Mateo 26

The plot against Jesus

¹When Jesus had finished all these words, he told his disciples, ²“As you know, the Passover is two days away, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

³Then the chief priests and the elders of the people met in the courtyard of the high priest, a man named Caiaphas. ⁴There they made plans to arrest Jesus by some trick and put him to death. ⁵But they kept saying, “Not at the festival. We do not want the people to riot.”

A woman anoints Jesus at Bethany

⁶While Jesus was at Bethany in the home of Simon, a man who had suffered from a skin disease, ⁷a woman came up to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfumed oil. As he sat at the table, she poured it over his head. ⁸Seeing this, the disciples were indignant. They said, “What is the point of such waste? ⁹It could have been sold for a large sum and the money given to the poor.” ¹⁰Jesus was aware of this and said to them, “Why make trouble for this woman? What she has done for me is a beautiful thing. ¹¹The poor will always be among you, but I will not always be with you. ¹²By pouring this perfume over my body, she has made me ready to be buried. ¹³Truly I tell you, in every place in the whole world where this gospel is proclaimed, people will also tell what she has done, so that she is remembered.”

¹⁴Then one of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests ¹⁵and asked, “How much will you pay me to hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty silver coins. ¹⁶After that, Judas kept looking for the right moment to hand him over.

The Passover with the Twelve

¹⁷On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where would you like us to get the Passover meal ready for you?” ¹⁸He told them, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I will celebrate the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” ¹⁹So the disciples followed Jesus’s instructions and got the Passover meal ready.

²⁰When evening came, Jesus took his place at the table with the twelve disciples. ²¹During the meal he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.” ²²They were deeply upset, and one after another they began to ask him, “Lord, it is not me, is it?” ²³He replied, “Someone who has dipped his hand in the bowl along with me, he is the one who will betray me. ²⁴The Son of Man goes on his way as the Scriptures have written of him, but woe to the one through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born.” ²⁵Then Judas, who was betraying him, said, “Rabbi, it is not me, is it?” Jesus told him, “You have said it yourself.”^a

²⁶During the meal Jesus took a loaf, said the blessing, and broke it. He gave it to the disciples and said, “Take it and eat. This is my body.”^{b 27}Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and passed it to them, saying, “Every one of you, drink from it. ²⁸For this is my covenant blood, poured out for many to bring forgiveness of sins.^{c 29}But I tell you this: from now on I will not drink this fruit of the vine again until the day comes when I share it with you, new, in my Father’s kingdom.” ³⁰Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

³¹Then Jesus told them, “This very night every one of you will fall away because of me. For it is written: ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will scatter in all directions.’ ³²But after I have been raised, I will go to Galilee ahead of you.” ³³Peter answered, “The others may all fall away because of you, but I will never fall away.” ³⁴Jesus told him, “Truly I tell you, three times this very night you will deny me, before a rooster crows.” ³⁵But Peter insisted, “I will never deny you, not even if it means dying with you!” Every one of the disciples said the same.

Jesus prays in Gethsemane

³⁶Jesus then came with them to a place named Gethsemane. He told the disciples, “Stay seated here while I go on over there and pray.” ³⁷He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons with him, and he began to be filled with grief and anguish. ³⁸Then he said to them, “My soul is weighed down with grief, even to death. Stay here and keep awake with me.” ³⁹He went a little farther, threw himself face down on the ground, and prayed, “My Father, if there is any way, let this cup pass by me. But not what I want; what you want.” ⁴⁰Then he came back to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “So none of you could stay awake with me for even one hour? ⁴¹Stay alert and pray that you will not come into testing. The spirit is eager, but human nature is weak.” ⁴²He went away again, a second time, and prayed: “My Father, if there is no way for this to pass unless I drink it, then let your will be done.” ⁴³When he came back, he again found them asleep; they could not keep their eyes open. ⁴⁴So he left them, went away once more, and prayed a third time, saying the same words. ⁴⁵Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Go on sleeping, then, and resting. The hour is here: the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶Get up; let us be going. Here comes the man who is betraying me.”

Judas’s kiss and the arrest

⁴⁷Jesus had not finished speaking when Judas, one of the Twelve, came up. A large crowd came with him, carrying swords and clubs. The chief priests and the elders of the people had sent them. ⁴⁸The betrayer had given them a sign: “The man I kiss is the one you want. Arrest him.” ⁴⁹Judas went straight to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” Then he kissed him. ⁵⁰Jesus said to him, “Friend, get on with what you are here for.”^d At that, the crowd moved in. They laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. ⁵¹One of the men with Jesus reached for his sword and drew it. He struck the high priest’s slave and cut off his ear. ⁵²Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back where it belongs. Everyone who takes up the sword will die by the sword. ⁵³Do you not know that I could ask my Father, and he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right away? ⁵⁴But if I did, how could the Scriptures come true? They say that all this has to take place.” ⁵⁵Then Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I some bandit, that you come out with swords and clubs to seize me? Day after day I sat teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me then.” ⁵⁶All this took place so that what the prophets wrote in the Scriptures would come true.^e At that, every one of the disciples abandoned him and ran off.

Jesus before the council

⁵⁷The men who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest. The scribes and the elders had gathered there. ⁵⁸Peter kept him in sight from far behind and came as far as the high priest’s courtyard. He went inside and took a seat among the guards, waiting to see what the end would be. ⁵⁹Meanwhile the chief priests and the whole council were trying to find false charges against Jesus that would get him executed. ⁶⁰Many false witnesses came forward, yet they found none. At last two of them stepped up ⁶¹and stated, “This man claimed, ‘I am able to tear down the temple of God and build it again within three days.’” ⁶²Then the high priest stood up and said to him, “Have you no answer? What about the evidence these men are bringing against you?” ⁶³Jesus, however, said nothing. Then the high priest said to him, “In the name of the living God I place you under oath. Tell us: are you the Christ, the Son of God?” ⁶⁴Jesus answered him, “You have said it yourself. Yet this I tell you all: from this time on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” ⁶⁵The high priest then ripped his robes and cried, “This is blasphemy! What use do we have for more witnesses? You have now heard the blasphemy yourselves. ⁶⁶What is your verdict?” They answered, “He deserves to die.” ⁶⁷Next they spat in his face and pounded him with their fists, while others struck him with open hands ⁶⁸and jeered, “Prophesy for us, Christ! Which one of us hit you?” ⁶⁹Meanwhile Peter was sitting out in the courtyard. A servant girl came up to him and said, “You were with Jesus the Galilean too.” ⁷⁰But Peter denied it with everyone listening. “I have no idea what you mean,” he said. ⁷¹He went out toward the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and told the people there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” ⁷²Again he denied it, this time with an oath: “I do not know the man!” ⁷³Before long the people standing nearby came up to Peter. “You are certainly one of them,” they said. “The way you talk betrays you.” ⁷⁴Then he began cursing and swearing, “I do not know the man!”^f At that very moment a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵Then Peter remembered what Jesus had told him: “Before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and broke down in bitter tears.