Today’s passage: Matthew 27:1-10

Helpful thoughts:

• The chief priests and the elders had to wait until the sun came up to officially convict Jesus.  All of the previous aspects of the trial were against their rabbinical law because it all occurred at night.
• The Romans had taken away the right of the Jews to execute on their own.  The Romans would now have to be convinced that Jesus was deserving of the death penalty.
• The word used to denote Judas’ change of mind is not the word used for repentance, only sorrow.  Judas felt the guilt of his grievous sin, but he did not repent.
• When Judas threw the money back to the priests in the Temple, he was not giving it to charity.  The money represented his guilt.  He was trying to remove his guilt and place it on those who “hired him”.  He tried to get out from under his guilt his own way.
• The prophecy about the Potter’s Field is actually in Zechariah 11, not Jeremiah.  But, the books of the prophets were often called “Jeremiah” because his book was listed first.  (They also often called the entire unit of the books of poetry the “Psalms”).

Questions to consider:

1. Why would the priests remember to follow the law as it pertained to the blood money and yet have no problem violating their law repeatedly as it pertained to the trial of Jesus?  How does this inconsistency follow the pattern of which Jesus had accused them?
2. How does Judas’ suicide confirm that he had not repented?  How was we trying to take away his feeling of guilt? Why would that not have worked?
3. Judas was with Jesus for three years and saw and heard more than anyone else on the earth, save the other eleven disciples.  Yet, he didn’t believe.  He didn’t repent. He still tried to do things his own way even after he felt that incredible weight of guilt.  What can that teach us?

Today’s passage: Matthew 26:69-75

Helpful thoughts:

• The people pointing out Peter were servant girls and bystanders.  Not one of them had the authority to do anything.
• Peter’s denials were increasingly extravagant and violent, even though the same people were probably not around to hear them more than once.
• Peter had adamantly insisted he would ever deny Jesus Christ just the day before.

Questions to consider:

1. What would have been Peter’s motivation to deny Jesus?  What was he avoiding?  What are some things that could have been troubling him throughout the night?
2. How could it have been so easy for Peter to promise Jesus his loyalty and then curse and swear against him in another setting with different circumstances?
3. What kinds of circumstances make it the hardest for you to be faithful to your Lord?  What do those times of failure reveal about the desires of our hearts?
4. Praise God for His grace and mercy toward us!  What is the proper response when we fall? How do we prepare for success in the future?  Who do we esteem the most?

Today’s passage: Matthew 26:57-68

Helpful thoughts:

• See the Law concerning trials of this sort:
  • Deuteronomy 16:18-20
    • The requirement for a fair trial
  • Deuteronomy 19:16-19
    • False witnesses were to receive the punishment desired for the accused
• According to Rabbinical law:
  • Death sentences could not be carried out for three days after the verdict.
  • Confession by the defendant was not enough to prove guilt.  There had to be external evidence.
• Jesus’ official crime was calling Himself the Son of God/The Son of Man.  His assertion was called blasphemy.

Questions to consider:

1. Was Jesus given a fair trial?
2. Were the false witnesses punished?  Who put them up to it?
3. Was the death penalty scheduled for three days out?
4. What was true of Jesus’ “crime”?
5. Why were the Sanhedrin able to accomplish this guilty verdict and deliver Jesus to Pilate?  Who was victorious this night?

Today’s passage: Matthew 26:47-56

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus knew the crowd was coming to seize Him (See verse 46).
• Jesus was able to evade their attempt to capture Him if He wanted.
• It certainly appears that the only person who understood what was happening that night was Jesus.
  • The crowd thought they needed the cover of night, clubs and swords.
  • Peter thought they should fight.
  • Judas thought devising a plan would ensure success.
  • The disciples thought Jesus’ had been defeated and fled.

