“Conspiracy Against the Divine”

(Matthew 26:1-16)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

October 4, 2020

The Passage

Matthew 26:1-16

1 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he told his disciples, 2 “You know that the Passover takes place after two days, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas, 4 and they conspired to arrest Jesus in a treacherous way and kill him. 5 “Not during the festival,” they said, “so there won’t be rioting among the people.”

6 While Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman approached him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. She poured it on his head as he was reclining at the table. 8 When the disciples saw it, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This might have been sold for a great deal and given to the poor.”

10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a noble thing for me. 11 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. 12 By pouring this perfume on my body, she has prepared me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

14 Then one of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they weighed out thirty pieces of silver for him. 16 And from that time he started looking for a good opportunity to betray him.

Introductory Comments:

Well, we are turning a corner today in the book of Matthew. We have concluded the Olivet Discourse and we are now approaching the plot against, betrayal of, arrest of, and crucifixion of Jesus. 

Jesus came into the world as a miracle child. Angels accompanied Him at His birth and people received Him as a king. John the Baptizer would boldly proclaim of Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” The disciples followed Him believing Him to be the conquering king Messiah who would rescue Israel. The people welcomed Him as He came into Jerusalem and they proclaimed, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” Yet, after all of that, a group of religious leaders would plot to arrest Him, one of those closest to Him would betray Him, the people of Jerusalem would shout “Crucify Him,” and His disciples would abandon Him. 

These are the events that begin to unfold in Matthew 26. Let us now pause in prayer and ask God to speak to us as we journey into this crucial section of Matthew’s Gospel. Join me now in a spirit of prayer.

(prayer)

Many detailed plans have been made when it comes to the killing of people of notoriety. There is still quite a bit of mystery surrounding the killing of President John F. Kennedy.  Regarding President Abraham Lincoln, the original plans were to kidnap the president. Those plans were later changed to assassinate not only President Lincoln but also the vice president and the secretary of state. Those plans did not play out in full either, although President Lincoln was tragically killed. 

Well, we see in this passage, the unfolding of the conspiracy against the divine. In Matthew 26, plans are being made to kill the Son of God. As with some other famous conspiracies to commit murder, this plan did not pan out exactly how the conspirators planned it. However, it did happen exactly as God planned it. 

In Matthew 26, we will reflect upon three elements of the last days of Jesus, which point us to God’s plan for why Jesus came to the earth. 

Let us now look at the first of these elements, . . . 

I. The treacherous plan (vv. 1-5) [on screen]

Let us turn our attention to verses 1-5 of Matthew 26. We’ll look at these verses and seek to discover what