Messages from Matthew: Pursuing Different Goals at Passover (Matt 26:14-19)

MESSAGES FROM MATTHEW ON THE MINISTRY OF JESUS:
Pursuing Different Goals at Passover (Matt 26:14-19)

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Dr. Paul Manuel—2017
 

Sometimes a person who is dissatisfied with his income will want to supplement that income.

Unfortunately the way Andy chose to supplement his income was illegal and got him sent to prison, where he realized that he needed a different occupation. The warden saw that deep down Andy was a good person and made arrangements for him to learn a trade while doing his time. After three years, Andy was recognized as an excellent carpenter, and the warden would often give him a weekend pass to do odd jobs for people in the community. The warden was in the midst of remodeling his kitchen at home and, in fact, had done much of the work himself. All that remained was to cut out and attach the butcher block countertop. For this, the warden would need help, so he called Andy into his office and asked him to complete the job. Alas, Andy declined. "I'd really like to help you, Warden, but I dare not.... Counter fitting is what sent me to prison in the first place."

Sometimes a person who is dissatisfied with his income will want to supplement that income. Judas was dissatisfied with his income, so he decided to supplement it by betraying Jesus. As a result the two men ended up Pursuing Different Goals at Passover.

 

Judas and Jesus both have goals they want to meet. Judas's goal is selfish: He wants to benefit by profiting off another man's loss. Jesus' goal is selfless: He wants to benefit by having others profit off his loss: "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matt 20:28).

I. Judas is concerned with profit (vv. 14-16).

Matt 25:14 One of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and asked, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?" So they counted out for him. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

A. He asked about the possibility of betrayal...
B. He asked about the price for betrayal.

After confirming that the religious elite are interested in arresting Jesus,¹ Judas negotiates a price for his betraying the rabbi, "thirty pieces of silver." It is "a basic wage for two or three months" and the minimum price of a slave (Nolland 2005:1060).² Too late Judas realizes that his decision has unwelcome consequences. Perhaps he did not believe the authorities would follow through with their threat to kill Jesus or he thought the arrest would force Jesus to reveal his messianic identity.³ Either way, Judas regrets his betrayal and returns the silver: "Judas threw the money into the temple and left" (Matt 27:5a). Returning the money does nothing, however, to assuage his conscience,⁴ because "he went away and hanged himself" (Matt 27:5b).⁵

Judas's betrayal of Jesus was a despicable act, and his subsequent suicide did not atone for his sin, but neither did it seal his fate by condemning him to perdition. If he is suffering eternal punishment, as Luke's epitaph in Acts implies ("to go where he belongs" Acts:1:25), it is not because he took his own life. Suicide is not a "mortal sin," unforgivable as the Catholic Church designates it. It is not a sign of divine condemnation.⁶ Others in scripture have committed suicide and without any additional stigma that their act doomed them to damnation:⁷ Indeed, to take one's own life is a sign of despair, a conviction that one's situation is hopeless and without the possibility of any change for the better, but it may also evince a lack of faith in God's ability to help one through a difficult period. Suicide is rarely the solution to a problem:⁸ and God's people should always promote hope in His ability to help anyone contemplating suicide. Moreover, they must not assume to know God's disposition of a person's fate absent clear evidence about that individual's life.
 

Application: If someone you know is considering committing suicide, recognize the sense of hopelessness that drives such a decision and do not simply deny it. For that person despair is very real. What you can and should do is listen(!) and, as the opportunity allows, try to inject a measure of hope that his situation is not out of God's control and ability to work for good.⁹ God can use you to dispense His compassion to others: He "comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (2 Cor 1:4).
 

Judas's goal is to accumulate profit on this holiday and nothing more. Jesus goal is to celebrate Passover on this holiday and much more.

II. Jesus is concerned with preparation (vv. 17-19).

Matt 25:17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" 18 He replied, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house." 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

A. He suggested the place for the service.
B. He supervised the planning of the service.

Whether or not Jesus knew the man who would host that year's seder, Jesus did know it would be the last seder before his death.¹⁰ Therefore, it must have been especially difficult (emotional) for Jesus,¹¹ the consolation being his knowledge that he would yet observe it: "I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God" (Luke 22:16). While Judas cared only for immediate gratification— and even that was short lived—Jesus had a much longer view.
 

The service was probably very much like what other Jews observed that evening, with traditional recitations, prayers, and songs. To the traditional service, Jesus adds two features that were not present in their previous observance of the holiday:

• Covenant renewal

"This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you" (Luke 22:20).

• Foot washing

"Now that I...have washed your feet, you...should wash one another's feet" (John 13:14).

Perhaps Jesus adds these elements because he wants them to rethink what they do every year and consider it in a new light.

 

Judas thought he was in control both of his fate as well as of Jesus' fate, and, although he did have some control over his own fate, he did not control Jesus' fate. As Jesus himself said. "No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.... This [prerogative] I received from my Father." (John 10:18). It was a position Jesus reiterated to Pilate: "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above" (John 19:11a).

 

Application: Certain aspects of life are out of your control. You do not decide when you will enter this world and, in most cases, you do not decide when you will exit it. But much of what happens in between, how much you devote to your God and how much you devote to your self, you do get to decide. For most people the scale tilts sharply to one side, the selfish side, and they will reap the consequences of those choices..¹² If in your case the scale tilts in the opposite direction, toward pleasing God, then as you contemplate the end of life, you can take comfort in the knowledge that it is not really the end, that God has good things, great things, ahead for you, including a role in His kingdom. In fact, "God [has] chosen [you] to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him" (Jms 2:5).
 

These few verses contrast two versions of Pursuing Different Goals at Passover, the final holiday with Jesus and the disciples, one of whom is absent for much of the seder. By pursuing his own goal Judas misses the far better goal that Jesus has for his followers, a place in the kingdom of God.

For a pdf with Bibliography and Endnotes go here.