“The Passover & the Son of Man” Matthew 26-27

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Well, take your copy of God’s holy, inerrant, inspired, sufficient word and let’s go to the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 26. Chapter 26.
When you hear a sense of what I’m planning to do today, Lord willing, in the message you may have wonder you may wonder from the service that we just the beginning of the service and our songs and so forth and the passage of scripture or the passage out of the London Confession of Faith how this all ties together. We’ve talked about we’ve read about the Passover. We’ve talked about communion from the confession. We had a message about the cross in song from brother Andrew and all of those sort of, When I Survey the Wonders Cross. How does that all come together?

Well, Lord willing you will see how if I’m able to put this all together as a another atypical kind of a message this morning taking a very, very lengthy passage of scripture having 10 points just to scare you a little bit, but we will have 10 points today. But a lot of them really don’t take a lot of explanation because we come at this time of the year, Easter time, and today being Palm Sunday that we, you know unfortunately sometimes go, “oh no, well we’ll hear about donkeys and hear about palm branches and all of that.”

Well, we’ve already covered that in The Gospel according to Matthew. We’re actually already in the week and sometimes I’m afraid that as God’s people and you know we go from one spring to another spring to another spring and we hear about the triumphal entry and then we, on Sunday, and then many churches have a good Friday service, and we hear about the crucifixion and then Sunday on Easter we hear a sermon on Resurrection and we think about well that was pretty much all that happened. And what we’re finding out is in The Gospel according to Matthew no there was a whole lot that went on. There was instruction to his enemies on the woes of the pronouncements of Woe upon the scribes the Pharisees the Hypocrites. There was a time he went off and did privately and we ended up with that section of Matthew 24 and 25. All of the instruction on the Olivet Discourse, it’s taken us a while to get through that. Last week we took a big chunk of that just so we could see how that all flowed together and the importance of it all and Jesus preparing his disciples for his soon and upcoming death.

Well now we come to chapter 26 and we come to this new section as it were that it is interestingly put together and only just that much more convinces me that Matthew, the author of this gospel, had a plan and he was putting things together. And he tells us things that really we don’t really find out some of the issues that we’ll be looking at today you can’t find them anywhere else but in The Gospel according to Matthew.

Now that doesn’t mean that they’re not true as what some might try to say. But it just means that Matthew took facts that were true and thought that they were important to what he wanted to prove the fact that Jesus is the king. That he is the Messiah. And it was a Jew, writing about a Jew, to the Jews, and this was all important in that first century. But also would include us for being Gentiles in the year 2023. So, we’re going to take a look at this passage of Scripture in maybe a little bit of a unique way.

Now this past week and yesterday, both Saturday and then Friday, our church had this rummage sale. And those just don’t happen overnight, but you were very, very good and helpful to us. In mostly just postponing when you brought your things so that we didn’t have to move them too many times and we’re very thankful for that. However there’s a lot of preparation.
So Thursday, well let’s face it Wednesday night during and after prayer meeting, there was a lot of prep and a lot of putting into the gymnasium and the setup and then the pricing. Oh, I’m just glad that wasn’t delegated to me but you know they had to put tables and get ready for all of those things.

Well, we also had at least one of our deacons and his wife that went through our one place where we call storage. It just means that’s where we throw all the junk that we’re not going to probably use again. And they went through and they kind of found some stuff up in the attic over in that the gymnasium.

Well, one of the pieces that they found was this big block of board and we’re trying to figure out “what is that?” It kind of looked a little bit like a dinosaur. Not really, it’s just a square thing, but you know a dinosaur – something left over from ages ago – and the best that we could come up with is it was the board that you would put on two pews out there to put your slide projector on. Now, you hear the laughter because you probably know what a slide projector is and others are saying “what’s that now?”

