Matthew 26:20-25

Jesus Reveals That He Is About To Be Betrayed (26:20-25).

In accordance with his usual method Matthew gives an abbreviated account of that Passover meal at which they ‘eat the Passover', concentrating only on what he sees as essential for the picture that he wants to build up. It is a picture of Jesus' triumph and compassion in the face of the failure of those whom He loved. Unlike the other Gospels, apart from the institution of the Lord's Supper, it gives no specific teaching. Matthew is rather focusing in on the new covenant against a dark background of betrayal and failure. The light is shining in the midst of the darkness of man's failure and ignorance (Matthew 4:16). Matthew also very much patterns it on the Passover.

We must remember that Jesus and His disciples would probably have celebrated a number of Passovers together in the previous two or three years (John 1:13; John 6:4; John 12:1, and see also Matthew 5:1; Matthew 7:2 for other feasts). This was not their first time together in Jerusalem. They would therefore feel that they were very much aware of how the feast would go (as often with Jesus they were so wrong). For fuller details of the background to the Passover see our commentary on Mark at this point.

We may surmise how each of these previous feasts would have gone. After Jesus had blessed God and they had drunk the first cup of wine mingled with water, they would partake of the bitter herbs dipped in salt. At this point Jesus might well say something about the bitterness of the afflictions that Israel had suffered in Egypt. Then after a second cup of wine He would take bread, break it, bless God and hand it to His disciples, reminding them of how the bread was unleavened because of the haste with which the children of Israel had left Egypt, and that it was the bread of affliction (Deuteronomy 16:3). He might well at this stage be expected to say something like, ‘This is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate when they were delivered from the land of Egypt --' (This was the pattern in later centuries). All of them would feel themselves as once again participating in that deliverance, and would see it as a reminder of the great deliverance yet to come. They would feel this all the more because they believed that somehow this promised deliverance was at some stage to be connected with Jesus.

The bread having been eaten, along with bitter herbs and other vegetables, all would partake of the Passover lamb whose blood had been offered in the Temple and poured out on the altar, and this would immediately be followed by Jesus again blessing God and then, after giving thanks, offering the third cup of wine, ‘the cup of blessing', mingled with water. An explanation would at some stage be given of the significance of the Passover lamb. Jesus would have pointed out at this stage that the blood of the lamb had been given so that the firstborn sons of Israel might be redeemed from the avenging angel, and that that blood had been poured on the lintel and the doorposts as a sign of their trust in the promises of God, that is of His covenant with them, made with Moses (Exodus 3:7; Exodus 6:2) on the basis of His covenants with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in which they were trusting.

This would shortly probably be followed by a fourth cup of wine (it certainly was in the centuries to come) and the singing of the Hallel (Psalms 115-118), at which point the feast would be over. Thus the major anticipated events in the feast which would be accompanied by explanation at some point would be:

* The dipping of the bitter herbs in salt water accompanied by an explanation of their significance as pointing to Israel's betrayal by Egypt as revealed in the afflictions that were heaped on them (there was a good deal of freedom offered in how these explanations were given).

* The taking and breaking of the unleavened bread, and the offering it to the participants with a description of its significance opened with the words ‘this is ---.'

* The eating of the sacrificed lamb followed by the cup of blessing, where a full explanation would be given of the significance of the offering and its connection with the blood applied to the doorposts of their houses, which was a sign of their trust in God's promises and of their hope of redemption.

* These would be followed by the singing of the Hallel, a song of triumph in expectation of God's great deliverance.

But at this particular Passover a totally new picture would be drawn by Jesus, and it takes little imagination to realise the shock that it must have been to the disciples when the time-honoured feast was suddenly taken over by Jesus and portrayed as pointing to something different. They must indeed have wondered what was happening. Had it been anyone but Jesus they would have been horrified and might well have protested. It was a sign of their complete confidence in Him that they did not. Had the Chief Priests known about it they would certainly have considered their charges of blasphemy totally justified, for Jesus openly took the emphasis away from God's activity in deliverance and focused it on Himself and His own act of deliverance. (We do not know how much of the old was observed, for with regard to it we are only told about the opening of the feast and its closing with the Hallel. The concentration is on the new). The general pattern was being followed, but its significance was being completely altered.

