Matthew 26e

 Let’s remember what Jesus was saying and doing as there is an abrupt shift into a new phase of this Passion Week. 

 “Then he came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Now the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. Look, my betrayer is at hand’.” (Matthew 26: 45-46).

26: 47-50.  While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.” At once he came up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you are here to do.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. 

 Remember, it is about midnight. The Passover meal has been eaten, the closing hymn has been sung. Judas went one way and the rest of the disciples followed Jesus as he walked the trail up the Mount of Olives. Jesus became increasingly worried and depressed since he knew that events had been set in progress that would result in his suffering and death. He turned to the disciples for support and turned to the Father for strength and comfort. The disciples failed Jesus; the Father did not. Jesus emerged from sweat-drenched prayer composed and confident to complete the mission he was given.

 Consider that the middle of the night is an odd time for an arrest, unless the people making the arrest want to hide their shameful and illegal actions. Matthew says the crowd is “from the chief priests and elders” but that makes them no more than a lynch mob since no authorities or police accompany them. At least, no one who might recognize who Jesus was, except Judas. 

 Jesus is aware of the depth of betrayal that a disciple that he chose, whose feet he has washed (John 13: 5), with whom Jesus shared bread and wine, and who now greets Jesus with affection is the one who betrays him. Jesus calls him his ‘friend’ to the end. Is there still hope for Judas? Do you think that he might yet repent? In what ways is Jesus’ behavior a model of how to treat people still capable of great evil? 

26:51-54.  Suddenly one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will die by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?” 

 Jesus has already taken a non-violence stance and he does not change it now when others are ready to do violence to him. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: 

 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’. But I say to you, ‘Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:38-42).

 Do not blame the disciples because they have not learned the lessons that Jesus taught; who today is willing to follow the above guidelines?

 At any rate, Jesus points out that, if he wanted to defend himself, then he could have called on the Father to send an army of angels. Actually, it would be 60,000 angels, that is, about 5000 (a Roman legion) times 12. That would be some real help, not a handful of disciples with a couple of swords. 

 Jesus insists that Scripture says it must happen this way. Where does it say that? Jesus probably has in mind Isaiah 53 where the indignities that he suffered are named. Beginning in Isaiah 52:13, this is a song or poem about God’s servant. Although the first line says “my servant shall prosper,” nearly every line after that paints a picture of a suffering servant. His treatment is so unbefitting to his status that people “were astonished at him,” and the prophet says something like “who would have believed it?”  

26: 55-56.  At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a rebel? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

  Jesus is aware of the irony that, during the week, he was teaching in the temple, but no one made a move against him. Again, Jesus appeals to Scripture in a way that encourages people to reflect on this moment after it is all over. Perhaps his statement that seems to be addressed to the mob, is also directed to the disciples who later will examine Scripture to see what they missed. 

 Isaiah 53:8 says, “By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future?” However, in the heat of the moment, the disciples are not in the mood to open up the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Instead, each disappears into the night. Judas went away with the mob he had brought. Peter followed behind and mixed in with the crowd. 

26: 57-58.  Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. But Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards in order to see how this would end. 

 This is a segue, a transition from the scene on the mountaintop to the house of the high priest. Caiaphas’ and Peter’s storyline are now on a parallel track. Both will find ways to reject Jesus.

26: 59-63a. 59 Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’ ” The high priest stood up and said, “Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?” But Jesus was silent. 

 The chief priests and council are on a fishing expedition, looking for something in this extra-judicial meeting. They are not after justice. Instead, they have suborned witnesses, but none of them can keep their story straight. No two witnesses agree. They are fishing for a charge that they can send to the Romans to convince them to apply the death sentence, something only the Romans can do. Frustrated, the high priest demands that Jesus rebut the charges in order to trick him into saying something actionable. 

 Jesus is silent, as Isaiah says, “like a lamb that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (53:7). 

26: 63b-68. Then the high priest said to him, “I put you under oath before the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

 Placed under oath, Jesus agrees that it is as the high priest said. Although Jesus has preferred the title ‘Son of Man’, he now expands its meaning to include what was expected of the Messiah.  

26: 65-68.  Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy. What do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death.” Then they spat in his face and struck him, and some slapped him, saying, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who is it that struck you?”

 The high priest got what he wanted, or something close to it: An excuse to call for the death penalty. The other council members concur. Then the abuse begins. Again, Isaiah is confirmed in his prophecy:

 “He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account” (53:3). 

26: 69-75.  Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A female servant came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before all of them, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.” When he went out to the porch, another female servant saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.” Again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment the cock crowed. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

 In verse 59, Matthew tells us that Peter followed Jesus and now he stops in the courtyard outside the high priest’s house. There, like Jesus inside the house, he comes under suspicion. Yet, those accusing him are not the authorities, but rather a female servant. Peter denied the charge with a lie. Then another female servant makes the same accusation. This time Peter ups the ante, denies the charge with an oath, and lies again. Quite a contrast to what is happening to Jesus inside the house.

  As Witherington notes, Matthew carefully records Peter’s retreat: from sitting in the courtyard, to standing out on the porch, to walking away (Ben Witherington III, Matthew, 206. Pages 500-501). Bystanders begin to take up the theme, accusing Peter to his face. Peter swears an oath again, but also curses, then denies Jesus directly. The rooster crowed, and it all came crashing down in Peter’s mind. He left Jesus to his fate, which Jesus embraced along with his identity as the Messiah to be seated at the right hand of God. Peter rejected his own identity as a disciple, and walked away with a very sad sense of who he really was.  

 It is a downer of a moment, but there is more to the story, and there is hope.