Mission 66 (English podcast)
Matthew 26 Betrayal and Passion
The disciples themselves hadn't understood it yet. Like many people nowadays who may admire Jesus as a great teacher or wise man of profit, but never really understand the most important part, which was not a throne or military victory, but by his death on the cross. This is Mission 66. I'm Rob Dempsey. Today we continue our focus on the Gospels. Mission 66 originates from the Ministry of Bible Teacher and Pastor Dr. Louis Ciao and is produced and heard in multiple languages around the world in partnership with Trans World Radio. I want to encourage you to take advantage of a valuable resource. You can enhance your understanding of the Gospels by downloading our free study guide. This guide will deepen your experience with God's Word and complement our daily teachings from John Matthews and Esther Susullo. To access your free study guide of the Gospels, simply visit mission66.org. Pick up this valuable resource and also support the Ministry of Mission 66. Your gift helps sustain this program locally and globally. John Matthews is our teacher. His co-host Esther Susullo gets us started today. Well we'll be continuing to explore the life and the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 26. We're definitely getting closer to the end of this book. Well this is Jesus' last reunion with his disciples before the agony of what was coming. Did Jesus really have to die to save his people? Well how can we understand Judas' betrayal and Peter's denial? Well if you stay with us, our teacher John Matthews will lead us on today's theme, betrayal and passion. Esther so good to be with you and so good to be with every one of you, our listeners, wherever you're listening to Mission 66 today. As we reach Matthew 26 and at the very beginning of this chapter we read what Jesus says to his disciples. This is verse 2. You know that after two days the Passover is coming and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the place of the High Priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people. You see these religious chiefs had planned to kill Jesus secretly but God made sure that it was going to happen very publicly so that everyone would hear about it. Some travelers who were passing through the area at the time. Now the Jewish Passover also known as Pesach was a feast observed by all the Jews that celebrated God delivering the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt and you can read the full account of that epic story in the Book of Exodus earlier in the Bible. They came a night in that story where a sacrificial lamb was slain and its blood was placed upon the lintel and the side-potes of the doors of those who believed Moses' instructions to the people of Israel and when the death angel passed over them that night it would spare that household when it saw the blood on the door. And in this way Christ is viewed as the sacrificial lamb which the Passover pre-visioned. So as it happened the priests and the teachers of the law were planning to turn Jesus into the authorities and have him imprisoned and murdered but they didn't want to arrest him during the feast of Passover because it would have caused a great commotion among the people and their evil designs, well they may have been discovered before they could carry their plan out. Alright well we're going to stand out quite early with the questions here John. I just want to know what did Jesus do that the religious leaders felt was just so terrible. Well that's what draws such attention to this account because Jesus had done nothing but good to the people of Israel ever since he began his public ministry. He healed their sick. He raised their dead. He multiplied bread and fish to feed the multitudes. He walked on the water. He calmed the sea. He always acted and spoke exactly according to what God his father had told him to do. Problem was he claimed to be Messiah and the leaders of the people did not want Messiah to come yet. They even made a law that said if anyone claimed to be Messiah they should be put out of the synagogue but there was another element to this story and that is that people had wrong expectations of anyone claiming to be the Messiah. They expected him to lead a revolt against Rome and this was not the way of Jesus. So in their disappointment and their disbelief they'd soon go from hailing him as Messiah to crying out for his death which we'll see in our next episode and so after this Jesus goes to Bethany to the house of Simon the leper and their beautiful moment because he's anointed, verse 7. A woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment and she poured it on his head as he reclined at the table and when the disciples saw it they were indignant and said why this waste? This could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor. Jesus though was aware of this and he said to them why do you trouble the woman for she has done a beautiful thing to me for you always have the poor with you but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial. So we see the beautiful devotion of a true believer who is willing to pour out her love lavishly on the Lord while in contrast someone whom he called a friend all of a sudden becomes an enemy, verse 14. Then one of the twelve whose name is Judas Iscariot went to the chief priest and said what will you give me if I deliver him over to you? They paid him thirty pieces of silver and from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray Jesus. The one to betray Jesus is going to be one of his own disciples, one of the twelve men selected by him. This is a long chapter now and there is a lot to cover so we may not get to read every word in the chapter in fact we won't but some of it will be summarized. In fact as