Cross & Resurrection

What happens in Matthew 26–28

Matthew 26, 28 records the climax of the entire biblical story: the arrest, trial, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every prophecy, every sacrifice, every promise finds its fulfillment in these three chapters.

Chapter 26 opens with Jesus predicting His crucifixion 'in two days, at the Passover.' A woman anoints Him with expensive perfume, an act Jesus interprets as preparation for His burial. Judas agrees to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, fulfilling Zechariah 11:12.

At the Last Supper, a Passover meal, Jesus transforms the ancient feast into something new. He takes bread: 'This is my body, given for you.' He takes the cup: 'This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.' Just as the original Passover lamb's blood protected Israel from death in Egypt, Jesus' blood will protect all who trust in Him from the penalty of sin. The old covenant established at Sinai is fulfilled in a new covenant established at this table.

In Gethsemane, Jesus prays in agony: 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.' He sweats drops like blood, asking three times, while His closest friends fall asleep. The 'cup' He dreads is not merely physical death but the full weight of human sin and divine judgment He is about to bear.

Judas arrives with an armed crowd and betrays Jesus with a kiss. Peter draws a sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant. Jesus stops him: 'Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled?' Jesus is not a victim, He is choosing the cross.

Before the Sanhedrin, false witnesses contradict each other until the high priest demands: 'Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.' Jesus answers with the most explosive statement in the Gospels: 'You have said so. But I say to all of you: from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.' This combines Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13, a claim to be both God's exalted co-regent and the divine figure who receives eternal dominion. The high priest tears his robes: 'He has spoken blasphemy!' They condemn Him to death.

Peter, following at a distance, denies Jesus three times before the rooster crows, exactly as Jesus predicted. Peter goes out and weeps bitterly. Judas, seized with remorse, returns the thirty pieces of silver, throws them into the temple, and hangs himself. The priests use the blood money to buy a potter's field, fulfilling the prophetic pattern from Zechariah and Jeremiah.

Before Pilate, Jesus is strikingly silent. Pilate's wife warns her husband: 'Have nothing to do with that innocent man.' Pilate washes his hands, but the crowd shouts 'Crucify him! His blood be on us and on our children!' Jesus is flogged, mocked with a crown of thorns and a purple robe, and led to Golgotha.

The crucifixion account is told with restrained power. Jesus is nailed to the cross at nine in the morning. A sign reads: 'THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.' Passersby mock Him. The religious leaders taunt: 'He saved others but he cannot save himself.' From noon until three, darkness covers the land. Then Jesus cries out: 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?', 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?', quoting Psalm 22:1. In this moment, Jesus experiences the ultimate consequence of bearing human sin: separation from the Father.

At the moment of Jesus' death, three extraordinary things happen: the temple curtain tears from top to bottom (God opens access to His presence), the earth shakes, and tombs break open. A Roman centurion, a Gentile, becomes the first person to confess the truth at the cross: 'Surely he was the Son of God!'

Joseph of Arimathea buries Jesus in his own new tomb. The stone is rolled shut. A Roman guard is posted. It is finished.

But it is not finished. On Sunday morning, an earthquake strikes. An angel descends, rolls away the stone, and sits on it. The guards collapse in terror. The angel tells the women: 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.' The women run with fear and great joy. Jesus meets them: 'Greetings... Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers.'

The Gospel ends on a mountain in Galilee where the risen Jesus gives the Great Commission: 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.' The Gospel that began with 'Immanuel, God with us' ends with 'I am with you always.'