26:20-22 This would have been Thursday evening. The Jews did not eat the Passover meal until after sundown. Those of them living in Palestine ate it in Jerusalem or not at all.984This fact reflects the large number of pilgrims that must have been in Jerusalem then. Sometime during the meal Jesus announced that one of the Twelve would betray Him to His enemies. As the significance of this new prediction sank in, each of the disciples present asked Jesus if it was he. The form of the question in the Greek text expected a negative reply.
26:23 Jesus' answer did not identify the betrayer specifically. His response meant that the betrayer was someone who had dipped into the same bowl as Jesus had, namely one of the Twelve, someone close to Jesus. This reply stressed the heinousness of the betrayal and the graciousness of Jesus.
"The whole incident must be interpreted as a gracious attempt on the part of Jesus to make Judas realize his terrible sin and turn from it before it was too late."985
If this was the main course of the meal, the bowl would have contained herbs and a fruit purée that everyone would have been scooping out with bread to eat with the lamb.
"Toward midafternoon of Thursday, 14 Nisan, the lambs (one per household'--a convenient group of perhaps ten or twelve people) would be brought to the temple court where the priests sacrificed them. The priests took the blood and passed it in basins along a line till it was poured out at the foot of the altar. They also burned the lambs' fat on the altar of burnt offerings. The singing of the Hallel(Pss 113-18) accompanied these steps.
"After sunset (i.e., now 15 Nisan), the household' would gather in a home to eat the Passover lamb, which by this time would have been roasted with bitter herbs. The head of the household began the meal with the thanksgiving for that feast day (the Passover Kiddush) and for the wine, praying over the first of four cups. A preliminary course of greens and bitter herbs was, apparently, followed by the Passover haggadah--in which a boy would ask the meaning of all this, and the head of the household would explain the symbols in terms of the Exodus (cf. M[ishnah] Pesahim10:4-5)--and the singing of the first part of the Hallel(Ps 113 or Pss 113-14). Though the precise order is disputed, apparently a second cup of wine introduced the main course, which was followed by a third cup known as the cup of blessing,' accompanied by another prayer of thanksgiving. The participants then sang the rest of the Hallel(Pss 114-18 or 115-18) and probably drank a fourth cup of wine."986
26:24 The Son of Man title here combines Jesus' messianic and Suffering Servant roles almost equally, as is clear from the context. Likewise Jesus' "woe"here expressed a combination of compassion and condemnation (cf. 18:17). Jesus did not identify the Old Testament prophecy that He had in mind. It may have been Isaiah 53:7-9, Daniel 9:26, or a combination of passages such as those dealing with the Passover lamb. The fact that God sovereignly planned for Messiah to die does not mitigate Judas' human responsibility in betraying Him. Jesus' death resulted in salvation for many, but it meant personal and eternal ruin for Judas.
26:25 Judas' hypocritical question, which Matthew only among the evangelists recorded, stresses again the awfulness of Judas' action in betraying Jesus. Probably Judas felt pressure to repeat the question the other disciples had asked or give himself away. "Rabbi"was a respectful title. The other disciples had called Jesus "Lord"(v. 22). Perhaps the different title indicated that Judas viewed Jesus differently from the other disciples.987Jesus' reply was sufficiently vague to lead the other disciples to conclude that Judas was not guilty and Judas himself to wonder if Jesus had found him out. "You said it, not I,"gives the sense of Jesus' response.988The NIV translation, "Yes, it is you,"is too strong. Jesus later said the identical words to Pilate (v. 64). Judas then left the room (John 13:30).
