Introduction
The account of the Passion of Jesus is the oldest layer of the Gospels, understood in its literary form. When Mark incorporated it into his Gospel, he provided other Christian writers with an impartial and descriptive record of Jesus' last days on earth. In writing his Gospel, Matthew rewrites the Passion in a way that fits his "theology" of Jesus. He is "the Christ, Son of God" who submits himself totally to the Father's will and in his person fulfills the prophecies of old. Our discussions will follow the presentation of the liturgical reading of the Passion of Jesus for Palm Sunday, Year A.
1. Prayer in Gethsemane
Matthew, though following closely the progression of events outlined in Mark, adds a few distinct marks of his own. Jesus tells his disciples to watch with him. It has been noted that the use of the Greek preposition "meta" meaning "with" is the covenantal formula from the Pentateuch the use of which will find its climax in Matthew 28: "I will be with you always." Jesus associates his disciples to himself during his moment at Gethsemane where, struggling with his own fears, he submits himself to the will of His Father.
Jesus' prayer is underlined by Matthew; the evangelist quotes it directly twice. It begins with the address "My Father" (Aramaic, Abbi) and echoes the prayer Jesus taught his disciples (which begins with the address Abbinu, "Our Father").
39My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me yet not my will, but yours (be done).
42My Father if it is not possible that this pass unless I drink it let your will be done.
While the essential meaning of these two prayers are the same, there is a difference between the two that indicates Jesus' accepting the cup of suffering totally in verse 42.
In between these two prayers are found Jesus' reproach to Peter (v.40) and his lesson on vigilant prayer (v. 41). This latter, "Keep watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation" also echoes the petition "Lead us not into temptation."
2. The Arrest
The betrayal of Judas is underlined by Matthew's insertion of the greeting "Chaire" ("Hail") and response by Jesus to Judas' kiss. The phrase "Etaire, eph'on pharei" (v.50), has two possible renderings: as a question ("Friend, why have you come?") or a command ("Friend, do what you have come for."). This second rendering is more consistent with Jesus' understanding of the event that is unfolding. When he tells one of his companions to sheathe his sword, Jesus says
Do you think that I cannot call upon my Father
and he would command twelve legions of angels to come to me now?
But then how would the scriptures that say this should happen be fulfilled?
Jesus' command to Judas then is an order for him to go on with the betrayal. Not even a disciples' sword will stop the events from unfolding. This second aspect of the retelling of the arrest is highlighted by Matthew. Jesus' objection to the sword is a principle laid down for disciples in the face of violence: "He who takes the sword, perishes by the sword." To violence, the Christian response is non-violence.
Differently from Luke, Matthew's Jesus does not heal the servant whose ear has been cut off. The servant referred to here is the High Priest's minister. An ear that has been cut off renders him unfit to serve as priest, a just punishment for laying hands on God's Holy One.
3. Before the Sanhedrin
Matthew says that Jesus was "led before Caiaphas the high priest (to the place) where the scribes and elders were gathered." This is the Sanhedrin, the Council that judges matters pertaining to the religious life of the Jews. That it should be gathered at night (a day among the Jews is from 6 A. M. to 6 P. M., twelve hours (cf. John), a "legal" day.) is an irregularity that the Council members will try to correct (cf. Luke, charges were prepared in the morning). The second irregularity in the trial is the Council's search for lying witnesses (pseudomartyres), two of which were found.
The charge that Jesus intended to destroy the Temple and build it up in three days will be repeated as a taunt while Jesus hangs on the cross later on. In John, Jesus' saying about destroying the Temple is related to the resurrection. The Temple is "His Body" that will be destroyed in the crucifixion but raised up again. New Testament writers, particularly Paul and Peter will build a theology of the Church on this "Jesus' Body-Temple" identification.
"Tell us", the High Priest, asks Jesus, "are you the Christ, the Son of God?". The question echoes the declaration of Peter in Matthew 16:16 "You are the Christ, Son of the living God". Jesus' answer, a conflation of Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13, is an echo of Matthew 24:30 which is an announcement of the coming of the Son of Man in judgment. Jesus says, that they will see the Son of Man, "from this moment on". The final judgment begins from the moment Jesus is placed in the hands of his accusers and continues until the end of time. This in-breaking of the final judgment in Jesus continues in the raising of the dead that follows His death on the cross.
