I invite you to turn to Matthew chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26, as we continue our study in this book, today we come to verses 17 through 35, page 989. Matthew 26, let's give our attention to the Holy Word of the Lord, beginning at verse 17.
"Now on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying, where will you have us prepare for you to eat the passover He said, go into the city to a certain man and say to him, "The teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples." And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, truly I say to you, one of you will betray me And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him, one after another, is it I, lord He answered, he who dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born Judas, who would betray him, answered, is it I, rabbi He said to him, you have said so Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread and, after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, take eat; this is my body And he took a cup and, when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Then Jesus said to them, you will all fall away because of me this night, for it is written, "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered." But after I am raised up, I will go before you to galilee Peter answered him, though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away Jesus said to him, truly I tell you, this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times Peter said to him, even if I must die with you, I will not deny you And all the disciples said the same."
May the Lord bless the hearing of his word.
Well, beloved, the lord i am sure that the great confusion for you of the Christian life it's been so for me so I trust that you have the same sort of experience. Is that the confusion of the Christian life is just how weak we often find ourselves to be in upholding ourselves through this very difficult life? You just feel constantly like it doesn't get easier, does it? It's a paradoxical sort of experience for us in this life. One would think that being Christians, we would have greater strength to walk this and greater progress and greater ability to sustain ourselves from all the difficulties of the sinful nature. Well, if you know the struggle and you understand this struggle, then, and you are often perplexed about sin, about weakness, about your abilities, and you are discouraged at times about this, I have a really great message to give to you this morning.
Christ gives despairing disciples here, his despairing disciples, an answer in all the midst of the uncertainty and discouragement and weakness in their lives. But it's probably not what you think is the solution that he's going to give; that is, the solution you've often looked to. We've struggled with the solution that he gives. Haven't always been as confident in the solution that he gives. He does surprising things, and his ways are not our ways. So you have to listen carefully to Jesus, and you have to listen to him about what the solutions are to that struggle.
What we have is one of the most distressing moments in the life of the disciples in their walk with Christ. Now, many of you have walked with Christ for many years. What do you think would be the most distressing moment? Apply it. But this is a deeply distressing moment, for Jesus is going now to the cross and he's going to die. And they yet have not understood all this. They have not yet grasped this. They indeed are slow of understanding, Luke 24.
And all of this was set off purposely by a statement that Jesus makes here in this section that Jesus himself, in a sense, ignites the moment of distress by saying, "One of you will betray me." That is a moment of deep despair for them.
Before we look at that in some deep detail, I want you to remember the scene that is in front of us. In verses 6 through 13, something had been set up front for them already as a memorial that had a very important message for them in now the events that transpire immediately. And remember, it was this woman, it was Mary who came and poured this alabaster flask of very costly perfume or ointment on his head. And we know from comparing the Gospels that it was Judas himself who had stirred up the disciples, who were all indignant, saying, "What a waste this is. What a waste this is. This could have been given and sold to the poor, given to the poor." And at that, Jesus rebuked them. And he makes a powerful statement here. Aware of this, he said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? What she has done, she has done a beautiful thing for me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, think about what she was doing. She has done this to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her."
Nobody in the Bible, I think, gets this kind of commendation from our Lord. She's a constant memorial wherever the Gospels preach. This had such significance. This had such importance. Her giving was, remember, extravagant. It was lavish. It was misunderstood. It was confusing to them as she pours out a poor peasant woman everything she has on Jesus to anoint his body for burial. And Jesus makes her a memorial. Why? Because she is actually providing a visual lesson and a demonstration of Jesus himself.
He's pouring out everything. He's pouring out his blood for them. He's shedding it. What's the value on that? You can't put a value on that. It's an indescribable gift, as Peter will call it later. She captured for us remember what I just said uh so important: uh everything of value. It's a misunderstood act, a lavish act, a giving of everything, extravagant, because she understood what was being given to her. This was Jesus's gift. Jesus is the gift. He is being offered up. Now, that's placed right up front of this whole narrative that begins this whole stream, now this whole series of narratives, all the way to the cross and what happens right after this.
Then, is in radical contrast, then one of the 12, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priest and said, "What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?" And they paid him 30 pieces of silver. What a cheap response! Motivated by greed and a faithless heart, wanting to gain the world, hating the righteousness of God, he accepts 30 pieces of silver the Old Testament price of a slave. Judas has snapped. Judas has snapped, and he snapped over the faith of this woman. "This is not what I signed up for, giving away all of everything we have to him. He's not accomplishing anything. Death doesn't accomplish anything. Death doesn't accomplish victory. Death doesn't overcome the Romans." So he thinks, riding on the coattails of this great star in Israel, he can no longer take it when he sees this.
