Betrayal and arrest

Day 11

Matthew 26

This has to be next to the hardest time in Jesus' life, the crucifixion being the worst.  Anyway Jesus is aware of what is ahead of him as we start the chapter.  He is sharing with His disciples exactly what is going to happen to Him...He is going to be crucified.  And as we can see in verse 3, the plan is in place by the chief priests and the elders of the people.

It is not plain if the woman with the very expensive perfume knew exactly what she was doing was a prophetic act, but Jesus knew.  It is possible the woman did know however, because Jesus did say that she had poured this perfume on him  as He said, "she did it to prepare me for burial." The disciples evidently didn't understand, even though Jesus had just finished telling them about his upcoming death on the cross.  They all were angry over the matter, but it was Judas's words that was recorded here.

Jesus said that what the woman had done would be remembered throughout the world wherever the gospel was preached.  Have to ask ourselves, what have we done for Jesus that people will remember us, not for who we are, but for what we did for Jesus.  The woman's love and understanding of who Jesus was, compelled her to give her very best for Jesus.  Do we give our very best for Jesus!  Something to stop and think about.

It is tremendously sad when we see Judas, who has been a follower, disciple, and accountant of Jesus, to choose to betray Jesus.  And I was thinking about that word betray.  In the original Greek, from the Greek Lexicon, betray in this passage means "to deliver over treacherously". (Vine's Expository Dictorionary) (http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3860&t=KJV)

Treachery is a violation of faith and confidence, an act of treason.

Anyway, the concern of the disciples about the perfume was that the very expensive perfume could have been sold and the money gained could have been given to the poor.  It wasn't that Jesus didn't have concern for the poor, He had more compassion than anyone, but this perfume had a far more important mission and that was to anoint the one who was going to die for the sins of the world.  Also, in Jesus' death, He was not only a sacrifice for our sins, but He also became our High Priest.  I won't go into that, but I did find a very good in depth explanation of that if you would like to understand that more.
http://www.gracevalley.org/sermon_trans/2007/Jesus_Our_Perfect_High_Priest.html
http://www.gracevalley.org/articles/Priesthood.html

When Jesus told the disciples to go and prepare for the Passover, He knew He was going to be the Passover Lamb for ALL MANKIND.  He knew that His people were going to betray Him, but not only His people, but a disciple who walked closely with Him.

I really liked how the Quest Bible explained how Jesus would give new meaning to the Passover. "Rather than change Passover, Christ fulfilled it (1 Cor. 5:7), infusing a time-honored practice with profound new meaning.  For centuries, the unleavened bread had reminded God's people of their hasty exit from Egypt(see Exodus 12;14-20,39).  Now the bread would remind Jesus' followers of his body, given as a sacrifice for their sins.  The lamb had recalled the blood, the blood that spared the Israelites from death (Exodus 12:3-13).  Now the cup would would remind Jesus' followers of his blood and its saving effects.

Just think back to those scriptures in Exodus, and how God spared the firstborn of the Israelites from death by placing the blood of the lamb on the doorposts, how much more will He save those who trust in His own son's blood for their salvation and deliverance. 

The scriptures go more into Judas's betrayal and Peter's denial, than any of the actions of the other believers. 
The truth is that the other 10 disciples also said they would never deny Jesus as Peter did.  When Jesus was in the Garden encouraging them to pray, He was asking them to pray not for His sake, but for their own.  They were about to face one of the biggest temptations ever and that was to deny that they knew Jesus.

Jesus' heart was broken in the Garden.  He knew what was about to happen in a little while and His heart was filled with sorrow.  Have you ever had a friend betray you, sever their relationship with you?  How did that make you feel?  What if not only your brothers and sisters and mother and father denied you, turned their back on you, how would you feel?  Well multiply that hundreds of thousands and more over, and you can see how the weight of the world's sin was on Jesus shoulders.  But despite all that, He submitted His Will to the Father to be the supreme sacrifice for the sins of the world.  What a friend!  What a Saviour! What a God!  Mighty and Awesome is He!

After Judas' kiss and Jesus' arrest, we find Him being questioned, scorned, spit on, and going through horrific turmoil.  He could not deny Himself before the high priest.  Through all the mocking and taunting, Jesus' stood strong for our sake and the sake of the ALL MANKIND.

Peter was reminded by the rooster's crow after denying Jesus three times in the courtyard, that Jesus had prophesied his actions.  Distraught in what he had done, he was crushed, and wept bitterly.  Have you ever betrayed or denied something or someone?  I looked up the definition of deny and betray to see what the difference was.  This is what I found.

Deny means to declare untrue or refuse to admit or acknowledge.
Betray means  to lead astray, to deliver to an enemy by treachery, to fail or desert especially in time of need, to reveal unintentionally.

So can you see what the difference was in Judas' and Peter's actions?

The Quest Bible's response to Peter's action was this:
"Why did Peter weep?  Because he suddenly felt the weight of his own failure.  though he had earlier wanted to fight for Jesus, now his courage had melted into confusion.  He'd probably been bewildered and disheartened when Jesus had rejected his rescue attempt in the garden (John 18:10-11).  But the crowing rooster brought things back into perspective again with a shocking realization: He had betrayed the one he loved just as Jesus had foretold.

So what is the difference?  Is it one deliberately acted and the other didn't?  But the possibility that both were offended could have been the foothold the enemy to cause them both to act contrary to their hearts. 

It is wise to guard our hearts so the enemy does not have a foothold that will lead to doing what our heart really doesn't want to do.  I believe Peter was in survival mode and he was out of fear protecting himself.  How many times have we done that in our life?

I am thankful that God's mercies are new every morning....that by His grace alone can I walk in His will and His ways.