You know, we’re talking olden days. That is like when you had missionaries or if you were going to have another and it’s a kind of a presentation where a slide projector is this machine. It’s kind of like a camera only it doesn’t take pictures. It shows pictures and you get a little tiny slide of which have no purpose in life unless you have a slide projector. And slide projectors are okay they show up and they make pictures big but they’re not the quality of pixels that we can get out of different kinds of projectors that we have today. It’s just old and you know you thought back in the day you had really achieved it if you had a slide projector and all you had to do is push a button and they would automatically change.

Then you would get what was called a magazine and that’s not something you got in the mail that was a piece of paper with a bunch of pictures in it. A magazine was a square box that you put your slides in and you would and this thing would automatically proceed and you could see pictures and we were talking about that and so forth and thinking, “Wow! Memories!”

Well, it got me to thinking about, I confess I still have a slide projector, and I still have slides in my garage. My son says you know you can get those transferred. I’m just thinking “transferred to what?” You know, but no I knew what he meant by that. But you know, pictures and those that people that had slides had pictures that, you know, they’ve never gotten them transferred. And those pictures don’t mean anything to them.

And then there’s those of us that bought those little cheap cameras. Some were Polaroid and those were just the ones that were too cheap to wait to take it to the drugstore to get them developed. And those pictures are not very clear, and they get old. I had a Polaroid automatic thing you could just pull it out and it would just, Presto chango, develop right there in your hand. I thought that was pretty cool. Then you had this really terrible stuff that you’d wipe over it to supposedly seal it. But pictures and then what do you do with all these pictures?

Well, some people put them in boxes. I have those in my garage also and then, sometimes if they were like of your kids, and you wanted to at least pretend that you loved your kids, you put them in. All so that you could find them again. So, you would have the pictures of your first child a lot and you go back and you just look at these pictures.
Pictures are wonderful things. Photography is a wonderful gift and some people are so good. But you know, you need to be able to retrieve your pictures. You need to be able to preserve your pictures. You pictures are, if they’re done well, they have like main characters, but then you look for backdrops and backlighting. You have to understand the context in which, what you know, “what kind of a birthday party was this?” “how old was the child at that point?” Pictures are a wonderful blessing.

Well, this morning what I want us to do is that to look at really Matthew chapter 26 and 27 and to see there 10 pictures in the passion week that we simply cannot overlook. That sometimes we do things that Matthew has, I think, purposefully given to us. And I think you’ll see it as we go through because it ends up coming up, “why would this be here?” “why would he put this in this position?”

The Bible was not written haphazardly. It was written by the third person of the godhead who used Matthew, in this case, to write down exactly what he wanted. And so today what I want us to do is to consider 10 pictures of the passion week. And so we don’t overlook it, now this happens at the end. We’ve only got 26, 27, 28, then the gospel of Matthew is complete.

It is also comes at, as Matthew chapter 26, it follows the last of the five main discourses that are found here which started, if you remember, at The Sermon on the Mount.

You have your basic introduction in the first four chapters, and then you’ve got The Sermon on the Mount and the discourses are mentioned and concluded in chapter 7. Then another discourse at the end of chapter, well at the end of chapter 10 and discuss there at 11:1. Then you’ve got the end of chapter 13, chapter 19, and then the last discourse that we have seen in the gospel of Matthew was what he wrote in the teaching concerning the scribes the Pharisees and the Hypocrites, and the instruction there in chapter 23, and ultimately then in chapter 24, and and so forth. And so we’ve get this this idea of the narrative conclusion that is before us now.

And then there’s something else that we find. He has been giving the forewarning in the gospel of Matthew concerning himself and what’s going to happen. He was teaching his disciples and he had given them the forewarning that he would be crucified and would be put to death and then he would rise again from the dead. So that for example you can just listen as I read in 16:21.

We read, “and from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priest and the scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.” And Peter took him aside and rebuked him saying no Lord you don’t want this to happen, and he had to rebuke Peter, if you remember. But in chapter 16 he has started the list of warnings: I am going to go to Jerusalem, they’re going to put me to death, but I will rise on the third day.

