Matthew 26: Arrested (1)
Pray Psalm 143.1, 2.
Hear my prayer, O LORD,
Give ear to my supplications!
In Your faithfulness answer me,
And in Your righteousness.
Do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no one living is righteous.
Sing Psalm 143.1, 2.
Divinum Mysterium: Of the Father’s Love Begotten
Hear my earnest prayer, O LORD! Give ear to my pleas for grace!
In Your faithfulness and righteousness, look upon me with Your face!
Enter not to judgment with Your servant, LORD, with Your loving servant, LORD:
None can stand before Your Word.
Read and meditate on Matthew 26.1-5.
What makes the order of things important in these verses?
Prepare.
1. What did Jesus say to His disciples?
2. Who gathered with Caiaphas, and why?
Meditate.
Two days to go (v. 2). Two days until the most significant and momentous event of all history will play out in a remote Roman backwater, before an angry crowd of lost people, people not that different from you and me.
Matthew taps the brakes in his narrative, slowing down the action even more to give plenty of time for the importance of these events to sink in. The time he covers stretches, as does the verbiage of his narrative. He is saying to us, “Slow down. Pay attention. All I’ve written before has been pointing to this.”
As if to punctuate that point, Jesus once again, as He had beginning in chapter 16, told His disciples what was about to take place. In two days, during the Feast of Passover, the Lamb of God would be slain for the sins of the world (v. 2). No mention of the resurrection. No promises about His imminent return. Here Jesus sought to impress on His disciples the awful reality of what was about to occur, so that when it did, they would know that He had not walked into a trap, but was merely following the course laid out for Him from before the foundation of the world. The order of events in this passage is important. First, Jesus reveals what will happen, then the murderers begin to go into action.
Matthew heightens the tension in these first five verses by switching quickly from Jesus’ camp to that of the “chief priests, scribes, and the elders”—the first time we’ve seen all these people mentioned together. A gathering has been convened (v. 3), and a course of action is being decided and set in motion. Jesus must die, but, if possible, in a way that will keep “the people” from going into an uproar (vv. 4, 5). All the religious leaders were united in purpose, just as Jesus had predicted they would be (Matt. 21.45).
It should be very clear to us Who is orchestrating these events.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
The One orchestrating these events, has been writing history from the beginning.
And forerunners of Christ experienced similar betrayals to themselves; but also, prophetically about Jesus.
Of Daniel it is written:
“Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps,
because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm.
So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom;
but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.
Then these men said, ‘We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him
concerning the law of his God’” (Dan. 6.3-5).
David wrote:
“My enemies speak evil of me: ‘When will he die, and his name perish?’
And if he comes to see me, he speaks lies; his heart gathers iniquity to itself; when he goes out, he tells it.
All who hate me whisper together against me; against me they devise my hurt.
‘An evil disease,’ they say, ‘clings to him. And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.’
Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread,
has lifted up his heel against me.” (Ps. 41.5-9).
And David asks:
“Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us’” (Ps. 2.1-3).
Then it is written of God:
“He Who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
the Lord shall hold them in derision.
Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure:
‘Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion’” (Ps. 2.4-6).
And the best the high priest, chief priests, scribes, and elders of the people could do was to be “righteously” hypocritical (Matt. 26.5). “We probably can’t kill Him on the Passover because it might upset the folks; and it breaks God’s Law.” I mean, if you’re not supposed to cook and clean on the Sabbath, an old-fashioned killing on the Passover might be out of line? Just thinking out loud.
However, as we are correctly condemning the behavior of the religious, is it possible we do the same as they?
We might not kill others, but are we ever angry without cause? (Matt. 5.21, 22)
We might not outwardly commit adultery, but do we ever lust? (Matt. 5.27, 28)
Do we ever, ever, equivocate on the truth? (Matt. 5.33-37)
Have we ever responded poorly to persecution? (Matt. 5.38)
Is vengeance, or the juicy thought of it, pervasive in our minds? (Matt. 5.39)
Are we ever skimpy in our giving? Could we ever be accused of being lavish in blessings? (Matt. 5.40-42)
Do we hate our enemies, but act like we don’t? (Matt. 5.43)
If we answered in the affirmative, we may be akin to the religious of Jesus’ day. And that has a bad look to it.
Jesus, two days before His murder, was warning against this behavior for His children. We are to be different.
“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?”
“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5.46, 48).
“Once More, for Emphasis.” Hypocrisy is not perfection.
Reflect.
1. What might cause a believer to give in to the fear of man?
2. What can you do to keep from falling into that snare?
3. Jesus said we should fear God, not men. What does it mean to fear God?
What did they consult together? That they might seize Him secretly, or that they might put Him to death? Both, for they feared the people. Thus they waited for the feast to be past, for they said, “Not on the feast day,” lest He should make the Passion conspicuous. They were afraid of causing an uproar. Note that they never were afraid of the judgment of God but only the judgment of people. John Chrysostom (344-407), The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 79.3
Pray Psalm 143.3-12.
Meditate on Jesus’ work of redemption. Let your soul cry out to Him for faith and courage. Look into His face, then face your day in the knowledge that He is with you.
Sing Psalm 143.3-12.
Divinum Mysterium: Of the Father’s Love Begotten
See, the enemy pursued my soul; he has crushed and cast me down.
He has made me sit in darkness, LORD, like those dead and in the ground.
Thus my spirit faints within me, LORD, faints within my weary soul,
and my heart is no more whole.
I recall the days of old; on Your works I meditate—
all the wonders of Your mighty hand, works both small, O LORD, and great.
LORD, my thirsty soul cries out to You! To You, LORD, I reach my hand
in a dry and weary land.
Answer quickly, O my LORD! Do not hide from me Your face!
For my spirit fails and I am like those who do not know Your grace.
In the morning let me hear Your steadfast love; LORD I trust You, show my way!
I lift up my soul and pray!
Rescue me from all my enemies! Lord, I refuge seek in You.
Let me know Your will, O LORD my God; make me know what I must do.
Let Your Spirit lead me on to level ground; save my life! Preserve my soul!
Rescue, LORD, and make me whole!
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest: This week: Our Read Moore podcast features excerpts from the book, Patrick: A Devotional History. Our Crosfigell teaching letter is pursuing a series on the spiritual poetry of the Celtic Revival. The ReVision column continues our study of “Everyday Christianity”. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
