Matthew26chapter 26

Matthew 26:1-2

And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings closes the fifth and final discourse with the same sealing formula the brief traces across the book, now marking the hinge from teaching straight into the passion itself. He said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified states his own death not as a coming danger but as an already fixed appointment, the timing his own rather than his enemies'. Henry reads the calm precision of this announcement against the frantic plotting of the very next verses, the true timetable held by the one about to be killed rather than by those planning the killing.

Matthew 26:3-5

Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, gathers the Sanhedrin's leadership for a private council against Jesus. And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him confirms their intent was already fixed, only the method remaining to be settled. Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people shows their own plan overruled by providence, since Jesus himself had just fixed the timing at Passover in verse 2, and Judas's coming offer will let them keep both their caution and their deadline.

Matthew 26:6-9

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper places the anointing in a household John's Gospel connects to Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised, and to Martha and Mary. There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, John naming her as Mary and the ointment as spikenard, a costly perfume from India worth roughly a year of ordinary wages. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste, valuing the ointment's market price over the act's own meaning, and the commentators read their objection as sincere but shortsighted, unable yet to see what the woman somehow already grasped.

Matthew 26:10-13

When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me defends the anointing against the disciples' complaint by naming it good rather than merely permissible. Ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always states a plain fact of timing rather than a dismissal of care for the poor, which the rest of his own teaching never relaxes. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial reads the act, whether the woman intended it so or not, as an anointing for death, and the promise that this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, and this that she hath done told for a memorial of her, secures her a permanent place in the story Matthew is telling.

Matthew 26:14-16

called Judas Iscariot: Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests marks the betrayal as coming from inside the closest circle, one of the twelve repeated for emphasis. What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver names a sum the commentators connect to Exodus 21:32, the price set for a gored slave, and to Zechariah 11:12-13's own thirty pieces, a link the brief's blood thread carries forward to 27:9's fulfillment citation. From that time he sought opportunity to betray him shows the bargain struck well before the arrest, Judas now watching for his moment rather than acting on sudden impulse.

Matthew 26:17-19

Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover places the meal within the season Jesus himself named at verse 2. Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand shows Jesus again directing events with foreknowledge, an unnamed host prearranged rather than approached cold. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover completes the preparation exactly as instructed, the lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs the law required for that night.

Matthew 26:20-22

Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve begins the meal reclining at table in the ordinary Passover posture, the twelve gathered as one company for what will be their last meal together before the cross. As they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me delivers the announcement in the middle of the meal itself rather than before or after it. They were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I shows genuine self examination rather than suspicion of one another, Henry noting that not one disciple names Judas even in guess, each searching his own heart first.

Matthew 26:23-25

He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me identifies the betrayer by an act of shared table fellowship, which made the coming betrayal a violation of the ancient bond that eating together was understood to seal. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed holds two truths together without softening either, the crucifixion moving exactly as Scripture had foretold and Judas's own guilt in no way lessened by that fact. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said gives Judas a private and specific confirmation, the other disciples apparently not overhearing an answer that leaves Judas without excuse.

Matthew 26:26-28

this is my body: And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, and he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, institutes the meal the church still keeps, built directly on the Passover elements already on the table. For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins names the cross a covenant sealed in blood on the pattern of Exodus 24:8, and for the remission of sins ties the Supper to the atonement's purpose directly. The church has never spoken with one voice on how the bread and cup relate to the body and blood, Zwingli and the memorial tradition reading a sign and remembrance, Calvin reading a real spiritual feeding on Christ by faith, and the Catholic tradition holding transubstantiation, and the exposition names each reading with its holders rather than choosing among them.

Matthew 26:29

fruit of the vine: But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom looks past the cross to a future meal, a vow of abstinence that turns the Supper itself into a pledge of reunion. The commentators read this as Jesus' own last recorded promise before Gethsemane, binding the meal just instituted to a future and certain fellowship rather than ending on an unrelieved note of betrayal and death. Luke's Gospel repeats the same vow, and the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:9 is commonly read as this promise's fulfillment.

