Matthew 26:1–16

The end of Jesus’ life was coming.

Jesus knew that his life on earth would end soon. People thought about him in different ways. They showed the right and the wrong reactions to him.

Matthew now began to describe certain events. They were the most important part of Jesus’ work. The time for words had ended. The final and greatest act of Jesus’ life was near (Matthew 26:2). Matthew told his story with great skill. He recorded several incidents. They do not seem to be in the right order. But they show some important contrasts. The contrasts have things to teach us too.

First, Jesus chose to die. This contrasts with men’s evil plans. (Read Matthew 26:1–5.) Next, there was the action of the religious leaders. This contrasts with what Mary did. (Read Matthew 26:6–13.) Also, there was a contrast between Mary and Judas. (Read Matthew 26:14–16.)

Jesus chose to die for our sins. Nobody could force him to die. Earlier in his work, Jesus had said that he would die. (Read Matthew 16:21; 17:22-23 and 20:18-20.) But now he declared the time when he would die. He told his disciples the way that he would die too (Matthew 26:2). So, he emphasised that he was in total control. His death would not be just an accident. It was his plan and purpose to die. He would save his people from God’s punishment for their sin.

Jesus’ worst suffering now began. This was the greatest example of his teaching. His words in verse 1 probably applied to all of his teaching. But they certainly applied to the previous two chapters. Jesus showed his disciples that they must have unselfish love for people. (Read Matthew 25:31–46.) Now, Jesus showed his own love for all people. The rest of the section dealt with people’s reactions to Jesus. There were two bad examples. (Read Matthew 26:3–5 and Matthew 26:14–16.) But there was Mary’s good example. (Read Matthew 26:6–13.)

There was Caiaphas. He was the chief priest of the Jews. Writers of history in the first century described him. They said that he wanted power more than anything else. So, he did not like someone whose authority was greater than his authority. He felt that Jesus was a danger to him. His reactions were like those of some people today.

Matthew recorded a complete contrast. He gave a lovely example of real love for Jesus. (Read Matthew 26:6–13.) We can be grateful for Mary’s example. Like her, we can all show our love for Jesus in some way. Mary seemed to listen to Jesus better than most other people did. (Read Luke 10:38–42.)

Mary seemed to know that Jesus would die soon. The book of Mark records the name of the perfume. (This is a substance with its own special good smell.) Its name was spikenard. People used it to rub into dead bodies. Mary may not have realised the real meaning of her action. But Matthew gives the main reason why he recorded the story. It was because of her great act of love. In John 12:5, we learn that the perfume was worth 300 dinars. This was nearly a year’s wages.

The last case that Matthew recorded is in Matthew 26:14–16. We cannot be sure why Judas acted as he did. But Judas seemed to be disappointed with Jesus. Perhaps he thought that Jesus should have given him more. He was a disciple. Surely, he deserved some rewards. We cannot be sure about this. But there are people like that today.

Questions

• Are you a person like Mary? Should we still show our love for Jesus in public?
• We might copy Mary’s act when we are in church. But what would be wrong with that act today? It would be hard for it to be a natural act. It would be hard for it to have any reality. Could we really show our love like this? But we want to show our love for Jesus. So, what similar things could we do?
• A person who is not loyal is sometimes called ‘a Judas’. Even people who do not know the Bible at all will sometimes use the words. Why did Judas behave like this to Jesus? Do we sometimes think as he did?