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Paramount to our understanding must be the knowledge that Jesus came to earth to save us, and to do so he had to die and be resurrected. Without His shed blood and resurrection we have no hope; with it we have eternal peace and assurance. Clearly no one in Chapter 26 understood this except Christ himself. His focus was on doing God’s will and expanding God’s kingdom, not man’s. No matter how high and lofty our thinking or our intentions, if our will is not in line with Christ’s, we are not traveling the narrow road.

Let’s take some time this week to look at this passage, as we work towards studying Christ’s death on the cross and his resurrection—our hope of heaven, our hope of an eternal life with Jesus that is built on the Rock of our salvation, the resurrected Christ.

Read Matthew 26:1-75 and consider the following questions:

1. Did the disciples know that Jesus was going to be handed over for crucifixion, die, and be raised to life on the third day? (see Matt 26:2 and 20:17-19)
   1. ANSWER: Yes they knew, but clearly they did not understand. They could not comprehend that the Messiah had to first be crucified and raised from the dead.
2. What was the plan developed by Caiaphas the High Priest and the leadership of Israel against Jesus?
   1. ANSWER: They planned on secretly arresting Jesus and putting him to death after the Passover. In this way, they could eliminate him and his ministry without having any attention focused on his death, or on their complicity in his death. That was man’s plan—God had a different plan, as we will see shortly.
3. Why was the leadership so intent on killing Jesus? Wasn’t he just another rabbi? Who else were they going to kill after the Passover celebration? (see John 12:1-11)
   1. ANSWER: They despised Jesus and felt threatened by him, as more and more Jews were seeking him out. They also did not like the attention that Lazarus was getting, having been raised from the dead. So, they decided to also kill Lazarus and put a total end to the Jews’ seeking Christ or Lazarus.
4. Man had developed a "secret" plan to kill Jesus, but God had a "public" plan. The leaders wanted to quietly arrest and kill Jesus in private, after all of the Jews had gone home from the Passover celebration; but that plan was overruled by God. Jesus would have a public trial, public execution, and a public resurrection. How did God change Caiaphas’ plan? (see Matthew 26:14-16)
   1. ANSWER: After Jesus’ anointing by Mary, Judas left the disciples in Bethany and traveled the couple of miles down the slopes of the Mount Of Olives and into Jerusalem, seeking out the High Priest. He offered to turn over Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Jesus had traveled this same road on "Palm Sunday," a few days before arriving as the Messiah. Now the betrayer, Judas, makes that same trip at night; just as evil loves the darkness, so did Judas. The leadership, seeing a real opportunity to arrest Jesus, paid Judas and arranged for him to signal to them who Jesus was, as they came into the Garden of Gethsemane late at night. They hoped to arrest Christ secretly in the middle of night—abandoning their original plan to do everything after the great crowds had gone home from the Passover. God used their fervor to kill Jesus to change their plan into His.
5. Contrast the Passover celebration that God intended in Exodus 12:5 with the approach that the High Priest and Elders were using for this Passover.
   1. ANSWER: Each Passover was to be accomplished using an unblemished lamb, and the Jews were to do this remembering that God was the one who freed them. Clearly that was not the case in this Passover celebration. The Priests were allowing blemished sacrifices and accepting bribes. There was no thought of God, nor was there any remembrance of God’s great grace in bringing them out of Egypt and into their own land. There, the unblemished Lamb of God was in their midst, and they were so blinded by pride, greed, and self–sufficiency, that they completely lost the meaning of the Passover. But God is always faithful and once again brought a Lamb who would save everyone who accepts Him.
6. The disciples’ actions also depict for us a great contrast between doing "good" and doing the will of God. Compare the following verses: Matthew 26:6-13 and 50-54; also look at Matthew 6:33. What do you see happening?
   1. ANSWER: In both cases, we see man’s wisdom contrasted with God’s. The disciples were looking out for the good of the poor and the safety of their teacher. Both were admirable acts, but neither was in the will of God. Jesus teaches us to first seek God’s will; but the disciples were so caught up in the events of the day, that they were not considering God’s will nor His plan for saving mankind. Both of their seemingly–"good" actions were counter to God’s. Likewise, we need to guard ourselves from doing what we think is a "good" thing in God’s name, when we have not purposed to seek out His will first. The disciples were not the only ones who made this mistake: In the Old Testament, Joshua’s men attacking Ai in Joshua 7:1-5, and David as pertains to building the Temple in 1 Chronicles 17:1-15, are also good examples. In the second example, David did not think that it was right that he live in a palace while God lived in a tent. He wanted God to have the best house, and he was determined to build it—but that was not God’s will. The lesson here is to guard our hearts and minds from man’s wisdom and always seek God’s will and wisdom first; only will we do what is truly ’right."
7. During their secret trial in the middle of the night, the Chief Priest, the teachers of the Law, and the Elders, brought in witnesses to lie about Jesus. When their awful excuse for a trial was over, what did they find Jesus guilty of? (see Matthew 26:57-60?)
   1. ANSWER: They were looking for "false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death." It is interesting that they had no real evidence—no real basis for killing Jesus—but they wanted him dead so badly that they were willing to accept false evidence. Isn’t it further interesting that even with this evil approach of bringing in liars to testify against Christ, they failed. The scripture tells us "But they did not find any, though many false witness came forward."
8. Frustrated that not even a courtroom full of liars could bring a charge against Jesus, Caiaphas the High Priest hangs his entire case on what charge? (see Matthew 26:61-65)
   1. ANSWER: They convicted Jesus of being the Messiah! What amazing blindness they all had—and during Passover Week when they should have been even more sensitive to God’s redeeming grace. Their blindness, their denial and rejection of God’s Messiah—God’s anointed one—is almost impossible to believe. Man cannot see God’s saving grace in the person of Jesus. It is only when we surrender and acknowledge God and accept Jesus as the true Messiah that our eyes and hearts are open. Clearly that was not the case during that dark night where man’s blindness to truth was so evident. Ignoring all of the teaching, all of the miracles, signs, and wonders, they charged ahead; condemning Jesus to what they believed was death.
9. What punishment did they call out for Jesus, once Caiaphas declared Jesus had said he was the Messiah? What did they think would happen following the death of Jesus? (see Matthew 26:66-68)
   1. ANSWER: They called for his death. They foolishly believed that having Jesus killed would restore order and eliminate the threat to their lifestyle and their influence over the Jews, culminating with the dispersal of all the followers of Jesus.
10. What actually happened in Jerusalem after Jesus’ death and resurrection?
    1. ANSWER: It would be the beginning of the end for the rule of High Priests and the Sanhedrin. Within seventy years, the Temple would be destroyed, Rome would be in complete control, and the followers of Christ would have carried the Gospel message to the outer parts of the Roman Empire. Paul will have completed three missionary journeys; Philip will have established a church in Caesarea, and similarly for James, the church in Jerusalem; the church at Antioch will continue to flourish, as will the church at Ephesus under the leadership of Timothy; many Roman Guards will come to recognize Jesus as their savior; and the Gospel message will penetrate all of Rome and the Roman Empire. In general, the Church will continue to grow, as the influence of Israel and its leadership vanishes until centuries later, when today’s nation of Israel is re-born.

In our next lesson, we will look at the events occurring on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. I pray that our study this week will open our eyes to the saving power of Jesus, and to the greatness of God’s plan for us. It is a far better than anything that we can imagine. We need to pray that we will not let the world’s thinking influence us, and that we will always seek to do the will of God.

In Christ,

Wes

[2017]