Matthew 26:20-25 “Is it I, Rabbi?”

“Is it I, Rabbi?”  Jesus said to him, “You have said so.” Matthew 26:25

Betrayal “is a weapon found only in the hands of one you love.” (Max Lucado, And the Angels Were Silent, p. 152)

“We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”  (Timothy Keller, Meaning of Marriage, p. 47)

The Lord is celebrating with His disciples the Thursday evening (v. 17) Passover meal. It is one last moment of community that the Lord has “earnestly desired” (Luke 22:15) before His appointed time of suffering.   In spite of His anticipation of this meal with His disciples, “Jesus was troubled in His spirit” (John 13:21). 

This Passover meal with Jesus and His disciples is known as the Last Supper. This scene is the subject of Da Vinci’s famous painting.   However Da Vinci missed a cultural clue.   Da Vinci has them all seated at a table (and all on the same side of the table).  Tables in those days were tricliniums, low to the ground, U-shaped, with cushions and not chairs, so the participants reclined at the table as Jesus did with the twelve (v. 20). 

And as they were eating, Jesus let it be known what was troubling Him.  He said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me,” (v. 21).  For years I believed that Peter’s sin of denial and Judas’ sin of betrayal were roughly the same.   But now I realize that is not true.  Peter’s denial, although predicted (see v. 34), was in the heat of the moment.  Judas’ betrayal was pre-meditated and took coordination with others to execute (see v. 14).   Judas’ betrayal was necessary to bring about Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion.     

The twelve were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?”    John adds detail of Peter probing for an answer even more intently than the others (see John 13:23-26).  He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray Me.” (vv. 22-23)  Jesus’ answer did not shed any new light on who would betray Him, for it is most certain that they all had dipped their hands into the dish.  

The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him,  (v. 24).   Isaiah 53:5-12 prophesies how Jesus will be “wounded for our transgressions,” “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,” and how it is “the will of the LORD to crush Him.”   Daniel 9:26 speaks of how “an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing.”  The Son of Man will be delivered according to God’s plan 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,” (vv. 24-25). 

By this time a spirit of conviction surely was overwhelming Judas.  But his own heart, given over to Satan (see John 13:27), would not allow him to take advantage of this last chance given by the Lord to repent.   He had to maintain the veneer of his own godly image so he mimics the other twelve:  “Is it I, Rabbi?”   Our Lord replies, “You have said so,” (v. 25).   In today’s colloquial talk, Jesus said, “Your words, not mine.”

Is your heart truly His?  Or are you only mimicking the faith of those around you?  Does your faith show fruit even when no one else is looking?   Many know how to play the game of Christianity and have church participation all mapped out.  But they cheat others in business, continually harbor secret sins, abuse their families and ignore the pleas of the less fortunate.   I have a Jewish friend who is far from Christianity because many who claim to be Christians have cheated him in business.  May we repent of any charade and may we give ourselves fully and unashamedly to the Lord.

Da Vinci's famous painting of the Lord's final Passover meal with His disciples.   The timing of this painting is probably right after Jesus declares, "One of your will betray Me," (Matthew 26:21).   Da Vinci misses at least one cultural cue but I think he intently captures the side conversation between Peter and John as recorded in John 13.

Matthew 26:17-19; Jesus, our Passover Lamb

“My time is at hand,” Jesus in Matthew 26:18

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"  (Abraham Kuyper, A Centennial Reader, chapter “Sphere Sovereignty”)

“And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain,” (Revelation 5:6).

In one of the darkest moments in the Bible, the LORD passed through and killed “all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast,” (Exodus 12:12).  This was the final plague against Pharaoh that freed Israel from slavery.  The LORD told Moses to instruct Israel to spread the blood of a sacrificed lamb on the lintel and the doorposts of their homes.  “When He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you,” (Exodus 12:23). 

The feast of Passover is to be observed “throughout your generations, as a statute forever,” (Exodus 12:14).  When a child asks about Passover, one should say, “For it is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for He passed over the houses…of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians but spared our houses,” (Exodus 12:26-27). 

