Preparation for Burial

Matthew 26:1-16

Immanuel – 5/25/25

          When Jesus had finished all these sayings. Chapter 26:1 marks the formal end of the Olivet Discourse. In the Olivet Discourse, chapters 24 and 25, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem and the temple complex, and prophesied the future. It is the longest record of Jesus’ prophetic teachings.

In chapter 24, Jesus foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. As we saw, his words found terrible fulfilment when Roman legions laid siege to Jerusalem, burned it to the ground, and tore the Jewish temple apart stone by stone. And all of this within one generation, about 40 years later, in 70 AD. It was the end of the age, and the decisive termination of the Jewish temple system.

In chapter 25, through a series of three parables, Jesus prophesied what the already-not-yet kingdom of God would be like – prophesies about our time. It is a kingdom with citizens who live eager and ready to meet their King, diligently working to advance the kingdom, while loving one another – even the least of these. It is an age that will end in judgment, when Christ returns to remove the goats from the sheep, and the kingdom is purified and consummated. Jesus’ teachings in chapter 25 compels us to ask, how are we living, today, in the already-not-yet kingdom of heaven?

As I’ve said, chapter 26 concludes the Olivet Discourse. But not just the Olivet Discourse; it closes our whole thematic section: from Jesus cleansing the temple in chapter 21, the confrontations with the Jewish religious establishment, the seven woes, and the apocalyptic Olivet Discourse. The section I entitled, “A Kindling Fire,” has concluded.

Today we begin a new thematic section in Matthew – the final thematic section: I’ve titled it “Crushed for Iniquity.” This is commonly called the Passion Narrative: the story detailing the cross and those events which imminently lead to the cross. Of course, we also read of what happens on the other side of the cross. This is the most difficult, sorrowful, emotional, surprising, joyful, glorious section in Matthew’s gospel.

Chapter 26 closes the Olivet Discourse and a thematic section, and it also closes something even larger. 26:1 says, When Jesus had finished all these sayings, there is a double meaning. Yes, the teachings of the discourse are over, but so are all of Jesus’ teachings in Matthew. 25 chapters of teachings and miracles; now, only one miracle is left; and instead of further teachings, there will be a commissioning.

Read vs 1-2

Passover is one of the highest feasts among the Jews, to remember when God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. In Exodus 12 we read of the terrible and final 10^th plague: In the middle of the night, the Angel of Death killed the firstborn male in all of Egypt. But before that dreadful night, God said anyone – Israelite or Egyptian – who slaughtered a lamb and spread its blood upon the doorframe of their house, the Destroyer (Hebrews 11:28) would pass over their house and spare their sons. The lamb died in place of their sons. And on that very night, Israel was freed from slavery.

Passover was a feast remembering God’s provision, a merciful protection from death, a powerful breaking of bondage, a solemn and joyful celebration. And Jesus says Passover is two days away. There are different ways to think about how Jesus may have counted days, but I think the context indicates that he is making this prediction on Tuesday, probably in the evening. It has been Holy Tuesday, the last Tuesday before the cross, since Matthew 21:18.

But the cross will not come as a surprise to Jesus. He knows he will be handed over to be crucified. He has already prophesied that Jerusalem’s leaders will hand him over to be crucified. The occupying Romans forbid the Jews from carrying out the death sentence, and they were the ones who performed crucifixions. So Jesus is clearly indicating that the religious leaders will condemn Jesus to death, hand him over to the Romans, and the Romans will crucify him. It will happen exactly as Jesus predicts. There will be no surprise.

And just as Jesus said, he would die on Passover. All the schemes of man are subject to the divine plan. From ancient times, the days of the Exodus, even before the foundations of the world were laid, God planned to sacrifice his Beloved Son as the ultimate Passover lamb.

Christ’s blood turned the cross red, just as the doorposts were bloodied in Egypt. Now any who trust in Christ’s shed blood for their salvation, God does not condemn them to eternal death, but in mercy he passes over them. By faith, the blood of Christ saves us from the consequences of our sins. Jesus dies in our place, and by faith our sins are forgiven. In that very moment of initial belief, our slavery to sin is broken and we are free!

As John the Baptist looked up Jesus and cried out in faith,

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!         -John 1:29

It is for this reason that Jesus goes to the cross: to redeem a people, forgiven and freed; to obey his Father, who from ages past planned for his Son to be crushed for our iniquity (Isaiah 53:5).

Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.                                                  -Hebrews 12:2

The Father planned for his Son to ransom a people. His people desperately needed salvation. So in joy, Jesus endured the cross. And on this Holy Tuesday, Christ knew full well that the wheels were set in motion.

For that very night, meeting in secret, Jerusalem’s religious leaders were plotting to murder him.

Read vs 3-5

Caiaphas was the High Priest in the temple. It was both a religious and political position. And history records that Caiaphas served as the High Priest from the years 18-36 AD. These accounts are not myth, not legend, but real, historical events.

From the way Matthew writes, he is indicating that a faction of the Sanhedrin gathered in Caiaphas’ courtyard. The Sanhedrin was the Jewish governing body. And because they were not meeting in the temple, but in the courtyard of Caiaphas’ palace, this was clearly a covert meeting.

Again, it seems right to me that they meet on Tuesday evening. All day long the religious leaders had opposed Jesus, unable to turn the crowds against him. All day long they had heard Jesus rebuke and condemn them. All day long the temperature had been rising, and they have reached a boiling point. Now under the cover of darkness, in a secret meeting place, they plot to kill the man from Galilee.

But they must spring their trap at the right time, because a large contingent of people in Jerusalem supported Jesus as Messiah. Only two days before, enormous crowds lined the streets shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

So they desired to find a secret way to arrest Jesus. And since Jerusalem was absolutely swollen with pilgrims for the feast, they thought it would be best to wait until after the holiday when the crowds started to die down. But that is not for another week.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a feast that remembered when Israel fled Egypt, having packed unleavened bread as their primary meal. Though Passover was a single day feast, The Feast of Unleavened Bread was seven days, and it followed immediately after Passover. Thus, when the religious leaders decide they do not want to arrest Jesus until after the feast, they’re talking about more than a week in the future.

But their timeline will not matter. God has set the time. Christ has foretold it. It will happen in two days. For on Friday the religious leaders will hand Jesus over to the Romans, and he will be crucified directly on Passover.

Holy Tuesday has been absolutely fiery, and it ends with meetings of cloak and dagger. On Wednesday, Jesus takes a break from Jerusalem, spending the day with friends in Bethany.

Read vs 6-7

We know from John’s gospel, that the unnamed woman is Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus (John 12:1-7). Some scholars speculate that Simon the leper was their deceased father. Before Simon died, had Jesus healed his leprosy? Is that how he came to know Mary, Martha, and Lazarus? We cannot know. But I think it makes for a compelling story. But for reasons I’ll get to later, Matthew does not name Mary. He only refers to her as “a woman.”

While Jesus and the disciples, with those of Simon’s household, reclined at table (probably around dinner time), the woman anointed Jesus with extravagantly expensive ointment – or perfumed oil. Again, from John, we learn the oil cost about 300 denarii – a year’s wages. In the US, the average annual income is about $65K. Did this woman really pour $65K on Jesus’ head? The family of Simon the leper had money!

A few scholars I read think the ointment was an expensive myrrh-based oil. Remember, myrrh was one of the three gifts given to Jesus by the wisemen from the east, with gold and frankincense. When I preached that sermon on Matthew 2, I said myrrh was commonly used for burial. Burial oil, given to Jesus some 30 years before. Now it is given again, 40ish hours before the cross.

The smell of it filled the room – the whole house. As the oil ran through Jesus’ hair, and beard, and clothes, the fragrance would have clung to him. Think of the way you might smell like campfire for days if you do not shower or change your clothes. But this was a magnificent smell, and everywhere Jesus went the beautiful scent followed. The disciples, too, probably carried the scent with them.