Matthew 26:30

And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives closes the meal with worship rather than silence, and the commentators identify the hymn as part of the Hallel, Psalms 113 through 118, traditionally sung at the close of the Passover meal. Gill notes the striking content these particular Psalms carry on the very night of the passion, Psalm 118's the stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner and I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord sung by the one about to be arrested and killed. The short verse marks the last quiet moment before Gethsemane's agony begins.

Matthew 26:31-32

Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad quotes Zechariah 13:7 directly, naming his own coming arrest as the very act the prophet foresaw. The shepherd thread the brief traces from 9:36's sheep having no shepherd through 18:12's ninety and nine arrives here at its darkest beat, the shepherd himself struck down and the flock scattered exactly as he predicts it will happen within hours. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee answers the scattering with a promise of regathering, the same shepherd who is struck rising to lead the flock again.

Matthew 26:33-35

Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended sets Peter's confidence directly against the prophecy just given, naming himself an exception to a warning meant for every disciple present including him. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice answers the boast with a precise and specific prediction rather than a general caution. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee, and all the disciples echo the same vow, and Chrysostom reads the whole company's confidence as sincere but resting on their own strength rather than on watchfulness and prayer, the very failure Gethsemane will expose within the hour.

Matthew 26:36-38

a place called Gethsemane: Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, a garden whose name means oil press, situated at the foot of the mount of Olives among ancient olive trees. He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, the same three who witnessed the transfiguration's glory now called to witness its opposite, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy names a genuine anguish rather than a performance of it. My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me asks for simple human companionship in the hour of greatest need, a request the three will fail to keep.

Matthew 26:39

let this cup pass from me: He went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me shows the full weight of what is coming pressing on him in prayer, the cup a familiar Old Testament figure for the wrath of divine judgment. Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt submits his own will to the Father's even in the moment of greatest dread, and the commentators read the prayer as proof of a true human nature genuinely recoiling from suffering and death, not a performance staged for the disciples asleep nearby. The honesty of the request and the completeness of the submission stand together without either one softening the other.

Matthew 26:40-41

He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour singles out Peter by name, the same man who had just vowed to die rather than fail him, now unable to stay awake for even one hour of prayer. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak names the disciples' own coming failure in advance, Peter's denial only hours away. Henry reads the diagnosis as universal rather than aimed only at the sleeping three, a willing spirit still needing watchfulness and prayer because the flesh cannot be trusted to keep its own good intentions.

Matthew 26:42-44

He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done repeats the first prayer with a slight but real shift, the conditional now narrowed from if it be possible to an acceptance that the cup will not pass unless he drinks it. He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy shows the pattern repeating, and he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words completes a threefold prayer the commentators read as deliberate and thorough rather than repetitive for its own sake. Luke's Gospel adds an angel strengthening him and sweat as it were great drops of blood, a physical sign of the anguish this threefold prayer carried.

Matthew 26:45-46

Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest is read by most commentators as either irony, given the moment now upon them, or a brief permission that the arriving multitude immediately cuts short. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners names the arrest as already arriving even as he speaks, the hour language tying back to earlier sayings that his time had not yet come now finally fulfilled. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me shows Jesus moving to meet the arrest rather than fleeing it, going forward to what is coming rather than waiting passively for it to arrive.

Matthew 26:47-49

And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people shows the arresting party armed as if expecting resistance from a man who has just told his own disciple to put up his sword. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast, an ordinary greeting between a disciple and his rabbi turned into the very mechanism of betrayal. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him carries out the sign exactly as arranged, and the commentators read the ordinary warmth of the greeting against the coldness of its purpose as the scene's own indictment of Judas.

Matthew 26:50-51

And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come addresses Judas without anger, and Henry reads the question as a last appeal rather than an accusation, giving Judas one final chance to recognize what he was doing. Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him completes the arrest the whole chapter has been moving toward since verse 4's private council. And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear, John naming the disciple as Peter and the servant as Malchus, an impulsive act of loyalty that Luke records Jesus immediately undoing by healing the ear.

Matthew 26:52-54

Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword rebukes Peter's violence directly, a general principle about the sword's own logic rather than a comment limited to this one moment. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels states that his arrest is entirely voluntary, a Roman legion numbering some six thousand men, so twelve legions dwarfs any force that could have been raised against him. But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be names the true reason for his non resistance, not weakness but obedience to what had already been written of him.

Matthew 26:55-56

In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me exposes the armed arrest as cowardice rather than necessity, since he had been publicly available and teaching openly for days. But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled names the same governing principle stated at verse 54, human treachery and divine purpose running together without either canceling the other. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled fulfills his own prediction at verse 31, the shepherd struck and the sheep scattered exactly as Zechariah's word foretold.

Matthew 26:57-58

And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled begins an illegal proceeding, since Jewish law of the period generally forbade capital trials at night and this council convenes in darkness with unusual haste. But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end shows a courage mixed with caution, near enough to witness what happens yet distant enough to avoid the danger of standing beside the prisoner. Barnes reads afar off as the verse's own quiet foreshadowing, Peter's physical distance already picturing the denial only a short time away.

Matthew 26:59-61

Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death states the proceeding's true character plainly, a verdict decided before any evidence was heard. But found none; yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none shows the difficulty even hostile witnesses had agreeing on a charge, until at the last came two false witnesses who said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days, a distortion of words Jesus had actually spoken about the temple of his body. The commentators read the accusation's very falseness as significant, since even manufactured testimony could not agree on a genuine crime.

Matthew 26:62-64

And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee presses Jesus to respond to testimony that had already collapsed under its own contradictions, and Jesus held his peace, fulfilling Isaiah 53:7's as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God places Jesus under a solemn legal oath, and his answer, Thou hast said, is an affirmative under Jewish oath formulas of the period rather than an evasion. Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven combines Daniel 7:13 and Psalm 110:1 in a single claim, the plainest self identification as Messiah and Son of God Jesus makes in the entire trial.

Matthew 26:65-68

Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy performs a legally prescribed act, the tearing of garments at hearing blasphemy, and treats Jesus' own claim of divine authority as the capital crime the council had been searching for since verse 59. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death secures a unanimous verdict on the charge his own words, not the false witnesses, finally supplied. Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him, saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee mocks precisely the claim just condemned, and the commentators read the mockery as fulfilling Isaiah 50:6's I hid not my face from shame and spitting even as it degrades him.

Matthew 26:69-70

Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee brings the denial predicted at verse 34 to its first test, a servant girl rather than any authority figure posing the question. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest answers a low stakes accusation with an outright lie, the commentators noting the swiftness of the fall from the confident vow only hours earlier. Henry reads the setting itself as instructive, Peter having followed Christ into danger only to deny him in the comparative safety of a servants' courtyard.

Matthew 26:71-72

And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth repeats the accusation before a wider audience than the first, the danger to Peter rising with the audience even as the accuser remains a servant girl. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man escalates the denial from a plain lie to a sworn one, adding the very oath his earlier boast of dying with Christ had made unnecessary. The commentators read the addition of the oath as the measure of how far fear had already carried him from the courage he claimed at the supper table.

Matthew 26:73-75

And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee names the final and most concrete evidence, a Galilean accent unmistakable in Jerusalem. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man completes the threefold denial exactly as predicted at verse 34, cursing and swearing marking a total collapse rather than a careful lie. And immediately the cock crew, and Peter remembered the word of Jesus, and he went out, and wept bitterly closes the scene not on the fall but on the remembering, Chrysostom reading the bitter weeping as the first sign of a repentance the Gospel of John will later show fully restored.