Written by: Simon Johnson – Oasis Trust

Matthew 26 v 1-2
After Jesus finished saying all these things, he told his followers, “You know that the day after tomorrow is the day of the Passover Feast. On that day the Son of Man will be given to his enemies to be crucified.”

Notes
There is an amusing incident in Nick Hornby’s novel, “About a Boy”. Marcus (the nerdy boy) is so detached from the reality of what’s going on around him that he finds himself singing a soppy song in the presence of the rest of his classmates. In a split second, he moves from the reality of his own dream-world to the reality of the world everyone else inhabits. His return is greeted by the laughter and scorn of his classmates.

This can’t have been too dissimilar to the disciples’ experience. Given that they were used to their master telling stories (the gravity of which they often missed), they would have awoken with a fright at this point of the epic which Matthew describes.

As they slipped in and out of dreamland, helped along by stories of funny happenings in the temple, fig trees and bridesmaids (Matthew 24 and 25), reality would have hit hard as it all came to a climax with the words: “ ... to be crucified.” 

“Crucified ... the Son of Man ... by enemies? Surely not!”

This may well have been their knee-jerk response. The word “crucified” was hardly appropriate language to be used in polite company, never mind the fact that it was impossible for Messiah to die; especially on a torture apparatus used by the Romans - scandal! 

Yet the most important day of their year - the Passover - was about to become one of the most important days in the history of creation. It would be this definitive and climactic moment in history which would not only make sense of the apparently complex stories and events that Jesus had just described, it would also make sense of every subsequent story - including yours and mine!

Matthew 26 v 3-5
Then the leading priests and Jewish elders had a meeting at the palace of the high priest, named Caiaphas. At the meeting, they planned to set a trap to arrest Jesus and kill him. But they said, “We must not do it during the feast, because the people might cause a riot.”

Notes
“He should have known better.”

Growing up as the older brother of two sisters, these were words I became very familiar with. When the three of us got up to mischief, I was the one reprimanded. Why? Because I should, apparently, have known better!

And Caiaphas? Well, he too should have known better. 

Here was what should have been a responsible high priest colluding with the other leaders to dispose of the one to whom they owed their very existence.

Narrow-mindedness and passion for power prevented this crew from seeing the one who could fulfil not only their religious desires, but also their destiny. 

Since these traits (limited thinking and the quest for power) are common to humanity, should we periodically hold ourselves and others in check over them?

“Not at dinner please, Simon.”

More words that marked my childhood! Was it the ease with which I could become the centre of attention that the dinner table became the place to act the fool? Having grown up (a bit anyway), I see why it was so problematic. 

For most cultures, dining is a special experience. For Jews, the dining at Passover was - and is - not only special, but sacred. It was also a time when tension and nerves ran high. That’s why the Jewish “big boys” wanted to keep their sordid plan low-key, so as not to arouse the Roman authorities. Maintaining the status quo was a priority if they were to keep favour with the ruling Romans. 

Toeing the party line is not what the kingdom of God is about. Jesus was a revolutionary and showed little respect for the status quo, hence the hit squad. How can our actions, from the dinner table to life in the real world, prompt the response: “He/she does know better!”

Matthew 26 v 6-9
Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, who had a skin disease. While Jesus was there, a woman approached him with an alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. She poured this perfume on Jesus’ head while he was eating.
His followers were upset when they saw the woman do this. They asked, “Why waste that perfume? It could have been sold for a great deal of money and the money given to the poor.”

Notes
Here, Matthew introduces us to new people. He’s moved (in previous verses) from showing us the devious politicking and conspiracy of the priests and elders, to a woman who throughout this little episode remains nameless. Yet, in spite of her lack of identity, we get a window into the depths of her devotion.

We see, in the last supper before the Last Supper, a poignant and moving scene. In an act of self-sacrifice and great cost (alabaster perfume was wildly expensive), this woman expressed wholehearted devotion to Jesus. 

A woman imposing herself as she did, and in such circumstances, would have been considered downright rude. So the disciples complained. They appealed to a cause that they knew was always of central concern to Jesus: the poor.

He didn’t buy it. He realised that this was a situation from which the disciples could learn a vital lesson - that true worship of God can arise from the most unexpected people and places. It is often pure, simple, uncluttered and sometimes costly.

We should note that she didn’t provide us with a technique we should mimic, she simply showed us that when one’s journey crosses the path of Jesus’ journey to the cross, the only suitable response is one which demonstrates our love for him with extravagance. 

No matter who you are, where you’re from, or what your name is, you, like her, will find your identity in the fact that you are accepted by the God we meet in Jesus. On the basis that accepting Jesus must move beyond mere lip-service, how do you unpack that love in a way that others can see so that they too might respond extravagantly? 

Matthew 26 v 10-13
Knowing what had happened, Jesus said, “Why are you troubling this woman? She did an excellent thing for me. You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. This woman poured perfume on my body to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached in all the world, what this woman has done will be told, and people will remember her.”

Notes
Isn’t it frustrating when someone else gains the favour of the one you are trying to impress? That feeling of having your nose put out of joint and being snubbed is one that most of us know about. And here the disciples felt it. They still thought culturally and had not yet adopted Jesus’ “kingdom of God thinking”. Despite spending a few years travelling the highways and byways of Israel with Jesus, their education was not complete. Therefore, Jesus’ school of discipleship was to continue. The lessons are:

1. In the coming kingdom there will be no favourites. Cultural distinctions or privileges will become obsolete, meaning there will be no difference between male and female (Galatians 3 v 28-29). 

2. Jesus’ journey was coming to an abrupt end. The disciples were still thinking narrowly and hadn’t yet grasped the significance of what was happening. They were probably in denial, fearing that Jesus might actually be leaving them, and so were anxious just to be getting on with the mission. But Jesus was concerned that they would see the deeper significance of what this woman had enacted - it was a symbol of his impending death and burial.

3. The motive of the disciples was based on right thinking; the motive for the woman was impulse of the heart. It’s clear that Jesus put greater value on devotion from the heart. 

4. We should note that Jesus was not speaking literally. Every time we are in the position to talk about Jesus, we needn’t tell the story of this unnamed woman. Rather, we should, like her, find new ways of expressing our devotion to the same Lord. In doing so, we will in our own way demonstrate the Good News and retell the powerful story of the unnamed woman.

Matthew 26 v 14-16
Then one of the twelve apostles, Judas Iscariot, went to talk to the leading priests. He said, “What will you pay me for giving Jesus to you?” And they gave him 30 silver coins. After that, Judas watched for the best time to turn Jesus over.

Notes
Cue Judas, the guy we love to hate! But should we?

His motives were unknown and his rationale, from our perspective, makes no sense. But before we consign him to the dustbin of human rejects, let’s do some thinking.

The other disciples were clueless when Jesus told them, “one of you will turn against me” (Matthew 26 v 21), because, up until then, Judas had been a faithful member of the crew. He had witnessed Jesus’ healings and with Peter declared him to be the Messiah. But now things were slipping away from Judas. He was most probably disappointed. His ideas of status in the kingdom were evaporating as he began to think that the Roman authorities were on Jesus’ case anyway. Therefore, he had possibly persuaded himself that he was just a cog in the wheel of the assassination plot and that what he needed was a contingency plan which involved making some money for when Jesus was killed. Then he might (for example) have been able to buy the little farm outside Galilee that he had his eye on.

In Judas we see the human instinct for self-preservation. We see lust, greed and betrayal, all of which are acutely present in each of us. In some ways, Judas is a mirror in which we see our own defects. We have solidarity with him because, as we rightly recognise, it was also because of our sins that Jesus hung on a cross.

Occasionally, it’s good to check yourself. What may start as an innocent thought can quickly become a reality we want no part in. Evil is subtle!

Judas may have wanted to opt out when he realised the consequences of what he was doing. But alas, the realisation came too late and there was no way back.

Matthew 26 v 26-30
While they were eating, Jesus took some bread and thanked God for it and broke it. Then he gave it to his followers and said, “Take this bread and eat it; this is my body.”
Then Jesus took a cup and thanked God for it and gave it to the followers. He said, “Every one of you drink this. This is my blood which is the new agreement that God makes with his people. This blood is poured out for many to forgive their sins. I tell you this: I will not drink of this fruit of the vine again until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Notes
Nothing strange going on here. The Passover meal had a rich heritage that could be traced back through the centuries to the defining event in Israel’s history: the Exodus, their moment of freedom. 

Up until a few months ago I lived amongst a Jewish community where, to this day, Passover is celebrated. Family and friends come, while the head of the house acts as the master of ceremonies.

In Matthew’s story, as was to be expected, Jesus was the master of ceremonies. What wasn’t expected was what he did with the meal. He took its original meaning and pulled it onto himself. Suddenly the Passover was being reinterpreted in such a way that the Jewish tradition would find too hard to swallow.

Passover pointed forward to a time when God would finally deliver Israel and the world. Jesus was saying, in what were cryptic symbolic actions, that the time had come. He was showing that he was God’s means of bringing this new kingdom into being. Freedom was no longer to be about a certain people, it was to be available to all people in all places, should they choose to accept it!

Just as the Jews continue to celebrate and remember the Passover meal, so Christians celebrate and remember the Last Supper. In a society with a growing dislike for history, rememberance should be a key hallmark for Christians, because it reminds us that his-(s)tory is our story. From here we derive our identity and are reminded of our destiny. 

At the table, we fellowship with God and we fellowship with each other. It is here that we experience true peace, wholeness and salvation in its widest sense, dining with each other and with our Creator.

Matthew 27 v 45-51
At noon the whole country became dark, and the darkness lasted for three hours. At about three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” This means, “My God, my God, why have you rejected me?”
Some of the people standing there who heard this said, “He is calling Elijah.”
Quickly one of them ran and got a sponge and filled it with vinegar and tied it to a stick and gave it to Jesus to drink. But the others said, “Don’t bother him. We want to see if Elijah will come to save him.”
But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice and died.
Then the curtain in the Temple was torn into two pieces, from the top to the bottom. Also, the earth shook and rocks broke apart. 

Notes
On the hill at Montmartre in Paris, I experienced the eeriness of the total eclipse of the sun in the year 1999. Of course, it is easy to explain scientifically how God might have darkened the land at the crucifixion scene. What is more difficult to explain is why God should forsake his only Son.

The truth is that, in the same way that the light of the sun was eclipsed, so too was the love for the Son. The sin of the world was focused on the shoulders of Jesus. That bond of love and the delight that this Father and Son took in one another was briefly challenged by the gravity of the circumstances.

It’s interesting that the crowd heard Elijah being beckoned. Matthew probably wanted us to think back to chapter 17 v 9-13 of his book. There, Elijah was not the Red Cross to save Jesus, but the signpost pointing to the cross. What the crowd were witnessing was Jesus’ obedience to the end - the outworking of a perfect life, lived for others in the service of God. 

The priests who preferred the Jewish religious system (ie, Temple) and kept its forgiveness with the limited salvation it offered to them, were now being judged. It (the Temple) was finished - the old order had gone and the new kingdom was coming. Jesus took on evil with goodness and rocked this world. 

All of this speaks loudly to us, in our world.

Our first response should be to stand in awe and worship at what God has done for us. Our second response should be to live appropriately. Living appropriately demands that we try to figure out what it means to live life for others in service to God, no matter what the consequences.


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes