Law & Grace - Matthew 26:1-35 Passover to the Lord's Table

Good morning. As we go through this passage here, we'll be finishing up the previous section we've been studying in the Sermon on the Mount, but in the Mount of Olives. And now starting this last section, chapters 26, 27, and 28, complete our study of the book of Matthew. So we're beginning that today.

That's why we have here in chapter 26 verse 1, when Jesus had finished, these words, when Jesus had finished, actually occur five times in the Gospel of Matthew, and they are not incidental, they actually mark out the end of major discourses, and so this is the last of them. In 728, the end of the Sermon on the Mount, it says, when Jesus had finished these words, three times more through subsequent chapters, we find this when Jesus had finished going through various sections. Chapter 13 is where the parables are, the middle of the Gospel of Matthew. And then here in 26.1, Jesus is finishing the Sermon on the Mount of Olives in contrast to the Sermon on the Mount in Galilee. So then he'd finish these words on the Sermon on the Mount of Olives and begins telling them some other things. Now, this passage that we'll be looking at has six parts, so you can count them. On one hand, maybe.

Jesus tells his disciples that in two days the Passover would come and Christ would be crucified and the Jewish leaders also would begin their plotting as described in this first part here. The next part tells about how Jesus is anointed by a woman with perfume, rather costly perfume as we'll see. Then we'll read a section about how Judas cuts a deal to betray Christ and why that would be. Show me the money is what Judas was all about.

The next part, Jesus and his disciples have the Passover as was read to us by Courtney here. And we'll discover some interesting things in that process. Next, the Lord's table is established. That's in the midst of the Passover. Jesus says words here that were not in the typical Passover. And that's, in fact, what's recorded in all four Gospels. Then they talk as they head to Gethsemane, which is at the base of the Mount of Olives.

And so we'll take a look at that at the last part. Now, you have on the front page here in this section a map. and you'll need to turn it 90 degrees to see it correctly. I'm not kidding. So, at any rate, you will need to turn it 90 degrees, either that or crank your head over, but it might be easier to turn the paper. We'll be looking at this several different times, which is why I bring it to your attention.

It's a map of the Jerusalem area in New Testament times, noting locations for different events. There's also a number series that shows the sequence between those events. We'll be returning to this map over the next couple of weeks because there are things on this map that have continuing relevance to the account that we're reading through here.

So, in verses 1 through 5, Jesus tells the disciples that in two days it will be Passover. So that would mean he told them on a Tuesday, two days will be Passover and then he would be handed over for crucifixion. So that's the first thing. Now, is that the first time he's told them that he's going to be handed over for crucifixion?

No, it is not. But we'll see more about that. Then we read also that the chief priests and the elders of Israel are meeting at the house of Caiaphas in order to plot his death. Though the evidence is not conclusive, this is believed to be Caiaphas' house. And you also see that noted on your map on page one. Since Matthew 1240, Jesus has been telling his disciples repeatedly that he would be crucified and raised on the third day. Did they get it? Did they understand? No, they did not.

So, here is this closer shot of Caiaphas' house as it's believed to be. This, however, is almost certainly Caiaphas' bone box. What the Jews would do is they would bury someone as you see was described with Jesus' body and then a year later take the remaining bones and put them in a box. This particular one has the name Caiaphas written on it, fitting with Caiaphas' high social standing and economic status. It is ornately carved unlike many of them and the age of the bones fits Caiaphas. Everything seems to fit. This is almost certainly the Caiaphas that interrogated Jesus that was buried in this box.

Here you have the map of Jerusalem and we'll point out Caiaphas residence there where that's located. Interestingly enough it is less than a hundred yards away from where it is very likely that Jesus and the disciples had the Last Supper. That's also noted on the map.

Next we see in verses 6-13 that Jesus is anointed with perfume as there in Bethany, which is a town on the back side to the east of the Mount of Olives. at the home of Simon the leper. A woman anoints Jesus with an alabaster jar of costly perfume. By the way, for people who lived in Jerusalem or around Jerusalem, it was taken as an assumption you will be having guests stay with you. during these feasts. And so what we see here, and even the Passover meal, it would have been standard fare for the people to have figured, I'm going to have guests during these feasts, right? So Simon the leper was the host, if you will, of Jesus and his disciples during this time. Now, so here, this is the route to Bethany, and you see that marked on there, be over the backside of the Mount of Olives.

