THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW ~ Chapter 26
When Yeshua finished these talks, He turned
to His disciples, saying, “You know that in 2 days comes the Passover, and the
Son of Man will be given up to be crucified.”
The chief priests and elders of the people
then met at the house of Caiaphas, the high priest. They plotted together as to
how they could, by some trick, get Yeshua arrested and killed. They said,
however, ‘It must not take place during the festival, lest a riot break out
among the people.’
Yeshua went to Bethany, in the home of Simon,
the leper. While He was at the table there, a woman came up to Him with a bottle
of very expensive perfume, and poured it on His head. When the disciples saw
this, they were angry, and said, ‘Why such waste? This ointment could have been
sold at a good price and given to the poor.’ Yeshua knew what they were saying,
and said to them, “Do not find fault with the woman. She has done Me a kind
act. The poor you will have with you always, but you will not always have Me
with you. When she poured this ointment on My body, she was really preparing Me
for My burial. And I tell you that wherever the Gospel will be preached in the
whole world, what this woman has now done will be told in her memory.”
Then one of the 12, Judas Iscariot by name,
went to the chief priests. He asked, ‘How much will you pay me if I hand Him
over to you?’ They agreed on 30 pieces of silver, and paid him. So, from then
on, Judas was looking for a good chance to let them take Him.
On the 1st day of the Festival of
Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Yeshua to ask, ‘Where do You want us to
prepare for You to eat the Passover meal?’ Go into the city to a certain man
and tell him that the Teacher says, “My time is near. I shall keep the Passover,
together with My disciples, at your place.” The disciples did as Yeshua had
told them, and they prepared the Passover. When evening came, He took His place
at the table with the 12. Then, while they were eating, He said, “I have this
to tell you, that 1 of you will betray Me.” They became very sad, and one by
one asked Him, ‘Is it I, Adonai?’ He answered, “The 1 who will betray Me is the
one who has just dipped his hand with mine in the dish. The Son of Man is going
just as it has been written concerning Him, but woe to the 1 who betrays the
Son of Man! It were better for that man if he had never been born.” Judas, the
1 who was betraying Him, also asked, ‘Teacher, I am not the one, am I?’ he
answered him, “Yes, you are the man.”
Then, while they were seated, Yeshua took
bread, blessed and broke it and gave to His disciples saying, “Take, eat; this
is My body.” Then, having taken a cup, He offered thanks and gave it to them,
saying, “Drink of it, each of you, for this is My blood of the New Covenant,
poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you that I shall not
drink of the fruit of the vine again until the day when I shall drink the new
wine with you in My Father’s kingdom.” Then, after they had sung a hymn, they
went to the Mount of Olives. “Tonight,” Yeshua said to them, “you will all take
offense and desert Me, for Scripture says, ‘I will kill the Shepherd; then the
sheep of His flock will be scattered to the winds’ (Zechariah 13:7). But I
shall be raised again from the dead, after which I shall go on before you into
Galilee.” Simon said to Him, ‘Even if all the others should desert You, I will
never desert You.’ Yeshua said to him, “Listen! This very night, before the
rooster crows, you are going to disown Me 3 times.” Simon answered Him, “I will
never, never disown You, not even if I have to die for You!” All the other
disciples said the same.
Then Yeshua came with them to a place called
Gethsemane. He said to them, “You sit down here while I go over yonder to pray.”
He took with Him Simon and the 2 sons of Zebedee, but became sad and deeply
depressed. He said to them, “My soul is ready to die of sorrow. You stay here
and watch with Me.” He went on a little further, then fell on His face and
prayed, saying, “Elohim, if it is possible, let this cup pass Me by. Yet, not
My will but Yours be done.” Then He went back to His disciples and found them asleep.
To Simon He said, “Could you not watch with Me for even an hour? Watch and pray
that you may not have to be tempted. Man’s spirit is willing, but his flesh is
weak.”
Again, a second time, He went over by Himself
and prayed. “Elohim,” He said, “”if this cup can not pass Me by without My
drinking it, then Your Will be done!” He came back again and found them sleeping,
for their eyelids were heavy. He left them sleeping and went again to pray a third
time, asking the same thing. This done, He went back to His disciples, saying
to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Wake up! The time is at hand when
the Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up! Let us go!
See there, my betrayer is close at hand!” Suddenly, even as He was speaking,
there came Judas, 1 of the 12, followed by a great rabble armed with swords and
clubs. They had been sent by the chief priests and elders of the people. The
betrayer had given them a signal beforehand. He had said, ‘The man whom I great
with a kiss – it is He. Seize Him!” He went right up to Yeshua and said, ‘Hail,
master!’ and kissed Him. But Yeshua said to him, “Friend, what do you come for?”
Then they came up to Yeshua, laid their hands on Him and arrested Him. At this,
1 of the men with Yeshua drew his sword and gave a servant of the high priest a
blow, cutting off an ear. “Return your sword to its place.” Yeshua said to him,
“for all who take up the sword will die by the sword. Don’t you believe that if
I asked Elohim, even now, he will send more than a 100,000,000 angels? And how
else can the Scriptures be fulfilled which say that it has to be this way?” At
the same time, Yeshua spoke to the rabble. “Why have you come out with swords
and clubs to arrest Me, as though I was a robber? I have been with you daily,
teaching in the Temple, but you never laid hands on me before. But this has all
taken place so that the Scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.”
The disciples then all deserted Him. They
fled.
Yeshua was led to Caiaphas, the high priest,
by those who had arrested Him. The scribes and the elders were gathered
together there. Simon followed Him at some distance, right up to the high
priests courtroom. And he went in and took a seat among the attendants, to see
the outcome. The chief priests and the whole Council were looking for false
testimony against Yeshua, by which they might put Him to death. But they could
find none, even though many came forward and lied about Him. At last, 2 false
accusers came up saying, ‘This man said, “I can destroy God’s Temple and
rebuild it again in 3 days”’. Then the high priest, standing up, asked Him, ‘Have
You no answer to make? What do You say to these accusations brought against
You?” Yeshua kept silent. The high priest then said to Him, “I put You on oath,
by the living God, to tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.” Yeshua
now answered him, “Yes, it is true, as you say. And I tell you that from now on
you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty, and
coming on the clouds of heaven.” At this, the high priest ripped his clothes
and cried out, ‘He has blasphemed! What more do we have of witnesses? Yes,
indeed, you, yourselves, have all heard Him blaspheme. What do you say?’ They
answered, ‘He deserves death!’ Then they spat in His face and hit Him with
their fists. Some slapped Him on the cheek with their open hands. They
mockingly said, ‘Christ, You are a prophet. Tell us, then, who is that fellow
who just now gave you a blow?’
Now Simon was outside, sitting in the
courtyard, when a servant girl came to him and said, ‘Say, you were with
Yeshua, the Galilean!’ But he made denial before them all, saying, ‘I don’t know
what you are talking about.” Then he went out and stood near agate, and was
seen by another girl, who said to the bystanders, ‘This man was with Yeshua,
the Nazarene.’ He made denial once more, and with an oath. ‘I don’t know the
man,’ he said. After a while, some of the bystanders came up and said to Simon,
‘Surely you are one of them, for even your dialect makes that plain.’ Once
more, he began to curse and swear, saying, ‘I don’t know the man!’ And right
then the rooster crowed. Then Simon remembered what Yeshua had told him – “Before
the rooster crows you are going to disown Me 3 times” – and he went out and
wept bitterly.
**Matthew 25: https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-gospel-according-to-matthew_13.html