we always do we really encourage you listener to read the entire Bible for yourself which you can do on your own many online resources which will enable you and help you understand it better. It's the book of life. That means it's made alive by the spirit of God so it is the only book that changes your soul and will help change your life. So with that let's move on to verse 17. Now on the first day of unleavened bread see eating bread with no yeast was a requirement according to the law of Moses concerning Passover. So let's move on to verse 17. Now on the first day of unleavened bread you see this is actually eating bread with no yeast that was a requirement according to the law of Moses concerning Passover. So the disciples come to Jesus saying where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover. And Jesus in verse 18 says go into the city to a certain man and say to him the teacher says my time is at hand I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples and the disciples did as Jesus directed them and they prepared the Passover and when it was evening he reclined at the table with the twelve and as they were eating he said truly I say to you one of you will betray me and they were very sorrowful and they began to say to him one after the other is it aye lord? And he answered he who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me the son of man goes as it is written of him but woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed it would have been better for that man if he had not been born. The Middle Eastern wave eating was to recline on pillows at a table that is low close to the ground and there was one big plate with some sort of sauce and other mixtures and they take the bread and dip it in there and eat it that way lovely communal way of eating. So the twelve plus Jesus were all dipping from this same plate or bowl in the middle and one of them was the traitor Judas who would betray him answered is it aye rabbi Jesus said to him you have said so now as they were eating Jesus took bread and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples and said take eat this is my body and he took a cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying drink of it all of you for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom and when they'd sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives Jesus here ordaining the ceremony among Christian churches which is known as communion or holy communion this ordinance also is sometimes called the Lord Supper to Christians it's similar to the Passover Supper by which we commemorate salvation from sin which is a far greater deliverance than that of Israel out of Egypt and the bread and the wine is a representation of Jesus's body and blood which he sacrificed on our behalf so that we would have the forgiveness of sins and then he announces what's going to happen to him just picture this in verse 31 imagine the atmosphere in the room Jesus said to them you will all fall away because of me this night for it is written I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered but after I am raised up I will go before you to Galilee and Peter answered him that they will fall away because of you I will never fall away Jesus said to him truly I say to you this very night before the rooster crows you will deny me three times Peter so sure of himself is neither he will be if everyone else falls away the one who remains true to Jesus no matter what happens and in fact all the disciples say the same thing as we continue reading Jesus then goes to a garden called Gethsemane and the horror of what he's about to suffer suddenly hits him he's overwhelmed with sorrow and agony almost to the point of death he takes along with him Peter the two sons of Zebedee which are James and John and he asks his disciples to keep watch and pray with him but their eyelids get heavy and they all fall asleep and Jesus then comes to them saying you can't even keep watch for one hour watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation Jesus then asks the father his father that if possible that this cup of suffering might be taken away from him yet Jesus is great passion for the will of God to be accomplished is so great his commitment to God's will is so strong that he says nevertheless not as I will but as you will father he willingly gives himself over to horrific suffering and death so there are sins your sins and my sins may be forgiven what a Savior and soon after this we read that Jesus is arrested Judas the traitor arrives and turns Jesus in watch this in verse 47 Judas came one of the 12 and with him a great 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 sees him and he came up to Jesus at once and said greetings Rabbi and he kissed him and Judas by this act earns himself a name that has been despised down the centuries a proverb says a rebuke from a friend is better than kisses from an enemy Jesus tells Judas friend do what you came to do and the soldiers sees and arrests Jesus at this point and behold one of those who was with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut his ear off then Jesus said to him put your sword back into its place for all who take the sword will perish by the sword do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels but how then should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so you know Jesus could have called twelve legions of God's angels to deliver him there and then from what was about to happen but he chose not to do so but to follow the plan that God had set in motion and so instead of being saved by the legions of angels he was dragged off by these men as if he were a criminal like the leader of a rebellion and so Jesus is taken in before the high priests at the Sanhedrin and there