scriptures.

Matthew is recording Jesus’ words here to make it clear that this is no earthly rebellion. The battle is not against flesh and blood, and the only life that would be lost in this battle would be that of Jesus. The hypocrisy and weakness of the religious leaders is exposed, and we see that Jesus is the only one who is really in control.

Matthew 26:32-46 - Gethsemane

26:32,33

As well as the “bad news” Jesus has the good news of the resurrection, “after I have risen”. But this went completely over the heads of the disciples. See that Peter immediately talks about the denial, saying that he would never deny Jesus, even if everyone else denied Jesus he would not do so. 

26:34,35

Jesus knew Peter better than Peter himself did, like wise Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves, he knows the depths of our sinfulness, and our weaknesses. Yet he still loves us , as He still loved Peter. However, Peter still insisted that He would stick by Jesus, no matter what.

26:36-46

We now come to Gethsemane, where the weakness of Peter’s commitment becomes even clearer, for He cannot even stay awake to pray with Jesus. We see here the depths of what Jesus was feeling. He knew what He was about to go through, yet remained committed to doing the Father’s will. Jesus was resolute.

Matthew 26:27-33 - Denial predicted

26:27-30 

The sacrifices were a central part of the old covenant. Leviticus is particularly important in showing how they represented the taking away of our sins. The wine represents the blood of Jesus shed for them all, and all who believe. The blood represents death. The old testament sacrifices were ineffective in themselves, but pointed ahead to the blood of Jesus. The new covenant is founded on the blood of Jesus. His sacrifice is for the forgiveness of sins (and as Hebrews makes clear, renders all other sacrifices irrelevant and superseded). “I will not drink ...” This looks forward to the heavenly banquet. At Passover the meal was concluded by the singing of Ps 115-118. This is the hymn that the disciples sang.

26:31

The “bad news” continued, with Jesus telling them that they would all fall away. We have just had Jesus talking about Judas betraying Him. Later He will tell Peter that he will deny Him. Here we have Jesus saying they will all fall away. Peter may have been the most obvious “denier”, but the rest were little better. We are faced here with the complete failure of humanity. Of course, Pilate and the religious leaders are the most overt failures, but even His disciples, His followers, were failures. We are saved purely by the grace of God. And they would fall away “on account of me”, they would fail to remain loyal to Jesus. This was a fulfilment of Zech 13:7.

26:32,33

As well as the “bad news” Jesus has the good news of the resurrection, “after I have risen”. But this went completely over the heads of the disciples. See that Peter immediately talks about the denial, saying that he would never deny Jesus, even if everyone else denied Jesus he would not do so. 

Matthew 26:20-26 - Last supper

26:20-25

Judas had set out to betray Jesus, but Jesus already knew that this would happen, and that events were now in train. The disciples, although understanding little, knew that something was up, that events were reaching a pivotal point. They all said “surely not I”, but the announcement increased the solemnity of the occasion. Dipping your bread into a bowl of sauce was a custom then, and till is in some middle eastern countries. For two people to dip into the same bowl was a sign of friendship and trust. So this emphasised the gravity of the betrayal. “The Son of Man will go as it is written”. All the events were happening exactly as ordained by God. “But woe to the man who betrays the Son of Man”. But the one who betrayed Jesus was utterly responsible for his actions. God’s sovereignty and human responsibility go together and are entirely compatible. We may not be able to understand how, but God has no problem with this!

From time to time there are various attempts to “rehabilitate” Judas. Such attempts are utterly futile and foolish. Much the same could be said about the people who make these attempts.

Like the rest of the disciples, Judas said “surely not I”, while knowing full that it was he. Sin distorts our thinking. 

26:26

We now get to the heart of the last supper.  At Passover the father of the house would take the bread and give thanks for it, remembering the escape from Egypt and recalling the bread of affliction that the people ate as they left Egypt (Deut 16:3). So they recalled the momentous events of the escape from Egypt, but they did not imagine the unleavened bread they ate to be the same as that eaten by their ancestors. So any notions of the bread being the actual body if Jesus are just so much nonsense. The Israelites had been held in Egypt as slaves, the far greater slavery is the slavery to sin. The escape from this slavery is not easy, it involves dangerous journies. In that journey we are to feed off the death of Jesus. He has paid the price for our sins, that is our constant source of sustenance.