It was also stated in chapter 17 and verse 22 “and as they were gathering in Galilee Jesus said to them the son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men they will kill him and he will be raised on the third day and they were greatly distressed.” That would be his disciples. And so that’s chapter 17.

Then in chapter 20 we have another warning that he gives to them. In chapter 20 and verse 18 the Bible says, “this we see that we’re going up to Jerusalem and the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priest and to the scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked” and you can see this one’s giving more information. But it doesn’t even stop there, “deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and to be flogged and to and crucified and he will be raised on the third day.”

So, they’ve grown in the Revelation he’s given them. Specifically what’s going to happen. They don’t necessarily like that message and what’s going to happen. And now we come then right after that in chapter 21 is the triumphal entry passage that we read.

Now, in chapter 26, it’s basically going to be Jesus saying “okay I’m done teaching now, the discourses are over now.”

What is he going to say? “and when Jesus had finished all these sayings.” I think that includes all of the discourses of his public Ministry – his teaching basically fulfilled. “when Jesus had finished all these things, he said to his disciples” and here we go again, “you know that after two days the Passover is coming,” hence we’ve read about the Passover.

It was in this time of year, “the Passover is coming and the son of man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Period. He doesn’t talk about the resurrection here. Now does that mean that Jesus no longer thinks that in three days that God will raise him up from the dead? It’s kind of a blatant omission. Why would that be missing?

Well, I think part of the reason why it is missing is not because the resurrection is not going to take place, because it did, and it went just as what he said. But it’s because he’s entering a section that from this point on, all the way, till he’s going to be done writing about the crucifixion. He wants this to stand as a unit.

We saw that in the Sermon on the Mount there were sections. We saw that in the last one of the Olivet Discourse how there were sections. And you had to consider the whole section including the parables. They were the same, but they were maybe further expand on. He wanted that unit considered and that’s what I want to do this morning.

So, we’re going to go, in a sense, that he says that it’s coming. It’s coming in two days. The Passover and all of this is going to go on and it’s going to relay a story and, as it were, the Spirit of God is going to give us photographs of individual events that he doesn’t want us to miss. So, and we’re going to put this in a photo album this morning and call it photographs of the passion week.

I want us to consider this from the moment of 26 in chapters 26 and 27 these 10 photographs in our photo album of these things. Now notice what it says beginning in verse 3. Then you see he begins the narrative of the drama of the passion week. “Then the chief priests and the elders and the people gathered in the Palace of the high priest whose name was Caiaphas.” Beautiful situation, important place, but what are they doing? “and they plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.”

That’s nasty. They go to this beautiful place, the upper echelon, the elite of the religious sects of Judaism, and then they go to a beautiful place. They go to a special place of meeting and they plot, with stealth, to kill him.

Now, that is, okay, well, we pretty well knew that. We knew because we’ve told been told that throughout the Gospel according to Matthew. That they’re plotting to kill him. They don’t like him. They don’t like what he says. They can’t refute him. They’ve tried to catch him in his words. They can’t do that and everything. Now they have this official meeting in this beautiful place and they’re going to want to kill him.

But with this, but I think this next verse is point made. “but they said not during the feast lest there be an uproar among the people. So, their plan is, “we’ll get him after the Passover. Get him after all of this and it’ll be done.”

Question. Did their plan work? No. Cuz it is going to happen during Passover. It is going to happen. He said “and in two days.” So, this is a way that the spirit of God communicated through Matthew. And this particular thing. Jesus Christ is the one in control. He says “in two days all of this is going to take place. It’s the Passover. I’m the Passover Lamb,” as what Pastor Ryan made mention of this morning as he, before he read the Passover Scripture. He is the one. His blood would be shed to divert the wrath of God like it did in the Old Testament. And he’s the one in control.

Jesus Christ is not the victim. He’s the one in control. Yes, it is true they wanted to kill him. It is true that he would be turned over to the Gentiles, just as he said. But it was not according to Caiaphas’s predictions it was according to what Jesus had said.