The disciples object, and as a matter of fact, we find out from some of the other gospel accounts that Judas is at the head of the objection. The perfume ought to have been sold so that the money could be given to the poor and to Judas, right? So, and so here's the objection, oh, what a horrific waste. Jesus says, oh no, no, to the contrary, the poor will always be with you, but I will not. She is preparing me for my burial, and they still don't get it, right? They still don't understand. We read in verses 14 through 19 how Judas cuts a deal with the chief priests to betray Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Now you might be wondering, why is Judas necessary? Here's the deal.

When they go to arrest Jesus, they need to do so at a time when a bunch of people are not gathered around. They need, since they came with hundreds of people to arrest Jesus, They need to make sure that they've got the right spot and don't have them chasing all over Jerusalem, right?

They need, because most of these people are not going to be able to recognize Jesus in the half dark. Most of these people won't recognize him. They need somebody who will recognize him and be certain to note, here's who this guy is. And they'll need to know somebody who knows Jesus' patterns so they don't know exactly where to go get him.

And so yeah, it was worth it. Thirty pieces of silver, that was the deal. were not told exactly what denomination of silver coins Judas was given. We don't know if they were Baptist or Presbyterian or Lutheran. A few lines of evidence, however, indicate that Judas was likely paid about four months of a laborer's wages. And by the way, that amount also matches the amount that you had to compensate someone if their slave was gored by an ox. Isn't that interesting? That was the penalty that the law required there.

Jesus directs the disciples to tell a certain man, and it's interesting how that's put, that they will have Passover at his house. Now you wonder, how do they come up with a certain man? Well, it turns out As we look at this, we have an insight from Mark 14, 12 through 15, which gives the same account, but gives some detail. It will give us more detail on top of that. It reads this way. On the first day of unleavened bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, which would have been at the temple there, his disciples said to him, where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?

And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the city and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him. Now you might be thinking, is that enough information? What if there's 15 guys carrying water? Now here's the key. Culturally, men did not carry the water. And so if you see a man carrying water, that's unusual. That's why it would be a significant indicator, not just a, you know, which of 15 guys is carrying water. It would be a rare thing to see. As a matter of fact, Bruce and I saw that same pattern, and he took this picture over in Uganda. The women carried the water, even if it weighs 80 pounds, the women carried the water, right?

So Jesus said, go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him. And wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, the teacher says, so that would mean the rabbi, where is my guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And he himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Prepare for us there.

And so that's the insight we get from Mark 14, 12 through 15. You have on page two of your handout this Jewish calendar of the feasts. It has, starting with Passover, the seven Jewish feasts that are called for in the Law of Moses. So those are shown from the Passover going here to the last great day, which is the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. So those are the regular feasts called for by the Law of Moses. Hanukkah was established a couple centuries before the time of Christ, a couple centuries before, between the time of the New Testament.

It only shows up at John 10, 22, and 23, and not by that name. Pirim was from the time of Esther. So those two are the ones not from the Law of Moses. The others are spelled out in the Law of Moses. One more thing we got to point out here, and that is that Star of David. We got a Star of David in there to show you that that's Jewish. Nobody in biblical times, very likely, ever saw a Star of David. That's a fairly recent, at least in biblical time frame, a fairly recent development. So anyway, just so you know. The first Passover comes from Exodus 12, and this is what we studied in more detail some months back here.

An unblemished male year old lamb for each household. Imagine, you had to get that particular requirement for each household. So you couldn't just pick any lamb and have that suffice. It was to be roasted and served with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. And the tradition is to use horseradish. All of it was to be eaten while standing in haste and be ready for what was then the imminent exodus, taking off very early. So they would eat it standing, and that was the way it was originally done. Now that's not the way it was done after that.

The next thing, they were to rid themselves of all the leaven from the very first day of Passover and on into the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Jews were to eat unleavened bread for seven days then. This matzah is the unleavened bread. The very next morning, the Jews were to depart from Goshen and from the land of Egypt in great haste. Get out of here. This isn't a stroll along. Get moving. Get out of this place. The Jews were repeatedly told to observe these practices as a memorial for all generations. Keep on doing this.

Here is the simplified pattern of how the Jews left Egypt and went into the Sinai Peninsula and then came up into the land of Canaan from the east side. Now here's a timeline and you have this on your handout here. About 1446 BC would have been the exodus of the 12 tribes of Israel from Egypt as recorded in Exodus 12. And here Many centuries later, in 30 AD, Jesus would be having the Last Supper with his 12 disciples as recorded in all four Gospels, although the record of what was said and done in each of those is different. So this would be the timeline. You can imagine the disciples, by the time they're having this Passover, It's like they'd been through centuries of tradition. All of them had been doing Passover at their homes for as long as they could remember.

They knew it well. Whatever aspects of the Passover were required by the Old Testament, that is, by the Law of Moses, were largely maintained into New Testament times, except for certain things. For example, they didn't stand, they sat. Not in a chair, but they sat. And those were maintained. In addition to all the Old Testament requirements, those in the Law of Moses, there have been centuries of written and oral tradition, things that you should do, things that you should not do, that have been accepted practices.

The Jews would have had, by the time Jesus sat there with them in this Passover, they would have memorized these things and known exactly what the next step would be. These days, there are a number of published Passover Haggadah. you know, books and whatnot of various kinds. And you can feel free to take a look at this one afterwards. There are a great number of these kinds of things available. We used to have a number of copies available in the coffee room, believe it or not, published by Maxwell House. Anyway, okay.

The Gospels record few of the details of the Passover. Why? All the Jews would have known all the details. So what we find is in the Last Supper, most of what is recorded is actually what was exceptional, not what was ordinary. Because, after all, if they recorded all that took place, we'd have a book like that recording the Last Supper. Instead, you find the details of things that were different from the usual is what's recorded.

Here we go back to our map, and here is the location of what is believed to be the upper room. And the evidence is actually fairly strong that this is the exact place. According to tradition, this is the room where Jesus had the Last Supper. This structure over the top has been redone, so that is not original. But the lower part, including the floor, is very likely the location of the Last Supper. Here's another view from another part of the same room. Now, so Jesus was reclining at table with his 12 disciples, as was traditional, right?

Verses 21 through 25 are about Jesus identifying Judas as the betrayer. Judas' denial of being the betrayer. Not me, right? Oh yeah. And Jesus' confirmation of it. You said it, Judas. What is astounding as we look at this Last Supper. Here they are having a traditional meal. They're having it with Jesus. And here is Judas getting ready after having been paid off already by 30 pieces of silver.

Here is Judas getting ready and Jesus goes about everything fairly normally except for pointing out somebody is going to betray me, somebody here. In this artist depiction what you see is Jesus with 11 disciples and a little shadow off to the side where Judas is exiting the room.

It is amazing to me as I read this account, Jesus expressed love for Judas no different than for the others, to the point that the other disciples had no idea it was Judas. Jesus washed his feet, Jesus loved Judas, to the point no other disciple had any idea it was Judas. Isn't that amazing? Jesus loved Judas all the way to the cross. Did Judas sin? Yes. Did Jesus die for Judas' sins?

Yes. What would have been required there is unblemished male year old lamb. They would have gone to the temple to have the lamb sacrificed and served with this unleavened bread and bitter herbs. No work, similar to a Sabbath, except for the preparation of the meal itself. This would have been preparation for Passover, Thursday late afternoon.

The requirements for the Passover were given in several passages, Exodus 12 that we've been referring to, and also chapter 34. Leviticus has some additional requirements, and Numbers and Deuteronomy. Every book of Moses from the beginning of the Passover until Moses is out of the picture has something about the Passover. It's very important in the Jewish picture.

By custom, four servings of wine would have been offered at the Passover, but some things to keep in mind, the wine was diluted according to the rabbis, typically five parts water, one part wine. In addition to that, the wine was consumed with a substantial meal by law and tradition. And the wine was consumed over a period of a few hours in the typical Passover meal. And drunkenness was not encouraged or well thought of. So drinking wine, yes, but it would not be drinking to get drunk.

