The night he was betrayed: the anointing, the Last Supper, Gethsemane and the trial before Caiaphas

Matthew 26 opens the passion narrative, the story of Jesus' arrest, trial, crucifixion and burial that occupies the last third of the Gospel. It begins with the formula that ended each earlier discourse: when Jesus had finished all these sayings (26:1; compare 7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1). From this point Matthew is largely following Mark's order, and the time is the Thursday and Friday of Passover week, in Jerusalem. Passover recalled the deliverance from Egypt, and the city was full of pilgrims. Caiaphas was high priest from about AD 18 to 36, and Pontius Pilate governed Judea from about 26 to 36.

Church tradition ascribes the Gospel to Matthew the tax collector, and many critical scholars think it the work of an unnamed Jewish Christian scribe. The date is usually put between AD 70 and 90 by those who hold Marcan priority and earlier by others. The first readers were probably Jewish Christians who knew the Old Testament well.

The four Gospels agree on the main sequence, but there are differences. The anointing at Bethany is told in Mark 14:3-9 and John 12:1-8, with Luke's different story of a sinful woman in Luke 7:36-50. In John the woman is Mary the sister of Lazarus, the anointing is of the feet, and it takes place six days before Passover. Matthew and Mark place it just before the plot of Judas and name the host as Simon the leper. The Synoptic Gospels present the Last Supper as a Passover meal, while John 13:1 and 18:28 appear to place it before Passover, with the lambs slaughtered on the Friday afternoon. Scholars propose several solutions: different calendars, with some Jews keeping Passover a day early; a broader use of the word Passover in John; or a meal that was not formally the Passover. The question is unsettled, and the meaning of the meal does not depend on it.

The chapter is passion narrative, written as history with a theological purpose. Matthew tells the story with constant reference to Scripture, and he stresses that what happens is within God's purpose. Jesus says that the Scriptures must be fulfilled (26:54, 56) and that the Son of Man goes as it is written (26:24). The interpreter has to hold together the human actors, each guilty in his own way, and the divine plan that works through them.

The narrative is also built on contrast. Jesus is alone in prayer while his friends sleep; he is silent before his accusers while Peter swears he does not know him. A woman anoints him while a disciple sells him. Matthew sets scenes side by side, as when Peter's denial is told straight after Jesus' trial.

A cautious approach is needed in two places. The words of institution at the Supper have been interpreted in different ways since the sixteenth century, and the trial raises historical questions about Jewish and Roman procedure. For the latter, the later rules of the Mishnah forbid night trials in capital cases, but it is uncertain how far they reflect the first century, so Matthew's account should not be tested against them too quickly. For the former, the class gives the Old Testament background first and sets out the church's differing readings in the tradition note.

Verses 1–5

Two days before Passover, Jesus tells the disciples that he will be handed over to be crucified. At the same time the chief priests and elders gather in the palace of Caiaphas and plot to arrest him by stealth and kill him, though not during the feast, for fear of a riot. In God's plan he dies at the feast.

Verses 6–13

In Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper, a woman pours a jar of costly perfume over Jesus' head. The disciples object that it could have been sold for the poor. Jesus defends her: she has done a beautiful thing. The poor are always with them, an allusion to Deuteronomy 15:11, but he will not be. She has prepared him for burial, and her deed will be told wherever the gospel is preached.

Verses 14–16

Judas goes to the chief priests and asks what they will give him. They weigh out thirty pieces of silver, which recalls Zechariah 11:12-13 and the compensation for a slave gored by an ox in Exodus 21:32. From then on he looks for an opportunity.

Verses 17–30

On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples prepare the Passover. At the table, Jesus says that one of the Twelve will betray him, and each asks whether it is he. Judas asks too, and is told, 'You have said so.' Jesus takes bread, blesses it and breaks it, and says, 'This is My body.' He takes the cup and, after giving thanks, tells them all to drink. This is his blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew alone adds the last phrase). The words recall Moses sprinkling the blood of the covenant at Sinai (Exodus 24:8), the promise of a new covenant with forgiveness in Jeremiah 31:31-34, and the one who bears the sin of many in Isaiah 53:12. He will not drink of the fruit of the vine again until he drinks it new with them in his Father's kingdom. They sing a hymn, probably from the Hallel, Psalms 113-118, and go out to the Mount of Olives.

