January 24, 2014: Matthew Chapter 26

The Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 26

Originally posted February 4, 2008

General Comment: The judgment scene at the end of Chapter 25 has always fascinated me. On one level it seems to say that entry into the Kingdom is dependent on our social justice ministry: acts of mercy and compassion toward others - the hungry and thirsty, the stranger  (alien noncitizen) and the naked, the sick and those in prison. Many people understand the text this way. There is no doubt that many a community based ministry and mission of the church grow out of that premise. Matthew would be quick to remind us that in this scene the sheep and the goats are both within the church. Both believe they are "good" Christians. Yet in the last judgment all things become known, even the motivations of the heart. The sheep did good works, not knowing that by doing them they were doing them for the Son of Man, for Jesus. The goats didn't care to be involved in such things, not knowing their lack of involvement was a rejection of the Son of Man, of Jesus.

The language is metaphorical, a parable with a caution for us all. It is not the works themselves that separate the sheep from the goats. It is why they were done or not done. It is what happened to us - or didn't - when we entered the sheepfold. 

Wednesday - Day 3

Matthew Chapter 26:1-5 The Plot to Kill Jesus

Jesus has finished saying :...all these things..." signaling the end of Jesus' teaching and healing ministry and the beginning of what is commonly called the "Passion Narrative." He will speak very little from now on. Matters are in other hands but not in their control. Jesus once more reminds his disciples of what is about to happen. He only adds the important timing, the Passover is coming. That is the day, the important day for all Israel; a day of deliverance and redemption; a day of Messianic expectations, for deliverance from a new Pharaoh named Caesar. The Son of Man will be handed over, delivered to be crucified. He knows it is coming as the forces of the world's evil gather and conspire to rid themselves of this brash Nazarene whose vision of God's Kingdom, God's dawning Reign, has captured the imagination of the crowds. They are threatened. It will have to be in the darkness of night. Evil works best in the dark, away from the notice of those who have caught a glimpse of God's revelatory light. Those people, so ignorant and willing to follow the latest rabble rouser, but they can be dangerous. A new, imaginative cause is a fire best stamped out. But not during the festival. The people, those people, will be at their worst.

Mathew Chapter 26:6-13 The Anointing at Bethany

The scene shifts from the luxurious palace of Caiaphas to Bethany at the house of a leper named Simon. From conspirators plotting a murder to a prophetic gift from an unknown woman who will be remembered whenever this story is told, as she is now. Who is she and what is her story? We don't know, only that she is moved to bring her prized container of expensive perfume and pour it on Jesus' head.  The disciple object. What about the poor! We could have sold this perfume for a lot of money and given it to them. A noble thought, and one the disciples will always teach and act upon. But Jesus understands. Death is around the corner. No time for the niceties of proper preparation for burial. She is anointing him, getting him ready. Is that what she knows without knowing? A sweet scent wafts through the room like a quiet breeze of the spirit. "You always have the poor with you..," he reminds them. "But give me this moment. I won't be with you much longer." He inhales the gift, still wet in his hair, and thinks about tomorrow.

Matthew Chapter 26:14-16 Judas the Betrayer

Why would Judas want to betray Jesus? Did he not live up to Judas' expectations of the Messiah? All of this foolishness about being crucified, who ever heard of a crucified Messiah? Something got into him, something deep and dark, entwined around his soul, and it wouldn't let him go.There was only one way to stop this nonsense, to be rid of him and to wait for another. He goes to the Chief Priests in the night - sinister things happen in the night. While an unknown woman who has never met Jesus lavishes upon him her costly offering, this disciple, this one who has spent months with him, listened to him, marveled at his words and acts of compassion, for a miserable 30 shekels silver, the wages of a shepherd (Zech. 11:12-13), a slave owner's compensation for his injured slave (Exod. 21:32), plans death.  Is that all Jesus is worth? But is wasn't the money. He had entered the wrong Kingdom gate. Now he was one of them. There was no exit from the hell he had inherited.

Thursday - Day 4

Matthew Chapter 26:17-25 A Last Meal

It was the 14th of Nissan, the Day of Preparation. In every Jewish home the women would be searching every nook and cranny to be sure the house was rid of all traces of leaven. At Sundown the Passover meal would be set before families all over the Diaspora who could not make the long journey to Jerusalem and the Temple. The youngest child would ask his father why this night was so special, and the father would tell the story of bondage in and delivery from Egypt by the mighty hand of God. In Jerusalem Jesus and his disciples make arrangements for their own celebration. A lamb without blemish is purchased in the market and taken to the Priest for slaughter and the collection of its blood. Mary and Jesus' brothers and sisters would be somewhere in the city but there was no time to search through the throngs of pilgrims clogging the market and the Temple precincts. There is a man in the city who knows Jesus. A friend, a sympatric follower perhaps? Jesus and his disciples will eat the Passover in the man's upper room.

