The Secret Codes in Matthew: Examining Israel’s Messiah, Part 20: Matthew 26:1-30, by Kevin M. Williams
Of course, no one can truly be considered a Christian and hate the Jewish people, or any people. No one who follows the Messiah of Israel as an honest disciple can hold anyone more accountable for Yeshua’s crucifixion than him or her self, acknowledging that the Messiah gave his life as an atonement for all who believe. This is key.
Knowing as He did that He was to be “delivered up for crucifixion,” Yeshua willingly participated. Knowing the anguish he was to endure, He faithfully fulfilled that for which He had been sent. Like those Passover lambs being herded into Jerusalem, Yeshua was “like a lamb that is led to slaughter,” (Isaiah 53:7), and He did so with love in His heart for all mankind.
As we shall see, as our story unfolds, there were certainly Jewish men who aided in this process, but we shall examine their motives and their actions to find that “Jews” did not kill the Savior who would not stay dead. Rather, they were His witnesses that the world may know.
“Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth, and kill Him. But they were saying, ‘Not during the festival, lest a riot occur among the people’” (Matthew 16:3-5).
In Isaiah 53:2 of the King James Version we read of the Messiah that, “he hath no form nor comeliness.” Note the contrast then that Caiaphas means “comely” in Aramaic. The true Judge and the false; no comeliness and comely; the One who plans redemption and life, and the other who plots stealth and death.
But we also find credibility to the previous assertion. First: only a few mislead leaders participated in the Messiah’s execution. The text clearly says as much. Second, these very same leaders feared an uprising from the populace. Why? As discussed in part 17 (Pneuma Review Winter 2005), there were myriads—untold thousands—who had welcomed Yeshua to Israel because they believed he was the long-awaited Messiah. The city was filled with followers, not accusers.
One the other hand, in what can only be described as the spirit of anti-Christ, Caiaphas the comely high priest, premeditated murder; the very antithesis of all he represented as Cohen Gadol, the High Priest and enforcer of God’s holy Torah on earth.
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“Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it upon His head as He reclined at the table. But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, ‘Why this waste? For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.’ But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. For the poor you have with you always; but you do not always have Me. For when she poured this perfume upon My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done shall also be spoken of in memory of her’” (Matthew 26:6-13).
Our Passover narrative is interrupted briefly with Yeshua’s visit to the house of Simon the leper. Some postulate, based on Luke7:36-4 that Simon was in fact, a Pharisee. This conclusion satisfies this author who has previously pointed out that not all Pharisees were opposed to Yeshua’s message or messiahship.
Category: Biblical Studies, Pneuma Review, Spring 2006