The Forgiveness of Sins–Blog Through the Bible Project | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Matthew 26

The Plot Against Jesus

¹ When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, ² “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

³ Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, ⁴ and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. ⁵ “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”

Jesus predicts his crucifixion for the fourth and final time. He has a foreknowledge of what is going to happen, though that does not make it less painful.

Verse 5 Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims annually made the journey to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, and nationalistic fervour ran high as they recalled the liberation of their ancestors from bondage in Egypt.

Popular uprisings were increasingly common during such festival periods, and so the chief priests were reluctant to arrest Jesus openly because of his popularity with the people.

The Last Supper

¹⁷ On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” ¹⁸ He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” ¹⁹ So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

²⁰ When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. ²¹ And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

²² They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”

They loved him after all. It was unthinkable.

²³ Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴ The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

²⁵ Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?”

Jesus answered, “You have said so.”

The breakdown of love and trust between Jesus and Judas was so extreme, that Judas does not heed his warning, “It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
The height of disloyalty and betrayal was turning on someone after sharing a meal with him.

The chief priests, very savvily had prepaid him after all.
The rest of the disciples address Jesus as Lord, but Judas addresses him as Rabbi or Teacher. There is no record of Judas ever calling Jesus Lord.
“You have said so,”–A Greek expression which deflects responsibility upon the one asking the question.

²⁶ While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Jesus defines, and redefines love. Love is giving yourself for those you love.

When one reads this, one feels “How can I ever love like that?”

As Jesus said, it is good for us that he had to go, because if he had not gone, the Holy Spirit, the comforter, would not have come.

So, when we feel powerless to love, we can implore the Holy Spirit to come and help us in our weakness.

²⁷ Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸ This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹ I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

³⁰ When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Theologically foundational words. Jesus’s body will be the once-and-for-all reenactment of the ceremony of the Passover Lamb, as he will become the sacrificial atonement for the sins of the people.
His blood is poured out for the forgiveness of sins. God forgives those who have put their faith in Jesus, who are grafted into Jesus because Jesus died an excruciating death to pay the penalty for our sin. His blood was poured out for many so that they would not have to pay the eternal consequence of their sins.
Forgiven, reconciled, at peace with God. The enormity of it is hard to grasp.

And because Jesus did this for us, we too are called to let it all go–the offences men have committed against us, those who have lied, manipulated, schemed, abused us and hurt us.

The cup was likely the third cup drunk at the Passover, the cup of blessing or the cup of redemption corresponding to God’s third promise in Ex 6:6 “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great acts of judgment.”

The cup foreshadows the shedding of Jesus’ blood and the absorbing of God’s wrath, which opens the way for the redemption of all peoples through the new covenant relationship with God that was promised to the people of Israel.
My father’s kingdom–The Messianic Banquet.