And it begins, “now when Jesus had finished all of his teaching.” Now we’re going to go into this passage, this passion week, and it’s all going to be about this that he was the one in control and that he will be delivered up and I want to take you to the crucifixion there in verse 2.

Now as we come to these particular kind, of as I said, this photo album. Now what are some of the pictures? And there’s more than just 10, but there’s 10, I think, that just boldly stick out. And we can quickly go through this.

And I’ve already made mention some of the first picture is the picture of the past Passover. The whole account is found in Exodus 7-10 and this is the time that the blood, you remember, this was the time that God, it was going to be the last of the judgments upon Egypt. God said “let my people go,” Pharaoh said “no.” That was a wrong mistake. And then they practiced the Passover. They took the blood put it over the door. “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” And we understand what that all means.

So, the Passover. This is a picture of the Passover. He said it will be during the Passover. “I am the Passover Lamb.” When you go, and we’re going to find out, when they go to prepare the Passover, then he’s going to bring in the church and there’s a picture of the church. That’s in this album that we need to see. As the ordinance of communion is established, the Apostle Paul in First Corinthians, in the first century, he will reflect back over, “in the same night in which Jesus was betrayed he took bread.” And it was all in the preparation of the Passover and the Passover Lamb and all of what was to be done there.

So, there’s a picture of the Passover in this passion week. We sometimes forget about all of that. The fact that God makes right on his promises. That there is a picture of God’s Deliverance through the shed blood. The blood of Jesus Christ needed to be shed. The crucifixion, he said, “it’s coming and I will be crucified. I will shed my blood. It is required.” That is a picture that we have beginning in chapter 26.

Not only do we have the picture of the Passover we have the picture of total human depravity. The evil heart of man. That God’s ways are not man’s ways. God’s thoughts are not man’s thoughts. Jesus is in control. The chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace, the high place, the nice place, where clean people, good people go, right? “The high priest whose name was Caiaphas and he plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and to kill him.”

Caiaphas had a long reign. Longer than most and it was because he knew how to deal with his enemies. Enough said. But they said, “not during the feast lest there be an uproar among the people.” They’re more worried about the uproar than that they are soon to, and they’re seeking the death of God’s son. The Messiah. Of whom they could not disprove. Of whom they could not shortchange. They just wanted him dead.
The depravity of the heart of man. That he had proven to them, he had taught them, he had validated his messiahship by the miracles, and they would have nothing to do with him. A clear picture of depravity.

Now, the one thing that, kind of, as I would read this passage, and I thought, “Wow! Yeah, you know how terrible that was.” But then I wondered, why does verse 6 follow verse 5?

“Now, when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper.” That is where he was staying during that week, not staying in Jerusalem. Probably because Jerusalem was overrun by people because they have said that it might have swelled seven times with the people going to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

So, Jesus is in a private property during this week and it says, “now when Jesus was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment and she poured it on his head and reclined at the table. And when the disciples saw it they were indignant” (they were angry) “saying why was this waste for it could have been sold for a large some of money and given to the poor. But Jesus was aware of this and he said to them ‘why do you trouble this woman for she has done a beautiful thing to me for you always have the poor with you but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it in to prepare me for burial. Truly I say to you wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world what she has done will also be told in memory of her.’” So, we have just remembered, and Jesus, the proof is in the pudding, and it’s still being said.

Okay, it’s kind of like, “and Caiaphas with stealth is trying to kill him,” and then “there was this beautiful woman who comes and anoints a head with oil because she loved.” Now, we happen to know in the other gospels, there’s a lot more to that story. But we don’t have that. All the Holy Spirit wanted to get in here is that there’s people that want him dead and there’s a few that worship Him and are willing to take very expensive and extravagant oil to worship the Son of God. Another photograph.

There is this, just a picture. A glimpse. A short story. Not necessarily, you know, like a full sermon that’s explosive and all of that but it’s just something as a testimony. “I am going to Jerusalem. I will die. I will be crucified. These people want me dead. This person is worshiping me. Other people will complain about it. But it will be a memorial. I want you to remember.” Just like a photograph, you can go back and a you know, “he was so cute” “oh she was so pretty in that dress when she went to that party.” It’s a photograph. Just a glimpse.