* The significance of the dipping and consumption of the bitter herbs now rather pointed to the fact of the bitterness of a betrayal of a different kind, the betrayal of Jesus, the representative of Israel (see Matthew 2:15) by one of His Apostles. ‘He who has dipped his hand into the dish with Me will betray Me'.

* The bread no longer pointed to the afflictions of Israel, but to the affliction which was to be heaped on Jesus, from which His disciples and all who believed as a result of their preaching would benefit. ‘This is my body.'

* The Passover lamb with its shed blood was combined with the cup of blessing, and Jesus declared over the cup (depicting the cup of suffering - Matthew 20:22; Matthew 26:39), ‘this is My blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins'.

* Matthew then connects the promise of the certainly of the coming of the Kingly Rule of His Father with the Hallel (Matthew 26:29). The Hallel includes many ideas, including the following:

* It speaks of God being their help and their shield (Psalms 115:9), and the One Who will multiply blessing to His people from Heaven (Psalms 115:12; compare Matthew 5:3; Matthew 13:16; Matthew 16:17), so that they will bless the Lord (Psalms 115:18).

* It speaks of the One Who will deliver them from death to life even when they are greatly afflicted (Psalms 116:8; compare Matthew 7:14; Matthew 16:25; Matthew 19:29; Matthew 25:46), so that they will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord (Psalms 116:13; Matthew 26:27).

* Thus they will offer to Him the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord (Psalms 116:17), praising Him for His covenant love towards them (Psalms 117:2; Psalms 118:2), for He is their strength and their song, and has also become their deliverance (Psalms 118:14; Matthew 1:21).

* The gates of righteousness will be opened to them for them to enter in (Psalms 118:19; compare Matthew 5:6; Matthew 5:20; Matthew 21:32), because He is their salvation (Psalms 118:21; Matthew 1:21), and this because the stone which the builders rejected has become the headstone of the corner (Psalms 118:22; compare Matthew 21:42).

* Thus ‘blessed is the One Who comes in the name of the Lord' (Psalms 118:26; compare Matthew 21:9; Matthew 23:39).

Here are all the elements of the ‘drinking of the fruit of the vine (depicting rejoicing and celebration) in the Kingly Rule of His Father'. As Jesus said, ‘I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you within My Father's Kingly Rule', for then salvation will have been accomplished and they will have received life out of death (Matthew 7:14; Matthew 16:25; Matthew 19:29; Matthew 25:46).

Analysis of Matthew 26:20.

a Now when evening was come, He was reclining at meat with the twelve disciples, and as they were eating, He said, “Truly I say to you, that one of you will betray Me (Matthew 26:20).

b And they were deeply sorry, and began to say to Him, every one, “Is it I, Lord?” (Matthew 26:22).

c And He answered and said, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish, the same will betray Me” (Matthew 26:23).

d “The Son of man goes, even as it is written of Him” (Matthew 26:24 a).

c “But woe to that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! Good were it for that man if he had not been born” (Matthew 26:24).

b And Judas, who betrayed Him, answered and said, “Is it I, Rabbi?” (Matthew 26:25 a)

a He says to him, “You have said” (Matthew 26:25 b).

Note that in ‘a' Jesus declares that He will be betrayed, and in the parallel confirms to Judas that he is the one who will betray Him. In ‘b' the disciples were deeply sorry and ask, ‘Is it I, Lord', and in the parallel Judas asks, ‘Is it I, Rabbi.' Note the contrasts. The disciples are deeply sorry, Judas is the betrayer. The disciples call Him ‘Lord', Judas calls Him ‘Rabbi'. (The contrast is probably mainly Matthew's). In ‘c' one who has meal fellowship with Him will betray Him, and in the parallel woe is to the one who will betray Him, it were best for him if he had not even been born. Centrally in ‘d' the Son of Man goes at is written of Him.