the religious leaders are trying to do everything they can to have Jesus charged they were looking for witnesses that were testified against him and condemn him to death incredible isn't it to see how religious leaders the ones who should have stood for righteousness and goodness were the very ones who caused Jesus the most pain and suffering or because they didn't understand or accept the purpose of his mission and one of the false witnesses then says to them that Jesus would be capable of rebuilding the temple in three days now of course this was true he did once say this in answer to their request for a sign but what he said was destroy this temple referring to his body and I will raise it up again he said referring to his resurrection the religious leaders thought he was only talking literally about the temple they never understood and so the false witnesses keep on chirping against him in verse 62 the high priest stands up and says have you no answer to make what is it that these men testify against you but Jesus remained silent and the high priest said to him I adore you by the living God tell us if you are the Christ 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 and then the high priest tore his robes and said he has utter blasphemy what further witnesses do we need you have now heard his blasphemy what is your judgment they answered he deserves death and then they spit in his face and they struck him some slapped him saying prophesy to us you Christ who is it that struck you they're getting ready you see to condemn Jesus horribly mistreating him spitting in his face beating him ridiculing him oh my dear listeners picture this entire story if you can in your mind now chapter 26 will end telling us what happened with Peter remember Peter yes Peter who talked so bravely declaring how faithful he was going to be that how he would never deny Jesus but as Jesus was being arrested Peter stood a far off warming himself by a fire and a servant girl comes along and asks Peter if he was with Jesus he denies it immediately afterwards another servant girl sees him and Peter denies he was ever with Jesus saying I do not know the man after a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter certainly you two are one of them for your accent betrays you then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear I do not know the man and immediately the rooster crowed and Peter remembered the saying of Jesus before the rooster crows you will deny me three times and he went out and he wept bitterly and that is how chapter 26 ends Jesus being led off to the slaughter while his disciples who had sworn allegiance to him ran off and scattered in fear you're listening to mission 66 and this is our program centered around the study of the Bible and today we're on Matthew 26 which covers Jesus's betrayal at the hands of Judas and Peter's denial which was all predicted now John why after walking with him for three years watching his miracles and and hearing the truth why did Judas betray Jesus well as to the Bible doesn't tell us specifically why it was Judas who betrayed Jesus but we are given some clues now nobody suspected Judas of being a traitor he he looked he talked acted just like any of the other disciples but nobody knew what was going on in his heart which was this he wanted Jesus to take his throne raise an army and overthrow the Roman rule immediately and I guess Judas imagined himself as some kind of I don't know prime minister in the new kingdom with wealth and privilege and when it became obvious that Jesus wasn't going to be this kind of save and he wasn't going to do that immediately and he was disappointed and also there's a sense perhaps agreed about his character we know that Judas was a thief we're told in the Bible that he helped himself to the treasury when every wanted the love of money you know it's the root of all evil and Judas loved money in fact he loved it enough to sell out the Lord and see where it got him after he had made that wicked bargain Judas had time to repent and do the right thing but his whole life was so filled with little acts of dishonesty one after the other that he'd hardened his heart enough to do the worst thing possible well I mean John it's pretty clear that Judas and Peter they both betrayed Jesus but why does it seem that Judas was held accountable he was condemned for it and Peter was excused great question isn't it now the difference is Judas had been planning this betrayal over a long period of time he plotted it he schemed it he went into it by design Judas could have repented anyone can repent of sin but he didn't Peter sin on the other hand was more of a lapse brought about by aggravated life circumstances and you know we're no better than Peter we do many things out of fear or impulse that we really didn't intend to and how many times have we had the opportunity perhaps to defend our faith before people but haven't spoken up when we could have and temptation has a way of catching us all off guard it comes at us by surprise and if we're not prepared for it we may fall headlong into sin that's the situation we all face and there are times when God leaves us to ourselves so that we may experience defeat in order for us to be humbled in order us for to be ever more aligned upon him Peter you know learn from his failure praise the Lord for that and was forgiven for what he'd done and it made him more modest more compassionate more useful to others and I think we learn so much more don't we from our mistakes and hardships than we do from our successes yeah I can absolutely attest to that and my mistakes have definitely taught me quite a lot but John do you think that the disciples really understood who Jesus was it seems to me that they all followed him along as the miracles