Now, what’s also interesting is how these clips go because you know if you’re in a photo album and then you turn the page, technically unless you’re really organized like some of you scrapbooking people. I won’t say you waste way too much time because obviously this is their enjoyment, but I could never do that. But in scrapbooking, and to make these things nice, and it all kind of fits together. This one fits together, but only because of what it’s relaying in the drama.

So. we have got the fact of the historical setting. Passover. God’s Deliverance. Blood, wrath diverted. Then these wicked people. The picture of depravity. Then there’s the picture of worship. An extravagant worship received and a memorial that is given.

The next picture, we’ve turned the page, and the next picture is Absolute, Total Wickedness. And again it’s kind of like, “okay, and the story will be told in memory of her.” “Then one of the 12.” “One of the 12, whose name was Judas Iscariot, he went to the chief priests and said what will you give me if I deliver him over to you.”

I mean, if you really think about it, you know, is this not true that we always teach context is king? Well, we know the context is that it’s during the passion week, and we’ve got to get through all of this, but it’s kind of like Matthew is stripping the gears. “And it’ll be a nice memorial of her.” Now, we get Judas Iscariot and he’s going to go out and he’s willing to sell Jesus Christ the son of God! The man he has lived with. The man he knows that this guy is true. “How much will you pay me?” “and when they paid him 30 pieces of silver and from that moment on he saw had an opportunity to betray him.”

Boom! Short story. Not a lot that you can go with. But it relays what’s going. It’s a photograph. Matthew says there’s people that want him dead. There’s people that will worship Him. And from inside we get the wicked dude to do it.

Now, there’s a lot of discussion over well, “poor Judas. He was just, you know, he probably had a tough childhood and you know and and it really wasn’t his fault that he betrayed.” Gag! Please!

I think it’s a bit obvious. And if you go to one of the other Gospels it talks about that he was carrying the money bag and he was kind of known probably for skimming some off. The guy was just greedy for filthy lucre.

Now, he does get convicted over that and everything. But it was the money. “What will you give me?” It was about him. He saw from that moment an opportunity to betray him. I know that there was a story and, I think, on a TV show that they were talking about how that, “well he really did love Jesus and he was just trying to catapult him into his kingdom a little bit faster.” He wanted money! Let’s face it. He sold out the Son of God. The picture of absolute pure wickedness.

Now, having said that, and if we go with the chapters, because remember this goes until it goes to the to the crucifixion, look over to chapter 27 and maybe verse 31. Let’s see, is that where I want to go? No. Betrayal, well we get this idea of Jesus in 26:46, “rise. Let us be going. See that my betrayer is at hand.” Well, that just shows that Jesus is in control. And then verse 49 of chapter 26, “and he came up to Jesus at once and said greetings Rabbi and he kissed him and Jesus said to him friend do what you have come to do.”

We’re told in one of the other gospels, “betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss?” Absolute, total wickedness. You see the picture. We get a picture of just Judas and his wickedness.

And Matthew does not want us to forget that we have also in this particular passage of scripture, in chapter 26, a picture of obedience. If we drop on down chapter 26:17, the next picture. We can hear the lens just clicking here right now. It says, “now on the first day of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus saying where would you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover? And he said, go into the city a certain man and say to him the ‘teacher says my time is at hand,” and that is to go to the cross, “and I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.”

So, we get the picture of the Passover. He is in control and the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. Well, there’s more that we could, and it was all prepared everything of what we read earlier in the service and what makes up the Passover.

“When it was evening, he reclined at the table with the 12” and he goes on and then the drama comes. “truly I say to you one of you will betray me.”
So, we get this picture, this photograph of obedience. The disciples did obey what Jesus had told them to do. Again, we can go to other passages, and we can find out about the security of getting this upper room and everything. That wasn’t so much Matthew’s thing. It was just, now, so, we get the people that wanted him dead, we get the one who wants to worship him, we get those who was willing to sell him out, and now we have those that are willing to obey what he says.

