Matthew 26:31

‘Then Jesus says to them, “All you will be offended in me this night, for it is written, ‘I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered abroad'.” '

Jesus once again stresses the failure of His disciples. ‘All you will be offended in Me' or ‘will fall away because of Me' or possibly better ‘will suffer a grievous lapse because of Me' this night (strictly ‘will be caused to stumble'). His point is that this very night they will fail Him at the crucial moment, and that this must be expected because it is what the Scriptures have declared. But He said this, not because He was a fatalist, but because He believed that God was actively at work fulfilling His will, and knew the weakness of His disciples' faith. While His words no doubt upset them at the time they would be a comfort to them once it had happened. They would remember that He had known that it would happen because there was a divine necessity to it, and that knowing this He had still given them the symbols of the bread and wine as an assurance that they were within His covenant. Their bruised souls would recognise that they were not finally cast off. But this failure would do them good. Much of their self-seeking and self-confidence would have been knocked out of them, and they would recognise how dependent they were on God in readiness for the coming of the flooding down of the Holy Spirit. It was a necessary part of their preparation for the future.

For support for His statement Jesus turns to the Old Testament (Zechariah 13:7). The context of the saying is that God will bring about His purposes through the smiting of His shepherd and the failing in courage of those for whom He is responsible, the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This will then act as a refining influence on a remnant of them so that in the end He will be able to recognise them as His people, and they will recognise Him as their God. Here we have a continuation of the idea of a new nation arising out of the old (Matthew 21:43). It is quite likely that in speaking of the smiting of the shepherd Zechariah had the prophecy concerning the suffering Servant (Isaiah 53:6) in mind.

The quotation is taken from Zechariah 13:7 where the full quotation in the Hebrew text is, ‘Awake O sword against my shepherd, and against the man who is my fellow,' says YHWH of hosts. ‘Smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.' There YHWH is calling on the sword of those who are antagonistic to Him to awaken in order to smite His shepherd, and this because it is God's way of working. God will make use of the activities of evil men. They become His sword. It continues the idea that we saw in Matthew 26:1. The Son of Man is delivered up both by God and men. Man proposes, but YHWH disposes. Thus in the end the sword they wield has become His sword, which is why Matthew or his source can abbreviate its translation as, ‘I will smite the shepherd'. Compare Isaiah 50:6; Isaiah 53:1. This is the shepherd Who has come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:6), who were distressed and scattered as sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). But man's response will be to smite the shepherd even as He is making the attempt to feed them. Thus God will allow another scattering in which the disciples will have a part as they face up to the forces of evil, in order finally that they might be refined. This indeed is how God works until He achieves His final victory. We must through much tribulation enter under the Kingly Rule of God (Acts 14:22). But when His disciples thus lapse they must recognise that He is the shepherd who seeks His sheep when they go astray (Matthew 18:12). First, however, they need to recognise that they will be involved in being scattered. They have to face up to what they are when relying on their own courage.

‘Of the flock.' This explanatory addition stresses that it is not just the sheep in general who will be scattered, it includes the sheep of His flock (compare Luke 12:32 where His little flock will be given the Kingly Rule).