Well, that's what makes now what happens so important for the life of the disciples and for us. The betrayal of Jesus is completely distressing. This is one of their intimate group, and now matters seem to get worse. Now matters seem to get worse. In verse 20, evening has come, and he sits down with the 12. And as they are eating, he now makes the great statement that ignites things, all makes it all the worse: "One of you will betray me."
Now verse 22 is one of the most moving verses here in this scene, because we read that they were exceedingly sorrowful. They are deeply grieved. Each of them begins to say, "Lord, is it I? Lord?" Literally, "I'm not the one, am I?" And we hear this really deep introspective searching that begins to go on, expressing themselves in that question. Each one of them questioning so important their loyalty to Jesus. Each one of them is questioning their loyalty to Jesus. There's love for him. They both believed in him. But there's something to note here: it's the way the disciples ask, "Lord, Lord, I'm not the one, am I?" It's an important moment. It's a kind of test for the disciples at this point, and I think it sort of does beg the question: What are we capable of? What are you and I capable of?
On the part of the disciples, they seem aware of what they're capable of. Well, maybe not Peter. Could they betray him? Could they betray him? And this is a really, I think, important moment in the Gospels when it comes to the issue of assurance, a recognition of human sin and human weakness. There's a reason I read the Heidelberg to begin this: we don't stand on our own, even for a moment. But not just on the part of Judas. It's on the part of the genuine question of the disciples. They are deeply concerned about this.
We live with this question. We live with this fear. We live with this question of perseverance and endurance to the end. You know, could it be that I'll get to the last day and find out that I was a total hypocrite and a sham? All of it seems tested at this moment the real experience that we all have in this life of this kind of question because of sin.
And to raise this at the moment of the greatest distressing moment of the disciples in their entire walk with Christ seems shocking, doesn't it? Isn't it just the reality that at our moments of greatest weakness in life, the question of our own commitments to Christ is often challenged?
Now, you know that those come in a variety of different ways and circumstances. It's as has been correctly said: if it's great for you today, get ready, because tomorrow may not be, and then what? It's at the moments of this kind of thing that that question of the commitment to Christ is tested. And to raise it at this moment is a fascinating thing that Jesus does. It's um, the question of commitment and loyalty that is really front and center here.
Why would christ this is the question I had as I'm working this why would christ show us this woman, and show them this woman whose action, what did you when I preached that last week, what did you feel about that action of that woman? It felt radical, and it felt so beyond what we often give to him, that we hardly connect with it. That doesn't seem like our experience very much. And then to show us, in contrast, the opposite extreme, which is Judas, who is going out to betray him. And then today, to come upon the failure of the disciples, all of them. You might ask, what is the difference between them and Judas? And why this woman?
Jesus seems to make matters worse. After they all ask, "Lord, is it I?" he says, "He who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for him never to have been born." It's got to be one of the worst things said in Scripture: "Better for someone never to have been born."
Then Judas answers, speaks up. "Rabbi, is it I? Is it I?" Notice Matthew wants to make very clear he's radically offset here. And what it tells us is that Judas already knew he was the betrayer. He didn't care about Jesus. He didn't care about him at all. He had no faith. He was following Jesus for all the wrong reasons. None of it had ever been genuine. None of it had ever been real.
And you see, here I think we start to get to the heart of things. The disciples question, "Lord, I'm not the one, am I?" Judas says, "Surely not I, Rabbi." I think you can kind of hear the heart. I think you can get to that. Maybe the sense of it is this: "It's not I, is it, Rabbi?" He won't say, "Lord." How much you make of that, I don't know. But I do know he's offset in his response. And I think here Matthew is really capturing the weakness of the disciples at this moment.
"Will I be the one, Lord? How do you know that you're not going to be one in the course of life that will turn your back on him? I'm not the one, am I?"
Jesus says this: "The Son of Man goes, as it is written of him. Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better if that man, if he had not been born. But I want you to notice verse 25. Judas, who would betray him, answered, is it I, Rabbi? He said to him, you have said so.
What a moment! Judas, at this point, we know from the Gospels, leaves. Um, Jesus has now identified Jesus judas but here i think jesus is is very fascinating in the way in what he does and the way he handles this distressing moment. He knows his sheep. He knows their fears. He knows that in the midst of their weakness, that they will hear his voice, that they will follow him, and in the midst of the disciples cry of despair i'm not the one, am I? The Lord, I'm not the one, am I, to betray you before he gives any comfort, I want to make matters worse. I think so.
