LOVE'S FRAGRANT MINISTRY Matthew 26:1-13 How great the contrast between the plotting in the court of Caiaphas and the love-ministry of Bethany! Yet even there, a strain of needless sorrow was added to the cup of our Lord. While His foes were plotting His destruction, it became necessary for Him to... [ Continue Reading ]
A FALSE FRIEND EXPOSED Matthew 26:14-25 While Mary sacrificed a large sum of money to show her love to Jesus, Judas sold Him for the hire of a slave. See Zechariah 11:12. The Lord had a great desire to eat this last meal with His own; and it was a proof of His loving anticipation of the strain to... [ Continue Reading ]
A SELF-CONFIDENT DISCIPLE WARNED Matthew 26:26-35 The Passover looked back to the dread hour of the Exodus; the Supper links Calvary with the Second Advent. In partaking of it we should not confine ourselves to either retrospect or anticipation, but should endeavor to feed our souls with the very... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HOUR WHEN THE FLESH WAS WEAK Matthew 26:36-46 In human life there is a close connection between our hymns and our olive-presses. We pass from the supper to the garden, from the emblems to the reality. But not all can enter into the fellowship of our Lord's unknown sufferings. Paul longed to do... [ Continue Reading ]
BETRAYED AND FORSAKEN Matthew 26:47-56 We cannot fathom the secret thoughts of the traitor. Did he hope that his act would compel Christ to take the course of self-vindication, which His mighty acts appeared to make possible? It seems unthinkable that there was not some explanation other than mere... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TRUE ANSWER TO FALSE WITNESS Matthew 26:57-66 This meeting of the Jewish leaders had been hastily summoned; but their difficulty was to substantiate a charge that would warrant the death sentence. They had to go back to the beginning of Christ's ministry for the one charge that seemed sufficie... [ Continue Reading ]
“ASHAMED OF JESUS!” Matthew 26:67-75 What a shameful travesty of justice! When men yield themselves to violence like this, their passion condemns them as perpetrating the devil's work. But in the whirlwind of abuse and horror, the one thing that hurt our Lord was the defection of Peter, Luke 22:61... [ Continue Reading ]