Matthew 26:2

“You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of man is delivered up to be crucified.”

Matthew is constantly aware of Jesus' exact words (compare Matthew 26:27; Matthew 26:31), and of words spoken by others (Matthew 26:15; Matthew 26:61; Matthew 26:66; Matthew 26:71), the latter no doubt passed on by early converts who were present, and we have an example of it here. While the Chief Priests were still struggling in their minds as to when they would be able to deal with Him (Matthew 26:5), Jesus' words make clear that He was in no doubt as to what would happen. He knew when His hour was to be.

‘In two days.' Jesus knew that He had but two days left, and then the Passover would come and He would be delivered up by the Chief Priests and Elders into the hands of the Romans, in order for Him to be crucified. Crucifixion was a Roman form of punishment. ‘Two days' indicated a very short time, being less than the standard ‘three days' which usually indicated a short time.

The description ‘The Passover' regularly in Jesus' day indicated the whole Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12), an eight day Feast, although Passover itself, which was celebrated on the first day, commemorated God's great deliverance of His people from the angel of death, and subsequently from Egypt. On this day the Passover lambs were offered in the Temple, and then the carcases were taken to homes within the city of Jerusalem where, as their new day began in the evening, they were eaten by families who gathered for the purpose. They were eaten along with unleavened bread (all leaven having been removed from their houses) and bitter herbs. It was a time of both solemnity and rejoicing, and it reminded them that they themselves were not only a part of that great deliverance, but could look for God to again deliver them in the future. It was thus a time when great expectations were aroused. This would then be followed by the remainder of the Feast, the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The first day of the seven (on which Jesus celebrated the Passover meal and was crucified) was a special Sabbath, with a multiplicity of offerings and sacrifices being required (see Numbers 28:17), including the second Chagigah, a peace offering of which any who were defiled could not partake (thus John 18:28). Many personal thankofferings and freewill offerings would also be offered on that day. And similar offerings and sacrifices would continue throughout the seven days of the feast. On what would be to us the evening of the Sabbath, but was strictly the commencement of the second day of the feast, a sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest would be gathered, which on the next morning would be waved before the Lord. It was at this time that it was discovered that Jesus had risen from the dead, ‘the firstfruits of those who slept' (1 Corinthians 15:20). Unlike Passover, Unleavened Bread was also an agricultural feast celebrating the commencement of the first harvest of the year, but the two had become one.

“The Son of man is delivered up to be crucified.” Jesus continues to speak of Himself as ‘the Son of Man'. He wants them to recognise that Daniel 7:13 is in process of fulfilment, and that what is happening is happening in accordance with the purposes of God revealed in the Scriptures. But what a seeming contradiction in ideas. The Son of Man, who should be approaching the throne of God in the clouds in order to receive glory and kingly rule is rather to be handed over to men. However, a careful study of the passage in Daniel reveals that the One described there also comes out of tribulation, the tribulation through which His people must also pass (Daniel 7:25). Thus even there He is to come to God out of suffering.

‘Delivered up.' Humanly speaking He is being ‘delivered up' by the Chief Priests and Elders (Matthew 26:3) and by Judas (‘betrayed' is strictly ‘delivered up'). But that is only the human side. In the final analysis He is being delivered up by His Father, for with Jesus the undesignated passive verb regularly refers to God. And thus while men were convinced that they were delivering Him up, His disciples were intended to recognise that it was really God Who was delivering Him up (compare Romans 8:32). By carrying out their evil designs the Chief Priests and Elders would unwittingly be following out the purposes of God. The same had been true in the case of John years before. He too had been ‘delivered up' (Matthew 4:12) in accordance with the will of God. Jesus being ‘delivered up' (sometimes translated ‘betrayed') is in fact a theme of this passage, see Matthew 26:16; Matthew 26:21; Matthew 26:23; Matthew 26:45; Matthew 26:48, and it reminds us that God is in control even while man is doing his worst.

‘To be crucified.' Jesus now had no doubt as to what His fate was going to be. This was the Roman method of punishment, and He would know, as all knew, that there were already a number of Jews lined up to be crucified at the Feast. They were intended to be object lessons to the Jews. But He alone knew at this stage that He would be among them. Again there is the dual thought that it was both the Romans and God who would be crucifying Him. In the end all was in His hands.

We should not lose sight of what was involved. It indicated that His own people were rejecting Him and handing Him over to the Gentiles. He was being avowedly cut off from Israel. But what they failed to recognise was that by their action they were in fact cutting themselves off from God and from being His people (Matthew 21:41; Matthew 21:43), and that this would finally result in the destruction of Jerusalem.

These verses record the fourth major prediction of Jesus' death given by Him to His disciples (compare Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:22; Matthew 20:18), but only this and the previous one mention crucifixion. He was thus becoming increasingly aware of just how His death was going to be arranged the Jewish leadership, in such a way as, in their view, not to taint them.