Questions to consider:

1. Who was in control that night?
2. Why did the disciples flee and abandon Jesus?  Why would it be foolish for us to look down on them for their response?  Have there been times you froze, remained silent, abandoned Jesus in your life?
3. What is true about Jesus that gives you the confidence to faithfully identify with Him?  How does His control and willingness to fulfill God’s will through these hours and to the cross give you confidence?

Today’s passage: Matthew 26:36-46

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus brought the three disciples with him for their good, not necessarily for His.
• Jesus knew more than anyone else what He was about to go through.  His distress and anguish were totally appropriate.
• Jesus asked if there was any other way to purchase our redemption.  The answer was no, and He was willing to go to the cross, suffer the wrath of God, and be forsaken by the Father for us.

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways did Jesus model prayer in times of hardship for us?
2. What kinds of temptations come during suffering?  How did Jesus say to fight it?
3. Why was Jesus willing to go on to the cross?  Be careful not to insert an answer of your own here…what does this Scripture say was His motivation?

Today’s passage: Matthew 26:17-35

Helpful thoughts:

• The terms, “Feast of Unleavened Bread” and the “Passover” were often used interchangeably though one is a part of the other.
• All of the disciples but Judas ask, “Is it I, Lord?” Then, in his exposing, Judas asks, “Is it I, Rabbi?”  The difference is noted by Matthew in stating that this was Judas’ “answer” (not a question) and Jesus’ response, “You have said so.”
• Jesus has, in this passage and at this meal, transformed the Old Covenant Passover meal into the New Covenant Lord’s Supper, or Communion.
  • The bread was without leaven (yeast) because leaven represented sin.
  • The cup that was to be drunk after eating was called the cup of redemption.  The wine was red to signify the blood of the Lamb.
• The disciples’ stumbling and scattering was prophesied in Zechariah 13:7.
• The disciples commitment to be faithful would eventually become true…but not that night.

Questions to consider:

1. In what way did Judas’ response point out his heart and allegiance?
2. How does the Passover feast point us to the Lamb of God and the New Covenant?
3. What are we remembering when we participate in Communion?

Today’s passage: Matthew 26:1-16

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus again openly tells His disciples that he would be crucified.  This time, while others are plotting the act.
• One of the disciples who were upset at the apparent waste of money was Judas Iscariot (John 12:4-7).
• What Jesus said in verse 13 just got fulfilled again…as we were reading and thinking about this passage.
• Thirty pieces of silver was the legal price for the wrongful death of a slave (Exodus 21:32).

Questions to consider:

1. Was what this woman (Mary) did to Jesus a waste?  Why not?
2. What has Judas Iscariot shown his heart to be like at this point?  How do you think it is possible for a person to spend these last three years with Jesus and want to turn Him in for personal financial gain?
3. Is it enough to know who Jesus is?  Do you just have to believe that He is who He says He is or is there something else?  What didn’t Judas do?  Who was his lord and who wasn’t?

Today’s passage: Matthew 25:31-46

Helpful thoughts:

• Not so hidden in the content of this passage…God is omniscient.  He knows all and will judge perfectly.
• Also, as we continue to read through the Olivet Discourse, remember that Jesus did not shy away from teaching about judgment and damnation.  He wasn’t mean or rude about it, but he didn’t sugarcoat the truth.
• The nations being gathered for this judgment appear to be those who remain on the earth at the end of the Tribulation.
• The selfless works done by the sheep who have been blessed by the Father are an evidence to the grace given to them.
  • The sheep are blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for them, and have a record of living for the King.
  • The goats are under the curse (John 3 – “Condemned already”), are sent to the punishment prepared for the devil and fallen angels, and have a record of living for themselves.

Questions to consider:

1. Even if this particular judgment is for those alive at the end of the Tribulation, are the principles applicable to us?  How so?
2. Why is it loving to be honest about what we believe will happen to people in the end?  What should the truth of the judgment compel us to do?
3. In what ways is God’s grace being manifested in your life?  In what ways are you (could you be) serving others who need help?  Praise God for His grace in your service!