Just as all of Israel was saved from physical death by the blood of the sacrificed Passover Lamb, so all the world would be saved from spiritual death by the blood of the Lamb of God, sacrificed on the feast of Passover.  Jesus is “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” (John 1:29).  “Hallelujah to the Lamb!”  

Typology is a system of interpretation where an Old Testament event or person is a symbol or a shadow (see Hebrews 8:5, 10:1) which finds its completed expression in the New Testament.  The Passover Lamb and the yearly Passover feasts, celebrated since Moses, are “types” that find their ultimate fulfillment in Christ Jesus. 

Nearly simultaneous to Passover is the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:17; Leviticus 23:5-6); in fact the doctor Luke groups the two feasts together in Luke 22:1.  Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” (v. 17).  Jesus had timed their arrival into Jerusalem so that He could participate in the Passover with His disciples.  More importantly, He timed their arrival into Jerusalem so He could fulfill and complete the shadow of Passover.  

Jesus did not use His sovereignty to deliver Himself from death, but to deliver Himself willingly to death.   Additionally, He used His sovereignty to orchestrate even the hour of His death.   He will soon time His death to precisely “when the whole assembly…of Israel shall kill their [Passover] lambs at twilight” (Exodus 12:6).     

Jesus said, “Go into the city to a certain man…” (v.18). Mark 14:13 and Luke 22:10 add that this man will be “carrying a jar of water.”  This will make him easier to find because this is the task of a servant, not a man who has the resources of whom Jesus could say, “I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples,” (v. 19).  The disciples acted as disciples and did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover (v. 19). 

The Teacher declared, “My time is at hand,” (v. 18).  No more will Jesus say, “My hour has not yet come,” (John 2:4).  Now His time has come.  It is time for the true Passover Lamb to be led to slaughter.  It is time for the head of the serpent to be crushed (see Genesis 3:15).  It is time for the Good Shepherd to “lay down His life for the sheep,” (John 10:11).  It is time for the Father to be glorified in the Son (see John 17:1).  It is time.    

Matthew 26:15: What is Jesus Worth to You?

 “What will you give me if I deliver him to you?”  And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. Matthew 26:15

"God, I pray thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee.  Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine.  I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus" (From the journal Jim Elliot wrote in college. He was martyred as a missionary in Ecuador a few years later in 1956.)

In Exodus 21:32 it is written that if a slave is accidently killed, then the owner of that slave shall be paid thirty pieces of silver.   When Caiaphas offered Judas thirty pieces of silver, it was no coincidence.  The high priests “sit on Moses’ seat” (23:2); it is their job to know the Law and to teach it to the people.   To agree upon thirty pieces of silver sent a loud message as to how much both parties thought Jesus was worth.  

What is Jesus worth to you? 

Satan will constantly poke you, prod you and tempt you, trying to get you to deny the Lord.  What will it take for you to “sell off” the Lord?  A promotion?  A sizzling love life?  Bigger house?  Expensive car? 

“Money causes people to do weird things,” Larry Thompson, my former director, told me once.  His observation has proven true.  Over the years I have seen three times as many people disqualified from missionary work due to reasons of financial improprieties than any other reason, including sexual immorality. 

At the end of the movie Schindler’s List, there is as a dramatic scene where Oskar Schindler laments that he held on to possessions that he could have sold to save more Jews from the Nazis in World War II.  “Why did I keep the car?” Oskar cries, “Ten people right there.  Ten people.”   When we get to the end of our lives, will we realize we have sacrificed the eternal worth of Jesus Christ for the temporal value of money?    

Jesus is not just a prophet or wise sage.   Jesus is Almighty God!   For He said before raising Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.  Do you believe this?”  (John 11:25-26)  Jesus proved these words true when He raised Lazarus from the dead.   And He highlighted these words when He raised Himself from the dead!  

Show me a man who attaches a dollar figure to Jesus, then I will show you a man who does not believe Jesus is God.  Nothing we could possibly have is more valuable than Jesus.    He is our God, our Creator, our redeemer, our sustainer, our intercessor, our advocate.   He is the great “I AM,” the Lord of Lords and King of Kings!