There was not much conversation that evening. Jesus interrupted the somber mood with news no one wanted to hear. One of them would betray him, hand him over to the authorities before this night was over. A low mumbling flew around the tables set in a U shape with space behind them for reclining. They all talked at the same time, "Surely, not I Lord." Maybe Peter was first. He always talked first. "Is it I, Lord?" Jesus identifies the betrayer without naming him (Ps. 41:9) One who was sharing bread with him, who has dipped his bread in the Charoset, the bowl of dates, nuts, cinnamon and wine ground together into a paste representing the mortar used between the bricks made in Egypt. That could be anyone, but Judas, with a last bit of deception responds, "Surely not I, Lord." Was their any hint of a smirk on his face?

Matthew Chapter 26:26-30 The Eucharist

The Eucharist, named after the Greek word for giving thanks, and which we call Communion, is one of the great mysteries of the Church. While most people do not have any difficulty understanding the bread and wine as symbolic reminders of the words of institution found in these verses, we seldom talk about the more subtle meanings of the words Jesus uses. There is a richness in the covenant reference and the words "body" and "blood." Jesus spoke Aramaic, not Hebrew or Greek. In Hebrew the word "body" means "flesh and blood" together - the whole person. In Aramaic there is no specific word for "body." What is usually translated as "body" means "self," as in the whole self. For Jesus to break the bread and say "This is my body," is to say, "Take and eat; this is who I am. Thus, in communion we are receiving the entire self, the person of Jesus as spirit within us and in the Church. We take this Eucharist together, representing the whole of the community, celebrating the presence of Christ's spirit within ourselves as disciples and within the church universal.

In ancient mind a persons life was in the blood. The blood of the sacrificial animal is thrown on the altar, life given back to the God who gave it. As with the bread, the wine, as a symbol of the blood of the new covenant, is offered to us. Jesus tells his disciples, and tells us as well, he offers all that he is - his very self, his very life, on our behalf. 

The "Covenant" is understood as the "New Covenant." This is not a "better," new and improved covenant, but a new one understood as that which is promised through the Prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 31:31-34). Jeremiah looks toward a time when God will make a new covenant with Israel, not like the one God made when he brought Israel our of Egypt, but one in which the Law is written on the heart of every person and God will be truly known by all. In  the accepting of this covenant the sins of Israel will be forgiven and remembered no more. The wine we drink is the blood of this new covenant, the life of Christ given to us, and within the giving of his spirit there is forgiveness.

There is one more element of the mystery. In the Judaism of Jesus' time, bread was a symbol of revelation, particularly of God acting in the world of humanity. The giving of the bread as Jesus' whole self offered to us, is self revealing of the God who sends Jesus into the world. When we take the bread we are acknowledging this God whose reality, character and blessing Jesus has unfolded for us. Body, blood and covenant: the essence of God with us in the person of Christ. 

When they finished the meal, they all sang together the traditional Passover Psalms 113-118, the Hallel, and made their way to the Mount of Olives.

For Matthew this entire scene, all of these words we will say every first Sunday, point to the promise of another time not yet here, that New Age, that Reign of God, when the Messianic Banquet is spread before the now suffering church, and with the returning Son of Man, the church will drink from the fruit of the vine, will drink it new in God's Kingdom.

Matthew Chapter 26:31-35 Peter's Denial Foretold

Jesus, quoting part of Zech. 13:7, tells the disciples they will all abandon him before this night is over. Peter objects that he should be characterized as a coward who would desert Jesus. Jesus knows what human fear is. He knows what will happen. He knows that this burly, impetuous fisherman will deny he has ever heard of Jesus before the changing of the 3rd watch on Antonia Tower ( the 3rd watch ended at 3:00 a.m.). Peter protests again, he will die with Jesus if needs be. So say all the disciples in an unconvincing display of bravado.

Do we deny we know him? Do we keep our church membership, our Christian commitment to ourselves? What about the world we live in? Does it "...know we are Christians by our love?"  Have we ever heard the cock crow?

Matthew Chapter 26:36-46 Gethsemane, the Place of Humanity

It was already late when Jesus and the disciples entered the garden. It was a convenient place to sleep out under the stars after a very long day filled with unsettled emotions. Jesus wasn't ready for sleep. There was too much turmoil within his own soul to allow it. He did what he always did when he was deeply troubled. He went to pray. He took Peter and the brothers, James and John with him. They had been with him as witnesses to the Transfiguration. Jesus asks them to stay awake and watch with him. He needs that closeness of human companionship at such a time when flesh struggles with spirit. He falls flat on the ground and prays. What should he do? Flee from inevitability? Deny everything that he had done while believing it was what God wanted him to do? Did it have to end in this? The disciples slept, Jesus prayed. Would God let this cup of suffering pass? Will he have to drink it? No matter how long he prayed the only answer was in the silence, in the still small voice of Elijah's mountain experience when he too felt the hot breath of the chasing enemy behind him. "Get up and go from here." That's what the silence said. That's what Jesus did, as if he were destined to do it. "See, my betrayer is at hand."