4. Peter's Denial and Judas' Death
Situated in between sessions with the Sanhedrin and Pilate, Matthew narrates two episodes involving Peter and Judas. Peter had, during the Last Supper, made his protestations to fidelity to Jesus but kept sleeping at Gethsemane. Judas carries the monicker "the traitor" from the time he decides to sell Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. In the garden, he handed Jesus to the mob with a kiss. Matthew puts their separate stories during the trial of Jesus. Peter is in the high priest's courtyard "to see the end" of Jesus' appearance before the Sanhedrin. Judas' suicide is retold just after Jesus is sentenced to death by the Sanhedrin and brought to Pilate the governor.
Matthew modifies the denial of Peter by changing the schema of Mark. Mark's presentation of Peter's denial is that of a three-fold apostasy with the pattern private evasive denial-->public evasive denial-->public denial. Matthew changes the pattern by introducing a public denial, an oath and a vague denial at the end. Finally, Matthew modifies the phrase in Mark showing Peter's repentance: "He went outside and wept bitterly."
Matthew's account of Judas' death is found in his Gospel and in the Acts 1:16-20. The dissimilarity in these two accounts can be reconciled if one considers that the act of "plunging headlong" and "bursting in the middle, his insides spilled out" in Acts 1:18 is also an account of hanging. A man who jumps with a noose tied around his neck "bursts" when the sphincter gives way and lets out the contents of the intestines1. The account of Judas' death also explains how a piece of land comes to be called "Field of Blood", "Akeldama" in Acts 1:19. In this account, Judas tries to return the thirty pieces of silver because with the condemnation of Jesus, these have become to his eyes "blood money". The chief priests and elders would not accept it at first, but after Judas throws the money towards the temple, the authorities purchase a field for the burial of foreigners. The fulfillment passage for this episode is not found in Jeremiah, but from Zechariah 11:12-13
12 I said to them, “If you think it best, give me my wages; and if not, keep them.” So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
13 Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the potter, the handsome price that I was valued at by them!” I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them to the potter, in the house of Yahweh.
The context of Zechariah 11 is that of Yahweh handing over Israel to worthless shepherds (Zech. 11:16) manifested through a prophecy in action where Zechariah plays the part of a shepherd (Zech 11:7) who breaks Yahweh's covenant with Israel and Judah, here called "peoples" (the staff called "Favor") and subsequently, the bonds that unite the two kingdoms (the staff called "Bonds"). It is obvious that the passage is not even a direct quote.
5. Before Pilate the Governor
Matthew underlines Pilate's role in the proceedings against Jesus by mentioning his title, "governor." As such, Pilate stands for the Emperor in the trial. Compared to the Sanhedrin, however, he is pictured as one who is indecisive. He tries to wiggle out of a situation that forces him to validate the death sentence passed by the Sanhedrin, but he could not. Matthew tells us that even the wife of Pilate tried to warn him about the wrong being done to Jesus. When the people were asked to choose between a violent man and Jesus, "the one called Christ", the crowd, under the instigation of the priests and elders, choose Barabbas. It is interesting to note that Matthew alone tells us that Barabbas's first name is "Jesus". Thus, Judah had to choose between "Jesus Barabbas (Son of the Father)" and "Jesus 'the Christ'". Matthew adds to the contrast by telling us that the crowd was persuaded "to ask for Barabbas and Jesus so as to be put to death (20)." Pilate, sensing that a riot will break out unless he gives in to the demand for Jesus' crucifixion, washes his hands. The gesture of washing the hands is Pilate's refusal to accept responsibility for Jesus' death. To this, the people respond "Let his blood be on us and on our children." (27:25) With this last declaration from the crowd -- Matthew calls them "people" here -- an allussion is made to the covenant rite at Sinai where Moses sprinkles the people with blood. Unknowingly and in an ironic manner, by calling for Jesus' blood, the crowd ratify the new covenant in Jesus' blood (cf. 26:28)
Another interesting aspect of the trial before Pilate is Matthew's description of Jesus' silence.