And then he reveals truth unto them and it says, “as they were eating, he said ‘truly I say one of you is betraying me’ and they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another ‘is it I Lord?’ and he answered, ‘it’s the one who dips his hand in the dish with me, he will betray me.’ And the son of man goes, as it is written, ‘but woe to that man.’” You see he’s taking the illustration of what has already been given to us in a picture and he says it’s going just as it’s supposed to – as prophesied.

“but woe to that man whom the Lord of man has betrayed it would have been better for that man if he had not been born. Judas then who betrayed him answered and said, “is it I Rabbi?” and he said you’ve said so.” Yep, it is you. Then we, right after that, it’s interesting, we’re told that then he leaves and then Jesus institutes what we call the Lord’s supper or communion.

We get a picture in the midst of the passion week of what Matthew wants to tell us. And he’s going to finish off the book that way. But it’s the idea of, and this is the church, and keep in mind he wrote this after the death burial resurrection and ascension of the Lord. “And as they were eating Jesus took bread, after the blessing it, and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said take, eat. This is my body. And he took a cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying drink of it all of you. For this is my blood of the Covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink it again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father’s Kingdom.”

And so, we get this picture of the church and the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Not a full picture, but we get a picture. Don’t forget this the establishment of a church ordinance of communion and a picture of the church the seventh picture.

Don’t miss this. The picture a bitter failure. “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives and Jesus said to them, “you will all fall away because of me this night.”

Remember, you see, Jesus knows exactly what’s going to happen. It’s all under control. It’s all on time frame.

“for it is written I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered but after I am raised up,” now that’s the inclusion of the resurrection, “I will go before you into Galilee’ and Peter answered ‘though all fall away because of you, I will never fall away’ and Jesus said, ‘truly I tell you,” and of course we all know what happened there. He said “yeah before the night’s over, and before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he said “nope. even if I have to die with you I won’t deny.” And of course all the other disciples went.

It’s a picture. Loyal followers that will not. And they just leave. Now, later on we find out this is the guy who’s going to say “I’m not going to deny,” cuts off Malcus’s ear and Jesus has to heal him.

See, glimpses. Pictures. Get a guy bleeding. Jesus heals him. He’s always in control. Don’t forget it. It’s not recorded other places. This week is full of drama and Jesus is in control each step of the way. And so, we get this picture of bitter failure.

We get the picture of bad choices in the eighth place. In chapter 27, and just kind of go quickly. After some of these other things that we could get glimpses of but the picture of bad choices in chapter 27:15 where it says, “the Feast of the governor was accustomed to release to the crowd any just one prisoner they wanted and they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.”

See how we get Caiaphas, we get Barabbas, we get Peter, we get the disciples, we get Mary, we get these different individuals. They’re all pictures. Those who worship, those who hate him, those who want to kill him, those who will stand for him, and those who will fail for him, those who will act rashly, but then Christ is in control.

And now we get the notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So, they gathered to Pilate and they said, and he says, “you want me to release a Barabbas to you or Jesus?” And then we see once again, the total depravity, and the wickedness.

And the thing that Matthew does not want us to lose in this passion weak, for he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered Jesus up to them. And the governor said to them again, “which are the two of you do you want me to release to you?’ and they said ‘Barabbas!’ and he says ‘what do you want me to do with this Jesus called the Christ?’ ‘let him be crucified!’ and he says ‘why what evil has he done?’ they shouted all the more ‘let him be crucified?’”

Well, in the midst of that Pilate delivers him over to be crucified even though his wife doesn’t think that he should. He’s mocked by the soldiers of the governor who took him and they stripped him and they beat him. And they said “who hit you?” And all of those kinds of things. By the time we get now to verse 33, to then, “they went out and they found a man of Cyrene.”

A picture. Another picture of a man who had to help him carry his cross. Not recorded everywhere but recorded here. One who was forced to pick up that cross and they sat down with him and they took him.

Then it says in verse 38 “the two robbers that were crucified with him the one on the right hand the other on the left.” A picture. The one repents, the one doesn’t. A picture.

But then as you look at these pictures and of course we want to not forget and we’re coming close now to the end. There’s the picture of Christ and it was all about the picture of Christ and his crucifixion.

And as you know I have and have preached several times throughout the last 30 years the seven sayings of the Savior from the cross. And it’s always, kind of, well what do I want to say, intrigued me. Why? Why are some sayings in one gospel and not in another?

What’s really interesting is in the gospel of Matthew, because you know why did he record what, but what did he say? Well, it says in verse as far as the words of Jesus, and this picture this photograph, verse 45, “now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the land until the 9th hour. And about the 9th hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying,” so this is the one thing that Matthew, out of all the things that Jesus said, seven sayings, he could have said more, and they just aren’t recorded. But we know he said seven things.

Matthew he seems to be talking about the people who wanted him dead, the people that were going to disappoint him, the people that would worship him, all of these different photographs and things that are important, but yet Jesus only has one saying. Which of the seven sayings would Matthew include? Wow! maybe one of the biggest. “Eli, Eli, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Snapshot. He was forsaken so we would not be. Utter full identity of being the Messiah, to die in our place, to provide sufficient sacrifice and atonement for our sin.

What’s interesting is that then the response, and of course we know that they didn’t get it right? They thought he was calling for Elijah and they said “hey you know don’t give him any more, let’s see if anything else will happen. What else will he have to say?” He doesn’t say anything else.
Oh, he does but not in the The Gospel according to Matthew. Because they say “wait let’s see whether Elijah will come and Jesus cried out again with the loud voice,” but that’s not the point, “and then he yielded up his spirit,”

And then we have the account verification of who he was, curtain in the temple torn in two, the Earth shook, the Rocks split, tombs open, other people were resurrected coming out of the tombs. Boom! Miracles to verify who is this Jesus. He is the Son of God. The Messiah. And the many came.

Another and final picture that I want to just make mention of, and like I said there’s many pictures here, but this is the one that I thought, you know, okay, do I finish with just the photograph of Christ and his and the crucifixion?” No, because there’s one other person that Matthew seems to point out to make his point. All the way from 26:2 through the crucifixion and here it is verse 54.

“When the Centurion and those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and they saw these things and what took place they were filled with awe.”

This is the photograph of verification. The final statement. The Centurion. A pagan Gentile. Seeing the crucifixion, what is his testimony?
“Truly this was the son of God. And there were many women there looking on from a distance who had followed Jesus from Galilee ministering to him among them.” And it mentions the women and that’s it, but it’s the man who spoke. The Gentile. “truly this is the Son of God.”

The final photograph. Through chapter 27, of course, then we got others and next week we’re going to pick it up for our Easter Sunday morning message. Those who guarded the tomb, and then what was said and done after with the greatest lie ever told to mankind.

But you see, in these in this last two, well in in chapters 26 and 27, the it’s rapid, again, succession of individual things that constantly are building, building, and building.

This is Christ, the son of the Living God. Verified in who he is. What think ye of him?
That question goes to us today. Christ was not a victim, but he was Victor. He was verified. He was in control. Atonement made. But the question is, is he your savior? or just a good example? I trust your trusting in Him. Let’s pray.

Our Father in Heaven, as we’ve taken these very brief accounts of the people and the illustrations that Matthew felt necessary to put in to this rapid succession of one evening or one evening and a day, and yet they all point to, “truly this is the Son of God.” Father in a day and age where there is such skepticism, such unbelief, may we here today through the testimony of the Word of God, confirm the fact he is who he said he was he is the Son of God. He was the son of God who came into this world sent of the father to redeem sinners from their sin and father in that we worship and praise you. We pray these things in his name amen.

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