Each serving of the cup was for a specific purpose. Matter of fact, I looked at one Passover Haggadah. and made a big deal about the four cups. There's nothing about the four cups particularly in the Old Testament law, but by tradition, the four cups became very prominent. The four cups you have listed here are those you also have in your handout. And let's go through them one at a time. The first one, cup one, I will bring you out. This is deliverance. And with that, there would be an opening prayer for the Passover. And by the way, the Jews have a short version and a long version. But an opening prayer for the Passover. Cup 2. I will rid you of your bondage. This is freedom. You're getting out of bondage. You're now free.

At that point, over the second cup, they would explain the Passover. What is it we're about to do? What is it that we're doing? What does this represent? They would sing Psalms 113 and 114 over the second cup. The third cup, I will redeem you. This is the cup of redemption. They would eat the bread and lamb and bitter herbs in association with that third cup, the cup of redemption. And the fourth one, I will take you for my people and I will be your God. This is consummation.

They would sing Psalm 115 through 118. Those psalms that they would sing are called the Hallel. They would sing them during this Passover time. Those were also traditional to sing when you were walking to Jerusalem to go to a feast. The Hallel. You're familiar with it. Hallelujah. The praise.

Cup 1, as we read the accounts, Cup 1 is where there would be an opening prayer for the Passover celebration. It appears likely that what Luke records, Dr. Luke records for us in Luke 22, 17, describes Christ saying that blessing over this first cup. Now at the third cup is where you see most of the mention of things in the Gospels. It was during the eating of the bread, the lamb, and the bitter herbs associated with the third cup that Christ spoke of Judah's betrayal, as well as saying, this is my body and this is my blood. The betrayal and calling it, this is my body and this is my blood, those were not traditional.

Those were exceptional and that's why they're noted and recorded. The traditional things that took place would almost be left out just because every Jew knew them anyway. So this is the extraordinary thing that's recorded there. One of the key things that Jesus brings out, he says, do this in remembrance of me. This idea of remembrance of a memorial is something that's brought out from the very start. Exodus 12, 14, now this day will be a memorial to you. You will remember it. You shall celebrate as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.

Exodus 12 25 through 27 when you enter the land what's the Lord will give you as he has promised you shall observe this right and When your children say to you, what does this right mean to you? You shall say it is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians but spared our homes so he's telling them that Here is what you're to say on leaving Egypt, and when you get to the promised land, then you say this. When you've gotten there, remember, and this is what you say, so you tell your children what this is about. So when Jesus says, and this is not part of the traditional Passover, verbiage and whatnot when Jesus takes the bread and after a blessing he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said now this is exceptional take eat this is my body and they were baffled I guarantee it they had no idea this is my body they didn't understand this I'm going to be handed over to be crucified that just didn't register take eat this is my body where's that in the Passover Haggadah right they would have been Totally shocked and wondering, what on earth is he talking about? But Jesus was establishing what we have come to call the Lord's Table. This is the exceptional thing that took place there. This is my body which is given for you. Luke 22 records this, verse 19. Do this in remembrance of me.

First Corinthians 11.24 records a very similar thing. Do this in remembrance of me.

That's the significance. Take ye, this is my body. It's not that the food does something when you put it in you. It doesn't do something spiritual. What it does is it brings this to remembrance that he gave his life. That's what it's for. You know that it wasn't until 220 AD, over a century after John had died, that people in the church started to think that eating that bread did something to you. And drinking from the cup did something to you. So then, it says, and when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them saying, drink from it all of you. So far, that's fairly normal.

For this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins." That was extraordinary. That they were stunned and puzzled by. 1 Corinthians 11.25 also has this, the cup, in remembrance. It's in remembrance is the point there. Now, Jesus mentions a covenant. The old covenant with Israel was under the law of Moses. That was the Old Covenant, the First Covenant, as the Bible sometimes calls it. The New Covenant will be enacted, be put in place, in the yet-to-come Millennial Kingdom. The people of Israel will all have, under the New Covenant, they will all have the Holy Spirit.

All of them, all the time, will be empowered to know and to live out the Law of Moses from the heart. Without a teacher, it says, no rabbis. No rabbis. They won't need it because the Jews will know it from the heart. That will be from the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Does the empowerment and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in you now cause you to know the Law of Moses from the heart? No, it does not. How many of you know the Law of Moses from the heart? Me neither. Okay. They will live the law and they will all be blessed because Deuteronomy 28, Leviticus chapter 26, both of those say if you do the law you'll be blessed and here's how you would be blessed.

Now here's God's covenants with Israel. We start there with the covenant with Abraham about 2100 BC, Genesis 12, 1 through 3 as we looked at last week. And then following that, Moses, the covenant with Moses, just shortly after the Exodus. And next, the land covenant as they enter the promised land. And thirdly, the covenant with David. You will have a descendant sit on the throne, a house, a throne, and a kingdom.

And then finally, the new covenant, and spelled out in Matthew 31, 31 through 34, and almost a dozen passages all together. So we just list some of them here. The timeline is this. The covenant is promised in Isaiah 59, 21, and a few others in Isaiah, Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34, and other parts of that context, and entire chapters of Ezekiel 37 and 38. Those are the covenant promised.

The covenant is confirmed by Jesus' death on the cross. Let me give you some explanation on that. Remember, Abraham had a covenant with the Lord. What did Abraham do? He had a sacrifice to confirm the covenant, right? Same thing with Noah. God made a covenant with Noah. What did he do? He had a sacrifice.

So in order to confirm the covenant, the new covenant, Christ died as the sacrifice to confirm the new covenant, it will be implemented and fulfilled and enacted in the coming kingdom, which Jesus mentions there. And we'll see shortly. Christ's intent was to have believers remember him for what he has done for us and for who he is. The intent was also to have believers anticipate his coming.

His coming in two ways. One, His coming for us, because at this same event, he says, this is John chapter 14, behold, I go to prepare a place for you, and I'm gonna take you to myself. And as we explained in the previous elective here, those were wedding words. Those were wedding words. His coming for us, the rapture, I hope it's today. I hope it's today.

And also His coming, our coming with Him into the kingdom where we will sit at table with Him. Jesus says in Luke 22, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes. What kingdom of God comes? Not the church. He's not sitting down there and drinking this stuff. It will be in the millennial kingdom when Christ comes again. That's what he's talking about.

1 Corinthians 11.26 that the Apostle Paul writes about is until he comes. The spiritual value in the Lord's table is in the remembrance. In the Remembrance, we have these comparisons between Passover and the Lord's Table. The Passover was done under law as the reigning principle. All the Jews that took it were baptized into Moses.

1 Corinthians 10.2 The Lord's Table, on the other hand, is all under grace as the reigning principle for all of us who are baptized into Christ. Passover is a memorial for Israel about what God has done. For us, the Lord's Table is a memorial for the church about what God has done. The Passover looks back to the Exodus and forward to God's salvation. The Lord's Table looks back to the cross and forward to His coming.

See that? There are things that are comparable and there are things that sharply contrast. And I'm very glad to be able to tell you that grace contrasts with law immensely. Here is a chart. You have this on your handout as well on page 4. Here is a chart, the first half of which shows Israel looking back to the Passover and to the Exodus and looking forward to Christ's coming. What do you mean looking forward to Christ's coming?

Isaiah 53 describes the Lamb. The Lamb being sacrificed for us. They look forward to Christ's coming. Psalm 22 is about the crucifixion of Christ. Those two places you can look and very quickly see that. The church now is in a similar looking back and looking forward position. We look back on Christ's death, remember his death, and we look forward to when he comes. So both the Jews and ourselves in the church have a looking back and a looking forward.

This Last Supper was the handoff, if you will, between the Jews' Passover and the Lord's Table. It's a beautiful pattern and it all fits. It's even completed by this, for Christ, our Passover, has also been sacrificed. Do we have a Passover? Yes, Christ. Christ, our Passover.

1 Corinthians 5. Now John includes in these words things that Matthew does not. Matthew is just the facts, and matter of fact, he records the things that are exceptional, not the things that every Jew would have known by heart anyway. But John records some wonderful words, tremendous words.

Those are in chapters 14, 15, and 16. This chapter 14 is where Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you. that where I am you may be also, to bring you to myself." Chapter 15, he tells them, abide in me. Chapter 16, he's telling them about the Holy Spirit's work. This is all wonderful stuff, and at the time they're not having a clue what he's talking about, but they remember it later. In the garden, John records Chapter 17, a prayer to the Father.

