(75) And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt
deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.‖
NOTE: The final three chapters of Matthew depicting the days just prior to Y‘shua's death; as well as the
account of His trial, death and resurrection – are replete with deep mystical meaning. I will only touch on
some of these themes in this study.
26:1-2 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be
crucified―(1) And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, (2) Ye know
that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.‖
Note that Y‘shua speaks of a connection between Passover and His destiny. All of the feasts of the Lord
have some bearing on His plan for the ages. They are a "shadow" of what is to come (Heb 8:5, 10:1;
Col 2:17). The study and observance of these Feasts (and the rest of Torah - Rom 2:13; James 1:22), is
fundamental to faith in YHWH.
26:3-5 Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people―(3) Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace
of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, (4) And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill
him. (5) But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.‖
Although the leadership was clearly instigating matters against Y‘shua, He does not miss the people as a
whole – as we will see in the next chapter. This generation was given more blessing than any other as they
had the Messiah in their midst (Heb 11:39-40). Some, like Yochanan the Immerser, were fortunate in this
respect (Luke 7:28); but the generation as a whole failed to respond to what YHWH had given them (Matt
25:15), and thus their punishment would be great (Luke 12:47).
26:6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper―Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,‖
This is a mistranslation. Lepers were not permitted to live in the city (see Lev 13:46). Since ancient Hebrew
and Aramaic were written without vowels, there was no distinction between the Aramaic words GAR'BA
(leper) and GARABA (jar maker or jar merchant). In this story, a woman pours oil from a jar (verse 7ff);
therefore, it is apparent that Simon was a jar merchant or jar-maker and not a leper. (Credit to James Trimm
of http://www.nazarene.net/ for this corrected translation.)
The Invitation―And one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat
down to a meal". (Luke 7:36; Mark 14:3 Para)
―Then six days before the Passover Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, and
whom he had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper: and Martha served: But Lazarus was
one of them that reclined at the table with Jesus" (John 12:1-2 Para.).
Here, we see Y‘shua in Bethany on the day of the selection of the Passover lambs, which was six days prior
to the Passover. On this day, He was invited to eat a meal at the house of Simon the Pharisee who was a jar
merchant or jar maker. Although it is not stated in the verses above, we will see that the disciples of Y‘shua
were also invited to this meal.
When one carefully reads the context of Luke 10:38-42 and John 11:1-5; 12:1-2, it seems that Martha is
serving because she is the wife of Simon the Pharisee. It is also highly likely that the reason Lazarus is at the
meal is because he lived with his sister and brother-in-law (John 12:9).
In order to more clearly understand what is happening here, we must remember that Mary, Martha, and
Lazarus were very dear friends of Y‘shua. John specifically records that Y‘shua loved each of them
(John 11:5). Not only were they his dear friends, but genealogical studies indicate that Mary, Martha, and
Lazarus were also siblings of Y‘shua‘s mother – which makes them his relatives. Because of their friendship
and the time they spent with Y‘shua, they knew much about Him and what He taught.