You see how weak they really are? If you look down at verse 30: "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out on the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, you will all fall away because of me this night, for it is written, "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered." But after I'm raised up, I will go before you to galilee Peter answered him, though they all fall away because of you, I will never follow it Jesus said to him, truly I tell you, this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times Peter said to him, even if I must die with you, I will not deny you And notice little inclusion: all of them said it
Now, this is distressing. This is this is as distressing a moment as you get. "One of you will betray me." Is it me? Betrayal, of course, is is is an interesting word in this concept, an interesting action. It actually means to deliver over. It means to hand him over. It was the act of Judas to take Jesus and hand him over to be murdered. That's betrayal. It's the ultimate act here of despising and disregarding someone, so as to say, "I want this figure eliminated from my life. Gone." Motivated by hate and rejection of him.
And then, after all this, Jesus looks at all of them and says, "And all of you will—" now think of the word, deny me. All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night. Peter, you will deny three times."
Now, these aren't little things. Stumble means fall away. Deny means to deny any connection with Christ. Clearly, this is offset from betrayal. One despises; the other is a form of being unable to perform what one desires under the intense pressure. So in other words, this is the Christian life in many ways, what's captured here.
And I say this in light of what I said with the reading of the law: you don't have the power for one second to keep your commitment to Jesus. That's your confusion. That's our struggle. True Christians cannot betray him. But true believers are certainly so weak that they cannot hold on to him.
Do you understand that? This captures everything of "what I will to do that I do not find the power to accomplish." If the authorities came tonight let's just say persecution got so bad here in America that the authorities came tonight and said to you that if you deny Christ, if you will uh, if you will deny him, then we will not set you on fire who has the power in themselves to say, "Light it up"? Not one of you.
When you read these great stories in history, you see an extraordinary resting of the spirit on such an individual. You know what I'm describing? You know the exact thing that I'm describing: the great weakness of the Christian life. Denial is weakness. Denial is failure. Listen to me. Denial is failure. Denial is crumbling under pressure. And that failure is absolutely crushing to the heart of the true Christian. Judas was not crushed. Judas didn't care. He's all about money and pick your sin. Part of the disciples, they loved him.
Remember, at the resurrection I'm going back. Fishing, said Peter. I give up. And Jesus restores him. Remember the question: "Do you love me, Peter?" "You know I love you, but I know I'm weak. I know I failed." Confusion. Confusion. It's the sorrow that follows in your life.
Listen to me: every time you sin, only the true believer will know this only the true believer will know it. When you say, "How could I sin against someone who's been this good to me?" Betrayal could care less. "I want nothing to do with him."
Now, you see how distressing this all is? Betrayal's not forgiven here by Judas. He doesn't repent of that. He's faithless. Denial is forgiven, because it's the real result of the weakness of the sinful nature.
Now, this is where I get to the good part of this sermon today. What did Jesus do? What did he do for them? You have this constant struggle in life. You're doing things you wish you wouldn't do. You find yourselves powerless to stop at times. You don't know which way to turn. You wish you didn't do them. The great bracket to this, and there is certainly a very important structure to this, that the central figure, the central point of this passage comes now, and what Jesus does it's Passover, and as they're eating the Passover meal, Jesus does something absolutely important.
He takes bread, and right in front of him, he begins to do what we do here. He breaks the bread and he gives it to the disciples. And notice what he says: "Take, eat, this is my body." Then he took the cup and he gave thanks and he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you, for this is the blood of the new covenant, which is shed for the listen to this, for many, for the remission of sins."
Let it set in. Look at the whole scene. In the midst of the distress, what does he do? He institutes the Supper.
Now, I've always been struck by the way the New Testament writers saw this as one of the most important moments in showing us and ratifying the new covenant in his blood. I would love to array uh raise your awareness of the help that Jesus gives in the sacrament, word and sacrament ministry, because it's outside of our tradition that in later times we have not valued it as previous generations have. Why? What is it for?
"I received from the Lord that which I also delivered, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed pause big, big moment the night he's going to the cross the night he's betrayed the night Judas would hand him over, he took bread." That's just striking. It moves me. That the whole institution was instituted in the night in which he was betrayed in the moment of the greatest distress of his disciples, of failure.
Matthew's telling us about this moment: "Lord, is it I? Do you ever ask it? Do you ever think you're going to make you may not make it you ever think you're so weak and the things that you do are going to leave you outside the kingdom on that day?" Jesus then holds up bread and wine.
What was happening? You know, in our form, we read it's important to sort of hear some of these statements: "We should not let the weakness of our faith or our failures keep us from this, for it is for sinners."
We have this idea that the Lord's Supper is for good people who did well enough to come last week or people who are in line. If you think about our Heidelberg on this point: "How does the Holy Supper remind and assure you that you share in Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and in all his benefits? In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and drink this cup in remembrance of him. With this command come these promises."
Promises come out of this. Now, God doesn't lie. So what are the promises? First: "As surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup shared with me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross."
Think of the woman now pouring out value, memorial, indescribable, lavish gift no one understands.
Second: "As surely as I receive from the hand of him who serves and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ's body and blood, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured out blood."
Now, do you believe that? That's a wonderful thing being said to you and done for you. That is grace. And here you have in the word and sacrament how you're kept. Listen to me. Let me say it again: you are not strong enough.
Every week, you know this. If you're awake, Mary here is pouring out an alabaster flask over Jesus, demonstrating why it was to be a memorial, because they were seeing visibly in that action something that was representing of Christ himself and the pouring out of his life for them. They were being given life spiritually as Christ flowing into them as the vine to the branches. They were being upheld in promises. They were able to taste and see what the Psalms say, that the Lord is good in the midst of all their distress. And that not one of their failures in one of them could they be lost.
Now, I ask the sort of important question then: Do you need that? See, our low view of the Supper, all mapped out, is often an indication that we do not hold high enough what Jesus instituted to help us. That's just the reality of it. He was reassuring them in the midst of the most distressing moment of life that without any measure of a doubt, he will keep them, and that eternal life is for them. It was the Supper he held out. The word preached and then the Supper. And in these elements, he called them to partake, believing the gift was for them.
By faith, they saw the Lamb of God stepping vicariously into their place, becoming the substitute, taking on their guilt, taking on their punishment, taking on their failure that the Father had purposed to give his Son so that when they look upon him and the pouring out of his life for them, every past, present, future sin was atoned for.
"This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for what? The remission of sins."
Is there anything better I could preach today? Ratified as the body of Christ is broken open and his blood spilled, they saw visibly: all their sins are forgiven, and that the promises of God are "yes" and "amen" in Christ, as Paul would say.
That's not all. Then he says something beautiful in verse 29: "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until the day that I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."
You understand the intention of why he said that? It's an assurance: we're doing this again in glory. I promise you that. What an institution of renewal, a blessing, declaring that we don't have the ability to keep ourselves, but Christ does. He has the power to keep you. Go back to what I said at the beginning: you don't hold your own for a moment in this life. If you have any awareness of that, then you gotta look to what he put in place to keep you.
Jesus has the power. He's risen indeed. Today, Jesus has the power and the ability to keep your faith. He's the author and finisher of it, by the way, Hebrews. He doesn't take it back. You may be weak. You may stumble at times. You may sin. You will sin. You will fail. Like Peter, you will have periods of distress. You may wonder if God loves you. You may wonder if God cares about you. You may wonder if he even is looking down upon you. You may wonder if he's turned against you.
And Christ said, "Hold out my body and blood to them to assure them of eternal life."
Jesus said it: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life."
When you ask, "Lord, I'm not the one, am I?" he says to you in response, "Eat, drink, believe. And I promise you we're doing this again soon in glory."
That's my promise. That's how important the Supper is. I'm not detaching it from the word. No, no, it's a word and sacrament ministry. But that's how important it is for us.
Their hearts were turned from hearts to gloom. They went out and sung a hymn. They went out on the Mount of Olives. Their sorrow turned to joy. We, beloved, are a happy, trusting people. Jesus has never told you never thought in giving his life that you could keep your own for a second. He knows everything about you. He knows all your failures.
And Jesus said, "Pays. Has paid for all your sins with his precious blood." So every time you come and you partake of the Supper, he wants you to know it's a certainty, a sign and a seal of his promises, and that there is a day coming where we will do this again in glory together with no more sin, no more failure, no more sorrow, no more death.
What a God we serve! Believe him.
Let's pray. Lord, thank you for such words to us, and thank you for such comfort. We pray, and thank you for the means that you've given to uphold us in times of great weakness. It's to our own fault, Lord, that we take low view of your means. Sure, they're foolishness, and they don't seem to work to us, but that's where trust comes in and faith. And so we will look to you, oh Lord, and what you have said. Thank you for instituting this, and thank you for this promise the new covenant in the blood of christ shed for us for the remission of sins thank you for these tokens that assure our hearts before you by faith that this sacrifice was for us. that this gift was for us, that your steadfast love is for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.