12 When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
13 Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many things they testify against you?”
14 He gave him no answer,
not even one word,
so that the governor marveled greatly.
The silence of Jesus is a reference to a Servant passage, Isaiah 53:7
He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn’t open his mouth
6. The Suffering and Death of Jesus
6.1. In the Hands of Soldiers
Like Mark, Matthew presents Jesus' ordeal with the soldiers as something additional to the sentence already passed. Matthew, however, more closely associates the soldiers with the governor -- he calls them "the soldiers of the governor" -- thereby adding to Pilate's responsibility. After the flogging which was meant to shorten the sufferings on the cross, a battalion of soldiers humiliate Jesus, wrapping him in a soldier's robe, putting a crown of thorns on his head, putting a reed on his right hand, mocking him with pretended obeisance and striking him with blows. The suffering of the innocent man in Psalm 22 is now fulfilled in Jesus.
6.2. The Way of the Cross and the Crucifixion
The account of the way of the cross is described in just one line of Matthew, unlike that of Luke's version. Mark mentions not only the Cyrene but also the names of his sons. Matthew omits these. The real interest of Matthew however is the crucifixion. First, Matthew says that Jesus tasted but refused the wine mixed with gall, the anesthesia for those to be crucified (v. 34). Second, after crucifying him, the soldiers divide his robe and play dice over it, an allussion to Psalm 22:18. Third, they place the charge above his head, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." Finally, two thieves are crucified one on his right and the other on his left, alluding to Psalm 22:16. The soldiers looking up at the Jesus to watch over him alludes to Psalm 22:17b. From Matthew 27:39-44 is found the words addressed to the cross (cf. Psalm 22:7-8).
39 Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads,
40 and saying,
“You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself!
If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”
41 Likewise the chief priests also mocking, with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders, said,
42 “He saved others, but he can’t save himself.
If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now,
and we will believe in him.
43 He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him;
for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
44 The robbers also who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach.
It is to be noted that the temptations of the devil in the Desert are echoed in the taunts hurled at the crucified. "Save yourself" is similar to the temptation to turn stones into bread; "He trusts in God, let him save him now" echoes Psalm 91 referring to God's care for the just man. The titles "Son of God" and "King of Israel" accompany those taunts as Matthew underlines the irony of the cross. Jesus is the Son of God and King Israel (see account of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem), but he is so precisely because he does not descend from the cross.
6.3. The Death of Jesus
As in Mark, the cry of Jesus on the cross echoing Psalm 22:1 marks the beginning of Jesus' death throes. As in Mark, the by-standers misinterpret Jesus' cry. But unlike Mark, Matthew recounts that when Jesus gives out his last cry, a series of events occur that convince a centurion and "those watching with him" that he indeed is the Son of God. First, the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies is torn from top to bottom; second, the earth shook; third, the rocks split and fourth, the tombs yield the bodies of the saints who rise (the verb egeiren, a resurrection-verb is used). This climactic arrangement of events following Jesus' "yielding the Spirit", v. 50 tie up Jesus' death on the cross with the resurrection of the just, which for the Jews believing in it, is an end-time reality. A further link is added in Matthew's aside in v. 53, a preview of Jesus' own resurrection
53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection,
they entered into the holy city and appeared to many.
Finally, Matthew closes the episode with a mention of the women who would remain at Jesus' tomb and keep watch.
7. The Burial of Jesus
Matthew makes a few changes to the Marcan account of Jesus' burial. First, he mentions that Joseph of Arimathea is a rich man, and that he was Jesus' disciple. Mark mentions that the Arimathaean is a distinguished member of the Sanhedrin. Second, Matthew mentions that Joseph wraps Jesus in clean burial clothes and places him in a newly hewn tomb. Finally, he writes that a "large" stone was rolled over the entrance of the tomb. He closes the episode with a description of two women sitting in front of the tomb: Mary the Magdalene and "the other Mary" which in verse 56 is described as "Mary, the mother of James and Joseph."
1. The presentation of Gibson's "The Passion" in this regard is perhaps close to what actually transpired. The death of David McCallum's Judas in "The Greatest Story Ever Told" is obviously theatrical in intent.