Recently we said goodbye to Ionel Teodoescu.   Ionel (“YO-nell”) walked away from a job that would have made him a rich man in post-Communist Romania.   Instead Ionel chose to invest his life in spreading the gospel.   For the next 20 years the Lord used him mightily until He called Ionel to his reward this spring. 

In one act of worship, Mary invested a year’s wages (see Mark 14:5).   For thirty pieces of silver, Judas sold his soul.    Moses “considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt,” (Hebrews 11:26).  If you have toured the museums of Cairo or seen the pyramids of Giza, then you have had a small taste of what Moses rejected in order to gain Christ.  Jesus is not worth anything at all until He is worth all we have.  “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose,” Jim Elliot once wrote.    

What is Jesus worth to you?     

Matthew 26:14-16: “Choose Wisely”

“What will you give me if I deliver Him over to you?” Judas to the chief priests, Matthew 26:14

I’m in love with Judas…Judas! Judaas Judas! When he comes to me I am ready.  I’ll wash his feet with my hair if he needs… I’m just a Holy Fool, oh baby he’s so cruel.   But I’m still in love with Judas, baby.   (Lady Gaga)

Matthew follows up one of the greatest acts of worship (see vv. 6-13) with the greatest act of treason.   Probably not in chronological order (Jesus’ anointing fits better chronologically after 21:17), I believe Matthew purposely put these two stories together for contrast, as a jeweler displays a diamond against a black cloth.  

It was one of the twelve (v. 14) that betrayed Jesus.  It wasn’t one from the crowd that followed Him in Galilee (13:2; 14:13; 15:30; 19:2) or who listened to Him in the temple (21:46; 22:33).  It wasn’t one of the 72 sent out to preach (Luke 10:1).  It was one of the twelve whom He chose after a night of prayer (Luke 6:12-13); it was one into whom He poured three years of His life!  This was who sought an opportunity to betray Him (v. 16).    

The chief priests and elders had gathered in the palace of the high priest Caiaphas and schemed together how to arrest Jesus and kill him (see vv. 3-4).  Suddenly there is a knock at the door.   It is one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, (v. 14).   Out of breath with his hands on his knees, he heaves, “What will you give me if I deliver Him over to you?” (v. 15).  The prayers of the religious demons are answered.  So it seems.

Why did Judas betray Jesus?   Maybe it was political.   Judas hitched his wagon to the one that the people wanted to make king (see John 6:15), one who would overthrow Rome’s occupation and “restore the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6).  But lately Judas had only heard Jesus talk about His death.  And at dinner when Jesus once again spoke of His death (v. 12)…well, that was the last straw.  “Enough of this death talk, Jesus!  Are you or are you not the Israel’s political messiah?”  Maybe Judas thought his betrayal would force Jesus to act.

Maybe Judas’ motive was financial.  After all, Judas had been stealing from the disciples’ money bag (see John 12:6).  “If this guy is really going to be crucified, then I’m getting something out of my three years with Him,” Judas maybe reasoned.   Ultimately we don’t know his motive.  Scripture is silent on this.  But we know that Jesus called Judas “a devil” (John 6:70) and a “son of perdition” (John 17:12, NASB). 

Judas, along with the Twelve, was sent out by Jesus.  He was given authority over demons and disease (10:1).  Judas likely performed miracles.   But Judas repeatedly allowed his sin to go unchallenged and unconfessed.    Therefore he became a pawn of Satan; “Satan entered into Judas” (Luke 22:3; see also John 13:27). 

Lady Gaga has chosen a loser.   Judas is a loser; Satan is a loser.  He lost on Easter morning.  His eternal destiny is the lake of fire.   Lady Gaga uses acts of worship done to Jesus to express her love for Judas.   That is blasphemy!  To quote the grail knight from one of the Indiana Jones movies, she “chose… poorly.”  Gaga has sold off the Lover of her soul so she can obtain “the accuser of our brethren,” (Revelation 12:10). 

Who do you choose?    The One that created the universe, humbled Himself, assumed our death penalty and rose again?   Will you follow Him wherever He leads?  Or only if it benefits you politically or financially?  Or do you choose him who sold his soul for thirty pieces of silver (v. 15)?  “You must choose.  But choose wisely.”