Surely, this fragrance was on Jesus even as the next few days unfolded. Did Pilate smell it? Did the soldiers who jammed the crown of thorns upon his head? When they took him down from the cross, and the mourning women held his lifeless head in their hands, did they smell from his brow the metallic tang of blood mixed with a faint memory of myrrh?

What motivated the woman to anoint Jesus with such extravagant oil? The word Messiah means Anointed One. Was she expressing her belief in his kingship? Did she understand Jesus’ predictions, and she was preparing his body for burial? Whatever she understood about Jesus, one thing is most obvious: she loved Jesus. She loved Jesus with extravagant, lavish, I-don’t-care-what-anybody-else-thinks love. Her love overflowed, and she poured it out, until all she had was emptied.

Such expressions of extravagant love often doesn’t seem very practical.

Read vs 8-9

The disciples were indignant. In the 3.5 years they have spent with Jesus, a huge portion of their ministry was caring for the poor. Interesting to consider that Jesus and the disciples ministered to the needy in very practical ways, and not always with supernatural demonstrations. It’s why their first instinct was to consider how far $65K could have gone in meeting people’s needs.

Even though their anger is misplaced, as we will see in a moment, their intentions are good. Are they not? They earnestly desire to care for the poor. So they see the ointment poured out, $65K blown in an instant, and they judged it to be less than practical, it was stupid.

They are men, rational, practical. And here is this emotional woman acting impulsively. They are indignant with her. But in all of their rational incisiveness, it seems they missed something monumental.

Read vs 10-12

Whatever the woman understood about Jesus, Jesus interprets her actions as a part of the Father’s divine plan: she has prepared his body for burial. Whether she realized it or not, in an expression of extravagant love, she was the only human to anoint the long-awaited Anointed One. Hers was the mournful honor to fragrance the body of the King of kings and Lord of lords, hours before he lay down his life.

Jesus says the poor will always be with you. There will be plenty of time to care for them. Don’t forget the parable of the sheep and goats, and the importance Jesus places on ministering to the least of these – to the poor and needy. And earnest as the disciples are, they have been unwaveringly dense. The disciples have missed what is monumental. He told them that in two days he will be dead, crucified like a criminal.

But on some level, the woman understood, and Jesus’ words struck her heart like a tuning fork. And all she could do was overflow in extravagant love for her King. Though it cost her very dearly, what an unspeakable blessing King Jesus gave her in return.

Read vs 13

Jesus prophesied that the woman’s act would be told in the whole world. Notice the powerful implication in the blessing Jesus gives to the woman. He expects the gospel to travel across the earth. He uses the Greek word, kosmos: a word for the globe, the planet, everywhere on earth.

Here we are, 2,000 years later, on the other side of the world, and the woman’s act has been told. Jesus’ prophesies are as sure as the rising of the sun.

Let me tie up a lose end. Matthew does not name Mary; he refers to her only as “a woman.” Matthew doesn’t want us to fixate on the woman, as if she is significant in and of herself. So he leaves her nameless. Rather, the Apostle wants us to focus on her action. Her action is what is significant. Like Jesus says, it is “what she has done” that will be proclaimed along with the gospel, not who she is.

Let me say this as clearly as I can. And if you get nothing else out of this sermon, get this: How you spend yourself for Jesus is the only thing that matters about you! Because a life spent for Jesus reveals a heart that has been transformed, a faith that is committed, and a love that is extravagant.

And just think about this for a moment: the woman who anointed Jesus was not trying to earn anything. Imagine it! She poured out $65K to please Jesus so he would let her into heaven?! It’s absurd! Would $65K be enough to open heaven’s doors? These thoughts were the furthest thing from the woman’s mind. She wasn’t trying to get anything from Jesus. She wasn’t trying to impress. She simply wanted to express her gratitude for Jesus, her affection, her overwhelming love for the man who gave her everything.

Isn’t this how it should be for us! We’re not trying to earn. Our works are not buying anything. We do because we love. We obey because our hearts are filled with gratitude. Affection is our driving motivation, not self-righteous attempts to prove ourselves.

Though the Olivet Discourse and a thematic section and Jesus’ teachings all concluded when chapter 26 began, those past truths flood right into our passage today.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins: live your life to be near to Jesus, expectant, ready, overflowing the oil of a burning heart.

The Parable of the Talents: Risk everything in faith. Use every moment, and every penny, to advance his name and his fame and his kingdom.

And things get even more potent when we overlay today’s passage with the Parable of the Sheep and Goats. Jesus’ is no longer physically present. After the resurrection he ascended to the right hand of the Father where he reigns with all authority over heaven and earth. He is not here in the body. As Jesus told the disciples, they would not always have him.

So what happens when we come before Jesus’ words, and they strike our hearts like a tuning fork? How can we pour out our affection for Christ our King, our Savior, and the lover of our souls; who gave his life in place of our own, who became the ultimate Passover sacrifice, the Lion of Judah and the Lamb who was slain? How are we to pour out our love for him?

There are multiple ways we could answer this. But Jesus had recently taught us the answer.

“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”                                                                    -Matthew 25:40

As Pastor Chris Tringali rightly taught last week, Jesus’ first concern are poor and needy Christians – brothers and sisters bound by faith in Jesus. We pour ourselves out for them. We love them and care for them. If we blow a year’s salary on helping the insignificant, let none of us become indignant. If it costs all kinds of money and time to cross oceans and advance the gospel, and give people what they need most (the good news of Jesus Christ) then let us happily pay it!

We don’t want to be foolish in these endeavors, we want to be wise, but we also want to lavish our love upon the body of Christ, wherever they be, however needy they are, whatever it might cost us. We do this because Jesus is worth it! Because years salary, or a 401K, or a comfortable life, is nothing compared to hearing Jesus say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34)

He has already prepared it for us. We don’t need to earn it. So should we not explode with lavish expressions of gratitude and extravagant love?! Oh, let it flow like rivers from our heart!

Then Matthew gives us a stark contrast, and a heart that has been darkened.

Read vs 14-16

Matthew gives us no indication why Judas decided to betray Jesus. But John tells us that Judas was most upset by the wasteful use of the oil. John also informs us that Judas was highly motivated by greed, stealing money from Jesus and the disciples (John 12:4-6).

I imagine Judas was motivated by greed, but also by a sense that Jesus was not the Messiah he expected. But whatever the motivation, Judas sneaks off to the chief priests, to the same men that were conspiring at the beginning of our passage. They had wanted to arrest Jesus by stealth, in a quiet place away from the crowds. Who better to identify the right moment than one of Jesus’ own disciples?

And for his troubles, Judas was paid 30 pieces of silver. Depending on the type of coin, this was at most $500. In Exodus 21:32, 30 pieces of silver was the value of a slave. 3.5 years of ministry so powerful the world would change; $500, is that all Jesus was worth to him?

Faithlessness devalues Jesus and gives him up for a cheap offer and a passing gain. Faith sees that Jesus is most precious, ready by any means necessary to gain him, eager to pour out all out of life in love for him.

I can’t help but wonder: When Judas found his opportunity, and betrayed Jesus with a kiss on the cheek, was he struck by a pleasant aroma? Or, for the betrayer, had the oil begun to carry the stench of his own guilt?

Judas’ name is remembered forever, though none of us should desire such legacy. The woman’s identity is obscured, but her deeds will live forever. Are you ready to embrace obscurity, if only you can pour yourself out for the body of Christ? For how you spend yourself for Jesus is the only thing that matters about you!

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is betrayed. Death is now hours away. His body is anointed, ready for the grave. The preparations for burial have been made. The Father’s plan, laid before the foundations of the world, is careening towards history’s most climactic moment.