Matthew 26:17-56

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the followers came to Jesus. They said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover meal?” Jesus answered, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: “The chosen time is near. I will have the Passover with my followers at your house.” ’ ” The followers did what Jesus told them to do, and they prepared the Passover meal. In the evening Jesus was sitting at the table with his twelve followers. As they were eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will turn against me.” This made the followers very sad. Each one began to say to Jesus, “Surely, Lord, I am not the one who will turn against you, am I?” Jesus answered, “The man who has dipped his hand with me into the bowl is the one who will turn against me. The Son of Man will die, just as the Scriptures say. But how terrible it will be for the person who hands the Son of Man over to be killed. It would be better for him if he had never been born.” Then Judas, who would give Jesus to his enemies, said to Jesus, “Teacher, surely I am not the one, am I?” Jesus answered, “Yes, it is you.” While they were eating, Jesus took some bread and thanked God for it and broke it. Then he gave it to his followers and said, “Take this bread and eat it; this is my body.” Then Jesus took a cup and thanked God for it and gave it to the followers. He said, “Every one of you drink this. This is my blood which is the new agreement that God makes with his people. This blood is poured out for many to forgive their sins. I tell you this: I will not drink of this fruit of the vine again until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Jesus told his followers, “Tonight you will all stumble in your faith on account of me, because it is written in the Scriptures: ‘I will kill the shepherd, and the sheep will scatter.’ But after I rise from the dead, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Peter said, “Everyone else may stumble in their faith because of you, but I will not.” Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, tonight before the rooster crows you will say three times that you don’t know me.” But Peter said, “I will never say that I don’t know you! I will even die with you!” And all the other followers said the same thing. Then Jesus went with his followers to a place called Gethsemane. He said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him, and he began to be very sad and troubled. He said to them, “My heart is full of sorrow, to the point of death. Stay here and watch with me.” After walking a little farther away from them, Jesus fell to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, do not give me this cup of suffering. But do what you want, not what I want.” Then Jesus went back to his followers and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “You men could not stay awake with me for one hour? Stay awake and pray for strength against temptation. The spirit wants to do what is right, but the body is weak.” Then Jesus went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this painful thing to be taken from me, and if I must do it, I pray that what you want will be done.” Then he went back to his followers, and again he found them asleep, because their eyes were heavy. So Jesus left them and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing. Then Jesus went back to his followers and said, “Are you still sleeping and resting? The time has come for the Son of Man to be handed over to sinful people. Get up, we must go. Look, here comes the man who has turned against me.” While Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve apostles, came up. With him were many people carrying swords and clubs who had been sent from the leading priests and the Jewish elders of the people. Judas had planned to give them a signal, saying, “The man I kiss is Jesus. Arrest him.” At once Judas went to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Teacher!” and kissed him. Jesus answered, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then the people came and grabbed Jesus and arrested him. When that happened, one of Jesus’ followers reached for his sword and pulled it out. He struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Jesus said to the man, “Put your sword back in its place. All who use swords will be killed with swords. Surely you know I could ask my Father, and he would give me more than twelve armies of angels. But it must happen this way to bring about what the Scriptures say.” Then Jesus said to the crowd, “You came to get me with swords and clubs as if I were a criminal. Every day I sat in the Temple teaching, and you did not arrest me there. But all these things have happened so that it will come about as the prophets wrote.” Then all of Jesus’ followers left him and ran away.