Matthew Chapter 26:47-56 Betrayal and Arrest

There they were, the gathered forces of a threatened establishment: A large crowd with swords, Chief Priests, Elders, with Judas leading the way. The ultimate betrayer, who sells his soul , surrenders whatever values he had to the powers and principalities. He kisses the only truly good man he had ever known. But he was part of another Kingdom now. Several Temple officials come toward Jesus to arrest him. In the confusion a follower of Jesus takes out a sword and strikes the High Priest's slave. Jesus will have none of that. No Swords. Violence will not conquer evil (Isa. 53:7-8). He will not call forth even the army of God to his defense were it hovering in the sky. He has work yet to do, and time is short to get it done. And they led him away as the disciples, every one of them, deserted him. He was alone, but not alone.

Matthew Chapter 26:57-68 Caiaphas Meets Jesus

The hearing before Caiaphas could be understood as an indictment by the Grand Jury. There needs to be a capital charge that can  be brought to Pilate that will result in a death sentence. Pilate would care little about religious or doctrinal offenses. To be crucified  Jesus must have committed an act of insurrection or some other crime against Rome. Even in a hearing, there must be at least two and preferable three corroborating witnesses on any charge for it to be accepted as proof. From Matthew's perspective there would be no justice in such a hearing. False testimony was sought but with an array of such witnesses no agreement who would be found. If Matthew's portrayal is accurate, the witnesses would be guilty of blasphemy by falsely swearing before God, an offense deserving of immediate stoning. In such executions, those who were witnesses were required to cast the first stones (John 8:1-11).

Finally, two agreeing witnesses do come forward, testifying that they had heard Jesus say he was able to destroy the Temple and build it in three days. Of course, this is not much of a charge either. Many prophets of old had spoken of the Temple's destruction because of the unrepentant people of Judah, a prophecy believed by the Prophets to have been fulfilled by the Babylonian exile and following destruction of the Temple. Also, one strand of Messianic thinking held that when the Messiah did appear he would destroy the corrupt Temple and build (make appear) the new Temple. This was certainly true of the messianism of the Essene sect in Qumran. In this case the question put to Jesus under oath, "...are you the Messiah, the Son of God?" is appropriate to the understanding that the Messiah would have the power of God to accomplish such a feat. Jesus' answer is an unambiguous "yes," to which Matthew adds the words of the coming judgment which will destroy the Temple and all those associated with the perversion of its purpose as God's House, and their many acts of injustice. All that was left, their plan having been accomplished, was to pronounce judgment on Jesus, and while doing so, pronounce judgment upon themselves.

As these proceedings were under way, another drama was taking place close to the High Priest's palace. Peter had followed the arresting party to the palace, and was able to get into the lower courtyard where the Temple Police were standing. He tried to be inconspicuous, the burly Galilean looked out of place. He was quickly noticed  by a servant girl and questioned about his association with Jesus. Peter denies any knowledge of Jesus. A second servant girl sees him and tells bystanders that she saw him with Jesus. This time he denies he knows Jesus, and this time he does so with a sacred oath. The bystanders are not convinced. They press the issue, noting his distinctive Galilean accent. A third time  he repeats his denial. "I do not know the man!' The cock crows. Peter's heart sinks. He runs out of the courtyard and weeps. He has denied his Lord.

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Notes

1) The Chief Priest, Elders and Sadducees comprised the religious leadership of Judaism, with the High Priest presiding over the Sanhedrin, a High Council of sorts which met within the Temple precincts. This body also served as the civil authority of Jerusalem. Note that the Pharisees are not part of their plot. They were not members of the Sanhedrin, but were popular enough with the people to need their agreement in this plot. The entire scene before Caiaphas, in comparison with the trial before Pilate, is meant to place the preponderance of blame for Jesus' death not on Rome where  it belongs, but upon the Jewish leadership, part of which will become the very enemies of the early Christian movement.

2) Joseph Caiaphas is mention here for the first time. He was a Sadducee and the son-in-law the former and still powerful High Priest, Annas. He served as High Priest 18-36 CE which included the ten years while Pontius Pilate was Prefect in Palestine. As a Sadducee he did not accept the "modern" idea of resurrection. In 1990 the tomb of the Caiaphas family was found and excavated near Jerusalem. One of the ossuaries (bone box) was inscribed in Aramaic, Yehosef bar Qafa, Joseph Caiaphas.