These are tremendous things, and by the way, our identification with Christ and His death is in these things. It's revealed in these chapters. While only the Apostle Paul explains our identification with Christ, John does express our identification with Christ in these chapters, and he even emphasizes something more so than Paul, and that's spiritual intimacy, our spiritual intimacy with Christ. Abide in me, Christ said.

Now I have it on purpose here, a reverse contrast, black background, white lettering. Matthew 26, 30-35 says, After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Now let's have a little bit of a question here to ponder. Did they take torches? Did they need torches? What do you think? Well, let's find out. What phase was the moon at? Here. Which one? Well, it turns out, of course, as you know, the moon goes through various phases. And the definition of when you're going to have Passover is the day after the full moon that follows the spring equinox.

So it would have been very close to a full moon just one day after that full moon or one night. And so it would have looked about like this. It would have been that much of a moon, nearly a full moon out that night. So in terms of walking, they could probably do OK even without torches or lanterns or lamps.

Here is the Garden of Gethsemane. You have it on the map on the first page. I'll leave it to you to decide whether to turn the page or your head. But anyway, so here's the Garden of Gethsemane. It is at the foot of the Mount of Olives at the northwestern part.

So then Jesus said to them, you will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. That's, of course, from the Old Testament. But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee, which John records. Now, so it's a moonlit night, and Jesus is telling them this. And you think they say, oh, OK.

No, it's not what happens. Peter said to him, even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away, because I'm Peter. And Jesus said to him, truly I say to you that this very night before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Peter said to him, If I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And all the disciples said the same thing too. Yeah, me too. Yeah, me too. Yeah, yeah, me too. Right? They all said that.

Then they headed to the Garden of Gethsemane. Now, Gethsemane was the word for an olive press or an olive oil press, right? And so this is one. This one actually is in Capernaum. Here is that alongside some others. This is another form of it with the rotating press head there. So that's how it would be done. And they would press the oil out of the olives with a device like this.

So that's what a Gethsemane is. As a matter of fact, instead of calling it the Garden of Gethsemane, we could call it the Garden of the Oil Press. Same thing, right? So the Garden of Gethsemane was there at the northwestern foot of the Mount of Olives. You have it shown here, the Garden of Gethsemane would be in this portion. It was called the Mount of Olives due to the olive trees that were at least originally on it.

Now, especially towards the western side, it's covered with all sorts of tombs and bone boxes, but it has all the trees now. The trees in it are very old. There was some speculation that some of them might have been there with the time of Christ, but apparently some subsequent studies, the oldest ones are maybe about 900 years old.

So no, they weren't there during the time of Christ's presence there. But nonetheless, this is the location of the Garden of Gethsemane. This is where Jesus would have headed with the disciples. And so here's a a picture of the trees and where things are situated now.

But we're going to, in the couple weeks ahead here, going to be looking at the trial, Jesus' accusations against him, questions, interrogations, We'll even see instances, for example, where here's Caiaphas, who, by the way, is a Sadducee and doesn't believe in the Messiah. He asks Jesus point-blank, face-to-face, are you the Messiah? Which, of course, he doesn't believe, so that's tongue-in-cheek. So Jesus' claim to be Messiah to him would obviously be false, since there is no Messiah.

The trial before Pontius Pilate which to our surprise was actually just sort of a publicity stunt. And the crucifixion, which I think will also hold a surprise. But it's in that crucifixion where our identification with Christ begins. And so something that's not mentioned in Matthew ends up being pivotal for the rest of the New Testament.

So these are some very critical and deep passages we're going to be looking at here over the next few weeks. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we look at this. Because you love us so much, you've given us understanding and insight through your word and through your Holy Spirit's work in our hearts. And we thank you as we come to this very critical moment, this moment that had a number of things transact including our identification with Christ. We just thank you for what you've revealed and how even with the disciples over years of time they came to understand through a series of aha moments more and more of what you accomplished that night when they were so afraid. And we thank you that in the midst of that even comes the appeal from our Lord that we not be afraid and our hearts not be troubled, that we believe in you. We thank you, Lord, for this assurance that we have. In Jesus' name, amen.