Matthew 26:26-46

26:26 | The disciples must have been alarmed to hear Jeasus say, This is My body, since no such words were traditionally spoked during the Passover meal. No one asked what He meant, but at His crucifixion they must have grasped the significance of this statement.

26:27-28 | The participle translated gave thanks (Grk. eucharisteo) gives us the English word Eucharist, another name for the Lord’s Supper. A Passover meal features four cups of wine; probably this was for the third cup, “the cup of blessing” (Ex. 6:6). Jesus gave the cup a new significance when He said, This is my blood of the new covenant.

26:29 | Many commentators believe Jesus spoke these words after drinking the fourth cup of the Passover meal, the “cup of promise.” The Lord’s Supper today looks back to the Crucifixion and looks forward to the Second Coming.

26:30 | At the close of the Passover meal, it was traditional to sing the last section of the Hallel psalms (Ps. 114-118).

26:31-35 | Before His cricifixion, Jesus predicted that His disciples would be made to stumble, or fall away, in accordance with prophecy (Zech. 13:7). Indeed, a few verses later, Matthew reports that “all His disciples forsook Him and fled.” But John- the disciple whom Jesus loved - returned from hiding and stood with Jesus as He died on the cross (John 19:27).

26:37-38 | What profound, searing emotion Jesus must have felt as His arrest drew near. The Greek word translated sorrowful and deeply distressed refer to the intense grief and extreme anguish. The phrase even to death is found often in the Septuagint and refers to a sorrow so overpowering that it almost kills. This intense anguish is further proof that Jesus was completely human as well as fully divine.

26:41 | Human desires are often noble and right, yet our fallen state often overpowers our finest impulses by our fleshly nature (Rom. 7:15). Though Peter had boasted he would never deny the Lord, his flesh would lead him otherwise.

26:42-44 | Three times Jesus implored His heavenly Father to remove the cup of the cross from Him if such a thing was possible. And three times He received silence in return, which He rightly took as a divine “no,” although Luke reports that an angel came to strengthen Him (Luke 22:43). Surely God would have granted Jesus’ request if any other means existed to save the human race.