Verses 31–35

Jesus tells them they will all fall away that night, quoting Zechariah 13:7: strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. He promises to go before them to Galilee after he is raised. Peter protests that he will never fall away, and Jesus tells him that before the rooster crows he will deny him three times. All the disciples say the same as Peter.

Verses 36–46

At Gethsemane (the name means an oil press) he takes Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and says that his soul is deeply grieved, even to death. He falls on his face and prays that, if it is possible, the cup may pass from him, yet not as he wills but as the Father wills. The 'cup' is the cup of wrath in the Old Testament (Isaiah 51:17), and he has asked James and John whether they can drink it (20:22). He finds them asleep and prays a second and third time. Then the hour has come, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Verses 47–56

Judas arrives with a crowd armed with swords and clubs and greets Jesus with a kiss. Jesus calls him friend and is seized. One of his followers draws a sword and cuts off the high priest's servant's ear; Jesus tells him to put it away, warns that those who take the sword die by the sword, and says he could call on twelve legions of angels, but then how would the Scriptures be fulfilled? He asks why they have come as against a robber when he sat teaching in the temple each day. Then all the disciples leave him and flee.

Verses 57–68

Before Caiaphas the council seeks false testimony. Two witnesses say that he claimed he could destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. Jesus stays silent until the high priest puts him under oath: are you the Christ, the Son of God? He answers, 'You have said so', and adds that from now on they will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven. The words join Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13. Caiaphas tears his robes and declares blasphemy, and the council judges him deserving of death. They spit on him, strike him and mock him as a prophet.

Verses 69–75

In the courtyard Peter is challenged by a servant girl, then another, then bystanders. He denies Jesus three times, the last with curses and an oath, and a rooster crows. He remembers the word of Jesus, goes out and weeps bitterly.

This chapter brings together the main strands of the Bible's teaching about redemption.

• The first is the covenant. Moses ratified the old covenant with blood at Sinai, and Jeremiah promised a new one in which God would write his law on the heart and forgive sin. Jesus says that his blood establishes it. Hebrews 8-10 develops this at length, and Paul gives the Supper a similar place in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.
• The second is sacrifice and Passover. The Passover lamb and its blood saved Israel in Egypt, and Paul says outright that Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7).
• The third is the divine plan working through human sin. Judas, the leaders and Peter are all responsible for their acts, and Peter's own preaching holds both truths together (Acts 2:23).

• The fourth is suffering obedience. Gethsemane shows the Son who submits to the Father's will, reversing the disobedience of Adam in a garden (Romans 5:19; Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 5:7-8).
• The fifth is the failure of the disciples. They are unable to watch one hour, flee, and one of them denies. The chapter shows the church's founders as weak, and the restoration comes only after the resurrection (28:7, 10, 16).

The chapter is full of fulfilment, and Jesus himself is the interpreter. He applies Zechariah 13:7 to himself as the shepherd who is struck (26:31). He says twice that the Scriptures must be fulfilled in the arrest (26:54, 56). At the table he presents himself as the true Passover lamb, a type Paul names outright, and his words about the covenant echo Moses at Sinai. The words 'for many' recall the Servant of Isaiah 53. This is the clearest case in Matthew of the Old Testament's patterns meeting in a single person.

In Gethsemane the Gospel shows his real humanity: grief, need for company and prayer for the cup to pass. He is the Son who obeys. Hebrews 5:7-8 looks back on this scene when it says that he offered prayers and cries and learned obedience through what he suffered.

Before Caiaphas he breaks his silence only to say who he is. His answer joins Psalm 110:1, the enthroned Lord at God's right hand, with Daniel 7:13, the Son of Man coming on the clouds. The high priest hears a claim to share the place of God and calls it blasphemy. The irony is that the one condemned for the claim is the one whose claim is true, and the resurrection will vindicate it.