kept coming hoping that the kingdom would come as soon as they could have it you know easy and relaxed but they sure scattered very quickly when he was arrested yeah they did didn't they I don't think they really understood until they saw Jesus risen from the dead it didn't really add up until that point I think in many of their minds you know up until this point all we see is it is a bunch of well meaning good hearted followers who believed in the Lord a little bit as much as their human sight allowed them to but our own sight is so limited but it wasn't until the resurrection that they really understood and then they caught the fire specifically when the Holy Spirit was sent at Pentecost and we'll get to that in later episodes and what a moment that is as well but for now all the disciples have to go on with the miracles the teachings the healings the wisdom that Jesus displayed in how he answered his critics but they they didn't really know what to make of it all they always seem to be a bit of a loss as as we would be in their situation they didn't even know how to pray they had to ask Jesus to teach them and here at the Last Supper this Passover celebration he's talking his Jesus of his impending death with the bread and the wine but they still don't understand and Jesus was explaining to them what was just about to happen because the disciples themselves hadn't understood it yet like many people nowadays who may well admire Jesus as a great teacher a wise man a prophet but they never really understand the most important part which was not a throne or a military victory but the most important part of his life on earth was to come to the cross and die on a cross and so today Christians gather with other disciples of Christ and they eat the bread and drink the wine or grape juice as many churches use as emblems commemorating how Christ died to save us and forgive our sins and this is the great main message of the gospel that Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners and then rose again hallelujah oh I just got goosebumps hearing that John okay this might come across as a controversial question but who do you think were the ones responsible for killing Christ was it the Jewish leaders was it the Romans well as to the people blamed the Jewish priests who'd stirred up the mobs against Jesus and some blame pilot the the weak willed Roman governor who handed him over even though he knew that Jesus was innocent but Jesus is death you know is prophesied from Old Testament times it was planned as the way of salvation by God himself God knew that according to the laws of heaven the souls that sin have to die eternally unless they are redeemed by the shedding of innocent blood so God decided he ordained that Jesus the second person of the Godhead Trinity would come in the fullness of time live a perfect life on earth and offer himself up in a sacrificial rescue mission so we could say that God certainly allowed the death of his only son Jesus Christ but wait what was it that prompted God to send his only son to die for sin it was his love for us because if we had not sinned he wouldn't have had to have sent Jesus so it is the sin of every human who ever lived that put him there in the words of a great hymn from Wales on the mount of crucifixion fountains opened deep and wide through the floodgates of God's mercy flowed a vast and gracious tide grace and love like mighty rivers poured incessant from above and heaven's peace and perfect justice kissed a guilty world in love you see in the end every one of us is responsible my sin your sin put him there we are responsible well John I guess we can all attach our names to that charge we're all guilty as charged but the story is not yet complete we'll see more about that in our next lesson so with having to think about everything that we covered now in this chapter how do we summarize chapter 26 yes our theme was betrayal and passion referring to Judas's betrayal of Jesus and the Lord's trial and condemnation this was also what is known as passion week the last week of Christ's earthly life and Jesus was passionate about doing God's will no matter what now many people think of Jesus as the good shepherd carrying the little lambs in his arms and he was certainly that others may feel sorrow over what happened to him but the cruel and painful things done to him were by design it was God's will that he did this for us to take the punishment that should have been ours so what an opportunity for every one of you listening wherever in the world you are today because it's a free open invitation for the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life with Jesus so don't let your sins be left upon your own head our dear Lord Jesus is willing to take them upon himself if you are willing to take him into your life some wise words to take with you friend as we wrap up today's mission 66 thank you so much for listening and I hope you will join us again next time as we continue on towards the end of the gospel of Matthew I'm Esther God bless you and see you next time has God used today's program in your life then you'll want to receive the free study guide of the gospels that we've prepared you can get it right away by downloading it at mission 66 dot org review what you've heard on our series in the gospels and have the guide handy for the next program visit mission 66 dot org and download your free study guide of the gospels at mission 66 dot org you can also leave a comment or make a donation to help this listener supported ministry thank you for helping mission 66 continue here and around the world pick up your study guide of the gospels at mission 66 dot org mission 66 is a ministry of trans world radio I'm Rob Dempsey you. 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