July 16, 2025; Matthew 26:1-16

Daily Dose of Hope

July 16, 2025

Scripture – Matthew 26:1-16

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, You are King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  We are so amazingly grateful for your grace and love.  Forgive us for the many times when we fall short, when we betray you, when we fail to be loving or faithful.  We want to grow stronger, Lord, but we can only do so through your power.  Lord, help us hear your voice.  In the next few moments of silence, Lord, hear our prayers... In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today is Wednesday so it’s Recharge day!  Yay!  Join us at 6:30pm in the Garage for fellowship, worship, prayer, and small community. 

Today, we are starting Matthew 26.  This chapter is the beginning of the passion narrative. These chapters will start getting longer and they are certainly worth reading carefully. We start the chapter with Jesus once again announcing that he will be arrested and killed.  At the very same time, the Pharisees and the high priest are plotting his death. Matthew has done a good job here showing us that while the Pharisees think they are being sneaky, Jesus has been in the know the whole time.  He is God and he knows what to expect.

Immediately after, we find Jesus being anointed for burial but certainly not in the typical way. It would have been fairly normal, in first century Jewish society, to anoint a guest with oil when they came to your home for a meal or gathering. It was an act of respect. The host would typically use an inexpensive oil but in this narrative, we find the woman (other Gospels name her as Mary) uses a highly valued perfume. She obviously saw Jesus as a very, very special guest worthy of only the best. Remember, the word messiah means “anointed one” so there is symbolism going on here too.

The woman’s act of devotion is lost on the disciples. They are rude and indignant. “Why this waste?” they ask. Giving the disciples the benefit of the doubt, we have to remember that they were very poor men .It also gave them a chance to sound pious, “This should have been given to the poor!” But Jesus knew all about the poor; he had been caring for the poorest of the poor throughout his ministry. The disciples weren’t telling him anything he didn’t already know.

But there is something going on here that goes much deeper than the disciples can even fathom. Jesus rebukes the men and says that what she did for him was beautiful; she was preparing him for burial. Of course, this is lost on them too. While it’s possible that Mary had some insight into the danger that lie ahead for Jesus, it’s clear that the disciples still do not understand what is to come. Mary’s act was one of honor and devotion. Rather than being practical, she was extravagant toward her Lord and Savior.

How often do we act extravagantly toward Jesus OR are we more likely to simply be practical?

Our reading for today ends with Judas making the decision to betray Jesus.  Most likely, his mind was made already but here we see him finish the deal – he sells Jesus out for thirty pieces of silver.  I thought this might be a good time to do a deep dive into Judas himself, but what I learned is there are very few, if any, reliable sources that describe the life of Judas (there are plenty of fictional or questionable sources).  Besides his betrayal of Jesus and subsequent suicide, we don’t know much about the man himself. 

But we know that betrayal doesn’t happen in a vacuum.  It got me thinking.  Was there a time when Judas genuinely wanted to follow Jesus?  At what point did he allow greed, selfishness, and evil, to take over?  What role did Satan play?  Was there a time when he had second thoughts? 

At times, we are all Judas.  We have all betrayed Jesus, whether we like to admit it or not. 

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki