Commentary - Matthew 26:1-5

Bird's-eye view

In this brief but potent section, Matthew sets the stage for the climax of his Gospel. The contrast is stark and shot through with divine irony. On the one hand, Jesus, the sovereign King, calmly and authoritatively announces the precise timing and method of His departure. He is not a victim of circumstance but the one directing the entire affair. On the other hand, the highest religious authorities in the land gather in secret, like common conspirators, to plot His death. They believe they are seizing control of the situation, but in reality, they are simply fulfilling their assigned roles in God's eternal decree. This passage reveals the collision of two kingdoms: the kingdom of heaven, operating in open declaration and sovereign power, and the kingdom of darkness, operating in stealth, fear, and futile rebellion.

Jesus has finished His public teaching, His great discourses are now complete, and all that remains is the final work of the cross. He speaks of His crucifixion not as a possibility, but as a settled appointment. Meanwhile, the chief priests and elders, men who should have been preparing the nation to receive their Messiah, are instead plotting to murder Him. Their concern is not for righteousness but for public opinion, fearing a riot during the Passover feast. Their pathetic attempt to control the timing demonstrates their utter blindness to the fact that the timing has already been set by the One they seek to destroy.

Outline

The Sovereign Announcement (26:1-2)

1 Now it happened that when Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples,

Matthew marks a solemn transition here. "All these words" refers to the great Olivet Discourse of chapters 24 and 25. Jesus has laid out the future of Jerusalem, the world, and His own glorious return. He has spoken as the great prophet and king, and now, having finished that work of revelation, He turns to the final work of redemption. There is a finality in this phrase. The time for teaching is over; the time for atonement has come. He is not caught off guard. He is not scrambling. He is the one who finishes His work and then announces the next item on the divine agenda.

2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be delivered over for crucifixion.”

Notice the calm certainty in Jesus' voice. He is not predicting something He fears; He is stating an appointment He intends to keep. "You know..." He says, reminding them of the festival calendar they all understood. But He connects it to a reality they could not yet grasp. The Passover, the great memorial of redemption from Egypt through the blood of a lamb, is about to find its ultimate fulfillment. The shadow is about to be overtaken by the substance.

And who is at the center of this? "The Son of Man." This is His chosen title, linking His authority and glory (Daniel 7) with His humanity and suffering. He is not just a man being crucified; He is the Son of Man, the representative of God's people, who will be "delivered over." This passive verb is crucial. It points to a divine necessity. Judas will deliver Him, the priests will deliver Him, Pilate will deliver Him, but behind all of them is the Father delivering His Son according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23). He is not just going to die; He is going to be crucified. The specific, shameful, cursed method of death is declared in advance, showing that every detail is under His sovereign control.

The Sinister Conspiracy (26:3-5)

3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas;

While Jesus speaks with open authority to His disciples, the rulers of Israel gather in the shadows. Matthew's "Then" creates a direct and ironic contrast. At the very moment the true High Priest is announcing His sacrifice, the corrupt high priest is hosting a conspiracy. The "chief priests and the elders of the people" represent the Sanhedrin, the highest religious and civil authority of the Jews. They should have been the ones leading the people to worship the Messiah. Instead, they gather in the palace of Caiaphas, the arch-politician who had already declared it expedient for one man to die for the nation (John 11:50). They are meeting in the seat of religious power to plot the most irreligious act in history.

4 and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him.

Their purpose is laid bare: murder. And their method is telling: "by stealth." They are afraid of the light. They are afraid of the crowds who were just recently shouting "Hosanna!" They cannot arrest Him openly because His authority is manifest and His popularity, though fickle, is a threat to them. Their plan is one of deception and trickery, the native language of the serpent. They are not seeking justice; they are contriving a crime. They want to "seize" Him, to assert their power over the one who had just cleansed their temple, and then "kill Him." The contrast with Jesus, who willingly delivers Himself over, could not be more pointed.

5 But they were saying, “Not during the festival, lest a riot occur among the people.”

And here is the pinnacle of human folly and divine irony. These men, in their high council, make a strategic decision. They will kill Jesus, but they must control the timing. "Not during the festival." The city is overflowing with pilgrims for the Passover, many of whom were Galileans sympathetic to Jesus. The political situation is volatile, and their primary concern is not offending God, but preventing a riot. They are trying to manage the situation, to be prudent conspirators.

But what did Jesus just say two verses earlier? "After two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be delivered over for crucifixion." They say, "Not on the feast day." God says, "Precisely on the feast day." Their counsel is a puff of wind against the hurricane of God's sovereign decree. They think they are in charge, but their every move is being orchestrated to ensure that the Lamb of God would be slain at the very moment the Passover lambs were being sacrificed throughout Jerusalem. They are nothing more than unwitting stagehands in a divine drama, and their attempts to delay the crucifixion actually serve to bring it about at the appointed time through the treachery of Judas. God's plan will not be thwarted by the backroom deals of wicked men.

Application

This passage forces us to confront the absolute sovereignty of God in the face of human rebellion. Jesus walks toward the cross with full knowledge and authority. He is not a martyr for a cause that went wrong; He is a king accomplishing our salvation. His death was not a tragedy that God had to salvage, but a triumph that God had planned from eternity.

At the same time, we see the utter responsibility of man. Caiaphas and the elders were not puppets. They acted out of their own wicked hearts, their own envy, fear, and unbelief. They made real choices, for which they were fully culpable. God's sovereignty does not negate human responsibility; it establishes it. He uses the sinful intentions of men to accomplish His righteous purposes, without Himself being the author of sin.

For us, the application is twofold. First, we must rest in the fact that our God is in complete control. No political conspiracy, no cultural decay, no personal crisis can ever derail His ultimate plan for His glory and our good. He works all things, even the most wicked acts of men, together for the good of those who love Him. Second, we must examine our own hearts. Do we plot in secret? Do we make plans based on the fear of man rather than the fear of God? The heart of Caiaphas is the heart of every sinner, seeking to establish its own rule and dispose of the inconvenient claims of King Jesus. Our only hope is to abandon our own pathetic conspiracies and bow to the one who was delivered over for our offenses and was raised for our justification.