Matthew 26:1-30 The New Has Come (Behold Your King Series)

Devotional

Day 1: The Alabaster Flask and the Cost of True Worship

A woman breaks open her most precious possession to anoint Jesus’ head, defying practicality and criticism. Her act of lavish worship reveals that true devotion requires giving God our best, not leftovers. This kind of worship is neither safe nor calculated—it is reckless in its love, unashamed in its sacrifice. Jesus defends her, calling her offering “beautiful” because it mirrors His own costly gift of salvation. When we hold back, we miss the joy of participating in God’s eternal story. [16:36]

“Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
(John 12:3, ESV)

Reflection: What part of your life feels too costly to surrender in worship? What “alabaster flask” have you been clinging to instead of breaking open for Jesus?

Day 2: Thirty Pieces of Silver and the Price of Betrayal

Judas bargains with religious leaders, reducing the Son of God to the price of a gored slave. His betrayal exposes the danger of a heart that walks near Jesus but never lets Him in. The tragedy isn’t just the act—it’s the years of resisting grace while holding the title of “disciple.” Yet even here, God’s sovereignty weaves human failure into divine prophecy. The cross was never plan B. [29:28]

“Then I said to them, ‘If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.’ And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver.”
(Zechariah 11:12, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you settled for transactional faith—serving God for what He can give rather than who He is? How does Judas’ story warn against half-hearted discipleship?

Day 3: Sovereign Hands That Hold Both Cross and Calendar

Religious leaders plot to kill Jesus “by stealth,” unaware their schemes align with heaven’s timetable. God laughs at human plans, not in mockery but in mastery—He ordains even rebellion to serve His redemptive purpose. The Passover lamb had to die on the exact day prophesied centuries earlier. Our chaos is still His canvas. [08:20]

“For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”
(Acts 4:27–28, ESV)

Reflection: What situation feels out of control in your life? How might God’s sovereignty over Judas’ betrayal reframe your view of current struggles?

Day 4: “Is It I, Lord?” and the Mirror of the Human Heart

The disciples’ uneasy question at the Last Supper reveals a sobering truth: anyone can betray Christ. Judas hid behind religious titles, but the others feared their own capacity for failure. Self-awareness, not self-confidence, guards against hypocrisy. The heart’s deceit runs deep—yet grace runs deeper. [36:22]

“Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”
(Psalm 41:9, ESV)

Reflection: When have you said “Lord” with your lips while withholding surrender in your heart? What step can you take today to close the gap between your words and your worship?

Day 5: The Cup of the New Covenant and Future Longing

Jesus lifts the Passover cup, transforming an ancient ritual into a promise: His blood will do what animal sacrifices never could. The old covenant required repeated offerings; the new covenant declares “it is finished.” Yet this meal points forward—to a day when we’ll drink anew with Him in glory. Every communion is both a memorial and a rehearsal. [42:57]

“Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it 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.’”
(Matthew 26:26–28, ESV)

Reflection: How does the certainty of feasting with Jesus in eternity change how you face today’s trials? What does it mean to live as a “new covenant” person right now?

Sermon Summary

Matthew 26 brings the whole gospel to its peak, because Jesus has finished his public ministry and his hour has come. Every priest, every lamb, every feast, and every sacrifice has been pointing toward this moment when the Redeemer would come and make atonement. The old covenant has been covering sin, but Jesus is about to wash sin away, past, present, and future, through the perfect blood of the Lamb. The shadows are giving way to the substance, and the symbols are yielding to the Savior.

Jesus declares that the Son of Man will be delivered up and crucified, and the Father’s ordained plan stands behind every step. The chief priests and elders think they are controlling the timing, but God is not scrambling. Their plan says, “not during the feast,” but God’s plan says the Lamb must die at Passover. God sits on the throne in the middle of the plot, and even man’s wicked choices serve what his hand and plan had predestined.

Matthew moves from Caiaphas’ palace to Simon the leper’s house, where Mary brings an alabaster flask worth about a year’s wages. Mary breaks the jar and pours out her best on Jesus, because real worship does not bring God the leftovers. Her worship is humble, broken, sacrificial, and reverent, and Jesus calls it a beautiful thing. The disciples call it waste, Judas leads the criticism, but Jesus receives it as preparation for his burial and promises that her worship will be remembered wherever the gospel goes.

Judas then stands as the awful contrast. Judas walks with Jesus for three years, sees the works, hears the words, and never calls him Lord. Satan enters him, and Judas seeks out the chief priests to deliver Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a gored slave. The betrayal is not a surprise to Jesus, and even the cheap price fulfills what the prophets had spoken.

Jesus sits at the Passover table and says one of the twelve will betray him. The disciples do not point at Judas, but ask, “Is it I, Lord?” because the human heart is deceitful and capable of wickedness. Judas asks, “Is it I, rabbi?” because Jesus had never become his Lord.

Jesus then takes the bread and the cup and institutes the new covenant. The bread points to his body, perfectly obedient and broken for sinners. The cup points to his blood, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. The table is not to be treated flippantly, because it celebrates the King’s once for all sacrifice and looks forward to the day when Jesus drinks the fruit of the vine new in his Father’s kingdom.

Key Takeaways

1. God is not scrambling God’s sovereignty does not make evil look good, but it does show that evil never takes the throne. The cross was not heaven reacting to a crisis, but the Father working redemption through the very plot that hated his Son. The believer can take real confidence from that, because fractured relationships, diagnoses, and unraveling finances are not outside the hand of God. [11:00]
2. Costly worship brings the best Mary’s alabaster jar was not excess, it was likely her future, her security, and the most valuable thing she had. True worship breaks the jar because Jesus is worthy of more than what is convenient or leftover. Criticism often rises when devotion looks “wasteful,” but Jesus names that kind of surrender beautiful, excellent, and right. [17:03]
3. Proximity is not lordship Judas stayed close to Jesus for three years and remained unchanged because nearness did not become surrender. The most sobering part is not that Judas betrayed Jesus, but that he could hear truth, see power, share the table, and still call him only “rabbi.” Religious motion can exist without the heart ever bowing to Christ as Lord. [37:27]
4. The new covenant washes clean The old covenant sacrifices covered sin, but the blood of Jesus removes sin. Jesus does not offer another temporary patch, but a once for all sacrifice grounded in his perfect life and poured out blood. The table therefore is glad and weighty at the same time, because it celebrates forgiveness that no law checklist could ever produce. [39:34]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:37] - The Greatest Event in History
[03:07] - The New Covenant Promised
[04:12] - Four Movements in Matthew 26
[04:41] - The Son of Man Delivered Up
[07:10] - God Rules Over the Plot
[12:45] - Mary’s Worship at Bethany
[18:20] - Critics of Costly Worship
[25:20] - Judas Seeks a Deal
[31:10] - The Betrayer at the Table
[38:04] - The Bread and the Cup
[41:17] - Coming Worthily to Communion
[42:57] - The Coming Kingdom Table
[43:48] - Has Christ Transformed the Heart

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 26:1-30
“When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, ‘You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.’ Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, ‘Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.’ 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 as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, ‘Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.’ But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why do you trouble the 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 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.’ Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?’ And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?’ He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, “The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.”’ And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, ‘Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.’ And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, ‘Is it I, Lord?’ He answered, ‘He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.’ Judas, who would betray him, answered, ‘Is it I, Rabbi?’ He said to him, ‘You have said so.’ Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it 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 again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’ And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” [04:41]

Jeremiah 31:31-33
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” [03:23]

Isaiah 53:10
“Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.” [05:56]

Zechariah 11:12-13
“Then I said to them, ‘If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.’ And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. Then the LORD said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter.” [29:39]

Observation questions

In Matthew 26:1-5, what timing does Jesus announce for his crucifixion, and what timing do the chief priests and elders want? [07:42]
In Matthew 26:6-13, what does the woman bring to Jesus, what does she do with it, and how do the disciples respond to her act? [18:20]
In Matthew 26:20-25, how do the disciples address Jesus when they ask about the betrayer, and how does Judas address him? [37:27]
In Matthew 26:26-29, what does Jesus say the bread points to, and what does he say the cup points to? [38:16]

Interpretation questions

Jesus says the Son of Man will be delivered up and crucified, while the leaders think they can manage the timing. What does that show about God’s rule even in the middle of evil and human plotting? [12:21]
Jesus calls Mary’s act a beautiful thing, even though others call it waste. Why might costly devotion to Jesus often look unreasonable to others? [22:07]
The disciples ask, “Is it I, Lord?” while Judas asks, “Is it I, Rabbi?” What does that difference reveal about the difference between being around Jesus and actually belonging to him? [38:04]
Jesus says his blood of the covenant is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. How does that help explain the difference between the old covenant sacrifices covering sin and Christ’s sacrifice taking sin away? [39:34]

Application questions

God is not scrambling when life gets painful or confusing. Where is it hardest right now to believe that God is still on the throne—in a relationship, a health concern, work, finances, or something else? [11:00]
Mary brought her best, not her leftovers. What would bringing Jesus the best look like in this season of life—time, attention, generosity, repentance, obedience, or something else? [17:43]
Costly worship often draws criticism. Has there been a time when obedience to Christ felt misunderstood, excessive, or awkward to people around you? How did that affect your devotion? [19:12]
The disciples did not assume betrayal was only possible for someone else; they asked, “Is it I, Lord?” What area of the heart needs that kind of honest self-examination right now? [36:22]
Proximity is not the same as lordship. What are some ways a person can stay close to Christian things and still not surrender to Christ as Lord? Is there any place where that danger feels personal? [26:22]
The table is both glad and weighty because it celebrates Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice. What helps a believer come to communion with sincerity instead of flippancy or routine? [41:50]
Jesus spoke of a coming day when he will drink the fruit of the vine new in his Father’s kingdom. How does that future hope strengthen perseverance, worship, and joy in the present? [42:57]

Sermon Clips

57s

“Understand, a sacrifice has to be given. The perfect blood of Jesus must be shed if he's going to complete the old covenant and institute a new covenant. That that new covenant will not only cover sin like the the sacrifices in the temple. You know, they they sacrificed animals and such for various different reasons. One of them was a sin offering, and the blood of the lamb or the blood of the, of whatever the animal was was sprinkled on the altar, and that was to cover sin. It did not remove sin. What Jesus is about to tell his disciples is, hey, the covering's over. I'm coming to wash you, to take away your sins. You no longer will have those sins upon you, past, present, future sins wiped away through the blood of Jesus Christ.”

52s

“And then it came to Judas and Judas says, is it me, rabbi? Is it me, rabbi? Because Jesus had never been his Lord. There are people that go to church all their lives, and Jesus is the rabbi. He's not their Lord. Is that the case for you this morning? Listen. Just as young Winnie has declared, you know, she she was walking, you know, through them going through the motions just as Judas was for three years, and she came to Christ. Do you call him Lord, or is he your Lord? That's the question you have to ask yourself. The betrayer has been confronted.”

67s

“Because understand, in order to open up that jar, you have to break it. And once it's broken, you gotta use it. And so she does what any reasonable person ought to do in this moment. She worships worships Jesus with everything that she has. She worships the Lord with everything that she has. She demonstrates the marks of true worship by bringing her best to Jesus, not her excess. She's bringing her best to Jesus, and she approaches him in sincerity and adoration. Do you know every time I think Mary's mentioned three times in the Bible. And do you know every time she's mentioned, do you know where she's at? The feet of Jesus. Every time she's at the feet of Jesus. Mary, in his example to you and I of what real worship looks like. She was broken. She was humble. She was sacrificial in her worship, and she was reverent before the Lord.”

64s

“God is a 100% in control folks, and I hope that that brings you some serious confidence in your life. When life doesn't go as planned, when a diagnosis changes everything, when finances unravel, relationships fracture, you know, you see the world falling apart. Remember, God's not scrambling. He's not in an, oh, no. What do I do now mode? He's not reacting to circumstances at all because he's in control of them. He's sitting on the throne right in the middle of the circumstances that are in your life right now. And some of those circumstances are by our own choices that we've made, but God is sovereign even over those. And he will work through those. If you will just bring yourself to him, he's drawing you, and he wants you to yield yourself to him. And if you'll do it, you'll see his sovereign hand at work.”

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