When
Jesus had finished all these words, he said to his disciples, “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, the scribes, and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas. They took counsel together that they might take Jesus by deceit, and kill him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest a riot occur among the people.”
Matthew 26:1-5
Matthew 25 [45.] “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matthew 26 [1.] When Jesus had finished all these words, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”
Matthew 26 [3.] Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas. They took counsel together that they might take Jesus by deceit, and kill him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest a riot occur among the people.”
Matthew 26 [6.] Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him having an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when his disciples saw this, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.”
Meaning:
Matthew 26 opens the account of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. Two scenes are set side by side. Jesus calmly tells his disciples what will happen in two days, while the religious leaders secretly plan how to arrest and kill him. Mark records the same plot (Mark 14:1-2). Matthew’s arrangement shows who is really in control: not the council in the high priest’s court, but the Son of Man who knows his hour has come.
- “When Jesus had finished all these words”
Matthew has built his Gospel around five long blocks of teaching, and each ends with a similar phrase: “When Jesus had finished saying these things” (Matthew 7:28), “When Jesus had finished directing his twelve disciples” (Matthew 11:1), and so on. Here the word “all” is added. The teaching ministry is complete, including the warnings and parables about the end of the age in chapters 24 and 25. What remains is the work of the cross.
- “after two days the Passover is coming”
The Passover remembered the night God delivered Israel from Egypt. Each household killed a lamb “without defect” and put its blood on the doorposts, so that the destroyer passed over their homes (Exodus 12:5-8). Jesus links his own death directly to this feast: “the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” He had already foretold that he would be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, condemned and handed over to the Gentiles (Mark 10:33-34). Now he names the time. Paul later explains the connection: “For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place” (1 Corinthians 5:7).
- “the court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas”
Caiaphas was high priest for about eighteen years, a long time in an office that the Romans could take away. He was a skilful politician. Earlier, after Jesus raised Lazarus, Caiaphas had told the council “that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” John adds that, without knowing it, “he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation” (John 11:49-52). The chief priests, the scribes and the elders together formed the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish council. The rulers of God’s people were gathering against God’s Anointed, as the psalm had described: “the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed” (Psalm 2:2).
- “that they might take Jesus by deceit, and kill him”
The leaders could not find an honest charge, so they planned to act “by deceit.” They also feared the crowds. At Passover Jerusalem was packed with pilgrims, many of them from Galilee, who had welcomed Jesus into the city days before. So they said, “Not during the feast, lest a riot occur among the people.” Yet events did not follow their timetable. Through the betrayal of Judas, the arrest happened that very week, and Jesus died at Passover, just as he had said. Peter later told the crowds in Jerusalem that Jesus was “delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).
The Significance of Matthew 26:1-5
- God rules over human plans
The powerful met in secret and made their plans, but God’s purpose stood. Even the evil intentions of men served to bring about the death of the true Passover Lamb at the very feast that pointed to him. Believers can trust that no scheme against God’s people is outside his control.
- Jesus went to the cross knowingly
Jesus was not caught by surprise. He knew the day, the manner and the purpose of his death, and he went forward willingly. As he said elsewhere, “the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).
- Deceit is the tool of those who oppose the truth
The leaders chose deceit because the truth was against them. Followers of Jesus are called to the opposite: to walk openly and honestly, even when others plot against them.
Cross-References:
Mark 14:1-2: "Not during the feast, because there might be a riot of the people." Mark’s account of the plot.
John 11:49-52: "it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people." Caiaphas’ unknowing prophecy.
1 Corinthians 5:7: "For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place." Jesus is the true Passover Lamb.
Acts 2:23: "delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God." God’s plan behind the events of the cross.
Conclusion: Matthew 26:1-5 sets the scene for the Passion. Jesus, having finished his teaching, tells his disciples that in two days, at the Passover, he will be delivered up to be crucified. At the same time the chief priests and elders meet in the court of Caiaphas and plot to seize him by deceit, but not during the feast. Their plans fail, and God’s plan prevails: Jesus dies as the Passover Lamb at the appointed time.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible