Matthew 26:14-27:66

If one is reading the scriptures as a part of the Sunday liturgy, as the writer of 1 Timothy told Timothy to do (“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture…” 1Timothy 4:13) and as was the custom in the very early church (After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.” Colossians 4:16), then I’m thinking we won’t have time to preach. Since this is Palm Sunday, as well as Passion Sunday, we evidently have a lot of scripture reading to do!

I’m thinking that most churches in our evangelical tradition will opt to celebrate this Sunday as Palm Sunday. That is so much more fun. Children can be involved in the worship service by having them wave palm branches and there are so many praise songs from which to choose. Psalm 118, which is the reading for Palm Sunday, is much more pleasant than Psalm 31, which is the Passion Sunday reading, (and certainly more pleasant than Psalm 22, which is the Roman Catholic reading). So the question as to how to incorporate 127 verses (2,181 words) of the passion narrative, from Matthew 26 and 27 into a worship service won’t be an issue in a lot of churches. In truth, I don’t know how to do that. I’m still trying to figure that one out myself.

With that said, it should be noted that Matthew devotes 16.5% of his gospel to the passion narrative, if you begin it with the first verse of Matthew 26. (There are 18,345 words in Matthew’s gospel and these two chapters contain 3040 of them. You can check my math.) The 19th century German theologian Martin Kahler said that the gospel of Mark was a “passion narrative with a long introduction” and if that is true for the gospel of Mark, then it is truer for the gospel of Matthew. Evidently, Matthew thought that the passion of the Christ was a pretty crucial part of the story of Jesus. If we don’t read what Matthew evidently thought was an important part of the story on this Sunday, then I’m guessing we never will. And what are we preaching if we’re not preaching the cross? (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-25) Maybe it’s worth trying to figure out how to read from these two chapters, as most folk will not be attending our Maundy Thursday or Good Friday services. And the good news is, if we do, we probably won’t have much time to preach!

But that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be a lot to say.  This narrative includes, in order, Judas planning Jesus’ betrayal, the last supper, Jesus’ prediction of the disciples’ cowardice, Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s denial even before the night was over, Jesus’ solitary prayer of submission in the Garden of Gethsemane (accompanied as He was by sleeping disciples), Judas’ betrayal with a kiss, Jesus’ healing the high priest servant, who was injured in the skirmish in the garden, Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas with evidence presented by false witnesses, Peter’s denial before harmless servant girls, Judas’ remorse, Jesus silence before Pilate and his accusers, Pilate’s wife dream and warning, Pilate’s washing of his hands of the whole matter, Pilate’s release of the revolutionary Barabbas, the crowd crying for Jesus’ crucifixion, the Roman soldiers flogging, mocking and spitting on Jesus, Jesus’ crucifixion, Chief priests, crowds and two thieves mocking Jesus on the cross (“save yourself”), Jesus’ cry of Psalm 22:1, Jesus’ second cry, Jesus’ giving up of His spirit, The temples’ curtain being torn, Many dead raised (with the caveat that this happened after Jesus’ resurrection), the women watching from a distance, Jesus’ burial in a borrowed tomb, and finally, Pilate securing the tomb with Roman soldiers. So what is Matthew doing here?  

In short (or not so short), Matthew is revealing Jesus as the solitary obedient suffering servant. He’s revealing Jesus as exclusively trusting His Father with his life… and death. He’s revealing Jesus as one who would wait to be justified by God. He’s revealing Jesus as absolutely alone save His Father’s vindication.

He’s revealing Jesus as living out the other lectionary readings of the day… Psalm 31:9-16, Isaiah 50:4-9 and Philippians 2:5-11. He’s revealing Jesus as living out the ethic found in this Gospel’s Sermon on the Mount.

Here is what Matthew is revealing Jesus not doing. Fighting for His rights. Defending Himself. Arguing about who’s right. Vindicating Himself.

So this passion narrative is the story of solitary Jesus actively trusting Himself absolutely to His Father’s care.

And the message: “Would that we leave our vindication so completely in God’s hands.”