In Matthew 26:1-2, Jesus solemnly predicted to His disciples that His death through being delivered up to be crucified would be closely connected to the Passover celebration in 2 days. Meanwhile, the chief priests and elders had assembled at the palace of Caiaphas the high priest. They had gathered to plan how they could stealthily arrest Jesus and then kill Him. However, they wanted to avoid doing this during the Passover in order to not arouse a riot by the people.
Matthew then inserts a story that flashes back to an event 6 days earlier that took place right before Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. At the house of Simon the leper, Mary (sister to Lazarus and Martha) anointed Jesus with an incredibly expensive ointment. The disciples indignantly complained, proclaiming such an act to be a waste and that they would rather have sold the perfume and given the proceeds to the poor.
Jesus defended Mary and her actions, saying that she had done a beautiful thing to Him. And since He had accepted it, their verbal assault of her was also an assault against Him! Jesus proceeded to explain that they could always show mercy to the poor, but that they only had a limited opportunity to specially minister to Him. Through Mary’s actions, she had begun to prepare His body for His rapidly approaching burial, and that her act of devoted love and worship would be remembered every time the gospel narrative is proclaimed.
In Matthew 26:14-16, Matthew begins to reveal the plot of how Jesus would be betrayed. One of the Twelve, Judas Iscariot, approached the chief priests offering to deliver Jesus to them for money. Through this act of the darkest of evil and treachery, these men covenanted together with Judas to pay him 30 pieces of silver to betray the Messiah. Thus, greedy Judas began to intentionally seek an opportune moment to hand Jesus over as agreed. That time would soon come!
Listen to the teaching on Matthew 26:1-16 by clicking on the link below:
