Matthew 26 - Introduction

Jesus Was Anointed, Betrayed and Denied

Matthew Twenty-Six

Jesus knew the cross was both sure and certain. He was prepared to redeem mankind with His precious blood! He was calm and precise when He told His disciples again what was going to happen to Him in Jerusalem. "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." (Matthew 26:2) The events of Matthew twenty-six bring Him closer to that time when He would lay down His life as a "ransom for many." In Matthew twenty-six Jesus is anointed, betrayed and denied.

This is the record of the last time the Passover would ever be observed with the approval of God. Here Jesus would call out Judas, the one that would betray Him. On this solemn occasion the Lord instituted the Lord's Supper or the Communion. Jesus went unto a place called Gethsemane. From Luke 22:44 we learn, "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

In Matthew twenty-six Jesus said to the apostles, "All ye shall be offended because of me this night." They would scatter like a flock of sheep. Peter protested by saying, "Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended." Then Jesus said to Peter, "Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples." In a few short hours Peter denied the Lord three times just like Jesus had predicted.